1 Tryout

Jaren Lin had a small body. In the world of basketball, he was a literal dwarf. 

At a mere 1.6 meters tall, he was one of the shortest students in Bluesky High School, and the undisputed shortest participant in the Basketball Tryouts taking place on that beautiful Saturday morning, just a couple of days before the first day of school. 

He knew that it was a long shot for him to be accepted into the famous Bluesky Basketball Team, but he was confident that he had the skills to compensate for his lack of height. 

Clad in a slightly oversized jersey of a famous NBL player, he looked startlingly handsome, albeit in a boyish kind of way. 

"I will shock the entire gym." Jaren Lin said to himself quietly. "I will steal the enemy's first possession, and score with a three point jumper. And that would just be the beginning. I will dominate the entire tryout!"

Jaren Lin was so locked in and ready that he did not notice the crowd that was forming all around him. 

Bluesky High School boys and girls had started to turn out as the time for the tryouts neared. 

Many tall and athletic boys geared in basketball attire gathered in groups and started to talk among themselves excitedly.

"Wow! Look at the number of people here. The Bluesky Basketball Team sure is popular!" A particularly big and tall boy exclaimed in surprise to his buddies. 

He was an impressive 1.9 meters tall, and he towered over most of the crowd gathered there. A striking scar ran down from the bottom of his right eye down to his jaw, giving him a sinister look that was so much worse due to his massive size.

He and his buddies all had similar headbands on with the word "Chu" embroidered in gold in the middle.

"What the hell are you talking about, Pirate? Of course they are popular! They were the Provincial Champions of our Wei Province last year!" A lanky boy with white framed glasses rolled his eyes at the tall boy. "Chu Dong, you tell him."

"Yeah, they are currently the hottest team in Wei Province right now. And not just that, they even pushed the Black World Basketball team to the brink of defeat!" Chu Dong said in an as a matter of fact voice.

"Black World Basketball team? Who are they?" Pirate asked Chu Dong curiously.

"You frog in the well! The Black World Basketball team was ranked fifth NATIONWIDE!!" The lanky boy with the white framed glasses snapped at Pirate impatiently. "Didn't I tell you to prepare yourself before the tryout? Why do you not know all this basic stuff?"

"Ah hahaha sorry boss. I thought you meant prepare my body. I made three hundred two pointers yesterday instead of our usual two hundred." Pirate scratched his head sheepishly.

Boss Chu could only sigh and shake his head helplessly. Pirate was big, powerful and skillful on the court. But off the court… sigh.

"Wow, so if our school managed to defeat the Black World Basketball team, we would be fifth nationwide?! That's… crazy!" Another Chu clan member who apparently didn't do his preparation properly chimed in excitedly from the side.

Black lines appeared on Boss Chu's face as he glowered at his useless clan members. 

"Yeah. I heard the Principal was so happy with their results, that she tripled their budget for this year, in the hope of achieving a better result!" Chu Dong noticed the black lines on his boss' face and said quickly.

Boss Chu looked at Chu Dong and nodded his head in approval. "Good. At least one of you did your preparation properly." 

"Awesome! Awesomee!! I definitely must do well in this tryout!" Pirate shouted loudly and excitedly. 

Jaren Lin blinked as Pirate's loud voice broke his determined reverie and he turned around to give Pirate a friendly smile. 

"Hey! You're quite short for a High Schooler. Are you here to join the tryout as well?" Pirate noticed him and smiled back in a friendly manner.

"Yes. I am here to try for their point guard. I am assuming you're trying out for their center position?" Jaren Lin asked.

"Hahaha! Of course! I am a very deadly Center! I can rebound, dunk, shoot and pass the ball well!" Pirate shouted shamelessly. 

"Of course! With just your size, you can easily dominate this tryout!" Jaren Lin said with a laugh.

"Hahaha! You have great judgement! My clan members here are also excellent basketball players. Boss Chu Gang is our Shooting Guard. He is the best three point shooter in the Wei Province! Chu Dong here is an unstoppable Power Forward! And this dumb looking dude here is Chu Lang, our Small Forward!" Pirate said proudly and caused all four of his clan members to roll their eyes at him.

Jaren Lin laughed at Pirate's sheer frankness and nodded his head agreeably.

"In fact, we are just missing a Point Guard. Why don't you be our PG? You're here alone right?" Pirate asked with a wide smile.

"Hey, hey. We don't even know him. Don't go around asking random people to be our PG!" Boss Chu Gang snapped at Pirate loudly. "PG is the most important position. We need a strong PG in order to get past the crucial first round!"

"Boss, I have a really good feeling about… uh… Brother, what's your name?" Pirate turned to ask Jaren Lin with a sheepish smile even as Boss Chu Gang smacked his own forehead in sheer helplessness over Pirate's "antics".

To think that dumb brute actually accepted a random stranger as their PG even without knowing his name! 

If that's not completely dumb, then what is?

"My name is Jaren Lin. What's yours?" Jaren Lin extended his hand which was immediately grabbed by Pirate and shook very vigorously.

"My name is Chu Da, you can call me Pirate. And you can just pass the ball inside to me, I will dunk it for you, no problems." Pirate said with a wide smile as though Jaren Lin was already accepted as their team's PG.

Jaren Lin smiled appreciatively at him and turned to look at Boss Chu Gang, who sighed deeply before extending his hand towards him.

"I am Chu Gang, nice to meet you. Forgive my dumbass, overexcited cousin here, but as you can understand, we can't really immediately accept you as a PG before we know your capabilities." Boss Chu Gang said with an apologetic smile.

"I under-" Jaren Lin was about to politely acknowledge his words when Chu Dong suddenly interrupted him.

"Jaren Lin from Southern Bloom Middleschool?" Chu Dong said with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"Oh? You know about Southern Bloom Middleschool?" Jaren Lin glanced at Chu Dong in surprise before nodding. "Yes I am Jaren Lin." 

"Southern Bloom Middleschool? What and where is that?" Chu Lang asked with a frown.

"Nothing much. They dropped out of the Provincial Elimination Round last year due to injury." Chu Dong said with a mysterious smile before extending his hand toward Jaren Lin. "But I heard that their PG Jaren Lin was surprisingly good. Ten points and thirty assists, was it?"

"I am surprised you know about it." Jaren Lin smiled and nodded at him. "It was a very forgettable match, one which we did not finish due to a lack of players."

"You guys did not finish the match? How many minutes did you play?" Chu Lang asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Not enough." Jaren Lin sighed deeply and avoided the question.

"Hmmm. You must be a damn good passer. 30 assists is crazy, even for a full match. I approve." Chu Lang said with a decisive nod.

"Hmmm?" Boss Chu Gang raised an eyebrow in mild surprise before shrugging and acceptance. 

"I am Chu Dong, the team Strategist. Glad to have you join us as our PG." Chu Dong said as he gazed at Jaren Lin calmly.

"Thank you for your trust. I won't let you down." Jaren Lin shook Chu Dong's hand gratefully after realizing that Boss Chu Gang didn't have any objections.

As someone who is so short, Jaren Lin had already resigned himself to be unpicked until probably the last moment when the school would probably assign him with all the other unpicked leftovers. He had never imagined that he would be able to join the tryout as a member of a team!

"Hehehe. Do your best. We will be depending on you." Chu Dong smiled at Jaren Lin in satisfaction before giving Boss Chu Gang a nod to assure him that everything was under control.

However, at that moment, a loud and domineering voice rang out from behind them.

"Ha! The Chu Clan this generation is so embarrassingly bad! To think they even had to resort to recruiting a random midget for their PG! Hahahaha!" A tall and very well built teen surrounded by seven other boys with similar features and two beautiful but arrogant looking girls walked up to the Chu Clan and laughed at them loudly.

"Hmph. Gu Tian, you kiss your momma with that trash can mouth of yours? The Gu Clan is as uncouth as ever!" Pirate snorted loudly at them.

"Shut up you big brainless cow." Gu Tian sneered at Gu Tian condescendingly.

"Shameless midget. Just stay home and play your NBA3K!" Another Gu Clan member snickered venomously at Jaren Lin while ignoring Pirate completely.

"Why the hell are you so short? Are you malnourished? Or are your parents dwarves as well?" One of the beautiful girls smiled sinisterly at Jaren Lin.

Jaren Lin glanced at the beautiful girl in surprise. He found it hard to reconcile her pretty face and her downright venomous tongue! 

"Go home, shortie! With me and my Gu Clan in this tryout, you wouldn't even be able to see the board, much less shoot! Hahahaha!" Gu Tian continued to mock Jaren Lin's size.

However, Jaren Lin simply stared at them quietly, not bothering to acknowledge their words and the damage they were causing him.

The best way to deal with verbal bullying is simply to ignore them.

As soon as they get bored, they will simply walk away. Engaging them in a war of words is not just useless, it also shows that their words were effective. 

There was no way that Jaren would give them the pleasure of knowing that their evil intentions were actually hitting home.

The time for revenge would come. As they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. Jaren could wait, and at the opportune time, he would repay them with a loan shark's interest by crushing their spirits into powder!

"What's happening to the Gu Clan? Why did the Gu Clan send a bunch of gorillas to participate this year? Oh no, the Gu Clan has fallen so far!" Chu Lang moaned loudly in mock despair.

"Hahaha! Yeah, we are GORILLAS! Better than the Chu Clan who is recruiting dwarves! What a pathetic clan! No wonder no Chu Clan member had ever participated in the National Playoffs! Hahahaha! We don't have time to waste talking to losers. So long suckers!" Gu Tian laughed at them before leading his boys and sauntering off arrogantly. 

"Snobbish and aggressive. Gorillas indeed." Chu Dong rolled his eyes and shook his head at them. "Ignore them, Jaren."

Jaren Lin merely smiled coldly at them and carved their faces in his mind. He would definitely give them special treatment later that day.

"What a bunch of retards. Don't take their words to heart, brother. Height may be important in Basketball, but it is not everything." Pirate patted Jaren Lin's shoulders encouragingly. "I will dunk on them twenty times today to help you vent your anger!"

Jaren Lin laughed out loud at Pirate's very frank and direct approach and nodded in agreement. "Yes, I will make sure that I find you on the inside later."

"Good. It's a deal! Let's crush those damnable Gu Clan members later!! Guraaaaaahhh!!!" Pirate shouted loudly and let out a roar of excitement! 

At that moment, Jaren Lin's eyes turned vacant for a split second as his attention delved into a wondrous Mental Interface that popped out within his mindspace.

Player: Jaren Lin

Stats

Height: 160 cm

[Damn it, why are you so short?]

Strength: 0.4

[Double damn, you are short AND weak?]

Speed: 1.2

[Thank GOD! You're pretty fast… for a weakling.]

Jump: 0.6

[Why are you playing basketball? Why? Why??]

Accuracy: 2.1

[Ahhh. So this is why. Hot damn, your shooting form is gooood.]

Offense: 5

[Oh my God. You're a GOD! Why are you playing basketball? You should be a Military General!!]

Defense: 1.7

[1.7 is awesome… if your height is normal. For you… Oh my GOD!! I will uninstall myself if you don't win the Championship after you receive my boosts!!]

Current mission: Join a basketball team.

Completion rate: Completed.

Reward: 0.1 Candy.

Reward status: Unclaimed.

Total Candies Available:

0.1 Candy - 5x

0.2 Candy - 2x