The massive gates of the Eternal Era football club loomed before Dante, their polished steel edges gleaming in the noonday sun. The place radiated wealth, power, and prestige the kind of institution where legends were carved and the weak were broken. Dante kept his face neutral, but his heart was thudding in his chest, each beat echoing louder than the last.
Uncle Jason walked beside him, his strides easy and confident. He had the air of someone who had spent his entire life inside facilities like this, breathing turf and sweat, and the sight of him joking with the security guards at the entrance only drove home the difference between them.
"You're tense," Jason said, glancing at Dante as they entered the compound. "Relax. This isn't a battlefield. It's a home. My home."
Dante forced a chuckle. "Your home smells like grass and sweat."
Jason laughed so hard that a couple of the passing players glanced at them. "Better than blood and smoke, eh?" His tone carried a hidden weight, but he let it pass without explanation.
They walked past the main training fields, where dozens of young athletes sprinted through drills under the watchful eyes of coaches. The precision in their movements and the raw energy in the air were intoxicating. Dante's fingers twitched, itching to feel the ball again, to test himself against them.
Jason, noticing the look in his eyes, grinned. "Patience. Your turn will come sooner than you think."
They reached the main building, where glass walls revealed state-of-the-art gyms, hydro-recovery chambers, and tactical rooms filled with holographic projectors. But instead of entering through the normal doors, Jason led Dante down a quieter hallway, away from the bustle. At the far end stood a reinforced door with glowing biometric locks.
"Uncle…" Dante hesitated. "This doesn't look like a locker room."
Jason smirked. "That's because it isn't. I told you I had a surprise, didn't I?"
With a wave of his hand, the door scanned Jason's palm and swung open with a hiss. Cold air rushed out, carrying a sterile scent like polished steel mixed with ozone.
Inside was not a gym, nor a simple training pitch it was a hidden arena.
The chamber stretched vast and circular, its walls covered in glowing panels that shimmered with shifting landscapes. The ground beneath their feet was smooth turf, but Dante's senses told him it was something more than grass it pulsed faintly with energy, like it was alive.
"What… is this place?" Dante whispered, his voice almost swallowed by the vastness.
Jason's expression turned serious. "This is the Advanced Simulation Arena. Very few outside the Eternal Era organization even know it exists. It was designed to push players not just physically, but mentally, spiritually. Every drill here adapts to you in real-time. It learns you."
Dante's eyes widened. "You brought me here… why?"
Jason's grin returned, though his eyes carried something heavier. "Because, Dante, I see the fire in you. You're not just another kid trying to play ball. You're… different. And I want to see how far that difference goes."
Before Dante could reply, Jason snapped his fingers. The panels around the room lit up, and holographic figures began to materialize on the turf. At first, there were three players sleek, quick-footed avatars dressed in Eternal Era kits.
"Your challenge is simple," Jason explained, folding his arms. "Break through them. Score."
Dante's lips twitched into a smirk. "That's all?"
Jason chuckled. "Don't get cocky. The arena doesn't play fair."
The whistle of compressed air sounded, and suddenly a ball rolled toward Dante from the center mark. Instinct surged through him lightning thrummed faintly under his skin, his heartbeat syncing with the rhythm of the ball. He stepped forward, touched it with the inside of his foot, and launched into motion.
The three defenders came alive instantly, their movements sharp and reactive, their tackles precise.
Dante feinted left, burst right, his body flowing with red sparks. One avatar lunged too slow. Dante slid past, the ball glued to his foot. Another came head-on, but Dante's foot flicked the ball behind his planted leg, spinning him past with a clean Marseille turn.
Jason raised his eyebrows, impressed.
The third defender, however, was faster, its movements eerily human. It read Dante's feint, blocked his lane, and forced him wide. Dante's eyes narrowed — the AI was adjusting.
"Good," Dante muttered under his breath. "Then let's get serious."
He let the lightning flare stronger, his afterimage stuttering in the air as he flickered into a vanishing step. For a split second, even he felt his balance waver, but he reappeared behind the defender, ball still at his feet. With a grin, he wound back and unleashed a strike.
Boom!
The sound echoed like thunder as the ball curved and smashed into the virtual net. The arena itself trembled.
Jason let out a low whistle. "You've been holding out on me, kid."
Dante smirked but didn't answer. He didn't want to reveal how much his cultivation was bleeding into his play not yet.
But the arena wasn't done. Before he could breathe, the panels shifted again. This time, five avatars materialized. Bigger. Faster. Stronger.
Jason's grin widened. "Round two."
Dante exhaled sharply. Sweat already beaded his forehead, but a fire lit in his chest. "Bring it on."
For the next twenty minutes, the hidden arena became a battlefield. Dante twisted, sprinted, and struck, his body blazing with controlled bursts of lightning. Each breakthrough was harder than the last, each strike more punishing. His muscles screamed, his lungs burned, but he refused to stop.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Dante collapsed onto the turf, panting hard. His shirt clung to him, drenched in sweat. Above, the simulation faded away, leaving silence in its wake.
Jason clapped slowly, his face unreadable. "You're something else, Dante. I wasn't wrong about you."
Dante looked up, forcing a tired grin. "Was that the surprise?"
Jason shook his head. "That was just the warm-up. The real surprise comes tomorrow. You'll train with the Rising Stars — Team B. And if you can hold your own there…" He let the words hang in the air like a challenge.
Dante's pulse quickened. That was the team he'd just discovered. His chance was coming faster than he expected.
But before he could answer, his ears twitched. A faint sound, almost imperceptible, reached him. The scrape of metal. A shadow moving outside the chamber's door.
Jason didn't notice, still speaking. "I'll put in a word with the head coach. You'll get your chance."
Dante's eyes, however, narrowed. The shadow was gone now, but he knew what he had heard.
Someone was watching.
And it wasn't part of the simulation.