[Ding! ]
[Congratulations on completing the mission: help Marcus Rashford score a volley.
Reward: [Passing] experience +30, [Lion Heart] trait experience +30.]
As the notification faded, Tomás noticed his Lion Heart trait was ready to level up.
[[Lion Heart] LV1 (100/100) [Upgradeable]]
He willed it to upgrade.
The change happened instantly.
[Ding!
Your [Lion Heart] trait has been upgraded to LV2.]
[[Lion Heart] LV2 (0/200)]
The corners of Tomás’s mouth ticked upward.
A massive jump in his raw attributes wasn’t realistic yet.
His best chance to improve quickly lay in the Lion Heart trait’s effects.
Overflowing Adrenaline.
Higher, faster, stronger than his baseline.
Even a one or five percent boost made a difference.
With a passing attribute of 67, a five percent increase brought him to just over 70.
He stressed easily.
The actual boost might end up bigger than he calculated.
Lion Heart suited him perfectly.
It was powerful and easy to level.
Rashford’s Second Wind trait sat at LV5, while Tomás had climbed from LV0 to LV2 in a single day.
He might outpace Rashford in that category soon.
The same applied to attributes and special skills.
He remained miles behind Rashford across the board, but he was closing the gap.
If he worked hard enough and gave it enough time, he would catch up eventually.
Now that Rashford was officially categorized as a best friend, the mission rewards had increased.
Standard missions used to pay out ten or twenty experience points.
Now they offered twenty or thirty.
The closer he got to Rashford, the faster he would progress.
The missions didn’t come on demand.
They only triggered when Rashford actually needed something.
Wanting to trigger a mission didn’t count.
Otherwise, he would keep Rashford around all day and farm missions nonstop.
Rashford gave him a strange look.
“Tomás, you’re acting weird today. You’ve smiled more just now than you have all year.”
Is that right?
Tomás hadn’t noticed.
There hadn’t been much to smile about before.
Now, things were looking up.
“My mum always says, no matter how bad things get, you smile more, not less,” Rashford said as they gathered the balls scattered around the pitch.
“People who smile a lot end up with better lives. She says God doesn’t look out for people who give up on themselves.”
Rashford’s chest puffed out slightly whenever he mentioned his mother.
“My mum has been through the worst things you can imagine, and nothing takes her smile away. She worked three jobs at once to raise us. She still made time for me, still gave me all the love in the world. She always tried to show us the good side of things. She wanted us laughing, not crying.”
Rashford talked, and Tomás listened.
The conversation flowed easily between them.
“My mum told me to be grateful for everything, the good and the bad. Life isn’t easy, and most things don’t go how you expect. There’s a lot we can’t control.” Rashford looked over, baring his teeth in a wide grin.
“But we can control the smile on our face. And we can control who we give our love to.”
It was a stiff, slightly awkward expression.
But he liked to laugh.
“Aunt Melanie is a great mom,” Tomás said.
He meant every word.
She didn’t just bring warmth to her own kids.
She was the only person in England who had looked out for Tomás’s family these past three years.
Rashford puffed his chest out further.
“Right. I think so too.”
They collected the remaining balls, tidied the pitch, changed, and left Carrington.
As they stepped outside, Adnan Januzaj walked past.
Januzaj nodded in their direction, his eyes locked entirely on Rashford.
Tomás noticed the dismissal.
Januzaj had just broken into the first team this past season and was the golden boy of Old Trafford.
Walking next to Rashford, Tomás caught the runoff of attention meant for someone else.
[Adnan Januzaj, a rising star, has a 0% favorability rating towards you. You can view some of his information.]
[Overall Score: 72 ]
[[Evaluation]: ? ]
One stat.
He wondered if the visible information was randomized.
Still, this was the new feature the player-info module had unlocked.
Even a fragment helped.
“Need a ride?” Januzaj asked, twirling the keys to a brand-new sports car.
“Thanks, but I’m good,” Rashford replied.
Young players with flashy cars always wanted an audience, and Rashford fit the bill.
But Rashford wasn’t interested in being a prop.
Januzaj gave a brief, dismissive nod and got into his car.
“Tomás, I’m not jealous of him. I think I’m better than him.”
Their overall scores were almost identical.
But Tomás doubted Januzaj’s special skills matched Rashford’s list.
A player’s actual performance relied on more than just attributes and special skills.
Other factors mattered.
But Rashford’s trait, Second Wind, was highly effective in match situations.
“I think so too,” Tomás said.
They walked the rest of the way.
Home wasn’t far from Carrington.
Tomás said goodbye to Rashford and walked through his front door.
His parents were already back.
His dad, Nuno Silva Ferreira, was on the phone.
His mum, Marta Carvalho, leaned in close to the receiver, her hands clasped tight in her lap.
Neither noticed him enter.
“Tiago, it doesn’t matter whether my Tomás gets a trial at Benfica or not,” Nuno was saying, his voice strained.
“You’re already here in England, and Liverpool is just down the road from Manchester. I haven’t seen you since we left Lisbon. I just wanted to buy an old friend dinner. That’s all.”
A voice crackled through the phone’s speaker.
“Nuno, please. It’s not about disrespect. And it’s certainly not payback for you turning down our youth setup three years ago when you moved to the UK. It’s just… Tomás isn’t Benfica material right now. The academy at Seixal isn’t what it was three years ago, and frankly, Tomás isn’t the player he was three years ago either.”
Tomás stopped in the hallway.
His parents must have been quietly reaching out to clubs back home, taking rejection after rejection.
“You want to know what a real prodigy looks like?” the voice continued.
“We came out to Liverpool today to scout a real genius for the club. Have you seen this kid, Toni Gomes? Liverpool snapped him up right under everyone’s noses. He’s only fifteen, but he plays with zero fear. Fast, technical, absolutely ruthless. That’s the standard for a top Primeira Liga club now.”
Nuno’s knuckles turned white around the phone.
“I can’t help your boy, Nuno,” Tiago sighed.
“You must still have contacts at some of the smaller clubs back home, right? Three years ago, Tomás had promise. There should be teams willing to take a chance. But listen to me: things are different now. Big clubs like Manchester United and Benfica are too high a mountain for him. Lower your sights. If the top flight is out of reach, try the Liga Portugal 2. If that doesn’t work, go to the third tier. Playing time matters more than anything else right now.”
Nuno’s grip trembled.
Marta stared silently at the floor, her shoulders tense.
Nuno opened his mouth to try and plead one last time.
Tomás stepped forward and pressed the ‘end call’ button on the screen.
“Dad, Mom. Please don’t ask anyone else for help. Not anymore.”
“Son…”
“Seeing you like this… it breaks my heart.”
His parents went quiet.
Marta noticed his red eyes and stood up quickly, rushing to him.
They hadn’t secured any help, and now their son had witnessed the humiliation of the rejection.
He had enough pressure on him with the promotion trial coming up.
Nuno forced his mouth into a stiff line that approximated a smile.
“Okay, son. We won’t ask anyone else. Don’t blame yourself. We’re fine. We believe in you. Those snobs have no idea how special you are.”
Tomás looked at the gray hairs at his parents’ temples.
They were barely in their forties.
We can control the smile on our face, and who we give our love to.
Tomás pulled the corners of his mouth up, showing his teeth.
He couldn’t tell if it looked confident.
It might have been just as stiff as Rashford’s.
It didn’t matter.
Toni Gomes.
He had heard the rumors about Liverpool’s new Portuguese signing.
The kid was supposedly a prodigy.
But is he more talented than Marcus?
“Dad, Mom, I promise you, I’m staying at Manchester United. I’m not worse than anyone else.”
Liverpool.
Tiago lowered his phone and scoffed.
“The further they fall, the more desperate they get.” He shook his head at the disconnected line.
“Senhor Tiago, don’t waste your breath,” the assistant scout next to him said.
“Every family thinks their kid is the next Cristiano Ronaldo. Half the country is beating down our door these days. Just let it go.”
“Never mind them. How are talks with Gomes’ representatives?”
“He doesn’t want to leave England right now. He’s happy with the path Liverpool has laid out for him.”
Why would anyone choose to wait in the wings in England when they could be a star at the Estádio da Luz?
“Keep working on him. Push harder with his family. We can soften our stance a bit if we need to. Show some sincerity.”
“Understood.”
“Toni Gomes isn’t just some ordinary talent. We need players like him back in Portugal.”
“Don’t worry. Even if I have to drag him, I’ll bring him home.”
Manchester.
Tomás slept through the night.
He woke up early, ate breakfast, said goodbye to his parents, and took the usual route to Carrington with Rashford.
They walked through the Carrington gates.
A familiar chime sounded in Tomás’s head.
[Ding!
A bright, sunny day, perfect for football.
Daily mission released: pass to ten different teammates.
Reward: [Passing] experience +20.]
Tomás perked up.
Free experience.
Daily missions reset every day.
Even if his teammates never triggered another request, he had a reliable way to improve.
Teammate missions weren’t easy to come by.
He had realized yesterday that few players actually needed anything from him.
Passing was his only utility.
Twenty free experience points a day meant 200 in ten days, 2,000 in a hundred, over 7,000 in a year.
It was enough to push a stat from 70 to 80.
If daily missions exist, are there other kinds waiting to unlock?
Will harder dailies give bigger rewards?
Morning training hadn’t started, but every academy graduate was already on the pitch.
No one wanted to waste a second this close to the cut.
Tomás spotted United’s U18 coach, Paul McGuinness, standing near the touchline.
McGuinness caught sight of them and smiled.
The smile was for Rashford.
Tomás knew his place.
McGuinness didn’t have a reason to look at him.
Even the regular academy coaches barely acknowledged his presence.
“Tomás, come here,” McGuinness called out, waving him over.
Tomás froze.
He must have misheard.
“What are you standing there for?” Rashford shoved him in the back.
“Mr. McGuinness is calling you.”
The other graduates watched as Tomás stumbled forward.
McGuinness kept his eyes fixed on Tomás.
McGuinness carried authority.
He was Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant, the youth coach who had developed Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Tom Cleverley, and Paul Pogba.
He held Tomás’s future in his hands.
Tomás took a breath.
“Mr. McGuinness. What can I do for you?”
McGuinness chuckled.
“I saw you passing well yesterday. How about you run the dealer role in today’s passing and rotation drill? Keep the ball moving for everyone.”
Me?
The dealer?
They wanted him at the center of the drill.
Tomás’s fingers twitched.
[Ding!
Manchester United U18 head coach Paul McGuinness has heard about you from Sir Alex Ferguson and hopes to assess your abilities up close.
He has issued you the mission: ‘A Qualified Dealer.’ Completing this mission grants +10 favorability with Paul McGuinness and +30 experience to your [Passing] attribute.]
Sir Alex Ferguson?
Tomás’s stomach dropped.
He was supposed to feel excited, but a cold sweat broke out across his neck.
He was more nervous than before.