The Loser Group's Misery

Looking at the middle school student who seemed to have changed his personality, Horio guessed that this would be the outcome.

"The Hell Gatekeeper have already opened the gates, and those in the training camp will only get stronger. But when will these guys be worthy of you opening the gates for them?"

Looking at the crowd sweating profusely, Horio said something meaningful before turning and leaving.

Mifune glanced in the direction Horio had left, Mifune eyes filled with a deeper meaning.

"The Light Ball Shot... needs to be further improved, otherwise when those guys come back, this kind of Light Ball Shot that simply utilizes the super sweet spot won't pose any threat at all."

In the woods, Horio, having left the training grounds, came here alone.

During his many days in the mountains, besides meditating and thinking about how to improve the Genesis Domain, he also constantly honed his physical abilities.

As his body continued to improve, he also became aware of some of the shortcomings in his current ball skills.

Other ball skills that rely on the Genesis Aura are fine, since as long as the body is strengthened, the Genesis Aura will become stronger, and the power of these ball skills will also become stronger.

However, the only thing that caught his attention right now was the Light Ball Shot, because Horio's Light Ball Shot was simply a super sweet spot technique.

So what he needs to do now is figure out how to integrate the Genesis Aura into the Light Ball Shot and create an even more powerful technique.

After setting this goal for himself, Horio found a place to sit down, closed his eyes, and began to sketch out the prototype of the ball skills he was satisfied with.

"When a regular Light Ball Shot is hit, it simply explodes the power contained within the ball. The explosion range is not very large, and the power of the explosion is not concentrated enough."

So what I need to do is use the Genesis Aura to concentrate the power of the Light Ball Shot, and also to expand its radiation range."

It was already dark when Horio finished his meditation and practice and walked towards the cabin.

"Seven hundred and thirteen, seven hundred and fourteen..."

As Horio walked through a grove of trees, a sound suddenly reached his ears.

After careful listening, Horio realized that it was the voices of high school students.

Driven by curiosity, Horio walked toward the direction from which the sound came.

"Oh? You're working really hard, training so intensely during the day and then adding extra training at night."

Looking at the high school students practicing their swings with specially made rackets on the open space by the river, smiles couldn't help but appear on their faces.

After Horio's training of them over this period of time, the high school students' abilities have been changing without them even realizing it.

"I'm really curious, between you guys and the middle school students, which side really qualified to come down the mountain first?"

After watching the high school students train for a few minutes, Horio turned and left.

Before he could even return to the cabin, another series of hitting sounds reached Horio's ears.

"What's going on? Are all these people working so hard lately?"

Following the sound, Horio found Kintaro practicing multiple serves in front of a stone wall.

"It's surprising to see someone still practicing alone so late."

Who is it!

Horio's sudden voice startled Kintaro, who was engrossed in his work, and Kintaro didn't immediately realize it was Horio's voice.

Horio wouldn't have believed that Kintaro would be doing extra training if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

In his mind, Kintaro, like Echizen Ryoma, was the kind of person who preferred to improve through competition.

"Oh, it's you, Horio! I couldn't sleep, so I practiced by myself."

"You train so hard during the day, how come you can't sleep? Is something bothering you?"

Kintaro saw Horio emerge from behind the tree, like a child whose secret had been discovered.

Horio noticed something was off about Kintaro's expression; the usually cheerful and optimistic man was now looking rather downcast.

"Huh? What's wrong? Nothing, I'm just probably too tired, that's why I can't sleep."

"It's probably because of the increased number of serves."

Kintaro tried to argue after hearing Horio's words, but Horio turned around and saw the tennis ball marks on the stone wall and immediately guessed what had happened.

"Let's try again. Maybe I can help you."

Seeing Kintaro's stunned expression, Horio offered words of encouragement.

Kintaro picked up seven balls from the ground and threw them all into the air.

Bang bang bang bang...

Seven consecutive sounds of hitting the ball were heard, and seven tennis balls flew out almost simultaneously, striking the stone wall.

"Isn't this great? You've hit them all out!"

"But... this is my limit. Everything was perfect up to the seventh ball, but I couldn't go any further than the eighth."

Horio glanced at Kintaro, who looked somewhat dejected, then at the tennis balls scattered on the ground, and turned away.

"Pick up all the balls on the ground, then come to the court."

After uttering just one sentence, Horio left without saying anything else.

Kintaro was stunned for a while before he realized that Horio was probably going to teach him something.

Kintaro, who was initially disappointed, immediately became excited. He quickly cleaned up the mess and ran towards the court with a bunch of balls in his arms.

"Actually, you've made a lot of progress recently, and you've already caught up with the high school students who came before you."

But if you want to become stronger, you need to be strong not only physically, but also mentally.

On the court, Horio stood beside Kintaro's neatly packed tennis ball and looked at Kintaro across from him, saying...

"I know you might have some doubts, but the main purpose of you Loser Group coming here is to strengthen your mentality, that is, your mental strength."

The fact that you managed to survive that stinky old man already shows that your mental strength has been honed.

However, it is this kind of training that keeps your mental state constantly tense and puts you in a state of stress.

It's not that this is bad, but if it continues for too long, it can become an obstacle, especially for someone like you who has bigger goals in mind.

Listening to Horio's words, Kintaro tried hard to think, but he could only understand a little bit of what Horio meant.

"Kintaro, I remember you were very happy when you played, even in that match against Oni."

Even if you're not very good at it, you still enjoy that kind of fun.

"Think back to that feeling, let's play a few balls."

"Really!? Horio, you really want to play ball with me!?"

Upon hearing Horio's invitation, Kintaro was so excited that he didn't know what to say.

"That's right, it's because I happened to run into you alone and feeling melancholy at this time."

"I already said I didn't! I just can't sleep!"

"Alright, get ready, I'm going to serve."

Ignoring Kintaro's continued attempts to argue, Horio's words immediately made him take the matter seriously.

Horio took out a ball and hit it at Kintaro.

For Kintaro, who can already hit seven balls simultaneously, returning this kind of serve is naturally a piece of cake.

After Kintaro returned the ball, Horio took out another ball.

Two shots were made, and the number of tennis balls increased to two.

"Are you underestimating me, Horio? You know I can hit seven balls at the same time!"

Kintaro spoke to Horio as he moved, his hands never pausing.

"Of course I know, but I want to see how you would handle it if the number of balls changed each time."

After saying that, Horio took out two more balls, swung his racket to return them, and now there were four balls on the court.

"Is that so? That's really interesting. In that case, I'll play along with you!"

After flipping in the air, Kintaro arrived at the ball's landing point and swung his racket to hit all four balls.

Four shots rang out, and four tennis balls flew towards Horio now had an extra ball in his hand.

"Hehe, five balls is too little for your eyes!"

As Kintaro gradually got into the zone, Horio's left hand suddenly twitched, and his left hand, which originally only had one ball, suddenly produced another ball.

Bang... bang... bang...

With the number of balls increased to six, Kintaro was already feeling quite excited.

With a smile of enjoyment returning to his face, Kintaro moved swiftly.

Bang... bang... bang...

Having successfully defended against six of Horio's balls, Kintaro slowly recalled the feeling of playing basketball in the past, which made him somewhat lost in thought.

He only realized what was happening when he heard the sound of the ball being hit.

However, he adjusted in time and got into position before the ball hit the ground, but this time there was a slight problem when he returned the ball.

He was originally capable of returning six balls, but he failed to notice the sixth ball when he swung his racket to hit it, causing him to miss.

While he was still stunned, Horio scored again.

"You absolutely must stay focused during the game, or you'll suffer a great loss."

Upon hearing Horio speak, Kintaro looked at him.

Horio was holding a tennis ball in his left hand and waving it at Kintaro.

"So it was you who took the tennis ball when you returned the shot!"

Seeing that Kintaro still didn't know what was going on, he immediately felt a little annoyed.

"If you can do that, you can do it too, I won't have any objections."

Horio's words left Kintaro speechless. It would be good enough to return the ball at the same time, let alone take one ball while returning it. In Kintaro's current opinion, this was impossible.

"Next, I've already reminded you to concentrate."

After Horio finished speaking, Kintaro immediately adjusted his state and threw himself back into the battle.

This time, Horio threw out five balls directly at Kintaro.

After Kintaro returned the ball, the number of balls increased to seven, putting more pressure on Kintaro.

After maintaining this pressure on Kintaro for several rounds, Horio reduced the number of balls to three.

Kintaro, who was already nearing his limit, was suddenly relieved of pressure and almost couldn't adapt.

"What's wrong? Can't you adapt to this change in intensity?"

"No way! Go ahead and try. No matter how many balls there are, I'll hit them back!"

Horio spoke up again, Kintaro immediately fell for Horio's provocation.

Horio smiled at this, thinking to himself that this was only the beginning.