After inhaling and exhaling few deep breaths, Hiro calmed himself. He then walked towards his door to lock the door. And as he locked the door, he walked towards his bed and sat atop his bed with his legs crossed.
“Activate the talent.” He murmured while briefly closing his eyes.
He was afraid of the potential drawbacks from activating the talent. He was afraid that he’d have to suffer from the same pain which he suffered during the consumption of the muscle enhancing elixir.
And he wasn’t willing to show that pathetic side of him to his friend. That’s why he locked the door to prepare himself for the activation of the talent.
[Talent activated]
As he heard the notification from the system, he squeezed his eyelids even more tightly to brace himself for the sudden impact. Tightening his muscles and clenching his fist, he remained still for some moments.
One seconds, two seconds,….. Fifty nine seconds, sixty seconds. A whole minute passed but nothing happened to him.
After staying still for a whole minute, he opened his eyes, loosened his muscles and unclenched his fist. His palms were sweaty from clenching his fist tightly for that entire minute.
Feeling confused, he murmured, “Nothing happened?? Did the process fail? Or may be the system is malfunctioning.”
[The system is working perfectly fine. And no the process has not failed.]
[The talent has already been activated.]
[Since it’s a talent and not an item. You don’t have to fear the possible drawbacks.]
[Only when consuming the items, you might experience some drawback.]
Replied the system after hearing his concerns.
“Oh!! I see!! I was worrying for nothing. Hahaha…” Acting all surprised, he then revealed an awkward smile on his face.
“Then let’s see how much my stat has improved.” Saying such, he activated the system to check his stats.
[New stat vision unlocked]
[Attributes]
Physical: 56/100 ( Grade: C+)
Dribbling: 84/100 (Grade: A)
Pace: 67/100 ( Grade: B)
Passing: 79/100 ( Grade: B+)
Shooting: 73/100 (Grade: B+)
Defending: 41/100 (Grade: C)
Mentality: 64/100 ( Grade: B)
IQ: 82/100 (Grade: A)
Vision: 64/100 (Grade: B)
Overall grade: B+
His face lit up as he witnessed his stats. With his eyes opened wide and mouth agape, he exclaimed, “Woah!! My stats have increased by a lot.”
Knock!! Knock!!
At that same time, he heard a knock on his door.
“Yoh Man!! What are you doing with the door closed.” Spoke Shun from outside the door. 𝙚𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝙜
“Meditating.” He replied tersely and got out from his bed.
He then walked towards the door to unlock the door. And as soon as he unlocked the door, Shun came rushing inside.
Hurriedly walking towards Hiro’s bed, he began to look underneath his bed. After that he looked under his bedsheets. As if he was searching for something, he kept on searching here and there.
Noticing Shun’s weird behaviour, Hiro questioned, “What exactly are you looking for?”
While still in the process of searching his bed, Shun replied, “Ero manga!! I’m sure you’ve hidden some Hentai manga. So bring it out right now. As the saying goes ‘Sharing is caring’. So share it.”
“Wtf!! Why would I hide such vile things?” Answered Hiro with a flustered face.
Finally after searching almost everywhere, he stopped after not finding anything.
“See I told you. I don’t have such things.” Hiro mumbled with a satiated expression on his face while looking at Shun.
“But… But…” Shun shuddered while standing infront of Hiro’s bed, staring at the bed in daze.
“Now move aside. I need to sleep.” Saying such, Hiro began to tidy his bed.
After that he hopped onto his bed and fell asleep.
**** ****
Ring!! Ring!!
At around 5 in the morning, Hiro’s eyes opened to the sound of the alarm clock. Pretty excited to train with U-18 players, he hopped out of his bed and hit the snooze button of the alarm clock.
Shun who was a heavy sleeper was still sleeping on his bed.
Getting out from his bed, he grabbed his toothbrush and towel. After that he left his room and headed towards the bathroom to freshen up.
Rinsing his face with cold water, he felt rejuvenated. And as he finished rinsing his face, he wiped off the water with the towel he was carrying.
After that he went back to his room to get his cleats and training bibs before heading to the pitch.
While heading towards the pitch, he noticed Yuya on the hallway.
Seeing him, Yuya waved his hands and spoke in a cheerful tone, “Fancy seeing you so early in the morning.”
“Yeah!! I slept quite early yesterday.” Hiro replied while catching up to Yuya.
From the very beginning of his stay at the hostel, he had been waking up a little late because of the late night conversation he had with Shun. And since he had slept quite early yesterday, he also woke up early in the morning.
“Hahaha… Yeah!! I guess it’s because of Shun. I’m sure that he must have kept you awake till late in the night with his nonsensical chatterings.” Yuya joked. “And he must still be sleeping right?”
“Yeah!! Sometimes I wonder if he was a pig in his previous life.” Hiro replied with a straight face.
Conversing and joking, they made their way towards the pitch. And as they reached the door of the U-18 pitch, Hiro paused all of a sudden.
Noticing him standing infront of the door of U-18 pitch, Yuya spoke, “What happened? Why are you standing over there?
“We need to head a little further. Did you already forget about that? Hahaha…” Yuya joked.
For few seconds Hiro didn’t reply anything. He was thinking about how to break the news of his promotion to his friend.
Upon noticing the expression on the face of Hiro, Yuya felt something was troubling Hiro.
Finally after thinking for a while, he decided to tell Yuya about the truth without mixing any lies or excuses. He then spoke meekly while slightly frowning his brows, “Actually yesterday at around night-time I was told by the coach’s that I’ve been promoted to the U-18 team. So…. Er…. I’ll be training with the U-18 team from today onwards.”