After eating the breakfast. Leo and Mateo left there home to go and join the Newell's Old Boys Youth Training Ground.
The new year eve dawned sticky and indifferent, the kind of summer morning where the air clung to your skin like an uninvited promise.
Along the way Mateo explore the system a bit further. Leo was gazing out of the window from the local transport bus that they were riding on.
Mateo's hands trembled slightly as he willed the interface back into view. The chime from before still echoed faintly in his skull, a reminder that this wasn't some fever dream born of regret. It was real. The blue text materialized again, crisp against the morning haze.
[Name: Mateo Messi]
[Age: 12]
[Currently Used Templates: None]
[Attributes:]
Sprint Speed 20 (55)
Finishing 25 (50)
Long Shots 18 (48)
Volleys 24 (49)
Vision 35 (62)
Free Kicks 12 (40)
Short Passing 18 (45)
Long Passing 26 (43)
Curve 19 (42)
Ball Control 11 (38)
Balance 30 (49)
Reactions 40 (55)
Jumping 25 (40)
Strength 24 (53)
Stamina 40 (60)
Defensive Awareness 16 (39)
[Overall Rating: 24] {The higher the potential of the attribute and the bigger diference between them, the faster the growth rate will be.}
[Template Talent: None]
[Mental Attributes: Aggression 71, Concentration 91, Leadership 81] (Unaffected by template)
[Traits: Team Player, Unyielding Spirit] (Unaffected by template)
[Next Lottery Draw Condition: 5 Stats Above 40]
[Current Lottery Points: 1 [Use it, Y/N?]]
Mateo exhaled slowly, tracing the numbers with his eyes.
They stared back like a verdict: harsh, unyielding. Twenty four overall. A street player, at best. The potentials in parentheses mocked him most: glimpses of what could be, if he clawed his way there.
Vision at 35, already his strongest, felt like a small mercy; he could see the game unfolding in his mind, threads of possibility weaving through defenses. Stamina at 40 too, endless legs, the kind that let you press when others flagged.
But ball control at 11? That was a chain around his ankles, raw and unrefined. No wonder the old timeline had left him in the stands.
Mental attributes, at least, burned bright. Aggression 71, the fire that had driven him through endless solo sessions as a kid, now sharpened by forty one years of watching from afar.
Concentration 91, a steel trap for tactics and tells. Leadership 81, the quiet command that made teammates lean in during huddles. Traits like Team Player and Unyielding Spirit? Those were etched in his bones, unchanged by any system. They were him.
And the lottery point. That single token, glowing like a lit fuse. Use it now, or hoard? The condition for the next draw loomed: five stats over 40.
He had two already: Reactions and Stamina, but the grind ahead felt like a marathon through thorns. Messi's natural gifts would pull him forward effortlessly. Mateo had to earn every inch.
Yes, he thought, the decision settling like gravel in his gut. No hesitation. This was the spark he needed to stand beside his brother, not chase his shadow.
[As this is your first time spinning the lottery wheel, you will at least get templates above bronze. That is in this spin you will get templates ranging from Silver and above.]
[Lottery Wheel Activated. Spinning... ]
The interface shifted, a ethereal wheel materializing in his vision, segments blurred into a mixture of various names and silhouettes. All past legends of the football game. Mateo was pretty excited and thrilled for the result.
[Draw Result: Thomas Muller (Silver)]
[Template Talent: Raumdeuter Instinct (Silver), Vision attribute increased by 10%, Finishing attribute increased by 10%, Short Passing increased by 10%.]
Mateo excited opened his full system panel to have a better understanding about the changes that happened.
[Name: Mateo Messi]
[Age: 12]
[Currently Used Templates: Muller (Silver)]
[Attributes:]
Sprint Speed 20 (56)
Finishing 28 (59)
Long Shots 18 (49)
Volleys 24 (53)
Vision 38 (70)
Free Kicks 12 (40)
Short Passing 20 (53)
Long Passing 26 (44)
Curve 19 (44)
Ball Control 11 (41)
Balance 30 (53)
Reactions 40 (62)
Jumping 25 (45)
Strength 24 (56)
Stamina 40 (62)
Defensive Awareness 16 (39)
[Overall Rating: 25]
[Template Talent: Raumdeuter Instinct (Silver), Vision attribute increased by 10%, Finishing attribute increased by 10%, Short Passing increased by 10%] {Very slight growth in other attributes.}
[Mental Attributes: Aggression 71, Concentration 91, Leadership 81] (Unaffected by template)
[Traits: Team Player, Unyielding Spirit] (Unaffected by template)
[Next Lottery Draw Condition: 5 Stats Above 40]
[Current Lottery Points: 0 ]
Mateo was deep in thought, pondering on what he should do next to improve as he remembered that for him to continue alongside Leo he would have to show crazy growth.
As Leo would travel to Barcelona in September for a trial at La Masia, he had to improve enough to be scouted alongside Leo at that time.
After unlocking Muller's template, he unlocked Muller's essence. The Raumdeuter, the space hunter, who didn't dazzle with flair but haunted the gaps, turning half chances into inevitability. It fit Mateo perfectly at this moment
He will not dampen the effect of Messi on the same field, but further amplify the chaos his brother will sow. He glanced at Messi, still gazing out the window, oblivious. Only he knew what crazy things will the innocent child sitting beside him do. The legacy that his brother wrote in his previous lifetime but this time not only Leo but he will stand along side by side.
The bus jolted to a stop at the edge of the training grounds, dust kicking up in lazy spirals.
Newell's Old Boys youth facility laid ahead there eyes: sun scorched fields laid in front of the Messi Brothers, A future legacy laid before there eyes to be written by these 2 twins.