Kaka woke up because of a horrible smell.
The moment he opened his eyes, he rushed straight into the bathroom and scrubbed himself for nearly half an hour before finally washing away all the sticky black grime covering his body.
The full-body treatment felt almost like some mythical cleansing ritual, as though every trace of accumulated waste and impurity had been flushed out of Kaka’s body overnight.
Standing in front of the mirror again, Kaka stared at his reflection and narcissistically rubbed his noticeably smoother cheeks.
“I swear I’ve gotten even more handsome…
And my skin looks way better too.”
Even Kaka, who was famous for his looks, had naturally had some minor imperfections.
But after last night’s full-body physical therapy, even those seemed to have disappeared.
His complexion hadn’t changed much, but his skin was noticeably smoother and finer.
What made him even happier was that the unpleasant body odour he’d noticed before was completely gone.
In its place was a faint, clean scent, almost like fresh plants.
Not overpowering.
Actually quite pleasant.
An epic-level upgrade!
After admiring himself in the mirror for a while, Kaka finally remembered the important part.
“System, open my player panel!”
[Player: Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Kaka)]
Nationality: Brazil
Age: 22 (Born 1982)
Preferred Foot: Right
Speed: 93
Shooting: 91
Passing: 91
Dribbling: 86
Defending: 67
Physical: 95
Football IQ: 90
Status: Healthy!!!
Available Points: 32
Kaka stared at the panel.
“…Damn.”
This definitely deserved a celebration.
His attributes had changed dramatically.
All the ratings that had previously been dragged down by his transmigration had recovered to Kaka’s true level.
In fact, apart from Football IQ, several attributes such as speed, shooting, passing, dribbling, and defending had actually increased by one or two points.
But the most outrageous improvement was his physical rating.
Yesterday, it had been an alarming 70.
After one night…
Even the status line had changed from:[Knee wear and tear; significant hidden injury risk]
to: [Healthy!!!]
The system’s physical therapy had completely repaired the wear in Kaka’s knees and eliminated the hidden injuries in his body.
Right now, he was probably healthier than he had ever been in his entire twenty-two years of life.
A physical rating of 95 was only five points away from the theoretical maximum.
Those remaining five points probably represented differences in raw strength, toughness, and body mass.
Kaka’s natural physique had already been excellent.
In midfield and attacking duels, he could usually hold his own against most opponents.
But he was still an attacking midfielder.
If they were talking purely about brute strength, then naturally he couldn’t compare with hulking centre-backs or those freakishly powerful target men.
Still, after this treatment, even if he wasn’t quite on the same physical level as players like Didier Drogba, Zlatan Ibrahimović, or Adriano, the gap had clearly become much smaller.
A completely renewed Kaka.
At his physical peak.
And with Comprehensive Physical Therapy available through the system, things became even more ridiculous.
In future matches, he could fully unleash his physical gifts without constantly worrying about destroying his body.
Sprint when he wanted.
Explode forward when he wanted.
Stop suddenly.
Change direction.
Again and again.
As long as he could earn 50 points in a season, he could restore himself to peak condition every year.
With a cheat like this…
Hehehe
He genuinely felt confident enough to compete with those two future monsters, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Suppressing the excitement bubbling inside him, Kaka immediately turned his attention toward the other system function.
So far, the system had only revealed two major abilities.
And Comprehensive Physical Therapy alone was already absurd.
So how ridiculous could the Specialised Enhancement, which normally cost the same amount, possibly be?
“System, use Specialised Enhancement!”
Command received.
Please select an enhancement category: Speed, Shooting, Passing, Dribbling, Defending, Physical, Football IQ.
“Enhancement category?”
Kaka frowned and began thinking.
It seemed the system didn’t divide abilities into smaller technical subcategories.
Which meant…
If he chose Shooting, would the entire category improve?
Finishing?
Long shots?
Curling shots?
Outside-of-the-boot strikes?
Chips?
Volleys?
Would all of them improve together?
That sounded completely ridiculous.
For a moment, Kaka nearly selected Shooting immediately.
But at the last second, he stopped himself.
AC Milan’s current squad was already ridiculously stacked.
Shevchenko and Jon Dahl Tomasson were both reliable finishers up front.
And next season, that man who seemed to have made the offside line his permanent home would also return from injury.
Filippo Inzaghi.
He also remembered that Milan were planning to bring in Alberto Gilardino and Christian Vieri.
That would make the attacking department ridiculously crowded.
There were already more than enough players capable of scoring goals, so there was no urgent need to improve his shooting any further.
A Shooting rating of 91 was more than good enough for now.
Compared with that, the lower-rated Dribbling attribute was much more in need of attention.
If he could raise his dribbling and ability to beat defenders past 90, both his individual level and Milan’s overall attacking strength would improve significantly.
As for the other attributes, they could wait until he had more points.
The barrel principle was simple.
If you wanted the barrel to hold more water, you reinforced the shortest plank first.
So Dribbling it was.
Decision made.
Kaka stopped hesitating.
“Enhance Dribbling!”
Command received.
Specialised Enhancement category: Dribbling.
Please select a specific module: Long-Distance Ball Carrying / Close-Quarters Evasion.
“As expected…”
“So it’s not a complete category-wide enhancement.”
He felt a trace of disappointment, but quickly adjusted.
Long-distance ball carrying was already his signature weapon.
The original Kaka had relied on those fearless, surging runs through midfield to terrorise defences and eventually become the final Ballon d’Or winner before the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Compared with that ability, however, his close control and ability to escape pressure in tight spaces were clearly less impressive.
Everyone knew Kaka played best when he had room to accelerate.
He needed space in front of him.
His relative weakness against compact, deep defensive blocks was also one of the reasons his career at Real Madrid started brightly before gradually fading.
Of course, the biggest reason was still injuries.
Injuries were merciless.
But now that he had the system and no longer needed to fear his body breaking down, he naturally had to eliminate his weaknesses as aggressively as possible.
Messi and Ronaldo dominating together?
No.
He wanted one dominant force above everyone else.
“Select Close-Quarters Evasion.”
Command received.
Enhancement Category: Dribbling.
Enhancement Module: Close-Quarters Evasion.
[Estimated enhancement duration: Two weeks.
During this period, the host’s normal daily life will not be affected.
However, football-related abilities will be temporarily sealed.
Please take note.]
A faint tingling sensation passed through his calves before disappearing almost immediately.
Then a cool feeling slowly spread upward from the soles of his feet.
Curious, Kaka stood up and tested his legs.
He lifted them.
Shifted his weight.
Moved his feet around.
Hmm?
Nothing seemed particularly strange.
It wasn’t until he found a football and tried to juggle it that he discovered the problem.
Because two touches later…
Crash!
A decorative ornament in the living room shattered.
Kaka stared at the wreckage.
“…”
All right.
The system hadn’t been joking.
His football ability really had been sealed.
He had returned to the level of an ordinary fan.
And not even an ordinary fan who was particularly good at football.
More like the type who was world-class when analysing matches from a sofa.
That meant he needed to make some arrangements.
Kaka quickly grabbed his phone and called his agent, Gaetano Paolillo.
His father, Bosco Leite, served as his main representative and primarily handled transfers, contract negotiations, salary matters, and major commercial decisions.
Meanwhile, day-to-day business arrangements, sponsorship coordination, and routine scheduling were generally handled by Gaetano Paolillo.
As one of the hottest young stars in world football, Kaka was already drowning in commercial offers.
His management team barely had time to breathe.
And after scoring the dramatic winning goal against Liverpool in the Champions League Final, his popularity had exploded to an entirely new level, not only in Italy but across world football.
Advertisers were practically kicking down the door, all desperate to take advantage of the hype.
So when Gaetano heard that Kaka intended to reject every commercial appearance for the next two weeks, he was understandably shocked.
But once Kaka explained that he wanted to recover properly and prepare for the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup, Gaetano quickly accepted his decision.
Afterward, Kaka called his parents as well and made sure that no promotional events or commercial appearances would be arranged during the next two weeks.
Only then did he finally put down the phone and breathe a sigh of relief.
Money was great.
He liked money too.
But while his footballing abilities were sealed, there was absolutely no way he was going to appear at some promotional event and fail to juggle a football in front of hundreds of fans.
For a world-famous footballer, that level of embarrassment would be socially fatal.
…
Soon, the football world noticed something strange.
Ever since that unforgettable Champions League Final, the young superstar who had scored Milan’s dramatic winner against Liverpool seemed to have vanished.
Aside from appearing at the club’s official celebrations in the days immediately after the final, Kaka disappeared almost completely from the media spotlight.
Naturally, the ever-curious Italian press went digging.
They interviewed Kaka’s father.
His agent and his Milan teammates.
And from every source, they received more or less the same admirable story.
After completing his European coronation, the brilliant Brazilian had rejected party invitations, turned down commercial appearances, and immediately thrown himself into preparations for the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup.
During those two weeks, reporters only managed to spot Kaka twice.
Both times, he was attending church on Sunday.
Young.
Talented.
Handsome.
Disciplined.
Devout.
Hard-working.
And completely free of scandal.
Seriously…
How could anyone not love this guy?