Ten Momentum Points.
The number glowed in my vision, a testament to the sweat and pain of the last hour. MP: 10/100. It was the most beautiful number in the world. It was proof. Proof that this system was real, and proof that I could make it work for me.
My eyes were drawn to the single word that was no longer greyed out.
Analyze
My heart beat faster. This was the next step. The system said it could analyze skills, but I had to have seen them first. My mind was a library of observed skills, thousands of hours of watching pro games, scrimmages, and highlight reels.
But one skill stood out. One move that represented everything I wasn't.
The Jax Hammer.
It was crude. It was inefficient. It was nothing but raw, brute force. And I wanted it. I wanted to understand it, dissect it, and make its power my own.
I took a deep breath, my whole body still aching from the training. I focused my will on the Analyze command.
"Analyze the 'Jax Hammer'," I thought, putting all my intent behind it.
The system responded instantly.
[Searching observed data logs… Match found: Westwood vs. Northwood scrimmage. User identified: 'Jax'. Skill identified.]
A new window popped up, clean and clinical.
[Target Skill: 'Power Shot' (Classification: Crude). Do you wish to initiate analysis?]
The system called it a crude Power Shot. A small, vindictive part of me loved that. It confirmed what my own strategic mind already knew: Jax's move was sloppy. But it was still powerful.
Before I could confirm, another notification appeared below it, this one tinged with a cautionary amber color.
[Analysis Cost: 10 MP][Warning: The analysis process is mentally taxing. User may experience severe fatigue, migraines, or sensory disorientation. Proceed?]
The price. There it was.
All ten of my hard-earned points. Everything I had just bled for, gone in an instant. And it came with a warning label. This wasn't some simple menu purchase in a game. This was a transaction that would take a physical toll.
I hesitated. Ten points felt like a fortune. What if it wasn't worth it? What if the analysis failed?
Then I thought of Jax's smug face looming over me in the locker room. "You are a zero." I thought of Coach Valerius, who couldn't even be bothered to look at me. I thought of the tryouts, just a week away.
What choice did I have? This was the only path forward. This was how an underdog with a cheat was supposed to fight back. Every opponent, a source of new power.
"Proceed," I whispered, my voice firm.
The moment the thought solidified in my mind, two things happened at once.
First, my MP meter flashed and drained instantly. MP: 0/100. I felt a strange sense of emptiness, like a wallet that had just been emptied.
Second, the world dissolved.
The grimy walls of Court 7, the rattling drone, the setting sun—it all vanished. I wasn't in the court anymore. I was somewhere else. A dark space, a void. And then, a wireframe grid snapped into existence around me, forming the familiar shape of the Westwood High Aetherball arena.
I was seeing the scrimmage again. But not as a memory. I was in it.
The world was made of blue lines and glowing data. The other players were translucent figures, their movements leaving faint trails behind them. Then my new perspective focused on one player. Jax.
He wasn't a person anymore. He was a complex machine of muscle, bone, and energy. I could see the flow of commands from his brain, the electrical signals firing down his spine. I could see the Aether in the air converging around his arm.
The system's voice, calm and detached, echoed in my mind.
[Analysis initiated. Deconstructing 'Power Shot' (Crude).]
Time slowed to a crawl. Jax began to move, winding up for his shot.
[Layer 1: Biomechanics.]
[Analyzing musculoskeletal actuation…]
My vision zoomed in, peeling back his skin to reveal the muscle fibers beneath. Red lines highlighted the muscles he was using, while yellow lines showed the ones he wasn't.
[Inefficient energy transfer detected. 18% of kinetic force from core rotation is lost due to improper hip alignment. 22% of potential force from pectoral and deltoid groups is wasted due to premature wrist flexion.]
I didn't just see it. I felt it. A dull ache bloomed in my own shoulder and hip, a phantom pain mirroring his flawed form. A low thrumming started behind my eyes. The headache was beginning.
[Layer 2: Aether Control.]
[Analyzing Aether particle cohesion and energy shaping…]
My perspective shifted. I was now watching the invisible particles of Aether swirling around Jax's arm. He was pulling them in, forcing them together into a ball. But the system showed me the truth.
[Warning: Unstable energy field. Particle cohesion is below optimal threshold. 31% of gathered Aether is lost as ambient heat and light before projectile formation is complete.]
The ball of energy in his hand looked bright and powerful to a normal person, but my system showed me the leaks. Tiny streams of energy bleeding off into the air, completely wasted. The headache intensified, becoming a sharp, pulsing spike behind my right eye. The wireframe world started to flicker.
[Layer 3: Ballistics and Trajectory.]
[Analyzing force vector and projectile dynamics…]
Jax unleashed the shot. The ball flew. My perspective followed it, tracing the arc. The system painted lines over its path, a web of complex physics equations.
[Sub-optimal spin applied. Projectile exhibits unstable flight path, decreasing accuracy at ranges over 15 meters. Impact force is high, but kinetic distribution is unfocused.]
I understood. I saw it all. The wasted movement, the leaking energy, the unstable flight. I saw the fundamental flaws in the Jax Hammer. More than that, I saw how to fix them. I saw how to make it better. Perfect.
The mental pressure was immense. My vision was blurring badly now. The clean blue lines of the simulation were wavering. A trickle of warmth ran from my nose. I reached up and my fingers came away wet with blood.
The simulation shattered.
I was back on the cold, hard floor of Court 7, on my hands and knees. My head felt like it was going to split open. The world was spinning, and my stomach churned. The warning was no joke. I felt completely drained, physically and mentally.
But through the pain, a single, beautiful notification glowed in my vision.
[Analysis Complete: 'Power Shot' (Crude).]
[Biomechanical, Aetheric, and Ballistic data acquired.]
[Data Integration: 10% Complete.]
I had it. The blueprint. The raw knowledge of Jax's signature move was now stored in my system.
I pushed myself up, my body trembling with exhaustion and excitement. I looked at my hand, and tried to channel the memory from the simulation. I tried to gather the Aether particles, to shape them into a ball.
A tiny spark, the size of a firefly, flickered between my fingers for a second. And then it died.
Another notification appeared, a quiet guide for my next step.
[Replication requires physical practice to synchronize motor functions with acquired data. To unlock 'Power Shot' (Basic), achieve 100% data integration.]
I stared at my empty palm. I had the knowledge of a god, but the body of a rank zero nobody. The blueprint was in my head, but my hands couldn't build it yet.
Not yet.
I had the analysis. Now came the hard part: the work.