A player like that, no matter what team he was on, could draw out that team's full potential. He was absolutely a born leader, the kind of person who would charge at the very front!
In this day and age, put him in any team sport and he would still become the unquestioned leader!
"He broke through a block like that too!?"
"North River actually kept a player like that hidden away for three whole years!? What on earth were they thinking!?"
When Coach Sumi saw that Hank had actually managed to score even while facing a three-man block from his team, his heart was filled with shock. After all, being able to score under a three-man block was one of the standards used to judge whether a player could become an Ace!
An Ace!
As the core attacker of a team, that player not only had to possess the strongest scoring ability, but also absolute aggression. No matter how the team organized the offense, once the final attack ended up in his hands, he had to be able to score!
Otherwise, it would all be meaningless. If there was no block in front of him, then of course scoring would be easy. Any player on the team could do that.
Only when there was a block could the true value of an Ace really be shown.
There was no doubt about it: Hank, the substitute North River Middle School had just sent onto the court, had already shown his edge. Even if this was only the first time a fledgling had spread its wings, those wings were already fully grown!
All that was left was the moment he truly took flight!
"So that's an attack even the block can't stop!? How did he do that!? I want to know so badly!"
Shoyo also rose to his feet and started cheering along with the people around him. As he watched Hank down on the court, his eyes were burning with excitement. He desperately wanted to understand how Hank had done it. Even when the other side already knew he was going to attack—
he still managed to score.
It was unbelievable.
Compared to him, I was nothing.
If I could train together with him, maybe my volleyball skills would improve in the future!
But the still-naive Hinata had no way of knowing that Hank could do all of this simply because his physical ability was exceptionally strong!
"Ding! Detected that the host has successfully defeated Kitagawa Daiichi. Reward granted: Diligence Compensates for Weakness feature. Your stats in all areas will now be displayed more concretely, and you can improve your physical abilities and all volleyball skills through continuous training!"
"Ding! System mission refreshed. Join any volleyball club in Miyagi Prefecture in high school. Reward: back-row spike!"
…
Right after Hank won the match, a notification sounded in his ear.
It informed him that after defeating Kitagawa Daiichi, he had obtained the Diligence Compensates for Weakness feature, which would let him improve his physical abilities through continuous training.
Hank naturally found this extremely satisfying, because he still had a very long way to go before truly becoming a king. Right now, all he had was top-level jumping talent.
Other than that, he basically knew nothing about receiving, passing, or spiking. If he wanted to go farther and farther down the path of volleyball, then he had to hurry up and train every aspect of his technique. Volleyball was not a sport where you only needed to jump high.
It also required years of day-in, day-out training. Even though the system could greatly shorten the time he needed, he still had to put in the effort himself.
"In high school, I just need to join any club?"
"That won't be hard. Karasuno and Aoba Johsai are both good choices. As for Shiratorizawa... I'm not getting in."
Hank had originally been planning to apply directly to the best high school in the prefecture right now—Shiratorizawa—but the moment he thought about his Japanese grades, his head started to ache. Asking an outsider like him to master Japanese was already difficult enough. Being able to communicate normally was pretty good already.
And now he was supposed to take entrance exams for it too. It was honestly painful.
Still, with his pretty good math and English scores, getting into Karasuno or Aoba Johsai would both be solid options. Of course, those were things to think about later. Right now, he needed to head home, and there were still other teams' matches coming up.
Besides, he was hungry too...
After packing up his things and walking out of the venue, Hank was immediately surrounded by a group of girls who had already been waiting at the entrance.
All of them wanted to use this chance to get to know him, because his performance in that match had simply been too dazzling.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
"How did we lose to North River!?"
When Tobio Kageyama saw that they had actually lost to North River in the end, his heart was filled with anger. They had clearly been only one step away from eliminating North River, so why had it turned out like this in the end!?
Hank's sudden appearance had directly ruined his plan and turned what should have been a certain victory into this result!
"Next time, if I see that guy again, I'll definitely beat him!"
Tobio Kageyama swore to himself that he would defeat Hank.
(End of Chapter)
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