harleyscars Chapter 1: The Fisherman Never Goes Home Empty-Handed, Except for the System.
Chapter 1: The Fisherman Never Goes Home Empty-Handed, Except for the System.
When the sea breeze blew in, Akira Sendoh was lying on the breakwater.
The fishing rod was stuck in a crevice in the rocks, the fishing line dangled lazily into the sea, and the float remained motionless.
Anyway, he's not in a hurry.
With my eyes half-open and half-closed, I looked at the sun-bleached sky above me, my mind racing with all sorts of thoughts, like how the takoyaki I had for dinner last night was a bit too salty, how Fukuda had talked back to the coach during training today, and how the county tournament draw was in a few days.
However, there was one more thing that he had kept to himself for three years, something he had never mentioned to anyone and could not mention.
Three years ago, that summer, he wasn't called Sendoh Akira yet.
His name is Lin Dong.
An ordinary college student, having finished playing basketball, was squatting by the roadside drinking a soda when his phone screen lit up. He looked down at it, and then... nothing.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on an unfamiliar bed. There was a poster of Sakuragi Hanamichi on the ceiling, the streetlights outside the window were on, and there was a student ID on the bedside table: Ryonan High School, Sendoh Akira.
It took him all day to keep from breaking down.
It took him another whole month to figure out what was going on. He had transmigrated into "Slam Dunk" and become Sendoh Akira, the guy with spiky hair who fishes all day with a grin and whose talent was so good that people wanted to punch him.
That year, Sendoh was fifteen years old, in his third year of junior high school.
Lin Dong is 25 years old and a backup point guard on his university team. He has never played professionally and has never even made it into the national university league.
But this body's talent... He looked down at his hands; the knuckles were distinct, the fingers long and slender, a natural shooting hand shape. He knew the first time he touched a ball that this body was a completely different species from his previous life.
Unfortunately, his talent wasn't strong enough.
He knew that Akira Sendoh's original potential was top-tier in Japan, but he couldn't make it to the NBA. His physical attributes were what they were—the ceiling for Asians—and he would be at a disadvantage in physical confrontations.
So it took him three years.
There's no system, no cheat codes, not even a "ding" notification.
Relying on his training knowledge from his previous life, he did extra training on himself, including interval running, core strength exercises, three-point shooting drills, and defensive sliding techniques. While others practiced a hundred shots, he practiced three hundred. Coach Taoka, seeing him suddenly stop slacking off, thought he'd lost his mind.
Three years.
My body has indeed become a little stronger, but only a little.
He's half a step faster than in the original, his three-pointers are more accurate, and his defensive footwork isn't as easy to get past. But his jumping ability is still the same, his strength is still at a disadvantage against tank-type point guards like Maki Shinichi, and his stamina is insufficient after three quarters.
He was unwilling, but what could he do? This was all he could do.
The buoy moved slightly.
Sendoh blinked but didn't move.
It moved again.
He slowly sat up, reached out to grasp the fishing rod, and could feel the pull in his palm. It wasn't strong; it must be a small fish.
Reel in the line.
A palm-sized sea bream was thrown up, bounced twice on the rock, and its scales reflected a shimmering light.
Sendoh stared at the fish for two seconds, then unhooked it and threw it back into the sea.
"Too small."
He re-baited, cast the line, and lay back down.
The sun was a little lower than before, and the light on the sea changed from white to pale gold. In the distance, someone was hauling in fishing nets, and the muffled sound of a boat's motor drifted over.
He closed his eyes.
Suddenly, my vision brightened.
It wasn't the brightness of the sun; it exploded in my brain, like someone projected a screen onto my retina.
Host detected
[Three-year body data collection completed]
[Basketball God System - Officially Activated]
Sendoh suddenly opened his eyes.
The sea is still the same sea, the wind is still the same wind, but the semi-transparent panel in front of me is indeed floating there, with words popping out one by one.
[Current Attributes]
Speed: B+
Jump: B
Reaction: B+
Flexibility: B-
Strength: C+
Endurance: B-
[Talent Cap]
Speed: S-
Jump: A+
Reaction: S-
Flexibility: A
Strength: A-
Endurance: A
PP Balance: 0
【获取方式：高质量训练(1-3PP)、赢比赛(5-20PP)、突破极限(10-30PP)、里程碑(50-100PP)】
[Limitations: Daily limit 50PP, Weekly limit 200PP]
Sendoh paused for three seconds, then smiled.
It wasn't a loud "hahahaha" laugh, but a sound squeezed out from the throat, with an indescribable flavor, like something that had been waited for three years and was finally here, or like something that had been expected all along and was therefore not surprising, a relieved laugh.
There really is a system.
He said, what's the difference between transmigrating without a system and fishing without bait?
The panel was still there; it hadn't disappeared. Sendoh reached out to touch it, his fingertips passing through the words, but he couldn't feel anything.
"How do I use it?"
no response.
"Add points? Train?"
Still no response.
He stared at the panel for a few seconds; the letters and symbols seemed to be etched onto his retina, floating in the lower right corner of his field of vision no matter where he looked.
cold.
mechanical.
Ignore them.
It's like fishing for half a day without getting a bite.
Sendoh wasn't in a hurry. He lay back down on the breakwater, moved the system panel to a corner, and continued to look at the sky.
Anyway, the system won't run.
My mind started wandering to other things.
The county-level high school competition for second-year students will begin in a week.
Who did he play in the first game? He recalled the original plot; it should be Takezato, then Hainan, and then Shohoku.
Hainan has Shinichi Maki, a point guard whose strength is so great he can knock people flying.
Shohoku has Rukawa Kaede, that monster who can make defense his breakfast in one-on-one situations.
If things had gone according to plan, Ryonan wouldn't have won either of those two games. Hainan lost by a few points, and Shohoku lost because Fukuda had just returned from suspension and their defense was leaky.
But it's different now.
He has a system.
Although his PP is currently zero, and he doesn't know how to quickly accumulate points, and although this panel is as cold as a frozen fish in a freezer, at least he has a ladder to climb up.
The talent ceiling is fixed: S- speed, A+ jumping ability, and S- reaction time.
He used to think that at best he would only ever be a top Japanese player.
Now we know that was just the beginning.
"The Way of Immortality".
Someone called out to him from afar.
He sat up, squinted, and saw Yueye Hongming riding a beat-up bicycle, his school uniform billowing in the wind.
"What are you doing fishing here again! Coach Taoka is looking for you!"
Sendoh slowly reeled in the line, hoisted the fishing rod onto his shoulder, and walked back along the breakwater stones.
Yueye parked his bicycle by the roadside, frowned at him, and said, "You smell like the sea."
"The fish like it."
"The coach will start nagging you again when he smells it."
"Let him read it."
Sendoh tied the fishing rod to the back of his bicycle and rode off-road. He sat on the back, his long legs dragging on the ground, almost acting as brakes.
"Have you heard?" said off-road as he rode, "It seems like Shinichi Maki from Hainan has gotten even stronger this year."
"Um."
"And then there's Shohoku. They got a super rookie this year named Rukawa Kaede from Tomioka Junior High. I heard he was the kind of player who dominated the entire court back in junior high."
"Um."
Yueye turned around and glared at him. "Can't you even react? We're about to compete in the county tournament!"
Sendoh lazily watched the roadside trees move backward, the wind blowing his hair into a mess.
"There's a reaction."
"What was the reaction?"
"I'm thinking about which beach to go fishing at after the match."
I almost rode my bike into a ditch while off-roading.
When I returned to the school, Coach Taoka was standing at the entrance of the gymnasium, arms crossed, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
"The Path of Immortality".
"exist."
"You went fishing again?"
"I fished, but didn't catch anything big."
Taoka took a deep breath, seemingly using all his strength to suppress his anger. Fukuda Kichijo, leaning against the wall beside him, watched with a half-smile. That guy had just been released from suspension; he was prickly and looked down on everyone.
"Come in," Taoka said, turning and walking into the gymnasium. "Practice three-pointers."
Sendoh followed, took the ball, and stood outside the three-point line.
Shot.
The posture is perfect; the wrist is pressed down, and the ball draws an arc in the air.
"Bang!"
Blacksmithing.
Taoka's lips twitched.
Sendoh didn't mind, picked up the ball, and shot it again.
This time it's in.
The third one made it in.
Fourth, it's off-center.
Taoka stared at his shot for over ten minutes before finally speaking: "Your shooting form is a bit unsteady today."
"Yeah," Sendoh wiped his sweat, "It's windy today."
"You can get blown by the wind even inside a stadium?"
"It might be my imagination."
Taoka: "..."
The off-road vehicle next to him whispered to Uekusa, "Don't you think Sendoh's acting a little strange today?"
Uekusa thought for a moment, "Even lazier?"
"No," Yueye shook his head, "It's something I can't quite put my finger on, it's just... the way he looked at the basket just now, it wasn't the same as before."
He didn't understand the grass planting, but he thought off-roading was overthinking things.
How could the immortal path change? Nothing in this world has yet been created that could make him change.
It was already dark when training ended.
Sendoh was the last to leave. As he turned off the lights, he glanced at the empty court; the clock behind the backboard pointed to 7:30.
The system panel is still floating there.
PP balance: 0.
He picked up the ball and stood at the free-throw line for a moment.
Then shoot.
Goal!
High-quality training completed.
【PP+1】
Sendoh looked at the notification and a slight smile curved his lips.
Adding a little at a time is enough; he's not in a hurry anyway.
As he walked out of the gymnasium, the moon hung round and white atop the teaching building. Sendoh slung his bag over his shoulder and headed towards the dormitory.
My mind is already starting to plan for the county competition.
Hainan, Xiangbei, Mu Shenyi, Ruchuan Maple.
The cursor in the lower right corner of the system panel flashed, as if reminding him that it was time to get to work.
He chuckled.
"What's the rush? The fish won't run away."