The Old Baseball Player System

During this past week, Shun managed to accomplish a few things that greatly helped him feel more prepared for the Kanto Tournament. The first of these occurred while he was practicing his pitches against the hologram of José Martínez.

[Slider (SSS+)

50% mastery of the pitch]

The mastery of his slider finally reached 50%, and although this might not seem like much, considering the boy needed to fully master the pitch to learn and throw other types of pitches, Shun felt that his control and understanding of the slider had improved significantly. But of course, this wasn't the only benefit Shun received.

[DING]

[Congratulations to the user for creating their first custom pitch! The gold-level pitch "Death Ball" has been added to the user's arsenal and is now ready for use.]
Enjoy new adventures from empire

[Death Ball (A+)

An effect pitch created by the user, based on the legendary slider pitch. The pitch has a pronounced vertical break and almost no horizontal movement.]

Shun was surprised when he saw this notification, but his first reaction was worry. He thought that now that his vertical slider had become a different pitch in the system, he would be restricted from using it until he fully mastered his slider.

Fortunately, the system wasn't that harsh. Since Shun himself had created this pitch, the skill wasn't locked in his skill tab. Moreover, the old man reassured him that Shun could use this new pitch, and Shun had no reason to doubt him. After all, he could throw it normally, and nothing seemed amiss.

The only thing Shun wasn't entirely happy with was the classification of his Death Ball, which was rated as a gold-level pitch. It wasn't that Shun was obsessed with legendary skills, but the boy still needed to create a legendary pitch to fulfill one of the requirements for the system's main mission #2: Two-way Player (Part 3). Of course, Shun knew he still had a few years to accomplish that.

Another thing that puzzled Shun was why only his vertical slider was recognized as a new pitch, while his horizontal slider, which he used much more often and had better control over, didn't become a new pitch. But naturally, Shun didn't have much time to dwell on this, as he had the most important tournament of his life to prepare for.

In addition to his new pitch, Shun also made progress with his new technique of altering the timing of his pitching motion. Well, he wasn't bold enough to call it real progress, as he still hadn't managed to complete the arena mission. But it was undeniable that he had made adjustments to his timing.

Of course, at best, he looked like a drunkard pitching when he used his new technique, and he still couldn't apply it without negatively affecting his pitches. However, Shun believed he might be able to use this trick in a specific situation if the timing was right, as it would undoubtedly surprise any batter facing him.

Shun then headed home after finishing his morning run. As always, the boy took a shower and put on his uniform before heading downstairs to the kitchen to have breakfast with his family.

---

After classes, Shun and his friends headed to the school's baseball field to hold their last practice session as members of the Shoto Junior High School baseball team. Since tomorrow would mark the start of the Kanto Tournament, regardless of how they performed in the tournament, the third-year players would no longer be part of the team once the tournament ended. After all, they would need to focus on studying for their high school entrance exams.

"Hey Shun, did you watch the video of Seishin's game that I recorded?" – As they walked to the field, Shimizu turned to Shun and asked curiously. Ever since she recorded the video, Shun hadn't said anything about it.

"Huh? Yeah..." – Shun was a bit distracted, thinking about how this would be his last practice as a member of Shoto's team, but he quickly nodded.

"And? What did you think?" – Kenta also turned and asked eagerly.

"Well, to be honest... They're probably the best middle school baseball team I've ever seen." – Shun spoke calmly as he recalled the video he had watched. He couldn't help but think about a pair of blond players from Seishin.

"Oh, that's quite a compliment. Are they really that good?" – Ren asked skeptically. The young samurai found it strange for Shun to say this so confidently, considering they had already seen teams like Hokuto and Kasuga, and even Shoto was an incredible team.

"Yes, they have many talented players, but their real strength lies in their consistency. From the video, I noticed that all their players are extremely well-trained defensively and are also excellent hitters. Furthermore... they have a three-pitcher rotation that's even more dangerous than ours." – Shun explained honestly. He saw no reason to hide this from his friends now.

"Well, we're not going to face them early in the tournament anyway." – Kenta spoke calmly. Although impressed by Shun's words, he understood that anything could happen in a baseball game, so he knew he needed to focus solely on their next opponent for now.

"Yeah..." – Shun murmured, nodding in agreement. Since the tournament bracket had already been released, Shun knew that Shoto and Seishin would only face each other if both teams advanced to the final. And obviously, it was too early to assume that.

But of course, that didn't mean Shun wasn't planning ahead for a possible final against Seishin. In fact, the boy was preparing strategies to be ready for nearly every team in the Kanto Tournament. His biggest challenge was the matches on the first day, especially the opening game, as Shun had no data on their opponent.

The four friends continued walking toward the Shoto Junior High School baseball field, chatting as if it were just another ordinary day. But deep down in each of their minds, they knew this would be their last day practicing on this field as official team members.