Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 179: Super John - Part 2

John knew using the upgraded Wireframe Sight ability on top of his map would make things easier for his upcoming big plans.

"I can scan the Hivemind territory and pinpoint exactly where they’ve placed their traps..." He lost himself in thought for a few moments, visualising the tactical advantage.

An ability that was once only useful for scouting in open terrain had transitioned into a strategic trump card. He could now see through the schemes laid by his enemies using his map and Wireframe Sight ability, turning a blind invasion into a surgical strike. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Then, his focus shifted to his core combat suite, the abilities that formed the foundation of his offensive manoeuvres. It started with Object Lockdown.

[Object Lockdown Ability: (Average – Active)]

[Description: Allows you to freeze any target you touch. You can also designate targets to freeze if you used it based on Frame Recognition ability - Maximum number of remotely freezing targets: 5]

[Description: Affected targets cannot be moved, cannot be used, and cannot be destroyed.]

[Cost: 20 Mental Points per activation.]

[Duration: 20 minutes for touch activation – 5 minutes for remote target activation]

[Requirements: Intelligence = 251, Strength = 175, Defense = 147]

"This ability is now a real crowd-control monster!" John’s eyes gleamed with a fierce, cold light. He envisioned the implications of this upgrade in the heat of a massive battlefield.

The primary drawback of Object Lockdown had always been the high-risk requirement of physical contact. It forced him into a frantic, close-quarters fighting style that left him vulnerable if met with scary opponents.

But the evolution to remote activation meant he could now pick out five high-threat enemies from a hundred meters away and literally freeze them in their tracks, turning them into obstacles for their own allies.

Previously, this ability had served almost exclusively as the primer for his Code Destruction. Now, it had branched out, becoming the prerequisite for a devastating secondary ability, Logic Bomb.

[Code Destruction Ability: (Average – Active - Compound)]

[Description: Once the user freezes the code of a target using Object Lockdown, he can actively use the ability to destroy a group of codes in an area of fifty centimeter radius. The destroyed codes won’t heal or regenerate for some time, even with medical intervention.

The target will suffer damage of 500% of the user’s Strength. The target will suffer from an additional decay effect that will slowly but surely destroy other code structures inside the target’s body. The decay effect will inflict 25% strength damage every 10 seconds!]

[Cost: 20 Mental Points per activation.]

[Conditions: Requires using Object Lockdown first before it can be applied.]

[Duration: 60 seconds.]

[Requirements: Intelligence = 300, Strength = 250, Defense = 275]

[Logic Bomb Ability: (Advanced – Active - Compound)]

[Description: You can touch any target and plant a special code bomb in their body structure. The bomb is remotely controlled with a timer, or you can remotely activate it to detonate!

You can also remotely plant a special code bomb in any target around in the area covered by Frame Recognition, with a double damage effect if the target was affected by the Object Lockdown ability.

Every Logic Bomb explodes with a shockwave effect that covers an area of 100 metre radius, pushing all the enemies inside outwards, inflicting 150% Strength damage on each target – double effect if targets were affected by Object Lockdown ability (300%).]

[Direct Touch Effect1: If you set it for a timer detonation, the bomb will explode and give the target 750% of your strength damage– 1500% of your Strength damage if used on top of Object Lockdown Ability!!]

[Direct Effect2: If you activated it remotely, the bomb will explode and destroy his body structure codes in an area of 100 centimetres radius + 350% your Defence damage– 700% of your Defence damage if used on top of Object Lockdown Ability!!]

[Remote Effect1: If you set it for a timer detonation, the bomb will explode and give the target 400% of your strength damage – 800% of your Strength damage if used on top of Object Lockdown Ability!]

[Remote Effect2: If you activated it remotely, the bomb will explode and destroy his body structure codes in area of 50 centimetres radius + 250% of your Defence damage – 500% of your Defence damage if used on top of Object Lockdown Ability!]

[Cost: 150 Mental Points per activation.]

[Duration: the bomb will last for a maximum of 300 seconds, then it’ll automatically explode.]

[Requirements: Strength = 355, Defence = 360]

Checking both the updated Code Destruction and Logic Bomb made his heart rate skyrocket! The Code Destruction ability had already proven its worth before against the shield special ability of the Bulltors, but now its area of effect had significantly increased.

He doubted any normal target could survive the initial damage caused by it. On top of that, the damage wouldn’t just stop at the impact; it would keep spreading until it killed even the strongest targets.

"It’s like an extra bleeding effect. Once hit, you’ll die on time, regardless of anything you do," he said, smiling evilly. However, a chill followed his smirk as he realised the true threat of this ability.

Even he had no control over the secondary decay effect once it was launched, which meant he had to exert more control over the targets he chose to attack using this ability. If he hit a target he needed to keep alive, he would greatly regret it later on.

"Perhaps I can try and freeze the decaying effect using Object Lockdown, still not guaranteed to succeed," he muttered to himself, while trying to find a loophole.

Then he moved back to the Logic Bomb. He had started to use it frequently after coming to the pocket trial world, but seeing it upgraded to this extent made him want to hysterically laugh.

"It must be because of that Advanced grade," he whispered, forcing himself to calm down so he could properly inspect the details. "I believe this is the only ability I have that has reached this grade. Does this mean if I upgrade my other abilities to this grade, they’ll be real killers like this baby? How about higher grades then?"