The Greatest of all Time

"I've already unlocked the supernormal factor on two occasions!" Zachary exclaimed, his mind quickly working in overdrive to deduce when that had happened. Then it all came to him. When he'd played in the Riga tournament during the February of the previous year, he'd accidentally entered a state of extreme focus in two of the matches.

Zachary could still recall the feeling of playing under that state clearly like it was just yesterday. He had played by instinct—a feat that made his dribbling and ball control flow like water. In the match against BK Frem in the Riga Cup semifinals, his thought process had been lightning fast. He had managed to score the second goal due to achieving that high level of focus. But, he hadn't known that it was related to the supernormal factor at that time.

"System," Zachary intoned. "Are the two occasions the times when I entered the extreme state of focus during the Riga Cup?" He asked, aching to confirm whether his conjecture was true.

"Positive," the AI replied. "On those two occasions, the user managed to achieve an extreme level of concentration called the zone."

"The zone is a supernormal state of mind. Under its thrall, an athlete is highly focused and can easily perceive even the slightest of changes around him," the AI continued. "The user must be in the initial state of awakening the zone mental ability as he can't control it yet."

"When trained to a high level, the user will be-able-to create an incorporeal domain around him, say of a 3-meter radius. The user can then easily perceive anything that happens in that domain—without even using his eyes. The spatial awareness of the user will also increase considerably. It'll then become trivial to assess risk and the positioning of both opponents and teammates on the pitch."

"Such an ability really exists?" Zachary queried, his eyes widening with sheer disbelief.

"The user can be—assured that the zone ability is a must-have for any high-level team sports athletes," the system confirmed. "In such team sports like soccer and basketball, an athlete will have to keep track of both his opponents and teammates at all times. That way, he'll quickly analyze risk and find the best route to the goal. So, an athlete will have a marked advantage if he possesses a zone ability. The wider the zone he can create, the better his passing ability, spatial awareness, and risk analysis."

"I've to get the zone ability as soon as possible," Zachary resolved, feeling a surge of delight flowing through him. That was the dream cheat he needed to take his passing to the next level. "System, how can I develop my zone ability quickly?"

"You should focus on improving your mental abilities," the AI replied. "When your mind develops to a certain threshold, you'll be able to unlock your zone ability. The mental conditioning elixirs can help you in that regard."

Zachary's mood lightened on hearing the AI's response. Over the past four months, he had—been carrying out a progressive overload training system mission to acclimatize his body to the cold Trondheim weather. It was due the following week with the reward of a B-grade mental conditioning elixir on successful completion. Zachary was confident that he would succeed in completing all the tasks of the mission. That meant he could enhance his mental toughness using the elixir, possibly unlocking the zone ability. Zachary felt quiet contentment spread through him as he daydreamed about how far his skills would skyrocket after that.

"The user has to note that the chance of unlocking the zone ability with a B-grade mental conditioning elixir is about 2 %," the system's apathetic voice brought him back to earth. Zachary's mood dampened as that meant he would most likely fail than succeed.

"I should go ahead and buy a new skill to improve my chances on the first team," he mumbled, trying his best to cheer himself up. Instead of wallowing in worry about a supernormal factor with only a 2% chance of being unlocked, he was better off improving the other aspects of his attributes.

"System," instructed Zachary, leaning back into the comfort of the sofa. "Bring up my G.O.A.T Skills data."

"DING"

"G.O.A.T Skills info coming up on the interface," the AI sounded in Zachary's mind. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the new contents of the screen.

****

->G.O.A.T Skills: 5

(i) ZINEDINE VISUAL JUJU

(1st-level: Progress: 90.001%)

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(ii) ZACHARY-ARROW-SHOT

(2nd-level: Progress: 1%)

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(iii) BEND-IT LIKE BECKHAM JUJU

(1st-level: Progress: 100%)

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(iv) CRUYFF-TURN

(Progress: 100%, Mastered beyond 100% completion.)

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(v) RONALDINHO ELASTICO DRIBBLE

(Progress: 100%, Mastered beyond 100% completion.)

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->G.O.A.T Skills Simulator

*Activate *Deactivate

(Activation costs 2 Juju-points per hour)

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****

Zachary had already mastered most of his acquired G.O.A.T skills by practicing them thousands of times over the course of the previous year. Only the Zinedine-Visual-Juju still lagged behind the rest at 90.001 % completion since he had stumbled upon a bottleneck in his mental aspect. The system AI had informed him he would only start making progress in the skill after enhancing his mental strength.

Zachary had been resisting the urge to buy a new skill since he was yet to master the ones already in his repertoire. He was a true believer in Bruce Lee's focused practice and a high level of proficiency philosophy. He would rather be the man who practiced one kick 10,000 times but not one who practiced 10,000 kicks once.

Zachary preferred to master a single G.O.A.T Skill to 100% completion rather than half-heartedly practicing more techniques in a short period. That was the reason he could remain focused and train a skill like the Ronaldinho Elastico Dribble thousands of times to achieve perfection.

However, since he'd already mastered all the trainable G.O.A.T-skills to 100 % mastery, he could afford to purchase a new skill from the system shop.

"System," he mumbled. "I would like to purchase new G.O.A.T Skills from the shop."

"DING"

"Command received," intoned the AI, the apathetic feminine voice resounding within Zachary's mind. "Data loading, please wait."