Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 42: The Speed Lock Ability

John knew that gaining those Speed points wouldn’t necessarily make a world of difference when fighting the Boss, who sat like a mountain of impenetrable stats at the far end of the hall. He’d just be able to better evade its deadly attacks.

However, it would certainly make the fight against the Level 8 Elites way easier! If he could close the gap between his movement and their lightning-fast reactions, his survival rate would skyrocket. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

And that wasn’t all!

He didn’t have much time to check the specifics while the adrenaline was still pumping, but from his vantage point in the safe spot of the corridor, he could easily see clusters of special shimmering codes pulsating on the ground exactly where the three monsters had fallen.

"One, two, three... Ten, eleven, twelve! Twelve items dropped from just three monsters! That means four items each!!"

He looked at the bounty waiting for him on the stone floor, then at his profile, which now boasted in the Speed stat. He couldn’t help but let a wide smile spread across his face. The dungeon was finally paying out in a way that felt commensurate with the life-threatening danger he was facing.

"Now!"

He waited patiently until the remaining Goblins were roughly halfway back to their original spots before moving out.

He sprinted directly toward the loot, his feet feeling noticeably lighter. He grabbed everything in a frantic sweep and turned tail, running back to the safe zone without taking a single look at the monsters around.

"Let’s see what we have here," he panted, laying the twelve items out. He found four extra bottles of MP Regeneration potion, four bottles of HP Regeneration potion, two Iron Codes of Level 10, and two pieces of the useless Level 10 fabric.

"I’ll store everything on this side for now." He placed the loot carefully against the wall alongside the supplies he had gained in the fourth hall. He wiped the sweat from his eyes and looked back into the hall to choose his next targets.

John repeated the process, this time daring to target four Elites at once. It was a risky manoeuvre that required him to juggle Object Lockdown and Code Destruction with terrifying speed, but he managed.

After they fell, he retreated, breathing heavily. He had gained four more Speed points, a four-point increase to his Mental Point cap, and sixteen different items.

"Five of each potion, four Iron Codes, and two more pieces of the shitty fabric... I now have ten Iron Code pieces of Level 10. Will I succeed in coding the sword on the first try this time?"

He checked the room; the monsters were midway through their return trek. He decided to trigger their aggro one more time to keep them away from their dormant spots before ducking back to the safe zone to attempt coding a new weapon. Then he pulled up the Shell window and watched the ten Level 10 Iron Codes get into the black interface.

[Ding! Your attempt to code a sword failed!]

[Ding! You need more Iron Codes to create the weapon!]

[Ding! Coding Weapons Proficiency gained 1 point!]

[Ding! You consumed 1 Mental Point in your failed attempt!]

"It needs more..." John muttered. He had anticipated this when the Shell window had consumed the twelve lower-level codes earlier. Higher-quality weapons clearly required a much larger volume of materials. "Then let’s go and collect more! The more Iron Codes I use, the stronger this weapon will be!"

The next attack was over three Elites. He kept up the cycle of attacking and retreating, slowly whittling away at their massive HP pools. This time, as the third monster shattered into code, a series of unique chimes filled his head.

[Ding! Congratulations! You killed Goblin Bug Monster Level 7.]

[You gained: +1 Speed stat | Mental Point Cap +1]

[Ding! Your Speed stat has reached 20!]

[Ding! You have gained a new ability: Speed Lock!]

[Speed Lock Ability: (Basic – Active)]

[Description: Covers an area of ten meters radius around the user, affecting the Speed of allies by +20% and enemies by -20%.]

[Cost: 25 Mental Points per activation.]

[Duration: 30 seconds.]

[Requirements: Intelligence = 35, Speed = 20.]

"Another high Mental Points consumer has arrived!" John joked, though his voice was strained. He noticed the steep price for using this ability—25 MP was no joke—but the advantage was undeniable. "Still, it’s a game-changer!"

He knew the biggest advantage of this ability would be in team battles. If he were out in the real world fighting alongside Cissel, boosting her already insane speed while slowing down her targets would make her an unstoppable blur of destruction. Even the slower Ricky would be far deadlier this way.

"But I need to get out of here first," he reminded himself. He estimated he had already spent a massive amount of time in this dungeon. It was likely getting late into the next day back at the Azure Academy.

The world outside might be looking for him, but he didn’t care. He wanted to see this through. He wanted to reach the end, claim his rewards, and finally get the Inventory he so desperately needed to store his growing hoard.

Aside from the new ability, he gained twelve more items, including four of each potion, three Iron Codes, and one useless fabric. Despite the haul, he decided to wait until he collected more of these codes before trying to forge his new sword again.

"Time to attack again," he muttered, feeling the pressure of time. The realisation of how long he had been trapped in this dungeon spurred him to increase the pace, even if it meant pushing his physical and mental limits.

He decided to target five elites this time. As he stepped across the hall, he was pleasantly surprised to see how much easier it was to evade their attacks and fight back.

"Wow! The increase in my Speed stat really paid off!"

He wasn’t just imagining it. The world seemed to have slowed down just a fraction more. He was surprised by how fast he had become, not only in moving his feet to dodge the heavy wooden clubs but also in the speed of his sword slashes and his fast-moving hands to trigger the Object Lockdown and Code Destruction combo.

He estimated his efficiency had nearly doubled! This became immediately apparent in how fast he killed those five elites.

"I’m now ready," he said, retreating to the corridor to examine his latest loot. The twenty items yielded seven Iron Codes, five of each potion, and three useless fabric pieces. He felt a surge of confidence. "Let’s see if this is going to work!"