Chapter 47

“Meadows, midfield.” His name and position for the scrimmage were called by Samantha, and he headed over to the other group of guys. Part of him was actually surprised he’d been called for a starting role in the scrimmage against the JV team, as both he and Sam knew today was his last day. Still, he had a feeling she was giving him another chance to build that teamwork and camaraderie with the players and try to get him to stick around one last time.

He was onto her tricks. And yet, as he shot her a knowing smile, which she returned, her eyes sparkling, he almost stumbled. If not just for the other players, and his love for soccer, he was tempted to stick around for the coach. The Coach for the Tennis team was a stern looking male of East European descent…Samantha was, definitely not that. But, while he did enjoy the coach, even if her practices were exhausting, he had his goals. And, even though his encounter with Ashley had been strange, he couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy over the fact she, and more importantly, Sophia, had noticed his absence. It meant he was on Sophia’s radar.

Self Esteem +1 (63) Happiness +2 (73)

Looking at his fellow players, as Samantha continued calling out the planned lineup, he couldn’t help but notice she was putting in all of their top players first and foremost. He was no stranger to these types of scrimmages, and he could already see the JV team was putting in mostly sophomore players for the start. They were going to gauge the strength of the Freshman team, before putting in their top players. Samantha was using that opportunity to try and score a few goals early on.

A sound tactic, considering soccer generally wasn’t a high scoring sport. A few points early on, combined with a healthy defense, could decide a game. If they got ahead early enough, they could actually beat the JV team. Something he’d heard hadn’t happened in the past five years.

Let’s change that, shall we? Dan thought with a chuckle. The moment team selection was completed, they headed out onto the center of the field, taking up their appropriate positions. Samantha had placed Dan at Center mid. He was, quite literally, the very center of their formation, with the four forwards taking up their position around the center circle, and the other two mids on either side of him. Behind him, three defenders, and the goalie, marked their offense centered strategy.

That being said, she’d already informed him she expected him to not only assist the forwards, but also act as an impromptu stopper. As such, he was to be aggressive, and also act as the first line of defense. The only reason she’d placed him in this position, was because of how freakishly athletic he was. Her words, not his own. She’d informed him point blank his athleticism put him up there with top JV, and Varsity, members.

Annoying, Dan still didn’t know what his stats actually translated to in that regard, because of the system setting his old stats as base 0, and giving him increases from there. Sure, he figured it helped him greatly accelerate his stat growth early on, but at the very least, an inkling of where he’d been at prior to gaining these powers would have been nice.

That being said, Dan figured, even if his stats had all be at a 40, prior to gaining these powers, that meant his strength, dexterity, and constitution were, at the very least, in the 50s now. Considering how he performed alongside Samantha, whose stats he could now tell, thanks to his new and improved relationship, were between the 50 and 70 range. He couldn’t’ yet pinpoint them, but using her as a baseline, and how he performed against her, gave him a good feeling his suspicions about his previous physical traits were somewhat accurate.

Which also meant, as she’d implied, he likely had the highest overall rounded stats out there on the field. He knew for a fact he was stronger, faster, and had more endurance than any other player on the freshman team. Looking over the players on the other side of the field, as they prepared for kickoff, he could also tell he had most of them beat too.

At least, almost all of them. Their goalie was one of two Juniors playing right now on the JV. Him, and their Sweeper, both had physical traits all above the 50 mark, and their constitution seemed to be in the 60s for both. Looking over their traits, he could see most of those ranged from the 40s to high 50s, with maybe one or two in the 60s. Meaning, those two, while likely not at his level, were dangerously close.

But, Dan hadn’t expected to be a soccer god overnight. The schools team went through quite the rigorous training, he knew that. And the school, as a whole, was well known for their sports teams. Sure, Peter may have been the shining light when it came to pure individual athletic talent, Dan knew he’d be a fool to underestimate those two on the other side of the field.

Then again, Dan was all about testing out his new skills and traits, especially thanks to his new Tier. And, given his previous interaction with Ashley, he was pretty certain he’d hit some sort of benchmark for his physical traits. Which meant he was getting a boost. After all, from what he knew of his physical traits, they had small, incremental increases with each level, then a massive spike when he hit certain, unknown points.

He grinned to himself as he thought about his strength, dexterity, and constitution undergoing spikes. That would be a huge boon not only now, but more so on the tennis courts. Combined with the free skill ups, he couldn’t help but feel excited for Peter’s return. Even more so though, he grinned as the whistle blew, indicating the game could start. The JV team had kickoff, and they prepared themselves, getting ready to play as they eyeballed Dan’s team.

His vision flickered as his Basic Skill Assist pulled up the trajectory of the ball, and the movement of the players. As Syn had mentioned, the improvements were nice. The possible error of the prediction was smaller, and it almost felt like they were moving a tad bit slower than normal. Or more accurately, perhaps his mind was processing information faster now with the skill active.

Either way, the moment the ball was kicked, he knew where it was going, and he was moving. As he neared the ball, and the player the ball had been kicked to, his grin widened. A message crossed his vision, and he mentally accepted it.

Auto-Battle Enabled.