Chapter 139: Forged Star (1)
"Mom, I'm home."
Ken staggered through the front door of his home, feeling his muscles protest from the hard training he'd been doing. If it was just the team training and Hiroki's training he wouldn't be this exhausted.
However, he still had to swing his bat 500 times a day on top of the 150 pitches he made himself complete. Thankfully, today was the last day of his Ascend to the Peak (2) mission, meaning he would receive more rewards soon.
"Welcome home Kenny. Dinner will be ready soon, go and shower first."
Yuki replied without turning around, keeping her focus on the stove. It was only when she heard Ken's stumbling that she turned around and finally looked at him.
A look of worry appeared on her face as she saw the state of her son.
"Kenny, do you really have to train so hard?" She asked, feeling subconsciously guilty for his suffering.
Ken waved his hand dismissively, "Gotta train hard to be the best mom. I bet Daichi is training even harder than me."
Despite her son trying to ease her worries, Yuki still felt bittersweet.
"Okay I'm off to get cleaned up." He said, dumping his dirty clothes on the side of the washing basket.
Yuki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, feeling her earlier sympathy disappear entirely.
After dinner, Ken told his mother he was heading to sleep early since he was tired.
However, he really just wanted to get into the Image Training a bit earlier tonight since he was 500 swings away from his much needed rewards.
It was a risk entering the Image Training before 9pm, but he wanted to take it. Since he was in fact exhausted, the sooner he finished, the sooner he could get some sleep.
Without wasting any time, Ken clicked the button and ended up in Koshien once again. A place where he visited every night.
#BATTING MISSIONS:
> Hit 1000 bunts successfully - 250 Major points + Silver Lottery ticket [Claimed]
> Hit 1000 balls into outfield [1000/1000] - 250 Major points + B-grade Stamina Elixir [Claimed]
> Hit 3000 foul balls [3000/3000] - 250 Major points + Silver Lottery ticket [Claimed]
> Hit 1000 sliders [1000/1000] - 250 Major points [Claimed]
> Hit 1000 curve balls [1000/1000] - 250 Major points [Claimed]
> Hit 1000 fastballs [1000/1000] - 250 Major points [Claimed]
> Hit 1000 home runs [939/1000] - 2000 Major points + A-grade Strength Elixir + Gold Lottery ticket
"Almost done…"
Ken stared at the missions that he'd been slowly working at over the past month. Since he spent all of his Major points on the training plan to remove the cap on Hiroki's potential, these mission rewards were like rain during a drought.
He quickly opened up his stats, and took a look.
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 3 (2080/10000 Major points to level up)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 16
TALENT ASSESSMENT: A
POTENTIAL: S+
MAJOR POINTS: 2080
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: A+
>Pitching: A-
>Fielding: B-
>Game Intelligence: B-
>Mental: A+
>Skills: 15
PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. A+)
Balance and Coordination: S
Agility: A+
Strength: A
Stamina: S
Ken frowned, still annoyed that his pitching had stagnated at the A- grade. It just showed how hard it was to improve when one got to such a level, even with the additional training benefits he had.
"Nevermind, it's time to go get to work…"
With that, Ken selected the Amateur difficulty and was teleported to the batters box. Seeing the familiar figure of himself caused a smile to form on his face.
"Let's get these rewards."
Two hours later, Ken's consciousness appeared back in his room. He stared at the ceiling for a while, feeling a sense of accomplishment wash over him that only came after working hard.
[Mission Complete]
Received:
2000 Major Points
A-Grade Strength Elixir
1 Gold Lottery Ticket
#MISSION: Ascend to the Peak (part 2) [Complete]
*Task: Swing your bat 500 times both physically and in image training per day.
TIME: 0 days remaining.
REWARDS:
>Gold Lottery Ticket
>Unlock Mission: Ascend to the Peak (part 3)
[Received Gold Lottery Ticket]
"Ahhhh, come to me my pretties."
Ken breathed out a sigh of satisfaction seeing all of the windows appear in front of him. The noise the system notifications only added to his peace of mind.
After enjoying the feeling for a few moments, he opened up the new mission. If anything, he was hoping to take a bit of a break from the Image Training for a while so he could sleep for longer and improve his body's recovery.
His eyes widened after seeing the mission, unsure if what he was reading was true.
#MISSION: Ascend to the Peak (part 3)
*Task: Consume at least 3500 calories a day for the next month
TIME: 30 days remaining.
REWARDS:
>Skill: Poker face
>Skill: Training Demon
'Huh!? What is this?'
Ken rubbed his eyes a few times, however it had no effect on the window hovering in front of him.
'Does the system want to fatten me up?'
There could be no other explanation for such a mission, unless it wanted to torture him.
'Wait, how many bowls of rice would I need to eat to get to 3500 calories?'
Ken began the math in his head which took a lot longer than he would have liked to admit.
'FOURTEEN BOWLS OF RICE!?'
"I-I'm gonna die if I eat that much." His voice came out in a whisper as he felt his stomach churn just thinking about it.
However, when he looked at the rewards his eyebrow raised in curiosity. He was surprised to see the Poker face skill since he had been thinking it would be useful recently.
It sounded self explanatory, compared to the other skill anyway.
'Training Demon? What kind of skill is that?'
At first he thought it might be like his Doryoku and Disciplinarian skills, but that shouldn't be the case. He couldn't imagine the system allowing him to be too overpowered.
Unfortunately there was no way of viewing the details of a skill until he acquired it.
Disregarding the copious amounts of food he would have to eat this coming month, Ken was looking forward to acquiring two new skills.
Feeling his eyes starting to droop, He quickly decided to spin the wheel before heading to bed. He currently had a Silver Lottery ticket and two Gold tickets.