The first regular season game was over.
For Lu Ke, that was all that mattered.
The champagne celebration in the locker room, Charles Davis's taunts and doubts, the league experts' commentary, the tough game next week... all of it was temporarily pushed to the back of his mind. In that afternoon, Lu Ke celebrated to his heart's content, enjoying the joy that came from his first career start and first victory.
It wasn't just Lu Ke, or just the players; the entire team, including the coaching staff, was celebrating wildly.
The frustration and gloom of the preseason were all swept away by the thrilling victory in the first regular-season game. At least until tomorrow, they could celebrate as much as they wanted.
In fact, the party atmosphere spread throughout the entire city. Even at home, it was no exception. Everyone was gathered in Lu Ke's backyard. Besides the Newman family, it seemed like every neighbor on the street had sent a representative. Families gathered in the small backyard, drinking champagne, singing loudly, and immersing themselves in the joy.
The celebration lasted until nightfall. Lu Ke finally got a moment to himself to calm down and review the gains from his first game.
Actually, the "ding-ding-ding" of the system alerts had sounded in his mind the moment the referee blew the final whistle. But at that time, Lu Ke had to go on the field to shake hands with the Seattle Seahawks' quarterback after the game, and then came a series of celebrations that left no time to breathe. So, he was only getting to it now.
He opened the unread messages, carefully read the mission options, and confirmed the rewards from today's game.
First, the game missions.
First pass, completed, one base point added; first touchdown, completed, one base point added; five touchdowns, completed, five base points added; at least 150 passing yards, completed, one base point added; at least 55% completion rate, completed, one base point added; interceptions less than or equal to two, completed, one base point added; first victory, completed, five base points added.
Fifteen base points. In just one game, Lu Ke earned a total of fifteen base points. It was as if he had critically hit a boss monster in a dungeon, and it easily became the game with the most base points he had earned so far.
However, Lu Ke also understood that this was his first career game, and its significance was unique. The mission arrangements and rewards were also exceptionally generous. In the upcoming regular-season games, there would definitely not be such great rewards. He figured that the playoff missions would have a different difficulty and level.
Next, the special missions.
Win the game and get at least three touchdowns, completed; defeat Richard Sherman at least twice, completed.
This was Lu Ke's third special mission. A quick glance seemed to suggest that the difficulty of this mission was lower, but a closer look revealed that just "winning the game" was incredibly difficult, considering this was Lu Ke's first official game as a rookie. From this perspective, this special mission was probably the most difficult one yet.
Of course, the rewards were also the most abundant: "Unknown Quarterback Training Skill Pack +2, Unknown Special Skill Pack +2, Unlock Hidden Attribute +1."
Although there were no added base points, the three rewards were substantial and exciting, especially the third one, "Unlock Hidden Attribute," which had never appeared before. So, Lu Ke temporarily put the Quarterback Training Skill Pack and the Unknown Special Skill Pack aside and couldn't wait to unlock the hidden attribute.
"Ding, congratulations on unlocking the hidden attribute: Foresight." Little Seven's voice came again. This was the first time he heard Little Seven announce a mission reward since the special skill "Absolute Footwork." Based on this alone, he could tell that this hidden attribute was not useless.
Foresight?
Lu Ke didn't rush to make his own guess. Instead, he clicked on the explanation and quickly read it. In simple terms, it could be understood as a quarterback's ability to capture details and predict movements in a game.
For example, when a quarterback is reading a defense, a wide field of vision doesn't mean they can observe every detail under the tense atmosphere of a game, as a person's vision always has blind spots. Even if they observe the defensive formation, they might not be able to make an accurate prediction in a flash. There is only one Peyton Manning.
For another example, when a quarterback is moving in the pocket to throw a pass, in a pile of players, they have to capture the position and running route of their teammates while also accurately predicting the movement routes of the defensive players, not just to complete a pass but also to avoid an interception. This has to happen in less than a millisecond, and even then, the prediction might not be accurate. There is only one Aaron Rodgers.
In a game, under a tense and fiery atmosphere, a quarterback often needs to make a large number of judgments and decisions in a fraction of a second.
An ordinary quarterback relies solely on instinct, and their instinctual judgments have a high error rate. A good quarterback relies on intuition, like an animal's sense of smell, to seize an opportunity and achieve their goal. An elite quarterback relies on talent and ability, making judgments, choices, decisions, and throws with lightning speed, seeing the truth.
The reason why elite quarterbacks are called elite is simple. Even without the help of top-tier wide receivers and tight ends, and even without the help of a top-tier offensive line, they can lead their team to victory on their own—even if it's a difficult journey, full of challenges, and a heavy burden. But the fact is, they have that ability.
Foresight is a quarterback's innate sense.
The so-called hidden attribute means it has always been there; it's just now coming to the surface.
Lu Ke quickly opened his attribute panel and carefully scrolled down. Then, at the very bottom, even below the "Injury" section, a new section called "Hidden Attributes" appeared.
Currently, there was only one item under "Hidden Attributes," Foresight, and the score was... seventy-five.
Foresight is not about predicting or knowing the future, but about making a judgment based on one's own ability. The related attributes are tactical awareness, field vision, willpower, and so on.
Just like in the first drive of today's game, Lu Ke had an excellent read of the Seattle Seahawks' defensive formation and made an accurate judgment. He boldly chose to make a long pass and successfully completed it—it wasn't a risk or a gamble; it was a reasonable judgment.
All of this came from Lu Ke's pre-game preparation, over forty hours of watching game footage, over ten hours of tactical meetings, which included the Seattle Seahawks' tactical deployments in the preseason this year, Pete Carroll's defensive habits, and the defensive positions and running routes of certain star players.
In short, it was tactical awareness. Tactical awareness includes pre-game preparation and on-field application, as well as a quarterback's innate ability to understand, read, and interpret.
Lu Ke had always been a quarterback who played with his mind. His tactical awareness of seventy, field vision of seventy, willpower of eighty, and perfect Wonderlic Test score combined to give him today's hidden attribute: Foresight, with a score of seventy-five.
He was not an elite or top-tier quarterback, but it was certain that this was definitely above the league average for a quarterback and placed him in the upper echelon. After all, this was a kind of intuition, feel, and judgment. Post-training could provide a lot of help, but the foundation still came from talent, something that is rare and cannot be sought after.
Now that Foresight had appeared on his personal attribute panel, did that mean he could increase the attribute?
Imagine, during an actual game, a quarterback could not only read the defensive formation but also predict the running routes of the first and second-line defensive players and then make an instant tactical change or an adjustment at the moment of the throw. This would give the offense an unimaginable advantage.
What would happen if the Foresight hidden attribute reached a perfect score of one hundred?
Lu Ke now had a lot of base points, and he wanted to try it out. But when he tried, the Foresight score didn't change at all. He tried again, and the result was the same. It was then that Lu Ke noticed that the "Foresight" attribute was grayed out and couldn't be changed.
"Little Seven, can't the hidden attributes be changed?" Lu Ke asked his question. This was the first time he had encountered this situation.
Little Seven's voice then came to his mind. "Hidden attributes cannot be added to with base points."
The answer was very straightforward, with no further explanation. Lu Ke couldn't help but guess, "You mean that base points can only be used to change the basic skill options, but hidden attributes need special points or hidden points to be modified. Is that right?"
Little Seven did not answer.
Lu Ke waited for a while, and his mind was still silent, but in Lu Ke's opinion, this was as good as an affirmative. The reason why Little Seven didn't answer was simply because it wasn't the right time yet. Just like the hidden attribute, it only appeared in today's special mission. When the time was right, the answer would naturally appear.
Lu Ke guessed that the hidden points that could be used to increase hidden attributes would also be obtained through special missions, and the difficulty would probably be quite high. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called a hidden attribute.
"Are there any other hidden attributes besides Foresight?" Lu Ke asked a different question.
"Yes." This time, Little Seven didn't stay silent and gave a direct and affirmative answer.
Lu Ke thoughtfully rubbed his chin. It was clear that there were still many unknowns in the system to be explored. In one year, he had only explored the tip of the iceberg. At the very least, he now knew that he had the "Foresight" ability, and it could potentially become another weapon for him on the field in the future.
The hidden attribute did not disappoint Lu Ke. The next moment, Lu Ke's eyes fell on the Quarterback Training Skill Pack and the Unknown Special Skill Pack, especially the latter. What special skill would he get this time?
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