"Okay, kid, we'll start with wall passing."
Dumi placed a cone in front of Winston. Five meters away, he positioned three small black rebound boards, each measuring one hundred centimeters by sixty centimeters. The boards were arranged to the left, center, and right, with five meters between each one.
"I want you to pass the ball against those rebound boards without slowing down your passes. And don't move from that cone."
Winston began. At first, he struggled to control the pace and direction of his passes. Every time the ball rebounded beyond his reach, Dumi instructed him to repeat the drill.
"Again." Winston retrieved the ball and returned to the cone. "Again." He continued.
For nearly an hour, Winston repeatedly passed the ball toward the three rebound boards. Gradually, he began adjusting to the unpredictable angles and getting a better feel for the ball.
After a while, the movement started to feel natural. His passes became faster and more accurate, and he no longer hesitated before striking the ball.
"Good. Keep going. I'll tell you when to stop," Dumi said.
Winston continued for another hour, his focus never wavering. Finally, Dumi raised a hand. "That's enough." Winston stopped, breathing heavily despite his stamina allowing him to continue.
"Your form isn't bad, and you adapt quickly," Dumi said. "When I watched your match against Arlesey, I noticed that your passing and shooting need refinement. Your overall form does too."
Dumi collected the rebound boards and began setting up another drill. "For now, we'll focus on ball control, speed, passing, and your physical ability."
He placed three cones in a small triangle and positioned another cone five meters away.
"Listen carefully." Dumi pointed toward the setup. "I'll pass the ball from this cone. When it reaches you, control it, turn, and move around the three cones without touching them. The goal is to improve your first touch, ball control, and turning."
Winston nodded and took his position. The first attempt was rough. Dumi passed the ball toward him, and Winston struggled to control its speed. His touch was either too heavy or too soft, forcing him to chase after the ball.
Again, and again.
It took nearly twenty attempts before Winston became comfortable with the pace of Dumi's passes.
"Don't fight the ball," Dumi instructed. "Relax your foot and absorb the impact. Use the inside of your foot when you need control. If the angle is better, use the outside. You can also press the ball down slightly before turning."
Dumi continued shouting instructions while Winston practiced. Whenever Winston made a mistake, Dumi demonstrated the correct technique before making him repeat the movement. After two to three hours of the same drill, Dumi finally stopped him.
"Okay, that's enough. Now we go back to the basics." He gathered several cones and placed them ten meters apart. "Listen up. I want you to tap the ball lightly from one cone to the other. Keep the ball close to your feet. I'll tell you when to stop."
Winston stared at the setup. We're doing this?
The drill was extremely basic—something he had performed countless times before. Yet he understood why Dumi had brought him back to it. Ball control was fundamental. A player could possess all the speed and power in the world, but if they couldn't control the ball comfortably between their feet, those abilities meant little.
Winston began tapping the ball from cone to cone. At first, the movement felt almost insultingly simple. But as the minutes passed, he began paying closer attention to every touch. The pressure of his foot. The distance the ball traveled. The position of his body. The way the ball responded to the slightest change in movement.
From a distance, Dumi watched silently as Winston continued the drill for nearly forty-five minutes. For the first time, Winston began to understand what his mentor meant by going back to the basics. Maybe I've been trying to improve the wrong way.
Ding!
[Nethen Essence: 58%]
[Voltage Core: 58%]
[Dribbling]
Dribbling: 64
Agility: 45
Balance: 56 +1
Reactions: 55 +1
Ball Control: 67 +1
Composure: 46 +1
[Passing]
Passing: 56 +1
Vision: 41 +1
Crossing: 40
FK Acc.: 30
Short Pass: 45
Long Pass: 46 +1
Curve: 40
Dumi halted Winston as evening approached, telling him they should continue the following day. Winston felt as though he hadn't even broken a sweat. He pondered for a moment before an image of today's challenge flashed through his mind. If he lost the upcoming match, he would have to sit on the bench for three matches.
He glanced at Dumi, whose expression remained unreadable. "Can we please continue, Coach?"
A grin spread across Dumi's face as he patted Winston on the shoulder. "Now you're talking. We're pulling an all-nighter. It's been a long time since I pulled one of those. Back then, my coaches used to reprimand me for doing it. Good times."
"Okay."
"On to the next drill. Perform the same exercise, but this time use the outside of your foot. Just like before, you'll be doing it for another twenty minutes."
Dumi folded his arms as Winston began. As the night wore on, their training became increasingly rigorous. Dumi started with the most fundamental drills before gradually progressing to intermediate-level exercises. He categorized the training into four areas: Ball Control, Dribbling, Shooting, and Physical.
During the first week, the emphasis was primarily on ball control and dribbling. Dumi's sleeping schedule during that week was from five in the morning until ten. Well, Dumi was the only one sleeping. Winston still struggled to sleep, but he told no one. Instead, he trained inside his hotel room until ten in the morning. The Core system continued updating him, but he wasn't checking it as frequently as he used to. He didn't want anything distracting him. The only thing on his mind was the upcoming match.
His routine quickly became familiar to the hotel staff and groundskeepers. He was always the first person to arrive at the training ground and the last to leave. Even Dumi was startled when he occasionally found Winston already warming up in the morning.
Dumi couldn't help but find Winston's determination astonishing. Every morning, Winston appeared at the training ground without showing any obvious signs of exhaustion. His routine became so consistent that Dumi began to wonder if something unusual was going on.
At one point, he even suspected that Winston might be taking some kind of illicit substance. However, after examining Winston's water bottle and observing him closely, Dumi found nothing suspicious. There were no hidden substances or tricks behind Winston's seemingly endless energy.
It was simply determination. On the final day of the first week, Dumi called for a break. Annalise arrived with lunch from the hotel. It was a light meal consisting of sunny-side-up eggs with garlic, tomato chutney, slices of bread, and orange juice.
"Are you nervous about the upcoming match with that kid?" Dumi asked.
Winston answered with food still in his mouth. "A little. I mean, the striker coach has been training him one-on-one for weeks. I need to catch up to him. I don't want to sit on the bench ever again."
"Oh, I see." Dumi nodded. "That kid does have talent, but he still relies heavily on brute force, and he's hard-headed. I guess those two qualities suit each other."
Winston chuckled softly. "Don't let the match weigh you down," Dumi continued. "Trust your abilities. Refine your strengths and weaknesses, but don't lose yourself in something you love."
"Thank you, Coach." Winston hesitated. "Um, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"Why did you retire in the middle of the season? You were at the peak of your career."
Dumi smiled faintly. "I was wondering when you would ask me that."
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"It's alright, kid." Dumi lowered his gaze for a moment before continuing. "My baby girl was sick." He paused. "In the middle of the season, Lise started getting sick out of nowhere. Gradually, it became more serious until she was bedridden. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. Some of them even told me to prepare for the worst." Dumi's expression changed. "That was the moment I decided to announce my retirement. It was just me and my baby girl. Somehow, after a few months, her condition started improving."
Silence settled between them. "I miss football," Dumi admitted. "But sometimes, you have to remember what's truly important. Cherishing the people you love matters more than anything else. Annalise is the most important person in my life." He looked directly at Winston. "And don't forget to check on your loved ones from time to time, kid."
Winston nodded quietly. "Anyway, let's get back to training."
"Okay."
Ding!
[Nethen Essence: 58%]
[Voltage Core: 58%]
[Dribbling]
Dribbling: 66
Agility: 50
Balance: 60
Reactions: 60
Ball Control: 70
Composure: 55
[Passing]
Passing: 60
Vision: 46
Crossing: 48
FK Acc.: 44
Short Pass: 60
Long Pass: 50
Curve: 50
T
The weekend's demanding training left Winston astonished by the impact of Dumi's coaching. To some players, the exercises might have seemed foundational, but to Winston, they felt entirely different. Most of his previous training had been done alone, with shooting being his primary focus. He had never broken his training down into structured categories the way Dumi did.
Dumi divided the training into four main areas: Ball Control, Dribbling, Shooting, and Physical. Each category was further divided into three levels—low, medium, and high. During the first two days, Dumi focused on the low-tier exercises. They were basic drills, but he insisted Winston repeat them until every movement became natural.
On the following two days, Dumi introduced a mixture of medium- and high-tier exercises. The intensity increased significantly, forcing Winston to pay attention not only to his technique but also to his positioning, balance, and decision-making. By the weekend, Dumi changed the structure completely.
Instead of relying heavily on cones and repetitive drills, he placed training mannequins across different areas of the field. He would then pass the ball toward Winston, forcing him to maneuver through the mannequins while maintaining control of the ball and adjusting his movement according to the pass.
To an ordinary player, the drills would have been exhausting enough to make them consider quitting. For Winston, however, they felt almost perfectly suited to him. The Core system continuously restored his energy, allowing him to keep going long after a normal player would have reached their limit. Rather than feeling discouraged by the increasingly brutal sessions, Winston found himself enjoying them. For the first time, he wasn't simply training harder. He was finally learning how to train.
Ding!
[Nethen Essence: 58%]
[Voltage Core: 58%]
[Dribbling]
Dribbling: 70
Agility: 68
Balance: 69
Reactions: 68
Ball Control: 70
Composure: 65
[Passing]
Passing: 68
Vision: 60
Crossing: 61
FK Acc.: 60
Short Pass: 65
Long Pass: 60
Curve: 60
Finally, my skills are improving rapidly, thanks to Mr. Dumi's grueling training. This opportunity has helped me tremendously. Three weeks left until the match. After that, I have to focus on the league championship. If I want the opportunity to be signed by the senior club, I have to stand out among my peers.
I can't wait to see what these two—Nethen Essence and Voltage Core—will do. I just hope they reach one hundred percent soon. Maybe I'll get a huge amount of reward points when they do.
"Let's stop here for today, kid," Dumi said.