The loss was a tough one to swallow, especially for Ken. If he hadn't given up the Grand Slam, they would have been tied at the end of 9 innings, possibly going into extra innings if that were the case.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he agonized over it, nothing would change.
'If this was Koshien, we would have been knocked out already.' Ken thought, chuckling dryly. At least they had a chance to turn things around.
Ken had a quick dinner with Daichi and Rohan before retreating to his room. He hopped into bed and stared at the ceiling, bringing the system up.
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 6 (Max)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 22
TALENT ASSESSMENT: EX+
POTENTIAL: L
MAJOR POINTS: 13,604,880
USER MENU:
-STATS
-MISSIONS
-SYSTEM SHOP
-LOTTERY
-IMAGE TRAINING
-IDENTIFY
-TRAINING PLAN
-MENTOR
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: EX+
>Pitching: EX+
>Fielding: A+
>Game Intelligence: SSS
>Mental: EX-
>Skills: 27
>Traits: 4
PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. EX)
Balance and Coordination: EX+
Agility: EX
Strength: EX+
Stamina: EX+
Nothing had really changed in months, though his strength had managed to increase a grade out of nowhere. It was tough to increase his physical grades now that they were already so high.
This was especially the case while the season was on. With 162 games in the regular season, there was no real time to solely focus on his condition, this would need to be done in the off season.
'I guess I won't be able to see my status window when the system is gone.' Ken thought to himself bitterly.
Back when he first got the system, Ken would look at his status window every night. Every single change that occurred meant he was getting better as a player, it was almost addictive to see himself improving.
Yet upon reaching his current level, changes to his grades were few and far between.
After all, it had taken him a whole 9 months to increase his strength by a single grade.
He navigated the system screen and brought up the only mission that was in progress.
#MISSION: Final Showdown
*Task 1: Throw a Perfect Game [Completed]
*Task 2: Win the World Series [In Progress]
REWARDS:
>System Integration
FAILURE:
>Loss of system and skills
Ken shook his head, throwing thoughts of losing his system to the back of his mind. He still had some things to do before he either lost the system, or it integrated into him.
He moved to the Image Training and selected it. His eyes grew heavy and he soon found himself in a familiar place.
"300 more home runs…" he muttered.
Lately he'd been able to hit around 100 per session, which meant he just needed 3 or so more sessions within the Image Training realm to receive the Home Run King skill and a diamond ticket.
Once he selected the batting mission, Ken appeared in the batters box.
WHOOOOOSH
THWACKK!
***
The next morning, Ken entered the Image training right away, postponing his morning run. It wasn't until 9am that he left his room with bags under his eyes.
"Dude, did you even sleep last night?"
In the dining room of the hotel restaurant, Ken sat with Daichi and Rohan, a simple but large breakfast in front of him. Honestly, his mind was exhausted, but he wanted to get the new skill as soon as possible.
"I'll be fine after another nap I think…" Ken replied, wearing a pained smile.
"Bro… Maybe you have sleep apnea or something. You should get it checked out." Rohan stated.
"I think I just had some bad dreams, I'm not worried." Ken said, waving it off. Of course he knew the reason why he looked so run down, there was no point heading to the doctors.
"How about you, little bro? Ready to play tonight? Or did you need some more time off?" Ken asked, wearing an impish grin.
Daichi gave him a brief glare before taking a sip of his orange juice, "Unlike some of us, I've been training all morning. Of course I'm ready."
Ken blinked incredulously, letting out a dry chuckle after a while. If Daichi and Rohan knew that he was actually training while lying in bed, what expression would they make?
"Rest days are just as important as training," Ken stated, shrugging his shoulders.
At this, both Rohan and Daichi scoffed in unison, "Says the guy who never takes any rest days. Apart from these two runs you missed this week, you never missed a single day."
Seeing the two guys staring at him, Ken was momentarily stunned.
Both Daichi and Rohan laughed shortly after, finding Ken's expression to be rather amusing. Despite the loss last night, the two appeared to be in good spirits this morning.
"You guys are just bully's." Ken said, yet he wore a grin.
The trio chatted for a while before Ken went back upstairs to get a power nap in. He still had the player meeting to go to and the practice before the game tonight, so there was no other time to nap.
If Rohan and Daichi could see how tired he was, there was a good chance his grandfather might see it too and sit him out of the game tonight.
That wasn't something he could afford.
'Mika, use sleep protocol please. Wake me up in a few hours though.' Ken asked in his mind.
[Affirmative. Activating sleep protocol.]
A few hours later, Ken woke up feeling refreshed after the full nap. The only problem was, his body felt stiff from laying in bed so much over the past week.
'I need to loosen up my muscles.' Ken thought.
So he made his way down to the hotel gym, intending on getting his body moving. There he saw a few of the other players doing some light workouts before the player meeting.
After around 45 minutes, Ken was satisfied with his condition and went back to his room to get ready for the rest of the day.
With Daichi coming back, game 5 would be the turning point for the Ligers in this series.