Noah woke up with one thought still ringing in his head.
That window wasn't a dream… was it?
He blinked, half-expecting the strange vision from last night to be gone. But as soon as he sat up, there it was again—faint, floating in front of his eyes like a hologram.
[Football Vision Console Active]
User: Noah Kane
Core Legacy: Iniesta's Legacy
Stats:
Vision Rating (VR): 63
Composure Rating (CR): 52
Stamina Rating (SR): 60
Technique Rating (TR): 65
Skills Unlocked:
Spatial Awareness Lv1
La Pausa Lv1
Weighted Passing Lv1
Noah rubbed his eyes. The numbers didn't disappear. "Sixty-three… Is that good?"
As if responding, a tooltip appeared.
"Vision Rating (VR) represents your ability to read the game and anticipate plays.
Average Youth Player: 40–50
Professional Midfielder Baseline: 75+**
He whistled softly. So I'm already better than most kids? Then he saw Composure Rating (CR): 52 and winced. That explained a lot. Even the system thought he panicked too much.
He left for morning training earlier than usual, something Amira noticed the moment she arrived. The team manager raised a brow. "You're here before everyone? That's a first."
"I'm… trying something new," Noah said while stretching.
"You look different," she teased. "Coach Harper yell that much yesterday?"
He thought about telling her about the strange system, but stopped. "Let's just say I realized I can't keep playing safe forever."
Amira grinned. "About time. Maybe you'll stop hiding behind Leo all the time."
Noah flinched but said nothing. Instead, he walked to the pitch and began practicing. The moment he touched the ball, it happened again—faint glowing lines appeared, mapping out passing lanes and defensive pressure zones like some advanced AR training program.
He tested it with a simple pass, following one of the suggested paths. The ball glided perfectly, brushing the inside of the post. Even alone, it felt good.
By the time the rest of the squad arrived, he was already warmed up. Coach Harper assigned him to the center of a rondo drill, where two defenders pressed hard. Normally, Noah would have taken the easy way out—a safe back pass. But now he saw the lanes opening and closing in real time. His hips rotated, and the ball zipped between two legs to a waiting teammate.
"Nice ball!" one of them shouted.
Noah kept it up, one-touch and two-touch passes delivered with crisp precision, driven by Spatial Awareness Lv1. The system displayed faint text at the corner of his vision:
[Skill Effect Active: Spatial Awareness Lv1]
+10% passing lane prediction
+5% interception avoidance
For once, Coach Harper looked impressed rather than disappointed. "Not bad, Kane. What's gotten into you?"
Noah smiled faintly. "Just trying to trust myself more."
After training, when most players left, Noah stayed behind. Sitting on the grass, he pulled up the console again, which now showed a small tutorial about La Pausa Lv1—a technique for briefly slowing play to control defenders' reactions.
The description made his jaw tighten. La Pausa worked best with a Composure Rating of 60+. His current score? 52.
"So I'm too shaky to even use it properly…" he muttered.
The system answered with a new sub-quest:
[Sub-Quest: Composure Under Fire]
Objective: Execute three forward passes under defensive pressure while staying calm.
Reward: Composure Rating +3 | La Pausa Efficiency +5%
Noah laughed softly. "Alright then. Challenge accepted."
That evening, the youth squad played a friendly against a senior local team. Noah wasn't supposed to start, but Harper threw him the number 8 jersey. "Midfield's yours tonight. Show me what you've got."
From kickoff, the seniors pressed aggressively, bigger bodies closing space faster than Noah liked. The old Noah would have panicked, choosing the safest option possible. But now the passing lanes glowed in his mind like illuminated threads. He took one calming breath, pivoted, and threaded a forward ball through two defenders to the winger. Perfect weight.
"Nice ball!" the winger shouted as he sprinted forward.
The console flashed:
[Sub-Quest Progress: 1/3]
Minutes later, another wave of pressure came. Noah stopped abruptly, hesitated a fraction of a second—La Pausa—and then slipped the ball to Leo, who spun and fired a shot just wide.
[Sub-Quest Progress: 2/3]
One more moment came near halftime. Noah faked left, stopped again, and calmly lifted the ball over an incoming tackle to his overlapping fullback.
[Sub-Quest Complete: Composure Under Fire]
Reward: Composure Rating +3 (Now 55) | La Pausa Efficiency +5%
Coach Harper slapped his shoulder as they walked off. "That's the confidence I want to see, Kane. Keep playing like that and maybe you'll run the game one day."
Noah smiled faintly, but inside he felt something deeper. This wasn't just improvement—this was transformation.
That night, lying in bed, he pulled up the console again.
[Stats Updated]
Vision Rating (VR): 63
Composure Rating (CR): 55 ↑
Stamina Rating (SR): 60
Technique Rating (TR): 65
Skill Efficiency: La Pausa +5%
The text scrolled again, faint and warm like encouragement:
"Courage and vision together create greatness. Continue evolving."
For the first time in years, Noah couldn't wait for tomorrow.