**Chapter 10: Leveling Up 4 Times, Tennis Skill Tree**
At the Hyotei Tennis Club.
After leaving the training court, Ishikawa found a secluded spot in the rest area and sat down.
The intense match had drained most of his stamina. Fortunately, his strong mental fortitude and unwavering willpower had allowed him to withstand Shinohara Saburo's attacks.
Otherwise.
If his defenses had been breached, the outcome of the match would have been entirely different.
Others might not know, but Ishikawa was well aware. At his core, he was still a tennis novice. His ability to shut out his opponent was entirely due to his high mental and technical stats, as well as the bonus from his max-level kendo skills.
He still had a long way to go before he could be considered a true expert.
"Let's take a look at the rewards from this match."
After reflecting on the match, he began to review his gains.
**Basic Drive: Lv2 (37/50)**
**Basic Serve: Lv2 (18/50)**
**Basic Topspin: Lv1 (9/20)**
**Basic Slice: Lv1 (6/20)**
**Basic Smash: Lv0 (3/10)**
The intense match had activated five basic tennis skills.
Aside from the rarely used smash, the other four skills had improved. His serve and drive had even leveled up twice.
This made sense.
During the match, Ishikawa had been forced to run back and forth, relying on flat drives to return the ball. The continuous rallies had significantly boosted his drive skill.
Next.
Ishikawa focused his mind and clicked on the exclamation mark next to the word "Skills."
Instantly, the shadows of five trees appeared within his field of vision.
"Is this… a skill tree?"
The five trees were divided into upper, middle, and lower sections. Each section had branches extending outward.
Among them.
The skill trees for **Basic Drive** and **Basic Serve** had their lower sections filled about two-thirds of the way. The lower sections of **Basic Topspin** and **Basic Slice** were only about one-third filled.
As for the **Basic Smash** skill tree, it only had faint glimmers of light.
"So, it seems that basic skills form the foundation of the skill tree. Only when a basic skill reaches a certain level can advanced skills be unlocked."
This aligned with his understanding of the original story.
However.
From the overall structure of the skill trees, it appeared that only the frontmost sections of the lower levels had advanced skills branching out.
"In other words, basic skills need to reach Level 3 before other advanced skills can be developed. Well, there's no point in overthinking it now."
Ishikawa shook his head and quickly calmed himself.
For him.
Advanced skills weren't something he needed to worry about right now. His priority was to strengthen his fundamentals, improve his physical fitness, and level up his character.
With that in mind.
He exited the skill tree interface and focused on his current reserve of experience points.
From winning the match, he had gained 15 experience points, and completing the task had awarded him 80 points. In total, he now had 95 experience points.
To level up from 0 to 1, he only needed 10 experience points.
Without hesitation.
Ishikawa allocated 10 points from his experience pool to level up.
**[Ding!]**
**[Player level has increased. Skill Points x3 have been awarded.]**
**[Skill Points: Can be used to upgrade basic and advanced skills.]**
"Leveling up directly?"
Ishikawa's eyes lit up.
Including the 1 skill point he had earned from shutting out Shinohara earlier, he now had a total of 4 skill points.
Without delay.
He immediately tried to allocate 2 skill points to **Basic Drive**.
**[Ding!]**
**[Basic Drive level has increased. Current level: Lv3 (0/100).]**
**[Ding!]**
**[Player action invalid. Please refer to the system instructions for details.]**
"Huh?"
Ishikawa frowned.
He checked his skill points and saw that he still had 3 left. After reviewing the detailed rules for using skill points, he understood the reason.
**[Different stages of skills (including tennis skills and special abilities) require different amounts of experience and skill points.**
**Beginner Stage (Lv1-3): 1 skill point per level.**
**Intermediate Stage (Lv4-6): 3 skill points per level.**
**Advanced Stage (Lv7-9): 6 skill points per level.]**
"What a waste!"
After reading the system's explanation, Ishikawa felt a pang of regret.
His **Basic Drive** had only needed 13 more experience points to level up, but he had wasted a skill point.
With that in mind.
He decided not to use his remaining skill points immediately. Instead, he saved them for when he needed to break through from Level 2 to Level 3, or for situations where the experience required was too high or time was critical.
At the moment.
He still had 85 experience points and 3 skill points. To level up from 1 to 2, he needed 20 experience points.
After some consideration, Ishikawa chose to prioritize leveling up his character.
**[Ding!]**
**[Player level has increased. Current level: Lv2.]**
**[Ding!]**
**[Player level has increased. Current level: Lv3.]**
**[Ding!]**
**[Player level has increased. Current level: Lv4.]**
In one go, he leveled up four times. Combined with his remaining skill points, Ishikawa now had a total of 12 skill points.
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But he didn't use them recklessly.
Based on the experience requirements for leveling up basic skills, going from Level 0 to 1 and Level 1 to 2 wasn't too difficult.
Today was only the first day of school at Hyotei. From the original story, there was still some time before the intra-school selection matches. He had enough time to strengthen his foundational abilities.
As for his character leveling up without his five stats increasing, Ishikawa wasn't surprised.
The five stats were a crucial numerical representation of abilities in the original story. Even a single point increase represented significant progress.
Ishikawa didn't expect his stats to improve just by leveling up. Besides, it was still early, and he was confident he could make up for his shortcomings in a short amount of time.
"So… it's time to train!"
Glancing at the players practicing their swings nearby, Ishikawa stood up and joined their ranks.
"1!"
"2!"
"3!"
In one corner of the training area.
Ishikawa assumed his stance and, like the others, began repeatedly practicing his swings.
Three minutes later.
Some of the newcomers couldn't keep up and stopped to rest.
Five minutes later.
Half of the newcomers had also stopped.
Ten minutes later.
Only a small group of people were still going.
Thirty minutes later.
The entire swing practice area was empty, except for Ishikawa, who continued to swing relentlessly.
*Drip…*
*Drip…*
Sweat dripped from his forehead, soaking his clothes, but Ishikawa's expression remained unchanged.
His gaze was still firmly fixed ahead.
"He's so strong!"
"Is he really a rookie like us?"
"After seeing this, I'm convinced he genuinely beat that third-year senior earlier. I'm really impressed."
"Wait, who is that? Is he really that good?"
"Didn't you see the match earlier? That's Ishikawa Shin. He beat a third-year senior 6-0!"
"6-0? Seriously? That's insane!"
The newcomers whispered among themselves.
Earlier, they had thought Ishikawa might have just gotten lucky. But now, his perseverance and determination had truly shaken them.
These newcomers were genuinely impressed.
"Is that Ishikawa Shin, the one who defeated Senior Shinohara?"
Not far away.
A tall, gray-haired boy looked over with curiosity.
It was none other than one of Hyotei's regulars, the possessor of the powerful "One-Shot Kill" serve—Ootori Choutarou.
"He doesn't even look 170 cm tall."
As he watched Ishikawa, Ootori's curiosity grew. "To think he managed to hit 12 ace serves in a single match without a single fault!"
Even for him.
His first-serve fault rate was over 75%, and he sometimes double-faulted.
And yet.
This person, supposedly a first-year tennis novice.
Had successfully landed 12 first serves, all of them aces.
Ootori was deeply curious.
Just how did this first-year named Ishikawa Shin understand serving?
**(End of Chapter)**