Chapter 65

“And this is why you always carry multiple racquets.” Peter laughed at Dan as he stood there, dumbfounded, on the side of the court. His serve may have won the point, but it had come at a cost. And not just a cost of his stamina, and likely a guaranteed amount of pain from his screaming muscles, which had they not been magically reinforced, he was pretty sure would have been torn and unmovable. No, his racquet had paid the ultimate price. After all the use and abuse he’d put his racquet through, all the balls he’d been hitting over his constant training sessions, that serve had finally done it in. His strings had snapped, making his racquet unusable, and rendering him, for the moment, unable to continue to the match.

“Real talk though,” Peter was looking at Dan’s racquet. The racquet Peter had just put the new grip on, the racquet that had just been enhanced with his magical equipment, “I didn’t know you had a serve like that in you.” Peter looked Dan up and down appraisingly. “Seriously man, are you even human?”

Everyone had gathered around to look at the broken racquet strings and take a breather. Now that the match was temporarily on pause, while they focused on Dan’s broken racquet problem, everyone seemed to immediately feel the fatigue of the games they’d been playing. Adrenaline was a hell of a drug, but with the lull in the match, everyone visibly was showing the results of their strain. And Dan was surprised to see, the girls looked to have been working just as hard as Ben. Sweat, even in the cool air, was visible on all three. A fact that made Dan feel a little better. At least this was making them work.

Another blessing, of sorts, with his racquet breaking, was that it was giving him a chance to grab some water, catch his breath, and hopefully, trigger a short rest bonus. He may have overdone it a tad with that serve, and the 17 stamina drop was painful. It had put him a lot closer to his halfway mark for his stamina than he’d cared to admit. Even with -15% towards his stamina drain from his gear, he was down just under 120 Stamina, from his starting 210. And this was still the first set.

“I’ve just been trying to do what you do.” Dan said with a shrug. All things aside, he was trembling, both from the pain in his body, and the excitement from that serve. It wasn’t something he could abuse. Not at all, especially if 500 percent was going to drain 17 stamina for a single second, even with his 15 percent stamina reduction. He’d have to figure out what the other percentages would take from him, which would be trial and error. Dan had thought, considering 200 percent took a stamina a second, that at most, 500 percent would be maybe 5 stamina. Not 17, meaning without his reduction, it would have been 20.

That single serve had cost him 17 toggles of his auto-battle for 200 percent level returns and serves. Definitely not something he could abuse.

“I’d say that was a bit more than trying.” Peter said, looking Dan up and down. “Seriously, I haven’t seen anyone hit a serve like that around here. Hell, I haven’t seen a serve like that, outside of my own, of course, since my last tournament. And even then, I can count on one hand how many times a serve like that has been hit towards me, which actually went in.” He shook his head. “Not only did you have the power down, but that precision.”

Peter licked his lips. “I really, really, cannot wait to see what you become buddy.”

“Have you been holding back on everyone Dan?” Ben asked with a questioning look. His tone was trying to be jovial, but there was something in it. He was impressed, that much was certain. But something else. “Seriously, I’d kill to have a serve like that. It’s not even been a full week since you played me. That shouldn’t be possible.”

Dan rotated his arm, trying to work the soreness out of it. He remembered Syn’s comment from his soccer match. Heroes dropping, practically dead, after 10 seconds of operating at 500 percent. Did it amplify its cost over time? How powerful were the heroes who did that? Judging by the blowback from that single second, Dan felt more than a little concerned about the dangers of using Auto-battle at that level for too long. Much less repeatedly in a single day.

“I think I just got lucky with it.” He responded to Ben’s question. “Or may have pulled something. Definitely doubt I’ll be able to do that again today.” Which, wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Damn. I was really looking forward to watching you Ace those two four points in a row.” Ben said with a chuckle.

“There was no way I could return that.” Sophia piped into the conversation. “Even if I had expected it. I couldn’t even track it. I couldn’t move until it was past me. If it hadn’t left actual felt on the court from where it hit, I wouldn’t have even known it was actually in.”

“Seriously, that was an amazing serve.” Ashley cut in. “As much as I hate to admit it. That was impressive.”

“And,” Peter chimed in, practically glowing. “Let’s not forget, that serve popped Danny boy’s cherry. He finally broke his strings.” Peter grinned. “My little Danny is growing up. He’s a real tennis player now.”

Every laughed and clapped for him, slapping him on the back in congratulations, causing him to wince with each hit. Seriously, had he pulled something? His arm and back freaking hurt, even though he could move it normally, the pain was more than a little uncomfortable. His health, he noticed, had also taken a drop in 17 points from that skill. Oof.

“But,” Dan said forlornly, “it means I don’t have a racquet to keep playing with.”

“Oh?” Peter winked at him. “What gave you that idea? Just because you popped your strings doesn’t mean you’re getting out of practice. We’re just getting started. This is still the first Set. The day is still young.”

“I don’t have a-“ Peter held up a finger.

“You’ll have a racquet buddy. Don’t you worry. Everyone, take ten, catch your breaths, strategize. Do whatever you want. I’ll be right back.”

“What are you up to?” Ashley asked Peter, who’d already begun heading away from the courts, Dan’s racquet in hand.

“Well, obviously, to get Danny a better racquet. With power like that, he’s going to need something a little more, appropriate.” He smiled. “It’s time we got Danny here, a big boy racquet.”