Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 115: The Underwater River Bridge

"It’s like a submerged causeway," Luke explained, gesturing with his hands to show the scale. "The water barely reaches my knees in some spots, but it’s consistent. It’s a solid path."

They decided to check that segment tomorrow. If that was true, then they could easily cross the river using the underwater bridge laid down by the Fog Seekers.

As for Elena, she comforted the team about the meat. "I’ve salted everything and stored the meat inside my storage device," she proudly said, patting the necklace that housed her treasured meat. "We can now have meat for at least two weeks, and that’s just from one single blue cattle. No more living off just sugary fruit!"

Then Cissel and Ricky explained what they found at the silver trees: the huge metallic trunks and branches, and the weird fruits that didn’t look like any fruit to eat. Elena asked if John had gone into a fog nearby, suspecting the fog might have triggered his weird status earlier, but the two shook their heads.

"Even if he went into the fog, he already went and spent lots of time inside many times before," Cissel firmly said, her voice brooking no argument. "Whatever happened to him, it’s not related to the fog."

"You should have rested with us back then," Elena sighed, looking at John with a maternal sort of frustration. "We ate a rich meal after an entire day of hunger. He is just tired and needs rest! Even the strongest soldier collapses if he doesn’t listen to his body."

Everyone sighed and hoped this was the case. As for the man who was the centre of their talks, he was lying beside the fire, closing his eyes, appearing to sleep, while secretly checking the map to get used to its interface.

He decided not to say anything and let the team realise he was fine by the simple passage of time. He watched their green dots flicker on the map, marvelling at the sheer amount of data he now possessed.

The next day, the team explored the shallow segment of the river to find that what Luke had described was entirely true. The water was remarkably clear and calm here, revealing a massive, paved-like structure of dark stones beneath the surface.

"These rocks..." They walked over the underwater path, where the river current was weak and shallow. "They cover an area of twenty meters in width!" Ricky was surprised by this, even leaning into the water and trying to touch the rocks to examine their texture.

"There are gaps between the rocks at certain distances," Luke pointed to specific intervals along the path. "The river water passes through these holes with explosive current; most probably, they are responsible for the strong current afterwards. It’s like a natural—or unnatural—nozzle system."

The team examined the areas Luke specified, and there they found the gaps. It was like half-meter-wide carved paths for the river water to pass through. The water whistled as it was forced through the narrow conduits, creating white foam on the downstream side.

"Why do I feel like this isn’t the work of the monsters?!" Cissel said after examining the perfectly straight edges of the rocks and the regular spacing of the gaps within. She ran a finger over a corner that was too sharp to be weathered by nature.

"The same as that wooden fence," John remarked, his eyes scanning the structure through his Frame Recognition, finding nothing abnormal about it. "It seems the monsters came after an intelligent civilisation lived here. This can’t be the work of mindless monsters!"

Others nodded in agreement. The rocks were carefully cut, and even the edges were smoothed in a way the monsters couldn’t do with claws or teeth. Besides, the distances between the gaps were regular and fixed, something that told them some engineer must have been overseeing the making of this underwater bridge.

"Let’s collect the cores first," returning to the side of the river they started from, John looked at the large number of dead Fog Seekers and gave the order. The battlefield from the previous day was still littered with the dissolving remains of the monsters they had slain.

Even if the fog was cleared for a large area, it was a waste to let these cores rot. Not to mention, they hadn’t seen a glimpse of a single monster since taking down the den. John knew better now; according to his map, there wasn’t a single monster left in the vicinity—not a living soul anywhere but the five of them. The area was eerily, perfectly silent.

As for the machines, John didn’t mind them for now. They were wreckage, worthless in their current state, and the only thing he was truly interested in was the massive magical core that had powered their base.

Yet, it was far too heavy to move across the river, where everyone had decided their new base would be. It sat on the far bank like a dormant sun, a monument to a battle already fading into memory.

After collecting all the smaller cores, the team returned to the other bank of the river. They spent the next few days in almost a domestic routine: exploring the nearby silver meadows and groves during the daylight hours, then returning to the camp to chit-chat and enjoy the night around the fire. Elena’s salted meat was a hit, and the sense of safety allowed them to lower their guards just a fraction.

And like this, an entire week passed without anything new!

John enjoyed the tranquillity for a couple of days, but the silence soon began to grate on his nerves. He started to wonder about his quest progression. He had completed the primary tasks the system had laid out, yet there wasn’t a single indicator of a new quest coming. No notifications, no dings, no directions.

He knew he needed a trigger of some sort. Last time this had happened, Cissel’s casual words about the monster den’s presence had been the spark he needed. Yet, whatever he tried this time didn’t work.

He spent hours asking the group numerous questions about the academy, the history of the world, and the mechanics of the S-series units, hoping any scrap of information would trigger a system prompt.