……

　　"That's about it, I need to go home for dinner." Fortunately, after who knows how many more rounds, Kobe Bryant checked the time and realized it was already dinner time.

　　In the past, during training, Kobe Bryant often forgot about mealtimes, but for some reason, today Kobe Bryant kept quietly glancing at the watch he had set aside...

　　William Sullivan's expression was a bit disappointed, because a human cheat code like this is just... too rare!

　　And after all, he's his idol. Honestly, William Sullivan really enjoys playing basketball with Kobe Bryant, and it's definitely not because he's craving Kobe Bryant's...

　　"Damn! This brick value!"

　　William Sullivan was practically overjoyed...

　　And for some reason, seeing William Sullivan's disappointed face, Kobe Bryant actually felt a twinge of guilt...

　　What the hell, wasn't it this jerk who challenged me to a one-on-one? Why should I feel guilty? Besides, I'm the star of Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia, the number one high school player in the country—being willing to play ball with him all afternoon is already pretty generous, right? Why am I even having these thoughts?

　　"Are you coming again tomorrow?" William Sullivan blinked his eyes, looking at Kobe Bryant with a sincere expression.

　　"We still haven't decided a winner," William Sullivan continued.

　　Kobe Bryant: "......"

　　"That's settled then—tomorrow at 4 a.m., I'll be waiting for you here!" After saying this, William Sullivan didn't give Kobe Bryant a chance to refuse and slipped away immediately.

　　Kobe Bryant was stunned.

　　This guy... why does he act like we're so close?

　　And weirdly, why didn't I refuse him right away?

　　Wait, 4 a.m.?

　　Who the hell gets up at 4 a.m. to practice basketball in the cold? Is he crazy? Only an idiot would get up at 4 a.m. to train!

　　Kobe Bryant was speechless.

　　He swore to himself that he absolutely wouldn't come tomorrow.

　　Four in the morning? You can play by yourself.

　　But for some reason, William Sullivan's stubborn look and his low-quality but desperate defense kept replaying in Kobe Bryant's mind.

　　"He... really loves basketball too."

Chapter 4: Others Spend Money, I Spend...

　　Jackpot, jackpot, jackpot!

　　After casually buying a pizza and heading home, William Sullivan devoured it in big bites while staring excitedly at the virtual interface in front of him.

　　"Current brick value: 379,055. Host can upgrade the system to the next stage. Upgrade now?"

　　370,000 brick value—earlier, William Sullivan thought 15,000 was an impossible task, but now, William Sullivan believed that as long as he could find a way to lock down Kobe Bryant's stomach—no, as long as he could find a way to become friends with Kobe Bryant, then the NBA would be within reach!

　　"Upgrade!"

　　Whatever, William Sullivan decided to upgrade first and see what happens. After all, there was still a lot he needed to figure out about this system.

　　"Upgrading... 7%, 11%, 15%... 97%... Upgrade complete!"

　　As the system finished upgrading, William Sullivan noticed that the interface had changed from white to gray.

　　"Host: William Sullivan, Nationality: China, Age: 16, Height: 188 cm, Weight: 71 kg."

　　"Host's current stats (High School Elite Level): Shooting: 22【48】+, Passing: 10【18】+, Jumping: 22【36】+, Strength: 13【33】+."

　　"Host's currently equipped shooting form: None. Host's currently equipped special skill: None. Host's current brick value: 364,055. Brick value required to unlock next system stage: 100,000."

　　"Wait, why did my stats drop after upgrading?"

　　William Sullivan was a bit confused, but after reading the new interface description, he finally understood why his stats had decreased.

　　Because previously, the system rated his stats at the American high school level, but after upgrading, what he saw was his rating among American high school elite players.

　　To give a simple example, even if McGrady had a 90 in jumping when he entered the NBA, he still couldn't dunk effortlessly in games.

　　Because of various limitations, even though McGrady could fly back then, it was useless—you just couldn't soar through the air like you did in high school.

　　And in the future, after making a name for himself with the Magic, McGrady's brutal poster dunks became more and more frequent. That was because, after adapting to the NBA, McGrady's stats had reached NBA standards.

　　"So basically, after conversion, my stats are only at this level among American high school elite players? Hmm... that's pretty tragic," William Sullivan evaluated himself.

　　Additionally, in the new system interface, William Sullivan noticed that there was a number behind each stat, which was the system's rating of his potential—the maximum level William Sullivan could reach through self-training.

　　"So, no matter how hard I train, my current shooting cap is 48..."

　　Sure enough, while William Sullivan's basketball skills were already decent among basketball enthusiasts, he was still far, far from being a pro. Otherwise, he wouldn't have only scored one basket after playing dozens of games with Kobe Bryant...