Muneyoshi's Path in Tennis

The first regional preliminary round of the Japan competition year has concluded, and all schools have resumed their training.

In preparation for the upcoming Metropolitan Tournament, Kanto Tournament, and even the National Tournament.

Fudomine is no exception.

Saeki Muneyoshi could clearly feel the high level of enthusiasm among all the members of the Fudomine Tennis Club.

Especially the reserve players, they really made a name for themselves in this regional preliminaries.

This also motivated the other members of the Tennis Club to work harder. They were well aware of the gap in their abilities, so they did not insist on becoming the Regular.

But this qualifying tournament has made it clear to them that as long as they become substitutes, they can play in the official matches.

Therefore, many members began to shift their goals, making becoming a candidate their primary objective, and their enthusiasm soared.

Moreover, the benefits of being a substitute player don't stop there; there's also the right to challenge for Regular spot once a week.

Many people see this right as a way to consult with Saeki Muneyoshi, Tachibana Kippei, Keith.

With Muneyoshi's guidance, Tachibana Kippei and Keith also began to point out the shortcomings of the team members through matches, and a wave of challenges broke out in the Tennis Club.

This intense competition makes the players who have Regular and reserve positions cherish their current roles even more.

Of course, Saeki Muneyoshi also knew that this enthusiasm after returning victorious would not last long, especially since it was only a preliminary round champion.

Overall, however, this vibrant and positive atmosphere is having a positive impact on the Fudomine Tennis Club.

Muneyoshi was also pleased with the outcome.

Furthermore, after the competition, Coach Hanamura Aoi compiled a list of problems that arose during the regional preliminaries and proposed corresponding targeted training methods for each person.

Besides Muneyoshi, even Tachibana Kippei received a new training program.

Therefore, the entire Tennis Club is immersed in intensive training and improvement, waiting for the arrival of the Metropolitan Tournament.

Compared to the West City qualifiers, there are many more opponents in the Metropolitan Tournament.

Saeki Muneyoshi recalled the information that Tachibana An had gathered.

Yamabuki, Hyotei Academy, Rikkai Dai, Rokkaku Middle School... these schools basically all won the preliminary championships in their respective regions.

Following them were Osawa Industrial, St. Rudolph, Kamada Junior High...

And of course, there's Seigaku...

Muneyoshi didn't believe that the Seigaku could tolerate their defeat in the preliminary rounds.

Now, Seigaku has added Akutsu, a National Level, in addition to Tezuka, and Fuji Shusuke, who is standing at the threshold of the national level.

There are also doubles pairs that, when combined, become increasingly powerful.

Muneyoshi was quite certain that the next time they faced Seigaku, it wouldn't be so easy.

"Sigh, what's wrong with me? Since the Tennis Club was established, I've started thinking about so many things. It was better before, when I only had to think about myself..."

Saeki Muneyoshi chuckled, suddenly realizing that he had been thinking too much lately.

"I should focus on myself first. Although things in the Tennis Club have been a bit of a hassle, my skill improvement has definitely slowed down..."

"After leaving the training camp, my skill improvement did indeed hit a bottleneck... Of course, it wasn't entirely because I lacked opponents."

Saeki Muneyoshi re-examined the changes that had occurred in him during this period.

His improvement has indeed slowed down significantly compared to when he first entered the training camp last year, and has almost stagnated.

Although his physical development has led to a slight improvement in his fundamental abilities, his overall strength has remained unchanged.

Muneyoshi has fully absorbed the amplification from the Asura Path and has also comprehensively advanced the Path of Darkness to the first stage.

Nowadays, apart from speed and stamina, he has almost reached the world-class level of U-17, and it is unrealistic to expect him to improve further in the short term.

Now, the only areas we can really target are speed and stamina.

Especially stamina. The Dark State itself consumes a lot of stamina, and after starting the Asura Path, stamina will be consumed even faster.

Under the pressure of Oni Jūjirō, he forcibly activated the Dark State and the Different Dimension Realm of Asura Path. The combined power of the two was indeed enormous.

However, after he only managed to land one attack, he immediately exhausted all his physical and mental strength.

Although he had been battling the ghost for a long time by then.

However, this also shows how high the requirements are for one's own foundation, especially physical strength, in these two states.

Muneyoshi himself didn't want to only be able to last five seconds after activating his ultimate skill; that would be incredibly lame.

Now, Muneyoshi's own path in tennis is gradually becoming clear.

The first path is the new Path of Darkness, formed by the initial awakening of darkness and energy.

Because of the early fusion, the Path of Darkness is improved, and the path of energy must also be improved.

Otherwise, the Path of Darkness after this fusion would stagnate, which is also the difference between Muneyoshi and Amadeus.

This is also why Amadeus said that Muneyoshi's darkness was too mixed.

However, Muneyoshi did not think so. He believed that this new darkness, which could be seen as a fusion of two different paths, was his most important trump card to surpass his opponent in the future.

This is also the most important reason why he seemed to be just one stage on a path, and with his initial grasp of Power and Technique, he was able to achieve consecutive victories in the World Tournament.

Because he pioneered the integration of different paths, and it was a path that few people had trod.

Therefore, he is unlikely to give up.

The second path is the Asura Path Mental Power Path entered after being guided by Mifune Nyudo.

He could trace the path he was taking with him, like Byōdōin and Oni Jūjirō crossing the river. Although it was difficult, it was also the easiest path to follow.

Besides these two paths, Muneyoshi also has a third path.

That is the most conventional path for elite European tennis: a perfect fusion of Power Force, Technique Form, Speed Extreme.

Any one of the three paths can lead to a smooth career, but turning a rugged path into a broad highway is a different story.

The contestants must constantly expand the boundaries of their path, turning rugged trails into a broad highway.

This is why true masters often take different paths.

The simplest example is that when Muneyoshi himself reached the first stage of integrating the concept of Qi into his Darkness Shot, his attack already possessed the power of the first stage of the Different Dimension Realm.

However, at that time, the gap between him and Byōdōin Hōō and Oni Jūjirō, who were also at the first stage of the realm, was even greater than the gap between him and the National Level.

This is how the two of them constantly broadened their own paths, crushing Saeki Muneyoshi who was walking on the rugged path.

If we compare individual strength in the previous Different Dimension Realm to single digits, then both one and nine are single digits, but one can never be greater than nine.

If we consider the Different Dimension Realm as an even number, then both ten and ninety-nine are even numbers, but the difference between them is even more astonishing.

Compared to Muneyoshi at that time, who only had a transformation in strength, the Path of Darkness that merged with ki, and slight skill.

Their superiority in strength, speed, skill, and mental fortitude is comprehensive, and they have all begun to merge their different paths.

In this respect, elite education in Europe does a very good job. They do not pursue that kind of mysterious spiritual realm, but rather focus on the practical refinement of the most basic strength, speed and skills.

If the two can be perfectly combined, the resulting power will be no less than that of forging a new path.

If these three elements can be perfectly combined, the resulting power will be even more astonishing. Combined with any other path, it will be able to defeat many generals.

This is why Oni Jūjirō ultimately lost to the captain of the France team.

However, the demons, Byōdōin have now entered the Stage Two of the Different Dimension Realm, and their strength has increased significantly once again.

"If I don't work harder, how am I supposed to return the hell that Oni Jūjirō sent me to?"

With that in mind, Muneyoshi made up his mind. Even if he needed to prepare for the upcoming competitions, his training could no longer be the same as everyone else's.

"The most important goal at this stage is to improve my speed and stamina, at least to open the door to the Speed Extreme."

"Unfortunately, we're middle school students now, so we can't just freely exploit our opponents' potential like before. Besides, there aren't many truly talented individuals in speed among middle school students..."

"It seems the only way to improve is through training..."

As before, Saeki Muneyoshi has clear goals and plans for his tennis career, taking it one step at a time.

After making up his mind, Muneyoshi picked up his racket and went outside, already planning his next phase of training.

He had just celebrated his birthday when he came down from the training camp, and now he is fourteen years old, and his body has grown even more.

Once he overcomes his weaknesses in speed and endurance, his strength will undoubtedly reach the perfect level of the first stage of the Different Dimension, and he will be able to challenge the second stage!

P. S.: "Requesting monthly votes"

I had only mentioned the protagonist's path in replies to readers' comments before, but now I'm writing it out all at once.

It's actually quite clear that although the protagonist mentions three paths, there are actually four. This is because the path of Qi has merged with the path of darkness, and Qi has more than just that function; there will be others later, but I won't spoil it for now.

As for other sports like kendo and tennis, these belong to the skill category.

I should be able to go back by tomorrow, and I can update more for everyone on Saturday and Sunday.