Rise of a Football God

Thud! Thud!

The sound of boots hitting ground reverberated as a tall 17-year-old lumbered through the streets with headsets blocking his ears, jogging even as he wiped the perspiration from his forehead.

It was still very early in the morning.

The early cock crows reverberated through the veil of the morning, announcing the start of a new day in this part of Abraka.

And that early in the morning, a boy was already jogging.

"Good morning, Sam!" A businessman who sold phones and electronic accessories called loudly and waved on seeing the boy jog pass again.

Sam heard through the sound filtration technology of his headset. He was not really listening to music; he just blocked his ears with the headset to reduce distractions as he jogged.

"Good morning, Mr. Josh!" He greeted back.

He exchanged greetings with a few more people along the road as he continued jogging.

About a minute later, he deviated from the road, taking a right turn to enter the university premises that was close to his home through the middle gate.

Once he was inside the school road, he increased his running speed even as his breathing became more labored. As he ran, he paid attention to something else.

~----~

[Active Daily Quest: Get back in shape!]

[Task 1: 100 push-ups]

[Progress: 0/100 push-ups done]

[Task 2: 100 squats]

[Progress: 0/100 squats done]

[Task 3: 100 sit-ups]

[Progress: 0/100 sit-ups done]

[Task 4: Run 10 kilometers]

[Progress: 9.8/10 kilometers run]

[WARNING: If the daily quest is not completed, penalties will be given accordingly.]

[Remark: With great power comes great responsibilities.]

~----~

Well, for the fifth day straight, Sam was up and running, yearning to complete the daily tasks that the system set for him.

After the encounter 5 days ago when Argentina played France in the world cup final, after getting acclimatized to the system in the night, the next day, he was forced to take the daily tasks serious.

That Monday, waking up as laidback as ever before, Sam prayed with his family, took his bath, ate, and left for work to come back in the evening.

By the time he got home in the evening, he was already dead tired. \'I guess I can\'t meet the system daily tasks goal, I\'m just too tired\'.

Well, he learned to regret being lazy with the system in play.

The system did not tolerate laziness.

~----~

[Host has failed to meet the daily system quests on time!]

[You have triggered penalty: Dehydration]

[Duration: 4 hours]

~----~

Well, the penalty was just as the system displayed before him.

All of a sudden, despite the fact that he just ate a sumptuous meal after getting home and drinking enough water, Sam suddenly felt dehydrated.

He drank more water but it couldn\'t quench it.

And for every minute more that he stayed, the more severe the dehydration symptoms became. It got to the point it almost felt like he was stuck in a desert, his throat was so dry that he felt he would choke and die.

He sought his father for help but when his father could not tell what was wrong, that was when it finally dawned on him.

Spooked, Sam had no choice but to rush to his room, wear his combat shorts and his pair of slippers before going out on a jog in the night.

Running 10 kilometers with a pair of slippers was torture. Add his physique then into the mix, and it was a horrifying endeavor.

Sam could not stop though even if he wanted. It got so severe till he thought if he stayed a minute longer so dehydrated, he would die.

Despite the fact that he was dead tired and his whole body was aching, scared by the prospects of dying, Sam dared not stop.

He never knew he had so much energy and stamina hidden inside him.

In the end, somehow, he managed to complete all tasks that first day. On getting back home, seeing him covered with sweat all over, of course, his mom asked questions but Sam was too tired to answer.

He retreated to sleep immediately but before he slept completely, he saw the system light up with a notification again.

~----~

[You have completed Daily Quest: Get back in shape!]

[You have been rewarded with a low-grade physical conditioning elixir!]

[Host has been detected to be in an inactive state, automatically ingesting low-grade physical conditioning elixir, please wait…]

~----~

The next day, Tuesday morning, Sam woke up feeling refreshed and energetic and for some reason, he felt that his belly fat reduced a bit.

\'Huh? What happened?\'

Then, his eyes widened. \'Is it because of the physical conditioning elixir?\'

\'Holy sh*t! This system is a cheat!\'

Well, Tuesday morning, he started the routine, absolutely scared of facing another penalty from the system.

After every daily quest session, Sam was rewarded with the same physical conditioning elixir and well, after 5 days, the results were evident.

Sam did not suddenly get the Cristiano Ronaldo physique but compared to 5 days ago, he now looked fit.

His belly fat was gone though there was no six packs yet. His legs were no longer chubby and fat, now slimmer and more athletic.

Achieving this much change in just 5 days was impossible but with the low-grade physical conditioning elixirs that he got every day, the impossible was made possible. Sam\'s overview of the system rose every day.

Sam did not just jog into the university premises for nothing though, his destination was the school gym.

This was where he completed the rest of his daily quest goals.

By the time he got to the gym, he got a beep and notification from his system indicating that he already ran 10 kilometers.

Entering inside the school gym, having paid the 3,000-naira monthly fee from his savings 4 days ago, Sam went straight to his corner where he started his work-out with sit-ups.

He mixed sit-ups and squats and about a dozen minutes later or so, he was done with both workouts.

He finally switched to his last for the day, push-ups.

He divided his last workout into 3 sets.

The first set, he went for 50 straight push-ups. After resting for a short while, for the second set, he did 30 straight push-ups before ending it with the last set of 20 push-ups.

And with that, he was done.

"Sam, you\'re already running off like usual right?" The gym coach caught him.

Sam chuckled. "Coach Andrew, I\'ve got no choice, I have work to do".

"Besides, my mom will skin me alive if I stay too long".

"Mommy\'s boy". Coach Andrew, the hefty coach who wore normal gym clothes teased as Sam left.

Sam got his completed daily quest notification and his reward, the low-grade physical conditioning elixir.

As soon as he got outside the gym though, he met a familiar face. It was a tall black boy with big biceps and short groomed black hair.

"Hey Favour, what\'s popping?"

"My man Sam," they shook hands. "You\'re running again, right?"

"Yeah, I can\'t afford to stay for too long man".

"I understand".

Sam was about to jog off when Favour held him back. "Wait! I remembered something, you once said you are really good at playing football, right?"

Sam looked at the tall boy. "Yeah, anything?"

"Yes," Favour smiled. "My brother is an aspiring coach. They organized a sponsored Christmas football game between his team and another team from Warri".

"His team is complete, but he\'s looking out for talented players to bolster his squad and further increase his chances of winning the game".

"You see, the winning prize is big". Favour smiled and winked. "So, Sam, do you think you\'re good enough?"

"By the way, I heard Yemi Daniel Olanrewaju, Enyimba FC\'s coach will be coming to the game as a guest of honor to spectate".

"Who knows, he may keep an eye out for outstanding performers".

Hearing that, Sam\'s eyes gleamed sharply. \'An opportunity!\'