Second Chances: Indonesian Football Player

Chapter 51's

The freezing winter months soon arrive when the nature orchestra suddenly comes to a halt. Most of the student villagers I live in are slowly leaving for the holidays. Some of them are from outside Europe.

"Are you sure you want to stay here alone?" Ryandi asked, frowning. "The coach has given us a month's vacation. You should also rest. Why not join me on vacation? You don't have to spend all week there — but only two weeks holiday."

"Yan," Nero recited solemnly. "I've made my decision. I will not go home or take any vacation until I reach the professional level. I called my parents too. And they, even a little unwillingly, agreed to this"

He had no intention of changing his environment while in the midst of an important system training plan and mission. Resting in the moment will make him weak and reduce his focus on his goals.

On the other hand, if he stayed in Brussels, he would be free to train all day without interruption. He would increase his stats even further before the others returned from their holidays. A one-month training plan can do its physical wonders, with help from the system. Nero didn't want to give up.

"Alright, adjust yourself," Ryandi murmured as she pulled her suitcase out of the door. He was on his way to meet his family on holiday in Singapore. "I wish you a Merry Christmas. Hopefully, you get an unforgettable Christmas here alone in an empty apartment." He added, wry with sarcasm.

"Merry Christmas to you too" Nero replied with a smile to his flatmate. He did not mind his friend's tone because he had declined his invitation several times. Being rejected multiple times will ruin anyone's mood. "Remember to buy me good quality Adidas football boots when you get to Singapore" he added jokingly.

After Ryandi leaves, Nero is left alone in La Rue's student village apartment. His flatmates from Norway had left the day before. She felt lonely in the quiet apartment for a moment, although that feeling did not last long.

Seeing the snow outside his window roused his spirit. The corner of his mouth curved into a gentle smile. "Just one more year and all this training will not be in vain" he murmured to himself to encourage. "It's time to start training."

Nero calmed down, seemingly drawing inspiration from the frozen ground outside his window. Without the slightest hesitation, he did an intensive training routine that helped him forget that this was the Christmas holiday.

Due to knee-high snow across the city, Nero moved all of his training programs indoors. He spends most of his time either at the gym or indoor futsal court, going through speedwork routines and improving the accuracy of his shots.

He even started soaking in a tub of cold water every night for fifteen minutes to recover faster and more free time to exercise. He would soothe his aching muscles and reduce his perception of fatigue whenever he immersed his body in water at a temperature of 4 to 6 degrees Celsius. Ice-cold water will refresh his body and make sure he is fit for a series of yoga and Hip-Flexor exercises he does at night.

Nero was not worried about exhausting himself because he had the physical conditioning potion of the system shop. By consuming one dose, he gained enough energy to train for a week without harming his body.

The gloom of winter did not dampen his spirits as he continued to progress and develop in many fields. The movement is faster and sharper than the previous month. His body strength is also getting better. He can't wait for the Riga Cup to start. He was eager to test his skills against a team of international academy students from across Europe.

Nero runs, jogs, lifts weights, and performs agility and endurance-enhancing exercises indoors. He does not neglect to juggle the ball for about an hour or two every day to maintain deft control of the ball. Holidays such as Christmas holidays often make players become rusty. Nero wants to avoid losing touch and losing performance. The ball is his best friend, his route to fame and fortune. He had to spend time stroking it, tying it as much as possible.

Since all his friends had left, he practiced alone using the wall. He would mark a point on the wall and shoot it from a different angle while adjusting the strength of his foot.

The wall soon became the perfect training partner. It would play with him whenever he wanted, and he could play with him for hours, yet never get tired. Sometimes he kicked the ball into the wall late into the night, varying the swing speed of his kicks and practicing the Bend-it technique like Beckham Juju.

His skills improved at a steady pace as the wall was the perfect match. That never makes a mistake. If he gives the perfect pass, he will get the perfect ball back. The practice is a hundred times more efficient when practicing with the walls in the room. He doesn't need to keep running and collecting the ball between his shots, like he used to do on real pitches. Because of his improved efficiency, he will usually shoot 100 times more than he does on the pitch.

By mid-January, he could easily play 400 rounds of one-twos non-stop in the air with a wall. It was as if he was playing tennis with a wall, albeit with his football boots. Throughout the offseason, he managed to improve his already phenomenal ball possession even further.

Nero has progressed in various aspects of the game by the end of the one-month holiday. He barely felt the passage of time as he was preoccupied by his hectic training schedule. He even managed to complete the system speed training mission and gain a considerable amount of exp points as a reward.

He has been given 600 exp points to complete his speed training routine along with an additional 200 points as a bonus. He felt like a rich man sitting on a mountain of exp points. He had a total stock of 1067 points after the mission was completed due to his previous earnings of 350 exp points in a friendly match before the Christmas Holidays.

With such a large number of exp points, Nero has the option to upgrade the system. However, he chose better actions to meet his immediate goals.

He bought the D-level agility enhancer elixir drug from the system store for 1000 exp points. He was still in a good mood despite almost depleting his entire supply. The remaining 67 points exp was enough to activate the Dungeon Virtual Training system until the Riga Cup opening ceremony, two weeks later.

After purchasing the potion Nero swallowed it immediately after removing it from the system inventory.

Waves of intense hunger swept over him after it dissolved into his system. However, he had made a lot of preparations this time around by preparing one kilogram of delicious roasted chicken thighs and a few other side dishes to enjoy after consuming the potion.

He has resisted the urge to check his progress over the Christmas holidays.

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*USER STATUS

->Physical Fitness: A+

->Football Techniques: A+

-> Intelligence Game: A+

->Mental Capabilities and Mindset: B+

-> Factor-X: D

-> Mastery Skills: 3

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*USER STATUS

->Physical Fitness (Average Rating: A+)

Balance and Coordination: A+

Agility: A+

Power: A-

Stamina: A+

Durability Points: 7400/9500 (A+)

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"What the fuck?" Nero could not help but swear after perusing his physical statistics. "What's going on?" He rubbed his Undercut-style hair as if it was bothering him, his voice mixed with a frustrated tone.

All of his physical stats kept improving due to his intense fitness workout routine. His strength, stamina, and endurance stats had increased by one level over the past five months.

However, its agility status is still at A+ rating even after elixir consumption.

He was sure it worked because he could still feel a wave of hunger sweeping through his body. And, she's been getting faster after working out with Coach Johansen's routine for the past few months. But the system still rates him below the S grade in the agility department. Nero's confused. He pondered whether he needed to take the A-grade elixir drug to push his stats to S-rank.

The only way to ascertain how much its peak sprint speed has increased is to use an electric timer. However, it had to wait until the coaches returned from their holidays a few days later.