Arriving at the training ground, Winston panted as he tried to catch his breath. He glanced back in the direction he had jogged from before checking his wristwatch.
5:00 p.m. Still early.
He pulled out his phone and sent separate messages to each of his parents. Watching both messages change to two ticks, he slipped his phone back into his gym bag. The crisp afternoon air cooled his body, gradually easing the heat that clung to his skin. Winston let out a long, heavy sigh.
H
He grabbed his bag from the pavement and slung it over his right shoulder. Passing through the iron entrance gate, he headed straight for the groundskeeper's guardhouse.
Glancing around, Winston noticed that most people were already leaving the training grounds. He felt relieved. Today, he wanted to be alone. The last time he had trained here, he had to share the pitch with a few people, preventing him from making full use of the space.
As he approached the guardhouse, he spotted a small television resting on an old wooden desk. It was replaying the match he had watched at the arcade. Not wanting to wait for the groundskeeper to return, Winston decided he would apologize afterward for using the facilities without permission.
He followed the concrete-tiled walkway into the main training complex, where four football pitches surrounded the central building. Each pitch measured forty meters in length and twenty meters in width.
Stopping at the entrance, Winston took a deep breath. He wrapped his hand around the metallic doorknob, hoping the building hadn't been locked.
He pulled—the green metal door flew open with such force that it nearly sent him tumbling backward down the steps. Regaining his balance, he let out a relieved smile.
It was unlocked—before beginning his drills, Winston took several minutes to set up cones, poles, and the rest of the training equipment. Once everything was in place, he opened the Core System and selected Physical as the focus for today's training.
He started with a warm-up, jogging fifteen laps around the pitch. Even after running all the way from the arcade, he noticed his lungs expanded more freely than before. After finishing the laps, he rummaged through his bag, pulled out a bottle of water, and took a long drink while checking the physical attributes he had selected.
I'll have to do squats and deadlifts back at the club gym. I can still improve my physical attributes there.
Ding!
[User physical stats]
Physical
Physical: 66
Jumping: 55
Stamina: 69
Strength: 59
Aggression: 44
Winston arranged twenty cones in a straight line before beginning his workout. He started with walking lunges, moving back and forth along the cones five times before stopping, completely out of breath.
Unsatisfied, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and pushed himself through another set. This time, however, his legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed onto the grass, gasping for air.
After sitting for a moment, he unscrewed his water bottle and took several long gulps before forcing himself back to his feet. Next came planks.
He knelt on the grass, lowered himself into position, and began counting down from fifteen. His abdomen burned as he held himself steady. When the countdown ended, he rotated onto his right side, balancing on one forearm while resting his free hand against his hip.
"...Fifteen... fourteen..."
After finishing, he switched to his left side and repeated the exercise, determined not to break his momentum despite the growing exhaustion. Without giving himself much time to rest, Winston moved to the next drill. Fortunately, this one required equipment he already had.
He dragged a sturdy black plyometric box into position and began doing box jumps. One, Two, Three, His breathing grew heavier with every jump.
By the time he completed twenty-five repetitions, sweat dripped from his chin onto the grass. After taking a short break to steady his breathing, he pushed through another twenty-five.
Every muscle in his body screamed for him to stop. But he refused—watching the replay of the match at the arcade had reignited something inside him. He didn't want to be the substitute anymore. He wanted to become the best striker in the league.
If this pain was the price of becoming stronger, then he would gladly endure it. Finally, Winston grabbed his water bottle and drank the last few mouthfuls. He hated ending the session early, but the remaining exercises required barbells and weight machines, equipment only available at the club gym.
I'll have to do the rest of my strength training there, he thought. Maybe I should ask if I can stay after training... or maybe it's finally time to get my own gym membership.
As the thought lingered in his mind, another crossed it. I haven't checked my stats since I started all these drills.
Ding!
[User physical stats]
[Pace]
Acceleration: 70
Sprint Speed: 70
[Physical]
Physical: 66 +3
Jumping: 55 +3
Stamina: 69 +3
Strength: 59 +3
Aggression: 44 +1
o
Huh... even my Pace increased. A smile spread across Winston's face. I guess running twenty-five laps doesn't just improve stamina—it also affects other physical attributes.
Although encouraged by the improvement, his excitement quickly faded. The increases were still far smaller than he had hoped.
With renewed determination, Winston stood up and started the entire routine again. He ran the same laps around the pitch before repeating the drills one after another, refusing to ease up despite the fatigue building in his muscles.
Just as he finished another set—
Ding!
A translucent notification appeared before his eyes. Winston froze.
"Huh?"
He stared at the floating screen in surprise. That's strange...
The Core System rarely issued Daily Challenges outside of official matches or club training sessions. Yet here it was, presenting him with a new challenge while he was training alone.
[New Challenge: Survive the bonus challenge]
[30 second till the challenge]
I thought the system only gave out challenges when I had a match. Winston frowned. Or maybe this is the Core System's way of preparing me for the upcoming game.
Shrugging, he assumed it would be another training drill. After all, the system had never issued a Daily Challenge while he was training alone. Looking around the grounds, he realized he was the only person left.
Weird...
He raised the bottle to his lips, hoping to squeeze out the last few drops of water. The moment he tilted his head back—a violent pain exploded through his skull.
"Argh!"
It felt as though someone had struck him with a brick. The bottle slipped from his fingers and rolled across the grass. Winston clutched his head with both hands, gritting his teeth.
"What... where did this headache come from?" he groaned. "Why is everything spinning?"
His vision lurched sideways. Did I overdo the training? ...Or is it because I haven't eaten since breakfast?
"Damn..."
His legs buckled—he dropped onto his hands and knees, struggling to breathe as his heartbeat thundered in his ears. The world around him blurred into streaks of green and gray before darkness slowly swallowed everything.
Shwwww...
A faint electronic beeping echoed through the void.
Beep... Beep... Beep... Hospital...? Winston's heart sank. Am I... still in a coma? Was everything I've experienced... just another simulation?
Disappointment washed over him. He tried to force his eyes open, but they refused to respond. He couldn't feel the ground beneath him. His body seemed suspended in empty space, his arms stretched outward as though he were floating.
To make sure he still existed, he bit down hard on his tongue. Pain answered him. A slow breath escaped his lips. At least... I'm still alive.
[The Core: Nether Essence]
[Activated]
[Preparing The Core Plane challenge]
Slowly, Winston opened his eyes. A blinding light flooded his vision.
"Ah..."
He immediately raised a hand to shield his eyes, squinting until the brightness became bearable.
Is it morning already?
As his vision gradually adjusted, he blinked several times, expecting to see the familiar white ceiling of a hospital room. Instead—he froze. This wasn't a hospital. Nor was it the training ground. Silence surrounded him as he slowly lowered his hand, taking in the unfamiliar landscape before him.
[The Core Plane challenge: 2 Goals]
[0/2 Goals]
Rubbing his eyes, Winston slowly surveyed the endless white space. It resembled a football pitch, measuring roughly forty-five meters in both width and length. Every line of the field was outlined in faint silver, glowing softly against the white floor.
Spread across the pitch stood tall, shadowy silhouettes. They were shaped like footballers, yet completely featureless—dark figures with no faces, no numbers, and no expressions.
"...What is this place?"
As Winston narrowed his eyes, trying to make out one of the silhouettes, a football suddenly materialized on the center spot.
Thump.
None of the figures moved. Then one silhouette sprang to life. It occupied the same position Winston would normally play—a striker. Without hesitation, it sprinted toward the ball. Instinctively, Winston chased after it.
To his surprise, the fatigue from training had completely disappeared. His legs felt light, his breathing steady, and the increase in his pace was immediately noticeable. He reached the ball first. Instead of shooting, Winston carried it toward the right side of the pitch. The striker silhouette immediately abandoned the chase and calmly returned to its original position, as though its role in the sequence had ended.
Winston stopped the ball beneath his foot and looked up. A midfielder silhouette suddenly burst forward. Without breaking stride, it poked the ball through Winston's legs with a perfectly timed nutmeg before accelerating past him. Once it had completed the move, it too returned to its designated midfield position.
"What...?"
Before Winston could react, the left-back silhouette charged in from the flank.
Crunch—a clean tackle. The shadowy players instantly came to life, exchanging crisp one-touch passes in rapid tiki-taka fashion. The ball zipped effortlessly from defender to midfielder, then into attack. Within seconds, it reached the central striker. The silhouette struck the ball first time.
Thud!
The ball rippled the back of the net. As soon as the sequence ended, every silhouette returned to its original position and became perfectly motionless once again, as if nothing had happened.
Thwack!
His hands rested on his knees as he caught his breath. The tackle had drained some of his stamina. This time, when the ball appeared at the center of the field, none of the silhouettes moved.
Winston frowned—At that moment, he noticed something. The dark silhouettes only reacted when he entered their area with the ball. If he stayed away from one side, those defenders remained still, while another silhouette moved instead.
"So they only activate when I enter their zone..." He dusted himself off and jogged toward the ball waiting at the center of the field. The moment he trapped it, the nearest midfielder sprang into motion. Instead of charging straight ahead, Winston dribbled diagonally toward the right channel.
Just as he suspected—the midfielder immediately abandoned his position and pursued him, while the other silhouettes remained frozen. A smile slowly spread across Winston's face. "So that's how it works."
He cut inside with a quick touch. The midfielder lunged. Winston nudged the ball past him and accelerated into the open space. The instant he crossed into another area, the center-back came alive, stepping out of the defensive line to confront him while the midfielder stopped chasing and returned to his original position.
"So every defender protects a specific zone." The realization excited him. This wasn't simply a football field. It was a training simulation designed to teach him how defensive structures shifted in response to an attack.
Winston grinned. "Then all I have to do... is learn how to manipulate those zones."
[The Core Plane challenge: 2 Goals]
[0/2 Goals]