~~~~~~~~~~
[Transition complete]
[G.O.A.T System Initializing...]
[Complete... Waking up host]
I woke up to some sort of notification. I looked around and it seems like I woke up in my old room in my parent's house.
"My room..." I thought to myself thinking how long has it been since I last saw my old room. Posters of NBA stars plastered all over the wall, basketball magazines everywhere, oh man nostalgia.
I was born and raised in the Philippines, both of them are Filipino. I started to like basketball because of my father, just like me, he also dreamed to become an professional player but my grandmother never supported him.
I stood up and found my phone beside my pillow. "Hmm let's see, I think my password is..." After a few seconds, I was able to access my phone and confirmed the date, 5:04 AM March 16, 2009, Monday. "Alright! I guess he's a former supreme god after all. He reincarnated me after my graduation ceremony." I said to myself.
The reason I asked to be reincarnated before entering college was simple, I have talent now! I can finally apply for a basketball scholarship to those big schools. I will also have the whole summer to adapt to the system that Bathala gave me.
Since it's a little early I decided to check the system Bathala gave me.
So how does this system work? I thought to myself, now that I think about it there's no tutorial of the sort that was mention. Do I just think about it? Suddenly I heard a female robotic voice inside my head.
[G.O.A.T System Starting...]
"G.O.A.T system? Greatest of all time?" While thinking, a status window suddenly appeared before me.
[Kevin King]
- Age: 16 yrs
- Height: 6'2"
- Weight: 189 lbs
- Virtual Currency: 0
- Player Rating: 15/40
[Attributes]
- Layup: 20/40
- Dunk: 5/40
- Mid Range: 10/40
- 3PT: 5/40
- Ball Handling: 10/40
- Passing: 10/40
- Post Offense: 20/40
- Rebounding: 20/40
- Steals: 10/40
- Blocks: 20/40
- Vertical: 20/40
- Lateral Quickness: 20/40
- Speed: 20/40
- Acceleration: 20/40
- Strength: 20/40
- Stamina: 20/40
[Badges] (0)
"A player rating of 15? I suck!" I said while looking at the screen. I also noticed another thing, "VC? So he really based it with NBA2K. I just hope I won't have a hard time earning currency just like in the game." In the game players always start with a rating of 60, seeing as I have a rating of 15, I need to get to at least 60 before I graduate from college. However, my max rating right now is 40, how do I increase it? Do I have to do a certain action as well? "If I want to be a first-round draft prospect I need at least a 75 rating." Deandre Ayton, the 1st pick of the 2018 NBA Draft had a 79 rating in the game. I also noticed that the badges indicate a "(0)", badges also give a boost to a player so I also need to work on unlocking those.
I tinkered some more with the system to see if there are any other options but it just showed my status window, no tutorials of any sort huh I guess I'll figure it out as I go along. By the time I finished contemplating everything that happened, it was already past 5:30 am so I decided to get up and start my plans.
"Oh, you woke up early." As I got out of my room I saw my mother preparing breakfast, today is Monday so she has to go to work. Since my father died my mother worked hard to keep me at school. When I went to college in my previous life she had to work hard since I picked a medical course and let's just say the tuition to study a medical course is no joke.
"I missed you..." I muttered as I saw her again, I didn't reply and I just came up to her and hugged her. Ever since I lived on my own, I rarely visit my mother due to my work.
"Wha... You ok my dear? What's into you? Come on, eat." My mother said surprised with me hugging her. I finally came back to my senses so I replied. "I uhh... I'm planning to do some jogging before breakfast so please eat without me mom," I replied and got back to my room to wear workout clothes.
"Alright dear, be careful. Make sure you're back before I leave alright?" She said
"Yes, mother," I said before going outside.
As I walked outside, I started running at a steady pace. I played in the varsity in high school so I'm confident that I won't get tired right away. Although we didn't win any championships since our high school team is mediocre it still helped me develop my stamina. After a few minutes of running, someone called my attention. "Hey, Kev! You're up early! Wanna play 1on1?" It seems like I was thinking too much that I passed by the basketball court already and was called by my neighbor friend, Bast, he lives right next to us and studies at the local university.
I stopped and walked towards him. "Whats up Bast, 1on1? It's still morning and you want me to give you an L already?" I exclaimed jokingly.
"Hahaha! Fuck you Kev! Don't be so full of yourself just because you played varsity in high school doesn't mean you can take me lightly!" Bast replied.
"Well if it's just a single game then that's fine with me," I replied, might as well play some pickup, I also want to evaluate my skills so far.
"That's fine with me, I'll shoot to decide who gets the first possession. The first one who gets to 10 points win." Bast added while lining up in the free-throw line to shoot, in a 1on1 game the one who gets the first possession is usually decided by one of the players shooting a free throw, if it goes in then it's the shooter's ball and if not then it goes to the other player. As Bast shoots the ball, it doesn't go in so I got the first possession.
"My ball man, prepare to lose!" I said while lining up in the 3 point line.
"Hahaha funny!" Bast said as we exchanged some friendly banter while handing the ball to me. "Check ball!" The game started.
As I got the ball I went right away into the triple threat position[1], Bast who was guarding me got serious due to my change of composure. I was taller and bigger than Bast who's around 5'8" in height so I decided to get my first point by posting up. I then put my back against him and started backing him down towards the rim. Since I was left-handed I started from the right wing[2] of the court.
"Ugh man, you're fucking heavy!" Bast said while defending me. He tried reaching for the ball but my long arms were dribbling it far away and my body was blocking him.
When I noticed I was 10 feet to the rim I decided to make my move. I made a slight feint by flicking my body looking like I was turning towards the baseline then followed it with a front pivot turning me to the other side, I then shot the ball with a hook shot protecting the ball with my body against the defender.
Bast who bit my feint wasn't able to react with the hook shot as the ball went in the rim.
"Nice!" I said while grinning, the reason I grinned was that I didn't feel any discomfort in my knees. My knees got injured while playing during my 4th year of college and wasn't able to have it treated properly because it was expensive. I missed the feeling of having healthy knees.
"Ugh, man..." Bast exclaimed embarrassed I got him with a fake. "Alright 1-0," he said while handing the ball again to me. In a 1on1 game as long as the offensive player doesn't miss his shot the possession of the ball will not change. The defender must force a miss to get the possession.
"Check ball," Going into triple threat again starting another play. Since I need to know my current skill I decided with a different move.
I relaxed my stance and started dribbling the ball left and right. This time I started from the top of the key[2], then I suddenly changed pace by dribbling between my legs over to the left and driving towards the basket. Since I was young my first step was explosive so I caught Bast off guard, he was late to react and I was already on my gather step for a layup when he tried to follow me.
"Alright!" I said as the ball went in. "2-0 Bast, come on you can do better than that," I said in jest.
"Oh man, high school kids these days..." Bast said dismayed because I scored again.
"I just graduated man, you're just old!" I replied making fun of Bast.
"Fuck man I'm not old!" Bast replied while handing me the ball again, "Check ball!" he added.
I started at the top of the key[2] again and established myself in the triple threat stance, this time I attacked right away with a drive to the left. Bast was ready this time and was able to keep up and block my path to going the left. However, I predicted correctly and did a spin move going to the right giving me a clear look on the basket. Bast was surprised as he didn't expect a spin move and wasn't able to change momentum. I did a simple finger roll layup after the spin move as I scored again.
"3-0!" I said full of energy.
Bast just gave me a helpless look as we started another possession.
As we continued to play, I tried different ways to score from simple layups to shooting dribble pull-ups, and just as I was in my first life, I suck at shooting. By the end, I won the game 10-0, the possession changed twice due to my lackluster shooting (just as my status window says 10/99 in Mid Range) but I didn't let Bast make a single basket.
"You sure you don't want to play another game?" Bast said not seemingly affected that he lost.
"Can't man, need to go back home now." I refused, telling him I need to go back home.
As I walked back I took a look at the notifications I received after the game.
[Congratulations! You win!]
[Reward decreased due to opponents low skill level]
[10 VC gained]
[Achievement Unlocked!] [First Win]
[100 VC gained]
[Achievement Unlocked!] [Perfect Win]
[100 VC gained]
"Nice," I said grinning with satisfaction.
~~~~~~~~~~
As I got home, I saw my mother who was just about to leave in her work attire.
"Sorry Mom, Bast asked me to play some pick up with him and I wasn't able to notice the time," I said to her since it was past 7:30 AM already when I got home.
"That's alright my dear, I left breakfast on the table so eat. I'll be home late so don't wait for me later and eat dinner." She replied while putting on her leather shoes.
"I understand, take care. I love you, mom." I said goodbye to my mom as she left the house.
Let's eat first, was what I thought, I was hungry since I did some running for 30 minutes and a 1on1 game with Bast.
While eating I decided to check my status window, from what I found out for the window to appear I just have to think about it and it will show right away. Other people don't see it as well as I tried to open it in the middle of my 1on1 game with Bast for a few seconds checking if he will have some sort of reaction with it.
[Kevin King]
- Age: 16 yrs
- Height: 6'2"
- Weight: 189 lbs
- Virtual Currency: 210
- Player Rating: 15/40
[Attributes] (+)
- Layup: 20/40(+)
- Dunk: 5/40(+)
- Mid Range: 10/40(+)
- 3PT: 5/40(+)
- Ball Handling: 10/40(+)
- Passing: 10/40(+)
- Post Offense: 20/40(+)
- Rebounding: 20/40(+)
- Steals: 10/40(+)
- Blocks: 20/40(+)
- Vertical: 20/40(+)
- Lateral Quickness: 20/40(+)
- Speed: 20/40(+)
- Acceleration: 20/40(+)
- Strength: 20/40(+)
- Stamina: 20/40(+)
[Badges] (0)
The first change that I noticed is the 210 VC that I know have. "So I get VC by doing certain actions huh, just like in the game," I muttered remembering the notifications about achievements that I saw after the game, the system also allows me now to increase my attributes.
[Dunk Level 6 1 VC]
[Checkout][Y][N]
When I selected the (+) for dunk, a notification automatically showed up. I immediately selected no as I was just checking what will happen. "So it only lets me upgrade my attributes when I have enough VC?" I started experimenting right away by increasing dunk multiple times as well as trying to get it to the max.
"I see.." I said to myself, after figuring out the VC cost to max an attribute.
Level 1-10 requires 1 VC per level
Level 11-20 requires 2 VC per level
Level 21-30 requires 30 VC per level
Level 31-40 requires 40 VC per level
"So I need a total of 1250 VC to increase all my attributes to 40" It was lower compared to the NBA2k game, "I need to thank Bathala on this one."
Now that I thought about it, the reason my max rating might be 40 is that that's my maximum potential as a Highschool recruit? To be accepted for a scholarship I need to be at max attributes before I can hope college scouts and coaches to notice me when I attend the tryouts.
In the game, there are different ways you can earn VC, it can be by just practicing, or just plain playing basketball. I can also increase the amount I gain by performing well and doing certain actions for achievements.
"If I do this then I need to do this properly, no more slacking off just like my previous life. If I want to be the best, I need to work just like the best!"
After eating and cleaning up, I decided to browse the web using my old PC to check for the current events so far as well as checking schedules for college tryouts with the NCAA and UAAP. NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines), just like in the United States, those are the two major collegiate leagues in the Philippines. If I want to be the best then I need to play against the best. It's the only way to increase my resume once I decide to declare my intentions for the NBA Draft.
While browsing I saw some news about the NBA, "Oh yeah, the Celtics just won the title December last year against the Lakers." 2007-2008 NBA Season was the year 3 superstars formed the big 3 in Boston which immediately got them a championship.
The NBA starts its regular season in October and ending it by April where 30 teams play against each other to establish their position in the upcoming playoffs. When the NBA Playoffs begin, the top 8 teams from each conference (east and west) battle it out according to their seeding on a best-of-7 series until there is only one team left from each of their respective conference for the NBA Finals which ends by June.
"Kobe Bryant was the season MVP last season, huh... so it is the same with my previous life. I guess there's a high chance Lebron James will be the MVP the next season."[3]
I continued browsing, visiting websites, and social media pages of different universities, looking to get information for their basketball tryouts. Universities, aside from personally scouting potential recruits also hold college tryouts during the summer to fill in the roster spots left by the graduating players. My performance during highschool was lackluster so I won't be scouted, my only chance was attending the tryouts.
After an hour, I was able to gather schedule information for 2 Universities, both of them competing in the UAAP. "All 3 tryouts will be held on different dates in May" I sighed, "Its the middle of March so I have at least more than a month to increase my stats..."
"I need to do a workout plan as well so I can be efficient." I need to be efficient, just because I can increase my attributes with VC doesn't mean I need to slack off and train aimlessly.
For the rest of the day, I planned everything that I will do for next month, from basketball drills to strength training. Aside from my existing knowledge of training drills I spent the rest of the day researching other workouts by watching videos on streaming sites. By the time I finished, it was already 5:00 PM.
"Done!" I threw down my pen and stretch my limbs. "Will I be able to do this? Heh..." I snickered, "I guess there's only one way to find out."
~~~~~~~~~~
[1] A stance in basketball where you can pass, drive, or shoot the ball
[2]Image below for terminologies for parts of the court
[3] Lebron James was the 2009-10 NBA Most Valuable Player
Pretty Good
Thank you!
This is a really good read, keep up the good work author~!