Pre Match: City Vs Manchester United

Elian jogged around his team's stadium, he had a hoodie on as he concentrated fully, training his endurance.

He now wielded power, of course it wasn't enough but the system had totally made him a better technical and tactical player, he just needed to match his physical strength up to the system's level, so he he wouldn't be caught dead tired while using a skill, if that ever happened, then no one was to blame, the system skill would be rendered ineffective.

After about two hours of straight up jogging round and round the stadium, Elian lay flat on the floor, breathing very hard, he almost fell asleep.

His mind flashed to their next match the following day, which was a Saturday.

This was a very important match up for them as if they could manage a win against their city rivals this weekend, then they would come up and join the top four in the table, that would rest their minds before the international break.

After that, they would face Liverpool after the international break who was currently the fourth in the table, they had to win all consecutive matches.

Elian still had his sights set on the intra-club match that was coming up right after they come back from international break to play in the 2092 Euros held in London.

He had his mind full, he hoped that he would be called this time, he wasn't called last year, but it didn't quite bother him, he had only been a sixteen year old and a nameless kid.

He was now seventeen and still a nameless kid, nothing much had changed. Except for the Awakening System, and it offered what you couldn't obtain even in a million years.

Elian slowly regained his breath, breathing normally again. He stood up immediately, there was no time to waste, he had to start training immediately. He had only one games to change the mind of their national coach and make him call he, a seventeen year old player.

Only very few players have managed to achieve this feat and the last was the Barcelona superstar. Elian contacted the system.

After some time spent on scrolling through the various skills in the system, Elian finally decided to ask for Meta's assistance.

"Hey Meta." Elian called.

"Yeah, what's up?" Meta answered, sounding as realistic as anything. Whenever Meta replied him this way, with the warmth in his voice, he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe this thing was human after all.

"Which skill do you recommend obtain next? I have reached the max permitted to me by my current level."

Meta chuckled slightly. "You just want to go into the training zone, don't you?"

Elian shrugged. "Yes, I do. But I also want to get better, that's the most important thing for now."

"You're right." Meta said, then he continued. "I think practicing False 9 to an equally impressive level would be quite helpful."

Elian nodded. "It's just that I need something that would boost my performance right away, a method for me to improve faster so I could perform even better than my last game, I want to play in the euro Cup."

Meta laughed jovially. "I understand, trust me, whatever I do is for your own good. The system is more suited for a striker, and that is what your national team is lacking right now."

Elian nodded, his eyes brightening up as he understood what Meta was getting at. "That's right!" Elian exclaimed. "The main striker for our national team is injured and the second best option is sick, he contracted some weird disease."

Meta affirmed. "That's right and it means that the official position for a striker is open, whoever plays the best will be granted the position indefinitely. The strikers might be switched, so you have just one game probably to prove yourself to the coach as the worthy man."

Elian nodded, loving the sound of that. He quickly clicked on False 9 and started learning the skill.

"Elian felt the familiar environment wither away and another one was ushered in, a man which seemed surreal and eccentric. Elian once again found himself on the grandest stage of football, in the midst of cheering and roaring fans.

He was now getting used to this, these fans seemed to be getting used to him too, when he failed, they didn't cuss him as badly as they first did.

"Wait, let me prepare a tutorial video on what the skill feels like." Meta said, brung Elian out of his euphoric state.

*Ding!*

*Accept system Tutorial video?*

Elian clicked on accept and he suddenly felt himself disappear, but he could still see. However, he didn't panic, this wasn't the first time this was happening, he could choose it if he wanted to, but he never did, because it felt quite weird. Why won't he see his own body?

But it seemed like he didn't have another choice for this tutorial.

*Loading Tutorial…*

After a while, the tutorial started playing. Elian was a bit surprised as a player appeared in front of him, and it was definitely he who had appeared. He watched keenly, waiting for the tutorial character to start moving, but it just stood there.

*Loading other characters…*

Elian was a bit curious, waiting to see what was about to happen.

After a while, other people started appearing in the scene, they were as usual faceless defenders. Elian wondered if he would one day be able to generate a face for these defenders, it was quite creepy seeing humans without a face.

Elian had come to understand how the system worked in its training zone. Meta could use the system's tools to create a tutorial video, while simulating Elian's stats and his entire character in total. So, it was Actually Elian who was performing those skills if you look at it from a certain perspective.

*Beginner False 9 initializing…*

Elian watched as life seemed to enter the character in front of him and he started moving, Elian zoomed in on his action, noting every step and not missing anything, not even how he inhaled and exhaled.

Those things help a lot, if you don't know.

The Character started in the central position, moving front and back on his toes, dropping deep and moving right out immediately. His eyes was locked in the defender and not the ball, making it quite difficult for the defender to shrug his presence away. The defender tried to cover up the space, but the character simply stepped backwards, making the space too much and unharmful. But the moment the defender relaxed, he would dash in again, attracting the attention of multiple defenders at once, this naturally created a little disarray in their patterns and movements, but it was not quite enough.

"Is this it?" Elian asked. "It doesn't seem like the defense is all that broken."

Meta responded. "It isn't broken at all, there is just a minor rift that could be exploited by a very smart winger or a possessive striker."

Elian nodded, he tried to understand but he wasn't understanding. "So how does this help me become a very good striker if it's effects need extreme conditioning to be effective?"

"This is just the beginning, Elian." Meta answered, calling him by his name. "This is just beginner level, and it's all you can afford to do right now. You current level won't even permit you to do more than that, so just perfect this for now, and you'll be good to go. Maybe by the time you've mastered this, you'll have unlocked the next level which is the intermediate level, but I think that is very unlikely."

"Huh?" Elian raised his brows, feeling a bit discouraged by that. "What makes you think that way?"

Meta sighed. "Well, it's nothing much, just the fact that you need to reach level twenty to unlock the next level, and I doubt you'll be getting there anytime soon.

Elian shrugged. "Maybe next season?"

"It's possible." Meta answered. "Now, learn this. You'll probably be playing as a center forward alongside Noah tomorrow since it worked pretty well last time, and due to the nature of the match tomorrow and what losing may mean for your team, your coach would most likely go for a total attack tomorrow."

Elian nodded, he knew that this was exactly what was going to happen.

Elian watched the video over and over again, not taking note of how much time he had spent. He finally paused the tutorial and decided to practice what he had been learning.

A ball appeared at his feet, alongside the rest of the field and faceless teammates generated by the system.

Sending his surprise, Meta chuckled. "What do you think? You can't fully learn what your movements feel like if you don't practice it live. This is the best learning method."

Elian grinned widely, a big smile spreading across his lips. Of course this was the best training method in the whole world, what in the world could ever be better than this?