16. The first trial begins

After arriving in Compton, Zhang Yang's daily routine didn't change much.

He would train for 2-3 hours each morning and evening without increasing his training time, not because he lacked stamina but mainly due to the scorching heat.

In the summer, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., playing basketball was still manageable—after all, a few half-court 3-on-3 games to ten points only took about twenty to thirty minutes, at most half an hour. Long training sessions in such heat could genuinely risk heatstroke.

Moreover, the roughly five hours of training each day were already quite a lot. Each 2-3 hour session left him feeling tired. Despite his good physical condition, he was only 15 after all. When he trained with DeRozan, although it seemed like they were training for the same length of time, DeRozan wasn't actually training as much. At least a third of the time, he was helping Zhang Yang train.

The current intensity of training was just enough for him to recover with a good night's sleep. Increasing it might indeed affect the next day's training.

He no longer had to help out in the restaurant at noon, but now he needed to cook his own lunch and get dinner ingredients ready in advance.

There were seemingly nice restaurants nearby, but they were expensive, and he didn't feel it was worth spending his parents' money on them.

Fast food was cheap, but American burgers and fried chicken weren't as tasty as their versions back home.

So he simply cooked for himself; after all, he enjoyed making his own meals. He could buy whatever ingredients he craved and adjust the flavors to his liking.

Some evenings, he would take a couple of dishes to neighbors he hadn't met yet. He was likely to live here for the next three years, so it was necessary to maintain good relationships.

The rest of the time, he didn't wander around aimlessly. The city wasn't as dangerous as his coach and friends had described, but it wasn't much better either.

A wise man does not stand under a wall on the verge of collapse. Aside from going to DeRozan's home on the 7th to celebrate his 14th birthday with Harden, his activities were mostly confined to the relatively safer area near Thomas's house.

He stayed put, but people came to visit him. DeRozan would have his mom drive him over to Thomas's house to train every other morning.

DeRozan's mom, upon hearing her son was training at the head coach's house, didn't linger and would head off to do odd jobs after dropping him off.

DeRozan mainly came to check on his friend's training progress and see if there was anything he needed to instruct.

He would never admit that he started coming over because he found that his buddy's breakfasts were really tasty and he wanted to mooch off them.

As days passed, Zhang Yang trained with increasing vigor.

Not only did his determination to become an outstanding basketball player strengthen, but his Shooting Value was also approaching the ten-thousand mark.

He didn't train to obtain a certain number of points or increase his Shooting Value each day; he focused on the training itself. Although the growth of his Shooting Value wasn't rapid, especially after adding new training routines, like when he first started practicing free throws or jump shots from the free-throw line distance, the gain in value would drop sharply. But he wasn't impatient. If efficiency was lacking, he'd make up with time, and the task would eventually be completed.

...

It was August 10th, and after having dinner with Thomas and scraping their plates into the dishwasher, Zhang Yang headed out to the yard to continue training.

He was a bit excited about this training session because right before dinner, his Shooting Value had reached 9925 points, less than a hundred away from the goal.

He kept his emotions in check, rotating through a set of free throws, a set of jump shots from the baseline at the free-throw line distance, and a set of layups after breakaways, without allowing the impending completion of his task to disrupt his training rhythm.

At 7:58 p.m., with a mid-range jump shot from the right baseline, the 'Gate of Trials' appeared before him, and the characters above the gate changed!

What was previously 'Zero' had turned to 'One'!

The characters in the task bar also underwent a change.

"Having amassed 10,000 Shooting Value, your first Gate of Trials will open tonight."

Zhang Yang blinked. Is that it? Some detailed description would be nice!

He repeatedly questioned in his mind, but the characters above the gate didn't change, dampening his excitement.

Forget it, just keep training! He would find out what the 'Gate of Trials' meant in time. Regardless, it was always right to persist with training.

By 8:30 p.m., Zhang Yang finished training and went back inside to cool down before taking a hot shower.

After the shower, he noticed light shining from the crack in the study room's door.

School was starting in a few days, and Thomas had been busy preparing for things like recruitment and friendly matches for the new season.

After saying goodnight through the door, Zhang Yang went upstairs to his bedroom. He read a book for a while, but unable to focus, he tossed it aside.

Thomas was very attentive in caring for him—he had gone ahead and brought back the textbooks for the sophomore year and even borrowed study notes from an 11th grader with good grades.

He was thankful, but the thought of previewing his new semester's courses just wasn't appealing.

He wasn't someone who disliked studying, but having struggled through three years of high school in his past life to get into a key university, he had exhausted all his patience for academics. It was only because he chose a major he liked in college that he found his studies interesting, achieving good grades and smoothly obtaining his degree.

Now, the thought of striving through high school again... it only fueled his motivation to play basketball more.

He aimed to perform well in high school and make it into the NCAA!

Zhang Yang's mind wandered, and sleepiness came over him. Around 10 p.m., he fell asleep as usual...

...

The original body had good sleep quality, and after Zhang Yang had transmigrated, he maintained the original body's healthy routine, ensuring adequate sleep. Waking up feeling refreshed was truly delightful.

Just past 6 a.m., Zhang Yang woke from his sleep, having had a good night's rest, feeling clear-headed and energetic.

But upon waking, he was confused—hadn't the first Gate of Trials been set to open last night?

Wait a minute! That's not right!

Lying in bed, Zhang Yang focused his gaze and realized it wasn't the bedroom ceiling at Thomas's place, which he had grown familiar with.

He sat up abruptly, took in his surroundings, and found himself in a room much larger than Thomas's guest room, with furniture that also looked much more expensive.

No way, another transmigration?

At that moment, information flooded his mind.

This was the year 2010 in the 'Gate of Trials.'

After entering Compton High School, he had trained hard for two years, displaying outstanding performance in the 12th grade, and successfully joined the University of Arizona Wildcats.

Through years of diligent training in attacking the rim, catching-and-shooting from mid-range, and fast-break scoring, he quickly established himself as a role player on the Wildcats' team.

However, due to his one-dimensional skills and a rigid style of play, he made limited progress during his college years. After averaging 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in his junior season, he felt there wasn't much room for improvement in college and decided to declare for the 2009 NBA Draft... and then went undrafted.

After not being drafted, he didn't give up on his basketball dream, trying out everywhere, but in the end... he couldn't make it into the NBA and lingered in the Development League.

It wasn't until late March 2010 that the Phoenix Suns' backup guard Leandro Barbosa was injured. Short on players, the Suns signed him to a 10-day contract. Although his playing time was limited and his performance was mediocre, he exhibited a great ability to adapt to tactics in training, catching the eye of head coach Alvin Gentry. He signed a contract through the end of the season and, due to the team's plethora of injuries, was able to make it onto the playoff roster of 12.

In the final game of the first-round playoff series against the Trail Blazers, he got 15 minutes on the court, making 4 of 7 shots plus two free throws to score 10 points, helping the team win 4-2 over the Trail Blazers, once again drawing the head coach's attention, with a good chance of getting playing time in the second round.

His diligent training attitude won the approval of Suns superstar Steve Nash. Due to some special reasons, he was currently staying at Steve Nash's house...

After receiving the information, Zhang Yang was a bit dazed.

Is that all? This unreliable cheat!

After grumbling to himself, he held back.

What else could he do...

Mentally calling it forth, a door appeared before him, and the information on it had changed.

"Training mode.

Name: Zhang Yang.

Nationality: China.

Age: 21 years old (June 6, 1988).

Height: 196 centimeters, wingspan: 210 centimeters.

Weight: 92 kilograms.

Occupation: Basketball player.

Current team: Phoenix Suns.

Attribute assessment: Three-point 68, mid-range 79, layup 88, ball-handling 76, passing 69, speed 91, strength 83, vertical leap 87, stamina 85...

Training task: Help the Suns knock out the Spurs in the second round of the playoffs.

Task reward: Steve Nash' ball-handling rhythm (Beginner level)."

After reading the information, Zhang Yang focused his attention entirely on the training task.

The difficulty of this task... It's like picking up rewards for nothing!

...

...

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