The striker sprinted in his direction the moment he touched the ball again. Winston let out a heavy sigh and sprinted left, as the silhouette striker executed a sliding scissor tackle. Unexpectedly, the ball was intercepted and landed directly on Winston's side of the field. Before the silhouette could stand up, he chased the ball.
He placed his foot on the ball. When he saw the silhouette approaching, he glanced behind the silhouette, and the silhouette's position was then vacant. A grin on his face showed his excitement.
He waited for the silhouette until he could act. Despite his less-than-stellar dribbling, he moved his foot, began to dribble, passed the ball to his other foot, and performed a Marseille turn with the ball airborne. Lucky for him, the ball didn't stray too far. He dashed, trigger running into the empty space. He slowed down, watching which of the two silhouette midfielders would move first, seeing that none of the two silhouettes was moving, he moved slowly in. The left midfielder advanced in, and Winston turned against this silhouette, shielding the ball.
The force of the silhouette was so strong that it pushed him to the front, and he dragged his foot along with the ball. Looking in front of him, he saw another midfielder coming in; he then pushed the ball between the legs of the incoming silhouette. Winston sprinted toward and pushed the silhouette to clash with the other silhouette, and he didn't look back. He pursued in the center, looking over into the left and right midfielders who stood there like statues.
He saw two central defenders waiting, as they weren't moving. One defender sprinted at him, but Winston smoothly slipped past the fast-approaching defender. He ran over to the left side where the other silhouette was positioned, Winston put out his forehand to wind out the incoming silhouette before shooting.
Clang!
Thwack!
Seeing that he scored a goal, the adrenaline of scoring made the back of his hair bristle. Heavy breathing, he watched over a blue glowing translucent scoreboard that was plastered on the grounds walls showing his name and the name only written The Core.
[The Core Plane challenge: 2 Goals]
[Winston vs The Core]
[1/2 Goals]
Wiping his sweat from his forehead, he jogged to the center of the field—the ball popped up again. The silhouette striker passed the ball back to the center-back. The center-back silhouette placed his foot on the ball; for a moment, Winston noticed the silhouette was copying him. He jogged toward the center-back silhouette still holding the ball, noticing that the silhouette was not passing the ball. The silhouette did exactly what Winston did to the striker silhouette a few minutes ago.
Having just been nutmegged and now on his feet, Winston witnessed the ball being passed to the left-back. and the silhouette that just nutmegged him went back into its position.
He ran toward the ball and the left-back silhouette passed the ball to another defender in a tick tacker tactic. Huffing and puffing from exhaustion, Winston went straight to the center silhouette defender and executed a slide tackle.
Taking down the defender who had already passed the ball, he thought maybe the system would make a foul, but to his surprise there wasn't a foul instead the left-back passed the ball into the goal keeper who quickly passed the ball into the right-back who stood there and waited for Winston to pursue the ball. Exhausted, he pushed himself up and started dragging him over to the other side of the field. This time around the silhouette didn't pass the ball instead he shielded the ball and Winston saw this as the silhouette challenging him in aggression strength. The knee of the silhouette was pressing the other knee of Winston busy pressuring each other through shoulders, Winston stretched out his leg trying to take the ball with the tip of his boots, seeing this the silhouette moved and he fell lucky his balance through his hand and the silhouette passed the ball to the right midfielder.
And that right midfielder did wait for him to pursue the ball from it, he passed the ball into the center midfielder who passed the ball to the other center midfielder and the passed the ball to the center striker, when Winston saw this he saw how fast they were passing to each other before he started pursuing the ball the striker striked the ball into Winston goal.
Thwack!
Damn, these silhouettes are strong, so they remain stationary after they done passing the ball.
So they can't move all at once and they only pass the ball once. Judging by their touches, they only touched the ball twice.
So that is why the silhouette striker quickly passed the ball to the center back.
With this knowledge, Winston grinned, hands behind his head, and strode towards the popped-up ball, kicking it. From looking down, he raised his head and kicked the ball straight to one of center-midfielder silhouettes. The ball hit the chest of that silhouette, and it rolled over in front of the silhouette.
Just as he expected, when he's the one passing the ball to these silhouettes, they don't move. Until Winston stepped into their radius, letting a heavy sigh, he sprinted toward the ball. He stepped into the silhouette midfielder's radius, he then passed the ball to the other center midfielder and sprinted again this time. He didn't pass the ball too hard, he placed it on the edge of the radius of the other silhouette midfielder.
When he reached the radius, he triggered the ball in front of both center-backs. He jogged instead of sprinting as he neared the center backs' pursuit radius, then double elastico'd to both the silhouettes. And he didn't do too much, and kicked the ball on the left side and it passed both the center-back silhouettes, the ball running toward the corner of the goal post he trapped the ball faked shooting made the silhouette defender to slide past the ball and he took the shot.
Thwack!
Exhausted from the entire ordeal, his hand on his knees, panting, running from the center of the field to the goal side up, was not a joke. He pulled himself up, hands on his hips, wiping his sweat with his hand. And glanced at the core challenge and score-line. It then presented the final score.
[Congratulation]
[The Core Plane challenge: Completed]
[Winston vs The Core]
[2/2 Goals]
[Nether Essence: 30%]
[Now exiting The Core Plane]
Is it morning already.
Relieved that he had done with this challenge, he watched his hand evaporate in pixel form. Exhausted from all this, he didn't even let out a scream other than heavy breathing. Disoriented and holding his head, Winston peeled himself off the training ground. As he stood up, the warm sunrise blinded him. He opened his mouth to talk and discovered it was parched. Winston crouched down and went through his gym bag, and took out his water bottle, shaking it.
Damn empty.
My body is so heavy right now, was I really just dreaming? It felt real.
He stood up and took his water bottle, and went straight to the tap water for a refill. Located outside the ground as he closed the tap, he steeled himself and took a long gulp. A message sound caught him off guard, making Winston nearly spitting out his drink.
Ding!
[The Core Plane challenge: Completed]
[User physical stats]
[Nether Essence: 30%]
[Pace]
Acceleration: 70
Sprint Speed: 70
[Physical]
Physical: 70
Jumping: 70
Stamina: 70
Strength: 70
Aggression: 70
Wait what my physical stats have reached seventy, so that wasn't a dream it was real.
Ding!
[User reward: 15 points]
Stunned, Winston felt his legs weaken and he retreated to his original position. As he reviewed his statistics, he reached for the lunch bar he had discarded yesterday in his haste.
Name: Daley Winston
Birthdate: 25-11-04
Age: 19
Weak Foot: 2
Height: 176cm (5'9)
Foot: Right
Profession: Footballer
Team: Westminster F.C. (Under twenty-one team)
Player Rating: 81
Position: Center forward.
Potential: 87
Nether Essence: 30%
Acceleration
Sprint Speed
Shooting
Passing
Dribbling
Physical
Reward Points: 015
Skills moves: None.
Skills shop.
Winston, eager to acquire new abilities, opened the skill shop without delay. Through the simulation, he learned he had to acquire skills to navigate around defenders. And that move he did by passing past those two silhouette defenders was pure luck. And he copied that move from the training ground when they were training.
[User skills shop]
Finesse Shot: 50 points
Chip Shot: 25 points
Outside Foot Shot: 60 points
Long Shot Taker: 50 points
Long Passer: 10 points
Dead Ball: 15 points
Gamecharger: 50 points
Incisive Pass: 25 points
Tiki Taka: 10 points
Technical: 45 points
First Touch: 45 points
Quick Step: 50 points
Low Driven shot: 50 points
The majority of these skills are beyond my skill points, and the one I can buy with my point is the dead ball. When I was playing with those dark silhouettes, I lacked long shots. And the dead ball is so efficient when it comes to unpredictability. Mmm, thanks to the system for showing me I lack in shooting styles.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
His phone rang from his pocket, startling him as he pulled it out. He saw his phone's alarm, which he'd snoozed multiple times, was now ringing for the fifth time. It was eighty thirty, and the training starts at nine. He rushed and shoved his stuff in his bag, and then he came across the ground keeper, who was shocked to see him there. In a rush, Winston offered an apology for not informing the groundskeeper sooner, adding that he'd come back later to clean. The groundskeeper smiled and waved, assuring him it was fine.