Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 181: Elena’s Unexpected Surprise!

"Get ready! They are coming!"

After John finished analysing his upgraded abilities, he was surprised to spot his friends and the Bulltors not far from his spot. They seemed to be sneak-peeking at him, wanting to catch even a small glimpse of the power increase he had gained from the cores.

They had cleared a small pocket inside the fog just a few meters away from the cleared area he occupied. Every now and then, they’d walk back into the fog and peek from a distance to see what he was doing, only to return to their safe zone before their time in the fog expired.

To their disappointment, John hadn’t done anything flashy at all. He had simply stood in his place for roughly half an hour, staring into the void, before finally turning toward them.

Yet, before any of them could say a single word or ask a prying question, the world shook fiercely. The rhythmic, bone-deep vibration announced the arrival of the new wave of Wrathers with a violent tremor that nearly threw the Bulltors off their feet.

During their retreat back toward the northern walls, John didn’t forget to retrieve the magical core from his inventory and set it back into its housing. The effect was immediate; the fog was pushed back with an invisible, crushing force, restoring the clear perimeter like before. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

He resisted the urge to feed any of the new active cores to the magical core just yet; he had lots of cannons to upgrade using these after they cleared this wave.

"Luckily, we were close to the northern walls," Luke mused, rubbing his massive hands together. "I can’t wait to test my new power over them! Come on, hurry and come here, you slow freaks! I’ve got a club with your name on it!"

The Bulltors gave Luke a weird, almost unsettled look. Before consuming the cores, Luke’s power levels were mediocre; he was still within a realm they could understand. Now, he acted as if he were the absolute ruler of the pocket trial, radiating a level of confidence that bordered on arrogance.

John moved his eyes among his friends as they sprinted toward the northern walls. With his upgraded Frame Recognition, the world appeared more detailed than ever.

He spotted the increased number of special code clusters vibrating within all of their bodies, indicating that the cores had indeed taken root. However, the biggest surprise was what he saw when his gaze landed on Elena.

"I’ll stay back and watch as usual..."

Just as John was inspecting the group of ten special code clusters that had suddenly appeared in her body, wondering about the specific nature of the attribute she had unlocked, Elena spoke up out of habit.

During their previous fights, the hierarchy had always been the same for her. Everyone else would take the lead in the fray, while she, due to not unlocking any attribute, had to endure at the rear, assuming the role of replacing the exhausted energy cells of the cannons.

"Who said you can’t go down with us this time?" John showed a wide smile, his eyes twinkling with the secret he had just unveiled. He motioned toward her body as he added, "Who knows? The cores you ingested are remarkable. Perhaps a little gift and surprise is waiting for you down there, right in the middle of the carnage."

"No way! Are you telling us that she finally unlocked her attributes?!!" Luke was the first to exclaim in shock, his loud voice even interrupting John’s explanation.

Cissel and Ricky gave John a knowing glance, a look that said: Why don’t you just say it directly instead of playing with hints? They knew John; he always saw things they couldn’t, and his sudden encouragement toward Elena was a dead giveaway.

"Who? Me?!!!" Elena pointed at herself, her eyes wide as dinner plates. She couldn’t believe what John was implying and what Luke had so blatantly blurted out. She had been waiting for her awakening for so long that she had almost resigned herself to being the group’s normal muscle.

Even if she came from a military-based family, it wasn’t that prestigious or wealthy enough to provide her with a miraculous potion. So hearing all this made her mind freeze, as she never expected to get awakened in the middle of a disaster like the one they were currently in.

"Relax," Cissel said, stepping forward to wrap her arm around Elena’s shoulders. "If John said it, then congratulations! It seems these cores had way more of an effect than any of us imagined. You aren’t the rear guard anymore, you are officially one of the big players in our team."

"Congratulations!" Luke chimed in, his face beaming with a wide, toothy grin. Then he gave John a knowing glance, filled with tons of appreciation. In his eyes, John helped him and Elena to unlock their attributes, all without asking for anything in return, without even making them feel indebted to him!

When Elena looked at John again, her expression begging for confirmation because she still couldn’t wrap her head around it, he simply nodded. As for Ricky, he just smiled but said nothing.

He kept his eyes fixed on John, his mind racing. He was deeply curious about how John knew about an internal attribute change before Elena herself had even felt the shift. It was another reminder that the gap between them and John was growing into a canyon.

"But what special ability did I gain?!" Elena asked, frantically checking her hands and her weapons, trying to feel some spark of fire or jolt of lightning, but finding nothing out of the ordinary yet.

"Let’s discover that in the upcoming fight," John said, his voice dropping as his attention shifted. He didn’t look toward the horizon where the Wrathers were beginning to manifest; instead, he turned toward the group of giants. "Lanmar, come here for a second."

The Bulltor leader froze. He looked as if his death sentence had just been read aloud.