*DING*
Ken who was sitting in the dugout suddenly heard his system chime, causing him to frown. The game had not ended yet, so he wasn't expecting to receive a notification.
It was the bottom of the 8th inning, which meant he still had another inning to pitch to close out the game.
He looked left and right, ensuring that no one was looking before opening up the system.
#MISSION: Debut [Completed]
DESCRIPTION: This is a turning point in your baseball career and will shape how those in the industry will perceive you. Should you fail to make an impression, the road ahead will be fraught with difficulty.
*Task: Make an impression.
REWARDS:
>N/A
WARNING: Result of mission will have far reaching consequences to the user.
Ken's frown deepened. There were no changes to the mission apart from the fact that it was now completed. There were no rewards to claim, so all he could do was stare at it for a while.
'Mika, what is the meaning of this? The game hasn't finished yet but the mission has been completed. Surely you can give me some additional information now right?'
[…]
The system window in front of him flickered briefly, almost causing Ken to gasp in shock. He had never seen it do this before.
#SYSTEM ALERT
>The user has chosen to upgrade the system.
>1,000,000 Major points will be deducted to upgrade the system.
'What!? Why is the system upgrading?' Ken shot to his feet. He did not initiate the upgrade, nor did he have the 1 million Major Points to upgrade it.
'Mika? What is happening?'
[…]
>Error…
>Upgrade fee has been waived.
>System will shut down for 72 hours in which all functions will be unavailable until the upgrade has been completed.
[Would you like to commence the upgrade now?]
[YES/NO]
'No…' Ken reached his finger up and pressed no. He did not know what was happening and would rather talk through things with Mika before he went through with it.
#SYSTEM ALERT
>The user has confirmed an immediate upgrade of the system.
>Upgrade fee waived.
SYSTEM UPGRADE INITIALIZING
SHUTTING DOWN TO INSTALL UPGRADE…
"Ken, go on deck, you're up soon." The voice of Coach Matthews reached him from the field, snapping him out of his shock.
"Y—Yes sir." Ken called out.
However, his mind was filled with questions. He was not concerned about playing without the system for 72 hours, he had trained too hard to let it effect him this time around.
His biggest worry was why the system began the upgrade on its own.
'Was it a reward from the mission?' Ken thought, frowning. But if that was the case, it should have been stated in the mission rewards, not just sprung on him randomly.
The worst part was, he couldn't ask Mika what had happened, at least not right now.
'Ignore it… I'll get answers in 3 days.' Ken told himself. He was in the middle of a game right now, so he needed to focus on the present. Although he'd completed the debut mission, he wasn't about to slack off now.
So when he stepped up to the batters box next, he swung for the hills.
WHOOOOSH
WHACK!
As the ball flew out to right field, Ken wasn't sure if it was going to be caught or go over the fence, so he ran with all his might. There was already 2 outs, so the runners on 2nd and 3rd ran as soon as the ball was hit.
The fielder jumped up to catch the ball, but his glove hit the back wall, forcing the ball out of his glove and onto the ground in front of him.
The crowd cheered, their roars entering Ken's ears. He turned to see that the fielder was still collecting the ball, so he decided to round 2nd base and head for 3rd.
With his long legs, Ken was able to slide onto third without much difficulty, beating the ball.
'So close…' Ken thought, dusting the dirt off his pants. He looked up and could see the bright eyes of the 3rd base coach staring at him.
The guy came over and celebrated with him, dishing out high fives and praise.
Ken smiled. Although he missed out on the home run, he had batted two runs in, so it made sense why the guy was happy.
"Ken hits a cycle on debut! Let's go SeaWolves!"
The announcer was hyping up the crowd like crazy after his hit. Only after hearing it himself did Ken realize why everyone was so excited.
'A cycle? I had no idea…' Ken thought. He never really kept track of things like this, he would rather have multiple home runs than a cycle.
Unfortunately, he was not able to make it home since Cain gave up an easy infield catch. But as a result from his earlier hit, the game had already moved to 8-1 in the home teams favor.
All he needed to do now was close out the pitching in this next inning and the game would be over.
Even without the system, the next sequence went by smoothly. He struck out the first batter in 4 pitches and the second had sent a fly ball into the outfield.
The third batter put up a bit of a struggle, but was eventually struck out after falling for a changeup.
"Game set! SeaWolves."
At the umpires announcement, Ken pumped his fist in triumph. It had been a weird night filled with challenges, but he had come out on top in the end.
His new teammates flooded the mound celebrating with him.
In the dugout, Rohan watched on silently. A small smile crept onto his face, but it was gone almost as quick as it appeared, replaced by a look of regret.
It was rather odd to see someone at 24 years of age with such an expression.
Without a word, he grabbed his bag and headed back to the locker room silently.