2:17 AM.
Will was half awake at this moment. He'd be floating in and out of sleep ever since he got on his bed to sleep, and he was fighting to finally fall asleep but he was losing. His body was just there, because even though he was awake, it felt like he wasn't. The only thing that told him otherwise was the thin streak of golden light that reflected on his face through his window.
His mind kept replaying the event that happened earlier today.
'You didn't make the cut'
That particular phrase made him particularly angry when he heard it. He didn't make the cut. He wasn't good enough, despite his best efforts. He could go on a limb and bet his life savings that not a single person in that academy trained harder than him but while they got to continue on and try to fulfil their dreams, he was simply told that he wasn't good enough.
('Fucking stupid director of the academy. What the fuck does he know about football. I have more ball knowledge in my-')
[Ding!]
The sound of a bell chime reverberated inside of Will's room, causing Will's eyes to escape his half sleep state and immediately snap awake and look around the room.
"Who's there?" Will muttered as he stared around the room trying to locate the source of the bell chime. After a few more seconds of looking around and finding nothing, he shook his head and burst into a maniacal laughter. "Have I finally run mad?"
He looked around again, and upon seeing nothing, leaned back into his head and closed his eyes. He was about to lose himself in his thoughts when he felt something, like a light, shining on his face.
"What the f-" Will opened his eyes and saw a game like panel in front of him. It was mainly golden colored. He tried to touch it but his hands passed through him telling him that it was translucent.
It hovered in front of him, away at arm's reach as it it projected itself onto the air. It looked pretty much like a game interface, as it had tabs, text, and a lot of progress indicator.
"Welp". Will muttered as he read the game interface. "It's confirmed. I have gone mad".
[Ding! Limitless Potential System has been Activated]
Will heard a faint robotic voice sound inside of his room. He didn't react to it like he did the bell chime and the overlay in front of him. He already knew he was going mad so there was really nothing he could do at that point.
[Downloading Host's stats]
[Download complete]
[Name: William Smithson]
[Club/Affiliation: Middlesbrough U18]
[Position: AM/SS () => {Secondary Positions => CM, LM, RM]
[Preferred foot: Right () => {Weak foot => 1/5]
[Stats]
[Pace: 68]
[Shooting: 52]
[Passing: 61]
[Dribbling: 63]
[Defending: 24]
[Physical: 55]
[Vision: 64]
[First Touch: 66]
[Composure: 49]
[Positioning: 55]
[Long Shot: 47]
[Set Pieces: 44]
[Overall Player Rating: 56]
[Overall Player Potential: 72]
[Credits: 0]
[System Shop: Locked]
[Trait Slots: 0/3]
[System remark: You are at rock bottom so the only way is up. That is the only place where Limitless can begin]
Will read everything on the interface about three times. He laughed again and then stared at it with disbelief. Now that the initial hysteria had worn off, he was able to recognize what was happening. He had read a lot of Webnovels and Manga where the main character unlocked systems and they aided him. My Vampire System, and so many other novels. But he had never heard of such things happening to a footballer.
The interface then started to change and turned into a menu on which there were six categories laid in a vertical lost.
-> Training Tasks.
-> Stat Breakdown
-> System Shop - Locked (Requires Credits to unlock)
->Potential Cap - Locked (Requires Credits to unlock)
Will furrowed his brows when he got to the section about the potential cap.
"Potential Cap?" Will murmured the question out loud.
The system seemed to have heard him cos it responded with its signature bell chime and then an explanation appeared on the panel.
[Ding! Potential Cap]
[Potential Cap: A Potential ap determines the maximum achievable ceiling for any individual attribute. Your current potential Cap is D-grade which means that no stat may exceed 72 regardless of training investment, directly affecting your overall player potential. The Potential Cap may be raised through Credits expenditure.]
[System Remark: Raising the Potential Cap does not automatically improve stats, it only raises the ceiling. The work remains yours]
[Cap Unlock Costs]
[D -> C: 500 Credits]
[C -> B: 2000 Credits]
[B -> A: 8000 Credits]
[A -> S: 30000 Credits]
[S -> S+: 100000 Credits]
Will stared at the information in front of him with wide eyes. What this system was essentially saying was that his hard work did not matter, because they were right at the academy, his potential wasn't anything special
Using the usual ratings in the football videogames, a 72 potential meant that he could have an all timer career in maybe the English second tier, and that was only if he fulfilled his potential. For all he knew, he could peak at maybe 65-67 or something, and then he'd spend his career going back and forth between the third tier and the second tier.
But from what he was reading, his current potential ceiling that he had was not absolute. He could actually increase it as he progressed. His current Potential Cap grade was D-grade, which contributed to his Player Potential being 72, but he could actually increase it.
In other words, he didn't have a fixed potential!
In theory, he could just keep increasing his potential again and again until he reached the apex of football.
('Limitless Potential System.. unlimited potential. This makes a lot of sense').
Will burst into laughter when he thought about it. He had just been released from a Championship Academy because he wasn't food enough for it at t his moment, but at two in he morning, a system from the novel he read essentially told him that they were right, but that his story wasn't over yet.
"Yeahh, sounds like a dream". Will muttered. "But I don't want to wake up yet".
Will spent the next three hours studying the panel. He read every tooltip, every description and every footnote in the Potential Cap system, and whenever he had a question he asked it aloud and the system actually responded. He the took a look at his stats and then used them to plan how he was going to train.
[Composure: 49]. He already noticed that he wasn't good under pressure and he was working to fix it.
[Shooting: 52]. That was why his finishing wasn't that good.
[Vision: 64]. It was actually one of his better stat and he was about to overlook it when he saw a small sub-note under it.
[Elite ceiling detected. Priority development assessment]
He read it a couple of times before shifting his attention elsewhere.
By the time the sun eventually came up, he was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his notebook opened on his lap, writing furiously. He drew a table with the cap unlock costs on the table, and how long he thought he'd take before he unlocked it.
The system also gave him daily missions and would award him with credits should he manage to complete a mission.
He circled the 500 on the page, and scribbled something next to it before setting down the notebook with a determined expression on his face.
[Ding! Task Complete]
[Task: Survive Your Lowest Moment]
[+1 Credit]
[Credit Balance: 1]
[System Remark: Credit earnings will scale with ambition. The system rewards those who act]
Will looked at the 1 in his credit balance, and then he remembered that he needed 500 Credits to perform his first Potential Cap upgrade, and then he burst into laughter.
He pulled out his phone and saw that Marcus had texted him so many times through out the night out of worry. He hurriedly replied.
('I'm fine actually. I might even be better than fine')
He put down the phone and then walked to the kitchen and made toast. He the stood at the kitchen counter while eating a slice of the toast. The system panel had disappeared, but he liked it like that.
His phone buzzed with another message but he didn't answer it, he just took a slice of bread and made a second toast.