THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

After the pre-match tactical meeting, Zachary exchanged a few words with his teammates before making his way out of the tactics room and heading to the parking lot. He then got into his R8 GT and cruised home at a leisurely pace.

He managed to arrive at his apartment building in less than half an hour since traffic was light on the road. He alighted from his vehicle and then ascended the stairs, deciding to first head to Kristin's apartment on the fourth floor. He had just recalled he had an appointment with her that evening.

"Hello, Zachary," Kristin said with a smile right after opening her door. "Welcome, and please come in."

"Thank you," Zachary replied, stepping through the entrance and into the living room of Kristin's cozy apartment. The set-up of the place was not very dissimilar to the one in his apartment. However, hers felt more exquisite — because of the more elegant furniture and the beautiful paintings hanging on the walls.

"Your place is neat as usual," Zachary said, settling down in one of the comfy chairs. "How's your evening?"

"My evening is fine," Kristin said, smiling and settling on a sofa opposite his. "And thanks for appreciating my place. Did you just come from training?"

"Not exactly," Zachary replied, shaking his head. "We had a late tactical meeting since we're playing our first Europa League qualifier tomorrow."

"Oh," Kristin said, raising a brow. "Is that the match against Crusaders, the team from Northern Ireland?"

"Yes, that's the one," Zachary replied, nodding.

"Do you think you'll win?"

"Of course, we have no choice but to win," Zachary replied matter-of-factly. "Otherwise, we won't get to participate in the actual Europa League. Moreover, Crusaders is a much weaker team compared to us. So, the odds are on our side."

"You didn't answer the question, Zachary," Kristin remarked.

Zachary just smiled at her before saying, "You mentioned that you wanted to discuss something over the phone earlier. What is it?"

"Yes," Kristin said, leaning back into the sofa and holding Zachary's gaze. "It's about the rumors about you in the media. As your publicity secretary, I hope you come out and make your stand so that you can put a stop to them."

"Oh," Zachary said, creasing a brow. "You mean the recent talk on the internet that I'm transferring out of Rosenborg?"

"Yes," Kristin replied, nodding. "The whole thing is getting out of hand, and it's causing needless worry for your fans. You should see the messages I'm getting on both Twitter and Facebook. A lot of your followers are asking whether it's true that you're leaving Rosenborg. That's why I would like you to come out and clarify the situation."

"Okay," Zachary said, nodding. "You can tweet or post that I have no intentions of leaving Rosenborg at the moment. You can then mention that all messages insinuating that I'm close to making a transfer out of Rosenborg are baseless. That should close down the rumors. Shouldn't it?"

"Yes, that's good enough," Kristin said, her face blossoming into a smile. "That'll really put your fans at ease."

"Then, that's good," Zachary said, nodding. "Is there anything else? If not, I would like to head upstairs and get some sleep. We're setting off for the airport at six tomorrow morning. So I have to go to bed early."

"Just one more thing," Kristin said, voice lowering. "Have you talked to my grandpa recently? I think he's still waiting for you to give him a reply to his proposal."

"Oh, my!" Zachary said, face-palming. "Me and my forgetfulness! That's another thing that completely escaped my mind due to the crazy June and July schedules."

"I understand, Zachary," Kristin said, nodding. "No need to try explaining to me. But try to call him soon and give him a response. Whether it's positive or negative, he won't hold anything against you. Okay?"

"Okay," Zachary confirmed, nodding. "I'll give him a call the day after tomorrow. That'll be the morning right after the match. Thanks for reminding me."

"Then good," Kristin said, beaming. "I guess that's everything for today. I wish you all the best in tomorrow's game. May you annihilate the other team by scoring a double hat-trick."

"Ha-ha," Zachary gave a forced laugh on hearing that. "I think that I need to remind you that I'm taking part in a football match, not a basketball game. But thanks anyway. I'll try my best as always."

Kristin smiled at that. "Since it's you we're talking about, I wouldn't be surprised if you scored eight," she said in a solemn voice. "Anyway, goodbye and have a goodnight. Don't stay up late."

Zachary nodded, standing up from his seat. "Good night to you too," he said, starting to match towards the door. "By the way, how many followers do I have on Twitter now?" He asked, pausing mid-step.

"Guess," Kristin said, smiling mysteriously.

"50,000," Zachary said, deciding on humoring her. He had had about 20,000 followers when he handed the account over to Kristin for management. So, he assumed the numbers had just about doubled since then.

"You couldn't be any more wrong," Kristin said, suppressing a chuckle. "As of today, your Twitter account has more than 420,000 followers."

"420,000!" Zachary exclaimed, turning around to glance at Kristin. He was well aware that a good fraction of famous footballers didn't have that many followers on Twitter. So, he couldn't help but wonder what Kristin had done with the account for it to garner such attention and popularity within less than two months. "How did you do it?" He asked, giving her a sideways glance.

"I have my ways," Kristin replied with a mysterious smile. "You better go and rest. Otherwise, you won't be at your best during the match tomorrow. And that will spell trouble for us."

"Okay, okay," Zachary said, nodding. "I'm off. I don't know what you're doing to gather that many followers on Twitter. But thanks for the hard work."

"You're welcome. Good night."

Zachary ascended the stairs at a leisurely pace and soon returned to his apartment on the sixth floor. But no sooner had he walked through the entrance — heading into the living room than a system notification sounded within his mind.

"DING"

"The system has detected that the user has been added to Rosenborg's 2013/14 Europa League squad," the system AI's apathetic voice sounded in his mind soon after.

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

"The 2013/14 Europa League Serial Mission initiated successfully."

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

"Positive," Zachary replied, settling into one of his sofas. "Bring out the details right away."

"DING"

"Attention user," intoned the AI as the translucent bluish system interface manifested before Zachary.

"Mission details have been displayed on the interface."

Zachary nodded to himself before leaning back into the sofa and beginning to peruse through the information displayed on the interface. He wasn't too excited since he knew winning the Europa League was no walk in the park.

****

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G.O.A.T MISSIONS

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#NEW MISSION: 2013 Europa League Serial Challenge

->The system has detected that the user is part of the Rosenborg BK squad taking part in the 2013/14 Europa League knock-out tournament. 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 over 80% of the fixtures in the 2013/14 Europa League tournament for Rosenborg.

*Milestone 2: Help Rosenborg qualify for the round-of-sixteen of the 2013/14 Europa League tournament.

*Milestone 3: Help Rosenborg qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2013/14 Europa League tournament.

*Milestone 4: Help Rosenborg qualify for the semi-finals of the 2013/14 Europa League tournament.

*Milestone 5: Help Rosenborg qualify for the finals of the 2013/14 Europa League tournament.

*Milestone 6: Help Rosenborg become the overall champions of the 2013/14 Europa League Tournament

*Milestone 7: Provide the most assists in the 2013/14 Europa League tournament while playing for Rosenborg.

*Milestone 8: Become the top scorer of the 2013/14 Europa League Tournament while playing for Rosenborg.

*Milestone 9: Become the Best Player of the 2013/14 Europa League Tournament while playing for Rosenborg.

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*Rewards:

->Milestone 1 completion reward: 2,000 Juju-points

->Milestone 2 completion reward: 5,000 Juju-points

->Milestone 3 completion reward: 30,000 Juju-points

->Milestone 4 completion reward: 50,000 Juju-points

->Milestone 5 completion reward: 100,000 Juju Points

->Milestone 6 completion reward: A dosage of S-grade vitality enhancing elixir.

->Milestone 7 completion reward: 20,000 Juju-points

->Milestone 8 completion reward: 40,000 Juju-points

->Milestone 9 completion reward: A dosage of S-grade mental conditioning 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 (If the user accepts the mission).

->Minus 120,000 Juju-points

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

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*Remarks: Only by imagining, believing, and attempting the impossible can one accomplish the impossible.

Moreover, the word impossible should never appear in the vocabulary of any footballer vying for the position of the G.O.A.T.

****

Zachary sighed after looking through the mission notification message. As expected, the rewards for the Europa League milestones were very enticing. Any of the S-graded elixirs could help his related attributes make a breakthrough to the S-grading. So, he wanted to acquire them.

However, he also understood that realizing more than two mission milestones would be a tall order even if Rosenborg managed to sign more players. Even big teams like Arsenal, FC Porto, Ajax, and Manchester United usually found it hard to win the tournament. So, he couldn't be sure about what stage his team would manage to reach.

Nonetheless, he was determined to compete by giving his very best in the competition. So, he decided to click the accept button. Besides, he believed he would achieve the first milestone of playing more than 80% of the matches in the Europa League for Rosenborg. So, he wasn't afraid he would incur the penalty for completely failing the mission.