Relentless Pursuit

Jaxon lay in the middle of the court panting repeatedly like a wolf dog, surrounding him was a little poodle of sweat that had flowed off his body as he laid there.

His muscles aching from the series of torment he had just put himself through, his vision was blurred and he had a splitting headache that tore through his skull to the middle of his brain. 

He tilted his head slightly to focus on the little glowing button that constantly glowed softly, he lifted his right hand till it came to rest on his left breast, the system interface came to life. He had completed the thirty minutes constant sprint and the hundred pushups with the fifty sit ups. 

He was halfway through the two thousand constant dribbles when his body gave in and he suddenly collapsed flat on the floor of the training court. 

[ 1. 30 MINUTES CONSTANT SPRINT - COMPLETED]

[ 2. 100 PUSHUPS - COMPLETED]

[ 3. 50 SIT UPS - COMPLETED]

[ 4. 2000 STAGNANT CONSTANT DRIBBLES - 60% COMPLETE]

[ 5. 100 FREE THROWS - 0% COMPLETE]

"I don't think I can go on any longer..." He whizzed, out of breath. The words had a slight taste of bitter as they scraped his tongue, but sadly it was the truth- the bitter truth. He starred at the percentages of the task he had completed as his body shut down out of fatigue. 

Lying there, he shut his eyes, and a flood of memories from his previous life washed over him. He could almost hear the voice of his father from months ago when they were in their little backyard shooting hoops for fun. 

"Basketball isn't just a game Jackson- it's war. You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when you've conquered!" His father's voice intoned. 

The words had him fired up mentally as he immediately furrowed his eyebrows and let out a huge groan, but now his body felt like it was chained to the ground. 

His thoughts drifted further, to the day he received the system. A seemingly normal evening after watching the NBA game Metro Wolves vs Neon Dragons, he excitedly ran into the main street unknown to the incoming traffic that took him out. Later he found himself on the bench of the Neon Dragons team in this body that isn't his.

He remembered how shocked he was when the glowing icon suddenly got enlarged in front of him to a holographic screen. With that he saw an opportunity to fulfill his father's dream and his childhood dream to become the best player he never got the chance to be - or perhaps the world - had ever seen. 

But now, lying flat on the court, he questioned everything. Was he able to pull it off? Even with this mysterious system, what if he was pushing himself towards inevitable failure - or worse, injury? 

Jaxon forced himself to sit up, his arms trembling under the strain. He wiped the sweat from his brow and stared at the system interface. The glowing progress bars mocked him, daring him to surely quit. 

"Matte!" He blurted out, his voice gaining strength. "Wait! I'm not done. Not yet." 

He pushed himself to his feet slowly, his legs wobbling like jelly. Taking a deep breath, he shrugged his shoulders and focused on the holographic interface and the task ahead: 40% of the dribbles and the 100 free throws. 

He bent his knees and his waist to grab the ball in both palms. He dropped to a dribbling position and poised himself. 

He let out a hard breath and began dribbling, increasing the pace with each bounce, switching the ball from one hand to the other as he dribbled. The sound of the ball hitting the court echoing through the empty training court. 

Thud-thud-thud... Repeatedly. 

The rhythm steadied him, drowning out the constant protests of his body. With each bounce, he counted his progress in his mind. 

"1... 2... 3... 4... 5" 

The first set of the dribbles passed in a breeze. His arms, biceps and triceps ached as hell. His fingers were growing numb, but he refused to stop. Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes, but he seemed immune to the pain and he didn't even blink. The systems progress bar edged forward, the percentage ticking up slowly. 

[70%... 75%]

When he reached 80%, his knees suddenly buckled, and he dropped to the ground. For a moment, he thought about staying there. But the image of his father flashed in his mind. He was out there, probably mourning the loss of his son. 

He had plan to make contact with his father in this new body but he feared it would yield no profit because there's no way his father will believe him, or anyone for that matter. 

He gnashed his teeth, got back up and resumed dribbling. 

[95%... 98%...]

"2000!" He shouted as the final dribbles echoed through the training ground. The system chimed softly with a positive ding, and a notification popped up on the side. 

[4. 2000 STAGNANT CONSTANT DRIBBLES COMPLETED]

Jaxon fell to his knees, a small smile breaking through his exhaustion. He had done it. But the celebration was obviously short lived as his eyes shifted to the final task. 

[5. 100 FREE THROWS - 0% COMPLETE]

Facing the free throws

Jaxon walked slowly to the free throws line, dragging his limp feet. His legs felt like lead, his arms barely lifting the ball. Taking a deep breath, heal lined up his shot and threw the ball. 

Clank... Clank. The ball bounced off the rim twice. 

He retrieved the ball and tried again. And again. And again. 

The first ten shots were a crazy disaster, none finding the circumference of the rim into the net. Frustration boiled up inside him, but he forced himself to calm down. 

"Shooting guard my foot! Focus!" He urged himself, adjusting himself into a shooting stance. 

On the eleventh try, the ball swished cleanly through the hoop. The sound was music to his ears, only a real hooper and a fan of basketball knew how satisfying that sound felt. It suddenly reignited his determination. 

Shot after shot, Jaxon chipped away at the final task. The successful throw added a small victory to his growing list of a achievements. His arms burned with exhaustion, his legs wobbled like boiled Italian pasta. 

By the time he reached 80 free throws, he could barely lift the ball. He paused, taking deep breaths to steady himself and to also prevent himself from realizing how much pain he was enduring. 

"I've come too far to back down now" he told himself. "What's twenty more?" 

With sheer grit and determination, he powdered through the last shots. On the final throw, he put everything he had into it. The ball soared through the air, spinning gracefully as it left his finger tips before switching through the hoop. 

[5. 100 FREE THROWS - COMPLETED]

The system interface lit up brighter than usual. A notification appeared with it. 

[WEEKLY TRAINING EXERCISE COMPLETE]

Jaxon smiled weakly as he collapsed to the floor, this time in triumph rather than defeat. His body screamed in protest, but he gleamed with pride within him. 

Lying there, staring at the gym ceiling, he whispered, "I did it."

[ TRAINING COMPLETE, REWARD UNLOCKED: ]

"Reward, I hope it's something I could use to level up significantly... " He chuffed as he placed his hands on his waist for support. 

[+2 AGILITY, +1 STRENGTH, +1 STAMINA, +30HP]

Jaxons expression changed from an enthusiastic, happy face to a confused and shocked demeanor. "I think I deserve more than these for the amount of work I did, don't you think?" He mused. 

[ACCEPT REWARDS?]

The screen flashed ever so slightly to signal that it's waiting for a decision to be made.

Jaxon stood there starring at it for a few seconds before making his decision.

[YES OR NO]

"Yes..." he said softly in anticipation, a couple seconds after responding to the question, his body went through a sought of orgasmic like shock as if his body was being replenished by new limbs and organs. It felt like he had taken some kind of neurogenic substance that seemed to improve his physical condition, his arms and legs didn't hurt as much and his sweating seized almost immediately. 

He scanned himself thoroughly to look for anything unusual but found the latter. He let out a soft smile- "Must be the HP, so that what its for...I feel less tired and my body aches have lessened drastically..." He said as he rotated the ball and socket joint in his right shoulder. "It's not a 100%, but it's helped a lot..." He finished as he chuckled slightly.

"I wonder what's my overall HP now. Wait, what's my overall stats. As in the entire of my physical and technical stats..." He asked inquisitively.

[GATHERING STATISTICS...]

Jaxon began to tap his feet subtly with slight impatience. "Does it use the internet or something..." He said as he shoved his fingers into his hair and gave it a really good scratch.

*Cling*

The system chimed loudly in his ears and began to list all his accessable stats. 

[HOST NAME: JAXON LIN

AGE: 22

HEIGHT: 189CM

LEVEL: ROOKIE (50/100)

WEIGHT: 79KG/174 IBS

HEIGHT: 189CM/6'2

BODY FAT PERCENTAGE: 18%

MUSCLE MASS PERCENTAGE: 32%

STRENGTH: 4/10

STAMINA: 4/10

ENDURANCE: 3/10

AGILITY: 5/10

GAME IQ: 7/10

CAREER STATS-

CONTRACT STATUS: CONTRACT ON PROBATION, WAITING FOR FINAL VERDICT BY BOARD 

EARNING: $50,000

CURRENT TEAM: NEON DRAGONS 

GAMES WON: 1

GAMES LOST: 1

TOTAL POINTS SCORED: 3

BASKETBALL STATS -

SPEED/REACTION TIME: 4/10

VERTICAL: 4/10

HAND-EYE COORDINATION: 4/10

SHOOTING ACCURACY: 3/10

BALL HANDLING: 5/10

PASSING VISION: 5/10

REBOUNDING: 2/10

DEFENSIVE AWARENESS: 2/10

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

LOCKED.

OTHER STATS-

LOCKED]

By the time the system had finished listing everything, he had a very disturbing look plastered all over his face.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me..." He said with disgust.