Prince of Tennis: A new Hextech Crafting System is refreshed every week.

Kitahara Family, 1-2 Yamabuki-cho 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku.

The walls were covered with anime posters, showing Sun Wukong riding his somersault cloud, holding a tennis racket, and facing off against Seiya, who was also holding a tennis racket.

Both posters bear the author's signature. One reads, "Play tennis well, study hard, play well, eat well, and rest well—this is the training motto of the Turtle Hermit School." The other reads, "Scars and tennis balls are a man's medals!"

The bookshelves were piled high with brightly colored comic books, by Masami Kurumada, Akira Toriyama, and Fujimoto, of all kinds.

"DAN DAN, the heart is charming, the smile is bright, the fruit is dark, the flying is out, Hold my hand~~"

Izumi Sakai's clear voice was incredibly powerful. Kitahara Akira sat in front of the computer, staring blankly at the Seishun Academy website amidst the rousing music.

The Prince of Tennis is a sports anime that Kitahara Akira watched on Toonmax Cartoon when he was a child.

Seishun Academy is the main school in this sports-themed anime.

He remembers that when he was a child, he could only watch up to episode 52 each time. It was right after the tournament ended, Oishi Kikumaru was having a fight, the Golden Duo was about to disband, and the two of them were sitting on the shipping container talking about their dream of making it to the national tournament.

So I was eager to know what would happen next, but when I turned on the TV the next day, the scene changed and Ryoma Echizen was back from America.

No matter how long he waited, he couldn't get the content of episode 53.

Did Tezuka and Echizen lead Seigaku to the national tournament? What exactly is the identity of Tachibana Kippei of Fudomine? Did Akutsu continue playing tennis afterward?

These questions were gradually buried deep in memory as we waited.

It wasn't until I grew up that I learned that Toonmax TV had only purchased the rights to 52 episodes. By then, I had lost interest in watching the rest and had only heard that the anime had become "murder tennis" and "fantasy tennis".

"How do you kill someone with tennis? Haha~"

Kitahara Akira didn't believe it at the time and laughed it off until he randomly clicked on a video that someone else had forwarded.

I saw the celestial being with its head reaching the ceiling, I saw the glowing ball smashing down the water tower, I saw the skeletal pirate wielding a sword and hacking people to pieces...

Kitahara Akira fell silent, remaining speechless for a long time.

Apart from that, he never touched Prince of Tennis again.

This is why, when Kitahara Akira saw Sengoku Kiyosumi and the others from Yamabuki Middle School yesterday, he only felt a strange sense of familiarity but couldn't connect it to The Prince of Tennis at all.

But who could have imagined that one day they would travel into the world of an anime they watched in their childhood?

swoosh...

Kitahara Akira spun the mouse wheel, scrolling past one report after another, when suddenly a headline caught his eye.

[16-year-old Fabian Valentine earned his first ATP singles ranking points at the Monastir M25 tournament, achieving a "small goal" in his career.]

Fabian Valentine signed a 10-year, $3 million contract with Youku! His commercial value is widely recognized!

"They...they stole your money?! 3 million! Give me back the dollars!!"

Looking at the huge numbers enlarged and bolded on the screen, Kitahara Akira was completely incredulous.

It's worth noting that Zheng Qinwen, the first Chinese women's Olympic singles champion in her previous life and a hugely popular figure, only earned a little over 20 million US dollars a year, including prize money and commercial endorsements.

In this report, a professional player who had just earned ATP points signed his first commercial endorsement deal worth a staggering $300 million!

"I've truly stumbled into the imperial palace by mistake!" Kitahara Akira exclaimed in shock.

In this world, tennis is the most popular competitive sport, far more popular than all other sports combined. For students, playing tennis is not considered a waste of time; on the contrary, if they can make a name for themselves, their future will be bright.

As society has developed to this point, almost every industry is closely related to tennis. These days, it's embarrassing to go public if a company doesn't have a professional tennis player on board, and nobody wants to buy products without a tennis player's name attached. It's common for companies to resolve business competition by playing a tennis match.

As a result, the value of professional tennis players has been raised to a level unimaginable in my previous life.

Even in Japan, which has been called a tennis desert in recent years, tennis permeates everyone's daily life. Professional clubs and professional players are high and mighty, while clubs that introduce tennis to young children are springing up everywhere. Anyone who can make a name for themselves in the tennis world can live a very comfortable life.

However, this does not mean that the path is easy. With the support of his parents, he started his tennis career early, attended Yamabuki Junior High School, and worked hard to become a professional tennis player. But both he and those around him knew very well that his hopes were slim.

Because it's too curly!

It's true that professional tennis players have a bright future, but it also means that countless people want to get into this field. The Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament alone has nearly two thousand schools applying to participate. As a result, the tournament organizers had to add a regional preliminary round to eliminate ninety percent of the teams.

Countless schools are eyeing the national competition, all hoping to make a name for themselves in a prestigious tournament and catch the attention of professional club coaches, thus increasing their chances of entering the professional tennis league.

Because it's so incredibly competitive, the level of tennis here is ridiculously high. Professional players from my previous life would only be considered regular starters on major tournament teams. Any top player from a national tournament team could easily crush the Big Three.

To make a name for yourself here, it's almost impossible without extraordinary talent.

Putting everything else aside, if you can't even break down a wall with a single ball, what's the point of playing professionally?

Kitahara Akira recalled that his predecessor had never even been able to pursue a career, let alone become a regular member of the Yamabuki team.

Although Yamabuki often gets eliminated in the first round of the national tournament, her ability to consistently reach the national level already demonstrates her considerable strength.

Of the thousands of tennis schools in Tokyo, only three consistently rank among the top tier.

Hyotei, the uncrowned kings; Yamabuki, famous throughout the country for their doubles; and Seigaku, the main team.

These three schools consistently take the top three spots in the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament. Other schools that want to compete in the Kanto region can only fight for the remaining two spots, making the competition extremely fierce.

This is why many new students enroll in these three schools every year.

It becomes extremely difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Limited by his talent, he barely managed to keep up with Yamabuki's training pace and was just an ordinary member among the freshmen of the same year. Compared to those promising freshmen who showed their talent early on, the gap was very obvious.

The second and minute hands ticked away without stopping as Kitahara Akira pondered the future.

The night grew deeper.

The streetlights automatically turn off when the time comes.

With the moon high in the sky, the night seemed even brighter.

Kitahara Akira made his decision.

In this world, whether you want to pursue extraordinary elements that you didn't have in your previous life, or you want to make a name for yourself, tennis is the best choice.

So, he wants to play tennis!

of course.

He certainly didn't make this decision because of his amateur-level tennis skills in his previous life.

Kitahara Akira looked up, and a panel appeared on the screen.

[Already bound to Hextech system.]

[War Treasure II: When you kill an enemy, there is a 30% chance that loot will drop.]

[Relentless Strikes: Provides a 'Guinsoo's Rageblade'. Units wielding 'Guinsoo's Rageblade' deal additional magic damage with each attack.]

[Lone Hero: When you are the only family member left, your damage is increased by 30%, your mental resilience is increased by 30%, and you gain a new synergy: Lone Star.]

Please select your enhancement runes. Rune effects are only valid this week.

Looking at the semi-transparent light screen in front of him, Kitahara Akira gently tapped the avatar icon in the lower right corner.

Name: Kitahara Akira

Current Occupation: Amateur Tennis Player

[Hextech Selected: Blank]

[The Hextech options refresh weekly, displaying three enhancement runes of the same tier. The rune effects vary depending on the class.]

The probability of a silver Hextech item appearing is 90%.

The probability of a golden Hextech item appearing is 9%.

The probability of a colored hextech gadget appearing is 1%.

Looking at the panel, Kitahara Akira was filled with excitement.

Heaven truly rewards those who work hard. All my efforts to climb the ranks have paid off; this is the reward for a thousand-point champion!

He switched the panel back to the selection screen for the three gold cards. Since his profession was identified as a tennis player, the effect of the enhancement runes also changed to some extent.

As a seasoned player, Kitahara Akira knew very well the importance of choosing the first Hextech Crafting option.

This will directly determine the early game rhythm and lineup direction, whether to choose a winning streak, a losing streak, or save money to quickly increase population and grab cards. It can be said that the first Hextech is the "strategic starting point" of the entire game.

Even though reality and games are different, the underlying logic should still be the same...

Okay, I can't make this up anymore.

Kitahara Akira stared at the three Hextech Gear in front of him with a bitter expression. What the hell?! What are these things?!

[War Treasures]

Although tennis in this world can really kill, no one would choose it if they wanted to live a normal life.

[A lone hero].

In my memory, although they weren't extremely wealthy, the original owner's parents were quite well-off...

In the end, only one option left was [Relentless Combo], but what use is a tennis player with a Sheepstick?

next second.

Kitahara Akira tapped the gold card of [Ruthless Combo] without hesitation.

Their gazes were incredibly intense!

joke!

Joking aside, don't make fun of the "sword".

What man could resist a straight wooden stick, especially a berserker's blade made of ghost rope?

Zzz!

A buzzing sound suddenly filled the air, and Kitahara Akira opened his palm, revealing a sharp blade with serrated edges like a sickle.

A gentle squeeze.

Golden flames instantly enveloped the entire blade.

"Absolutely stunning!"

Kitahara Akira instantly became excited. When he was a child, he could single-handedly kill dozens of enemy soldiers in the rapeseed fields by the roadside with just a tree branch. Only the arrival of the Great Emperor could forcefully suppress him.

And now, hmph.

"The vital energy of the heavens flows freely, and my Dao flourishes daily!"

Swish swish!

Kitahara Akira placed three empty plastic bottles on the ground, and swiftly swung his sheep knife, the blade whistling sharply as it passed.

The blade is extremely sharp.

With each slash, a plastic bottle was split in two, the cuts clean and without a single visible scratch, the speed of the slash steadily increasing with each swing.

Sheath the sword.

Looking at his masterpiece, Kitahara Akira laughed loudly, "Hahaha, your skill remains as good as ever! I'm still as handsome as ever!"

After half an hour.

Inside the room, there were plastic bottles split in half, pieces of white paper cut into small pieces, and a table piled high with uneaten apples cut into chunks...

Kitahara Akira had wrecked almost everything in the bedroom that he could chop or hack, and only then did his excitement finally subside.

He looked at the flaming (but not hot) sheep knife in his hand, and with a thought, the knife disappeared from his palm; with another thought, the knife reappeared.

"It's quite convenient, but..."

"How can this thing be used to help in tennis?"

"I can't exactly take this knife to a competition, can I?"

Kitahara Akira took down the tennis racket hanging behind the door, holding the Guinsoo's Rageblade in his left hand and the racket in his right, pondering how to maximize the effect of Onikiri's Berserker Blade.

This Hextech only refreshes once a week.

He must make the most of every Hextech effect, otherwise it would be a waste of a week.

This is a waste of time.

For Kitahara Akira, who aims to make a career out of it, this is unacceptable.

He frowned as he thought.

The blade of the scalpel in his hand lightly touched the surface of the tennis racket.

[Professional Skills Test: Amateur Tennis Player]

[Guinsoo's Rageblade and a cheaply crafted tennis racket can be combined.]

[Should we merge?]

......

The next morning.

"It's only six o'clock."

Kitahara Akira was woken up by the alarm clock, still half asleep.

He was too excited about getting the Sheepstick last night, which caused him to not sleep well all night. According to his usual routine, he would most likely say things like "just a little more sleep" or "just five more minutes," and then sleep soundly until noon.

But this time—

"what!"

Kitahara Akira let out a painful howl, kicked off the blanket, and struggled to get out of bed.

He took off his pajamas, changed into a sports t-shirt and shorts, went to the bathroom to relieve himself after a night of work, brushed his teeth, and washed his face...

When the towel soaked in cold water was placed on his cheek, he finally woke up. Kitahara Misae was also surprised by his unusually early rise and quickly went to the kitchen to prepare another breakfast.

After Kitahara Akira finished washing up, breakfast was already on the table.

White rice, miso soup, grilled fish, pickles, and Japanese omelet.

A classic Japanese "one sauce, three dishes" style.

Kitahara Misae also specially placed a small bowl of natto. Kitahara Akira was a little curious, so he tried to stir the natto as he remembered it. After stirring it well, he picked up a little with chopsticks and took a bite.

"hiss......"

His brows were furrowed.

Then, unwilling to give up, he tried one more bite.

"Pfft~"

Sticking out my tongue, taking a sip of water, what a complicated taste~

Why does Shinnosuke Nohara like to eat this kind of thing?

Kitahara Akira gave up on trying natto and opted for miso soup with rice instead. The omelet also tasted pretty good.

A short while later.

After he finished eating, he got up to clear the dishes and utensils, washed them in the kitchen, and then arranged them neatly.

She walked into the living room, picked up the backpack containing her tennis racket, stuffed a bottle of water inside, and then called out to Kitahara Misae, who was intently watching the NHK morning drama on TV.

"I'm going out, I won't be back for lunch!"

"Okay, be careful on the road."