Athanasia: My Hacker System

"I won’t brag and say I fought against millions of monsters and crushed them," John began, his voice steady.

"I won’t brag that I fought against flying Dragons and floating Galleons filled with Demons and won. I won’t say I have thousands of giants exactly like Lanmar at my beck and call, waiting for a single order to swarm and kill anything I mark.

But let me tell you this... I know exactly how strong you are, and I know you can’t stand at a fraction of what I can call forth."

The display of power was overwhelming. Nikolas had assumed the giant was John’s trump card, his ultimate deterrent. But seeing these cannons, technology that should only exist in the hands of major Paragon factions or high-tier mercenary guilds, made him swallow the words he had intended to say.

John understood the psychology of the Military Department better than anyone. In this place, logic followed the path of the strongest blade. Talk was cheap; steel was the only currency that didn’t depreciate.

"Are you going to use force to make me submit?" Nikolas growled, though the haughty air he had maintained since their arrival was rapidly evaporating. He was a realist; in the face of this much firepower, his chances of survival were statistically zero.

"Why doesn’t Teacher take a proper look at these cannons first?" John suggested, standing up and gesturing toward a particularly large cannon. "I bet you’ll find something very interesting about them if you look closely."

"..."

Nikolas hated dealing with opponents who showed no fear of him. It meant they weren’t just brave; they were prepared. He realised that what John had shown so far was merely the tip of a very deep, very dangerous iceberg.

Left with no other choice, he lowered his spear and walked toward the nearest cannon, his hands trembling slightly as he inspected the foreign alloy.

"These... They aren’t the standard cannons we use in Athanasia," he muttered, his eyes wide as he traced strange carvings on the barrel.

"Those are cannons brought by machines," John said, dropping another bomb on Nikolas’s weary mind. "See, Teacher, we didn’t tell the Headmaster everything. We didn’t just fight against the races of the New World. We also fought against the machines of Earth."

John then moved his eyes towards his friends, letting them join the talk for the first time. The team had meticulously agreed before coming here that as long as they couldn’t identify who was secretly aligned with which Paragon, they had to keep the most delicate intel buried.

The academy was a viper’s nest of political allegiances, and a single slip of the tongue could end their mission before it truly began.

John knew that a specific faction of Paragons, the Nihilists, was already working in tacit cooperation with the machines. It was a terrifying alliance of human greed and ruthless machines. The last thing John needed was for this piece of intelligence to leak into the Paragon-affiliated circles.

If the Nihilists caught wind that a group of students had returned with knowledge of their treason, they would descend upon the academy with everything they had before John was ready to fight back. Mark was enough of a threat already, and he didn’t want to expand his list of enemies early on.

On top of that, John had a gut feeling that the Nihilists already had a high-level mole inside the academy.

Because of this, he had strictly forbidden the others from mentioning the machine’s involvement in front of the Headmaster or the other teachers. This information was reserved solely for Nikolas, the only one they were betting their lives on.

"Are you telling me the machines have betrayed us?!!"

As John expected, the teacher was well aware of the long, convoluted history of their world. Like the Paragons and like Cissel and Ricky, Nikolas understood that the machines were supposed to be the silent guardians and servants of the humans.

"That’s exactly what we saw back in that trial," John paused, letting the weight of the accusation hang in the air before dropping another bomb.

"They are the ones who abducted me and the others. They didn’t send us on a mission; they sent us to a trial to die. They are doing the same thing to many other humans as we speak.

I can’t tell how long they have been conducting this treason, but I’m sure, as they did it to us, they’ll continue to harvest other students like cattle."

John finally played the right chord, one that resonated deeply with Nikolas’ character: his fierce protective instinct for his students and the sanctity of the academy.

"See, Teacher, we want to protect the other students. We want to protect the academy from those veiled creatures. They aren’t on our side anymore; they are our deadliest enemies, hidden in plain sight. And we can’t do any of that on our own. We need eyes on the inside. We need help, we need your help. So..."

John finally reached the climax of his proposal. He reached into his inventory and drew out a shimmering golden scroll. He fiddled with it casually, spinning it between his fingers as if it were a common toy, though the magical pressure emanating from the parchment was palpable.

"Do you want to join our cause? Will you help us in this long and brutal war and try our best to win together, or not?"

"What is that thing?" Nikolas didn’t rush to make his decision. He was a veteran of a hundred battles, and he knew that nothing from John came without a price. He pointed at the golden scroll, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He had the feeling that every move John made was accompanied by something miraculous, something that defied the known laws of Athanasia.

"This? It’s a Soul-Binding Contract," John said casually. "It simply binds our fates together. If I perish, you’ll also suffer the same fate. It ensures absolute loyalty and, more importantly, absolute secrecy."

"Don’t you trust me?" Nikolas’s voice took on a sharp edge of rage. He felt the gesture was a direct insult to his honour as a teacher and a warrior.

"Humans once trusted their own creations, and look where that ended up," John shrugged, his expression unyielding.

"In this world, there is no guarantee in mere words or sentimental bonds. Even if you stand opposite to the Paragons now, God knows what type of weakness they might exploit, family, duty, or torture, to force you to act against your will.

This contract makes it so that even if the sky falls on your head, your resolve won’t buckle. You won’t be able to betray us, even if you were forced to."

Nikolas lapsed into a long, heavy silence. Suddenly, the entire hall was engulfed by a suffocating presence. No one said a single word, not even John. They all looked at their teacher, waiting for the final call.

John’s hand tightened slightly on the scroll. If Nikolas refused to budge, if he chose to report them, John was prepared to act. It would be the most disastrous outcome, forcing them to kill a man they respected and exposing their presence to the entire academy.

But John wouldn’t flinch. If things turned south, he was ready to activate Plan B: take full, violent control of the academy, turn it into an impregnable fortress using the defences in his inventory, summon his army of Bulltors, and wage an open war from the heart of the Military Department.

Yet, he didn’t need to go that far. Nikolas had already made up his mind the moment he heard the words about the machine treason. The fire of his hatred for the machines and the corrupt Paragons outweighed anything else.

"I’m in," he said plainly, his voice echoing through the quiet hall. "I was brought into this the moment you mentioned those despicable machines. I hate nothing more than the Paragons, except for those cold-ironed bastards who pretend to serve us while they sharpen their daggers. What shall I do?"

John smiled, a real, sharp smile this time. He tossed the golden scroll toward Nikolas. "First, sign it with your blood. Then, we start planning to take over the world together."