“State your name and position.”
Coach Irene said without lifting her eyes, head buried in the tablet on the desk in front of her.
“Julian Valecrest, wingforward and attacking midfielder.”
Julian stepped forward, voice clear, blue eyes as calm as the depths of the ocean.
Irene lifted her head at the name, looking at Julian with her thoughts carefully hidden behind her sharp gaze.
“Left, right or center?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Julian’s answer came quick, confident.
“I can play wherever.”
“…Right.” The coach tapped a few times on the tablet before handing a purple wristband to Julian.
“Here, and best of luck.”
“I don’t need it, but thank you.” Julian took the wristband and turned on his heel, making Irene’s eye twitch behind his back.
Back on Earth, in most of the football manhwas, Manga and novels he read, the main character had a personality that could be described as “a lovable idiot”.
Personally, he disliked it and thought that if he was in the shoes of the protagonist then he would adopt the personality of “the arrogant genuis”.
Watching people hate you for your personality, but can’t help but respect you for your skills was more fun for him.
And now that he has been presented the chance to step into the shoes of the protagonist, there’s no way he would not act the way he always wanted.
–ding–
A chime echoed in Julian’s mind as he made his way to the side, followed by system messages appearing before his eyes.
[>Position Selected: WF/AM<]
[>Attributes Adjusted Accordingly<]
Julian could feel a change in his body when the last message registered, telling him that something fundamentally inside him changed, but there was no outside change.
‘Status.’
********
Name: Julian Valecrest
Age: 16
Position: WF/AM
Rating: 60
[Attributes]
Defending: 60->30
Passing: 60->65
Attacking: 60->65
Pace: 60->65
Crossing: 60->65
Finishing: 60->65
Technique: 60->65
[Skills]
N/A
******** Get faster updates on g.com.
‘Thirty points got deducted from my defending and spread evenly across my other attributes.
I wonder what changes would’ve happened if I registered in other positions.’
Julian put his bag down when arrived where the other registered players were, busy putting on comfortable shorts and their boots.
Yes, they were out in the open.
But no one really cared.
They were a bunch of boys and there was nothing to see.
He did the same, stripping out of his shoes, socks and shorts, before putting on gym shorts, long socks and boots.
All of it was black in color with the silver wolve of the Valecrest Family proudly displayed on it.
‘Nobles are really obsessed with putting their insignia on everything.’
Julian sat down on the ground and strapped the wristband on, before spreading his legs straight and wide and then reaching for his foot, stretching his muscles.
‘They’re nervous.’ He threw a glance at the players around him, nerves clearly showing on their faces.
‘Well, they are just kids after all.’
[By the way, how old were you when you died?]
’22.’
[Wow, dude. Only twenty two and here you are, acting as if you’re some old dude that has seen everything the world had in store.]
‘It does feel like that, sometimes.’
Julian’s gaze fell onto another student that was different from the others, standing away from them all, with a almost bored expression on his face.
The student had the same purple hair and eyes as the coach, with facial features that were almost identical to hers.
‘Probably her brother.’ Julian’s head turned to the coach where she was filling in the info of another player.
‘She is too young to have a child that old.’
The boy’s left foot was rested on top of the ball, staring forward in a daze, daydreaming.
‘That kid is a baller.’
He was easily able to tell just be how the boy was standing, legs slightly curving inwards.
Julian turned his head away, not wanting to be caught staring, continuing with his stretches.
He continued transitioning into different positions to stretch for at least thirty minutes, until all the players was registered.
–ding–
A muffled chime echoed from his bag, but not just his.
Everyone received a message.
Julian reached for the bag and pulled out his phone, and like always, it was black with the wolve insignia at the back.
He received a notification from the Ashton Imperial Academy app, which Julian quickly accessed.
In his inbox a message was waiting for him.
[Julian Valecrest, report to Football Training Field 1B for your trial match starting at 15:05. Formation: 4-2-1-3 Position: LW Team: Yellow Bibs]
The message was clean precise, without all the unnecessary preamble.
One attacking midfielder who is the link between defense and attack, whose main job is to provide the forwards with enough ball.
Two wingers, whose job is to take on defenders, cut the ball inside and score goals.
‘It is now 14:45.
Twenty minutes to go.’
Julian stood up and was able to make out the sign board of Training Field 1B against the wired fence of one of the football fields.
He grabbed his bag and made his way over with unhurried steps, leading the current of players behind him.
Stepping though the gates of the training field, two open bags of training bibs awaited them.
The bibs in one bag was blue and the other was yellow.
He dropped his bag against the fence and threw a yellow bib over his head, sliding it over his shirt, the loose fabric swayed slightly in the wind.
‘Fifteen minutes to go.’
Julian would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous.
Being nervous was understandable, this is the starting point of his career, the game that will kick-start his dream of becoming the best football player in the world.
But aside from nerves he felt another emotion, excitement.
The thrill of being able to play football again, of being able to face opponents.
It was something he craved in his past life, the feeling of the wind whipping through your hair as you sped passed your marker, the satisfaction of completing a pass, and the exhilaration of scoring a goal.
All of these are things he dearly missed.
Julian went over to his bag and pulled out a football, playing with it to pass the time that seemed to deliberately move slower.
“Alright, everyone.”
A man with a whistle hanging from his neck stepped into the training field, presumably the referee.
He raised two hands.
“Yellow bibs this side, blue bibs this side. Get to your positions, we start in five minutes.”
Julian put the ball away and went to his positions like the rest of the players, standing on the far side of the field.
–ding–
Another chime broke the thoughts in his mind, followed by the pop-up of the system interface.
********
[New Mission! Mission: Pass the Trials Objective: Pass the trials. Reward: +10 points to a attribute of your choice + bonus reward depending on your performance.]
*********
‘I completely forgot about those, but thanks anyway, Mini-ball.
I promise to give you the performance of a lifetime.’
Julian rolled his shoulders, readying himself for whatever is about to come.
The referee stepped to the middle of the field, checking his watch, watching the time tick off.
He put the whistle in his mouth and raised one hand in the air.
“PRRRRP!!”
The whistle sounded and his hand came down at the same time, signaling the start of the match.