The school's basketball tournament was organized by department, regardless of grade level, which meant second-year Chen Yao was actually on the same team as third-year Dong An.
Lin Nan had never been interested in basketball. As a child, he preferred watching ping pong, volleyball, or even snooker. Basketball alone held no appeal - not only did he not understand the rules, but he couldn't comprehend why spectators would cheer for every basket.
Football was understandable since they only scored a few goals per match, and high-level ping pong matches could leave him holding his breath. But basketball? It was too chaotic; he couldn't understand anything.
Under Chen Yao's insistence, Lin Nan's dormmates all came to the basketball court below their dorm after lunch.
"There are quite a lot of people." Lin Nan stood outside the wire fence of the basketball court, tiptoeing to look inside. But even on his tiptoes, being short, he could only see the crowd.
Tu Junhui yawned behind him. He'd recently gotten his new computer and bought several recent big-name single-player games, staying up all night gaming until his dark circles had gotten noticeably worse.
Seeing him yawn, Xiong Da seemed infected and started yawning too. His mobile game apparently had some event that had kept him up for several consecutive nights, though Lin Nan didn't understand why mobile game events had to be done in the dead of night.
Lin Nan was usually very "frugal" with his gaming, not because he didn't want to play, but simply because his stamina couldn't keep up. Since the reaction-enhancing magic took effect, he found that whenever he concentrated, he'd easily become physically and mentally exhausted. Usually, he could only play two games at a high level before becoming too tired to sit up straight.
This should count as a side effect of the magic, right?
"Basketball..." he walked through the wire fence with little interest, stepping onto the edge of the court.
Today there were only three games, but all happening simultaneously, so the basketball court was almost full of students cheering and encouraging, plus many players in uniforms warming up.
"They're all so tall." Lin Nan scanned the court, his eyes resting enviously on the players, voicing the thoughts of a short person: "Tall and big, and muscular..."
"You focus on some strange things." Tu Junhui flexed his arms in a bodybuilder pose, showing off proudly: "Aren't your dormmates muscular too!"
Lin Nan looked at his well-developed biceps, reached out to pinch them, then pouted: "You're just purely fat."
Actually, although Tu Junhui looked fat, his biceps were quite muscular. After several evening jogs, Lin Nan had discovered this fat guy had amazing stamina, able to jog several kilometers without stopping, completely unlike the imagined fat otaku.
"I just have fat covering my muscles so they're not obvious, unlike you with your thin arms and legs like a girl."
With that retort, Lin Nan dejectedly surrendered.
He actually used to have muscles too! Especially his calves, with long, tight muscles, and his biceps could barely bulge a bit. However, since that fever, all his muscles had disappeared, his arms and legs becoming smooth and tender like a girl's.
Despite jogging recently, which left him half-dead tired each time, it hadn't helped his stamina at all. He'd still be exhausted after one lap, let alone building muscle.
There were at least a hundred students at the basketball court. Some gathered orderly in corners, clearly "persuaded" by their counselors to watch, while most were casual observers like Lin Nan, curiously watching or waiting for the games to start.
After walking around, Lin Nan finally found Chen Yao warming up on the court with his senior Dong An beside him.
They were both team members.
"Chen Yao!" Tu Junhui called out.
Chen Yao turned to look, nodded at the three of them as a greeting, then continued practicing his shooting.
Lin Nan didn't know what position he played on the court. There was apparently some distinction between center, forward, and guard, but like explaining top lane, mid lane, and jungle to someone who knew nothing about gaming, he was clueless about basketball.
Chairs surrounded the court, but those close to the game were already occupied, so the three could only find a corner with a clear view.
"Other classmates didn't come to watch?" Lin Nan hadn't seen any classmates yet, though when he looked back, he accidentally spotted Lina hidden in the crowd.
Tu Junhui explained without much thought: "It's not like it's a singing competition. People like you who don't understand it naturally wouldn't be interested."
True enough, if not for Chen Yao's strong insistence, Lin Nan wouldn't have dragged the other two here either.
The game didn't keep them waiting long, starting about five minutes later with a whistle.
Lin Nan had been looking forward to Chen Yao's performance, but after watching for a while, he realized Chen Yao might be in a minor role on the court - he barely got to handle the ball, let alone shoot. Their team was being pressured by the opponents, with the basketball barely leaving Chen Yao's half of the court.
"This isn't very interesting."
Hearing the surrounding spectators' cheers, he looked up at Tu Junhui who was caught up in the excitement, then looked further back to find Xiong Da had slipped away at some point.
"Go! Steal it! Missed! Rebound! Rebound! Damn, bunch of noobs wasting their height!" Tu Junhui was incredibly excited, both cheering and cursing, seemingly wanting to put on a uniform and play himself.
Lin Nan didn't understand how he could get so emotionally invested; he found it boring.
While he was distracted, the audience suddenly let out a loud cheer, startling him to quickly look back at the court. A handsome player was already jumping high with the ball, gripping it with one hand for a slam dunk.
However, an even louder cheer suddenly drowned out everything - Chen Yao had jumped up almost simultaneously, swatting away what should have been a beautiful dunk with one hand.
Lin Nan was stunned, while Tu Junhui was ecstatic: "Holy shit! Chen Yao, nice one! Aerial interception! So cool!"
When Chen Yao landed and turned to look their way, Lin Nan quickly recovered, following Tu Junhui's excited expression and applauding enthusiastically toward Chen Yao on the court.
Even though he was still confused about what had happened, that scene was definitely cool.
Gradually, Lin Nan got caught up in the game's atmosphere. Though he didn't understand it, he'd hold his breath during every shot, and Chen Yao's performance kept improving, grabbing several rebounds to regain ball control.
Though he still didn't really understand, it was cool and that was enough.
"Not bad, right?" During the halftime break, Chen Yao came over to Lin Nan, wiping his sweat, looking smug: "I only showed thirty percent of my power today."
"Dong An played great!" Lin Nan answered without hesitation.
"You really have no eye for talent." Chen Yao wiped the sweat from his forehead, then tempted him: "How about it? Interested in learning basketball from me?"
"Not interested at all."
"It can help you grow taller."
"Tu Tu, I'm skipping our evening jog tonight." Lin Nan quickly forgot his previous words. "Chen Yao, teach me tonight!"