"Come on, Reo! Put your back into it! You can't expect your skills to become any better if you don't put some effort into it!", Reo's father shouted in encouragement as he watched his son from inside the house.
Meanwhile, Reo was still practicing his dribbling skills in the backyard for nearly 10 hours. He was sweaty and filled with an endless amount of grievances.
'What can't make my skills better without any effort? I've only started practicing 10 hours ago and you're already expecting me to be like Kobe Bryant!', Reo complained endlessly in his heart.
There was even a thought to file a complain to the government on child abuse.
This father of his was just too despicable in trying to make him into a superstar in just one day.
Did he really think that his son was invincible like some buddha under the heavens?
Still, Reo expected that this was somewhat a form of repayment to his father.
As his father had bought the bundle pack using an absurd amount of money, he also expected Reo to put in more effort as to make up for the amount of money spent.
However, Reo felt that this was too much. There was no way that he would gain anything from doing the dribbling motion for a few hours besides getting a sore arm.
Or so he thought.....
Right at that moment, a notification window popped up in front of him.
[Ding! You have completed the basic dribbling training(100000/100000)]
[Calculating rewards....]
[Ding! You have obtained a Dirt Grade Physique Multiplier(+1)]
[Ding! You have obtained a Common Grade Skill(Basic Dribbling)]
[Common Grade Skill (Basic Dribbling)] [Level 1(02/30 EXP)]
[Enables the user to dribble the ball with 80% accuracy to advance or retreat with the ball without losing it. There is a 50% chance of a quick crossover occurring without losing the ball!]
[Physique Required: 4, Dexterity Required: 6]
Looking at the system notifications, Reo was stunned.
This works as well?
However, he seemed to recall the system mentioning something like this before.
Only Common Grade Skills could be learned through sheer effort!
This made Reo feel inexplicable joy. However, it also made him feel severely distressed.
It meant that he would have to go through the same amount of torture every time he wanted to obtain a new Common Grade Skill.
The mere thought gave him goosebumps.
He had nearly been abused to the point of ascending into heaven and yet, this system was still asking him to do more to obtain those Common Grade Skills.
[Hmph! If you're already complaining about this much, then I am really questioning your qualifications to be my host!]
[How can this kind of training be exhausting for you?! In your previous world, the athletes on the national track and field team would train for at least 10 hours to keep their body in perfect shape for upcoming competitions!]
[Yet, you are already complaining about this?! If you have to know, even the physique of that Usain Bolt can't be compared to those basketball players with S ranked talent and above. The competition in this world is extremely fierce and if you're already complaining about this, you might as well give up now!]
Reo felt upset.
Not only was his father bullying him, this system was also bullying him as well.
If it had been anyone with a lower mental state, they would have cried and left the court in shame.
Also, Reo was shocked about this new piece of information.
The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt could be considered having a physique that was at the peak among all the world-class athletes in his previous world.
Yet, in this world, his physique is not even comparable to those basketball players with S ranked talent and above. Just how fearsome were those players to even top off Usain Bolt?!
This also served as a wakeup call for him.
S ranked talent was not the highest. There were even higher realms above that.
This showed that as their talent went higher, the competition would become fiercer and fiercer.
Not only that. If the talent at the top were already at such a fearsome level, then the talent at the bottom can't be considered pushovers as well.
At the very least, they were above average compared to the normal student players in his previous world.
This lit a fire in Reo's heart. He had always wanted to play basketball and the thought of going up against such strong players aroused his fighting spirit.
If he wanted any chance at winning against those people, he would have to get stronger and for that, he would have to put in more effort.
More effort than anyone else to become the strongest!
So, with his teeth gritted and eyes filled with newfound determination, Reo continued dribbling the ball with newfound passion.
On the sidelines, Reo's father noticed the change in his son's dribbling and his eyes lit up.
"Eh? It seems like he was suddenly motivated for some reason?"
"This is good. If you want to become better in anything you do, you will need to put in a huge amount of effort"
"This is even more so for you. You started out later than the rest of them but your father has complete confidence in you doing well in anything you choose", his father whispered under his breath.
This was how a parent should be.
No matter what, they would always support their child unconditionally and believe that their child was meant for greater things.
They would not doubt for even a second that their child would reach great heights.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Ouch, it still hurts", Reo complained as he rubbed his arm.
He was completely sore after that devil-like training yesterday.
Over 10 straight hours had really done a number on him.
He was tired and sore to the point of being unable to lift even a single finger with his right hand.
Overall, it didn't seem quite worth it to be this sore only to gain experience.
The only proper benefit that he got out of it was that new skill that he got from the system.
He was quite happy with that, even more so that he had fulfilled the requirements to use that skill.
It was quite a good thing that his dexterity was already high, otherwise he would have another skill with unfulfilled conditions.
That would really put him in the slums.
There was also another thing that the system had told him yesterday.
The requirements for any skill regardless of their grades would only have to be fulfilled once in the beginning. After that, there would be no other requirement to fulfill as his skills leveled up.
The system said that it was due to the body already adapting to the skill in advance so there was no need for a higher requirement.
This gave him a bit of consolation.
If every skill would have a higher requirement after leveling up, it would mean that those skills would become useless for a time being until those requirements were fulfilled.
Now, he would not have that additional worry every time he leveled up a skill.
As Reo thought about this, he walked through the gates of his elementary school for the first time since he reincarnated.
His father had taken the liberty to drop him off but had told Reo that he would have to walk back on his own due to him working overtime that day.
Reo wasn't dumb and he knew that his father's overtime would last for quite a while to earn back that absurd amount of money spent on the bundle pack.
Thinking about this, Reo clenched his fist as his determination became stronger.
He had no idea if there were any mini-challenges in Japan like there were in his previous world but considering their basketball craze, it was highly likely to exist here as well. Also, the prize money would surely not be low.
If he could train his skills up, he would surely be able to dominate those challenges easily and help his father earn back some money.
Even if it wasn't enough to help his father, the least it could do was make up for Reo's daily expenditure. That could at least cut down a bit of his father's burden.
As he thought about this, Reo began planning for the future. He couldn't choose to remain idly until he got to middle school to participate in all those big tournaments.
However, that was all for a later date. Right now, he had school to begin with.
After greeting the security guard at the gate, Reo walked straight into the school compound and tried to navigate his way around the school.
However, he noticed one fatal problem.
He didn't know where his class was or his schedule!
After all, he didn't inherit any memories from the previous owner of this body!
This was just absolutely disastrous.
Them, right as he was thinking about how to solve this problem, a cute feminine voice suddenly called out from in front of him.
"Reo-kun!"
Looking ahead, Reo was surprised to find a cute girl smiling at him as she ran over.
'This girl is really cute. Could she be the previous owner's girlfriend?', Reo wondered incredulously.
Was his previous life really that good?