A Plan

Luckily Zina had always taken good care of Nevan's needs. He had everything he needed to accomplish tasks regarding his workout. His watch, his airpods and he already was running on the trail that lead away from the city center.

The work hadn't taken long. Athlete Zone's second floor was the best for such workouts which he could use limitlessly due to his subscription plan. With good warm-up, it had been possible that he had gotten through the daily tasks very easily. Was these tasks always going to be this easy? He doubted that. Maybe, it was only because he was deemed a 'newbie' by the system.

The system worked tirelessly in the background. The display seemed to have frozen up now, only showing daily tasks.

[Do [45] push-ups. Completed.]

[Do [45] push-ups. Completed.]

By the time Nevan had been done with his 30-minutes jog, he had made his way back to Dax's apartment. His friend was back home. For a moment, he couldn't help but feel a sense of detachment to this guy. But then, he reminded himself that there was no point. It wasn't like, Dax was obliged to tell him anything in the first place.

"I am home." Nevan was drenched in his sweat. The weather was just so hot and it was definitely time for a cold shower. "How did the shopping go?" He entered the living room and saw Dax slacking off on the ancient couch.

[Jog for [40] minutes. Completed.]

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Reward granted.

+3 Attribute-Points

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Dax looked up at Nevan, curiosity written all over his face. "Workout, huh? In this heat?" His expression was like always. A friendly distance. Curiosity mixed with nonchalance.

A sigh escaped his mouth as he looked at his friend on the couch. "A man gotta do, what he gotta do." His lips curled up to a small smile.

Dax let out a small chuckle and sat upright. "Now you are just sounding like Keisuke." Their friend was really good at what was called resolve. Once he set a goal, he would not rest until he reached it. Since Keisuke was ten, he was sure, he wanted to be a soccer athlete and he was doing everything in his power to achieve it.

He had gotten into many bootcamps, honed his skills, gotten in contact with big tier people in the soccer world. It was surprising, Keisuke hadn't already been contracted yet. Keisuke was in a local club and had also played matches on local level where he was definitely outstanding.

Nevan had informed Dax about the meet-up at 3 p.m. before leaving for a quick shower. It was refreshing and definitely a delight on such a day where he had let out bucket full of sweat.

The day had passed by rather quickly. Mostly because Nevan had nothing to do so that all the hours that passed blended in together to a big hour where Dax and Nevan talked about various things, had lunch and just watched TV. It was impossible to explore the system further with his friend sitting around. Nevan would just make a fool out of himself. Despite being somewhat close to Dax, he couldn't bring himself to talk about this strange phenomenon.

"Are you done, Nevan? Why, for fuck's sake, are you taking so long?! It isn't some date." Dax sounded rather annoyed. Who wouldn't? Nevan had been getting ready for a long time now. Such time to get ready for a guy was really a bit too long.

Finally the door opened and Nevan came out. Looking just like he normally did. "Geez, chill down. We aren't getting late yet."

"Yet." Dax scoffed and lead the way, locking the door behind Nevan. They emerged from the building, diving right into the same lively streets.

They had gone to the park, Keisuke had talked about. Of course, if not Athlete Zone, then it was this park. Mostly. It was almost impossible to not recognize Keisuke's crimson-red hair. He was somewhere in the middle of the park, sitting on a bench and simply waiting like a lost puppy.

"Hey, man!" Nevan said loud enough for Keisuke to listen and turn to them. As always, he greeted them in his good mood.

For a while, the three friends just sat on that bench, catching up on each other's life. Nevan's life had changed the most, by far. He was in the almost opposite situation than a month ago. From a privileged life where he had everything, he had gone to a life where he was supposed to achieve something big.

"You guys don't even know, how happy I am that you are showing interest." Keisuke was really all over the moon when his friends finally showed some interest. What their motives were wasn't really a big deal for him. Knowing, he could share all his victories with his friends was something more valuable.

"So, where do we start?" Dax asked in the round. It was a question, Nevan had asked himself over and over again. Where do you even start when you want to become a professional athlete?

Keisuke leaned back as if contemplating on a good answer to this question. He wanted to be as much of a help as he could. "Hm." He hummed before finally speaking up. "Actually, there is no real 'start'. You just make up your mind, train, become better and try to get recognized."

He shifted in his position. Both, Nevan and Dax were just listening to him right now. "You guys are good. I saw Nevan yesterday. You have potential." His gaze darted to Nevan. "You always had the talent to learn things very quickly. Soccer is no expection to that." He paused and tried to word it in the best way possible. "You know the basics and you use them to their full extent. But, there is no real strategy, no real thought behind it."

All Nevan understood was that he played mindlessly. That was really true and he was impressed by his observations.

"Dax, you have the exact opposite problem. You think too much when you have the ball. You tend to hesitate on the field." His eyes wandered to his other friend whose expression showed that he was lost in his thoughts. Dax nodded in response.

Keisuke let out a small sigh. "Good. What I mean to say is that you both have potential, we can work with. You guys have been playing soccer since we met and even before that."

He placed each arm around his friends' shoulders and pulled them closer. "You are in luck because I got some insider informations." Keisuke's voice dropped to a deeper note as if he was telling a secret.

Nevan's ears perked up. Insider information? Unvoluntarily, his gaze trailed off to the display, looming next to him like a ghost. He would have to explore that system further to use it for his advantage.

"We can play all day, for weeks, months, years without getting any attention. Then you can be sure that you will never be a professional. We need to do something. To get a higher-up to recognize us."

A small nod from both of the friends. "Right, otherwise it is just a simple hobby with no purporse and we have already failed." Nevan chimed in.

Keisuke's eyes lightened. "Exactly. Here comes the information I picked up just the other day." He added a pause to make things more exciting. "The board of Athlete Zone is involved in the selection of new players for the national and international teams. And once in a while, a few people are hired to disguise themselves and recruit potential players."

"Wait, wait, wait." Dax spoke and looked to his right side to see Keisuke better. "You found out just a few days ago? Shouldn't you know it since you are so involved in these practice and bootcamps financed by Athlete Zone?"

A small chuckle. "No, it isn't a secret that Athlete Zone is involved with recruiting but it is a secret how they do it. I just picked up this information one day and it might be wrong. And yet, we can't take chances now."

He let out a small huff and gestured towards Nevan, playing onto his situation. "There is a new bootcamp but this one is special. You can't just register for it. You have to qualify and you will be notified whether you made it or not. The chances are high that this is some special meassurement to increase potential players for the national or international teams."

"Do you know when it is?" Nevan spoke before Dax could ask the exact same question.

Keisuke grinned and finally let his arms slide off his friends' shoulders. "In exactly two weeks."

Dax's expression became more thoughtful. "How many people know about it?"

Keisuke thought about it. "Everyone who wants to enter that bootcamp but I don't think anyone knows, this could be a training to become a professional."

Nevan chuckled and leaned back. "Oh, that is great. A convenient timing."

"We would have to train. Athlete Zone is especially popular with people who want take sports seriously. Nevan and I didn't even take this whole thing seriously. I think, you will probably have it easier. How about we train individually and then meet up in two weeks for this selection?"

Nevan and Keisuke looked at each other, thinking about Dax's suggestion. Both of them had the same thing on their mind. It was the best option. Nevan's best bet and if he could use this AllStars System properly, then he might actually achieve this goal.

Both nodded and Keisuke said with a big grin. "Oh, it is going to be so much fun!"