"Congratulations on completing the NCAA official game mission..."
"Congratulations on completing the NCAA official game mission..."
The "clink-clank" of the notification sounds, like a symphony, heralded the end of Lu Ke's first game as a quarterback. As for the outcome, the cheerful sound reminded him of the sound effects in "Super Mario," when he ate a mushroom to grow bigger or get fireballs. It meant he could now arm himself further. This was great news, the best news.
First pass, complete, one basic point. First touchdown, complete, one basic point. Passing for 75 yards, complete, one basic point. Getting the victory, complete, two basic points. And... scoring touchdowns, four, four basic points.
Mission after mission was settled. Lu Ke realized he had a total of nine basic points! The first touchdown had fulfilled two missions simultaneously, not only counting for the "first touchdown" reward but also for the "score a touchdown" reward. So, after the settlement, he had nine basic points. A full nine points!
He had only earned nine basic points in the previous five months of training, but in one game, he had earned nine basic points. It looked like the celebration was just getting started!
He happily opened his personal information panel and looked at his skills again.
Even though he won tonight's game, Lu Ke knew it was a very close call.
First, he won because of the information asymmetry. As a backup quarterback, studying the opponent's strategy was a must, but the opponent knew nothing about him. Kevin Craft's injury and departure was a blow to the Bruins but also messed up the Trojans' plan.
Second, he won because of his decisiveness at crucial moments. Logan's short catch that unexpectedly resulted in a touchdown; both Logan and John catching a pass in a desperate situation—a slight deviation would have meant an incomplete pass. Not to mention, he narrowly avoided a sack before the last pass. If any of these details had gone wrong, the outcome would have been completely different.
Nevertheless, Lu Ke had used all his skills, showing almost all his cards with no reservations. This was a true reflection of his strength, especially when he looked at the red numbers on his data. The slight bit of pride that had just sparked in him was immediately extinguished. He was confident and ambitious, but not greedy.
So, how should he allocate the nine basic points he had won tonight?
In the passing options, short-pass accuracy and long-pass accuracy had reached a certain level and didn't need to be worried about for the time being. Mid-pass accuracy was only 64 points, which was indeed a weakness. But after tonight's game, Lu Ke was more aware that as a quarterback, he needed to learn to protect himself. In the face of a hail of bullets and a wall of defenders, simply being able to pass wouldn't win games.
His eyes fell on the "passing while running" skill, which had 66 points. This number was still not enough.
Tonight, Malik Jackson had pushed him to his limit. Putting aside the luck of the last pass, in the previous drives, he was like a punching bag in a boxing training session, hit countless times. Now, he could clearly feel the pain from those fierce impacts. Every impact, and the potential blocks and tackles, had a huge impact on his passing accuracy.
Even with an 81-point long-pass accuracy, there was a deviation on the last pass.
So, the passing while running score had to be increased. Without any hesitation, Lu Ke generously added four points to passing while running. After a "ding" sound, this skill finally reached 70 points! It had passed the passing grade and entered the "good" level, a qualitative change from a quantitative change, bringing a complete transformation.
If he could, Lu Ke would have liked to add all his basic points to passing while running. But there were a lot of holes in his game, and he had many other sub-categories to consider. The remaining bit of rationality made Lu Ke look away and see the next few sub-categories.
Fake Throw Action: 45
Ball Protection: 59
Field Vision: 50
Running with the Ball: 59
Evasive Ability: 59
Blocking Ability: 53
Elusiveness: 53
Juking Ability: 53
Among these sub-categories, "fake throw action" was mainly used in conjunction with plays, allowing him to perform play-action passes or bootlegs. Or it could be used to fake a throw to trick a defender into changing the passing route at the last minute. The other seven sub-categories were all related to footwork, observation, judgment, strength, evasion, and escape.
They were all failing grades. But in fact, for any professional quarterback, these scores were crucial, and passing was the minimum baseline. For the professional league, even for a backup, the average score for these skills should be around 70. Lu Ke's scores in these sub-categories were terrible.
He had five basic points left. After some thought, Lu Ke decided to distribute the points. Because these sub-categories were all interconnected and influenced each other, he needed to raise his average score, not emphasize one particular skill like he did with passing.
In the end, he added one point to both "running with the ball" and "evasive ability," at least getting them out of the failing grades. Then he added three points to "field vision," a small improvement from 50 to 53 points.
"Field vision" could be understood as a quarterback's ability to control the entire field. It was not only about judging the position of his own offensive players but also about anticipating the opponent's defensive strategy and the ability to quickly react to changes on the field.
Lu Ke's score for this was only 50, which was terrible.
The reason was simple. In both high school and college, teams relied very little on complex strategies, preferring to play with raw talent. This was also why the no-huddle offense could be so successful—as long as they had the right equation and a chemical reaction occurred, the offense would flow smoothly. In tonight's game, Lu Ke relied entirely on Logan and John, with the help of Marcus, to create a dominant drive. There was no strategy to speak of, just their chemistry and their own abilities.
Lu Ke's observation on the field was always like this. He used his height advantage of 193 cm (6'4") to get a bird's-eye view of the field. However, tonight's game was a wake-up call, especially the last pass. His misjudgment of the receiver's position and the defender's movements led to a chaotic drive.
The offensive line could not block the defenders for very long—two to four seconds was the average time. The longer the quarterback hesitated, the more pressure the offensive line was under, the greater the risk of exposing the play's intention, and the more danger the quarterback was in of being tackled or sacked.
He needed more precise judgment and the ability to command the entire field. So, Lu Ke chose to add points to "field vision." He added three points, bringing it from 50 to 53, temporarily ignoring the other failing skills and betting his precious basic points on this one. Although it was still a long way from 70, he needed "field vision" to pass the passing line as soon as possible.
Nine basic points seemed like a big harvest, but in the blink of an eye, Lu Ke had already spent them all. Looking at his profile again, it was still a sea of red, as if nothing had changed from five months ago. This made Lu Ke shake his head—he needed more games, and at the same time, he needed more training.
"Little Seven, are there any special missions that can directly give me 100 points?" Lu Ke couldn't help but complain.
Lu Ke didn't expect a response and was just joking, but he heard Little Seven's voice in his mind. "Yes." Lu Ke was stunned, his eyes wide. "Change host; change body."
"..." Lu Ke was speechless, but a smile involuntarily appeared on his face. "When did you learn to be sarcastic, and to a maximum level? How did I not know? Be honest, did you steal my basic points?"
This time, it was Little Seven who went silent. Lu Ke couldn't help but smile. But to avoid looking too smug, Lu Ke pursed his lips. Then he heard Little Seven's cold voice again. "You should know that I can directly access the information in your central nervous system, right? That kind of joy can't be hidden."
Although the words were cold, the sarcastic nature of the voice was becoming more apparent.
Lu Ke wasn't as flustered as he was the first time. After all, he and Little Seven had been together for five months. "Little Seven, be honest. When I was watching adult content, were you peeking?"
Silence, again, silence.
Lu Ke didn't mind and put on a look of regret. "The kid has grown up and started to go bad. Sigh, it's hard to be a parent. Don't you know how to close your eyes? Or are you also looking forward to it?" Even though he couldn't see, Lu Ke could imagine the system rolling its eyes. Just imagining it made Lu Ke laugh.
"Bambi, why are you smiling like a pervert? Did you get a date with that pretty girl from earlier?" A voice suddenly came in, echoing in the locker room like a bell. Lu Ke turned around and saw his teammates, who had just finished showering, walking in, laughing and joking. The first one was Marcus.
Marcus's words immediately made the others join in the teasing. Some were even dancing and shouting happily, "Bambi has a girlfriend! Bambi has a girlfriend!"
This was a new sight. To be precise, it was a familiar routine, but before, they would be teasing each other, and the backup and practice players were a bit quiet, marginalized, or unable to blend in. The starters were always different. But tonight, in just one game, Lu Ke had become one of them.
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