Arriving at the training ground, panting and trying to catch his breath, looking back from where he had jogged. He checked his wristwatch and saw that it was seven pm. Meaning it was early, he took out his phone and wrote a message to each of his parents separately. He watched his message get to ticks before shoving his phone into his gym bag. The chilling cold air calms his body temperature. He let out a heavy sigh.
He grabbed his bag from the pavement walkway and hung it onto his right shoulder. He entered an iron entrance gate and walked straight to the groundskeeper's guardhouse. When he looked around, Winston noticed that most people were already leaving the ground; he felt relieved. Today he needed time to be alone. Last time he had to share the ground with few people and he couldn't fully use the ground space fully. When he arrived at the groundskeeper's guardhouse, he looked around and noticed a small television placed on an old wooden desk repeating the match. He watched back at the arcade, not wanting to wait too long for the groundskeeper, Winston thought he would just apologize when he's done.
He walked in the straight walkway paved with concrete tiles into the main building surrounded by four grounds. The grounds were 20 meters wide and 40 meters in length. Before he could pull the metallic doorknob, he inhaled and prepared himself. He hoped that the door was not locked.
He yanked the doorknob with such force that the metallic green door flung straight at him, nearly falling back from the steps, but he was relieved that he did not fall and that the door was unlocked.
Before he could finally do some drills, he spent some time placing football drill equipment. He opened his system, the young man chose physical for now as pre-game drills. He started jogging, doing fifteen laps, even though he ran from the arcade to here, he felt his lungs expand more easily. After he finished going through his bag, he took out a water bottle while still checking which stats he chose for physical training.
I'll have to do some squats and deadlifts back at the club training gym. Likely, I can still do some physical exercises.
Ding!
[User physical stats]
Physical
Physical: 66
Jumping: 55
Stamina: 69
Strength: 59
Aggression: 44
Winston started by placing twenty cones in a straight line. And started doing lunges back and forth five times. Before being completely out of breath. Not satisfied, he then started again, but this time he collapsed from exhaustion, he then sat down, gulped the bottle of water before standing up and continuing with his drill, he knelt down in a prayer position before beginning doing Planks. He initiated a countdown from fifteen, feeling a burning sensation in his abdomen until he shifted to his right side, resting his left hand on his hip.
He then started counting down from fifteen again. And again he switched over again to his left side and did the same thing and counted down once more. Feeling the exhaustion, not wanting to stop, he wanted to keep the momentum going. He strung up and jumped to another drill. Lucky for him, the next drill he wanted to do he'd the proper equipment. He lifted a black box in front of him and started doing box jumps. He performed twenty-five jumps, when he was done, he took a minor break before doing another twenty-five more jumps. Sure, he was exhausted, but the game he watched back there in the arcade made him realize he wanted to be the best striker and not to be on the bench again. And the pain he is feeling right now just convinced him it is the pain of him actually growing in physicality.
He stood up and grabbed his bottle of water, disappointed that he has to stop since some exercises needed him to lift weights. And he has to hit the gym at his club's training ground. He wondered if he could train until late or if he had to get his own gym membership. While still in his thoughts about this, he wondered about his stats now.
"Haven't checked my stats since I started doing all these drills."
Ding!
[User physical stats]
[Pace]
Acceleration: 68 +3
Sprint Speed: 69 +2
[Physical]
Physical: 66 +3
Jumping: 55 +3
Stamina: 69 +3
Strength: 59 +3
Aggression: 44 +1
oh Wow, even my pace got boosted, I guess running twenty-five laps has an effect on other skills.
Saddened by his stats and how they were improving slowly then he wanted he started doing all the drills again, even running the same laps he did before. When a message from the system popped up, it surprised him. Usually, the core system doesn't give him daily challenges unless there is a match or in training.
[New Challenge: Survive the bonus challenge]
[30 second till the challenge]
I thought the system only gives out challenges when I have a match. Or maybe this is the system's way of preparing me for the upcoming game.
shrugging his shoulders, he thought it would be another drill. Well, the system hasn't given him a challenge when he's alone. And when he looked around, he noticed that he was the only one left on the training ground. As he attempted to drink the final bit of water from the bottle. The intensity of his headache was so great that it felt like a brick had hit him. He touched his head, considering the possibility of being hit by a wayward ball or something of that nature.
Ouch! Where did this headache come from, oh my god, my head is spinning so hard? And why is my head spinning? Did I overdo it with the training? Maybe it is because I haven't eaten since breakfast. Damn.
He was on his hands and knees, in a crawling position. His heart pounded, and his sight clouded over until complete darkness set in.
Shwwww!
He heard a beeping sound, likely from a hospital machine, and realized he might still be in a coma. This entire experience was merely a simulation.
He became quite disheartened. He attempted to open his eyes, but he couldn't. His arms stretched out, and floating mid-air. He bit his tongue, and then he relaxed. He was relieved that he was still alive.
[The Core: Nether Essence]
[Activated]
[Preparing The Core Plane challenge]
He opened his eyes. A sharp light blinded him, and he shielded his view with his hands.
Is it morning already.
[The Core Plane challenge: 2 Goals]
[0/2 Goals]
Rubbing his eyes, he scanned the white room, which resembled a football field. It was 45 meters wide and 45 in length. Silhouetted figures, tall and dark, were reminiscent of football players. When he tried to look closely at them by squinting his eyes, a ball popped up from the center of the middle field. These silhouetted players stood there without moving. The only silhouette that moved was the one that stood in the same position as him, which was a striker position. This silhouette running toward the ball, he also ran toward it. Lucky for Winston, his stamina has recovered. And his speed improved from earlier, and he took the ball and ran toward the right side of the field where the striker went back to the striker position.
Trapping the ball with his foot, he looked at this dark silhouette. A midfielder silhouette sprinted straight at him and tapped the ball between the silhouette's legs and ran, leaving the dark silhouette behind. And it also went back into its midfielder position. And the left back silhouette pursued him and tackled him, and they passed the ball in a fast tick tack tactic until it reached the main striker silhouette, and he scored a goal.
Thwack!
His hands on his knees, the tackle took a little out of him. And this time they didn't move when the ball popped up, the center of the field. At that point, he observed that the dark silhouette only moved when he approached their radar with the ball, and if he moved to a different spot, another silhouette would move instead. He shook off the dust and ran to the ball waiting in center field.
[The Core Plane challenge: 2 Goals]
[0/2 Goals]