Being acknowledged

(I've made a special chapter explaining how the stats worked and how they were graded so feel free to check it out)

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*whistle blow*

After my second goal the game calmed down and both teams seemed to be in a statemate. They tried to push through using their tall striker but this time both of our center backs were guarding him so they weren't successful in doing so.

And finally the game was over with a final score of 1-3 and the victory being on our side.

We were then given 10 minutes to rest while the staff and coaches were discussing between themselves to see who will be admitted to the academy.

"Everyone, gather in a straight line in front of me. I will be announcing the 9 people who will be accepted in the academy." The coach finally announced it's time.

Everyone did as he said and we all stood up in a straight line. I had no reason to actually join them since I was already admitted thanks to Lavinho but I stood with them anyway.

"First of all, the first person admitted will be none other than our prodigy goalkeeper and captain of team red. Alex Ramirez."

The tall blonde haired keeper advanced forward and stood next to the coach. he seemed to be a bit annoyed for having taken 3 goals but he was still happy to be chosen.

"Next up we have Nathan swift. You did an amazing job as an attacking midfielder and even managed to get 1 goal and an assist."

....

....

....

He kept on going and saying everyone's name one by one, then explaining why they were accepted.

I could feel everyone's body tensing up the further he went on with it. When he said the last person's name everyone that failed looked down disappointingly.

"And lastly the one who started playing 1 month ago but scored two goals and had one assist. Jude Sanchez!"

I was the 10th and last person to join their side. It felt good to hear even though I knew I was already accepted before even going through this match, now I felt like I really deserved it and earned my place.

After hearing that I was only playing for 1 month many people looked at me with looks full of surprise and shock and soon enough they started complaining.

"Someone who have only been playing for so little get accepted?"

"It's only thanks to that recommendation letter."

"Yeah exactly!"

All the ones who failed couldn't accept their fate and turned on me to try to let out their frustration.

"He have only been playing for so little yet he's undoubtedly the man of the match in this game. If anything you all should be ashamed of yourselves."

The one who stopped them was none other than Alex, the goalkeeper of the opposite team. It felt weird to see him take on my side but I guess he now have a more positive opinion of me.

After this little argument was over the coach sent us all home after giving us the dates and times of the future training.

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[Congratulations for completing the quest "first match"!]

After coming back home I decided to take that opportunity to receive my rewards.

[Congratulations on obtaining 5 stat points.]

[Congratulations on scoring two goals and getting 1 assist. You will be rewarded with 5 Additional stat points]

For now I had no reason to use points though, I'm sure I will be improving enough in the academy. Many of my stats already went up thanks to this match.

-----

"Everyone line up!" All the kids lined up in front the coach.

He started introducing all of the 10 new people who will be joining the academy. Today is going to be our first day.

I've met up with many new people, I didn't particularly hate socializing but this much was for sure exhausting. I underestimated the number of people there would be in such a big academy.

The hardest parts were the team drills. It pushed me past my limits but also helped me improve in many areas such as tactical coordination or my play field of vision and even my positioning.

I knew I was far behind everyone in those areas. The people who played the match with me knew of my qualities as a striker but unless I master the basics of being a striker I wouldn't be able to join the main U15 team.

The best I could do for now was try to join their B team. I heard from the coach that there will be a match between the reserve team that I'm currently part of and the B team in 1 month. He told me that would be my best chance to prove myself and go up the ranks.

So now I had a whole month of pure training. We'd have matches every Sunday and Saturday and train every monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

So to optimize my time I used the 2 free days we had to train my body.

-----

Today is Sunday, the day I've been waiting for a while and the day of the match against the B team.

During that whole month with the reserve team, I've already imposed myself as the main striker, some people disliked me cause of my obsession with being the one to score and only be the striker but I had no interest in playing in other positions.

My only interest was to become the best striker. And I know I won't be able to reach it unless I step on some people.

In that month, all of my skills have improved a lot.

'System show me my detailed stats and improvements since last month'

[Detailed stats:

KICK:

Kicking power: 20-> 28

Shooting accuracy: 21-> 28

Short pass: 10-> 21

Long pass: 10-> 18

Volley: 33-> 37

Long shot: 17-> 26

Free kick: 14-> 21

Curve: 10-> 13

Centering: 10-> 12

Penalty kick: 17-> 25

Opposite leg precision: 10-> 14

PHYSICAL:

Stamina: 45-> 48

Acceleration: 32-> 37

Top speed: 30-> 34

Jump: 35-> 40

Agility: 37-> 41

Kinetic vision: 46-> 50

Reaction speed: 36-> 42

Power: 28-> 32

Balance: 32-> 34

MENTAL:

Composure: 20-> 30

Assertiveness: 17-> 30

Condition stability: 14-> 20

Attack awareness: 15-> 24

Defense awareness: 12-> 14

Coordination: 10-> 15

Tactical coordination: 10-> 14

TECHNIQUE:

Trapping: 30-> 36

Ball control: 26-> 32

Heading: 10-> 21

Dribbling: 27-> 34

Tackling: 12-> 17

Sliding tackle: 10-> 11

Direct play: 10-> 14

Positioning: 10-> 20

Play field of vision: 10-> 21

Feint: 10-> 18

Stat points: 10

Random stat points: 0]

I decided to not use any of my stat points. For now it wasn't necessary to use any of them so I kept them as a last resort in case I end up facing a wall I can't overcome especially since the higher my stats are the harder it is to make them improve.

I knew I has improved a lot in every area but even my overall status have improved.

'Status Window'

[Player status:

Name: Jude Sanchez

Age: 14

Title: none

Version: normal.

Total: F (31)

Offence: F (38)

Shooting: F (32)

Dribble: F (34)

Speed: F (35)

Defence: G (15)

Pass: G (19)

Stat points: 5

Random stat points: 0

Special Weapons: Greed (Z), Eyes of the Lord (Z) ]

I finally reached stats which are even higher than most people on the reserve team. From what I noticed they all have an overall stat of between 20 and 35 with Alex and Nathan being the highest.

My status window looked the same as usual but this time something caught my eyes. 'Version: normal? What's that?' I asked to no one in particular but I got the answer I needed.

[The players stats are currently calculated in the normal mode, once the player is considered as a professional or have accomplished a certain quest, the system will update into the professional mode.]

'What? The professional mode? What's the difference?' I was genuinely confused, I thought myself to be already pretty good but apparently there's even more to it than what I knew?

[In your past world 100 in a stat would've been the maximum possible for a normal human. But in this world professionals are close to superhumans, be it their special weapons or stats. Which is why the players stats is currently calculated using the normal mode.]

'But how would that affect my stats?'

[ 20 stat in the normal mode is equal to 10 stats in the professional mode. So the player would have to use 2 stat points to increase a stat by 1 once it's calculated in the professional mode.]

Looking at this made me reevaluate my current level. I still shouldn't get too arrogant, I was indeed very far from the professionals of this world.

After taking one more look at my current stats I prepared myself mentally and stretched a bit then went out towards the small stadium in which the match will be played.