William Sullivan’s lips curled up slightly. “Don’t worry, I’ll finish your father’s training regimen three times over before practicing other techniques with you.”

Sorry, ever since he got this blacksmithing system, William Sullivan had realized he’d fallen in love with those insanely strict standards.

How is steel tempered?

Nothing special—just practice until your hands are skilled.

……

In the days that followed, William Sullivan proved with his actions that he wasn’t just bragging.

Every day, in addition to training three times as hard as Joe Smith required, William Sullivan also did one-on-one drills and extra shooting practice with Kobe Bryant.

“No wonder Kobe Bryant appreciates him.” Now, it was Joe Smith, the one with experience, who was left dumbfounded under the tree.

At first, Joe Smith had only seen William Sullivan as his son’s friend.

But after these days together, Joe Smith could confidently say—he didn’t know if William Sullivan could make it to the NBA, but in all of Philadelphia, aside from Kobe, there wasn’t a player more hardworking than him.

What surprised Joe Smith even more was that Kobe Bryant seemed to be competing with William Sullivan; the two kept ramping up the intensity, spending every day doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and playing basketball...

It wasn’t until Joe Smith felt their training might harm their bodies that he finally put a stop to their competitive routine.

“If only I’d had that kind of drive back in the day…” Watching William Sullivan and Kobe Bryant, Joe Smith fell into deep thought.

He wanted some peace and quiet.

……

William Sullivan and Kobe Bryant’s training continued all the way until the 22nd.

Because that day was Game 7 of the Finals, the two iron men agreed to watch the Finals before doing anything else.

The result was exactly as William Sullivan remembered: affected by the failed buzzer-beater in Game 6, Knicks’ second-in-command John Starks shot 2 for 18 for the game, including 0 for 11 from three, turning into an undercover agent and becoming the biggest contributor to the Rockets’ championship.

In front of the TV, Knicks fan Kobe Bryant had completely lost it. “What is he doing? If he can’t make the shot, can’t he pass to his teammates? Why does he have to play so stubbornly?”

“Patrick is so unlucky. If only his teammates could hit some shots…”

Listening to Kobe Bryant’s commentary, the “pitiful, weak, and helpless” William Sullivan didn’t dare say a word.

Bro, don’t panic...

In the future, there’ll be a guy named Shaq who’ll get the same treatment Ewing got tonight.

Ahem...

William Sullivan, who almost exposed his identity, comforted Kobe Bryant: “We’ll never be players like John.”

Kobe Bryant nodded in agreement. “Right, we absolutely can’t be players like that!”

John Starks, who was probably feeling miserable about being the runner-up, could never have imagined that on this day, he’d become a negative example for two high schoolers in Philadelphia...

Maybe spurred on by Starks, the next day, Kobe Bryant and William Sullivan decided they’d each do an extra 1,000 shots every day.

And so, the summer vacation plans Joe Smith had to take his son on a trip were scrapped, and he and his wife could finally enjoy some quality time together...

……

In the blink of an eye, it was already August.

After nearly two months of hard training, it was no exaggeration to say that William Sullivan was a completely different person.

If, two months ago, William Sullivan was just an ordinary basketball enthusiast in Kobe Bryant’s eyes,

Now, two months later, William Sullivan was already good enough to be in the rotation for Lower Merion High School.

And that was Kobe Bryant’s strict assessment.

As for William Sullivan himself, he was completely immersed in the daily joy of “brick-laying”...

Clang! Bang! Clatter!

A great man once said, there was no such thing as heavenly music in this world, but after enough brick-laying...

Heavenly music appears.

Looking at his current stats panel, even William Sullivan himself couldn’t believe it.

Turns out, he’d really misunderstood “Slam Dunk” before.

Geniuses really do exist.

“Hmm, looks like it’ll be hard to upgrade the system again in the short term.”

That day, after upgrading the system to version 6.0 in one go, spending all his brick points, and maxing out his potential, William Sullivan fell into deep thought as he looked at the brick points needed for the next upgrade.

“Good thing I met Kobe Bryant... Otherwise, tsk tsk.”

“But since I can’t upgrade the system for now, my next focus should be to keep accumulating brick points, and at the same time, quickly use up my potential points and turn them into actual combat power.

If necessary, I can use a few brick points to spin the wheel and test my looks...

Of course, I can’t neglect my signature moves either. After all, if I had to play a game right now, aside from defense and shooting, I’d basically be lost out there…”

After thinking it through, the next day, William Sullivan showed up at 4 a.m. sharp at the usual court where he trained with Kobe Bryant, with eight different flavors of sandwiches ready.

When he’d visited Kobe Bryant’s house before, William Sullivan had discovered that Kobe Bryant’s mom’s cooking was really...

Well, you can’t use traditional Chinese cooking to judge others. In his previous life, William Sullivan often cooked for himself, so he was pretty confident in his own skills.

“How exactly do you make these sandwiches?”

Watching Kobe Bryant wolf down a sandwich in two bites, it was obvious that Kobe Bryant’s stomach was hooked.