THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Zachary shivered and awoke with a start after an indeterminable period of time. He glanced around and noticed that it was already nighttime. Darkness had already enshrouded everything in the living room, and his eyes couldn't even see a meter ahead of him. He blinked to adjust to the lack of presence of light as he pushed himself up from the sofa.

"Ew!"

He let out a sound of disgust as he realized that his body and clothes were humid and sticky. There was even an unpleasant stench wafting about him, making him seem like a person that had slept in a garbage dump for days.

"This abnormality! The vitality-enhancing elixir must have helped me expel foul substances from my body again. It's like the washing of marrow in those Wuxia fiction masterpieces. I should be healthier and more fit."

A myriad of thoughts fleeted around Zachary's mind as he carefully made his way through the darkness, heading towards the direction of his bedroom.

A second later, he managed to switch on the lights, and the house came alive with brightness. Immediately, his eyes darted around the place, taking in everything until they settled on the clock hanging on the opposite wall.

"Eh! It's already 9:30 PM!"

Zachary's eyes widened with surprise. He had blacked out for roughly ten hours after consuming the elixir. Even though his mental ability was already at the S-grading, he still succumbed to the effects of the system potion and passed out for almost half a day. The system's elixirs were just that potent as they increased in grade.

"I better clean up first before anything else."

The fishy stench wafting about him was making him quite uncomfortable. He rushed to the bathroom and took a warm shower, making sure to scrub all the filth off his body. In just a short while, he was fresh and clean. He dried himself before exiting the bathroom.

As he was about to enter his bedroom, his eyes reflexively glanced at his reflection in the full-body mirror. Staring back at him was a stern-looking tall man with a head adorned by messy black hair and eyes as bright as gems. His body was like a divine artist's masterpiece, with glowing light brown skin and well-streamlined muscles that were not too pronounced to garner any attention if he was in casual clothes. But if he were to remove his shirt, people would be surprised by his prominent chest, shaped like a brick house, and his sleek six abs that stood out like tiles above his pelvis.

"It seems like the system's S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir has done a lot of wonders for my body again," he thought as he turned his gaze away from the mirror and walked into the bedroom. His skin was as smooth as silk, without any blemish after his body relied on the S-grade elixir to expel numerous hidden wastes. He could even give models a run for their money even though he had never used skin care products nor gone to a dermatologist for a consultation.

"System," Zachary called out in his mind after settling on his bed. "Bring up my fitness stats right away."

"Command received," the system AI replied in its apathetic voice. "Host's physical fitness attributes will be coming up on the interface shortly."

With that said, the glowing crystal-like display shimmered and appeared before Zachary. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation before starting to peruse the information portrayed on the system interface.

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*USER STATS

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->Physical Fitness (Av. Rating: S+)

Balance and Coordination: S-

Agility: S+

Strength: S+

Stamina: S+

Endurance Points: 17,500/18,000 (S+)

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Zachary nodded to himself after reading through his updated physical fitness data. He felt contented after learning that all his fitness attributes, except Balance and Coordination, had climbed from the S- to the S+ grading. The S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir was truly miraculous, and it had helped push his physical fitness to a higher rank. His confidence was surging, and he was starting to eagerly look forward to the day he made his debut for Juventus in Italy.

"Now let me check out the side effects," Zachary thought and said, "System, please bring up my soccer technique attributes on the interface."

"Command received," the system AI intoned. "Soccer Technique stats coming up on the interface immediately."

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->Soccer Technique: [Av. Rating: A+ (S+)]

Ball Control: A+ (S+)

Dribbling Skills: A+ (S-)

Passing Accuracy: S- (S+)

Body Control: A+ (S-)

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NB: The grades in the brackets represent the user's base stats or, in other words, the user's attributes before consuming the S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir.

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****

Zachary couldn't help but sigh after his eyes took in his soccer technique stats. As expected, his ball skills, such as ball control, dribbling, and passing accuracy, had temporarily fallen to the lower grades. Since his body had experienced an explosive growth of fitness attributes in a short period of time, he couldn't control it well yet -- thus the decline in grades of his core techniques. Zachary had to train like a maniac over the next few days to master his improved body and attributes. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to raise them back to the S-grading within a short time.

But even knowing all that, he wasn't that worried. He understood that the higher his fitness and game intelligence attributes, the faster he would master skills. With his S-graded stats, he would only need to train intensively for about three weeks to master his strengthened body. Then, when the Serie A commenced on August 30th, he would be able to shine in great splendor for Juventus.

"It's time I ate something."

Zachary quickly dismissed the system interface. He put on another set of casual clothes before heading to the kitchen and making himself some dinner.

Twenty minutes later, he finished enjoying a sumptuous homemade dinner and brushed his teeth. Then, he went through his evening yoga routine before taking another shower and jumping into bed for the night.

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The following day, Zachary's schedule was tight. After completing his routine morning training, he started moving around to say his goodbyes to his acquaintances.

He started by visiting Coach Johansen in the morning, who was surprisingly quite supportive of his move to Juventus. Then, he linked up with his old friends, Kasongo and the Ottersons, who congratulated him upon landing a good deal in a top club. And lastly, he called upon his teammates, like Mikael Dorsin, Nicki Nielsen, and Eric Bailly, who were already back in Trondheim for the last half of the Norwegian football season.

By the time he finished saying his goodbyes to everyone, the clock hand had already pointed to six o'clock in the evening. He returned home and cleaned up before putting on an elegant pair of black trousers and a sleek blue shirt. Then, after donning his well-polished black shoes, he exited his apartment and descended the stairs. Before long, he sat snugly in his R8 GT and drove off to meet Camilla for dinner at her place.

His mood was a bit jumpy as he guided the car through the busy evening traffic. His heart started to race with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation since he was about to meet Camilla for the first time in a long time. He'd last talked to her physically at his grandma's funeral two months ago. He missed her.

Of course, they had communicated often by phone while he was still in DR Congo. Camilla would even video chat with him every once in a while. But that couldn't beat meeting her physically and enjoying her presence.

He arrived at her apartment in Lade about ten minutes later and parked his car. He stretched out his hand and carefully picked up the banquet of flowers he'd bought earlier in the day from the passenger seat before exiting the vehicle. After locking the doors, he slowly ascended the stairs leading to Camilla's apartment.

On reaching her door, he breathed in deeply and knocked a couple of times. Seconds passed, but to Zachary, it seemed like a week. Then, the door opened silently, and Camilla appeared in the doorway.

She was as beautiful and as titillating as ever. Her skin glowed under the dim lighting, and her emerald-green eyes shone like two bright stars in the night sky. Then, there was that casual top and the pair of tight denim shorts she had worn to emphasize her swells and dips in all the right places. She was basically a top diva hidden away in an apartment in Norway.

"You're really the most beautiful girl in the world," Zachary blurted out without thinking. Her beauty had already disarmed him, and he'd even forgotten to hand her the flowers.

Camilla didn't say anything in response. She just watched Zachary's face for a few seconds before stepping forward and jumping into his embrace.

They hugged there, in front of the door leading to her apartment, without caring for anything else.

No words were exchanged for seconds. Then, in some uncanny way, their lips naturally came together, and they kissed deeply. The passion escalated, and they found themselves backtracking into the apartment.

Zachary kicked the door closed with his foot and latched it with his free hand. He then placed the flowers on a nearby table before concentrating on Camilla, eager to continue progressing the R-action between them.

Everything was instinctual as the tenderness bloomed between them, and soon, they were on the sofa making wild love like a pair of rabbits in heat. They caressed and explored each other with undivided attention, throwing all caution to the wind and immersing themselves in the sweet and intense throes of passion. They didn't stop until about an hour later when the smell of burnt food assaulted their nasal senses.