When Eclipse Shadows' recognition was confirmed, Joan did not sleep. She knew her competitors and soon to be enemies will also not sleep to grind her to a halt. The Void Pitch had an additional opened feature in her mind scape, adding the markets, ledgers, and cosmic coins that hummed like galaxies. She has to scroll through them but quickly exited. She found it challenging to use the services and resorted to visiting the real market.
...
The Divine Realm operated on a tripartite economy, each layer mirroring their obsession with hierarchy...
Celestia Credits (CC) - The universal divine coin, minted by the Divine Football Organisation. Only clubs sanctioned by the Pantheon could earn or spend them. A single CC could feed an entire mortal city for a month. In the leagues, however, CC was blood. It purchased transfers, facilities, and contracts.
Glory Bonds (GB) - These were not earned but bestowed. A bond represented divine favor, and clubs with high loyalty from top gods and goddesses club could exchange them for unfair privileges—like resurrecting dead players or accessing restricted training grounds. One GB was worth more than ten million CC, yet they could only be given, never bought.
Fate Shards (FS) - The rarest currency, shards of destiny harvested from matches where miracles occurred. A last-minute equaliser against impossible odds, a broken underdog shattering a dynasty. Such moments produced FS, and they could bend rules. Joan had read a legend in forbidden scroll: a single complete and merged Fate Shard could let a club skip an entire league.
These currencies laid the foundation and created the Divine Market Ecosystem—a sprawling astral bazaar that hung in orbit above the Twelve Leagues. There, clubs bartered, gambled, and bribed for survival. The wealthy Celestial Apex teams strolled through with fountains of Glory Bonds, while the Ashen Ranks scraped for scraps, trading away their very players just to afford boots.
But Joan's blessing—her curse—was different.
Where the Divine Realm gave coins and shards, her Divine Football System issued Obsidian Marks (OM). They weren't material. They etched themselves onto her club's crest, visible only to her and those bound by loyalty. She read through the latest discovered notice from her system.
[System Notice]
Obsidian Marks (OM): Earned by loyalty, hardship, and rebellion against divine order.
Unlike CC, OM cannot be bought. They accumulate when players choose to fight, when fans believe without condition, and when victories are stolen from jaws of despair.
Current Balance: 324 OM.
Obsidian Marks could not be traded in the divine markets, but the system whispered that when stacked high enough, they could warp reality itself—unlocking talents, resurrecting careers, even forging shortcuts through the Pantheon League. It will be a game changer in the nearest future.
A second notification glowed:
[System Loyalty Mark]
Each player bound to Joan carries a Loyalty Rating (0–100).
At 100, a player fuses their fate with Eclipse Shadows. They cannot be poached, bought, or tempted by any club.
At 0, they walk away forever.
Joan's lips curved into a dangerous smile. So, the Organisation's market ran on wealth and favor. But mine? Mine runs on faith.
...
The morning after their draw with Celestials United, Joan opened her dashboard again. New subsection was present.
[Club System Menu]
• Club Management – 1.1% Optimisation
• Talent Radar – 46% Range
• Staff Recruitment – 1.1% Success Rate
• Divine Tactics– 1 Unlocked Formation (Chaos Eclipse)
• Hidden Gems – Locked
• Repair Broken Talent – 3.1%
• Morale – 84%
[Currency]
• 2 CC
• 0 GB
• 0 FS
• 324 OM
]
Her fingers brushed the glowing panels. She focused on the new improvement.
Club Management (1% → 1.1%)
This feature displayed spreadsheets that were alive. Player morale pulsed like beating hearts, stamina flickered like candle flames, and financial stress appeared as cracks on a glowing shield. Every victory or defeat updated it in real-time. Below it was a news notification.
[Update: Due to legitimacy recognition, Sponsorship Slots unlocked (+3). Revenue potential increased. CC intake: +2 per match (Not fixed. Will improve).]
Joan smirked. So we finally start earning Divine Credits.
The finger brush again.
Talent Radar (41% Range → 46%)
The radar expanded that morning, glowing points appearing across the Ashen Ranks. Each point represented a potential recruit—raw, broken, or forgotten talents.
One pulse drew Joan's attention: a striker abandoned by Golden Talons, Loyalty 12, potential rank S.
Another pulse: a goalkeeper who had been blinded in one eye, Loyalty 67, potential rank A.
Joan whispered: We will bring you back. As she stared at the abandoned goalkeeper.
And again she touched the staff recruitment.
Staff Recruitment (1% → 1.1%)
The system offered her candidates. Most were frauds—washed-up trainers who padded resumes. But one stood out: Dr. Korrin, a rogue physician banned from Divine Leagues for experimenting with forbidden stamina potions. Although, the ban was later removed but his enemies had achieved their results and soiled his name. Worst, they were punished lightly almost at the level of slight warning. Recruitment chance: 37%.
Joan chuckled. "You'll fit right in."
Again... her finger brushed.
Divine Tactics (Chaos Eclipse unlocked)
This tab fascinated her most. Instead of fixed 4-4-2s or 3-5-2s, the system birthed living formations.
[Chaos Eclipse] – Formation that thrives in unpredictability. Boosts all Shadow-aligned talents by 12%. Increases disruption effect vs divine opponents. (Some stats are yet to be revealed).
The players had already felt it against Celestials United. When order was broken, their shadows grew stronger.
The finger brushed.
Hidden Gems (Locked)
A chained icon. Hovering over it revealed:
[Requirement: Earn 1 Fate Shard or reach 10% progress on Repair Broken Talent.]
Her heart skipped. So repairing myself will also unlock this.
Repair Broken Talent (2.7% → 3.1%)
A bar she couldn't stop staring at. Each victory, each roar, each Obsidian Mark—added fractions. It wasn't only her career being mended. It was her destiny.
Joan smiled and brush again.
She got a window rest period and Joan planned to utilise it. She had plans to complete her standard tallies on players. She went to work.
Days ran fast.
For the first time, Joan reviewed her official 22-man roster.
Starting XI
• GK – Zara (Captain, Defensive Titan)
• RB – Juno (Slum Sprinter)
• CB – Rook (Mad Disrupter)
• CB – Darius (Stone Wall)
• LB – Nia (Silent Blade)
• RM – Kai (Chaos Dribbler)
• CM – Mila (Shadow Striker, Deep Lurker)
• CM – Elian (Balance Keeper)
• LM – Lyra (Twin Brother, Trickster)
• ST – Orion (Aerial Predator)
• ST – Sylas (Twin Brother, Trickster)
New Additions (expanding to 22)
• GK – Eryndor (One-Eyed Guardian)
• RB – Korrik (Iron-Blooded Tackler)
• CB – Halvor (Ex-Talons Youth, Vengeful)
• CB – Fenris (Wolf-Blood Striker converted to Defence)
• LB – Marra (Street Acrobat)
• CM – Sorin (Alchemist Midfielder, Experimenter)
• CM – Veyra (Exiled Priestess, Spiritual Anchor)
• RM – Kallus (Runaway Noble, Trickster)
• LM – Rhea (Street Dancer, Twin Rival)
• ST – Draeven (Firebrand Striker)
• ST – Kairon (Silent Killer)
• Utility – Tovan (Can play anywhere, stamina monster)
Twenty-two. A complete squad, though fractured by loyalty, stitched together with shadows.
Joan's moves were beautifully read by various organisations. They want part of the Eclipse Shadows. Their recognition brought attention. Scouts, vultures, and merchants descended upon Aevallure. The Divine Market Ecosystem stretched even into mortal streets.
Merchants offered Joan "contracts" to sell Kai for 50 CC. She refused.
A shady broker whispered of a GB trade—sell Mila's loyalty, gain favor. Joan nearly struck him.
Fans begged her to buy better boots, better gear, better medics. Every choice required CC she did not yet have.
Her OM wasn't enough to kit up her players. She wasn't thinking of special clothes design for her players. Those cost a-lot at Divine Market Ecosystem and her system store.
She decided to invest on loyalty. She will slowly sort all requirements at the nearest future.
Her Divine Football System pulsed quietly:
[Obsidian Marks Spent → +5 Loyalty across squad.]
Her players noticed. Gear still cheap, meals still simple—but they felt her faith. They were enough for her.
...
Their schedule appeared. Ironbreak Juniors. Howling Wolves. Silver Talons. Three matches in nine days.
Each one carried weight. Lose three, and they'd sink into oblivion—erased from history.
At night, Joan stood alone under the Void Pitch, watching the pyramid glow.
It felt like her broken talent whispered: You will climb. One mark, one shard, one step at a time.
But first, she has serious business to complete before her match day fixtures arrived...
...
Joan did not remember walking into the marble atrium of the Divine Football Organisation. One moment she had signed her club's existence into the digital ether, and the next, she was standing before columns that stretched into eternity, banners of every recognised club fluttering like constellations. Two million crests blazed overhead, rotating in a spiral galaxy of ambition.
When her club's emblem appeared—a black eclipse haloed in violet flame—she felt her knees weaken. The hall trembled as the system whispered:
[Recognition complete.
Club: Eclipse Shadows
Registered Owner: Joan Salvador
League Assignment: Ashen Ranks, Tier 1, Division 5
Promotion Slots: 1,000,000 out of 2,000,000]