Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
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"Don't you think the coaches are under a lot of pressure?"
"Yeah, Sascha used to smile so much, but now he doesn't smile at all."
"Aren't our results great? We just won a few days ago! We didn't lose to Liverpool either."
On the training ground, Lance, Son Heung-min, De Bruyne, and a few others gathered to help each other stretch. They chatted whilst stretching.
Sascha Lewandowski and Hyypiä both had furrowed brows, looking preoccupied. Bayer Leverkusen won 2-0 in the Bundesliga.
In the match against Mainz, Lance and De Bruyne each provided 1 assist. Firmino, who had forgotten his scoring boots, finally found them today, scoring a brace to help Bayer Leverkusen defeat Mainz 2-0.
They maintained their 6-point lead over Bayern. In the DFB-Pokal, they easily beat third-tier team Magdeburg 3-0, successfully advancing to the third round.
Bayer Leverkusen achieved 8 consecutive victories across all competitions! Unfortunately, in the Champions League group stage home match against Liverpool, both teams drew 0-0, ending their winning streak.
Bayer Leverkusen had already secured first place in the group and advanced early. This match mostly featured a young squad for practice, to experience the Champions League atmosphere, and key players like Lance weren't even on the main roster.
Liverpool had already secured their Europa League qualification, so there was no reason for them to fight hard in this match. Both sides settled for a tacit draw, concluding this season's Champions League group stage.
It could be said that so far in November, Bayer Leverkusen has not suffered a single defeat. Yet the coaches still showed no signs of happiness.
Perhaps their minds were constantly worried about the 'big test' against Bayern Munich.
"Lance, how do you feel?"
"Me?"
"Yes, your form is key. We're all counting on you."
"What do you mean?"
Lance looked at his two good friends. Son Heung-min and De Bruyne, both future stars for their respective teams.
If you two don't step up, and just rely on me to carry the team alone, is that reasonable?
"Honestly, we really do have to rely on you."
Firmino also came over to join in the fun.
"Look, at most, we're on par with Bayern. We don't have the confidence to crush their squad."
"You're different. You're the weight that tips the scales."
Lance never expected Firmino, a street kid who grew up in the favelas of Brazil, to say something so refined. With his teammates' eyes all on him, Lance couldn't show any fear.
Otherwise, if the team's true core was afraid before the battle, everyone else's confidence would be shattered.
"Don't worry! We'll win steadily!"
"No problem!! Lance, you're the best!"
"We believe in you! We can do it!"
A group of young Bayer Leverkusen players inexplicably got fired up. This made Maguire, Van Dijk, Leno, Lars Bender, and others on the defence line all look over, wondering what they were so excited about.
After the commotion, during the ball control practice on the pitch, Lance dribbled the ball past numerous obstacles, whilst his mind wandered, pondering a question.
With the [Nagi Seishiro] and [Bachira Meguru] templates, each with 3 skills, and only being able to equip 1 template at a time, what else could he do?
Unless he unlocked the S-rank complete form at 100% rage, that would be truly cheating. Otherwise, in his normal state, Lance's ability boost wasn't too significant.
At most, he was slightly stronger, like training wheels for a bicycle, providing assistance but unable to replace the bicycle wheels for forward movement.
"The system doesn't have any other functions, so what kind of system is this?"
Lance carefully examined the system. Besides [Fusion Value: 94%], he couldn't see any other clues for now.
It seemed new functions could only be expected after the 100% version update. The last update brought the [Support Summon] function.
Hopefully, this time there would be more tricks. Thinking of this, Lance became even more focused on the training ground, continuously dribbling left and right to evade, inadvertently passing all obstacles.
Sascha Lewandowski, who was timing him at the key obstacle, his eyes lit up and he checked his stopwatch.
"Holy shit!! Lance!! 13.15 seconds!!"
"No way?"
"What the heck?"
"My God, my Lord? Lance?"
Lance was still lost in thought. When he came to, he saw his Bayer Leverkusen teammates rushing excitedly towards him.
It was as if they had scored a goal.
"OHHHHH—"
No, what are you 'oh'ing about! What's going on?
It wasn't until Sascha held the stopwatch up to Lance's face that he realised something was amiss.
"13.15 seconds?"
"Yes, Lance!! You broke your personal best!"
Typically, for such dribbling around obstacles, the coaching staff would strictly record data and review it to help players adjust their ball-touching details. But players' talents are, after all, limited.
Progress in growth increases slowly in units of 0.001, similar to a sprinter's improvement, where every 0.1 second is a qualitative leap. Lance's previous best for this drill had always hovered around 14.20 seconds, finding it very difficult to break the 14-second barrier.
After all, the obstacles were very intricate, and it was hard to complete them in one go without fouling. Even if Messi himself were present, he would probably at most manage to break the 14-second mark.
Lance's significant improvement within two weeks was an absolute miracle! He was a full 0.83 seconds faster than second-place Kevin De Bruyne!
No wonder the Bayer Leverkusen players were so shocked.
"Could it be that, Lance, your daily extra training really works?"
"Then I want to too!"
"I want to join in too!"
Lars Bender, Castro, Kießling, and others who previously disliked extra training couldn't hold back when they saw Lance's progress. Sascha, not believing it, timed Lance several more times individually.
However, Lance seemed unable to find that 'flow state' he had before, and his times mostly hovered around 13.30 seconds. This was still considered a top-tier performance.
Until the end of training, whilst a group of teammates were chatting about celebrity gossip and which supermodels they had recently hooked up with in the locker room, Lance went to the shower alone.
With cold water from the showerhead pouring over his head, Lance calmed down and carefully recalled his previous state. Because he was thinking about the system, Lance subconsciously simulated the feeling of [Bachira Meguru]'s dribbling.
He hadn't 'cheated' on the training ground; he hadn't equipped any template. Could the template really influence his own ball control?
Especially when entering a focused flow state, Lance's improvement was almost on par with [Bachira Meguru]'s peak state at 100% rage! He himself was currently at most a B+ level player, around 79 points.
In an instant, he could improve to S-rank strength comparable to Messi or Ronaldo! And without any external cheats!
"Perhaps this is the system's true power?"
Subtly influencing oneself? No wonder when he wasn't 'cheating' on the training ground, the coaches and teammates didn't realise the fact that Lance himself was a 'noob'.
Lance generally didn't have quantified standards, making it hard to notice details. This incident today served as a reminder to him.
Assuming in a crucial battle, the support template has been used, and the rage value isn't 100%, it would be difficult to change the tide of the battle with the system.
Perhaps he could try to enter a flow state, to find this feeling? Originally, the whole team wasn't very confident against Bayern.
But from this moment on, Lance wished he could fight Bayern Munich for three hundred rounds right now! What if Lewandowski joined?
What if it was Guardiola's second year? However they double-killed Bayern last season, they could do the same this season!