Athanasia: My Hacker System

The second benefit for John to attend the grand competition was the presence of many talents.

The top one hundred academies’ elite students would all be present in this competition. John was sure most would come from established Paragon factions.

But there would inevitably be rare gems, talented individuals from neutral or overlooked backgrounds. And he loved hunting for such gems. Recruiting them would accelerate his plans for the Source Code World significantly.

And third, he would travel across the world under the academy’s protection and funding. He would explore different territories, learn more about the nature of the Paragon authority zones and neutral zones, observe the current order of this world firsthand.

Overall, it was all gains with little hiccups in the background. These were minor inconveniences he didn’t mind going through to secure such massive strategic advantages.

One of those hiccups, however, was the upcoming fight. He wasn’t worried his team would lose; he knew exactly what they were made of. Instead, he was overly worried about overkilling their opponents.

After surviving the literal apocalypse and fighting monsters and different races, his baseline for lethal had shifted. He had a feeling this could easily turn into a one-sided massacre, and he didn’t want to see such a result. A massacre would draw far too much scrutiny from the Paragon representatives.

A balance in their show of strength must be achieved, or else everything might backfire on them. They needed to look like talented students, not gods of war.

"Hey, did you hear that?!"

Just as John was lost in his thoughts, Ricky finally showed up. He had been moving through the back seats of the audience, gathering intelligence on the students as requested, when he heard the Headmaster’s thunderous proclamation.

He had stood in a daze of confusion until the bald teacher started narrating the rules and mentioned the names of the two teams, snapping him awake.

He had run as fast as he could to reach the tent where John and Cissel were waiting. He found the two of them looking deathly serious. Just from one look at John’s face, Ricky could easily tell: this turn of events had come entirely outside of John’s expectations and plots.

"We have to fight," John said, pausing as he moved his eyes around the interior of the tent. He spotted several hidden monitors. "And we have to win."

The presence of those monitors stopped the three of them from speaking more deeply about the situation. Yet John had already thought about this opportunity, and securing the Backup Team slots was too good a chance to let slip by.

"I’m not worried about losing," Ricky said, following John’s lead and keeping his voice at a conversational level. He glanced toward the opposing side of the staging area, where their rivals were gathering.

"The five students of the currently selected Backup Team are all weaklings compared to us. Alfred and Bernard are within the roster, along with three seniors from year four. As for the main team, they have students from the final two years, the true elites of the academy. Yet I don’t think they will intervene in these matches."

Ricky explained what he had overheard from the audience. The team they were going to fight wasn’t particularly formidable in his eyes. To someone who had faced the pocket trial threats, these students were like children playing with wooden swords.

"That’s good, and perhaps a little tricky," John paused, before adding in a meaningful tone, "We need to win, but we must not overdo it. Understood?"

He couldn’t say more under the gaze of the cameras, yet the other two instantly grasped his subtle meaning. They had to suppress their power significantly to avoid arousing far too much attention.

"What about the other two then?" Ricky asked, shifting his gaze back toward the entrance of the tent, which led back toward the main department buildings. "What shall we do if they don’t show up in time for their matches?"

"Well..." John had already weighed this. "If it comes to that, we’ll have to accept losing two points for the missed matches, then crush the opposing team in the team fight on our own."

The perfect way out of this was to win their individual matches, then win the team fight. That would secure them eight points, which was more than enough to claim the victory and the Backup Team spot.

"Anything regarding our strategy and such stuff?" Cissel suddenly asked.

"Nothing in particular. Just... Don’t overdo it, okay?"

Unlike their first competition two years ago, where John had to squeeze every good idea and strategy out of him and the other two to ensure their victory, this time was different.

They had grown far too strong and accumulated too much experience to worry about strategy in front of the academy normal students. In front of them was a team of unseasoned greenhorns who had seen nothing of the real world’s brutality.

"Get ready!"

Just as the three of them waited, a loud shout came from outside the tent. A teacher was calling from outside the tent. "Five minutes and the first challenger will get to the stage! Who is going to fight first for your team?"

The question landed, and the three of them exchanged silent looks. Cissel was about to step forward, intending to take the lead and set a firm tone for the match. However, a familiar, boisterous voice shouted from the entrance of the tent.

"I’ll go first!"

Luke suddenly appeared, slightly out of breath but wearing a wide, mischievous grin. He had clearly sprinted back the moment he heard what was going on. "Luke Lockheart will compete in the first match"

"Good luck, kid," the teacher standing outside the tent said with a neutral tone before turning to leave. "Your first opponent will be Bernard from your own class."

"Hahaha!" The moment Luke heard that name, he couldn’t help but explode in laughter.

It was a boisterous, sharp sound that echoed through the small space. He and Elena had just walked into the tent, both slightly flushed from their sprint across the campus.