Under Kobe's mentorship, Su Feng's unique training space soon gained two more powerful skills.
In the words of many Kehei from his past life, Su Feng had already become a seasoned little blacksmith…
Of course, in Su Feng's view, the ideal blueprint for his own playing style is Klay Thompson, who fans in the future would jokingly call "Buddha."
Klay's off-ball playstyle is not only practical but also highly efficient in this environment governed by the HC rules (short for hand-checking).
Although he has never played in the American high school basketball league, Su Feng—who faces off against Kobe every day—firmly believes that he has become an expert in high school basketball defense.
As expected, the cunning thief never booed or bullied me.
Stacking up armor and enduring beatings is an essential experience for every young warrior in the process of growth.
...
On this day, as Su Feng examined his attribute panel and the 140,000 iron points he had accumulated over the past two days, he found himself deep in thought.
"Host: Su Feng, Nationality: Chinese, Age: 16, Height: 189 cm, Weight: 74.5 kg…"
"Host's current ability value (NBA second-round pick level):
• Close shot: 38 [64]• Mid-range shot: 70 [79]• Three-point shot: 70 [80]• Passing: 10 [45]• Vision: 15 [50]• Ball control: 38 [50]• Lateral movement: 70 [88]• One-on-one defense: 71 [91]• Steals: 41 [81]• Vertical leap: 40 [71]• Strength: 33 [45]• Defensive rebounds: 18 [30]"
After more than two months of exploration, Su Feng had fully deciphered the mechanics of this system.
Firstly, after upgrading the system to version 6.0, Su Feng's potential value had been converted, and his current potential is displayed within the brackets [].
Secondly, while iron points could be used to upgrade potential values, certain attributes—like strength—required Su Feng to reach a specific weight before unlocking their full potential.
For a long time, his strength attribute had remained stagnant, only increasing after he gained 3.5 kg.
Additionally, once a potential value reached its maximum limit, Su Feng could unlock further improvements through special events—such as his troublesome defensive attributes.
"Would it make more sense to allocate these points to offense?" Su Feng sighed.
Thanks to his daily one-on-one matchups with Kobe, he often heard the system abruptly announce: "Congratulations! The host's one-on-one defense potential has increased by +1!"
"Klay's playstyle is definitely the right path for me!" Su Feng thought.
As a dedicated stats analyst and veteran 2K player, Su Feng knew that if he wanted to reach the NBA as quickly as possible, become a basketball star, and achieve his dream of marrying Bai Fumei, he had to maximize every available resource.
"In a way, this system is actually quite scientific."
"Because even if I had never met Kobe, as long as I worked hard and trained diligently, I would still…"
"By my sophomore or junior year, I'd already have these ability values…"
...
Cough…
"The next system upgrade requires 15 million iron points…"
It seemed overwhelming, but as long as Kobe was around, Su Feng was confident he could reach version 7.0 before graduating high school.
He had to admit—the process of exploiting loopholes in the system was oddly satisfying.
Cough… To be honest…
Gazing at the remaining 140,000 iron points, Su Feng decided to hold off until school started before making any big decisions.
Under version 6.0, his equipped skills and badges were still sitting there, untouched!
There was no way he would accept this fate without taking matters into his own hands. He would wash his face, prepare himself properly, and show his respects to Senior Bai.
...
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it's August 23.
This day marks Kobe's 16th birthday, and Su Feng had prepared his gift well in advance—an Anfernee Hardaway poster.
To no one's surprise, Kobe was thrilled with his present.
After all, his idol was none other than the legendary "Penny" Hardaway.
"Haha! When I get the chance, I'll have Anfernee sign this poster!" Kobe said excitedly, looking at Su Feng.
Su Feng: "..."
Uh… is that really going to happen?
If Su Feng remembered correctly, there had been an unfortunate incident in his past life—back when Kobe was still in high school.
At the time, he had approached Hardaway for an autograph, only to be...
Rejected.
Cough...
Surely history wouldn't repeat itself...
Right?
...
After celebrating Kobe's 16th birthday, Su Feng spent his days immersed in training sessions with Kobe. But at night, he had one more task—making international calls to his parents to give them updates.
Of all the challenges in this new life, figuring out how to interact with his parents was the one that weighed on Su Feng the most.
After all, how could he just casually call a "stranger" dad or mom?
Fortunately, from the memories of "Su Feng," he had learned that this version of himself was a rich second-generation kid—practically living like royalty. If he was right, his parents wouldn't have simply abandoned him in the U.S. without resources.
Truth be told, being able to study in America in the 1990s meant that "Su Feng" came from a family background that most people would envy.
Yet what left Su Feng speechless was just how detached "Su Feng" had been—so much so that he didn't even know what his parents actually did for a living.
From the fragmented memories, he had only gathered three keywords: "selling shoes," "sports products," and "Wenzhou."
"Ah, well… everything is cause and effect. It's inevitable that I'll have to deal with this eventually. If I ever get the chance, I should help them earn enough money to last multiple lifetimes..."
In fact, ever since crossing over, Su Feng had meticulously recorded every expense "Su Feng" had made while living in the U.S.
It wasn't about money—it was about understanding his circumstances.
"Parents raise their children, so in return, I will support them."
Because of the spoiled, carefree nature of "Su Feng," these international calls with his parents had been surprisingly easy to handle.
The key was simple—just exist!
"Parents always worry about their children."
Unconsciously, Su Feng found himself remembering his parents from his past life.
For a moment, a wave of sadness washed over him.
...
"Oh, Su, you said your school was Nefalia, right?"
Fortunately, after seeing Kobe, Su Feng's mood instantly improved.
After all, this was a walking iron points generator… cough, a living legend!
"Yeah, what's up?" Su Feng asked as he handed Kobe a sandwich.
"Nothing, just curious."
Too bad Kobe's smirk at the corner of his mouth completely exposed his true intentions. But for some reason, Su Feng didn't immediately pick up on why Kobe was asking him about this.
"Come on, pay tribute to the seniors!" Seeing Su Feng's suspicion, Kobe quickly changed the subject.
"Tribute to the seniors…?" Su Feng repeated, growing even more puzzled by Kobe's attempt to divert the conversation.
After all, in the U.S., what exactly is there to "pay tribute" to in the third year?
Because… there's still high school after that…
...
On September 5th, after nearly three months of summer vacation, Su Feng's high school career officially began.
And soon, he finally understood why Kobe had suddenly asked him about his school again a few days earlier.
With the end of summer, the U.S. high school basketball league—better known as the NSAA—was about to kick off.
Unlike the NCAA, NSAA competitions are structured on a state-by-state basis. The leagues in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky are considered the most competitive.
Su Feng's Nefalia High School belongs to Pennsylvania, and before the start of the regular season each year, schools from the same city organize friendly matches.
The purpose of these matches is similar to NBA preseason games—getting teams mentally prepared for the grueling season ahead.
Unfortunately for Su Feng, this year's friendly match would pit Nefalia High School against Raul Merion High School—Kobe's team.
After treating Su Feng as a true friend over the past few months, Kobe was looking forward to this match.
After all, after training together for over three months, Kobe was convinced that Su Feng would have a starting spot on Nefalia's lineup this season.
Especially considering that last year, Nefalia was absolutely demolished by Raul Merion—losing by a crushing 58 points in the state tournament.
For Kobe, this friendly match was an important milestone—it would be his first official game against Su Feng.
Although Su Feng had yet to beat Kobe in a one-on-one match, their recent games had become much closer.
If Kobe let his guard down, there was a real chance Su Feng might pull off an upset.
In fact, since August, Kobe had even removed the restriction that prevented Su Feng from playing with aggression in their matchups.
Emmmmmm… No matter how close they were, Kobe would never forget Su Feng—the sharp-tongued troublemaker who never missed an opportunity to talk trash.
Don't ask—it's just Virgo's revenge.
"But… it seems like this friendly match has nothing to do with me," Su Feng thought, chuckling to himself.
Uh… wait.
Maybe it actually does.
Because technically, Su Feng was a member of the Nefalia High School basketball team.
Okay…
Okay.
Although Nefalia's basketball program wasn't strong, the school encouraged participation in sports and divided the team into four groups:
• First team
• Second team
• Third team
• …Reserve team.
And Su Feng happened to be part of that reserve squad.
Clearly, "Su Feng" had always been passionate about basketball, but his skill level had been mediocre at best.
So when he confidently set out to dominate American basketball, make it to the NBA, become a superstar, and marry Bai Fumei—life hit him with a brutal reality check.
Based on his memories, Su Feng discovered that while the reserve team was technically part of the school's basketball program, there was a massive gap between them and the players who actually saw court time.
Aside from access to free equipment in the school's basketball gym, reserve players were basically glorified cheerleaders.
Their primary responsibilities?
• Handing out towels
• Filling up water bottles
• Hyping up the starters
In short…
There was no chance of ever seeing playing time.
"Well… I guess I'll just go and watch," Su Feng muttered to himself.
After all, outside of Kobe, he knew next to nothing about American high school basketball.
Su Feng figured Kobe would just be wasting his time hyping this up.
Because when Nefalia faced Raul Merion in the friendly match, at best…
He'd be standing courtside cheering from the bench.