THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
Travelling to Lubumbashi
Hope bloomed inside Zachary after reading the words under the GOAT skill card.
Without any hesitation for a moment, he clicked on the image of the skill card that filled the screen and studied Zinedine-Visual-Juju. He is looking forward to how it can enhance his early football career.
Instantly, he felt a headache invade his brain as the system infused new information into his mind. But moments later, his head became clear, and he noticed that there seemed to be no visible transformation within his body or mind.
Thus he opened the red-flashing user statistics tab in the User Interface system to understand his statistical changes.
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*USER STATUS
->Physical Fitness: B -
->Football Engineering: B +
-> Intelligence Game: A +
->Mental Capabilities and Mindset: C -
-> Factor-X: F
-> GOAT Skills: 1 (1 msg)
****
Zachary's football technique once again leveled up from B-ranked to B+ in one night. His game intelligence has soared from C+ values and is now A+ after studying Zinedine-Visual-Juju. His mindset also experienced a slight improvement from D+ to C-class.
She was as happy as the cat in the cream cake.
After suppressing his overflowing emotions, he clicked on the GOAT-skill tab to understand his new skill.
****
1 new message
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CONGRATULATIONS
-> you have learned GOAT-Skill:
'ZINEDINE VISUAL JUJU'
(First level: Progress -> 10%)
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(check user statistics for more info.)
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NB: Watch and play more games to improve skills.
Note: Practice makes perfect.
****
Zachary hurriedly closed the GOAT-skills tab and opened the game-intelligence stat.
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-> Intelligence Game (Average Rating: A+)
Spatial Awareness (A+)
Tactical Knowledge (A-)
Risk Assessment (A+)
****
[One GOAT skill can improve one of my skills this much.] He pondered.
He could not help but daydream.
[What if I manage to learn 5 or 10, or maybe 20?]
[What if I acquire dribbling skills from Ronaldinho?] He grins.
[I'm going to turn into a soccer heavenly beast? Maybe even another Mighty Steel Leg.]
The change in his game intelligence was beyond his expectations.
Zachary understands that the intelligence of a highly rated game demonstrates his ability to make smart decisions on the field and make them quickly.
A smart player always has good spatial awareness and is able to see the space clearly throughout the football field and utilize it to his advantage.
That is why coaches refer to spatial awareness as the sixth sense of a soccer player. A player with a sixth sense will still be aware of where his teammates are and anticipate where they will be just by looking at the positions of the other teams.
The skill was not brought from birth but developed through experience. This is the same for tactical knowledge and risk assessment skills also under the category of game intelligence.
However, the GOAT system can improve all three skills simply by embedding obscure football knowledge and experience in its head. Zachary was confused and filled with excitement.
[With this system, I can be one of the best.] Her thought.
He now has to work extra hard to raise the level of Zinedine-Visual-Juju. It was a skill that might immediately raise his talent above grade B. Even though his talent assessment had yet to increase from a C grade, he was confident he could raise it once more before the trial.
**** ****
A month later, as dawn broke and brightened, Zachary rode a mini-bus across the earth, his eyes staring at the trees growing in boundless patience. He felt the movement of the wheels on the bumpy road, following the bends and greeting each slope smoothly.
Zachary had woken up long before dawn to take the first public transit from Bukavu to Uvira that day. He had said goodbye to his grandmother last night and departed from the farm before he woke up. He is on his way to Lubumbashi City, not to take part in a new school term (as he told his grandmother) but to join the ADTA football trials for the year.
Trials are conducted once every year in July and August.
At these trials, there have always been scouts from local clubs like TP Mazembe, RC Kinshasha, Lubumbashi Sport, and others in Linafoot - the top football league in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zachary could have opted to undergo several other football trials at his hometown local team - the Muungano Olympic Club in Bukavu and possibly succeed. But he would then miss the chance to perform in front of scouts from the French academy.
The goal is not to join a local football club, but a high-performance sports academy in Europe.
He understands the importance of following a good youth training program at an early age if one wants to reach the top of the football industry as a pro player. Academies in France are renowned for nurturing professional players using cutting-edge technology and methodology. Students at this academy will train year-round with a coach who is highly experienced in training and developing amateurs into professional players.
Zachary needs to join such an academy if he wants to have the chance to become a famous player. There, he was able to get a world-class education, develop his ball techniques, and gain access and connections to professional coaches around the world.
In such academies, Zachary did not have to worry about the shortage of sporting equipment such as balls and football boots as in his previous life. He would not miss a sleep blink or training due to an empty stomach. Above all, he did not have to worry about his safety while developing his career. There are no rebels and militia groups in Europe that interfere with and disrupt its progress.
Zachary is very determined and very motivated to win a scholarship to one of the academies. The only way he knows how in the short term is to follow the trial in Lubumbashi.
So, he even decided to skip the first month of school (unbeknownst to his grandmother) and chose to take a soccer test. If he could earn £ 150,000 a week, like a professional player in the EPL, he would study at the best University in the world later on rather than wasting money in the Congo.
Mini-buses to Uvira are not at all luxurious, the seats are blunt by dirt for more than a decade. Metal seats and windows vibrate with each small mound on the bumpy road, pushing passengers back and forth.
As the world glides through the windows, there is occasionally a small movement from among the passengers. Zachary could see some of them shifting in their seats and also heard a slight cough accompanied by a mild 'excuse. Whenever a mini-bus passes through several small towns, the brakes will sometimes screech before everyone advances forward when the vehicle stops. Amidst the breath of the gasping passengers, some locally dressed men and women would step into the mini-bus after a short bargain with the conductor, and others would exit after paying the fare.
Zachary soon grew tired of the sight and fell asleep. He woke up six hours later when the mini-bus stopped at a station in Uvira. He followed the other passengers and got off the mini-bus with a metal suitcase behind him.
He headed to the ferry ticket booking office and learned that the ferry was leaving the next day.
Zachary slept the night at a small motel in Uvira (thanks to his ample savings) and set off on a ferry to Kalemie the next morning. He then rented a motorcycle from Kalemie to Mulungo and spent two days on the road, traveling nearly 300 miles to the south. After that, he alternated between the bus and the motorcycle as it passed through the bumpy road, some sparkling due to recent rain and others dangerous with peepholes.
Zachary is not distressed about the long journey but is filled with happiness and anticipation the further south he moves. He slowly but surely inched towards the city where he would begin his journey towards greatness.
He travelled over 1000 miles and arrived in Lubumbashi six days after leaving Bukavu. Lubumbashi is the second largest city in the DR Congo, located in the most southeastern part, along the border with Zambia. It was a city that held many painful memories of Zachary. That's where he started and ended his pro-football career prematurely in his previous life.
With luggage in hand, Zachary looked for a motel to stay overnight and chose to think of something else the next day. The week-long trip had made him tired.