THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

The cold winter months soon arrived as nature's orchestra came to a sudden standstill. Most of the residents of the Moholt Student village slowly left for holidays. The few that stayed were all from outside Europe.

"Are you sure you want to remain here alone?" Kasongo inquired, frowning. "The Coach has granted us a one-month holiday. You should also get some rest. Why not join me on vacation? You don't have to spend the whole week there—but just two weeks of the holiday."

"Kasongo," Zachary intoned solemnly. "I've already made up my mind. I'm not going back home or on any vacations until I make it to pro-level."

He had no intention of changing his environment while amid training plans and an essential system mission. Taking a break at that moment would make him lax and lessen his focus on his goals.

On the other hand, if he stayed in Trondheim, he would be free to train all day without any interruptions. He would improve his stats much further before the rest returned from their holidays. A one-month training plan could do his physique wonders, with some help from the system. Zachary wasn't willing to give that up for anything.

"Alright, suit yourself," Kasongo mumbled, pulling his suitcase out of the door. He was on his way to meet his family on vacation in Paris. "I wish you a Merry Christmas. Hopefully, you'll have a memorable one here alone in an empty apartment." He added, wryly with sarcasm.

"Merry Christmas to you too," Zachary replied, flashing his flatmate a smile. He didn't mind his friend's tone since he had rejected his invitations several times. Being turned down multiple times would sour the mood of anyone. "Remember to buy some good quality Adidas soccer boots for me when you get to Paris," he added in a joking manner.

After Kasongo left, Zachary was left alone in the Moholt student village apartment. His Swedish flatmates had already left the previous day. He felt lonely in the desolate apartment for a moment, though the feeling did not last.

Looking at the snow outside his window raised his spirits. The corner of his mouth curved into a soft smile. "Just one more year—and all this training will be worth it," he mumbled to himself in encouragement. "Time to begin training."

Zachary settled into a calm state, one that seemed to have taken inspiration from the frozen earth outside his window. Without an ounce of hesitation, he dived into an intensive training routine that helped him forget it was the Christmas holidays.

Due to the knee-deep snow all over the city, Zachary moved all his training programs indoors. He spent most of his time either in the gym or the indoor futsal pitch, going through a speedwork routine and improving his shot accuracy.

He'd even started soaking in a cold tub of water every evening for fifteen minutes to recover faster and free more time for exercise. He would soothe his sore muscles and reduce his perception of fatigue whenever he immersed his body in the water at 4 to 6 degrees Celsius. The ice-cold water would freshen up his body and ensure it was in shape for the set of yoga and Hip-Flexor exercises he performed at night.

Zachary was not worried about squeezing himself dry since he possessed the physical-conditioning-elixir from the system shop. By consuming a single dose, he gained enough energy to train for a week without harming his body.

The winter gloom did not dampen his enthusiasm because he was progressing and improving in many areas. His movements were faster and sharper than they had been the previous month. His endurance was also getting better. He couldn't wait for the Riga Cup to commence. He was itching to test his skills against teams of international academy students from all over Europe.

Zachary sprinted, jogged, lifted weights, and conducted agility and endurance enhancing drills indoors. He didn't neglect to juggle the ball for about an hour or two each day to maintain his deft ball control. Holidays like the Christmas break often made players rusty. Zachary wanted to avoid losing his touch and going off form. The ball was his best friend, his route to fame and riches. He had to spend time caressing it, bonding with it as much as possible.

Since all his friends had left, he trained on his own using a wall. He would mark out a point on the wall and shoot at it from different angles while adjusting his leg power.

The wall soon became his perfect training partner. It would play with him whenever he wanted, and he could play with it for hours, yet it was never tired. Sometimes he would kick the ball at the wall until late in the night, varying his kick-swing speed and practicing the Bend-it like Beckham Juju skill.

His skills improved at a steady pace since the wall was the perfect partner. It never made a mistake. If he gave it a perfect pass, he would get a perfect ball back. His practice was a hundred times more efficient while training with the wall indoors. He didn't need to keep running and collecting the ball in-between his shooting, as he usually did in real pitches. Due to his increased efficiency, he would usually shoot 100 times more than he would have on the field.

By mid-January, he could easily play 400 non-stop aerial rounds of one-twos with the wall. It was as if he was playing tennis with the wall, albeit with his soccer boots. Throughout the offseason, he managed to improve his already phenomenal ball-handling even further.

Zachary had progressed in various aspects of the game by the end of the one-month vacation. He barely felt the passage of time while occupied by his busy training schedule. He even managed to complete the system speed workout mission and earned a sizeable sum of Juju-points as a reward.

He had been awarded 600 Juju-points for completing the speed workout routine along with an additional 200 points as a bonus. He felt like a rich man sitting on a mountain of Juju-points. He possessed a total stock of 1067 points after the mission completion—due to his previous earnings of 350 Juju-points in the friendlies before the Christmas Break.

With such a large sum of Juju-points, Zachary had the option to upgrade the system. However, he settled for a better course of action to meet his immediate goals.

He bought a D-grade agility-enhancing-elixir from the system shop for 1000 Juju-points. He was still in a good mood despite almost spending his entire stockpile. The remaining 67 Juju-points were enough for activating the system simulator until the opening ceremony of the Riga Cup, two weeks later.

The D-grade elixir was in the shape of a small onion, just like the C-grade version he had consumed when he initially advanced his agility. Zachary swallowed it down immediately after taking it out of the system inventory.

An intense wave of hunger washed over him once it had dissolved into his system. However, he had made ample preparations this time around by preparing a kilogram of yummy oven-baked chicken thighs—and a few other side dishes to feast on after consuming the elixir.

Zachary got to eating right away since the hunger was becoming more unbearable by the second. As he enjoyed his meal, alone in his apartment, he opened the system interface. He wanted to check out the status of his physical stats after taking the elixir.

He had resisted the urge to check on his improvement for the entirety of the Christmas break.

****

*USER STATS

->Physical Fitness: A+

->Soccer Technique: A+

->Game Intelligence: A+

->Mental Ability and Mindset: B-

->X-Factors: F

->G.O.A.T Skills: 3

****

****

*USER STATS

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

Balance and Coordination: A+

Agility: A+

Strength: A-

Stamina: A+

Endurance Points: 7400/9500 (A+)

****

"What the f**k?" Zachary could not help but swear out loud after perusing through his physical stats data. "What is happening?" He rubbed at his Afro-styled hair like it was a bother to him, his voice laced with a tinge of frustration.

All his physical stats had been improving steadily due to his intense fitness training routines. His strength, stamina, and endurance stats had all increased by a single grade over the past five months.

However, his agility stat was still at the A+ grading even after the consumption of an elixir.

He was sure it had worked since he could still feel waves of hunger washing through his body. And, he had been getting faster after exercising with Coach Johansen's routine for the past few months. But the system still rated him below S grade in the agility department. Zachary was perplexed. He pondered whether he needed to consume an A-grade elixir to push his stats up to the S-grading.

The only way to confirm just how much his top sprinting speed had improved was to use the electric timers. However, that would have to wait—until the coaches returned from their holidays a few days later.