Reserved

Saturday, 6th July 2024

"Haaaaaaaa... Finally done with today's LTC session. TT, you gotta start reducing this intensity. I'm gonna die. Where have you ever heard someone my age sprint 17 kilometers in one hour? That's just impossible and torturous."

[*You did it, though, didn't you? You're having your first session with the reserve team today, you don't wanna be just another kid there, do you?*]

Lukas couldn't respond, mostly because he had used his last breath to complete the previous sentence and was now sprawled on the gym floor, but also because TT's words were the truth.

"I can't be just another guy on the team, not with all this training."

Lukas' mindset was gradually shifting. He had started with the thought of just being good enough to play professional football. But slowly, after each session, his ambition grew. It was as if TT was slowly beating some drive into his skull with each training session.

"Please open Player Profile."

[ PROFILE – LUKAS BRANDT – FOOTBALLER

DATE OF BIRTH: 30/12/2008 (15) 

HEIGHT: 175cm

WEIGHT: 61kg

CAREER STATUS: EINTRACHT FRANKFURT II

RATING: 79 (↑ 4)

PLAYER STATS:

ATTACK: 

Off. Awareness: 76 (↑ 6)

Ball Control: 80 (↑ 4)

Dribbling: 80 (↑ 1)

Tight Possession: 80 (↑ 1)

Low Pass: 77 (↑ 4)

Lofted Pass: 77 (↑ 4)

Finishing: 79 (↑ 4)

Header: 76 (↑ 4)

Place Kicking: 80

Curl: 79 (↑ 2)

DEFENCE:

Def. Awareness: 71

Tackling: 68

Aggression: 67

Def. Engagement: 67

STRENGTH:

Speed: 77 (↑ 3)

Acceleration: 76 (↑ 4)

Kicking Power: 78 (↑ 3)

Jump: 73 (↑ 4)

Physical Contact: 70 (↑ 5)

Balance: 72 (↑ 5)

Stamina: 78 (↑ 4)

Note: Some stats are at the limit.

↓ Expand]

"Hmmm.. This is nice to see. Expand!"

[SKILLS:

Injured From Training? Not me. Passive. Level 5/5

First Touch Ball Control. Level 2/5

La Croqueta. Active. Level 1/5

Step Over. Active. Level 1/5]

"I still can't believe how long it took to get this skill to level 2."

Lukas had spent 3 days on only skill training just to acquire the skill and get it to level 2.

Considering that he could now spend 48 hours inside the LTC per real-life day, he spent 144 straight hours training the skill.

"Still, it is worth it."

Since completing the skill training session, his first touch has been miles ahead of his previous self. He hadn't been able to try it out in an official match yet, but he could feel the difference in his control.

It was a situation where he felt like he could pull it off, even though he had never done it before.

"When will I get my stat limits increased?"

[*After each birthday, there will be a major increase in the ceiling. After each major achievement, there will be a minor increase.*]

"What is considered a major achievement ?"

[*Could be a bunch of things, major trophy wins, big game involvements, personal award wins, and more. The ceiling will be increased based on the weight of that achievement.*]

"Oh, I understand. So, for example, winning the DFB Pokal and winning the Champions League will be measured differently."

[*Vastly differently, yes.*]

"Gotcha," Lukas said as he stood up from the gym floor and got into position for his after-training stretches.

* * *

Same day, around 10AM.

Lukas had on a casual outfit with a brown backpack slung over his left shoulder as he walked.

He barely stepped through the familiar entrance of the Riederwald academy when a voice screamed his name from behind him.

"Yooo, Lukas!"

He turned around to see Christian running towards him, his backpack dangling behind him as he ran.

"Long time, bro," Christian threw his hands around Lukas' neck.

"Yeah, no," Lukas evaded Christian's hand.

"How've you been? You haven't been coming to training for 2 weeks now."

"Yeah, I had tests so I couldn't come. But I'm done with this semester, so I'll be here regularly."

"That's great. I heard the news, congratulations."

"What news?"

"You signed for the reserve team."

"Ohhh, that news. Thanks, but it's nothing crazy."

"Look at you, showing off, it doesn't fit you. Do you know how many of us would dream of getting a single match in the reserve team? We are almost all older than you, but you get to play with them when some of us are still struggling to make it out of the U17."

"Yeah, not you, though. I heard you were promoted to the U19. Congrats"

"Yeah. I was so excited, I cried, bro. I still get shivers when I think about the day the coach told me."

"You'll be surprised how many shivers I get when I think about my life."

"I'm sure you'll keep climbing. You better hurry cause I won't wait too long for you at the reserve team."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll make sure to get promoted again ASAP."

The boys walked until they got to the separation point for the reserve and U19 locker rooms.

The locker room, not much different from the U17s, was empty when Lukas got in. He changed into his training gear and headed to the reserve team training pitch.

* * *

"Is that the kid?"

"He looks so young"

"That's because he is young. He's 15."

"He must be really good if he was brought to the reserve team at 15."

"I heard he hasn't played any matches for the lower levels, though. Apparently, he came for tryouts with the U17, Richter saw him train, and made the new coach bring him."

"That's bull. Where does someone like you even get that information?"

"I have my sources."

"Yeah, right. Who will bring a 15-year-old to the reserve team just because they had a few good training sessions in the U17? That is unrealistic asf."

"That's what I heard. And my source is reliable."

Lukas could hear the whispers loud and clear. They weren't even trying to hide it.

FWEEE*

Coach Dennis Schmitt's whistle cut through the chatter.

He walked up to Lukas, who was standing with the ball between his legs as he stretched out his hamstrings.

"You can finally join us. I heard you haven't trained for 2 weeks, I hope that doesn't mean your fitness level has fallen?"

"Of course not, coach. I didn't come to Riederwald, but I still made sure not to stop training."

"Well, I will see if that's true. There's a level I expect from players in this team, if you're good enough, you'll play. If not, I don't mind sending you back to the U19 or U17 for some more development."

"I understand, coach."

"Good. Show me what you've got," Dennis then turned to the rest of the team.

"Alright guys, kill the noise. I doubt I have to introduce him, because I know you all check each other's details on transfermarkt.com so you must have seen his name there as part of the squad, but this is Lukas Brandt. He is gonna be with us from now on. That's all the introduction for now, you'll see the rest on the pitch."

FWEE*

Dennis' whistle sounded as the team began their drills.

And immediately, they all knew why he was on the team.

* * *

Ten days later. July 26th, 2024.

Riederwald, Eintracht Frankfurt reserve team's training ground.

Lukas had just delivered another master performance class during the training session.

Top passing accuracy, top shooting accuracy, the best set-piece taker in the team — by a mile.

But the atmosphere was a bit heavy.

In the past 10 days, Eintracht Frankfurt II had played two club friendlies: against Nürnberg II — which they lost 5-1— and against Borussia Dortmund II — which they drew 1 - 1.

For these two games, Lukas was kept on the bench.

It was not a wonderful start to his time at Eintracht Frankfurt II.

He was confused about why he wasn't, at least, given a few minutes at the games to get acquainted with the matches and tactics.

But he didn't say anything to Coach Dennis.

It wasn't that Dennis was unsatisfied with his level. The whole team could see he could easily be the best attacking player on the team — during training, any team he plays with, is guaranteed the win, and he always contributed significantly to that win.

Even some players who had stints in the first team agreed Lukas was more than good enough to start.

Coach Dennis, however, just kept repeating the same sentence after each training.

"Lukas, you will get your time, trust me," or a variation of it.

The Regionalliga — which the team competes in, will officially begin the next day with an away match against Stuttgarter Kickers.

The team was set to travel to Stuttgart early the next morning by train. So Lukas spent the night at the academy dormitory.

* * *

FWEEE*

Lukas sat on the bench as the referee's whistle blew to start the match.

He was on the bench once again, and the first match of the season was on.

At this time, unbeknownst to him, this wasn't just the first match of the Regionalliga season, it was the match he introduced himself to the 29 Eintracht Frankfurt die-hard fans who took time out of their busy day to come support the reserve team in an away match.

This group of people will forever be grateful, though, as they would witness the debut of the greatest human to ever play the beautiful game.

A/N: That's it for this volume. Volume 2 continues tomorrow. His time at the reserve team won't be long at all.. I mean there's gonna be a lot of time skipping (5 to 10 chapters at most and mostly be about getting him into the first team, less of him playing in the reserve team matches.)

I was gonna write a whole volume of him at this level, but honestly after thinking about it for 2 seconds, it makes no sense. He's currently good enough to play in the first team (at least to some level) and he's way past the Regionalliga's (4th tier of German football) level.

Also even as a reader, I won't wanna read about an MC with a system "tearing it up in the 4th tier" neither.

So enjoy!!!

Y'all have a great day.

Stay safe.

Love y'all.

-Writ.