Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Lina shook her head in amusement. "You\'re so childish."

"I\'m telling the truth," Kun exclaimed. "I\'ve never seen the inside of these bad boys before."

"So, uh, what are we going to do now?" Jet chimed. "This is one of the five balls we have," he muttered.

"It\'s the most expensive one, too!" Kun chimed. "This is the only SCALDING ball we have."

He then turned to Kai and clicked his tongue. "You should have been more careful!"

"I wasn\'t even using a lot of strength," Kai muttered.

Yuze was the only person who heard him, causing the captain to shake his head.

If he wasn\'t using a lot of strength, then Yuze could only imagine what it would be like if he used his full strength.

"Sir Dao is the one assigned with managing the finances of the school clubs, too," Jet sighed.

"I highly doubt he\'s going to give us some money to buy another good quality SCALDING ball."

Kai scratched the back of his head, feeling guiltier as the conversation continued on. He knew that the team struggled with their resources, and with the loss of a single basketball, they would definitely have a harder time.

For other schools, it might not be a big deal. However, for Shizi High, every ball was precious.

Just then, his system appeared before him with a summary of his upgrades for the last week.

[Current level: Advanced Beginner (06)]

[Congratulations! You were able to prove a total of 72 people wrong]

[XP: +72]

[Number of official trainings: 4]

[XP: +40]

[Number of official losses: 1]

[XP: -2]

[Total: 110]

A small smile emerged from Kai\'s face as he looked at his total added XP. This was the largest upgrade he had yet! He wondered if he was finally going to advance from the beginner level just in time for the Winter Cup!

However, his smile quickly dropped when he saw his new level.

[Congratulations! You have advanced to a new level]

[Current level: Slightly More Advanced Beginner (16)]

"What the heck?" he couldn\'t help but loudly exclaim, surprising the players near him.

"What the heck?" Kun asked. "Why? You don\'t want to contribute any money to the ball that you\'ve destroyed?"

Jinping scoffed while Zeren shook his head in disappointment.

"You\'re so stingy. We\'re even pitching in our allowance just for this," Zeren said.

Kai pursed his lips.

Wow, the timing couldn\'t have been better!

He was just surprised with his level upgrade and couldn\'t control his reaction. What does \'Slightly More Advanced Beginner\' even mean?

However, that was the least of Kai\'s concern for now since his teammates were cooking him with their gazes.

Lina looked at him with a strange expression, too, making him feel even guiltier.

[Incoming new weekly mission!]

Before Kai could even think of what to say next, his world became blurry. Then, basketballs bounced around his vision, reminding him of what happened mere moments ago.

\'Is this system trying to tease me?\' he thought.

[A basketball player owns up to his mistakes.]

[Pay for the ball yourself with your own money. The ball should be the same model and the same brand.]

[Deadline is in one week]

[XP at stake: 40]

[Lose the same amount of XP once failed.]

[Normal progression from official and unofficial training is halted until the mission is fulfilled.]

"I\'ll buy it," Kai quickly said.

"You\'re going to buy the ball yourself?" Yuze asked in surprise.

Kai nodded.

"Yes," Zeren celebrated. "My allowance is spared!"

"How much is it?" Kai asked, already calculating how much of his allowance needed to be saved before he could buy a single basketball.

"Well, like Jet said, this ball is from the brand SCALDING. It was gifted to us by a past captain. I think it was around 450 yuan at that time?"

"450 yuan?" Kai asked in surprise, his eyes almost bulging out of its sockets.

"Dang, it\'s that expensive now?" Kun asked. "My allowance each day is only 100 yuan."

"Well, Kai would pay for it like he said," Zeren said.

Kai pursed his lips as he tried to make sense of the situation.

For context, his allowance per day was only 30 yuan. Where could he possibly get 450 yuan in just a week?

"Thanks for paying for the ball, Kai," Lina suddenly said, making him absent-mindedly chuckle.

What did he get himself into?

***

"The match list is here, everyone!" Lina exclaimed as she entered through the doors.

The players, who had just finished training, all excitedly went to where Lina was standing. She held a piece of paper in her hand but hadn\'t read it yet since she wanted to surprise herself along with the other members.

"As you all know, the opening for the Winter Cup is already next week! Hence, the official match list is finally released."

Kai listened with all ears, forgetting his financial issue for a moment. He also wondered who they were going to play with for their first match.

"I just hope it\'s not the Feng Foxes again," Kun said. "I don\'t want to end up in the loser\'s bracket on the very first day of the tournament."

"It\'s definitely much better than being in the same subdivision as Yin Yang! All the other schools in the North are probably dreading their game with Yin Yang, too."

"Yeah, thankfully, the schools in the South are much weaker than the ones in the North," Kun said, earning himself a slap on the back of his head.

"Don\'t be complacent," Yuze said. "We should aim to beat opponents that are much stronger than us."

Lina nodded in agreement. "That\'s right! We should be prepared for any opponent that comes our way."

"Just as long as it\'s not those Dolphins," Lina muttered in a bitter tone.

"Whatever Lina wants, Lina gets!" Zeren exclaimed, making the girl shake her head.

Jet chuckled in amusement. "I guess we all feel the same way with the Dolphins, hmm? Let\'s just hope they get dropped from the tournament before we can play with them."

Finally, Lina revealed the piece of paper, her face falling as soon as she saw who their first opponent was going to be.

Yuze pursed his lips as he read her expression.

"It\'s the Dolphins, isn\'t it?"