"Whoa!" Ken's eyes sparkled as he looked at the missions and rewards that floated in front of his face. The 500 home run mission seemed the most glaring as it rewarded 10 times the Major points as well as a Gold Lottery ticket and B-grade Elixir.
Ken had never even used a Silver lottery ticket, so the thought of using a Gold one made his imagination run wild.
"Maybe it will give me a skill to never miss a pitch?" He thought, rubbing his hands together greedily.
Without further ado, Ken grabbed one of the bats and headed into the batters box before squaring up towards the mound.
"Wait, who is going to pitch?" He asked aloud.
A moment after he asked the question a tall Japanese man appeared on the mound, wearing the colors of the national team. Before he could even realize what was happening, a blazing fastball went straight through the strike zone, causing the dirt on the ground to fly into the air.
"Strike." The robotic voice of the umpire sounded out behind him, knocking him out of his reverie.
"T-T-Tanaka!????" Ken's whole body felt as if it had lost strength as he stared at the Ace pitcher for the Japanese National Team. What the hell was Yu Tanaka doing in his image training facility?
Ken's attention was drawn to the signboard behind the pitcher which had the number 97 flashing in red upon it.
"97km/h? There's no way that it was that slow…"
Then it dawned on him, most professional baseball players used the imperial miles per hour system rather than kilometers per hour.
"97 miles per hour!? How the hell am I meant to hit that? That's like 155km/h…" Suddenly, the missions that once felt achievable, now seemed as if they were an unclimbable mountain.
2 more roaring pitches went straight through the middle and into the catchers glove, sucking all of the enthusiasm out of Ken's body. Just as he was about to give up, he saw a notification appear from the system.
SYSTEM HAS NOTICED THAT THE USER IS UNABLE TO HIT SUCH PITCHES. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOWER THE DIFFICULTY?
>MAJOR LEAGUE
>PROFESSIONAL (Current)
>AMATEUR
>HIGH SCHOOL (Recommended)
>MIDDLE SCHOOL (Stats will not be recorded towards missions in this difficulty)
>ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Stats will not be recorded towards missions in this difficulty)
"Oh thank god!" Ken breathed a sigh of relief, seeing as he could choose his difficulty level. It would be pointless going up against such a fast pitcher at his current level. However, it filled him with even more enthusiasm for his future as baseball player.
"Let's go with High School."
The moment he selected the option, someone unexpected showed up on the mound; Himself. Or rather, himself in his previous life when he was in High School.
Looking at the older version of himself felt a little weird, however it had a positive psychological effect on Ken. His current goal was to surpass himself, both in his home life and baseball career.
Going up against his former self made seemed to make this goal tangible, filling him with fighting spirit.
"Hahaha! It's time to see what it's like on the other end of one of my pitches." Ken pointed the bat towards his previous self and let out a laugh.
Getting into position, his eyes narrowed as the pitcher performed his wind up.
WHOOSH
'Fastball down the middle! Who do you think I am?'
PAH
"Strike."
"Damn it! What the hell was that ball movement?" Ken complained.
"Again!"
PAH
"Strike"
"Again!
"Strike"
"AGAIN!"
Ken tried and tried again to make contact with the ball, but there was something wrong. With his new mental grade, he was able to track the course of the ball, however he always seemed to be off.
This time, he decided to let the ball go, focusing his vision on the ball from when it left the pitchers fingers until it ended up in the catchers gloves.
"W-What!?"
The ball seemed to move in an odd fashion just before reaching the strike zone, changing its course ever so slightly despite being a fastball.
"Is this what all my opponents felt like during high school?" Ken mused, feeling frustrated. Now that he had seen it up close, he could now understand what was happening.
His flexible limbs and fingers allowed the ball to fling off in such a way where there was an unusual spin applied to the ball. This made its course unpredictable, especially just before the ball reached the strike zone.
But unfortunately, knowing about the quirk did not make it easier to hit the ball. Therefore he decided to just work on his bunts for a couple of hours tonight before getting some sleep.
By the end of the 2 hour session, he had managed to successfully bunt 100 times. Despite having a skill, he had only managed to convert around 50% of the pitches into bunts, the others either fouling or missing completely.
Of course he was going up against a high school pitcher who was pitching around 120km/h but still, it gave him a wake up call not to blindly rely on the system skills.
While the Major League System was a great tool to help him achieve his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, it was just that; a tool. If he didn't put in the work and utilize it correctly, then it would feel as if he had achieved nothing.
And if the system were to disappear one day, he would have learned nothing either, returning to his previous self. This was not something that he would allow happen.
As his thoughts drifted, Ken's consciousness reappeared in his room and he quickly took a look at his alarm clock which read 10:30pm.
"Looks like I need to adjust my schedule if I want to do image training every night." He mused before turning over, falling asleep only a few minutes later. It seemed that the training had taken its toll on his mind.