My Goalkeeping System

'Catherine, why are the rewards blurry?' Dave asked subconsciously as he stared at the quest message on his screen.

<The rewards are blurry because the system hasn't decided yet, it also means that the rewards aren't exactly like the regular ones you receive, there are a few special things there>

'Oh, so the system wants me to move to any of the top five leagues and if I do I will get rewarded for it.'

<Yes>

'I still have two years left on my contract.' He sighed inwardly.

<Your contract doesn't have to expire before you can move to a new club>

'I know but I don't think any club wants to pay for my very cheap release clause.'

<How much is your release clause?>

'Fifty thousand euros.' Dave replied.

<Yeah, that's pretty cheap>

'I know but I don't think any club wants me, I haven't even received an offer from any of the clubs in the Scottish or Portuguese league to talk more of the clubs in the top five leagues, I don't think they want a goalkeeper like me.'

<Yeah, they didn't want a goalkeeper like because you were a very bad goalkeeper then but now you are improving and you're starting to put up good performances, trust me, very soon they will start coming for you>

The goalkeeper was a bit offended by the way she had put the part about him being a bad goalkeeper but he couldn't argue the point that he was a very bad goalkeeper before he got the system.

'If they start coming, I just hope it's any club from England or Spain, France will be nice too.'

<What's wrong with Germany and Italy?>

'Nothing, I just prefer those three over them, especially Spain, because it will be easier to move there.'

<Okay>

'I think I'll start heading back now.' He said subconsciously as he turned to leave.

That was when he saw a little child about eight years old walking toward him.

"Hey, mom, that's Dave Richards!" The boy yelled on seeing him.

"Winn, wait."

His mom tried to stop him but he had already broken free from her grip and quickly raced to the goalkeeper.

"Hello, Dave." He said stopping in front of him.

"Hi," Dave said, lowering his gaze to look at him.

Winn was a blonde-haired boy with cute dimples. He was putting on black jeans with the orange Unique FC home jersey.

"Can you please sign my jersey?" He asked politely before turning his back to him.

On turning his back, Dave could see that the jersey had Mateo written above the large number ten in white Italic font.

"I would love to kid but I don't have any pen with me, do you have any pen with you?" He asked.

"No." The boy said, shaking his head. "But I think my mom does."

Dave slowly raised his gaze to see a young woman about the same age as him standing there.

'ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NovelB(i)n. ᴄᴏᴍ',

"Mom, can you please give him a pen so that he can sign my jersey?" Winn requested.

"Sure." The woman said before dipping her hand into her handbag to bring out a black pen. "Here." She said handing Dave the pen.

Dave took the pen from her and signed the jersey directly on the number before returning the pen to the woman.

"Thank you so much," Winn said with a smile as he pulled the back of his jersey to check it.

"You're welcome," Dave replied with a warm smile. "So what's your name?" He inquired.

"Winn." The boy answered. "And this is my mom." He added pointing at his mother.

"Carol." The woman said, offering her hand for a handshake. "Carol Michael."

"Nice to meet you," Dave said, accepting the handshake.

"The pleasure is mine." She said, "I'll grab Winn now and leave you to continue where you're going."

"See you tonight Dave." The boy said before his mother grabbed his hand and they continued going where they were going.

"I wish I could say the same." The goalkeeper said with a sigh before the smile on his face suddenly returned.

He had this fuzzy warm feeling in his heart now that was making him feel like a little child visiting an amusement park for the first time.

Nobody had ever approached him for an autograph until today, it has always been his teammates with him getting ignored but today, he signed his first autograph and although it was just a child, it gave him that feeling of satisfaction, that exhilarating feeling of finding out that there was someone who thought himself to be his fan.

<As long as you keep pushing you will be getting an autograph horde one day>

'Yeah.'

He made his way home to find breakfast ready and served on the table.

After their breakfast together he had gone to his personal gym as Emma watched some of her favorite shows.

They were going out together in the afternoon and with only five exps remaining for him to level, he had to head to his personal gym and get it done.

After two hours of non-stop training with the various equipment there, he had finally completed the quest.

[ Quest Complete ]

[ Spend two hours training in the gym ]

[ +20 exp received ]

[ 215/200 exp ]

[ Level up ]

[ Congratulations you are now level 3 ]

[ +3 stat points received ]

[ +1 skill point received ]

[ Two new skills are now available ]

'New skills?'

<Check your skills bar>

'Oh.'

[ Unlocked skills ]

'ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N ovelBi(n)',

[ Double jump ]

[ Available skills ]

[ Double stamina ]

[ Ball magnet ]

'Why are they not part of the unlocked skills?' He inquired.

<Because they are not unlocked, you need to unlock them with your skill points, make your choice and use your skill points to unlock it>

[ Skill points: 2 ]

He didn't need a description to know what both of the skills could do and right now, he thought the best skill for him was double stamina.

<Then go for it>

[ You have insufficient skill points to unlock this skill ]

[ Unlocking double stamina requires (+3) exp ]

'And I only have two.'

<Why don't you try the other one?>

'Okay.' Dave replied before clicking the other skill.

[ Are you sure you want to unlock ball magnet ]

[ Yes/No ]

'Can't I just save the points and unlock the double stamina with it when it's up to three?'

<You can but ball magnet is also an important skill, you can always get enough skill points to unlock it later>

'No, I think I'm okay with knocking balls away for now.' He replied as he tried to click the negative option but he had made a mistake in the process and clicked the positive option instead

[ -2 skill points ]

[ You have successfully unlocked ball magnet ]

"Oh come on," Dave said in frustration as he slowly sat down on the treadmill.

<I can't believe you're getting angry for unlocking a very useful skill, this skill will be more useful than the double stamina in my opinion>

'Then why does double stamina cost more skill points than it?'

<I said in my opinion, with this ball magnet skill now, you can catch balls instead of hitting them over the bar for a corner kick that may eventually lead to a goal and even start a counterattack instead of causing a rebound that will lead to a goal>

'I see you have a point.' Dave replied. 'But my poor stamina is always going to be a problem.'

<No, it isn't, your stamina is improving with your dexterity increase and besides you have six stat points that you can add to your dexterity and improve your stamina more>

[ Unused stat points: 6 ]

"Yeah," Dave muttered with a smile on his face.

*****

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.