22 An Upgrade in Talent

"....",Reo.

What was this situation?

Just when he was feeling hopeless about gaining that one skill, bang! It suddenly appeared in front of him!

Reo couldn't help but feel that the system was intentionally trolling him for fun.

Feeling Reo's mood, the system quickly explained.

[You brat! Just because something goes wrong every time, doesn't mean that it is always my fault!]

[In this case, you are already considered lucky to gain this skill in a mere two weeks yet you are still complaining?! Do you wish to go against the heavens itself?!]

[Unlike your previous skills that can be earned by doing a certain number of repetitions, the Common Grade Skill(Ball Handling) can only be learned by putting in a good amount of time to practice it!]

[That 10000 requirements that you saw weren't repetitions but minutes! Do you get it now?! To learn ball handling, you need to practice doing various maneuvers for a total of 10000 minutes!]

10000 minutes?!

Reo felt black spots swimming in his vision just thinking about that.

He had been so diligently practicing basketball every day, that had even lost track of time while at it.

Unknowingly,10000 minutes had been used in just a span of 2 weeks just to practice basketball.

It could only be said that only those professional basketball players would spend this amount of time to practice their gameplay.

For a kid who was just 10 years old, it was nothing short of physical abuse to say the least.

However, although Reo was exhausted after every day of practice, so much so that he literally passed out once he hit the bed, he was gradually getting used to it.

Maybe it was because of his sudden increase in stats.

Looking at his stats screen, Reo saw all of his details clearly.

Stats

Name: Reo Fuji

Age:10

Height: 143cm

Talent: D-

Concentration: 80%

[Max Stat-20 (For age 15)]

Strength:8

Agility:5

Stamina:5

Physique:6

Dexterity:9

Awareness:11

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Skills:-

[Common Grade]

Basic Handling (Level 1)

Basic Dribbling (Level 1)

Basic Passing (Level 1)

Basic Shooting (Level 1)

Basic Rebounds (Level 1)

Basic Defense (Level 1)

[Rare Grade]

Sky's Limit (Level 1)

His talent had made a significant jump from 'F' to 'D-'.

Those with 'E' ranked talent could be considered having their groundwork laid for the 5 basics while Reo had broken into the 'D' ranks due to his unfinished Rare Grade Skill.

Right now, his Rare Grade Skill(Sky's Limit) still hadn't met it's user requirement so it was still uncomplete.

However, once Reo completed those requirements, it was speculated that he would upgrade from a 'D-' to a 'D' rank talent!

Still, while that might make him stand out in elementary school, it was far from what he wanted to achieve.

The competition in Shibuya was just too meager and Reo was aiming to get into a middle school with a good basketball team.

To do that, he would have to leave Shibuya City.

Besides intellectual exams, this world also had a separate basketball exam which gave students separate scores based on their basketball skills.

Depending on the results of both the exams, there was a chance for one to get posted to a middle school that was outside Shibuya City.

This was what Reo was hoping for.

To showcase his excellent intellect and basketball skills in the upcoming exam for two years. If he stood out just enough, he was sure that the government authorities behind the exams would send him outside Shibuya City to develop his talent further.

While this was still a long shot away, Reo still preferred to plan for the future as a failsafe for himself.

Seeing Reo staring blankly into space, Mikasa couldn't help but wonder what happened to him.

One moment he was practicing his skills and the next moment, he was staring blankly at the wall.

As such, she decided to get back Reo's attention.

"Reo-kun, don't daydream! Your ball handling skills are still not good!', Mikasa called out.

Hearing Mikasa's words, Reo couldn't help breaking out a small smile.

Should he bully her a little bit?

Then, all of a sudden, Reo made a move!

He started rapidly dribbling the ball through his legs as well as doing a few crossovers.

When Mikasa saw this, her mouth hung open.

What was happening here?

Wasn't his ball handling so bad just now? Why did he suddenly improve so much then?

Also, this wasn't the first time it happened.

Previously when Mikasa pointed out that he wasn't good at rebounds, he suddenly got good at rebounds and when she said that he wasn't good at shooting, he suddenly got good at shooting!

Just what was this situation?

However, after experiencing this a couple of times, Mikasa couldn't help but feel that Reo was simply pretending to be weak to show off to her later.

Thinking about this, Mikasa couldn't help but puff out her cheeks in anger.

Then, she shouted out to Reo.

"Reo-kun, you smelly monkey! You keep pretending to be bad only to make fun of me!"

Reo who was previously rejoicing of showing off to Mikasa felt his vision greying as he stumbled on the floor.

This....This girl's mouth is too toxic!

What smelly monkey?! He could be considered as the pinnacle of cuteness at such an age! How the hell did he get compared to an unhygienic monkey?!

Feeling depressed, he couldn't help but rebuke Mikasa.

"How am I a smelly monkey?! A monkey can't dribble a basketball like I can!"

Mikasa turned her head away with a huff as she spoke in an annoyed tone.

"Reo-kun's sweat is stinkier than normal people so he can only be compared to a monkey!"

Reo wanted to cry but no tears would come out.

What kind of logic was that?! It made absolutely no sense!

However, Reo knew better than to argue with a pre-pubescent, grumpy little girl.

If he really continued down that dark path, there was only pain and suffering awaiting him.

Then, Reo suddenly remembered something.

"Mikasa, there's a Street Ball Rumble in Ebisu tonight. I'm planning on joining, do you want to come and watch?"

When Mikasa heard Reo asking her, she was blank for a moment but soon came to her senses.

Watch him in the Street Ball Rumble? Go with just the two of them?

'Is he asking me out on a d-d-date?!'

Mikasa felt steam coming off the top of her head as she thought about this.

'Wasn't this too early?! Shouldn't they wait until high school?! W-What was happening right now?!'

'Reo-kun, you dummy! You are too direct!'

Looking at Mikasa's face which was turning as red as a plum, Reo felt question marks rise above his head.

'What is happening right now? Why is she turning red?', Reo thought in confusion.

If he knew that Mikasa's thoughts had wondered to nonsensical places, he would surely pinch her cheeks straight for an hour without letting go!

How could she imagine that he was such a person?!

Looking at Mikasa's rapidly changing expressions, Reo started to feel troubled for asking Mikasa to come along.

If she was looking like this by just asking a random question ,she would surely freak out if he ever invited her over for dinner.

"You know what? If you really can't come, it's fine. I can still go on my ow-",Reo started to speak but was quickly cut off.

"I'll go!", Mikasa suddenly said.

Reo was surprised for a moment but then....he felt that something was wrong with that expression she was making.

"You know....If you're busy, then it's ok", Reo laughed in an awkward manner. He suddenly felt like he was going to be involved in a whole lot of drama if he brought Mikasa along.

Hearing Reo's words, Mikasa was immediately angry as she thought that Reo was looking down on her.

"Reo, you dummy! Are you thinking I can't come out at night just because I'm a girl?!",Mikasa angrily stomped her feet on the ground as she glared hatefully at Reo.

Reo suddenly felt wronged. Since when was he looking down on her gender.

"No, I'm-",Reo attempted to explain but he was soon cut off again.

"Then let me come! Since you asked me out, I must be brave and not reject you!", Mikasa looked away as a bright red blush covered her cheeks.

Reo instantly felt something wrong here.

Ask her out?! Not reject?!

What the f*ck was happening here?!

Reo wanted to shout out to the heavens that he had been misunderstood greatly but looking at this girl's red face and embarrassed gaze, Reo couldn't help but want to bully her a little.

Yes, he was that evil.

He never had a sister in his previous life so now that he had an exact figure of some sort, he finally realized the joy in bullying a younger sister!

So, straightening his gaze, Reo spoke in a very reassuring tone.

"If that's the case, then let's go now! The Street Ball Rumble will be starting in just another 2 hours!"

Mikasa looked up at Reo when she heard his reassuring tone but just nodded meekly in response.

Looking over, Reo couldn't help but crack a cheeky smile as he stood next to Mikasa.

"Mikasa, it might be very cold and dangerous at night. Come, let's hold hands and walk together"

When Mikasa heard this, she immediately stiffened like a frightened rabbit.

'H-H-Hold hands!'

Pssh!

Steam seemed to be endlessly exiting her head as she nearly fainted from blood overflow.

This Reo was going on too fast!

"Kyah! W-What are you thinking about?! R-Reo, you big pervert!"