The Old Baseball Player System

Before Shun could continue complaining to the old man, the system notification sounded in his head again.

[DING]

[User's new fingers fully integrated! The user can check the functions of their new fingers in the system menu.]

"Huh? Functions?"- Shun thought, confused, as he opened the system menu to check this new feature out of curiosity.

[New Fingers

Functions: Increases the user's grip strength. Maximizes the break effect of all user pitches.

Special functions: Grants the user the talent to learn any pitch.]

"Damn!" - Shun exclaimed in surprise. He could hardly believe he had received so many benefits from a single mission.

---------------

Shun stood on the mound, staring down the batter in front of him. The batter had a strong, tall figure, but when Shun looked at his face, all he could see was a blurry, indistinct image. Without worrying about that, Shun began his windup and threw the pitch.

WOOSH

PAH

"StrikeOut! Game Set!"

"Yeeeaaahhhhhhh!" - Shun roared as the umpire, whose face was also blurred, called the end of the game. But instead of his teammates rushing the mound to celebrate with him, they started disappearing, as did the packed crowd in the stands, leaving Shun in an empty stadium.

[DING]

[Congratulations, you have won the Bronze Tournament!]

[You have received a bronze mystery box for winning the Bronze Tournament.]

"Huh? You've got to be kidding me!" - Shun complained loudly. After all his hard work, he finally managed to win all three matches of the bronze tournament in the arena, but his reward was just a simple bronze mystery box, which he received every day for completing his daily mission.

[Tch! What were you expecting, kid? You only completed the easiest tournament! Of course, if you complete the higher-level tournaments, you'll get better rewards!] - The old man's voice sounded in Shun's head, making the boy's face turn sour. That old man really knew how to make all his hard work feel insignificant.

Shun took a deep breath to calm himself, a practice he had adopted frequently over the past year. Otherwise, he likely would have already cursed the old man's family lineage by now.

Shun then entered the arena mission area, heading straight to the legendary mission he was trying to complete.

[Contact Hitter (Legendary)

Get 100,000 hits in arena games (92,064/100,000)

Get 10,000 hits in right field in arena games (5,743/10,000) Get 10,000 hits in center field in arena games (10,000/10,000)

Get 10,000 hits in left field in arena games (10,000/10,000)

Rewards: 2,000 coins, 1 legendary mystery box, 1 legendary batter skill, and a random grade SS elixir.]

"I'm running out of time. I need to finish this mission soon" - Shun muttered as he saw he still had a few thousand more hits to complete the mission.

Without realizing it, spring had passed, and the hot summer sun was now shining over Tokyo, which also meant that the one-year deadline to complete the legendary mission was nearing its end.

[If you know that, stop wasting time and get back to playing! I didn't let you skip training just so you could slack off, you brat!] - The old man's irritated voice sounded in Shun's head.

"Shut up, you old bastard!" - Shun shouted in frustration. He had only taken a short break to check the progress of his mission, but the old man was already on his case.

Since the mission's deadline was approaching, the old man had excused Shun from his Training Center workouts so that he could focus on the arena games and accumulate enough hits in time.

Over the past few days, Shun had looked like a video game addict, constantly playing the arena matches. But perhaps because the old man missed seeing his body in the Training Center, he didn't stop pestering Shun. The boy couldn't even take a peaceful bathroom break without hearing the old man's irritating voice telling him to get back to playing.

Shun exited the arena mission area and returned to the empty stadium. Quickly, the transparent screen he had been waiting for appeared.

[Arena Missions] Continue your adventure at m|v-l'e m,p| y r

[Training Center]

[Arena Tournaments]

"Arena Tournaments!" - Shun said without wasting any time.

[DING]

[Please select which tournament the user wants to participate in]

[Arena Tournaments:

Bronze Tournament: 235 passes

Silver Tournament: 3 passes

Gold Tournament: 1 pass

Legendary Tournament: 1 pass]

"Silver Tournament!"

[Do you wish to spend 1 silver pass to enter the Silver Tournament?

Yes/No]

"Yes!"

[DING]

[You have entered the Silver Tournament in the arena]

[Tournament rules:

-The tournament difficulty will be adjusted according to the user's Overall at the Silver level.

-The tournament uses a knockout format, meaning you must win to advance to the next round.

-64 teams compete in the championship, the user must win 6 games to win the tournament. The difficulty of opponents increases slightly with each game.

-The user will only receive a reward if they win the tournament.

-The match will be fast-forwarded in the user's perspective, returning to normal speed only during times when the user is batting or fielding.

-The team's performance will depend on the user's performance. In every game, the user will have an opportunity to win through their own plays, but the number and quality of these opportunities will vary for each game.]

"So, it's six games this time, huh? I wonder how much harder the Silver level is compared to the Bronze?" - Shun thought as he read the rules, which were quite similar to those of the bronze tournament.

[Do you wish to start the first game of the Silver Tournament?

Yes/No]

"Yes!" - Shun heard the system's voice again and quickly confirmed.

[Please select the position you will play in the game:

-Right Fielder

-Pitcher]

"Right Fielder!" - Shun chose reluctantly.

Personally, he wanted to play every game as a pitcher, but when he did that, the games took much longer than when he played as a right fielder because the match was only fast-forwarded when he wasn't making a play. As a pitcher, he spent an entire inning making plays.

Besides, even though he didn't like to admit it, he was currently a much better right fielder than pitcher, so he had a better chance of winning the Silver Tournament by playing right field.

Suddenly, Shun's vision changed as the empty stadium became filled with cheering fans, and various players with blurred faces took the field.