"Huff..."
Letting out a long breath of turbid air, the handsome boy straightened his posture, held his breath, and focused his mind...
...
"Ah~ we were really this close to losing. Thanks to Shinichi! Seriously, how many is this already, Shinichi? You're way too amazing!"
Watching Shinichi calmly place the medal he had just won into the cabinet, the boys traveling with him finally couldn't hold back and shouted.
"Yeah. I remember someone even blocked the classroom door begging you to go running before. And this time, after just a few months of learning, you went and won the tournament championship again. Tsk, tsk..."
"This must be what a genius looks like."
...
Facing everyone's praise, the boy called Shinichi merely shook his head calmly. Fortunately, the lively high schoolers quickly shifted the topic, and the group excitedly savored the taste of victory, while the glasses-wearing club president walked over to Shinichi.
"Even though I really want you to stay, according to precedent you'll probably get bored again, right?"
The president adjusted his glasses.
"Have you decided what you want to try next?"
"Yeah, I've already decided."
Kōken Shinichi remained silent for a long while before putting down his phone. Somehow, even when leading a team to a championship his eyes had always been calm, but at this moment they were sparkling with excitement.
"Oh? Looks like you've finally found something interesting, 'all-round prodigy'?"
Seeing the boy's unusual expression, the president couldn't help himself. He wanted to know what could make this genius—who had no interest in anything, yet effortlessly surpassed others' years of hard training the moment he tried—show such a look.
"Yeah... I finally found it."
The boy ignored the president's teasing and the faint trace of resentment hidden in his words. He quickly changed his clothes, smiled, and waved at the president.
"I'm off. Don't forget to help me get my club withdrawal application approved."
"What? Huh?"
The president was stunned by the boy's sudden words. Before he could even raise his hand, the boy's figure had already disappeared around the corner. He only vaguely caught sight of the news headline on the boy's phone—
'Noel Noa Elected World's Number One Striker!'
...
Finally!
Finally, I've found it!
Back home, lying on his bed, Shinichi subconsciously clenched his fist and cheered. The last time he was this excited was when he obtained the system after transmigrating.
That's right. Kōken Shinichi is a transmigrator who was reborn. His identity and cause of death in his previous life are not worth mentioning, nor are they information that must be recorded in the story. After transmigrating, he started with the very ordinary setup of deceased parents, a car, and a house.
Then, at the age of five, he noticed the system hidden within his body and actively awakened it. From then on, he became an all-round prodigy active in various sports competitions, and used his foreknowledge advantage to accumulate a considerable amount of wealth.
But being so smooth instead made him feel inexplicably empty. Since he had finally transmigrated, he had to do something, right? Yet he really had no clear goal. His system was clearly sports-oriented, but when he searched online, although he saw familiar figures, those currently active were basically all from alternate settings.
Because of this, Shinichi had been deeply troubled. But now, he had finally found a clue:
"Football, striker, Noel Noa... no matter how you look at it, this is Blue Lock. No wonder I searched through so many clubs and schools and couldn't find familiar names. That's because this isn't a traditional sports anime centered on school clubs at all!"
"Interesting. Even though I'm not really interested in becoming the number one striker, at least it can give me some fun. I'll let the people of Blue Lock experience a little bit of pay-to-win shock."
"Then next is getting a ticket into Blue Lock... If I remember correctly, when Noa was bickering with that guy, he mentioned that his number one striker title was obtained by vote last year. Which means that next year's national tournament is the start of the plot."
While recalling the plot, Shinichi scribbled on paper:
"So for now, there are two paths. First, join the football club, perform well in matches, and get an invitation. Or directly throw money at it and join with capital? I remember their funding was pretty tight."
"Or I could do both at the same time? After the U20, when it enters live broadcast mode, the money invested now will come back multiplied. Yeah. Then the remaining issue is the football club. Oh, right!"
A flash of inspiration struck Shinichi. He picked up the phone and dialed.
"I've decided on the high school I'm going to... I want to play football... Yeah... Check the schedule. Just find a school that's in the same tournament bracket as Ichinan High in the national tournament. Okay."
After giving his instructions, Shinichi put down his phone and gazed excitedly at the distant sky.
"Naive Isagi, before the plot starts, you'll be the one to provide me with some entertainment."
Thinking this, Shinichi raised his hand and waved it through the air. A light screen that only he could see appeared in front of him.
Character: Kōken Shinichi
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Height: 181 cm
Strength: 91 Speed: 97
Jump: 86 Agility: 97 (87+10)
Spirit: 84 Intelligence: 93 (88+5)
Owned Traits:
Mamba Body (Purple):
Among all the abilities of a certain deceased person, the most outstanding one has been obtained by you. Your core strength, coordination, and other aspects will be greatly enhanced (Agility +10).
Genius (Gold):
Crowned with the name of genius, all your attributes far exceed the average line. Your learning and comprehension abilities far surpass those of ordinary people.
Machine (Purple):
Your stability and calmness inspire admiration in the world. Your bodily stability and the lower limit of your performance fluctuations will be improved.
Dual Beneficiary (Purple):
Your left and right brains are unusually well-coordinated, making your left and right sides of the body completely identical. There is no longer any distinction between dominant hand or foot.
All-Rounder (Purple):
You have simultaneously dominated multiple youth-stage sports. Your all-round nature shocks the world. Your physical attributes will be improved in a relatively balanced manner. At the same time, you can freely convert the extra attribute bonuses of other skills into other attributes.
(Due to the need to adapt to major bodily changes, each use of this conversion ability requires a 6-month interval.)
Chess Player (Blue):
Victories in board games have earned recognition for your thinking ability. Your overall view of the game during matches inspires admiration. Your layout ability and field of vision are enhanced, allowing you to more easily control the situation (Intelligence +5).
Owned Skills:
[Main storyline not yet unlocked. This function is locked.]
Yes, this was Shinichi's cheat. Its name was the Legendary Athlete System.
In his previous life, among the anime he had watched, the Fate series had a power-setting concept like this: those with great achievements that became legends after death and objects of faith would, when summoned as Heroic Spirits, have their legends and accomplished feats solidified as abilities and Noble Phantasms.
His system was somewhat similar. He could freely set a time span from one day to three years. During this period, all of his actions and achievements that triggered others' admiration and recognition would be transformed into various traits or abilities. Then he could settle that period and choose one item to solidify.
For example, last year he won a major chess tournament. Thus, the achievement he gained condensed into the Chess Player (Blue) trait. At the same time, because of his excellence, others' recognition of him also granted him the Genius (White) trait.
When settling the past year, two traits would appear at the same time. However, he could only obtain one trait per settlement, so he chose the higher-grade Chess Player (Blue).
Through testing, Shinichi discovered that if the time span was too short, the upper limit of the resulting traits would be hard to exceed Blue. But blindly extending the time span also made it difficult to directly reach Gold. Wasting several years might only yield a Purple trait. Therefore, he believed that, given his current exposure, settling once per year was the most reasonable approach.
Shinichi guessed that this was probably because, in the end, high school leagues didn't have much exposure or intrinsic value. If what he won wasn't a high school tournament but a world championship instead, then even settling immediately after the match would most likely directly grant a Gold trait.
It's worth mentioning that the trait grades are, in order: White, Blue, Purple, Gold, Red. Shinichi's Genius (Gold) trait had originally only been Blue. But through the three-in-one fusion mechanism for same-grade traits, he chose the Genius trait for many consecutive years, finally upgrading it to Gold.
"My attribute panel is passable for now, but Blue Lock's later attribute inflation is pretty crazy. I don't know whether these attributes line up with the stat charts in Blue Lock, and those over-the-top, godlike battle abilities are also something I lack."
Shinichi shifted his gaze to the locked option. Bullying weaklings was one thing, but if he ended up getting blown up, that wouldn't be fun. The key to him truly becoming 'invincible' should be right here.
"Don't disappoint me. There's a whole bunch of foul-mouthed guys in Blue Lock. If I don't crush them with pure strength, I won't even be able to talk back."