Chapter 16: Potential or Ability?

Chloe and Will stayed at the coffee shop for another two hours before they eventually said their goodbyes and parted. Will escorted her outside and waited until he could no longer see her figure before he turned around and walked in the opposite direction towards his house.

Now that the date with Chloe was over, he had other things that he had to think about. The first one was his training. He had made minute improvements with the system’s daily missions but doing that alone wasn’t enough for him. He needed to do some training for himself as well, but he couldn’t do that without risking an injury.

As soon as he thought of that, he knew that the system probably had something to help him with it, but he knew that it would also cost him credits so he never asked about it as he didn’t want to spend his credits. He was saving so that he could undergo his first Potential Cap Upgrade. But after the friendly, he started thinking. What was the point of having a 99+ potential if you only got as good as a 78 rated player? Potential wasn’t everything in football.

It was the summer of 2024, and it wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen a lot of players who were hyped to be the next big thing end up as average players due to one thing or another. Ansu Fati, Jadon Sancho, Dele Alli, these were all players that had the potential to be great and be one of the best players in the world but they didn’t reach the full extent of their potential for one reason or another.

So potential wasn’t everything. He still actually had to improve, and that’s what he was going to do.

As soon as he got back home, he took off the clothes he wore to the coffee shop and immediately threw on some clothes that he could use to train. After that, he went to the training pitch in his backyard and found his football.

"System?"

[Ding! System is listening]

"Is there a way for me to make a full recovery before and after every training session?" Will asked.

[Ding! Searching system database]

[Ding! Result found]

[100% Recovery potion: Allows host to return to 100% fitness and health after training or a match]

[Cost: 10 Credits]

[Limit: 2/24 hours]

[50% Recovery potion: Allows host to regain 50% fitness and health after training or a match]

[Cost: 5 Credits]

[Limit: 2/24 hours]

[...]

There were a lot of other results that the system gathered, but the first two were exactly what Will wanted to see. Especially the first one. He could basically train until he couldn’t feel his body and with one of these potions, it would be like he was fully rested and hadn’t done anything at all. It was like he had just won the lottery.

"Wait, you mean you had this all this time and you didn’t even think to mention it to me?" Will raised an eyebrow. Sure he was hoarding all his credits for his Potential Cap Upgrade, but a mention from the system would have gone a long way.

[Ding! Host never asked. Would the host like me to make optimal suggestions to fast track his development?]

Will’s eyebrows twitched when he heard the question. What kind of a question was that? Obviously his answer was going to be-

"Yes," Will sighed. "Yes, I’d appreciate that."

[Ding! System searching database]

[(1) better option discovered]

[Time capsule: Inside the time capsule, the host may set any training environment he wishes to imitate and train there for 10 hours. Only ten minutes would have gone by in the real world. Time limit can be upgraded through the use of credits]

[Cost: 20 Credits/usage]

[Requirement: Host must be at least 60 rated (Current Rating: 56)]

Will read the descriptions, and at first he had a smile on his face, then as he continued reading, the smile thinned. When he finished reading, he was more motivated than ever. He had to improve, and he had to improve fast so that he would be able to improve faster.

He bought two recovery potions. He took one immediately so that the remnant fatigue from the match before would be gone, and then he started training.

He did basic drills at first, then with the guidance of the system, he started doing more complex drills. What he was trying to improve was his close control and his dribbling. With the help of the system overlay, he really didn’t have to worry about his vision so he delegated his attention to the next important thing, which was his close control and his dribbling.

In the friendly against the trialists, he was mainly reactive in the first half because he wasn’t really confident in his close control and his dribbling, so he kept things simple because he couldn’t afford to make mistakes anymore. He had to make sure that it wasn’t the case anymore.

He trained for the next four hours until he couldn’t move again, and then took the next recovery potion. The difference in his condition before and after was night and day. The first time he took it, he felt it but he didn’t really pay attention to it because he was partially recovered, but this time he really felt the difference.

A few seconds later, when he was fully recovered, he just lay on the grass and stared at the stars. It was almost eight in the evening so they were coming out in full force.

"You do know that you guys don’t treat the grass, right?"

A familiar voice sounded from the house. Will turned and saw Alex walking out from inside of the house.

"Like you are at a serious risk of getting ticks," Alex said.

Will groaned lightly but stood up from the grass. "Way to interrupt my deep connection with nature."

"Sure. Anytime," Alex said with a smile. "I figured you were going to be here. You train as if you want to follow my footsteps and end up with a cast around your leg."

"I’m more careful than that," Will said, and then he smiled. "And if I remember correctly, that wasn’t how you got your injury."

Alex rubbed his nose awkwardly. "How I got my injury isn’t important."

"But it is," Will laughed. "You were so badly finessed that you actually got an injury."

"Haha, funny," Alex muttered when he saw the way Will was laughing.

Alex played as a RB/RM/RW hybrid for Middlesbrough. He was basically a plug and play player. He could play anywhere on the right flank and played there very well. He could even play on the left too if he wanted. He was the definition of jack of all trades, master of all.

What truly made him stand out was his pace and his incredible work rate coupled with his stamina. He was a tireless player who worked like a horse on the pitch. Every coach’s dream.

"Just be careful man, it would be a shame if you got an injury now that you’re building momentum on the team," Alex said seriously after Will was done laughing.

"I’ll be careful, I promise," Will said.

"Now come on, I came to drag you back to my place," Alex said. "My dad bought me a PS5 yesterday and while it’s been fun playing FC25 by myself, it’s not as fun when I’m not kicking your ass."

"You, beat me in FIFA? Keep dreaming, son," Will said as he got himself up and went inside to take a shower.

A/N: Apologies for not posting the bonus Chapter yesterday like I promised. Here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.

Remember 50 Power Stones = 1 bonus Chapter