CHAPTER 16

Before starting, Donnie inventoried his cards and equipped everything he could.

For Character Cards:

• One Shinji Koganei, unlocked to his third-year high school version.

• One Ryō Sakurai, unlocked to his first-year high school version.

• One base Kazunari Takao (no Constellations), second-year middle school version.

• One base Kōsuke Wakamatsu (no Constellations), second-year middle school version.

After equipping all four character cards, although their Constellation levels varied, Donnie was pleasantly surprised by the stat boosts, each providing unique benefits.

Ryō Sakurai (First-Year High School):

A shooter-type player with very specialized stats.

He significantly boosted Donnie’s Three-Pointer stat.

Shinji Koganei (Third-Year High School):

A lower-tier all-rounder. His strength was raising the baseline for most stats; his weakness was that the increases weren't massive.

Although both these character cards had two Constellations unlocked, because their court positions overlapped with Donnie’s (Ethan Woods being an offensive player), and Ethan’s base offensive stats weren’t low to begin with, the offensive stat boosts ended up being comparable to the defensive stat boosts provided by the other two 0-Constellation cards that played different positions.

Kazunari Takao (Second-Year Middle School Point Guard).

Kōsuke Wakamatsu (Second-Year Middle School Center).

Even though their stats were from their second year of middle school, because their court positions differed from Donnie’s, and the character card system takes the maximum value for each stat from the four equipped cards, they provided significant boosts.

As a point guard, Kazunari Takao pushed Donnie’s Steal and Ball Handling stats both to 140.

As a center, Kōsuke Wakamatsu was even more pleasantly surprising, shoring up Donnie’s weaknesses in Rebounding, Physicality, and Blocking, bringing all three to 130.

A point guard and a center, due to their different positional stat focuses, provided substantial enhancements to the swingman Ethan Woods, even with just their second-year middle school stats.

Looking at his current stats:

Compared to the 5-star Taiga Kagami (First-Year Middle School) from the Wish pool, while still lacking in most areas, the stat differences were mostly around 10-20 points.

This was likely a similar gap to the current first-year Aomine.

Donnie believed that with stat differences of only 10-20 points (compared to some stats being 100 or 200), the practical effect on the court could be compensated for with skill cards.

【Character: Ethan Woods (Middle School - First Year, with Character Card Bonuses)】

【Height: 5’10”】

【Weight: 143 lbs】

【Mid-Range Shot: 200】

【Three-Pointer: 190】

【Under-Basket Shot: 110】

【Layup/Dunk: 130】

【Rebounding: 130】

【Physicality: 130】

【Blocking: 130】

【Steal: 140】

【Ball Handling: 140】

【Stamina: 150】

【Passing: 150】

【Speed: 150】

After seeing Donnie’s current stats, the live stream viewers all started analyzing them in the chat.

【This character card system is interesting! He managed to cobble together a low-tier 5-star equivalent using several 4-star cards that look mediocre on their own.】

【I carefully compared it with the initial stats screenshot I took. The only stat for the protagonist, Ethan Woods, that’s still at its original value is ‘Speed: 150.’】

【Ryō Sakurai’s card for shooting stats, Kōsuke Wakamatsu’s card for rebounding, physicality, and blocking, Kazunari Takao’s for ball handling and steals, and Koganei’s for…】

【Hey! My boy Koganei’s ‘150 Stamina’ deserves a shout-out too!】

【Man, this is like a Frankenstein build, LOL.】

【Looks like the basic strategy for the character card system is to equip four cards from different positions. That way, the different positional stat focuses combine to create an all-around player.】

【So, if I get four Generation of Miracles cards, I’ll be totally OP, right?】

In terms of skills, Donnie currently had four:

4-Star Skill Cards:

• Ryō Sakurai: Quick Shot

• Junpei Hyūga: Unstoppable Shot

• Shinji Koganei: Wide-Range Shot

  5-Star Skill Card:

• Kotaro Hayama: Lightning Dribble

Among the 4-star skills Donnie hadn’t used yet, ‘Quick Shot’ and ‘Unstoppable Shot’ were both very practical. One increased shooting speed, and the other significantly increased shooting space.

However, Koganei’s ‘Wide-Range Shot’ was a bit吐槽 (complaint-worthy). The skill description read: ‘Wide shooting range, knows the basics of all moves, but shooting accuracy is unknown…’

Donnie briefly glanced at the detailed description. In simple terms, within the three-point line, he could take shots from various positions and situations, but the accuracy would fluctuate randomly.

After the gacha ordeal earlier, Donnie felt his luck was so bad that relying on probability was just asking for trouble, so he decisively benched it.

It was worth noting that skill cards could be upgraded using 3-star ‘Generic Skill Books’ and ‘Advanced Skill Books.’

For example, the Lightning Dribble Donnie had could currently only be used with the initial three-finger force. After upgrading it to the next stage, he could unlock four-finger usage, and then a further upgrade would unlock five fingers.

According to the skill description, a five-finger Lightning Dribble could reach the level of ‘a flash of lightning.’ Just those words, ‘a flash of lightning,’ sounded incredibly sci-fi.

Donnie wondered if, at that point, dribbling the ball would literally create sparks and lightning.

However, he didn’t have enough resources for that now, so he temporarily set it aside.

…

After setting up all his cards, he closed the system interface, and the game continued.

“Very good.”

“Since everyone is ready, let the assessments begin!”

With the middle-aged man’s command, several teams of professional-looking staff members led the new recruits in groups to various courts for testing.

From static physical attributes to dynamic physical abilities.

The new recruits first faced a series of physical fitness tests.

And then, the real assessment began.

It was only at this moment that everyone understood why the assessment grounds were chosen to be Teiko’s second-string team’s training gym.

Because after the physical ability tests, the new recruits faced practical assessments against members of the second-string team.

“Hey! Hey, hey! No way, right?”

“The club entrance assessment is a one-on-one against a second-string upperclassman?”

“What’s there to be afraid of? It’s just the second-string!”

In the crowd, some were excited, while many more looked troubled. Teiko Middle School’s reputation was formidable; everyone knew that even their second-string team was very strong. After all, rumors often circulated about Teiko’s second-string demolishing opponents in exhibition matches.

“Now then, students whose names are called, please proceed to the corresponding court for your match.”

With that command, the group assessments officially began.

And the first name to be called was…

“Murasakibara Atsushi!”

The tall, purple-haired ‘Tall Guy’ lazily stood up.

“Yeah, yeah…”

Murasakibara Atsushi looked at his opponent and, noticing the other guy was also around 6’3”, perked up slightly.

“What a pain~”

“So, if I just crush him…”

“Can I get into the first-string?”

The second-string player opposite him was Donnie’s old acquaintance, ‘Kenjiro Takamuro.’

At this moment, Kenjiro Takamuro was grinding his teeth in anger at Murasakibara’s attitude.

“Kid, you still look half asleep!”

“Why don’t you go home and continue dreaming!!”