Seven-time champion

Chapter 24: Future and Passion In addition to being hesitant to use the remaining 7 skill points, Lu Wenbin also had to figure out if he could level up one more time before the match in Zunyi. He wanted the school team or his class team to play more matches, hoping to raise his level from Level 3 (32/100) to Level 4 and earn the 5 bonus skill points. To be honest, high school campus soccer matches were far too few and far between; the level was too low, experience gains were meager, and leveling up was painfully slow. Lu Wenbin was desperate to join a professional club and play in the professional league. The professional league offered a higher level, abundant experience, and fixed matches every week—leveling up would be much faster there. Right now, Lu Wenbin feels like he can’t fully showcase his abilities; only the professional league is the place where he can grow rapidly and truly spread his wings. In the 2006/2007 season, Meijiang High School must make it to the finals of the National High School Soccer League. So, after National Day, Lu Wenbin approached his class monitor, Peng Haozhong, and asked him to do his best to arrange matches against Class 1 of the first-year high school students and other class teams—whether on Fridays or Saturdays, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t just limited to first-year students; second- and third-year students were fine too. As long as there was a match, Lu Wenbin would do his best to join the class team and play. In addition to the class teams, Lu Wenbin also explained to Coach Zhang Minghai of the school team his idea of using matches as practice—to strengthen the school team’s teamwork and his own skills through more games—and received Zhang Minghai’s approval. The first Friday after National Day was already booked by two other classes, so Peng Haozhong arranged a friendly match with Grade 11 (2) to play a friendly match on Saturday. On the afternoon of Saturday, October 14, after finishing their Saturday afternoon make-up classes, Class 10-2 went to the school soccer field to play against Class 10-1. This match was, of course, what the system classified as the lowest-level amateur friendly: 1 experience point for an assist, 2 for a goal, and 5 for a win. In order to level up as quickly as possible, Lu Wenbin naturally went all out, focusing solely on scoring goals and not providing a single assist. In the end, Lu Wenbin single-handedly scored all six goals for his class, leading Class 10-1 to a 6-1 victory over Class 10-2. Lu Wenbin earned 17 experience points as a reward. Lu Wenbin’s level experience rose to Level 3, 49/100. However, the consequence of Lu Wenbin’s explosive performance was that after this match, Peng Haozhong found it very difficult to arrange friendly matches for Class 10-1 against other classes, unless Lu Wenbin didn’t play. Lu Wenbin is just too dominant. Whenever he takes the field, other classes find it nearly impossible to win; they’re basically destined to get crushed, so no one wants to come and get humiliated. The same goes for the school team. After playing a few matches against amateur teams from other schools or organizations, it became difficult to arrange friendly matches with them. Everyone who plays soccer in Meitan knows that Lu Wenbin’s skill and level far surpass their own; no one wants to be humiliated. Furthermore, according to the system’s rules, the Meijiang Middle School soccer team only receives experience point rewards—2 points for an assist, 4 points for a goal, and 10 points for a win—when playing against adult teams from various organizations. Regular friendly matches against the other three high school teams, however, were considered by the system to be no different from intra-class friendlies, as their intensity paled in comparison to the county-level championship. Although the school team appeared to be of a higher tier than the class teams, the system saw no difference—both were classified as the lowest-level amateur matches, yielding the same experience points: 1 point for an assist, 2 points for a goal, and 5 points for a win. On top of that, due to occasional rain and bad weather, scheduled matches often had to be canceled. As a result, Lu Wenbin actually didn’t play many matches between the National Day holiday and the end of the first semester of his freshman year. Fortunately, he eventually managed to play a few matches. Lu Wenbin’s experience points successfully exceeded 100, his level rose to Level 4, and he received 5 skill points as a level-up reward. Furthermore, during this period, Lu Wenbin grew 1 cm taller and gained 1 kg in weight. At the same time, an even more unexpected bonus was that even though Lu Wenbin hadn’t used any skill points to boost his attributes, his passing, vision, and off-the-ball movement attributes had each increased by one point on their own. According to the system’s explanation, these are current ability values gained entirely through Lu Wenbin’s own training and matches. Just as an ordinary person’s physical fitness and endurance improve with regular exercise. Of course, it’s relatively easy to improve at the beginning, but it becomes increasingly difficult as you progress. Therefore, from this perspective, Lu Wenbin’s decision to save his skill points rather than allocate them to attributes during this period was actually the right approach. Since his passing, vision, and off-the-ball movement attributes are all very low—far from reaching their maximum potential—Lu Wenbin can naturally increase them by a few points simply through more training and matches. It will be more cost-effective to use skill points to forcibly boost his stats only when his training and matches can no longer improve them on their own. Unintentionally, Lu Wenbin has actually saved 3 skill points. As the first semester of his freshman year was coming to an end, Lu Wenbin’s system profile and attributes had changed to: Host: Lu Wenbin Nationality: China Age: 16 Height: 164 cm Weight: 56 kg Club: None Level: 4 Experience: 26/200 Skill Points: 12 Shooting: 14/14 Passing: 6/13 Dribbling: 10/10 Speed: 7/11 Physicality: 12/12 Defense: 4/7 Goalkeeping: 1/5 Vision: 6/11 Off-the-Ball Movement: 3/8 Having tasted the benefits of improving his stats through training, Lu Wenbin would find time for extra practice even when the school team had no matches or training sessions, hoping to boost his current attributes through training. Before obtaining the system, Lu Wenbin couldn’t see where his future lay. He wasn’t good at school and would have a hard time getting into college. As for work, Lu Wenbin was neither the son of a government official nor from a wealthy family; at most, his parents could arrange an ordinary job for him, but they couldn’t get him into a government agency or a large company or enterprise. Moreover, even if they could, there was no telling how much money it would cost, how many connections they’d have to pull, or how many favors they’d have to owe. Therefore, before entering high school, Lu Wenbin couldn’t find his ideal or his goals, and he had become somewhat self-destructive. Only when playing soccer could Lu Wenbin find his interest and fighting spirit, and gain that tiny bit of vanity from the praise of teammates and spectators after scoring a goal. However, even when he played soccer before, he was only at the level of an average student and couldn’t see any future in it. Now it’s different. With the Soccer Champion System, Lu Wenbin finally had something to look forward to. He knew he could make a name for himself through soccer—even becoming a professional player and a superstar who would make his parents proud. Consequently, Lu Wenbin—who for years had been told by teachers, parents, relatives, and friends that he had no future—suddenly burst with enthusiasm for rigorous training. Plus, since training could increase his ability stats, save skill points, and allow him to achieve greater success, Lu Wenbin’s enthusiasm for training soared even higher.