Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 108: Ricky, the Boat Expert!

"Fascinating," Cissel said, grabbing the bottle from John’s hands with a curious glint in her eyes. She held it up, watching the heavy grey liquid sluggishly coat the glass. "Do you plan to run tests on it? Like seeing how the fog will react to it, the same way you did with the fruits?"

"Probably," John replied, his mind already spinning with variables. He liked the idea, but the cost of losing his only bottle of this substance was steep.

’I have only one bottle, which won’t be close to enough to code that potion,’ he thought to himself.

’I may run some tests later and see if I can find a way to get it aside from waiting for a disaster to befall them... But where does it come from? Is it the fog itself condensing inside a human, or a byproduct of the body’s resistance? If it’s a resistance from the body, I may have another way to get more...’

Seeing him lost in thought made Cissel’s gaze soften as she recalled many memories of their time together. ’He is always like this,’ she thought, a small smile touching her lips. ’Always thinking about the next step, always trying his best to stay three moves ahead of everyone...’

That realisation drove her into a much deeper, comfortable silence—the kind that John didn’t mind at all. They sat together until it was time to wake Luke and Ricky. He decided to let Cissel sleep all night, or else she’d keep complaining about the lack of food and hunger as she did before sleeping.

Then morning came.

"Remember, stay in the centre of the raft. Stabilise it first, then don’t move once we’re in the current," Ricky instructed the next morning.

The team had woken up early, driven by the gnawing pits in their stomachs. Hunger was a powerful motivator. They worked with frantic efficiency to lash the Blue Serpentile branches together using Elena’s ropes, creating a sturdy, if somewhat primitive, raft. Ricky, meanwhile, had spent his time shaping two smaller, flatter branches to serve as heavy paddles, using both swords to do so.

"I have long experience with boats back in Athanasia," Ricky announced, puffing out his chest as he stood by the water’s edge. "Back home, my family had a summer estate by the coast. So listen to my guidance, and everything will be fine. Navigation is all about feeling the flow and—"

"May I say something..."

Interrupting Ricky’s long list of warnings and unsolicited advice, Elena suddenly raised a small, trembling hand.

"Seasickness has no solution but to try to take deep breaths. Keep your eyes on the horizon, and you’ll be fine," Ricky said, giving Elena a long, knowing look.

She was famous among the group for coming up with a weird, exhaustive list of phobias and potential side effects in almost every situation they encountered. Weirdly enough, she simply lowered her head and didn’t say another word. It seemed Ricky had hit the nail on the head this time; she was about to ask exactly about that.

"Don’t worry," Cissel said, standing by her side and giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She looked at the big raft they had built—a big platform of grey wood. "Everything will be fine. It’s a short trip."

The three boys moved to the rear, grunting as they pushed the heavy raft into the river waters. The raft wasn’t perfect in shape, but it was big enough to provide a secure area of twenty meters in length and seven in width for their footing.

"Let’s go!" Ricky shouted the moment the wood touched the water. "The current is strong, so don’t fret or panic if you feel a lot of vibrations at first! Stay low..."

His words were almost lost as everyone jumped onto the raft and the powerful water current caught the wood, sweeping it away from the bank.

Ricky and Luke handled the steering, their muscles bulging as they fought to direct the raft and overcome the surging force in the middle of the river. The water was crystalline and fast, the river stretching more than fifty meters in breadth. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

For a few tense moments, the raft bucked against the strong current, but soon enough, they managed to navigate through the resistance and glide toward the opposite bank in one piece.

"Thank God," Elena whispered the moment they landed.

The second the raft bumped against the soil, she scrambled off, knelt on the ground, and literally kissed the dirt. The pale tint of her face told everyone that her seasickness was way worse than any of them had imagined.

"You do know it’s very, very rare to have seasickness in a river sail, right?" Ricky muttered, coming closer to John and speaking in a low tone so Elena wouldn’t hear. "The girl is a walking textbook of medical anomalies."

"As we are here," John ignored his remark, stepping onto the new bank while giving Ricky an appreciative gaze. Previously, the arrogant student wouldn’t care about others’ feelings, say whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

This time, Ricky cared for Elena’s feelings. He knew that saying anything, even if it was a fact like he just said, wouldn’t help Elena get past her nausea. And John appreciated the change.

He looked at Elena; the girl wasn’t looking much better after reaching stable grounds. John knew he needed a distraction, something she wouldn’t resist. "How about we do a barbecue?"

"Barbecue?!"

Hearing the magical word, Elena stopped shaking, and her face looked way better almost instantly. She abruptly stood up, her eyes wide as she turned to look at the nearby cattle-shaped animals grazing in the vast meadows. "Yes! Leave this to me! I was known as the best young chef back in my family! I can handle the seasoning, the searing, everything!"

John didn’t know if she was telling the truth or just experiencing a hunger-induced mania, especially with the watery, desperate look still in her eyes. Yet, as Cissel caught his eye and shook her head in silent amusement, he decided to play along.

"Wow! Those monsters really know how to raise their blue cattle!"