A sudden awakening

*1 month time skip*

"System, show me my status."

[Player status:

Name: Jude Sanchez

Age: 14

Title: "stamina freak"

Version: Normal

Total: D (51)

Offence: D (56)

Shooting: D (54)

Dribble: D (53)

Speed: D (52)

Defence: E (41)

Pass: E (41)

Stat points: 0

Random stat points: 0

Special Weapons: Greed (Z), Eyes of the Lord (Z), Free kick specialist (D) ]

I couldn't help but let out a small smile while looking at my new status window, in that month most of my stats improved a lot and are now above 50.

Stats above 50 mean that even in a U16 team you would be an above-average player. With that, I was able to easily secure my position as the best striker in the team.

Not like I had much competition actually, the other striker of the A team wasn't bad but he didn't have any special weapon nor did he have any incredible stat.

Unlike him I had my stamina which was at a monstrous level for my age, I was always the first to join in the training and the last to go back home which is something the coach really appreciated.

The only thing that put me in a relatively bad mood was that my stamina still hasn't improved at all, it's still by far my strongest point but it's incredibly hard to raise a stat that is above 90.

Though luckily I was still able to raise my other stats fairly easily. My kinetic vision and assertiveness stat both went up above 60 which was at the level of a U15 star player such as Ricardo.

If only I was given a few more months I'm convinced I could raise almost all my stats above 60, though for now, I was already satisfied with what I had.

This month we had many practice games with other teams, and by now the whole team was working really well together. I couldn't deny that the coach knew how to put a good team together.

My special weapon also ended up being pretty useful, it wasn't as good as Ricardo's many special weapons but I still did manage to score a few of the free kicks I was given thanks to that.

"Always looking as gloomy as usual?" Esmeralda, the coach's niece, tapped my back and said jokingly.

"I'm just waiting for everyone to arrive." I came to the stadium early today. Our coach asked for every player of the academy to gather here today, even the reserve and B team were invited.

It seems like today will finally be the day in which the lineup for the summer tournament will be revealed, the tournament starts in less than a week after all, I'm surprised they didn't do that earlier.

"Why are they making it such a big deal?" I asked no one in particular.

"Bahahaha as straightforward as usual, the coach probably wants to take this occasion to motivate the players who will be participating in the tournament." Ricardo sneaked up behind me and said.

"Don't you ever get tired of sneaking up on me?" I first pumped him then let him sit down on the bench next to me, in that one month he was the only one I allowed next to me. Even my relationship with Pedro started getting worse.

"Come on I can't help it when I see you sitting all alone with that serious look on your face hahahaha!" Ever since Alex and Nathan left I've been distancing myself from everyone here, if not for Ricardo and Esmeralda always cheering me up and following me around I would've probably ended up completely alone.

"I'm sorry to say that in front of you Esmeralda but I can't help but despise the way your uncle does things, he's an incredible coach but I can't help but dislike him as a person." I said with a cold voice.

"What?? Why? Isn't uncle always good to you? He even told me that you'll be on the starting eleven for the summer tournament!" She said with a happy smile on her face.

I took a look at all the players around us, most of them were very tense and nervous while hoping to be chosen. "....That's exactly what I dislike about him, he called out everyone here and made it seem like everyone had equal chances to be chosen but in reality, most of them already had no chance from the beginning."

That was the same as with Nathan and Alex. That day, no goalkeeper or midfielder had any chance to be chosen to begin with.

"I do agree with you on that, it's pretty useless to make it seem like they will choose the players today since the coach already had the full lineup in mind ever since a few weeks ago." Ricardo sighed.

"Huh?? Did my uncle already tell you about who will be chosen??" Esmeralda couldn't help but open her mouth in disbelief.

"Bahahaha! You're as dumb as always." Ricardo laughed out loud while repeatedly tapping my back. Those two always teased each other, I could already tell that they're probably something along the lines of childhood sweethearts.

Esmeralda got offended after being called dumb and turned towards me. "Come on Jude! Explain!"

I smiled and started explaining. "Ricardo is our team's captain so he's by far the closest one to the coach. He probably already told him the full list a while ago. Today is just the announcement of the team, but the choice was made weeks ago." I said with a sad smile on my face while looking at all the kid's hopeful faces.

"As always your brain is really your strongest weapon huh. You're right on this one. A few weeks ago he gave me the list of the people who would most likely be on the lineup for the summer tournament and asked me to get closer to them and make sure they get along well." He said while giving me an apologetic smile.

"What? You can't be serious right?" Esmeralda was the most shocked by this information but I already guessed that a while ago.

I always wondered why Ricardo paid so much attention to me and why he wasn't bothered at all when losing the game against the A team.

It seems like the coach already scouted me from my game against the B team back when I was still part of the reserve team and asked Ricardo to get close to me on purpose since they needed a striker.

"It doesn't matter anyway." I said with a small smile. I already guessed all of that yet I never pointed it out. The only reason I followed up with their little schemes is that I was also gaining a lot from that.

The coach asked Ricardo to personally train me when it comes to offensive and defensive tactics, and thanks to that those stats increased by more than 10. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to do that on my own so I was a little thankful.

Suddenly our conversation came to an abrupt stop after Evans asked all of us to gather. We all stood in a semi-circle in front of him while the only one by his side was none other than Ricardo.

"I will now be announcing the Bench of the summer team as well as the starting Eleven! I hope that everyone who wasn't chosen will still be doing their best to improve in the future." It was finally time.

"On the bench, we'll have...."

"....."

"As for the starting eleven, the captain will be none other than Ricardo who's by my side. As you already know he's our star player and we will be relying on him for this tournament!" I could hear many people cheering for him from all around me.

'Being the star player of a team can make you pretty popular huh' I couldn't help but think back to my time in the B team. Ever since I joined the main team I realized what football at a higher level looked like, the competition here was something else.

Being a good striker wasn't enough for me to succeed here, I had to learn how to perfect my defending and passing and also needed to learn how to integrate myself into a team. I couldn't help but feel a bit suffocated by such an environment.

But I knew that the only way for me to break off from that suffocating feeling was to get stronger. If I'm strong enough I won't have to adapt to the team. It's the team that will adapt to me the same way it was currently adapting to Ricardo.

"Next up as a centre midfielder we'll have..." While Evans was still announcing the new line up I couldn't help but get lost in my own thoughts.

'What if I was stronger? The only reason why Alex and Nathan didn't get accepted is that they didn't work well in a team revolving around Ricardo. But what if it was me instead of him? Maybe things would've been different.'

"That will be all for today! Thanks for everyone's attention and I hope that many of you will come to cheer us on during our matches!" Evans ended his speech. I didn't even get to listen to anything he said.

Today I finally realized what I should do. I should get stronger. I didn't care anymore about who was on my team or who I had to walk on. If I'm strong enough then people will bend for me.

This new realization slowly helped me free myself from that suffocating feeling I've been having ever since I joined the A team.

"Congratulations on getting chosen!" Esmeralda tapped my back with a smile but I simply nodded and left, something else took all of my attention.

[The player's current mental state has triggered a special quest.]

[Special quest: A selfish player!

Difficulty: C

Description:

The player's ego is starting to awaken. Score 10 goals during the tournament without giving out any assists.

Reward: 10 random stats, a random D-rank special weapon.]