8 Preparations

After they finally got back home in the evening from the ice cream shop, Tony went to take a hot bath to cool his nerves. He may technically be older than 18years oaf age, but this was still one of the best days of his life and he was still finding it hard to believe that he was selected.

When he was done taking his bath, he lay on his bed to relax a little, while he remembered he had yet to copy the skill from John whose condition he had fulfilled during the match.

He mind communicated with the System, 'So system how do we copy his skill?' she replied 'Once you have fulfilled the condition to copy a skill, all you need is to give me the go ahead to copy the skill that same day before you fall asleep.'

'After that, Such skill will be merged with a similar skill of yours. Or in the case of a new skill, such skills may appear on the stats window like that or you could add them to another skill to make the stats list a little bit shorter and easier to navigate.'

Tony accepted and asked 'So what are the skills available, for me to copy from John?' The system then continued to explain 'The skill he has which is presently better than yours are only two. Which are Speed C+ and passing C-'

Tony weighed it in his mind for a while and decided to go with passing, as he knew a good passer could effectively affect a game without moving too much by giving a precise pass.

The system suddenly mind talked 'You don't need to overthink it, as even on the first day of training you can easily copy the other one of John's skill by achieving a new condition by training or playing in a match with or against him in the academy.'

'Also, depending on situation, is how the difficulty the condition to copy a skill may be. So are you sure you want to copy passing C-?' Which Tony agreed to, after which he felt a sudden cold come over his body, and within seconds his body was back to normal.

He knew he had successful copied the ability and all he had to do was to wait till the next day to see if he would be able to notice the difference.

After deciding on the matter of copying the skill, he opened the stats window to look if the changes had been effected.

Name: Tony Lane

Age: 18yrs old

Basic stats

Football Knowledge B-

Strength C-

Agility D+

Football Technique D-

Football Skills D-

Free Kick Taking D-

Heading D-

Long Shots D-

Finishing D+

Crossing D-

Passing D+

Speed D-

Stamina C-

Defending D-

Leadership D-

He was confused, as he asked the system 'Hey system, why is my passing still showing a D+?' The system sighed and said 'Didn't I tell you that after copying a skill, you had to sleep, before the changes could fully take effect?'

After the explanation, Tony finally relaxed again as he began to think of how he could maybe use his knowledge from the future before 2020 to affect his life.

Tony knew from his memory how he had finally managed to start up his first convenient store after a series of errors and mistakes on his part. And how he was later successful and went on to establish his other six branches in due time.

So now all he had to do was use his memory and easily create a business similar to the one he had before Or he could try another different approach.

After weighing it up in his mind for a few minutes, he felt it was better to follow his memories as he was sure the business would be a success. Even if the success of the business was to only be similar to that of his past, he would still accept it.

But there was still an uncertainty, as he was still not sure if his time jumping was going to affect the past or his present future as he knew it to be.

He knew that if he were to use his memories to indulge in something like football betting. And the results from his past turned out to be the same with the new timeline. Then he would easily be a millionaire in no time.

But him doing that could also lead to unforseen circumstances. Also if most movies about time traveling had taught him anything, was that he should not do things that could affect others or the memories he had would change. Tony had yet to do anything different from his previous timeline aside from passing the trials.

And the fact that he had not started going to the academy yet or the that he had no access to other players to train with someone whose skills he could copy before the academy resumed.

And even if he were to risk betting on football, as it was the fastest means he had knowledge from his memories that could help in get more money. There was a rule that players were not allowed to participate in betting of any sorts on a game, as it could lead to banning and other disciplinary actions.

Upon thinking about it for a while with the system, he discovered that since technically he had not officially become a footballer and was yet to sign his youth contract. Then He still had the liberty of about a week to make some quick cash from betting before his season began.

After deciding, he used his phone to check the games that were to be played from other leagues and on the international stage. After looking across the matches and highlighting the games he could vaguely remember the scores and there wasn't any narrow win that could easily be changed due to chance.

He selected about 15 matches, chosing only the basic options of win, lose or draw on the matches he had chosen to bet on. After compiling everything, he had a total cumulative odd of 100 which would be multiplied by the amount of money he used in making the bet. All that remained was for him to get the money he was to use in taking the bet.

He waited till the next day, then he went to meet his parents downstairs to remind them about his plan to start a business, and how he was going to use it as a back up for his football career.

After they failed to convince him to get a university degree as his back up to football instead, they listened to his idea of setting up a convenient store, before they finally agreed.

He was then given the sum of #5,000 pounds as it was transferred to his account to start his business. After which they repeatedly reminded him not to waste the money on other things or he was on his own.

After he got the money, he finally decided and used it to place the bet. If all the games he chose were successful, the amount he would get in return would be 5,000 multiplied by 100 odds.

That would be a whopping sum of Five hundred thousand pounds. This was a very large sum of money for a young man like Tony. As his mouth started to water, at the thought of what he could use such an amount of money to do.

He spent the first day after the trials at home resting as he allowed his body to reset properly in other to avoid injuries. He later to told his 3 friends (Tom, Harry and Paul) about being selected from the trials. They were really happy for him and wished him well.

He also remembered to check if the stats had changed as he opened his stats window.