*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*
"The sound of swords clashing against each other!!" Elena’s voice landed with a sharp edge of panic. "It’s the monsters! They are coming!"
"Hurry, tell us! Any information that a mber of your family said about these monsters?" Ricky turned to Elena, shouting in urgency. His voice acted like a splash of cold water, waking her from her montary shock and fear.
"No, he said nothing," she shook her head, her eyes darting toward the impenetrable wall of black fog.
John took charge at this mont. He knew these monsters were Fog Seekers, and they would keep attacking them relentlessly for the next twenty-four hours. He knew that they didn’t have any ti to waste on asking about anything. "It’s pointless now. Let’s get ready for a brutal fight... What the hell? Where did all these co from?!"
He said it just as he spotted sothing unbelievable. In front of him, Ricky, Cissel, and Elena reached for various ornants—rings, necklaces, and bracelets—and weapons and gear materialised out of thin air!
Ricky now gripped an oval shield that covered half of his body, standing like a bulwark, while holding a short sword in his other hand. Cissel’s hands blurred as she drew a pair of wicked-looking daggers, her torso now protected by a sturdy-looking set of dark body armour.
As for Elena, she stood braced with a pair of small sledgehamrs, wearing an elegant armour set that stopped just above her belly, designed for maximum mobility and elegant style.
"Don’t look this surprised," Luke sighed, stepping up to stand by John’s side. He looked at their teammates with a mixture of longing and bitterness. "I truly envy rich families! They all have storage devices packed with pricey weapons and armours."
"How about you?" John raised an eyebrow, his eyes never leaving the periter of their small area, acting as if a deadly threat were poised to strike at any mont.
"I... my father took everything I had in my storage device..." Luke’s voice dropped along with his head. The mory of the tense, humiliating eting with his father after his embarrassing loss in the competition clearly still stung.
"What special ability did you unlock, by the way?" John asked casually. While his mouth moved, his mind was racing through his new profile, checking the terrifyingly low stats and ntal Point.
"I unlocked my Strength attribute." Luke’s face, tone, and attitude shifted instantly. A spark of pride returned to his eyes. "I wanted to show it to you, but... You know, we ended up coming here..."
"Okay, then this will suit you better," John recalled how the others had touched their ornants. He mimicked the gesture, touching his wrist. The next second, he pulled a massive, heavy wooden club out of thin air. "Take it!"
"This..."
Seeing that even John—the commoner from a naless family—possessed a storage device and a spare weapon made Luke feel a brief mont of inadequacy. But the mont his fingers wrapped around the grip of the club, he felt the sheer weight and balance of it. He didn’t just like it; he fell in love with it. It was a weapon that demanded the very strength he had just unlocked.
At the sa ti, this slight action from John drew the silent attention of Ricky and Cissel for a brief mont. They were clearly re-evaluating John since they stepped into this foggy world. Before anyone could comnt, a faint, gravelly roar erupted from the world around them, vibrating through the ground.
"Get ready!" Ricky shouted, bracing his shield. "That roar is close by! It ans the monsters are about to attack!"
John didn’t mind what Ricky said; he shifted his attention fully back to his profile.
’Tsk! It’s going to be a bit tricky this ti...’ he inwardly sighed.
[The Hacker System: V.0.99
User: John Mirage (ID: Unit-774)
Type: Half human – Half machine - Anomaly
Age: 17 Years
Status: UNAUTHORIZED (Hidden via Spoofing) – Undergoing Evolution Trial
Connection: Local Neural Link (Air-Gapped from Mainnet)
Security Status: Stable
Detection Risk: Low (5%)
Primary stats:
INT: 7.3
HP: 6.4
Strength: 6.2
Defense: 6.6
Speed: 6.9
Secondary Stats (Athanasia Stats – Sealed!):
INT: 73
HP: 64
Strength: 62
Defense: 66
Speed: 69
[Redacted]
Resource Monitor:
ntal Point (MP): 53.2/53.2
Coding Weapons Proficiency : 19
Coding Potions Proficiency : 10
Titles:
Fresh Year class president
[Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted
Abilities:
Passive:
Hacker Mind
Spoofing Ability
MP Enforcent Ability
HP Regeneration Ability
Active:
Shell ability
Fra Recognition ability
Object Lockdown ability
Wirefra Sight ability
MP Absorption ability
Code Destruction Ability
Encrypted Skin Ability
Speed Lock ability
Logic Bomb
Synchronization:
System synchronization: 10 %
Cyborg Synchronisation: 1%
[Redacted]
Security Deadlines:
Athanasia System Checkup Deadline: Unknown!
Cyborg Checkup Date: 60 days!
[Redacted]
]
The first thing John noticed at his interface was the duality of his stats. His stats now displayed two distinct versions: the original locked stats he had painstakingly built in the ga world, and a new set of active stats that was a re 10% of what he initially possessed!
’Even my abilities’ requirents and consumption got decreased to 10%,’ he inwardly sighed, trying to find a silver lining. Luckily, the fundantal effects and durations of his skills hadn’t changed. However, because his base stats had decreased so dramatically, the actual effect and impact of his battle abilities were severely crippled.
’Even my sword’s stats got decreased as well...’ He reached into his Inventory and pulled out his blade, but his heart sank. The weapon’s stats were way lower than before, its damage output slashed to 10% as well. ’It seems nothing escaped the transition. Even the gear in my Inventory is being affected by the Source Code World’s limitations!’
Watching him take out not just one weapon for Luke, but a second one for himself, startled the others. But for the upcoming deadly fight, it was a much-needed boost. Luke held the heavy club as if it were a new toy, waving it with deceptive ease to the left and right.
"Bring it on, bastards! Let’s get rid of these things and find a way back ho!" Luke’s shout crystallised the fragnted thoughts in everyone’s minds.
The atmosphere shifted instantly; the fear in their eyes was replaced by a unified determination. They all shared the sa desperate goal: they would crush whatever erged from the fog, find the exit, and reclaim their lives in Athanasia.
’Even if my ntal Points got reduced, with the abilities’ consumption reduced as well, then it doesn’t matter...’ John ignored the chatter and focused on his internal math. He checked his abilities and made so quick calculations. ’It seems the base consumption for my skills is now 1 ntal Point, which isn’t bad, yet...’
He realised he needed to know the most important factor for a long-term trial: The ntal Points recovery rate. He posed the question to the system.
[Ding! You cannot regenerate ntal Points at all!] The notification gave John a montary heart attack, his pulse spiking in his chest. But before he could spiral into panic, the system added:
[Ding! Yet you can still absorb ntal Points using one of your abilities!]
[Ding! 1 ntal Point is deducted for this inquiry!]
’Tsk! Now I need to be more careful with my ntal Points,’ John inwardly felt the literal pain of paying that single point. Only a few hours ago, he wouldn’t have minded paying tens of points for the use of many abilities in succession. Now, every single point felt like a drop of his own blood.
*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*
The pondering was cut short as a series of low, guttural growls echoed from different directions.
"They are coming from all around us!" Luke shouted, his voice betraying more fear than his earlier bravado. The darkness of the fog seed to press inward, the black fog swirling as if disturbed by large bodies moving within it.
"We need to rearrange ourselves," John said, his voice cutting through the rising panic. As the monsters closed in for the attack, he shifted his eyes around, trying to spot anything, but failed. "Cissel and Elena, you two are the fastest. Stay in the centre."
John stepped forward, pointing his sword at the periter and barking out orders with the authority of a field commander. "Luke and Ricky, you are our strongest. You two take the front and back. Make sure to hit the monsters hard—wound them, but don’t exhaust yourselves aiming for a kill imdiately. Leave this task to the ladies."
"What about you?" Luke asked, his grip tightening on the wooden club as he watched John continue to walk toward the edge of the light, straight into the path of the incoming growls.
"I’ll delay their initial charge and toy with them a little," John replied. He paused just a few tres away from the boundary where their limited piece of land t the black fog. He inwardly muttered the command for his most basic battle ability: ’Fra Recognition!’
Then the world changed in a way he had never seen before.
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