Cheers, screams, whistles, and thunderous applause!
The spotlight hit his head, and all eyes in the stadium were on him!
On the green field, Lance was surrounded by cameras.
Golden light splattered all around him.
His blurry teammates celebrated wildly around him, lifting Lance and tossing him into the air.
"Lance—"
"Lance—"
"Lance—"
This feeling is so damn good!
The feeling of being a superstar!
Hiss—
"Ding ding ding—ding ding ding—"
A piercing sound suddenly rang out, and the dream was instantly interrupted.
He opened his eyes vaguely to a dim bedroom.
Drowsily, Lance reached for the nightstand, picked up his phone, and squinted to get a good look.
——
2013.08.21
Wed
——
It was time to get up for training.
The dream had not yet dissipated, still lingering for a moment, and Lance could still feel that exciting atmosphere.
Lance's brain was booting up, and for a moment, he thought it was all a dream.
He wasn't a professional player, but just an ordinary person…
"No!"
Lance quickly woke up; he was indeed a professional player!
He sat up and looked at the nightstand; last night's DFB-Pokal MVP medal was still there!
He picked it up casually, the metal MVP medal felt cold in his hand, and its weight made Lance much more awake.
"It's not a dream! It's real!"
Although he was still far from being a world-class superstar, at least he had a good start!
In his professional debut, he came on as a substitute for 15 minutes, won MVP, contributed 2 goals and 1 key attack, performing brilliantly!
After the match, his teammates and coaches praised him, and his sense of accomplishment was off the charts!
The more Lance thought about it, the more excited he got, doing a sit-up and getting out of bed, full of energy to wash up.
He happened to run into Uncle Hans, the apartment security guard, when he left.
"Mr. Hans, good morning."
"Lance! You're going out so early, shouldn't you have the day off today?"
"I want to go to the training base gym to work out."
"Good, good, good. With how hard you work, you'll definitely make it to the starting lineup soon. Your performance yesterday was amazing, we won thanks to you!"
"Thank you."
The rotation lineup that won yesterday's DFB-Pokal had a temporary day off today.
The remaining players who were not on the roster continued to train, preparing for the 3rd round of the Bundesliga this weekend.
Lance got up early intending to use the training base gym.
In the afternoon, he would go to school to catch up on classes.
German high school content is relatively simple; Lance basically just needs to glance at the textbooks, do some practice questions, and exams are a piece of cake.
If Lance didn't play football, he might have been able to get into a world-renowned university in the future and contribute to academia.
Afterward, he would return to China with innovative research achievements to start a business, contribute to the construction of his homeland, and become a young entrepreneur widely reported by the media.
However, compared to that, Lance preferred playing football.
Football was his life!
…
Cycling to the training base, Lance grabbed some simple breakfast at the club cafeteria.
After eating, at the cafeteria entrance, he ran into head coach Sascha Lewandowski.
"Lance? Aren't you off today?"
"Coach, I want to train in the gym. I'm used to exercising every morning."
"Oh, okay."
Sascha didn't say much, and Lance nodded, turned, and left.
"Wait."
"Coach?"
"Well, you played well yesterday. Keep it up."
"I will."
Lance went to the gym, and Sascha Lewandowski watched him thoughtfully for a while.
He turned around to find Coach Sami Hyypiä looking at him with a smirk.
"What are you laughing at?"
"If you want to care about a player, just say it. If you want to praise him, just praise him. Why be so awkward?"
"Who's awkward? I just don't want him to get too proud."
"Alright, alright, you're the head coach."
Hyypiä smiled faintly.
Sascha was clearly a tsundere. Before, he disliked Lance's fragile physique, his young age, and the fact that he was an Asian player.
Yesterday, Lance descended like a god and saved the team.
Sascha was clearly overjoyed, boasting to everyone that they had a talented young player.
Yet, in front of Lance, he couldn't bring himself to praise him.
Hyypiä secretly mocked the tough head coach.
"By the way, based on Lance's performance, he might become our solution."
Bayer Leverkusen didn't have many new signings this season.
Especially in the forward line, where personnel were stretched thin.
They originally wanted to buy Ryu Seung-woo, but the deal ultimately fell through.
Stefan Kießling and Eren Derdiyok, the two main strikers, were clearly not enough, and with Son Heung-min, they had at most 3 forwards.
For now, it seemed sufficient for rotation, but over time, problems were bound to arise.
Furthermore, Eren Derdiyok and Stefan Kießling were both poachers, and their positions conflicted.
Son Heung-min occasionally played as a shadow striker but always drifted wide to break through.
The number 10 position always felt like it was missing someone to link play and help finish games.
Lance's excellent performance yesterday received widespread praise from the media and fans, and he could certainly be given more opportunities in the Bundesliga to help the team relieve offensive pressure.
"I think so too."
Head coach Sascha mused:
"He proved his ball-carrying ability on the field yesterday, and he's very good at seizing opportunities. However, the intensity of the Bundesliga will definitely be greater than the DFB-Pokal, so we don't need to rush. This kid needs to progress gradually."
Sascha Lewandowski's considerations were reasonable.
Young players' mindsets are easily affected. If he is rashly placed in an important match, if he doesn't perform as expected, it might hit the player's confidence and ultimately lead to a collapse.
Sascha didn't dislike Lance.
He just hoped he could grow smoothly.
…
"Huff, puff! Come on, push harder!"
On the treadmill, Lance was drenched in sweat, sprinting wildly.
He was training at the maximum intensity set by the fitness coach, torturing himself fiercely.
He looked down at the system; Lance's rating was still the most ordinary C-level player.
——
Player: Lance
Age: 16
Body: 181cm / 75kg
Template 1: Nagi Seishiro - S (Fusion Value 51%)
—Skill: Perfect Ball Control
Template 2: Unlocked
Template 3: Unlocked
Player Overall Rating: C
Rage Value: 0%
——
With a soul fusion value of 51%, perhaps the fusion can be completed by the end of this season.
Once the initial template is 100% fused, Lance should be able to draw a new template!
As long as he keeps drawing templates, Lance can become a true all-around king!
He knew that the abilities brought by the cheat system were illusory; only by becoming stronger through his own hard training could he truly be strong.
Only by becoming stronger through his own training could he truly be strong!
For players Lance's age, after becoming famous with a single goal, they would have already gone to nightclubs to have fun, knowing how to party and flirt at a young age.
Hugging world-famous models and cruising in open-top supercars—that's what professional football stars do.
Players like Lance, who are dedicated to training and self-discipline, are quite rare.
He didn't want to be like Ronaldinho, Adriano, Pato, and other stars who became addicted to nightclubs, eventually lost their form, and then faded into obscurity, like a meteor streaking across the football sky.
Lance wanted to become a shining sun! Always staying in the sky, always standing at the pinnacle of European football.
Just like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, always the most dazzling "peerless duo" in world football.
No, he wanted to surpass them!
Thinking of this, Lance fiercely increased his speed again, sprinting wildly on the treadmill.
His teammates who later entered the gym found Lance, and each of them was stunned.
"Huh? He should have the day off today."
"Young man is really hardworking."
"But, he seems very fired up. I wonder what he's fired up about."
…
After finishing his morning daily workout, Lance contentedly rode his bicycle to school.
Passing a newsstand, Lance suddenly squeezed the brakes and stopped.
Among the newspapers spread out on the newsstand, he unintentionally caught sight of his own photo!
He actually appeared on the front page of the sports section of Bild!
This was Germany's largest circulating newspaper.
Lance quickly got off his bike and went to the newsstand, grabbing a copy of the newspaper.
The photographer was good; the candid shot was quite handsome.
It was precisely the moment of his first goal, the 0-degree volley from the byline.
"16-Year-Old Belgian-Chinese Prodigy Scores on Debut, Breaks DFB-Pokal Historical Record! Brace Secures Comeback Victory!"
"In yesterday's DFB-Pokal first-round match, Bayer Leverkusen was almost upset by a 3. Liga team!
…Facing a 0-2 deficit, Belgian-Chinese prodigy Lance came on as a substitute, breaking the DFB-Pokal's youngest appearance record (16 years and 75 days).
One minute after coming on, Lance's 0-degree volley helped the team pull back a goal, 1-2, regaining hope!
The second goal was an excellent display of individual ability, confidently taking the ball in the box, twisting and turning through the enemy lines, scoring a brace.
Before the end of the match, it was again Lance's breakthrough and shot that helped the team get a decisive scoring opportunity.
Thanks to Lance's performance, Bayer Leverkusen advanced to the next round of the DFB-Pokal without much trouble.
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Sascha Lewandowski stated that he directly changed the game, a natural big-hearted player.
It is reported that after the match, Bayer Leverkusen's official statistics showed a surge in sales of the No. 39 jersey…"
Lance quietly read the report about himself, interrupted by the newsstand owner.
"Hey! This is the Bild weekend edition, 2 euros. If you're not buying, don't…"
"I'll buy it."
Lance happily pulled out a 2-euro coin and tossed it onto the newsstand, taking the newspaper and walking away.
The newsstand owner grumbled a few words, just about to retrieve the coin, but then he saw the photo on the front page of Bild.
"Wait, it seems to be that kid!"
"He's actually Lance?"
The newsstand owner regretted not asking Lance for an autograph.
He had a hunch that this kid's autograph would be worth a lot of money in the future!