THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

"Hello," Zachary spoke into the phone.

"Hello, Zachary," a familiar female voice said from the other end of the line. "It's me, Emily. Just calling to ask how your debut match went."

"Oh, Emily," Zachary said, smiling. He threw his gym bag over his shoulder and started walking towards his apartment. "You called using a different number. I was about to reject the call."

"Then you would have missed out on hearing my lovely voice," Emily countered jokingly.

"So, how are you?" Zachary inquired, wishing to change the direction of the conversation immediately.

"I'm doing well," Emily replied. "But tell me, how did the match go? It wasn't—broadcasted anywhere. So, I couldn't watch it. Sorry about that."

"No problem," Zachary replied, rounding a corner and entering the lane heading to his apartment building. "I played for roughly 80 minutes, managed to score one goal, and also made an assist."

"Oh, my," Emily exclaimed, her voice rising slightly at the other end of the call. "Way to go, Zach. Congratulations. With that, I believe the coaches won't leave you out of the squad anymore."

"I think so too. The coach has even already promised me I'll be part of the squad for the next match."

"When is your next match?"

"Saturday. Next Saturday."

"Oh, no." Emily sighed audibly over the phone call. "I won't be able to make it to that match too. I'll still be in France handling some business. When is the next one after that?"

"Wednesday, May 8th," Zachary replied right away since he'd crammed the next ten fixtures of Rosenborg in his head. "We'll be facing Tromsø Idrettslag at home."

"Great," Emily replied, sounding excited. "I'll surely be there for that game. If you manage to keep performing well, we can start talking about some smaller endorsement deals."

"Okay, that's fine," Zachary replied, starting to ascend the steps of his apartment building. "I'll wait for you, then. What are you doing in France?" He inquired. After hearing Emily mention France, he couldn't help but recall his four country-mates who had departed for the Nantes academy. He wondered how far their skills had progressed after training in France for two years.

"Just some agency business," Emily replied succinctly. "I'll maybe tell you about it when we meet. But, I've got to go now. It's already late. So, try to rest and keep your body healthy. We'll talk more when I'm in Trondheim next week."

"Okay, have a good night then," Zachary said as he reached the door of his apartment. "See you next week."

"Good night," Emily said before hanging up.

Zachary shoved his phone back into his side pocket and unlocked the door to his apartment. He was only thinking of going through his yoga regimen quickly to start his post-match recovery as soon as possible.

He hurriedly slipped out of his sneakers, threw his gym bag to the side, and headed to the living room, where he usually went through his yoga routine. However, a system notification sounded in his mind as he walked into the room.

"DING"

"The system has detected that the user has been added to the Rosenborg's squad playing in the 2013 Tippeligaen season," the system AI's apathetic voice sounded in his mind soon after.

"Conditions for a long-term serial system mission have been met."

"The 2013 Tippeligaen Serial Mission initiated successfully."

"Does the user wish to view the details of the mission right away?"

"Yes, bring out the details now," Zachary replied, settling into one of the sofas in his living room. "But why did you delay to announce the system mission? The coach promised to add me to the squad over forty minutes ago! But the mission notification has just appeared now. Why did it take longer than it usually did?"

"The system has adjusted to the user's behavioral patterns," the AI replied. "The system will only bring out its notifications when the user is where he feels most comfortable and most safe. At this moment, it is this apartment. But the user can choose to override this setting at any time."

"Does the user wish to override this setting?"

"Negative," Zachary replied. Of course, he didn't wish to keep getting notifications when he was in the company of others.

Ever since he'd gone back in time and obtained the system, he had stopped taking the world lightly. He reasoned that since he possessed the system, there was a remote possibility that other people might also possess preternatural talents. It would spell trouble for him if one of those individuals existed and noticed that he had a system. He didn't know whether he was just paranoid. But he decided to remain on the safe side of caution. It was better to be safe than sorry.

"DING"

"Attention user," intoned the AI.

"Mission details have been displayed on the interface."

Zachary leaned back into the sofa and began to peruse through the information displayed on the translucent blue system interface that had appeared before him. He was eager to learn the new mission details.

****

G.O.A.T MISSIONS

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#NEW MISSION: 2013 Tippeligaen Serial Challenge

->The system has detected that the user is part of the Rosenborg BK squad partaking in the 2013 Norwegian top division football league, commonly referred to as the Tippeligaen. The system has designed an associated mission for the event.

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->The user needs to accept the mission first to stand a chance of winning rewards after completing the milestones below.

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*Milestone 1: Play 70% of the fixtures in the 2013 Tippeligaen season. The user must be part of the starting eleven or a playing substitute in at least 21 of the 30 matches of the 2013 Tippeligaen.

*Milestone 2: Help your teammates become the champions of the 2013 Tippeligaen.

*Milestone 3: Provide the most assists in the 2013 Tippeligaen season.

*Milestone 4: Become the top scorer of the 2013 Tippeligaen season.

*Milestone 5: Become the MVP of the 2013 Tippeligaen season.

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*Rewards:

->Milestone 1 completion reward: 2000 Juju-points

->Milestone 2 completion reward: 2000 Juju-points

->Milestone 3 completion reward: 4000 Juju-points

->Milestone 4 completion reward: 5000 Juju-points

->Milestone 5 completion reward: A dosage of A-grade vitality enhancing elixir.

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NB: There will be additional rewards if the user realizes any other milestones that can unlock hidden missions.

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->The user can choose not to accept the mission.

*Accept *Reject

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*Punishment if none of the milestones has been achieved after the stipulated time (In case the user accepts).

->Minus 20000 Juju-points

*The user has to complete at least one milestone before the tournament ends to escape the penalty.

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*Remarks: All progress takes place outside the comfort zone. And no passion can be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

****

Zachary clicked on the accept button right away. He didn't even try deliberating on whether he would accomplish the minimum of one milestone to escape the penalty.

He just took the gamble and hoped for the best reward. Since the coach had already promised him playing time, he had a high chance of achieving the first milestone at the very least.

Moreover, the reward for the fifth milestone was an A-grade vitality-enhancing elixir. That elixir could heal injuries and even improve his physical fitness attributes by a large margin. He had already consumed a B-grade version of it and understood its benefits quite well. It had healed his injured leg in no time when he had returned to the past some two years prior. He intended to try to achieve the milestone and win the elixir.

"System," Zachary said. "What happens if I incur the penalty and don't have the required Juju-points to pay for it?"

"The penalty will turn into a debt burden for the user," the AI replied. "There will be 100% interest (reducing) added on the debt every year."

"That's too high." Zachary frowned. "Can't it be lower?"

"No, the system has a fixed rate of 100%," the AI replied. "No bargaining is allowed. The user only has to make sure not to incur the penalty. Then everything will be fine."

Zachary smiled wryly on hearing that. It seemed the system didn't tolerate failure in any way. He had noticed that on every mission, there was a penalty of some sort. But that didn't faze him in the slightest. Instead, he was thankful since he needed the pressure to grow his skills quickly.

He closed the system interface after confirming his acceptance of the mission with the AI. He then went through a light session of yoga to stretch his muscles and enhance his post-match recovery process.

When he finished, he soaked in an ice bath to relax his muscles before eating a late-night snack. He didn't consume a lot of food since he'd already eaten dinner back at Lerkendal. Moreover, eating a lot after a match wasn't advisable. So, he only swallowed down a few bananas and energy bars to replenish his diminished stamina reserves.

After eating, he could finally let loose and go to bed. However, he didn't fall asleep right away. Since he had made it onto the regular squad, he needed to keep refining his skills on a daily basis. So, he activated the G.O.A.T Skills Simulator using two Juju-points and began practicing his Bend-it-like-Beckham Juju for the next hour. He understood that if he hoped to score a good number of goals in the Tippeligaen, he would have to rely on his set-piece technique at some point. So, he was hell-bent on improving it to the highest level humanly possible.