CHAPTER 20

The chat was hyped:

【WTF! He dunked it!】

【5’10”, first-year middle schooler dunking! Only in sci-fi basketball, baby!】

【Still, it was a pretty forced dunk.】

【I wonder what kind of demonic entity Taiga Kagami’s high school version with over 300 Layup/Dunk stat is.】

【The Lightning Dribble really works!】

【That card pull wasn’t a waste. Feels more important than a 5-star character card early on. After all, having high stats without skills won’t let you beat Aomine-level defense.】

【Lightning Dribble is so damn cool!】

Thump, thump, thump…

The gym fell silent, the only sound being the echo of the basketball bouncing.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at Donnie and Aomine Daiki, rooted to the spot, seemingly unable to believe what had just happened before their eyes.

Aomine Daiki’s face was dark, but his displeasure wasn’t because Donnie had scored on him.

“A dribble like thunder!” he said, his voice low.

“The moment you blew past me, I didn’t react at all…”

“So this is your true strength!”

“Amazing!”

“As expected of you, Ethan Woods!”

“However…”

“Why are you still not using your full power?! Dribbling with only three fingers, are you looking down on me?!”

Aomine’s words first pushed the silence in the gym to an even deeper level, then erupted into a cacophony of murmurs.

“Oh my god! That kind of dribble, and he was only using three fingers?”

“No way, right?!”

“Although the dribble was too fast to see the ball clearly, judging by his hand shape while dribbling, it looked like five fingers.”

“Aomine, who’s actually playing against Ethan Woods, probably wouldn’t be mistaken…”

“If three fingers are already that strong, then how terrifying would it be if he used all five fingers at full power?”

Donnie hadn’t expected Aomine to notice that detail.

He pondered for a moment and could only explain, “The ball speed is too fast. I can only control three fingers for now. With four or more, it’s hard for me to execute crossover moves.”

The chat had its own theories:

【Nice save… Donnie’s explanation is perfect~】

【Donnie, just tell him! ‘I didn’t whale any further, don’t have enough skill books, can’t upgrade it!’】

【You devious outsider!】

【Run, Aomine, run! Donnie’s using hax!】

【Don’t get ahead of yourselves. He only scored one point. On defense, you’re always at a disadvantage in basketball. Let’s see Aomine’s offense first.】

On the court, after hearing Donnie’s explanation, Aomine’s gloomy expression instantly cleared up. At the same time, the topic immediately shifted back to Donnie’s ‘Lightning Dribble’:

“So, you’re saying that move of yours can get even stronger later? At least two more levels stronger!”

Donnie nodded.

Theoretically, that was correct.

But that was on the premise that…

He didn’t pull a better skill before he had enough resources to upgrade ‘Lightning Dribble.’

After Donnie’s successful offense, possession switched.

The ball was now in Aomine Daiki’s hands.

Like Donnie, he didn’t use the triple-threat advantage from a set offensive position at the start, instead putting the ball straight to the floor.

Donnie carefully stayed with him on defense, not daring to risk an early steal attempt.

Just then, Aomine suddenly smiled.

“After seeing a dribble like that, I have to show you something good in return!”

As the defender, now in a weaker position, Donnie felt a knot in his stomach, but he still put on a brave face. “Bring it on!”

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Aomine Daiki executed a series of between-the-legs crossovers in front of Donnie.

However, his posture became increasingly relaxed, and the rhythm of his dribble grew more and more unpredictable!

Left!

Right!

Behind-the-back spin to the right!

Followed by a behind-the-back dribble to switch back to his left hand!

Right!

Front crossover into a Shammgod!

Donnie’s defensive stance started to sway wildly under Aomine’s dazzling array of dribble moves!

【Oh no! Aomine, even as a first-year in middle school, has already mastered these streetball-style dribbling techniques?!】

【Ah, this is…】

【Just like in the CG, but obviously a nerfed version. Although the dribbling style is very streetball, each individual move he’s linking together is still relatively common on the court, not as outrageously flashy as in the CG.】

【This is gonna be tough. Look at Donnie’s defensive posture; he’s already being pulled out of optimal defensive position.】

“Ha~”

After a few more high-speed crossovers with sharp changes in center of gravity, Donnie was starting to struggle to keep up.

Although Aomine was dribbling, his speed was still a notch above Donnie’s.

Conservatively estimating, Aomine’s Speed stat had to be about 20 points higher than his own, around 170.

Donnie could only achieve a speed faster than Aomine’s when the ‘Lightning Dribble’ skill was active, and only during the skill’s execution.

But it seemed that because the speed of the Lightning Dribble’s crossover was so broken, the skill had certain limitations. Namely, when the skill was activated, the crossover move could only be used once. After the crossover was completed, there was a 10-second cooldown before it could be activated again, and it consumed a certain amount of stamina.

If this limitation didn’t exist, and he could continuously perform various crossover moves based on the Lightning Dribble, it would definitely be terrifying!

It might even evolve into a skill surpassing the Uncrowned Kings and reaching the level of the Generation of Miracles.

Seeing Donnie out of position, Aomine didn’t hold back and drove straight past him.

Then, a black shadow, like a panther, flashed past Donnie’s side.

This drive also unleashed Aomine’s full power. In his shock, Donnie also experienced firsthand the absolute speed difference between himself and the current Aomine!

The same choice to attack the rim.

The same situation of facing a desperate, late block attempt from behind.

The difference was, Aomine didn’t go for a forced dunk. Instead, he used a long-range reverse layup.

Compared to Donnie’s forced dunk, Aomine’s move was far more graceful, like a work of art.

The basketball traced a beautiful arc, kissed the rim, and rolled into the net.

After landing, Aomine turned to look at Donnie.

“Ethan.”

“1 to 1.”

“Back to square one!”

“This time, I’ll definitely stop your dribble!”

Donnie raised an eyebrow, looking at the highly enthusiastic Aomine. Thinking about Aomine’s graceful reverse layup just now, the excitement from his own first dunk inexplicably surged up again.

Just as the onlookers and the live stream viewers were wondering why Donnie was staring Aomine up and down so intently, feeling a bit puzzled…

Then they heard Donnie suddenly say, “Can’t dunk it, huh?”

Aomine: “…”

Aomine: “Of course, I can!”

Donnie: “Then why didn’t you dunk it just now~”

Aomine: “It would have been a forced dunk. Dunking like that is embarrassing!”

Donnie: “Hehe~”

Aomine: “…”