He Can Master The Rules?

After practice was done, Daniel and Kody were all alone on the court. “Shall we begin?” asked the latter with a smile. Daniel eagerly nodded his head. “Alright. First, I’ll need to get a good sense of what you know and what you don’t remember,” said Kody. “Do you remember how to score?”

Daniel shook his head.

“How about passing?”

Daniel shook his head.

“Defense?”

Again, Daniel shook his head.

Kody was getting visibly more and more dispirited as Daniel’s lack of knowledge of the game became more and more apparent. “T-Then, how about dribbling?” asked Kody with an eighth-of-a-smile.

‘Could dribbling be the same as back home? Maybe I don’t need to use magic for that,’ thought Daniel. He grabbed the ball from Kody and began to dribble the ball on the court just as he had always done before in his past life.

“Stop, stop, stop!” quickly shouted Kody in frustration. With his eyes closed and his face to the ground, he took a much needed breath to calm himself down. “You can’t just use your hands like that. That would get you penalized,” revealed Kody.

“Penalized?! For real?!” exclaimed Daniel in shock. ‘How the hell am I supposed to dribble the ball then?!’ he added in his head. ‘This game is not the same as the basketball I love at all! Why did that god send me here in the first place?! I can’t become a star athlete like this!’

“I guess we’ll have to go back to the basics,” said Kody with a frustrated sigh. “Just look at how I do it,” he ordered Daniel. Kody took the ball and dropped it to the ground with his hand held just right below his chest. As the ball descended downwards, its descent began to slow down. Daniel watched in amazement as the ball touched the floor and bounced back in the same slow-motion manner, as if it was floating back up. The ball barely touched the skin of Kody’s palm before it began to float back down. It was like watching a magic trick!

“This is how you dribble,” said Kody. “You don’t use your physical hands. You use your magical energy.”

‘It was magic after all!’ exclaimed a shocked Daniel.

Kody took one look at Daniel’s face and groaned, “Don’t tell me—do you even remember how to use magic?”

Daniel shook his head.

After a facepalm followed by a moment to himself, Kody switched gears and began to teach Daniel the basics of magic. “Magic is the ability to manipulate magical ability. Magical ability exists in all living things, including us. We, humans, have learned how to harness this magical energy since ancient times, giving rise to the practice of magic today.” As Kody spoke, Daniel nodded his head along to show that he was paying attention to every word coming out of the former’s mouth. “You can channel your magical energy by imagining it coming out of your palms or as an extension of your limbs,” continued Kody. “If you want to affect objects with your magical energy, then just imagine you’re grabbing them with the magical energy coming out of your body.”

“I see,” said Daniel with a nod. He raised his hand and aimed at a ball next to him. With one simple thought, he felt a sudden surge of energy shot out of his right hand and the ball rolled down the court like a runaway train.

Kody gave Daniel a thumbs up as a sign of approval. “Next, let’s try grabbing the ball and dribbling it.”

Daniel placed his hand over another nearby ball. He tried to do the same thing that he did last time but it didn’t affect the ball at all.

“If it helps, just think ‘up’ if you want it to come up and ‘down’ if you want it to go down,” offered Kody.

‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ complained Daniel to himself. ‘Then again, I’ve never worked with magic before prior to this moment. This is my first time, dammit!’ Daniel did as Kody suggested and ball slowly began to ascend towards his hand.

“Nice! You’re a quick learner!” praised Kody. “Then again, you always were.”

“Heh heh, right?” said Daniel with a laugh that was between humility and self-satisfaction.

Within the next hour, Daniel was able to master dribbling in place. He continued to practice alongside Kody and by the end of the day was able to dribble and move at the same time, albeit slowly. A full three days passed before Daniel was able to dribble the ball up and down the court without looking. He also managed to reduce the need to constantly consciously think up the commands to control the ball’s movement with his magical power…but it’s still a work in progress. By the end of the week, the team was amazed at how quickly Daniel improved.

For the remainder of the month, Kody drilled into Daniel more training; sometimes with the help of other teammates and other times by himself. Grueling and tough as it may be, Daniel was actually happy to be a part of it. For one, it reminded him of the harsh training camps he had to take to improve his capabilities as a player throughout his high school and college years. Secondly, Daniel was grateful for being able to learn more about this new world of his while partaking in an activity that was right up his alley. If he had to learn through a regular lecture, there was no doubt that he would’ve forgotten everything by the time the lecture finished.

Halo, the name of the basketball-like sport of this world, is a sport that is played with magic to maneuver the ball down the court and score by placing the ball in the halo (basket). All aspects of the game is played using magic: dribbling, passing, stealing, blocking, rebounding, and most importantly, scoring. The halo, just as its name suggests, is a circular hoop similar to a basketball hoop minus the net. The court is roughly the same size as that of a regular basketball court with similar markings to designate the different areas of the court. The general rules are pretty similar enough for Daniel to grasp and understand; the only drawback being his unfamiliarity with the concept and application of magic.

The magic of this world is further divided into five elements: fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning. Everyone is capable of using any of the five elements to varying degrees depending on one’s affinity for each of them. The sport of Halo utilizes this fact by employing five positions based on each of the five elements. The first position is Streamer, based on the element of water. It is similar to the Point Guard position of basketball and is responsible for facilitating the ball and setting up plays on the court. The second position is Igniter, based on the element of fire. It is this sport’s counterpart to the Shooting Guard of basketball and is tasked with scoring points and breaking up the opponent’s defenses. The third position is Stormer, based on the element of wind. Just like its counterpart the Small Forward, this position is responsible for poking holes in the opponent’s defense with speed and forcing turnovers. The fourth position is Thunderer, based on the element of lightning. Like the Power Forward of basketball, this position utilizes strength to force offensive scores inside near the halo and grab rebounds. The fifth and last position is Boulder, based on the element of earth. Similar to the Center in basketball, they are first and foremost the defensive core of the team and often the strongest and biggest player on the team.

Daniel’s position, according to Kody, is the starting Igniter for their team. This meant that Daniel holds responsibility for scoring for the team and acting as the key to their offense. Moreover, it signifies that out of the entire team, he possesses the strongest affinity for the element of fire.

“Should we try to see if you can use your magic now?” asked Kody one day, two months into their training.

Using what he learned, Daniel dribbled the ball down the court and stopped just inside of the marked circle around the halo. He brought the ball up by raising his right hand and aimed it at the halo. “Fireblast!” shouted Daniel. Flames surrounded the ball and the ball shot out of his hand like a rocket. The ball traced an arc through the air and landed right in the halo.

“Two points!” happily cheered Kody.

Daniel was beyond pleased with himself at finally being able to score a halo. Just a week ago, Daniel couldn’t even summon fire, and when he was able to, he could only shoot airballs. But with Kody’s coaching, Daniel finally understood the connection between magic and thought and could now easily imagine shooting the ball through the hoop. “Do you think I’m ready now?” asked Daniel eagerly.

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” calmed down Kody. “Right now you only know Fireblast, a basic spell that everyone knows. If you want to be good enough to play, you need to increase your repertoire more.”

“How can I do that?” asked Daniel.

Kody smiled and revealed a small book to Daniel. “This grimoire here can provide you with some good spells to use. I bought it just for you.”

“Really? Thanks!” Daniel grabbed the book and begin flipping through it. “Wow, there’s a lot of spells here.”

Kody suddenly closed the book and kept his fingers firmly tight around it. “It cost me sixty kairo,” said Kody with a scary smile. “If you don’t improve your repertoire by the time next season comes, I’ll have you pay me back every single kairo.”

“Understood,” said Daniel with quick successive nods. Based on what Daniel learned, kairo is the currency used in this world, and one kairo is equivalent to roughly one hundred yen. ‘This book costs six thousand yen?!’ exclaimed Daniel to himself. ‘I need to do everything I can to learn from this book. I can’t put Kody’s efforts to waste. But more importantly…I don’t want to have to pay this back! I’m poor enough in this world already!’

A few weeks later, Daniel was deemed ready to play; just in time for the first game of the new season, too! Now, he has improved his dribbling, passing, and shooting skills. Additionally, he increased his repertoire to include many spells to compliment those skills. A few practice sessions with his teammates were enough to give him a good idea of the flow of the game and how exactly to use his skills when playing. But the thought of actually participating in a real professional game still made him very anxious.

The team made it to their venue in the neighboring province of Uwal, where they will be battling one of their league rivals: the Hael Halestorm. After changing into their uniforms and stepping out into the court, Daniel felt a new wave of excitement wash over him as his heart beat faster and louder than the poundings of taiko drums. His opponents were staring at him and his team with hungry eyes that didn’t hide their competitive fire at all; just as Daniel liked it. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. ‘You can do this,’ he told himself, ‘This is your chance to make your dream come true. Just go out there and do it!’

“This is our first game of the new season,” spoke the coach, grabbing everyone’s undivided attention. “Last year, we managed to scrape by beating the Hael Halestorm with a three-point lead. But don’t let it get to your heads. Just like us and any other team out there, the Halestorm have only gotten better. That means that we need to play better, faster, and harder than we’ve ever played before. The only thing we need to have our eye on is victory!”

“Victory!” cheered the team in unison.

“Alright, boys, let’s go!” said the coach. The team’s morale rose through the roof as they prepared for the game to begin. “Max,” called the coach as Daniel was preparing to walk on the court.

“Yes, coach?” asked Daniel.

“You’re not starting. Toby is starting today,” said the coach.

“Eh?…”