Rise of a Football God

Sam was exhausted but exhaustion got nothing on him, he was excited to work on his technique and skill through his unique cheat that no other professional football player had in the world, his system.

He accessed the skills market.

~----~

[Skills Market]

[Current available football skills: 5]

[Available football skills will be updated every 24 hours]

…

Sam unlocked the skills market when his system was just level 2, and now, his system was level 4. Just as his other perks leveled up as the system leveled up, the skills market also leveled up with them.

When he first got the skills market, the current available football skills tab only had 3 football skills at a time but now it already improved twice to 5.

And when he first got the system perk, available football skills were scheduled to be updated every 48 hours which was 2 days, but now, having reduced to 36 hours before, after the system's recent awakening, it reduced to 24 hours.

This meant that Sam could access new system skills every 24 hours.

Excited, Sam paid attention to the system perk on his interface.

…

[Current available football skills: 5]

>Cruyff Turn<

(Host status: Already owned!)

(Host mastery of this skill is at the intermediate level)

(Spend skill points to improve this skill to the advanced mastery level)

…

>Spatial Awareness<

(Host status: Already owned!)

(Host mastery of this skill is at the intermediate level)

(Spend skill points to improve this skill to the advanced mastery level)

…

>Sliding Tackle<

(Host status: Not owned!)

(Host does not yet have mastery of this skill)

(Spend skill points to purchase the basic mastery level of this skill)

…

>Power Header<

(Host status: Not owned!)n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

(Host does not yet have mastery of this skill)

(Spend skill points to purchase the basic mastery level of this skill)

…

>Freekick<

(Host status: Not owned!)

(Host does not yet have mastery of this skill)

(Spend skill points to purchase the basic mastery level of this skill)

…

[NOTE: Already owned skills are outside the skills market already, you can still spend skill points to increase your mastery over them any time you want and have enough skill points to do so!]

~----~

Sam stared at the information on his system interface with wide eyes.

He was not stunned because of the new skills at all, rather it was because of the note at the end of the skills market tab.

Sam never knew he could just spend skill points to simply learn higher masteries of his current football skills, this was why he just toiled and worked the normal way to improve his skills.

'Damn! I didn't know this before'.

'Why did I never check the skills market after the first time?'

He felt a bit frustrated with himself. Who knew if games that he had lost with higher mastery over his skills, he may have helped his team win?

He didn't dwell on it too much though. 'Better now than never'.

He was satisfied with the fact that he discovered it in the first place. And this discovery opened up a whole new door for him to spend all the skill points that he had been accumulating since he started his professional football career.

Before spending though, Sam focused on the 5 current available missions in the skill tab again. Of the 5 skills, he already owned 2 of them, leaving 3.

As an attacking midfielder, Sam had no use for sliding tackles. Instead of focusing on a skill for defenders, he would rather focus on attacking skills to take his strengths to the next level.

That was the way to become a better player.

The only problem was the expense. Despite accumulating skill points for so long, it was just enough to upgrade one of his intermediate level skills to the advanced level, either of Cruyff turn or spatial awareness.

The elastico dribble was a football skill of a higher level which meant it required more skill points to upgrade it to a higher mastery level.

He didn't have enough skill points for such spending.

This was why Sam curbed his expectations, directly taking his gaze away from the skills with intermediate mastery and focusing on the other ones.

He kept his gaze still on the 3 new skills.

Having scored his first headed goal in the game against Liverpool FC, the idea of a power header skill in his repertoire now seemed appetizing to Sam.

And having just gotten a bend it like Beckham ability card, he was even more excited at the sight of the freekick skill.

He no longer hesitated, purchasing both skills.

~----~

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the basic mastery of the skill: Power Header!]

…

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the basic mastery of the skill: Freekick!]

…

After these 2 purchases, Sam stood up from his bed, picking up a paper and a pen as he wrote all his available skills and their masteries down.

He did a little math, calculating how much his available skill points could go. And once he knew that, he drew a priority table, listing the skills that he needed more than others in a descending order.

After that, Sam went on a spending spree, draining all the skill points that he had been saving since he started earning skill points from his system.

…

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the intermediate mastery of the skill: La Croqueta!]

…

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the intermediate mastery of the skill: Body Feint!]

…

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the intermediate mastery of the skill: Power Shot!]

…

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the intermediate mastery of the skill: Power Header!]

…

[Skill points have been deducted!]

[You have purchased the intermediate mastery of the skill: Freekick!]

…

After his spending spree, Sam's system tab that displayed his football skills experienced a qualitative change and not just that, he got a surprise notification alongside it that left him even more giddy.

…

[Owned Football Skills:]

[Basic mastery level: Step overs, roulette, knuckle shot, overhead kick]

[Intermediate mastery level: Elastico, Cruyff turn, La croqueta, body feint, power shot, power header, freekick]

…

[Legendary Inheritance: Elastico]

…

[Congratulations! Your potential has increased!]

[Your talent rating has increased to S tier!]

~----~

That night, Sam slept like a baby.