Chapter 12: A new title
Without even realizing it time flew by rapidly, It have already been 2 whole months since I joined the B team alongside Pedro, Alex and Nathan.
During those months we all grew a lot closer as people who got promoted at the same time, that one match against the B team at the time brought us all together to a point where we became very good friends afterwards. We all had a lot of trust in each others.
In those 2 months we also improved a lot and all of us managed to make a name for ourselves whether it's with our own team or during training matches with other teams.
Pedro's name already meant stone and rock so his new nickname was the defenses unbreakable rock. After spending more time with him we all agreed that he was at a whole different level.
I knew he had the abilities to go up to the A team at any moment but I was still amazed every time I saw him skills. If not for him wishing to take it slow to recover from his injury he would've been one of the stars of the A team without a doubt.
Alex also kept his past nickname as the genius keeper but this time made it clear that he deserved that title. He was improving at an amazing rate and was extremely talented but other than that he was also very hardworking, we both always came to the training ground first and trained on our own for a bit before the training even started.
It was great having such a training buddy who would always be there to try to catch my shots whenever I wanted to train my shooting. He was the one who helped me improve my shooting the most.
Nathan on his side got called the sniper, rightfully so, not only was his title extremely fitting for his play style but it was also fitting his personality, even if during matches he was confident and could take the lead, out of matches and during trainings he was also very laid back and kind of shy.
During those 2 months he honed his passing to a point where he became the center of every offense, he'd run to the side and deliver a very precise pass to the person who had the less people guarding him which thus earned him the title of sniper.
Though that was only in theory, since in reality 90% of his passes were destined to me, once again our offensive duo got known even among other teams, many of them were wary of us, even the A team have heard of us and proposed a match for today mainly because of that.
On my side I also earned myself a title which added itself into the system. That title didn't give me any actual benefit but it was a proof of my abilities getting recognized and of me finally starting to become known as more than the person who got in through the recommendation letter.
All of my stats have greatly improved and now looking at my stats felt way more pleasing.
[Player status:
Name: Jude Sanchez
Age: 14
Title: "stamina freak"
Version: normal
Total: E (46)
Offence: D (51)
Shooting: E (49)
Dribble: E (48)
Speed: E (46)
Defence: F (34)
Pass: F (32)
Stat points: 0
Random stat points: 0
Special Weapons: Greed (Z), Eyes of the Lord (Z) ]
In the past the main reason why I managed to score and make use of my volley and trapping was that I had Nathan by my side but now I've finally reached a level where my individual skills were enough for me to gain some recognition.
I've also gained by first title which was proof of that recognition I've gained, "stamina freak", that's what most people knew me as, I've raised by stamina to such a level that I could run way more than before during a match without getting tired.
That new weapon is what shaped my new play style which consist of tiring out the enemy team by running around until an opportunity arise. I also started putting some more pressure on the defense.
My stamina improvement also showed a lot during trainings, I did well putting all my stat points into stamina since now I could train for way longer which would in turn help me improve way more.
I've also learned a lot about team tactics which made many of my stats increase way more than I could've expected.
[Composure: 30->50
Assertiveness: 30->52
Condition stability: 20->40
Attack awareness: 24->45
Defense awareness: 14-> 34
Coordination: 14-> 36
Tactical coordination: 15-> 36]
Everything increased by so much that I ended up thanking the fact that I was smart enough to put everything into stamina at that time.
I've trained multiple times more and harder than anyone on the team and that earned me the respect of everyone on the team.
But even if that was where I had the biggest improvement that didn't mean my improvement only stop at the mental side, I also improved a lot physically.
[Stamina: 88-> 90
Acceleration: 37-> 50
Top speed: 34-> 45
Jump: 40-> 52
Agility: 41-> 53
Kinetic vision: 50-> 58
Reaction speed: 42-> 53
Power: 32-> 41
Balance: 34-> 44]
Even if my technique was lacking since I started later than most people, my physical stats were higher than most people on the team.
Especially my stamina which might be unrivalled even in the A team. I don't think anyone have such an absurd amount of stamina.
I was pretty excited about that since once it gets to a 100 that would also mean that the system would go into professional mode. I'd finally enter the realm of monsters.
But during that time I also noticed that the higher a stat reached the harder it was to actually improve it, in 2 months my stamina barely got raided by 2 points.
Though right now it's too late to worry about that, today was the day when the match against the main team is programmed, I knew I couldn't change anything anymore and that it was time for me to give it my all and try to earn myself a place in the team.
Before getting out of my house I took one last look at the rest of my stats which improved a lot during those 2 months.
[KICK:
Kicking power: 28-> 42
Shooting accuracy: 28-> 46
Short pass: 21-> 36
Long pass: 18-> 32
Volley: 37-> 53
Long shot: 26-> 40
Free kick: 21-> 39
Curve: 13-> 21
Centering: 12-> 20
Penalty kick: 25-> 40
Weak foot: 14-> 24]
[TECHNIQUE:
Trapping: 36-> 52
Ball control: 32-> 50
Heading: 21-> 42
Dribbling: 34-> 48
Tackling: 17-> 35
Sliding tackle: 14-> 29
Direct play: 20-> 31
Positioning: 21-> 36
Play field of vision: 21-> 35
Feint: 18-> 38]
I was very satisfied with my current stats but I knew that once I reached the professional level I could find many people like noel noa and Lavinho who had most of their stats already maxed.
The thing that differentiated them was none other than their special weapons. A special weapon is what made the best use of their stats. And now that I had pretty high stats for someone my age all I needed to become a full fledged monster was to get a special weapon.
I already had 2 special weapons but I couldn't make the best use of them right now, and they didn't help much during games so I needed to gain more special weapons.
Though I know that it's not that easy, when I peeked at the status of the few strikers I met in the other B team or in the reserve team they didn't even have a special weapon.
The most remarkable people I've met until now were Nathan with his singular special weapon about long passes.
Then there was Alex and Pasqual who both have 2 special weapons for their respective positions. That would explain how they managed to reach their current position so easily and both be called prodigies.
But the most impressive one was without a doubt the A team's ace and star player. That guy had 4 different weapons with one of them being a B ranked weapon. And from what I've observed until now that is amazing.
That's the best I've ever seen out of all the people I've used [eyes of the Lord] on, he's without a doubt going to become a very famous player in the future.
And today I'll be getting another chance to play against him. Just thinking about it made me both anxious and excited, it was finally time for me to reach the next level.