***
After school, Ken and Steve caught a bus and headed to the place where the car was. Steve got some more money from the ATM, prompting Ken to facepalm.
Couldn't he have just got his own money out here instead of bringing it to school? If he'd known then they wouldn't have gotten into all that mess this morning.
However, Ken didn't interrupt the clearly excited Steve as he counted the money in his hands. After he was satisfied, they walked into a used car dealership and made the transaction.
After only around 20 minutes, they received the keys and were set to go.
The car, or rather pickup truck was a red Chevrolet Silverado, complete with a tray and some obvious signs of rust. Ken felt that it was overly bigger than what he was used to, but he didn't have any complaints.
Steve sat in the drivers seat for a while, his hands moving over the steering wheel with glee. His eyes were sparkling, as if he'd been waiting for this moment for a long while.
Ken couldn't help but smile, seeing the pure joy in his friends expression.
"Alright, let's go!" He said, turning the key. The engine roared to life, bringing a wide smile to the guy's face.
Ken quickly put his seatbelt on, feeling a little nervous for some reason.
But surprisingly, Steve was a good driver. Apart from a few crunches of the gearbox, the ride was smooth enough.
They soon arrived back at the school. "Go chuck your bike in the back." He said, slapping the roof of the truck.
After he was done, the two drove to the same field they went to yesterday to participate in club training.
"You guys are late." Coach Wyatt said, sizing up the two. Inwardly he was a little worried that Ken might be one of those guys who didn't show up on time, however he quickly shook his head.
He had seen both Ken and Steve stay back after he'd left, so that shouldn't be the case.
Instead of harping on about it, he told them to quickly get ready. The team was already doing some drills on the field, mainly grounders and outfield training.
Once again, the training lasted for a little over an hour before everyone began to pack up. Both Latrell and Steve stayed back once more and decided to do some extra training with Ken.
Max watched as the trio began to work, his face expressionless. However, there was a certain unreadable look in his eyes. Eventually, he joined his other teammates and left the field.
By the end of the training, Latrell had already emptied the contents of his stomach. He had done his best to keep up with Ken's regime, however he suffered because of it.
'This is more intense than yesterday!' he screamed in his heart.
Steve on the other hand was doing his best to catch his breath. Though he equally had a hard time, it seemed that his stamina was ahead of Latrell's, but not by much.
Ken got curious after looking at the two and decided to use the Identify function on them both.
NAME: Latrell White
AGE: 18
TALENT ASSESSMENT: S
POTENTIAL: SS
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: SS
>Pitching: C
>Fielding: S+
>Game Intelligence: A
'Not bad…' Ken thought, reassessing the teen currently throwing up his guts. Despite the guy's physical fitness being graded at SS, it was likely that they were skewed further towards speed rather than stamina.
He turned his attention to Steve's figure who was collapsed on the ground.
NAME: Stephen Adams
AGE: 18
TALENT ASSESSMENT: S
POTENTIAL: EX
STATUS: Mirror Effect
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: S
>Pitching: C
>Fielding: SSS
>Game Intelligence: A
>Mental: SS
Additional Information: Player is rather impressionable, almost to a fault. He will mirror the work ethic of those around him, good or bad.
Ken's eyes widened. The first thing he noticed was the EX rating for Steve's potential, meaning they both had the potential to be great. This was a huge surprise, who would have thought he would meet such a player in this town?
However, what he saw after left him flabbergasted.
'Status? I've never seen that before.' He frowned, 'And what's this mirror effect?'
It was only until he got to the final section that he started to understand. Sometimes the system will give an update on the personality or affliction of those who he used Identify on.
Wasting no time, Ken asked his trusty AI friend.
'Mika, what's this new section in the identify window?'
[Answer: A result of the new upgrade. User can now see if players are under a certain status if applicable, when using Identify.]
Ken nodded, he had thought as much. However, the fact that Steve had such a great potential was very surprising to him, especially since he hadn't ever heard of him in his previous life.
If his theory was correct about the EX grading being linked to the MLB level, then Steve should have been able to make it eventually.
But as Ken's eyes hovered over the additional information once more, he could already understand what happened. Just basing off his interactions with the Gladiators teammates, it was clear that they lacked the proper work ethic to achieve anything great.
Out of the 10+ other players, only Latrell was the one who stayed back with them for additional training. This was polar opposite to the situation in Japan where literally everybody in his team wanted to join in with him.
At first Ken thought it might just be a cultural thing, but it seemed like it was rooted deeper than he believed.
After all, not every baseball player would be motivated to turn professional. The odds were extremely slim, even if one put their all into training every waking moment.
His eyes lingered on Steve once more, a small smile approaching his lips.
'No need to worry about your work ethic when I'm around…'
Steve who was busy catching his breath suddenly felt a cold sweat run down his back for some reason.