Chapter 2 Talent, Height, Nationality

In fact, there's nothing in this world that cannot be understood.

The reason you don't understand is simply because you have different information from the people making the decisions.

When people have the same information, they are likely to make the same choices.

Moreover, as a person's social status and the importance of their identity increase, the likelihood of their choices converging also increases.

Deng Kai was not a man of this era; he was a transmigrator.

Before transmigration, he was a football fan but couldn't play due to physical reasons.

Now, having transmigrated to a Chinese-Portuguese child of the same name and age twenty-five years ago, and having awakened the "Football King System", he would naturally choose to play football.

Nothing could stop his love for football.

When he transmigrated, "Deng Kai" was participating in the final of the Portugal Golden Boy Cup, and his opponent was none other than Ronaldo!

He was ecstatic at the time.

This was Ronaldo!

This was the Ronaldo who, alongside Messi, would go on to dominate the football world for more than a decade, holding the world football scoring record, a never-say-die Champion's League king!

There's no doubt that on the day Ronaldo and Messi retire, they will immediately become the third generation of football kings following Pele and Maradona.

They never lost to anyone in their professional careers.

They only lost once, the same loss all humans experience—defeated by time.

As a fan who missed the peak years of Messi and Ronaldo, just seeing a young Ronaldo with his own eyes satisfied Deng Kai immensely; he didn't even own an authentic signed jersey in his previous life.

But now the system actually required Deng Kai to defeat Ronaldo, which made it very difficult... to refuse!

The system rewarded Deng Kai with an opportunity to experience, making his technical abilities reach the level of a player in one of the top five leagues.

So he mercilessly thrashed the young Ronaldo.

Walking away with the Championship Trophy.

However, after the game, through the system's data panel, Deng Kai came to a proper understanding of his level.

This body's football ability was excellent among ten-year-olds, but unfortunately, this body's talent level was just too low.

Decay, Mediocrity, Excellence, Gifted, Prodigy, Extraordinary Talent, Unmatched Genius!

Out of the seven talent levels, Deng Kai's talent was merely Mediocre.

If an "Unmatched Genius" improves an attribute point with one training session, then "Mediocrity" might need dozens of sessions to gain a single attribute point.

For the same quality match, "Mediocrity" receives much fewer rewards compared to an "Unmatched Genius".

As time goes by, the difference in strength between the two, initially at the same level, will grow wider and wider.

Moreover, an "Unmatched Genius" could potentially improve up till the age of twenty-five from the moment they start playing football, a "Prodigy" could still improve past the age of twenty, but "Mediocrity" might no longer be able to advance past the age of twelve or thirteen.

An extremely low ceiling!

With such talent, even if you don't fall behind temporarily, there's simply no way to play professional football in the future.

The youth training system for European football is well-developed and sophisticated, yet the ratio of youth players turning professional is still frightfully low. This is because most young players stop growing after fourteen or fifteen and thus fall by the wayside.

Those players who were dominant as children but turned out average as they grew up were either not disciplined enough or, due to injuries, didn't grow as expected, or they had too low a ceiling and their abilities stalled early, allowing others to catch up and surpass them.

The latter shouldn't have had any expectation of improvement at all.

After carefully reviewing the various explanations of the system, Deng Kai finally found a breakthrough.

By completing tasks corresponding to the system, he could modify his talent level.

The task for an "Unmatched Genius" is "to become president within three years".

The task for an "Extraordinary Talent" is "to become the wealthiest person in the country within three years".

Well... if one could complete these two tasks, why even bother playing football?

The only task Deng Kai felt he could challenge was that of a "Prodigy" – "complete compulsory education in Portugal within three years and get admitted to university".

After all, in my past life I was Chinese, and things like studying and taking exams were the simplest.

So Deng Kai temporarily gave up football and went all out to conquer the Portuguese education system.

In three years, he actually completed the next eight years of curriculum, and his grades were quite outstanding. He got into the best university in Portugal with a single try.

It was a moment of sudden realization for Deng Kai.

He thanked the exam-oriented education of his past life for enhancing his learning abilities—there was no problem that couldn't be solved by doing practice exams. If there was, then just do a few more sets.

Those who preach the merits of happy education almost bamboozled people into being crippled.

After his talent level was upgraded to that of a generational genius, Deng Kai immediately made a call to Trigella.

This was the person he felt most confident in, also the soccer coach who had stayed in contact with him over the past three years.

The scouts from clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Bayern had long since vanished.

Deng Kai had no doubts about Trigella's ability to get him a spot in Lisbon's youth training team.

But what he had not expected was that Trigella managed to secure a substitute spot for him in the Portuguese 'Diamond Generation' invitation tournament—in just one day!

He must have put in a lot of effort, and it was even possible that he had gambled all his connections.

It seemed that this once obscure Lisbon assistant coach from a previous life was really confident and daring to bet big.

Such people either become immensely rich or suffer a crushing defeat.

From the outcome in his past life, it seemed that Trigella certainly ended up ruined.

But this time, Deng Kai could responsibly tell Trigella,

You bet on the right horse!

...

June 1st arrived in the blink of an eye.

Fifty thousand fans gathered at Estádio Alvalade.

Over seventy official media outlets focused their attention on the 'Diamond Generation' invitation tournament.

Apart from Portuguese football media, there were also media from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and so on.

The first ceremony of the invitation tournament was Eusebio's dazzling entrance, as everyone followed the footage to reminisce about the life of this football legend.

The second ceremony featured Portugal's new soccer sensation Figo. In front of fifty thousand spectators, he read his personal declaration, expressing his determination to lead the Portuguese national team into the European Championship in two years.

This became the highlight of the segment, igniting the national pride of the Portuguese people.

Subsequently, everyone followed Figo in singing the Portuguese national anthem.

Meanwhile, players from both teams were assembling in the player's tunnel.

Unlike usual matches, where only the starting players walk out of the tunnel, this time, all forty players from both teams would emerge from the tunnel and they would all get a chance to play, not constrained by the limit of three substitutions per match.

"Line up from shortest to tallest—it's almost time for you to enter the field."

Staff were directing the young players to line up.

Deng Kai unsurprisingly found himself at the front.

His birthday was August 5, 1985, making him half a year younger than Ronaldo, and the third youngest among these forty players.

But that didn't matter because he was the shortest one among this group.

(growls)

Even Joao Moutinho, the youngest, was slightly taller than Deng Kai.

This was the second major issue Deng Kai needed to tackle in the future—height!

The limit for this body's height was 165 centimeters. If the nutrition didn't keep up, it could end up being even shorter.

Don't ask why the nutrition couldn't keep up, just say that abstinence is really necessary.