Game?
Or a system?
Looking at the numbers that had appeared out of thin air before his eyes, Shibukawa could barely contain his excitement.
But then, the notification sound he had imagined never came.
The string of numbers gradually faded until it disappeared completely.
An illusion?
Or…
“Keep swinging!”
At that moment, Minami’s voice rang out from the front of the group.
He was bent slightly forward with his arms flexed, eyes fixed straight ahead as he swung his racket quickly and powerfully, producing a sharp whoosh.
“Everyone, stay focused.”
“Swing practice may be the most basic drill, but it’s extremely effective at building good habits.
Truly skilled players practice their swings until the motions become muscle memory.”
“Once a player reaches that level, all they need to do is focus on the movement of the ball.
When it comes within reach, they can naturally execute the entire motion in one fluid movement and fire back a powerful return.”
“So don’t ever underestimate swing practice…”
“Yes!”
Hearing Minami’s words, everyone immediately focused on the drill.
Shibukawa was no exception.
For one thing, he didn’t want to attract anyone’s attention.
For another, he wanted to confirm that what he’d just seen hadn’t been an illusion.
Whoosh!
He immediately swung his racket again.
[Basic Swing completed.]
[Swing EXP +1]
[Current Swing Level: Lv.
2 (35/100)]
‘It wasn’t an illusion.’
‘I really can see the changes from swinging my racket.’
Shibukawa was thrilled.
It didn’t seem to be the kind of system he’d read about in novels, but it did have the ability to visualize his stats.
If he used that function properly, there was no reason it couldn’t produce an effect comparable to a cheat.
After all, data visualization itself was practically a cheat.
It gave him an ability that data tennis players like Mitsuya, Yanagi, and Inui from the original Prince of Tennis could only dream of possessing.
Moreover, there was no reason he couldn’t use this ability to develop in that direction himself.
With that thought, Shibukawa suppressed his excitement and began swinging again.
However, as he repeated the motion, the data appearing before his eyes began to change.
[Basic Swing completed.]
[Swing EXP +1]
[Invalid Swing completed.]
[Swing EXP +0]
[Invalid Swing completed.]
[Swing EXP +0]
“Hm?”
Shibukawa immediately stopped.
Then, recalling how the body’s original owner normally moved during training and imitating the form Minami had just demonstrated, he swung his racket again.
[Basic Swing completed.]
[Swing EXP +1]
[Current Swing Level: Lv.
2 (37/100)]
‘Looks like I have to maintain sufficiently proper form to gain experience.’
‘That makes sense.
This is only visualizing my data, after all.
It isn’t a real cheat.’
‘Still, this is more than enough.’
Now that he had calmed down, Shibukawa didn’t rush back into training.
Instead, he experimented with different motions to test his hypothesis.
This thing—which, for now, he decided to call the Proficiency Panel—only awarded experience when he performed a proper swing.
It might not seem particularly useful at first glance, but for a beginner like him, it was essentially the same as having a personal coach available anytime, anywhere to correct his form.
Moreover, as the number of swings increased, Shibukawa could clearly feel himself becoming more proficient.
His movements grew smoother and increasingly natural.
But because of that, he was also moving considerably slower than everyone else.
Fortunately, he’d previously been nothing more than a background character and one of the weakest members of the club, so no one paid him any attention.
The other members of Yamabuki, including Minami, were all focused on the dark-skinned boy wearing white-framed sunglasses.
Toji Muromachi.
Twelve years old.
A newcomer who had joined the Yamabuki tennis club that spring.
Although his talent couldn’t compare with Sengoku, currently Yamabuki’s strongest singles player, he was by no means inferior to vice-captain Minami.
Because of that, many people privately speculated that once summer ended and the third-year seniors gradually left the tennis club, Muromachi would likely earn a spot on the regular team before even entering his second year of middle school.
…
Time passed, second by second.
As the group continued their swing practice, everyone began sweating to varying degrees.
At this point, the difference between Muromachi and the others became even more apparent.
Muromachi’s breathing remained steady, with only a faint sheen of sweat forming on his forehead.
He looked completely at ease.
In contrast, many of the second-year players could feel the aching in their arms growing steadily worse, gradually wearing away at their willpower.
“I…
I can’t do this anymore.”
Finally.
The first person reached his limit.
Soon afterward, many of those who had only been hanging on through sheer determination also lowered their rackets and began panting heavily.
…
“Fifty-nine.”
“Sixty.”
“Sixty-one.”
Elsewhere, Shibukawa was struggling to hold on as well.
By comparison, everyone else had already completed several hundred swings, while he had only managed a little over sixty.
At first glance, it looked as though he had been left completely behind.
In reality, however, every single one of his swings was recognized by the system—a truly valid swing.
And precisely because of that, what he was doing was several times more difficult than what the others were doing.
By now, Shibukawa could already feel himself reaching his limit.
But seeing that his [Swing] skill was just about to advance from Level 2 to Level 3, he gritted his teeth and used the last of his strength to keep swinging.
“Sixty…
two.”
“Sixty…
three…”
“Six…
ty…
four…”
“Six…
ty…
five!”
[Basic Swing completed.]
[Swing EXP +1]
[Current Swing Level: Lv.
3 (0/500)]
[Through tempering your willpower, one of your attributes has increased.
Mental +0.1]
In that instant, Shibukawa felt a cool current flow through his entire right arm.
Most of the fatigue caused by the high-intensity swing practice immediately faded away.
At the same time, he could clearly feel that the swinging motion he had just practiced had been branded deep into his mind.
Even with his eyes closed, he could accurately reproduce the proper form.
And that wasn’t all.
His mental energy, which had already been more than half depleted, also recovered somewhat as a warm current flowed through his mind, leaving his thoughts much clearer.
‘Looks like…’
‘This proficiency system is even better than I thought.’
Moreover, he had realized that this special panel, which only he could see, probably did more than simply quantify his training.
However, when he focused his attention on it and tried to bring up a character status screen, nothing resembling the five-dimensional stats he had imagined appeared.
‘There are two possibilities.’
‘First, all I can see are the numerical changes produced by my actions.
It doesn’t have any of the special functions I imagined.’
‘Second, my Mental isn’t high enough yet, so there’s no way to display my five-dimensional stats numerically.’
Shibukawa was more inclined toward the second possibility.
Still, even if the system did nothing more than quantify his progress and allow him to see his proficiency increase through training, that was already more than good enough for him.
‘Judging by the timing, there’s no way I’ll make it in time for this year’s National Tournament.’
‘But there are still two semesters before the new season begins next spring.
I have plenty of time.’
‘From now on, I can’t waste a single moment that I could be using to get stronger!’
Shibukawa silently resolved.
As for Muromachi, the boy in the distance who was surrounded by people showering him with praise, Shibukawa paid him no attention at all.
Perhaps within the Yamabuki tennis club, Muromachi could indeed be considered a genius.
But at the Metropolitan Tournament, the Kanto Tournament, the National Tournament, and eventually the much broader world beyond them, this so-called genius wouldn’t even qualify as cannon fodder.
Shibukawa, on the other hand, was different.
With the Proficiency System as his cheat, he was fully capable of competing against the top geniuses from the original series.
At that thought, he tightened his grip on his racket, filled with renewed motivation, and his determination to become stronger grew firmer than ever.