Kuroko: Mahoraga - Chapter 76: Assimilation. Four-Dimensional Hypervision! (Patreon)

It was around seven in the morning. Sunlight slipped through a gap in the curtains and fell across Masato's face.

Normally, he'd have been awake by now, but ever since letting go of his burden that day, he'd been much less demanding of himself. There was no need to be so hard on yourself all the time. Taking things one step at a time, with a healthy balance between effort and rest, was a perfectly reasonable way to live.

Right now, he was sleeping soundly.

But the peace didn't last.

Ring, ring...

The sound of his phone dragged Masato out of his sleep. Without opening his eyes, he reached beside his pillow and picked it up. When he finally squinted at the screen, he saw exactly what he'd expected: another unfamiliar number.

Masato clicked his tongue in annoyance and immediately hung up.

More than ten days had passed since the game against Teikō Middle School. Yet the attention surrounding that match hadn't died down at all. If anything, it had grown even more intense, drawing more interest than the teams still competing in the National Tournament.

Headlines like "The Fierce Tiger of Kanagawa," "A Monster Beyond Reason," and "A Hundred Points Against the Miracles!" had spread well beyond basketball circles.

Kawari had lost, but the coverage made it sound as though they'd won. More than half the attention that should have gone to Teikō had been stolen away.

And there was an even bigger annoyance.

Masato had no idea who'd leaked his contact information, but people from outside the team had been bothering him constantly. High school basketball clubs wanted to reach him, and media outlets from all over were requesting interviews. Strangest of all, a fashion magazine had invited him to pose for photographs.

He could understand the first two. At least they had something to do with basketball. But that last one? Shouldn't they have been looking for Kise instead?

All of it had been driving him up the wall for days.

Now that he'd been woken up, Masato had no chance of going back to sleep. He rolled over and stared at the ceiling, letting his thoughts drift over the days since the game.

After their conversation in the locker room, everyone had gone their separate ways. Kawari had reached the Round of 16, but the team had decided to postpone its celebration and combine it with the third-year players' retirement ceremony.

With that settled, they had all officially begun their break.

Masato hadn't done any training in the real world over the past few days. He ate, slept, slept, and ate. Occasionally, he went to a nearby pickup court, ran circles around a few random players, and worked off his meals.

It wasn't nearly as decadent a lifestyle as he'd imagined. In fact, he was enjoying it. For the Masato who had only just recovered his memories, living this way would have been unthinkable. Now that he'd finally put his old burdens aside, though, it felt like he was actually living.

Besides, stopping his real-world training didn't mean he'd stopped training altogether.

Quite the opposite. His progress over the last few days had been enormous.

Every night, as soon as he closed his eyes, he entered the Dream Training Ground and trained relentlessly until morning, steadily assimilating everything [Adaptation] had absorbed from the Generation of Miracles.

Oh, and he'd already redeemed the system's three draw rewards as well.

Thinking about them, Masato summoned his personal status panel again.

[Name: Masato Kumoi]

[School: Kawari Middle School]

[Static Attributes: Height 187 cm / Wingspan 200 cm / Weight 86 kg]

[Dynamic Attributes: Strength 85+3, Speed 87+3, Vertical Jump 87+3, Stamina 91+3]

[Basketball Skills: 3-Point Shot 85+2, Mid-Range Shot 90+5, Layup 93+1, Passing 91+5, Defense 93+2]

[Current Abilities: Adaptation Lv. 2, Bible Lv. 1... Thunderous Power, Unflappable Mid-Range Shot, Four-Dimensional Hypervision]

Looking at the deep blue panel, Masato couldn't help feeling satisfied. Thanks to all the time he'd spent assimilating his gains in the Dream Training Ground, every one of his base attributes had improved. The rate of growth far surpassed anything he'd experienced before.

He'd expected facing Teikō to accelerate his progress, but even he hadn't imagined the results would be this good.

"The Generation of Miracles really gave me one hell of an experience boost!"

The improvements to his numbers were only part of it. What pleased him even more were the three abilities he'd obtained from his draws.

The first was Lightning Dribble, a technique used by Kotaro Hayama in the original series.

Masato hadn't thought much of it when he first obtained it. As far as basketball technique was concerned, he figured Bible already gave him everything he needed. But he soon discovered there was more to Lightning Dribble than he'd assumed.

It wasn't simply a dribbling technique. At its core, it was a method of generating force. After experimenting with it over the past several days, Masato had refined it completely, transforming it into the ability now displayed on his panel: Thunderous Power.

One clear application was passing. It allowed him to deliver the ball faster and with less warning. An effect that had once required his entire palm could now be produced with just three fingers, or even fewer.

There was a drawback. Teammates who weren't accustomed to receiving passes that fast could easily fumble them. But with enough practice and familiarity, that problem could be eliminated.

And there was another use.

Because Thunderous Power relied on precise finger movements, it could make certain little tricks much harder to spot. He could replace the dirty elbow shots a referee might spot with subtler tricks using his fingers.

His second ability was Unflappable Mid-Range Shot.

It was exactly what the name suggested. The ability made his shooting more stable under defensive pressure and improved his accuracy. It was straightforward but extremely practical, granting him an immediate two-point increase in his mid-range shooting attribute.

Masato had no complaints about either of those abilities. Both were solid additions with their own strengths.

But the third ability was the one that truly delighted him.

Four-Dimensional Hypervision.

That was the real jackpot of the three draws.

At a thought, the interface before him changed.

[Four-Dimensional Hypervision: Derived from Yoichi Isagi's Meta Vision in Blue Lock.]

[Ability: Greatly enhances spatial awareness, allowing the user to anticipate players' movements on the court. By combining information observed on the court, the user can actively create or identify advantageous opportunities!]

Masato studied the system's description. In simple terms, the ability let him anticipate changes on the court before they happened and gather information from those changes to find a way to finish a play.

As he examined the skill, he remembered Blue Lock, which he'd watched in his previous life. Many characters possessed Meta Vision, and when they activated it, a spiderweb-like pattern would appear in their eyes. As Masato recalled, though, its exact effects differed slightly from person to person.

Take the protagonist, Yoichi Isagi, nicknamed "Puzzle Guy." His Meta Vision allowed him to perceive the space across the field from a god's-eye view. He would use the information he gathered to complete the final piece of the puzzle and finish the play.

After the system optimized that ability, it had become Four-Dimensional Hypervision. Perhaps that extra dimension represented the mental work involved in creating the final scoring opportunity.

Masato knew it would provide another enormous boost to his offense. And not just his own offense. It could make his teammates far more dangerous too.

Four-Dimensional Hypervision wasn't limited to creating chances for Masato to score. It could also guide opportunities toward any one of his teammates.

He had a feeling this ability could help him reach the very pinnacle of the basketball world.

The more he looked at all these changes, the more excited he became. He wasn't about to stay in bed any longer.

After resting for so many days, it was time to head back to the school Basketball Club.