Chapter 03 - Chemistry

[Partner generated successfully, starting second exercise: pass and shoot on the move]

[Remaining time: 60 minutes]

After the system notifications, a yellow armband appeared on my left arm and another being appeared in front of me. He was wearing the same uniform as me and above him there was a translucent screen with some information.

[Partner N-1]

[Awaiting instruction...]

"What does that mean? Will he obey me?"

I walked around the "partner" for a few seconds and he remained motionless the entire time.

"Huh, looks like you're not going to do anything."

"Then..."

I walked to where the ball was and positioned it in front of him, "Let's see what you're capable of" I walked away a few meters then.

"Kick that ball"

I commanded weakly, with a sense of shyness in my voice.

Without thinking twice, my partner ran to the ball and kicked it with incredible precision. Before the goalkeeper could react, the ball had already fallen and hit the internal part of the from the goal net.

My eyes widened a little, I was completely taken by surprise. "You're better than I imagined!" I shouted, receiving no response.

Before starting with the second exercise, I remembered the basic guidelines that the system gave me seconds before. He instructed me on body position, proper technique and the importance of precision in passing and finishing. He also explained to me how professional players train these skills and how it can help improve my playing style.

As soon as I finished, I instructed my partner to do a passing exercise in motion. He would pass the ball to me and I would have to kick it toward the goal while moving.

"The system emphasized the importance of keeping your head up and keeping your eyes on the target."

"I don't know why, but I'm starting to like it." I spoke to myself.

"Can send!" I shouted to my partner as he took a few steps back to gain momentum.

The first few attempts, I was a little hesitant, worried about missing the pass or losing the ball. But as time went by, I became more confident. The strength of my partner's pass could be defined by me, so whenever I felt confident enough, I tried a more powerful shot.

"Okay, come closer." I said as I ran a considerable distance away from my partner and he threw me one of his quick passes. As soon as he passed the ball, I moved forward a few meters until it slowed down as little as possible and shot with the outside of my left foot.

"The trajectory of the ball wasn't the way I wanted it to be." I was disappointed for a few seconds at not having scored, but I recovered afterwards and continued.

Half an hour had passed since the start of the second exercise, my face was covered in sweat and I stopped to breathe.

"You don't get tired, do you?" I spoke to my partner, seeing that he was still standing still.

Suddenly an idea came into my mind.

"Come here." I called my partner, making him walk in front of me.

I stared at him for a moment and then walked away, without me saying anything, he played the ball to me.

"I knew!" I cheered, realizing my guess was correct.

While resting, I decided to test whether my partner only obeyed orders given to him directly or also obeyed orders I gave mentally. And incredible as it may seem, this was possible.

I ran forward with all my speed, kept silent, but my partner followed me like a dog follows its owner. He carried the ball and played it to me as soon as I asked, we continued blocking until we approached the small area and I shot with the instep looking for the goalkeeper's right corner.

The goal was scored, and I celebrated by ordering him to hit mine with his hand.

"You'll be very useful." I smiled as I looked at him.

...

I fell to the floor, exhausted, after finishing all the exercises given to me. My body felt like it was about to break apart, my legs were numb and my breathing was labored like never before.

I didn't notice how much time had passed since the first exercise, but my heart told me it had been a whole day.

During this time, whenever I finished the previous exercise, an even more difficult one was given to me without me being able to recover.

Decision Making Training, Game Reading, Physical Conditioning, Endurance, Focus... These were the exercises given to me.

[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the First Phase of the Tutorial]

[Thanks to this, some attributes have increased considerably]

[Alert! Body in critical condition!]

[Starting immediate recovery...]

A green light covered my entire body as soon as the system's voice stopped speaking, this light lasted for 20 minutes and during this process a warm sensation took over me.

Within the first few minutes, the fatigue had completely disappeared.

[Body recovered successfully]

[Presenting training results]

Level up! Level up! Level up!

-

[Player: Gary Lane]

[PAC: 28 (+4)] | [DRI: 30 (+6)]

[SHO: 57 (+28)] | [DEF: 50]

[PAS: 45 (+15)] | [PHY: 69 (+12)]

After a few seconds, the screen again changed to one that resembled a roulette wheel. Above that roulette was written:

[Your position is being generated based on your attributes...]

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Again, a blinding white light appeared and forced me to close my eyes, when I opened them, the same large letter as before appeared on the screen, but it had some differences in its shape.

Before it was a square card that floated in the air, now, it seemed to be resting on some kind of support. On that support, a red color word could be seen.

"CF...?"

After that, the robotic voice echoed. But not in my mind, it echoed in the place where I was, like an announcer narrating a match.

[Your position has been generated successfully]

[His current position is: Center Forward]

[Individual Chemistry: 0/10]

[Due to your lack of experience in your current position, your individual chemistry is low]

[This will affect your and your team's performance in training and make it more difficult than expected]

[Congratulations! One of his attributes stood out above the others]

[Reward: Chemistry Letter]

[Description]:

Chemistry Card, a card necessary to get the most out of the player, when applied the player will receive improved statistics. Depending on the style of Chemistry applied, it can increase the physicality of the Defender or accelerate the fast Wingers even more.

[Chemistry Letter received]:

-

[Deadeye: Shoot, Pass]

Improvements: SHO: 7, PAS: 7

[Falcon: Pace, Shooting, Physique]

Improvements: PAC: 9, SHO: 9, PHY: 9

Two golden cards appeared in front of me during the system presentations, one of them had an eye with a kind of football in its pupil. The other had a drawing of a falcon with its wings spread. Below both were the attributes that received improvements.

"My natural position when I was still playing football wasn't that, so that must be the reason that card has a red color around my position."

A few seconds passed and the ground where I was standing began to shake, around me and in front of me, countless humanoid figures appeared and positioned themselves around the place where I was. Furthermore, white lines began to run across the lawn and literally formed a football field.

The figures on my side were all a dark, bluish color, matching my uniform. And those on the opposing side were dark and reddish in color.

A new screen appeared and the old one moved, one of them moved to my side of the field and the other went to the opposing side. On the screen, a mini field was shown with the formation and positions of the players.

[Team Red, formation[4]]:

[5-2-2-1]

When I directed my vision to the screen next to me, I realized that unlike the red team's screen, this one wasn't showing our team's formation.

Without me noticing, the whistle was given, the figures began to move. And almost instantly, a window with options appeared before my eyes, causing the figures to freeze.

"Did they stop?"

In the information window, there were countless tactical variations and formations to choose from. Apparently, I'm the one who will decide how the team will play.

"Right... What's the best way to play against a team with so many defenders?"

Some memories came flooding back as my mind began to search for an answer.

In these memories, a tall man shouted and commanded a team of boys while gesturing to a whiteboard.

...