What is the most logical next event?

How to become a hacker
Run a unix-like os, such as linux.
Unix and unix-like operating systems are the operating systems of the internet. While you can learn to use the internet without knowing unix, you can't be an internet hacker without understanding unix.
For this reason, the hacker culture today is pretty strongly unix-centered. There are many types of unix-like operating systems, the most popular being linux, which you can run alongside microsoft windows on the same machine.