Julian regained his composure and focused on studying how to augment his talent points—specifically the body attribute, which comprises the bounce attribute and physical fitness.
The bounce attribute is crucial for headers and defensive headers, and is essential for central defenders and forwards alike. Julian, having played as a field forward in his past life, is quite confident in his jumping prowess. However, with at least a 60 as the passing line, there is no immediate need to boost it further since he is neither a central defender nor a striker currently.
Physical fitness, on the other hand, is the most significant attribute in sports. It dictates a player's condition and performance. Players like Ronaldinho, despite their immense skill, can see their stats drop significantly if their fitness isn't up to par, as Julian remembers an instance where Ronaldinho's full-scale quasi-champion attribute plummeted to below 50 after a night of excessive partying.
Physical fitness is vital for sustaining energy and executing precise technical moves during games. It is also the attribute with the highest earning potential. Julian contemplated his current status as a backup player who might not even get to play as a substitute, yet the school team had an internal group match this afternoon, making physical fitness a pressing concern.
Without hesitation, Julian transferred his newfound talent point to his physical fitness. The moment the transfer was complete, he experienced an unexpected lightness and ease in his breathing. In the D-level rating system, one talent point is equivalent to 100 hours of professional training.
"Congratulations to the host for successfully adding points. The host's physical attributes have increased from 54 points to 55 points," the system notification sounded in his head. Julian was astonished. He had not anticipated that his original physical attribute would be so low at only 54 points.
Considering the fact that these UK high school students had been playing and receiving professional training since their youth, the disparity made sense. He acknowledged that he needed to prioritize improving his physical fitness, at least to the point where he could perform adequately in games. If he wished to truly shine, he had to first bridge the gap created by his lack of physical conditioning from his previous life.
In the future, he resolved to focus on physical fitness as his top priority, ensuring that this fundamental aspect of his game was at least at the passing level of 60. Only then could he hope to make an impact when given the chance to play a full match.
In the afternoon, Julian donned his sports attire and tucked the pink love letter into his pocket before making his way to the training field.
By the time he arrived, most of the players had already gathered there.
Drummer greeted Julian with an enthusiastic wave, and Rusty Stripe also flashed a grin in his direction, giving him a thumbs up.
In contrast, Michael and the others maintained their haughty demeanor, intentionally ostracizing Julian.
Julian remained unfazed, offering a slight smile as he positioned himself at the back of the line.
Today, there were 9 additional training enhancements to be had.
He aimed to be as selective as possible when picking up defensive training outcomes and steered clear of any useless skills.
As of yet, Coach Carter had not made an appearance.
Captain Bread took the initiative to organize the team for warm-ups and a run.
The Bucks Steel Horns' warm-up run was quite demanding, and Julian, despite being part of the team, could barely keep pace.
The training level of this high school team was significantly higher than that of the former Shiye team.
Thankfully, Julian had allocated talent points to his physical attributes during class earlier today.
Otherwise, it would have been embarrassing not to be able to keep up with a school team's warm-up run.
Once the 15-minute warm-up run concluded, Captain Bread instructed the players to stretch.
Julian took this opportunity to add to the tension as he leaned over to stretch, allowing the crumpled pink letter to slip from his pocket and land at Rusty Stripe's feet.
Rusty Stripe's eyes lit up, "What's this?"
Julian feigned nonchalance, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just a love letter. I'll pick it up after I'm done stretching."
Without hesitation, Rusty Stripe dashed forward, capitalizing on the moment to snatch the "love letter."
The surrounding team members, upon hearing the mention of a love letter, hurried over.
They hadn't encountered such a thing since their school days.
Julian chuckled inwardly: a bunch of middle schoolers indeed.
Rusty Stripe began reading the letter aloud: "Dear Julian, you may not know who I am..."
He stopped abruptly, contemplating the words.
Is this holy still allowing single dogs to live? !
And those holy fishnet pajamas...
What in the world are those?
The group of friends around him were equally at a loss.
Julian calmly retrieved the pink love letter from Rusty Stripe, "Alright, don't bother reading it. It's just a distraction for our training. I'll tear it up later."
Rusty Stripe's mouth twitched slightly as he handed it back.
"Sensing 55 points of negative emotion from Chris Dick, system bubbles are being generated..."
"..."
"..."
White bubbles of varying sizes began to form around Rusty Stripe and his group of friends.
Julian quickly counted: at least fourteen or fifteen of them!
Julian was quite pleased with the outcome of this little ruse.
With so many achievement bubbles floating around, he needed to be discerning in his selection.
Captain Bread, a defensive midfielder, was an obvious choice for one.
Even though Michael was an attacking midfielder, he could fill a defensive role if needed, and his overall team strength was formidable. Julian decided he should claim one of his bubbles as well.
Rusty Stripe and Painter, both central defenders, were entitled to one each.
Julian had considered Harry, the right back, but he'd been focusing on cycling lately, so Julian opted not to impede his progress.
Using the guise of stretching, Julian touched the bubbles of Captain Bread, Michael, Rusty Stripe, and Painter in turn.
Four white bubbles burst spectacularly, transforming into four radiant beams of light that merged with Julian's body!
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