Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!

"All this started five years ago..." Lucy said as she looked up, as if recalling a distant memory. "I was a little girl of only eleven who went swimming for fun and..."

As Lucas and Lucy sat on that bench in a quieter part of the mall, she began to tell him the origin of her fear.

Ever since Lucy started swimming, she was naturally better than the other children. Therefore, she won many championships as a child and didn't even understand the impact of this because she didn't work hard to get the results. Of course, she put in the effort and trained at least four times a week, but she didn't see it as effort but as fun.

Over time, Lucy began to make a name for herself in the Brighton area. She became known as the female Michael Phelps. Her speed in the water was tremendous for her age and her technical finesse made even some professional swimmers admire her. Lucy was synonymous with natural talent.

It didn't take long for Lucy's fame to reach more and more people, and her fame exploded after a story on the UK's biggest television channel.

Lucy was a pretty girl with light brown eyes and long blonde hair. Her television appearance earned her a small legion of passionate fans who would pay for anything with her face on it. So, for a few months, she became the UK's leading children's face, featuring on products such as shampoo and chips.

According to Lucy's agent, having her face everywhere was the best way to get more and more sponsors.

However, such fame came at a price. Lucy could no longer go home from school with her friends, nor could she leave the house to go to the movies or buy clothes at an outlet, because every time she heard flashes and after the flashes the crowds of people would flock to take pictures with her.

"Before, I was just a girl who liked swimming and that became my favorite thing soon after I became famous. After all, in the pool, in my own lane, no one could touch me." Lucy blurted out, still looking up.

"Wow... I hadn't thought about the consequences of fame..." admitted Lucas.

He had always envied young boys who rose through the soccer ranks quickly and changed their lives in the blink of an eye. It was natural for him, who had always wanted to be a footballer, to want that, wasn't it?

"You shouldn't take what I said so seriously. I mean, like, you want to be a professional footballer, right? Of course, you also want to be famous, and my problem isn't with fame itself, but with crowds."

"I understand." Lucas laughed at Lucy's attempt to cheer him up. "Fame is intrinsic in soccer these days, and I think that's only going to increase. I'm not afraid of crowds. After all, the sight that gets me most excited is seeing a full stadium. However, fame is not something to be underestimated."

*Click*

At that moment, while Lucas was talking to Lucy, they heard the sound of a camera followed by a slight flash that came from the left of where they were sitting.

Lucy's eyes widened with fear. The smile on her face disappeared completely.

Lucas immediately got up from the bench they were sitting on and looked in the direction the flash had come from. There was an ice cream parlor there, with a few couples sitting there and a couple of boys who were laughing. On their table was a cell phone.

"Stay here, Lucy. I'll sort it out." He said and walked over to the boys' table.

When Lucas stopped in front of their table, the laughter immediately stopped. They turned their heads slightly to look at Lucas and saw a pure expression of disgust on his face.

Lucas stretched his right hand forward, palm up, and said: "Let me see the photo gallery on your cell phones."

"W-what? Why would we do that?"

"Yeah, you're just a stranger. Why do you want our cell phones?"

Lucas took a deep breath to keep his patience. "Look, I think you took a photo of my friend back there without permission. If you don't cooperate, I'll go to the mall management and do a formal complaint. The mall has no legal authorization to search your cell phones, so the legal procedure will be to call the police and after that your parents will be informed. Of course, you can delete the photo until then, but the police have a way of recovering deleted data and will be able to if the photo is on your phone. This would be a boring process and could end up with both of you being arrested for stalking through no fault of your own."

In truth, Lucas was a little over the top in some parts, but if it made the boys give in, he didn't care.

The boys exchanged glances, and the skinnier one said to the other: "Go on, man, give him your cell phone to delete the photo."

The chubbier one was in a cold sweat and had to accept, since his friend had already reported him. "All right, take it and delete it quickly."

The boy handed Lucas his cell phone with the screen unlocked, and Lucas quickly went into the gallery and deleted the photo that was mainly focused on Lucy's breasts.

"You're disgusting..." Lucas said, putting the boy's cell phone into the glass of soda on their table.

"W-what did you do?" The fat man quickly tried to get the cell phone out of the glass.

"If you try to recover that photo, or it turns up somewhere, know that I have a very good memory for faces." Lucas turned and walked back towards Lucy.

"You... you..." the boy squawked as he stared at Lucas's back.

Find your next adventure on empire

Lucas walked over to Lucy. "Don't worry, Lucy. He didn't take a picture of you specifically, but of the direction we were going. As a precaution, I've deleted the photo. So you can continue coming to the mall with your friends."

Her face lit up. "Really?"

Lucas nodded and held out his right hand to her. "Now, shall we go somewhere else? I don't think that boy is going to stop telling the administration that I put his cell phone in his soda."

"You what?" she started laughing.

Lucy and Lucas chatted some more than they walked through the mall until they both received messages at the same time.

The message she received was from Samantha, her friend who was accompanying her that day, and the message Lucas received was from Raphael. Both messages told them to meet outside the mall because it was getting late and they needed to leave.

When they arrived at the meeting point, Raphael and Samantha hadn't arrived yet. Then Lucas took courage and said:

"By the way, Lucy, I heard that we might study at the same institute if I pass the screening. Give me your number. Maybe I could use someone to introduce me to the institute's points of interest."

Lucy smiled. "I was beginning to think you'd never ask. Give me your cell phone." She reached out to take the phone and even used a thicker voice, as if she were imitating what Lucas had done with the boys.

He thought it was funny and did as she asked. She took the phone with both hands and, hiding it a little, put in her number. When she handed the phone back to him, he looked at the contact name she had put in and saw that it read "L <3".

[The "Double Date" mission has been completed.]

[You have obtained +2 Mystery Cards].

Lucas smiled, but before he could say anything, he heard the sounds of Raphael and Samantha's laughter. Apparently, they got on very well, very well in fact, because Raphael even had a bit of lipstick on his mouth.

So they said goodbye, the girls wished them good luck so of the sift and took a private car to leave.

Raphael, who was from the city and lived in an apartment near the center, accompanied Lucas to his hotel and they said goodbye.

When they arrived at the hotel room, Lucas took a quick shower and decided to see all the rewards he had accumulated only the next day, when he got the answer to the test. If he passed, he would try to invest in one way, otherwise he would completely change the strategy he intended to follow for his career. After all, he couldn't keep trying several auditions around the world.

-:|:-

When Lucas woke up the next morning, he grumbled and rolled over in bed. For the first five minutes, he couldn't even remember where he was. Then a message arrived on his cell phone, vibrating his pillow. This jolted Lucas awake.

Lucas stuck his hand under the pillow and reached for his cell phone. Right from the home screen, he could see that there was an e-mail, and the message was clear and to the point.

[Subject: Results of Brighton FC's Under-20 sift.

From: Brighton Football Club

To: Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Date: July 3, 2017, 08:11

Dear Lucas Tanaka, congratulations! We are delighted to inform you that you have passed our recent sift to join Brighton Football Club. We were impressed by your performance, technical ability and effort during the assessments, and believe you have great potential to join our team.

As a Brighton FC player, you will have the opportunity to hone your skills and develop further in a professional environment, surrounded by coaches and colleagues committed to success in soccer.

In the next few hours, our team will be in touch to share the details of joining the club and give you all the information you need about the next steps. If you have any questions or require any guidance, feel free to contact us directly.

We look forward to seeing all the talent and passion you will bring to Brighton Football Club.

Welcome to the Brighton family, Lucas Tanaka!

Sincerely,

Brighton Football Club.]