BJ Archmage - Chapter 6

Eric Maddox, a 70-year-old American retired football coach once hailed for his tactical brilliance, now forgotten by time—closes his eyes for what he believes is a normal nap in his quiet Florida retirement home.But when he opens them, he's not staring at ceiling tiles, instead, he's on a touchline.Wearing boots in the rain.With players running on the pitch, fans jeering behind barriers, and the smell of cheap turf pellets in the air.“What the hell is this?”He’s twenty-five again, but it’s not Earth. It’s a world where football reigns supreme. A world where the sport is religion, its practitioners, deities in cleats. Coaches are revered, players are worshipped, and even the kit man gets treated like royalty.But there's one catch: none of it is familiar. The clubs, the players, the leagues, the competitions, and even the currency—they're all different. Alien. Like waking up in a dream where the rules are the same, but the language is foreign.As if that wasn’t enough, the body he’s now in? A youth coach with a laughable win record, a looming divorce, and a measly fifty thousand in the bank that his ex-wife is fighting tooth and nail to take. All of it.Just when the spiral seems inevitable, a monotone chime pierces the noise.[Initiating Golden Finger…][…45%… 75%… 100%][System Integration Complete.][Welcome, host. You are now bound to the Pro Manager System. Objective: Dominate the Football World. A new era begins]From washed-up has-been to chosen one of destiny, Eric Maddox is about to trade arthritis pills for tactical boards, and shuffleboard for Prestigious Cup glory.Because in this world, tactics are power.And on this touchline, he’s about to become a god.

Su Yu had loved Bo Yunian for five years. She did not hesitate to break off all ties with her family to marry him. However, once Grandpa Bo passed away, she was framed as a murderer. She could tolerate it if the entire Bo family bullied her, but even this person who shared the same pillow with her did not trust her at all. She only received his cold shoulder, ridicule, and disgust. He even believed that she had the ridiculous motive of killing someone for the sake of receiving a huge inheritance!

Who was Su Yu? She was the only daughter of a low-key wealthy Su family in Xiangxi. With a wave of her hand, the entire world’s economy would tremble at her feet. Initially, Su Yu still had a glimmer of hope. She thought that as long as she revealed her identity and proved her innocence, she would be able to regain some trust from Bo Yunian. However, when she returned home, she saw another unpacking her things and moving into the Bo family. Bo Yunian started turning colder to her and wanted to divorce her.

Her hopes were shattered. After five years, it seemed like she still failed to warm Bo Yunian’s cold heart. Since she could not get him, she decided to let him go. After all, she did not accompany her parents and elder brothers for the past few years. Thus, she took a private jet back to Xiangxi only to find her Sixth Brother booking a whole convoy made of limited edition cars to receive her. The second Brother sent over a platinum card with six hundred million in it, adorned by a whole row of six for prosperity.

The third brother sent over a set of internationally acclaimed couture jewelry. The fifth Brother bought Su Yu a public listed company that Su Yu had always wanted since five years ago to welcome her return. He had already signed the company under her name. Meanwhile, Big Brother brought her to attend the Bo family’s banquet and face-smack Bo Corporation in public. Su Yu’s parents flew home straight away from Australia with wide smiles. After chucking all responsibilities over their international businesses, they retired! Honestly, why must she suffer such a torturous love in those five years? Was it not great for her to be a precious little princess at home?

Johnathan, an old man with an extraordinary past but an ordinary end, gets reincarnated in a dark fantasy world full of magic, darkness, and mysteries furled.

However, he committed a grave blunder by taking the fiction he had read as a reference. Reborn as a baby, he hoped to be deemed gifted by speaking early.

One thing led to another, and tragedy struck. The villagers declared him a demon-possessed and called the church. Johnathan, now known as Sylvester Maximilian, realized that he had messed up.

When the church's inquisitors came to judge him and burn him on a pyre. As a last resort and to welcome his soon to arrive second death, he started chanting holy hymns as his last breath.

Overwhelmed, they kneeled, thinking he was a messenger of Solis.

From there, the story of how Sylvester Maximilian rose through the ranks to sit at the top began.

But his life won't be ordinary, as he uses his cunning and the tag of 'God's favored' to his advantage. Fighting treachery, unearthing secret plots and world mysteries, facing the darkness around him and creating his place in history, engraving his name in the annals to be forever remembered as the—Immortal Pope, The Young.

[A/N: To not mislead you, the novel's name does not mean he instantly becomes the Pope from the start. The story will follow the life of MC. Though he will become the Pope at a pretty young age. 40% of the novel will be based around MC fighting to sit on the supreme throne.

If you enjoy world building and lore building, then you will like this story.]
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***Main Tags: FANTASY, ADVENTURE, MAGIC, DARK, STRONG MC(Weak at the start because he's a baby. Not an instant OP though.), WHOLESOME, COMEDY, KINGDOM BUILDING. MENTALLY OLD MC, Politics, Backstabbing, World Building.***

[WARNING: MC will not go around saving everyone. Absolutely not if it puts him in danger. But if he can save someone using his status or position in the church, he will. He will kill innocent people if he has to. MC is not crazy, cynical, or unsociable. The world at some times may seem very DARK.]
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[DISCLAIMER]
The religion will be fake. I won't make it similar to those existing in our world not to trigger anyone. However, the Church terminologies and designations may feel identical as they are simple vocabulary words.

Again, everything you read in this novel is fictional and has no relation to our world.

I hope you enjoy my work. Stay safe and eat healthy bananas.
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