Seven-time champion

Chapter 13: Aiming for the County Championship Zhang Minghai found it a bit strange that Lu Wenbin had blended in so quickly with the school team’s veteran players, creating such a harmonious atmosphere. However, he highly valued Lu Wenbin’s skills and strength. Seeing that the veteran players welcomed Lu Wenbin so warmly, with not a hint of resistance, he naturally couldn’t have asked for more. As for the school team members themselves—Nie Yingkun, Kang Zihao, Han Dapeng, and others—not a single one felt there was anything amiss. It seemed everyone took it for granted that, given Lu Wenbin’s skill, earning the respect and welcome of the veteran players was only natural. No one suspected that Lu Wenbin possessed the Soccer Champion System or the Junior Leader Aura. That was the true brilliance of the system: it worked its magic quietly and subtly. Before anyone realized it, Lu Wenbin’s integration into the new team was complete. Through warm-ups, passing drills, and then scrimmages, Lu Wenbin continued to astonish everyone with his skills, which far surpassed the school team’s level. In these scrimmages, which offered no experience points, Lu Wenbin—now with upgraded dribbling stats and even greater strength—set a new record for scoring efficiency. With the help of key players like Nie Yingkun and Han Dapeng, he scored seven goals against the reserves in a single scrimmage, leaving everyone speechless. Facing Lu Wenbin, even though the school team members’ defensive skills were slightly better than those of Class 3, Grade 10, it was to no avail; on the contrary, they conceded even more goals due to Lu Wenbin’s improved dribbling ability. After the practice match, Zhang Minghai explicitly designated Lu Wenbin as the team’s new core, and no one else objected. Lu Wenbin’s physical conditioning, strength, dribbling, penetration, shooting, and ability to use both feet equally impressed the school team members so much that no one had any objections. Before practice ended, Zhang Minghai informed everyone that the 2006 Meitan County High School Soccer Championship would be held at Meitan No. 1 High School on October 1st, National Day. At that time, the soccer teams from Meitan No. 1 High School, Meijiang High School, Meitan Vocational High School, and Meitan No. 2 High School would compete in a three-day tournament to determine the 2006 Meitan High School Soccer Championship winner. The county-level champion would go on to participate in the 2006–2007 municipal high school league held in Zunyi during winter break. In past county-level tournaments, the champion has always been either No. 1 High School or the Vocational High School; Meijiang High School’s best result has been runner-up—it has never won the championship nor advanced to the municipal competition. No. 1 High School is a municipal key high school; due to the quality education assessment requirements for key high schools, its facilities—such as the soccer field—are excellent, and its soccer team has always been well-developed. Vocational High School, on the other hand, due to its nature as a vocational secondary school, places less emphasis on academic courses; there are never any weekend make-up classes, so the school team members have two days of training every weekend. This is far more training time than the Meijiang Middle School team receives, so naturally, they are stronger and achieve better results. The Vocational High School team is also the strongest among the high schools in Meitan, even stronger than No. 1 High School. Meijiang High School had always been a mere bit player in the past, never winning a championship, and the school administration had never taken an interest; it was solely the physical education teacher, Zhang Minghai, who was in charge. Some academic teachers even felt that students playing soccer was a distraction from their studies and suggested disbanding the school team, but Zhang Minghai simply shot down those suggestions. In the past, poor results were due to a lack of strength—there was nothing to be done. But this year, with Lu Wenbin joining the Meijiang High School team, their strength has clearly increased. Zhang Minghai has made it clear to everyone that his goal this year is to win the county championship and lead the team to compete in the city-level tournament. As long as they win the county championship, the school will provide the team with a lump sum of activity funds, order soccer jerseys, shin guards, and other equipment for them, and fully cover their expenses for traveling to the city for the competition. Only then, by bringing honor to Meijiang Middle School and raising its profile at the city level, would the school team truly look like a proper team. Otherwise, with the school team just playing friendly matches against other schools and corporate teams, it’s hard to see what use the school team is to Meijiang Middle School. As some academic teachers have said, it just distracts students from their studies without contributing anything. Just as Zhang Minghai announced that the school team’s goal for this year’s county-level championship was to win the title, a notification about a new task popped up in Lu Wenbin’s mind. Lu Wenbin opened the system interface to take a look. Task 4: The First Championship. Task Description: To qualify for the National High School Soccer League Finals, one must advance step by step through the county, city, and provincial levels. The 2006 Meitan County High School Soccer Championship is the first title the host must secure. Otherwise, they won’t even qualify for the city-level competition, let alone the national finals. Task Requirements: Lead the Meijiang Middle School team to victory in the 2006 Meitan County High School Soccer Championship. Success Reward: 20 EXP, 2 Skill Points. Failure Penalty: None. Seeing there was no penalty for failure, Lu Wenbin paused in surprise. After inquiring with the system, he learned that failing to win the county championship would bar the team from the municipal league, let alone the national finals. That would set Lu Wenbin back at least a year—a loss in itself—so there was no need for any additional punishment. Lu Wenbin suddenly understood. Just as the system had said, even without the mission penalty, Lu Wenbin would have to fight tooth and nail to lead his team to the county championship in order to qualify for the city-level competition. However, soccer is a team sport. Although Lu Wenbin’s skills far exceeded the level of school soccer, if his teammates were truly underperforming and he couldn’t even get the ball up front on his own, he wouldn’t be much help. Therefore, his teammates’ skill level and teamwork must also improve. After all, aside from Lu Wenbin, the school team included several second-year high school students who had just joined, and their coordination with the rest of the team wasn’t very smooth. So, to maximize their chances of winning the county championship, Lu Wenbin suggested to Coach Zhang that they increase their training time. Every day at school, there is a period of over two hours between the last class in the morning and the first class in the afternoon, during which students can eat lunch, take a nap, and so on. Lu Wenbin proposed using the lunch break to add an extra half-hour of training each day, even if it was just practicing passing. Zhang Minghai asked the others, and to his great surprise, not a single person objected; they all agreed with Lu Wenbin’s suggestion. In fact, this was another instance of Lu Wenbin’s nascent leadership aura coming into play. Although Lu Wenbin was merely a freshman in high school and not the captain of the school team, the influence of his leadership aura meant that his suggestions carried more weight with the team members than even Coach Zhang’s. Consequently, no one spoke up against the idea; everyone agreed to use the lunch break for training to improve the team’s chemistry and passing coordination, with the hope of achieving a breakthrough in the county-level championship. [“Seven-Time Champion” is written by Mingqiao and exclusively premiered here. The latest official chapters are available simultaneously on the Reading App, QQ Reading, Chuangshi Chinese Network, We Chat Reading, and Mobile QQ Bookstore. Read widely, support official editions! ]