Obtaining S-rank Talent Skill

Los Angeles at 4 AM. Black Mamba was no longer alone, as a neighbor had quietly arrived in the city, becoming his neighbor.

Inside Paravilla Stadium.

A player with a clean-cut Eastern face was drenched in sweat, struggling to perform an 80kg bench press.

17...

18...

19...

Argh!

20...

Just as Li Chen finished his 10th set of bench presses, he felt as if his strength had been drained, not wanting to move at all.

At that moment, a mechanical voice sounded in his ear.

[Notification: Host has surpassed their limits, gaining the passive talent Tenacity.]

[Talent Skill: Tenacity (Passive)]

[Skill Level: S-rank]

[Skill Attributes: Can maintain better composure when facing adversity, bringing one's strength to its absolute limit.]

[Annotation: The one who defeats you is only yourself. Conquer yourself, young man!]

Seeing that he had gained a talent skill, a faint smile appeared on his face.

Li Chen was an Earthling who had somehow transmigrated to this parallel world called Blue Star and become the new owner of this body.

At the same time, he had also awakened a system.

As for what the system was called, he hadn't figured it out yet.

He only knew that the system would randomly grant him an S-rank skill for every basketball game.

If he was rated as the best player in a game, that initial S-rank skill would appear on his player panel.

Then, he could use money to upgrade its level from D-rank to A-rank. As for S-rank, that would require his own diligent training.

As for [Tenacity], it was obtained from the beginner's gift package. It was initially A-rank, but after long-term training, it became S-rank.

After acquiring ownership of this talent skill, Li Chen did not use money to upgrade it. Well! He had to admit he had no money.

But that didn't stump Li Chen.

It could be considered his good luck that he transmigrated to the year 2002.

This was the period when Yao Ming was just beginning to shine in the NBA, so NBA teams were eager to find a gem and were willing to give Yellow Race players a small chance.

Thus, Li Chen took advantage of this momentum, moving between various teams.

Usually, these were three-day short-term contracts.

Due to the wide variety of S-rank skills, Li Chen had not randomly obtained any eye-catching abilities during this period.

Therefore, he was not scouted by other teams.

However, Li Chen did gain something.

His gain was the ability to train with the training equipment of various teams without restriction.

With his tenacious willpower, Li Chen finally trained the passive talent skill [Tenacity] to S-rank.

Panting heavily, Li Chen looked at the ceiling and thought silently, Today is the last day again.

I hope I can randomly get an S-rank skill that's worth looking at, Li Chen thought silently. Because he didn't have many options left.

He opened his status panel again.

[Name: Li Chen] [Team: Los Angeles Clippers (Seven-day short-term contract)] [Position: Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward,] [Height: 199.8cm] [Weight: 90.3kg] [Wingspan: 210cm] [Age: 21] [Skills: Tenacity (Passive Talent Skill)] [Rating: 70]

Seeing this rating, Li Chen was slightly stunned. Why had his rating suddenly become so high?

Also, why do I feel like my abilities are so lackluster?

After thinking for a moment, Li Chen clicked on his personal attributes.

[Shooting Ability: 50]

[Dribbling: 41]

[Passing: 39]

[Rebounding: 30]

[Defense: 30]

[Speed: 62]

[Strength: 70]

[Basketball IQ: 85]

[Physical Fitness: 99] (S-rank skill bonus)

Seeing this, Li Chen suddenly understood. His basketball IQ and strength had pulled up the average.

In reality, his strength hadn't actually improved at all.

Li Chen often let out a sigh and then sat up.

What's there to fear with my stats? I can just train them. Besides, I have the system. There's no need to be discouraged. Li Chen encouraged himself.

At this moment, the S-rank passive talent skill [Tenacity] had already quietly taken effect.

Just as the skill description said, no one can defeat you; only you can defeat yourself.

At the same time, Li Chen felt his body fill with strength. He continued with 10 sets of squats, deadlifts, push-ups, and other basic strength training.

Half an hour later, Li Chen let out a long breath and began explosive power training, followed by core strength training, and finally functional training.

After completing all of this, the time was 6:15 AM.

He felt a bit hungry. He put on his jacket, returned to his rented room, ate something, and then went back to the training facility to start shooting practice.

He first practiced two-point jump shots for half an hour, then spent an hour on spot-up three-pointers before collapsing onto the floor.

Li Chen planned to rest for an hour and a half before starting his official training for the day.

At 9 AM, the training facility doors were opened, and the Clippers players began to walk in one after another.

"Hahaha! See! I told you 'Chen' would be in the training facility. Odom, you lost. Remember to give me the money after training."

Elton Brand said with a triumphant smile.

"Hmph! Elton, I'm not a man who goes back on his word." Odom replied unhappily, "F*ck you. Some people just have no self-awareness. They know they're not cut out for basketball but pretend to be diligent, harming themselves and others."

Hearing Odom's veiled jab, Elton Brand's eyebrows shot up, and he said angrily, "Hey! Odom, don't discriminate against people's hard work."

"Odom, you've gone too far." The team's leader, Corey Maggette, also reprimanded him displeasedly.

Seeing the Clippers' top two players simultaneously attack him, Odom's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Hey, hey, hey! We're from the same country." Odom shouted loudly.

Clearly, Odom was being discriminatory.

Corey Maggette and Elton Brand both frowned.

"Odom, basketball has no borders. Don't use such inappropriate language."

"Chen, although his talent isn't great, his hard work is worthy of admiration from us who love basketball."

"Corey Maggette is right," Elton Brand added loudly.

People are like this; they tend to be kind to those who work hard despite lacking talent. Corey Maggette was like this, and so was Elton Brand. Even the other Clippers players, though silent, admired Li Chen in their hearts.

On the other side, Wang Zhizhi, witnessing this scene, was lost in thought. He never expected that this compatriot, whom he had never heard of before, would gain the recognition of these foreign teammates in a foreign land.

Should he learn from him? But that would be too exhausting; his body really couldn't handle it.

At this moment, Wang Zhizhi deeply felt the terror of Li Chen's physical fitness.

"Tch!" Odom scoffed. Basketball was just a tool to make money.

Odom couldn't be bothered to argue with Corey Maggette and the others.

At this moment, the person in question, Li Chen, slowly walked up to Odom.

Seeing this, Odom was slightly stunned, then his eyes widened. "Eastern boy, what's up? You wanna fight? I'm game."

Li Chen smiled and shook his head. "How could our Eastern culture, a land of etiquette, resort to violence?"

Hearing this, Odom's large face contorted in disdain as he muttered, "Wimp."

"Although I won't resort to violence, I will take your starting position next, leaving you with no games to play."