"Ding! You've won the match. Your rating for this game: SSS!"
"You have obtained: Super Training Cone… Donglong Special Drink… Baiyao Recovery Spray…"
"You have unlocked an Inventory Slot."
"You have unlocked a Tactical Slot."
"You have acquired blue player skills: Midfield Commander, Pressing Defense."
"You have acquired purple star skills: Marseille Turn, Stepovers (Bicycle Move)."
"You have received a star drop: Mikel Arteta's Tactical Whiteboard."
The rewards from the European Youth Championship were ridiculously generous.
The extra inventory slot meant that Kai's already packed equipment storage could finally fit new items.
Even Petr Čech's hockey stick was one step away from getting tossed out.
As for the tactical slot, that was something completely new.
Kai didn't understand it at first—
until he saw Arteta's Tactical Whiteboard.
There's a saying: among players from the same system, sometimes the "less flashy" ones drop the most useful stuff.
And honestly?
The player who had dropped the most items for Kai so far was—
cough… Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yeah. That guy.
Arteta's Tactical Whiteboard:
Occupies one tactical slot.
+2 Offensive Movement
+2 Defensive Movement
+2 Interceptions
+1 Short Pass
+1 Long Pass
Effect: Through training, both you and your teammates adapt faster to possession-based football and positional defense.
Kai was genuinely stunned.
He hadn't expected Mikel Arteta to be this tactically sharp at such a young age.
No wonder Pep Guardiola once said:
"I learned more from him than he learned from me."
Later, when Arteta coached Arsenal, the team really did improve massively—at one point even topping the Premier League table in the 2022–23 season.
But the real scary part of this skill wasn't the stat boosts.
It was this:
It improves your teammates too.
What does that mean?
It means Kai now had his own system.
And in football—
having your own system = being the true core of the team.
Not just the captain.
Not just the highest-paid player.
But the tactical heart.
Plenty of top midfielders look like complete frauds after transfers.
Why?
Not because they suddenly became shit—
but because their system doesn't fit their new teammates.
Take Gaizka Mendieta as a classic example.
At Valencia, he was the absolute core, even winning top midfielder honors in La Liga.
Then he moved to Lazio for big money—
and completely flopped.
Why?
System mismatch.
Back to Kai's tactical setup—
"Possession football" and "positional defense" aren't the same thing, but they complement each other perfectly.
At this stage of football, possession-based play is basically:
Using technical ability and teamwork to cover physical limitations.
Typical situation?
"When they attack, they're like fire—
when they defend… they can look like absolute shit."
But high possession solves a key problem:
If the opponent doesn't have the ball, they can't attack.
Simple as that.
Of course, counterattacks still exist.
So teams respond differently:
Some press high (like FC Barcelona)
Some drop deep quickly (like Arsenal)
Arteta's whiteboard?
It gave Kai a complete tactical framework.
In simple terms—
Kai could now act as a mini tactical coach on the pitch.
Not bad for a teenager.
Midfield Commander:
+1 Short Pass
Effect: Increases the success rate of your teammates' passes to you.
Pressing Defense:
Effect: When pressing opponents in your own half, your mobility and physical duels improve slightly.
Perfect synergy.
The first skill strengthens Kai's role as the central hub.
The second pairs beautifully with positional defense, boosting his defensive presence.
Marseille Turn (Zidane Roulette):
+2 Dribbling
Effect: A smooth execution increases your speed temporarily. One clean move counts as multiple rotations.
Purple skills really hit different.
Escape + acceleration.
One move, double effect.
Clean as hell.
Then came the last skill.
Kai read it—
and burst out laughing.
Stepovers (Bicycle Move):
+2 Dribbling
Less than 3 stepovers → weaker feint, small shooting boost
3–5 stepovers → better deception, slight speed boost
6+ stepovers → high deception, but higher chance of getting revenge-fouled
Special Effect (influenced by Cristiano Ronaldo):
Your stepovers become "electric" (explosive style)
Massive boost to speed and shooting
Reduced elegance and deception
Higher chance of fucking up and slipping the ball
Can only successfully trigger once per match
Kai couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Are you seriously trolling me again?!"
Still…
he had to admit—
this "electric stepover" was insanely powerful.
Huge boosts to speed and shooting?
That's basically a brute-force scoring skill.
The downside?
Risk.
A lot of it.
Slip once, and you look like a complete idiot.
Slip multiple times?
Yeah… you might as well dig a hole and bury yourself on the pitch.
And even when it works—
it doesn't look as smooth as a proper stepover.
So now the real question was:
Do you want style… or raw power?
A bicycle…
or a damn electric scooter?
After checking his rewards, Kai opened his player stats.
Because of constant training and matches, his attributes changed every month.
And this season?
His growth had gone absolutely insane.
Winning titles, MVPs, assists, top scorer awards—
all of it accelerated his development.
Technical Rating: 59.929
Offensive Movement: 68
Ball Control: 76
Dribbling: 67
Shooting: 60
Set Pieces: 61
Long Pass: 64
Short Pass: 76
Defensive Movement: 63
Interceptions: 61
Tackling: 49
Blocking: 40
Clearances: 45
Heading: 51
Curve: 58
Physical Rating: 62.625
Speed: 61
Acceleration: 65
Agility: 73
Shot Power: 58
Jump: 55
Strength: 55
Flexibility: 73
Stamina: 61
Special Attributes:
Vision: 8
Left Foot: 3
Right Foot: 7
Injury Resistance: 3
Consistency: 5
Overall Rating: 61.277
Compared to a year ago?
Kai was basically a different player.
At this rate, he might hit his full potential before turning twenty.
And this wasn't even his final form.
Because recently—
he had just grown taller.
A lot taller.
His body hadn't even fully adapted yet.
Once he completed strength training and adjusted to his new frame—
his physical stats would explode again.
In sports, years of training might improve performance by fractions of a second.
But a sudden physical development?
That can boost performance by tenths of a second.
That difference?
That's what people call—
talent crushing everything else.
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