From Arsenal to the Ball God

Isabella probably had other things to do, and before leaving, she waved goodbye to Ma’el with a smile, saying: ”I will come to London to watch you play football. Call me when you feel bored. Bye-bye.”

Ma’el waved goodbye to her too. Gradually, he could actually feel that Isabella seemed to have some special emotion towards him.

Back home, he quickly opened the gift box sent by Isabella and found it to be a very thoughtfully designed box.

Inside, there were many clever little designs, various types of petals and flowers, and a photo of the two taken during the endorsement shoot that day.

Of course, most importantly, was the ’Pounds’, which utterly spoiled the romantic atmosphere; the stench of copper and crumpled appearance here were simply outrageous!

”50,000 Pounds.”

Ma’el held the money in his hand, roughly gauged the amount, tossed the box aside, and sighed: ”Such generosity.”

......

On June 3rd, with 32 days of vacation countdown, Ma’el fully dedicated himself to frenzied additional training.

At the moment, apart from the two upcoming private coaches, he wouldn’t have anything else to deal with, at least until the summer transfer window.

He used all his time for training, therapy recovery, occasionally going out with Harry and Safina to shop for household items.

After Gilbert left, his days became much lonelier, drawing him closer to Harry and Safina.

Being alone playing football and forging a life outside, this loneliness had to be endured.

”Haven’t thought about finding a girlfriend?”

Safina asked him the other day while massaging him, seemingly curious, ”From my point of view, you have good conditions in every aspect, and there should be many young girls who like you.”

”Thought about it.” Ma’el confessed to her truthfully, then shook his head, saying: ”But currently, the most important thing is to establish myself at Arsenal.

”Once I make it here, for sure, I’ll consider that aspect. If I don’t then, it might seem like I have issues in some regards.”

”Haha...” Both Safina and Harry laughed, and they didn’t plan on asking Ma’el such questions anymore.

Ma’el enjoyed the duo’s massage with closed eyes, having clearly learned to distinguish which were Safina’s hands and which were Harry’s.

Have to say, giving a man a massage job was still best done by a woman; not talking about the therapeutic effect, psychologically it first felt good.

In the following days, Ma’el’s life became extremely disciplined; he headed to the training ground in the morning to practice reverse foot ability, followed by strength training at the gym at noon.

Reverse foot training had the smallest intensity, paired with the highest intensity of strength training, just right.

At one in the afternoon, after therapy and massage by the two, he would head to the training ground to practice ball control ability, finish and then go to the gym to train coordination, occasionally adding a bit of strength based on the day’s condition.

On June 8th, in the afternoon at two, while practicing ball control on the training ground, Ma’el finally felt a special sensation emerging.

”Boom boom boom...!” He caught what might be the brink of breakthrough, without any rest, speeding up the frequency under his feet; despite the slightly sore feeling in his legs, he did not stop.

After more than ten minutes, the string of characters he most wanted to see appeared right before his eyes.

[Skills: Ball Sense Level 2]

[Skill Level (371/800)]

[Utility: You slowly felt the importance of footwork to a player, started endless daily practice, gradually, you sensed a familiar feeling between your feet and the football!]

It’s here!

Still the initial Level 2!

”Huff...” Ma’el exhaled a long breath; he no longer knew how many days he had persisted, how much torment he had undergone, today he finally saw the light.

Moreover, he dared to affirm that this skill at Level 2 was more difficult to achieve compared to other skills.

Even planning it into cognitive skills, with 300 initial skill level, seemed extremely hard to achieve!

[Additional Skills: Frequency Level 2]

[Skill Level: (1/1500)]

[Utility: After practicing footwork, you gradually found that ball sense alone was insufficient; your body’s reaction speed, foot frequency and rhythm, various variations and direction change abilities all must be equipped!]

[Note: First additional panel, skill level upgrade for additional panel sticks to 1500, will not weaken, will not increase!]

”Oh...?” Ma’el’s eyes widened, followed by a surge of excitement, approaching his previous vision.

Additional Skills!

Various abilities related to ball control appear in the form of additional skills!

”1500 skill level.”

Ma’el didn’t find it too much because he roughly knew how significant this upgrade would bring.

He wouldn’t worry about having footwork after practicing ball control but lacking breakthrough ability!

Neither worrying about these minor categories, having to go through upgrading from Level 1 to Level 5 step by step in the future!

”Train them all!”

He would not only need to intensify the training of ball control ability but also elevate these additional characteristic skills completely.

If he could train these two abilities to a high level... it would be extremely difficult for Premier League defenders to tackle the ball from his feet in one-on-one situations.

It could be said; improving these two control abilities might also enhance the success rate for single bicycle maneuvers and step and shoulder drops, providing whole effect boosts to his dribbling and breakthrough ability!

...

ps: Going to sleep, requesting monthly tickets.