Chapter 61: Yanagi Renji's Doubt

Hearing Takahashi's words, Kirihara could not help but feel bewildered.

What?

He relied on Demonization?

How could that be?

"Demonization only appears when I have a strong desire to win and want to destroy my opponent."

Kirihara retorted to Takahashi.

"Then, when you first step onto the court, do you not have a strong desire to win? Do you not want to destroy your opponent?"

Takahashi continued.

"This..."

Kirihara did not know how to answer.

"I think that compared to the desire to win and destroy the opponent, what is more important about Demonization is that it allows you to devote yourself wholeheartedly, forgetting all rules and restrictions, with only the goal of victory."

Takahashi said.

"Yes, Master, that is exactly what I mean!"

"It's just that when I am in Demonization, I uncontrollably want to destroy my opponent."

Kirihara became excited as if he had found a kindred spirit.

What Takahashi had just said was exactly what he had personally felt, only he had no way to express it clearly.

"However, you must change, you must control it!"

"Change yourself in your normal state, and improve your various abilities in your normal state."

"Control the number of times you enter the Demon State; it is best to defeat your opponent before you even enter the Demon State."

"Control your mind well while in the Demon State; after all, that is still you, do not be manipulated by another power."

"Once Spirit Power begins to backfire, the consequences are very serious!"

As Takahashi spoke, Kirihara listened while nodding vigorously.

"Master, but how should I do this?"

Kirihara asked.

Takahashi picked up the tennis ball rolling on the ground and replied: "It's very simple, practice more!"

"If you can only hit a ball speed of 185km/h in your normal state, then practice desperately until you can reach 195km/h."

"Your stamina is also poor, so run more!"

Kirihara looked at Takahashi's figure and said: "But, I have always been practicing!"

"The difficulty of wanting to increase ball speed is too great."

Takahashi turned his head, looked at Kirihara, and said: "You should be able to feel it, being able to enter the Demon State!"

"Devoting yourself wholeheartedly to one thing, forgetting time, forgetting space, with only one goal in your eyes and mind, undisturbed by anything from the outside world."

Kirihara was stunned, carefully recalling the feeling of being under Demonization.

Takahashi's voice continued to sound.

"This state is also known as Flow."

"Devoting all of one's energy to one thing, unable to feel the passage of time, unable to feel everything outside, with all thoughts and reflections focused on the same thing."

"To a certain extent, your Demonization has also reached the state of Flow, but it is filled with too many negative emotions."

"If you can get rid of the negative emotions and enter the same state, then your strength will also improve significantly."

Kirihara muttered to himself: "Flow?"

"Get rid of negative emotions?"

Takahashi said: "Removing negative emotions while retaining the other abilities of the Demon State is your future goal."

"It is best to find the state of Flow in practice as well, so that the speed of strength improvement will be greatly accelerated, but this is extremely difficult!"

The Idle Character in Takahashi's mind is practicing in the state of Flow, with highly concentrated Spirit Power, forgetting everything around, forgetting time and space.

Only by being in this state of practice can the Idle Character make rapid progress, advancing by leaps and bounds!

Watching Kirihara fall into deep thought, Takahashi ran to the other side of the training ground.

Kirihara looked at Takahashi's receding back, feeling as if his brain had suddenly opened up, but there was still much he could not understand.

Kirihara even wanted to find a pen and a notebook to record everything Takahashi had said.

To recite it often.

Review the old to learn the new!

At this moment, Takahashi did not know Kirihara's thoughts.

His gaze was attracted by the various high-tech equipment in the training room.

At this moment, he was holding a tennis racket, waiting with full concentration.

Waiting for the Automatic Ball Machine to Serve.

"Bang!"

He successfully returned a tennis ball with a speed of 210km/h.

This was actually very similar to the Idle System.

When the Idle Character practices a Return, it is similar.

The Idle System emits tennis balls of different speeds and strengths, and the Idle Character goes to Return them.

After tinkering with this new machine for a while, Takahashi discovered that this machine could also set the interval time between one ball and another.

Curious, he set it to 5 consecutive balls, with an interval of 0.01 seconds between each ball, and set the speed to 205km/h.

The tennis balls shot toward Takahashi like raindrops; the five balls flew through the air at high speed, so fast that they even appeared as afterimages, leaving one unable to keep up!

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The sound of the ball being hit rang out continuously.

Five balls successfully received and returned!

Takahashi found it very interesting.

He then went to adjust the machine's parameters.

In the evening, after training ended.

Yanagi Renji and Sanada were standing by the Court, waiting for Yukimura to finish the final closing tasks.

As Vice Captain, Yukimura was now in charge of the daily operations of the Tennis Club.

It was only natural that he became the last person to leave the Tennis Club.

"Sanada, do you think it's possible for a middle school student to return a tennis ball with a speed of 230 km/h?"

Yanagi Renji looked distracted, his mind heavy with thoughts.

He had made a startling discovery when he went to that high-tech practice room this afternoon.

After thinking about it for a long time, he finally couldn't help but bring it up with Sanada.

"Impossible!"

"It's impossible for a middle school student, though it might be possible for a high school student."

Sanada answered without even thinking.

Facing a tennis ball with a speed of 230 km/h, let alone returning it, he couldn't even track the ball's trajectory.

And he was already considered someone standing at the very peak of the entire middle school tennis world.

If even he couldn't track the ball, let alone anyone else.

The "Wind" in Sanada's most prideful "Wind Forest Fire Mountain".

"Swift as the Wind" has a speed of only about 210 km/h.

Of course, besides speed, it also contains immense power and a high-speed swing during the Serve.

Such speed was already enough to make the trajectories of tennis balls invisible to many schools' Regular Members.

Not to mention the even faster speed of 230 km/h.

It is simply impossible to receive!

Even for Yukimura, based on Sanada's understanding of him, it would be very difficult for Yukimura to return a ball with a speed exceeding 220 km/h.

Therefore, Sanada answered very firmly, without the slightest hesitation.

"Why did you think to ask this?"

At the same time, Sanada felt puzzled and asked Yanagi Renji.

"If it were Takahashi, do you think he could possibly do it?"

Yanagi continued to ask.

Sanada fell silent all of a sudden.

He didn't know the answer to this question either!

As a freshman, Takahashi had grown from a tennis novice who knew nothing at all to become the Captain of the Rikkaidai Tennis Club.

It had only been a short three months or so, not even half a year.

This speed of progress was something Sanada had never heard of or seen before!

If it weren't for Takahashi Yanichi swaying around in front of him every day, Sanada would have suspected he was having a long nightmare.

To be able to defeat Yukimura in just over three months.

Who would believe it if it were told to them!

Yukimura had also defeated the then-Captain as a first-year student to become the new Captain.

However, Yukimura had started learning tennis at the age of 4 and was already famous nationwide while in elementary school.

He had even won the championship at the National Junior Tournament.

And the strength of the Rikkai Captain at that time was not strong enough; while considered decent in the Kanto Region, it was nothing when looking at the whole country.

It was only after Yukimura Seiichi became the Captain of Rikkai that the path to Rikkai's national championship began.

So, although both challenged the Captain as first-year students, the experiences of Takahashi and Yukimura were similar, but the difficulty levels were worlds apart and could not be mentioned in the same breath.