Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!

After almost two weeks of focusing on not using any of the systems skills during training sessions and practice games, Lucas noticed a considerable increase in his Talents.

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[Talents]

Ball Control: 14

Endurance: 9

Strength: 10

Heading: 7

Scoring: 10

Vision: 12

Positioning: 11

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Sure, it wasn't a jaw-dropping increase, but it was significant for someone who, in almost two months with the system, had averaged 5 points in each of these Talents.

However, that Lucas was holding back during training sessions was not going unnoticed by some people.

At the end of the last training session before the game against Chelsea on Friday, he was sitting on the pitch, drinking water and still breathing heavily, when Félix stopped next to him.

Félix was holding a small bottle and was also panting. He looked at Lucas out of the corner of his eye, and the boy realized he wanted to say something.

"If you have something to say, you shouldn't keep it to yourself." Lucas said as he turned his bottle upside down to make sure there were no more drops.

Felix raised his eyebrows and turned fully towards him.

"There's something I've noticed..."

"And what would that be?"

"You seem to have much better vision during proper matches than during training. You're also less assertive when it comes to passing, shooting and dribbling when it's just us here at the CT."

Lucas opened his mouth to explain, but Félix interrupted him first.

"You could say you're taking it easy because training is training, and a game is a game, but we all see that you're clearly pushing yourself. You're always at your limit and forcing yourself to stay on your feet. Why do you think that is? Is it some kind of prayer you say before matches that leaves you blessed or something?"

When he heard that last question, Lucas' genuine reaction was just to laugh at how silly it sounded.

"Prayer? No! Actually, what helps me in games is something far beyond even deities. It's a system!"

It would be nice if he could say something like that, but he didn't. Felix might have thought he was crazy.

After laughing so hard that his stomach hurt, Lucas sighed, still with a smile at the corner of his mouth, and said:

"Can I be honest?"

Felix was drinking water and stopped. "You should. I'm really curious."

"I feel that the nervousness and adrenaline of the games help me. It's hard to find the right words, but I feel everything becomes clearer to me when the match is worth something. Maybe it's the adrenaline or something psychological. I really can't explain it."

"Yeah, I've heard that it happens to some people. It's called the 'Zone'. But it usually only happens in moments of hyper-focus in extreme situations. Maybe you find it easy to get into that mode or something." said Felix as he started walking. "Anyway, it's nothing too important. I just had this doubt. Good training today, Lucas. See you tomorrow."

Félix walked away and headed for the changing room, while Lucas was left with the thought that the player he was with the system and without the system were so different that even a teammate could tell the difference.

"I have to do my utmost to close the gap..."

-:-

The next day, they all gathered in front of Brighton's training ground once again. The trip this time would be to London, but not exactly to central London, where the Blues stadium was, but to South London.

Like Brighton's ground, Cobham Training Ground was a little further away from the city to ensure privacy for the players and the training sessions.

The distance between the two grounds was just over 45 miles, so it would take them about an hour to get there.

"Coach, why is it always us who go to them and not them who come to us? It's tiring traveling all the time!" asked Daniel. As everyone got to know each other better, they no longer kept their questions to themselves.

"It's because you're the scum," said Eddie as he sat down in the front seat.

Silence perpetuated on the bus, which had been noisy until a moment ago.

"Dad, you shouldn't talk like that. I already told you," said Kader, the pink-haired girl in the seat next to Eddie.

As he always listened to his daughter, Eddie looked back and noticed that the expressions on the boys' faces resembled those of dead fish. He then leaned on the back of the bench and stood up.

"What I meant wasn't exactly that. I mean, yes, you're the scum, but not the real scum. The scum of grassroots soccer." Eddie gestured as he said it.

The more words that came out of his mouth, the more discouraged the boys became. The things he was saying were like punches to the gut of their self-esteem.

Alex, the assistant, was agonized to see this happening, but he couldn't intervene with the coach at the moment and attempt to soften the speech, or else Eddie would never learn to be more sensitive.

Eddie took a deep breath. He then looked up and said:

"I'll be honest with you, boys. Being the B-Team is exactly that. We're the second tier, the reserves of the reserves, and admitting that is no shame. You know what's really shameful? Not wanting to change and getting used to being second. That's what we should never do. We should always aim to be one step higher, and I have faith that all the young players on this bus will play on the top shelf of world soccer. That's why I'm so tough on you every day."

It wasn't a pretty speech, but it was enough to motivate those boys and ignite their desire to do their best.

It wasn't a pretty speech, but it was enough to motivate those boys and ignite their desire to do their best. The speaker, a seasoned coach with years of experience, stood before the young athletes, their eyes fixed on him in anticipation. This speech was not just a pep talk; it was a rallying cry that united the team and instilled a sense of purpose and determination.

Coach Eddie was right. It didn't matter how bad people thought they were; it was whether they were happy with being labeled secondary.

Lucas definitely wasn't, which was why he was obsessed with becoming a better version of himself every day.

-:-

After an hour's drive, the bus arrived at Cobham Training Ground. It was a sunny day, and it was midmorning. The parking lot was almost empty, and the sprinklers were wetting the fields.

The main building of Chelsea's CT was a brick building with a roof so curved that it looked like a bridge.

There were several soccer pitches, all of different sizes, shapes and dimensions. A normal soccer pitch was usually 105 meters long by 68 meters wide. It wasn't difficult to distinguish the main one from the others there: the goalposts perfectly aligned, the grass so uniformly green that it looked painted, and a small stand next to it, empty at the moment.

Eddie was the first to leave. With his battered leather clipboard and white moustache, he looked more like a general about to command a battalion than a soccer manager. He looked back, expecting the team to follow.

"Come on, lads! It's not a walk in the park," he said.

Just like the time they went to Liverpool's training grounds, one of their representatives welcomed them. However, this time they didn't have access to a changing room and had to change on the edge of the pitch.

Luckily, assistant Alex had already warned them that the changing rooms were under renovation, so they came prepared, wearing their match uniforms under their tracksuits.

Alex also led a typical warm-up for muscle activation, and Kader distributed protein-packed drinks for them.

Soon, they saw their team approaching in the distance, already wearing their dark blue uniforms. There were eighteen boys, but Lucas could only remember the name of one of them: Mason Mount.

To the surrounding people, he might not be very attractive to the eye, nor very dangerous offensively. However, Lucas knew something they didn't.

Mason Mount would become a great professional player, with a substantial part in winning the Champions League in 2021. Before then, he would be loaned out to a few clubs, and, obviously, the player Lucas was about to face was not 10% of the player he would become. It was the first time he would face a player who would become so successful.

Lucas reflected: 'It's a good thing I didn't put the <Copying Genius> in to assimilate, because I really need some skill from Mason Mount. However... I only know him by name. I don't know what he's really good at and what I should try to copy.'

As Lucas practically stopped watching soccer after he gave up on becoming a professional player in the past, there were many players he knew like Eden Hazard, Neymar, Kross and so on. It was different, these players he watched during his teenage years and tried to use as inspirations, unlike players like Vinicius Junior, Cole Palmer and Haaland who emerged when he was bogged down in college.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om