**Chapter 20: Max-Level Chess Mastery, Spiritual Transformation** Evening.
Ishikawa returned to Hyotei.
Exhausted, he ate dinner, took a shower, and lay down on his bed.
Taking advantage of the moment, he began to tally up the gains he had made that day.
"Including the rewards from this morning's routine training, I've earned a total of 800 experience points today. I can level up again."
With a thought, Ishikawa's character leveled up twice in a row, reaching Level 12. He was still a ways off from Level 13, but leveling up twice in a single day—especially now that the experience required had increased more than thirtyfold since the beginning—was undeniably fast.
Still, Ishikawa felt it wasn't enough.
"Even though official matches only depend on a player's actual skill and not level advantages, if I can break through to Level 15, I'll have a much better chance in the upcoming intra-school tournament!"
After all, while Ishikawa's current strength allowed him to easily crush lower-tier players, the intra-school tournament would likely pit him against Hyotei's top-ranked players.
Especially players like Akutagawa, Oshitari, and even Atobe!
For Ishikawa, only by becoming strong enough could he secure his place at Hyotei.
With that in mind, he went to bed early.
The next morning, after completing his basic training at the tennis club, he headed back to the street tennis courts.
When Ishikawa arrived, Izumi and Buke, who had thought their nightmare was over, felt their hearts sink.
But there was nothing they could do.
After yesterday's matches, they had been thoroughly defeated and had almost resigned themselves to the fact that Ishikawa now dominated their street tennis court.
Perhaps out of sheer frustration, the two of them, upon seeing Ishikawa resume his sweeping dominance, decided to call in reinforcements from the Rokkaku Middle School tennis team.
They refused to believe that Ishikawa was some kind of unstoppable machine who would never tire.
However, the result left everyone stunned once again.
Ishikawa's stamina seemed even greater than the day before. His speed, power, and even his tennis techniques were noticeably stronger than yesterday.
"Was he hiding his strength?"
Izumi stared in shock at the black-haired boy who was toying with his opponents on the court.
"He must have been. Otherwise…"
Buke, standing beside him, opened his mouth but couldn't finish his sentence, his face also showing a hint of disbelief.
They preferred to believe that Ishikawa had been holding back.
Otherwise, it would mean that this guy, known only as "X," had grown significantly stronger in just one day.
But the truth was closer to the seemingly impossible scenario they had dismissed.
By 5 p.m., Ishikawa had finished another day of dominating the court, increasing his win rate by nearly 50%. He slung his tennis bag over his shoulder and left.
As they watched him walk away, Izumi and Buke began to seriously consider finding a new place to train.
They were simply too intimidated.
They couldn't understand why someone so strong would come to a place like this, where the competition was relatively weak, just to dominate.
"Wait," Izumi suddenly said, as if struck by an idea. "What if we asked *her* for help?"
"You mean… Tachibana Oba?" Buke looked at him, surprised.
Tachibana Oba.
She was from a nearby school called Fudomine and was a skilled player. Even Izumi and Buke weren't confident they could beat her in a one-on-one match.
Of course, their target wasn't the girl herself, but her older brother.
Back when the two of them had first appeared at this street tennis court, some delinquents had tried to hit on Oba because of her looks.
But her brother, a short-haired boy, had stepped in and thoroughly humiliated them.
The delinquents had challenged him to a tennis match, only to be utterly crushed. By the end, they couldn't even hold their rackets properly and fled the court in disgrace.
To Izumi and Buke, Tachibana was the strongest player they had ever seen. Even this mysterious "X" guy didn't seem to measure up.
If they could get Tachibana to help them defeat "X," the problem of this street tennis court being taken over would be solved.
"It's worth a shot," Izumi said, narrowing his eyes.
After all, the street tennis court had effectively become Ishikawa's personal domain. If they didn't want to leave but also didn't want to be dominated by him, they needed to call in some serious reinforcements.
With that in mind, the two of them made up their minds.
The next time they ran into Tachibana Oba, they would ask her to help them deal with this problem.
Meanwhile, on his way back to Hyotei, Ishikawa was already tallying up the results of his grinding for the day.
"2,700 experience points."
"All of my techniques, except for the smash, have reached at least Level 3."
"This should be enough to get me to Level 15!"
Since more people had shown up today, and Ishikawa had been focused solely on grinding, he was able to finish matches in about a minute each.
As a result, he had earned more than three times the experience he had gained the day before.
Without hesitation, Ishikawa chose to level up.
**[Ding!]**
**[Player level increased. Current level: 13]**
**[Player level increased. Current level: 14]**
**[Player level increased. Current level: 15]**
After leveling up three times in a row, Ishikawa's character reached Level 15. The triple level-up netted him 9 skill points and a precious secondary profession point.
After a moment of thought, Ishikawa used the secondary profession point on **[Chess Mastery]**.
**[Ding!]**
**[Player's secondary profession, Chess Mastery, has leveled up. Current level: 9 (Max Level)]**
**[Chess Mastery: Secondary Profession. Increases +1 Spirit at Level 3, +1 Spirit at Level 6, and +1 Spirit at Level 9.**
**Additional Effect 1: Each level enhances partial brain development.**
**Additional Effect 2: Strengthens the ability to see through an opponent's weaknesses. Grants a chance to comprehend and master the principles of an opponent's special techniques (this effect is influenced by the user's and opponent's Spirit stats).**
**Current Level: LV9 (Max Level)]**
*Whoosh!*
Instantly, Ishikawa felt as if a previously dormant part of his brain had been activated, like a dark night sky suddenly illuminated.
At the same time, his tired eyes felt a refreshing coolness. A subtle, soothing sensation flowed through them, making the world around him seem sharper and clearer.
"The ability to see through weaknesses and comprehend techniques?"
Reading the system's description, Ishikawa thought of Atobe and Yukimura from the original series.
Both were players with extraordinary observational skills.
The former possessed terrifying visual acuity, which he used to develop a series of powerful techniques. The latter, with just his eyes, could see through and counter the special moves of Ryoma Echizen, who had mimicked the techniques of various strong players.
Now, with a swordsmanship level surpassing even Sanada Genichirou's, Ishikawa also possessed visual prowess on par with—or even surpassing—Atobe and Yukimura.
At this point, while his overall stats might not yet be at the national level, his actual combat strength was likely no weaker than that of an average national-level player.
After all, he still had 45 unused skill points.
"It's about time," Ishikawa thought to himself as he glanced toward the Hyotei tennis club. "Tomorrow is the first day of the intra-school tournament. It's time to develop my own killer move."
The Cannon Serve, after all, was a technique developed by Kabaji Munehiro based on his own characteristics. It didn't truly suit Ishikawa.
However, now that he had reached Level 15 and undergone a spiritual transformation, he had a clear idea of how to modify it and make it his own.
Moreover, with his enhanced Spirit, he also had a concept for his own unique killer move.
If he worked quickly, he might be able to fully develop it before the intra-school tournament ended!
**(End of Chapter)**