The Greatest of All Time

Chapter 76 - Tough Opponents

When Zachary returned to his hotel room, he couldn't resist the temptation to open the system interface. Despite only having a small window to clean up and pick his lunch before returning to the bus, he decided to check whether there were any marked changes in the interface.

The magical state of extreme focus that had enabled him to score the second goal was still fresh on his mind. He had only managed to enter it twice; first, during the match against JFC Riga and later in that day's game against ADO Den Haag.

During both instances, he had performed at a level much higher than his baseline. However, he still didn't have any conscious control over entering the state of mind. So, when he went into the shower, away from the eyes of Kasongo, he opened the system interface to search for clues.

Nothing seemed to have changed since the beginning of the match. Most attributes were still in the A grading while the X-factor was still showing an F grade—and 'limited information available' when he clicked on it.

Zachary only saw a significant change under the G.O.A.T Skills tab. His Zinedine-Visual-Juju had jumped from a 72.021% to a 77.072% 1st-level of progress within just a span of a single game. He was shocked by the unusually-large increment.

The advancement of the Zinedine-Visual-Juju seemed to have stagnated when he'd reached 70% progress. Zachary had been seeking ways to enhance its rate of improvement for months. He'd tried watching recorded matches and reading books about soccer tactics to quicken the process of mastering the skill.

Nonetheless, it had continued improving by only about 0.1 - 0.5% each month.

However, in a single match where he had managed to enter the mysterious state of extreme focus, the skill had improved by slightly more than 5%. He was astounded.

Zachary hypothesized that the state of extreme focus was somehow related to the Zinedine-Visual-Juju.

He wished he could master the Zinedine-Visual-Juju to a hundred percent and see whether he would gain control over achieving the state of extreme focus. However, he understood learning a skill was a slow process.

The only skills in the system he'd managed to master to 1st-level 100% completion so far were the Cruyff-turn and his arrow shot. That was because he'd practiced them regularly in his previous life. Otherwise, he would have taken much longer to learn them. Zachary could only wait to enter the mysterious mental state again involuntarily before continuing his investigation.

"Zach!" Kasongo's voice came in from behind the bathroom door, interrupting his musings. "We're almost late for the game. You'd better hurry since we have to pick our lunch before heading to the bus."

"How many minutes do we have left?" Zachary inquired, closing the system interface.

"It's now 1:30," Kasongo replied. "We have to be at the bus in 10 minutes if we wish to go with the rest of the team."

"Okay then," Zachary replied. "I'll be done in five. You can head down first. Please pick my lunch as well on your way. I'll meet you downstairs in less than ten minutes."

"Okay," Kasongo concurred. "But hurry up. I don't know why you're spending so long in the shower." He grumbled.

Zachary quickly finished cleaning up. He then slipped into a fresh dark blue tracksuit and a heavy jacket before running down the stairs to catch the bus to the stadium.

"Zach!" Kasongo hollered out to him, waving an arm as soon as he stepped on the bus. "I kept a seat for you here. Come on."

Zachary nodded at Coach Johansen by the door, mumbling an apology before taking a seat next to Kasongo.