Completion of the Basics

Chills when down his spine when Mité saw that smile.

He had a bad feeling all of a sudden.

'No, he must be trying to trick me! I know how his pace and rhythm goes so it will be fine!', Mité tried to reassure himself.

Suddenly, Kotaro made his move!

However, when Mité saw Kotaro's moves, he was instantly relieved.

It was the exact same move with his usual rhythm and pace to it.

It seemed that he was just overthinking it.

However, what he didn't know was that Kotaro was having an internal battle with himself as well.

'Should I do it or should I not? If it works out, it will be fine but if it doesn't....',Kotaro questioned himself internally.

There was something that he had been practicing for a while to take down those monsters at the Nationals but it wasn't really perfected yet.

If he loses the ball now, it could be game over for him.

However, the score of 9-8 was making him question his decisions. He was just a point away from losing this and if he didn't show something new, Mité would probably read his moves again and counter-score.

So, after thinking about it over and over, Kotaro finally decided to give it a go.

Suddenly, his dribbling sped up all of a sudden to nearly double it's previous pace as it went in between the legs and behind the back.

Mité who was watching this, felt his entire body freeze in shock.

What was this?! What was with this pacing?!

This speed....It shouldn't be something capable of a normal high school student!

"Woah!!!",the crowd cheered in excitement as their eyes bulged out.

This speed....It was just too fast for them to keep up!

For some of those with slower reactions, they could hardly even keep their eyes on the ball.

The same could be said for Mité as he felt his head spinning just from looking at the ball. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel cold sweat dripping down his back.

It turns out that his bad feeling had come true!

Noticing Mité shock, Kotaro couldn't help but take advantage of it as he quickly dribbled past Mité while maintaining the same pace.

'This is it!', Kotaro thought.

He was going to score and win this challenge.

But then....

Boing! Boing!

'Ah?', Kotaro looked at his hands and found that the ball disappeared.

Instead, it was bouncing on the ground in front of Mité who had a blank look on his face.

"....",Mité.

"....",Kotaro.

"....",everyone.

At that moment, everyone only had one thought in mind.

'What the f*ck?!'

However, Mité soon came to his senses and made a quick double tap on the ball to keep it from becoming a deadball.

Then, he immediately started dribbling out of the 3-point line to make his score eligible.

In these type of one vs one matches, when a ball turns over to their opponent's possession, they would have to exit the 3-point line and reenter it again to make their next score eligible.

So, as soon as Mité stepped foot outside the 3-point line, he immediately dashed back in to make a surprise counter.

Kotaro was still a bit dazed from loosing the ball but the sight of Mité dashing towards him, set him straight.

While he did try to make the block, Mité had already gained too much momentum to be stopped by a last minute block and with that, Mité blasted past him.

In fact, Mité was so full of energy at the moment that he actually jumped early and tried to make a dunk!

The energy of thinking that the 14000 yen would finally be his, made him feel invigorated. So much so, that it made him do crazy things.

He would finally earn the money from the Street Ball Rumble for his family but most of all, he could win!

After losing for two consecutive challenges, he would finally end his losing streak.

As someone who had frequently competed in basketball for a good number of years, he had immense love for the game and now that he could accomplish winning in the game along with his current responsibilities, he was just ecstatic.

However, reality showed him his limitations.

He was ultimately too short to dunk!

His jumping ability was not that impressive to begin with so for him to attempt a dunk was just nonsensical.

However, he was still lucky enough to change his dunk to a last minute layup which finally ended the game.

Landing on the ground, Mité couldn't help but hold onto his knees as he panted heavily.

The was only thing going through his mind at this moment.

' I did it! I finally did it! I won!'

Feeling the pent up happiness and anxiousness that he had bottled up all this while, Mité couldn't help but let it all out.

"Uwahh!!!",Mité roared out as he raised his fist high into the air.

The crowd soon joined Mité in his cheer as they celebrated his victory.

Everyone cheered and whistled as they celebrated together with Mité.

This was his big moment after all.

However, among the crowd of people, there was one person who was not cheering at all.

Instead, he was looking at Kotaro in shock. That person was Reo.

"System, did you see that?", Reo asked out loud in a low, solemn tone.

The system took some time but it eventually responded.

[Yes. While he did not win, I saw it!]

[That dribbling of his definitely exceeded the limitations of the Rare Grade Skill but what intrigues me is his method of dribbling!]

[When he was dribbling just now, he wasn't using his usual double tap but a triple tap instead! It's no wonder that he lost the ball in the first place! If one tries to exceed their skill capabilities, then they are just asking for their demise!]

[Still, I am impressed with his determination to win and by the way he handled the ball, I can tell that he definitely practiced this method privately! However, while he may be able to handle the ball in a stationary play, there is absolutely no way he would be able to dribble with it whether it is now or in the future!]

Reo carefully listened to the system as it explained.

This was important to him as he was someone who relied on those type of skills.

This meant that should he try to pull of moves that exceeded his current skill set, he would undoubtedly end up like Kotaro.

However ,he also picked up another point when the system explained.

"System, does that mean that there are skills that can make me do dribbling even faster?", Reo asked excitedly.

If there was a skill that could make him dribble even faster than Kotaro, then how awesome would it be?

An Epic Skill? A Legendary Skill? Or perhaps, a Mythical Skill?

The mere thought of it made his skill tingle.

However, the system's next words made him sink to the depths of despair.

[That....uh....I.....uh....]

[I....actually haven't checked what kind of skills there are so even I'm not sure]

The system seemed really reluctant and even a tad bit embarrassed when it mentioned this.

And it had every right to be!

'This damn irresponsible system! The creator must have had a really bad day when it created this shitty system!', Reo couldn't help but curse in his mind.

The system seemed to know what Reo was thinking and couldn't help but harshly rebuke him.

[You can't blame me for this! After all, I am only less than a week old!]

[You think you are so great?! At least I could talk in less than one minute after I was created! But what about you?!]

[When you were a week old, you probably even thought that your own piss was pretty!]

Reo really wanted to kick this system in the face and disfigure it beyond recognition.

This system was becoming too much!

Seems like he needed to start scolding and roasting the system more than usual. Otherwise, this system might never know the meaning of the word, 'humble'!

With that in mind, Reo took one last look at the court that contained a crying Mité and a dazed Kotaro before turning around and leaving back for home.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 weeks later,

"Reo-kun! You need to practice a bit more harder, then only will you be able to defeat that stinky monster, Nishimura!", a cute feminine voice said from the side.

Reo suddenly regretted inviting this little monster to his house.

Currently, Reo was practicing basketball in his backyard with Mikasa watching from the sides in an intrigued manner.

How did Mikasa end up in Reo's house?

Well, it isn't what most of y'all think.

It all started when Reo initiated the Talent Scan on Mikasa.

[Talent Scan Initiating....]

[Target Acquired!]

Name: Mikasa Satsuki

Height: 136cm

Talent: Unranked

Specialty:-

Analytical Matchup

Remark: Useless on the court but her brain can make you look like an idiot outside the court. Recommended for managerial position!

When Reo first saw this, he was speechless because of Mikasa's horrible basketball talent.

However, the system soon scolded him for his naïve thoughts and pointed out the remark made by the scan.

[You idiot! Can't you see that even the Talent Scan is recommending her for a managerial position! This means that her analytical ability is phenomenal to say the least because the Talent Scan doesn't just recommend anyone for a certain position!]

[Remember this, you braindead fool! Competent managers are significantly important in analyzing the opponent's gameplay and devising a last minute counter against them! So, don't you dare think that managers are useless!]

Following that, he invited Mikasa over to his place to help him analyze his flaws from a third person point of view since his father was at work for most of the time.

Mikasa naturally agreed to this. After all, she was really interested in basketball but her talent in playing it really sucked!

Recalling back to one time when she tried shooting a 3-pointer,she had shot the ball....through the car window instead!

After that incident, her parents forbade her from ever touching a basketball in their house and could only do it outside their house.

After all, they didn't care if anyone else's property got damaged by their daughter.

So, when Reo invited Mikasa to analyze his gameplay, she was just ecstatic.

Initially when she was invited over, she was merely thinking of getting her hands on a basketball but when she saw Reo's gameplay, she couldn't help but analyze it seriously and point out his flaws.

And that is what led up to this very moment.

"Reo-kun, you need to practice your ball handling more! You have a basic foundation in all of the 5 basics of basketball but you're ball handling is the worst!", Mikasa chastised.

After spending nearly 2 weeks to train in basketball, he had finally gotten almost all of the Common Grade Skills.

All except one.

[Common Grade Skill (Basic Passing)] [Level 1(02/30 EXP)]

[Enables the user to successfully pass the ball with a 50% accuracy to a teammate!]

[Awareness Required: 7 , Physique Required: 4, Dexterity Required: 6]

[Common Grade Skill (Basic Shooting)] [Level 1(02/30 EXP)]

[Enables the user to score a layup with a 60% accuracy! Normal shots within the 3-point line are scored with a 50% accuracy!]

[Strength Required:5, Awareness Required: 6, Physique Required: 4, Dexterity Required: 6]

[Common Grade Skill (Basic Rebounds) [Level 1(02/30 EXP)]

[Enables the user to catch successful basic rebounds with an accuracy of 50%!]

[Dexterity Required: 7, Physique Required: 6, Stamina Required: 5]

[Common Grade Skill (Basic Defense) [Level 1(02/30 EXP)]

[Enables the user to successfully block an incoming shot with an accuracy of 50%!]

[Physique Required: 6, Strength Required: 6 , Stamina Required: 5]

These were all the skills that he managed to acquire after training arduously for the last 2 weeks and according to the system, he was just missing one more.

Basic Handling!

Ball handling was the main foundation of basketball and if you were bad with ball handling, forget shooting, you wouldn't even be able to dribble properly.

As such, Reo put in extra hours just to obtain that skill but to no avail. It seemed that the requirements for getting that skill was quite a tough one.

After all, it could be considered the most important Common Grade Skill in the system.

So, after Mikasa pointed out his flaws in ball handling, he had been consistently practicing his ball handling for about 2 hours now.

However, after continuously seeing the lack of results, Reo was starting to feel discouraged.

'Looks like I really have to try winning the lucky draw on this one', Reo thought.

However, just as he was thinking about this, he received a notification from the system.

[Ding! You have completed the basic handling training(10000/10000)]

[Calculating rewards....]

[Ding! You have obtained a Low Grade Dexterity Multiplier(+3)]

[Ding! You have obtained a Dirt Grade Height Multiplier(+1)]

[Ding! You have obtained a Common Grade Skill(Basic Handling)]

[Common Grade Skill (Basic Handling)] [Level 1(02/30 EXP)]

[Enables the accuracy of the user to increase by 20% for all Common Grade Skills and maneuvers related. ]

[Dexterity Required: 9 , Strength Required: 6, Physique Required:7]