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"What exactly is the point of this life of mine?" Lukas Brandt thought to himself as he chugged down a cup of Wheat beer in a local pub in Darmstadt. He had always dreamt of being a professional footballer, he fell in love with the sport when he watched his country Germany beat the Argentine national team in the World Cup final in 2014, with memories of his father hugging him tightly after Mario Gotze scored the goal that gave them the cup. He had been 5 back then, currently 36, but his biggest regret was giving up at the first sight of failure at 15. He had given up his dream of one day representing his country, and died (un)fortunately while trying to save a kid. Waking up 20 years younger and with a system, follow Lukas' journey from an SV Darmstadt 98 academy reject, to undoubtedly the greatest footballer of all time. ----------------------- GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL "Gotze has just won it for Germany!!!!!!! What a game this has been.... A World Cup final for the history books! Germany get their fourth World Cup trophy, the first since the unified Germany era, and what a way to win it. Mario Gotze, 113th minute of a grueling final, it is a wonderful day to be a German" Peter Drury exclaimed as the final whistle of the 2014 World Cup finals at the Maracana Stadium blew. Back in Germany, the whole nation was on fire, streets in Munich and Berlin were packed with people wearing the German national team jersey and waving the German flag. They had just won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and it was the highest form of recognition for any nation, more so a football powerhouse like Germany, a trophy they had to wait 24 years for. In a small pub at the outskirt of Darmstadt, the jubilation seemed even bigger. Students from the Technical University of Darmstadt were mixed with old workers and even little children. One of those little kids—Lukas Brandt, 5 years old—was carried by his father. His legs hung on either side of his dad's shoulders, as they both screamed with joy in the local pub in Darmstadt after the match ended. Right there, Lukas with his light green eyes fixed on the big screen in the pub watching the players hug each other on the field with some shedding tears of joy, was enthralled by what he was seeing. "I want to playfootball." He thought to himself. ************ That day was almost three decades ago. Lukas, now 36 with a growing beer belly chugged his beer in that same pub as he watched Germany lose to Spain in the Euros quarterfinal played in The Netherlands. "And that is it, Die Mannschaft falls to La Roja in the quarterfinal of the 2044 European Championship here in the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. It ends here—Spain 3, Germany 1. And the wait continues. Germany has not been in a final of a major competition in over 30 years since they won the World Cup in 2014. You gotta wonder, what will it take?" Lukas stood up from the barstool at the pub. "Put it on my—" "Sorry Luke, the boss says no more tabs for you man" Max, the bartender said, cutting Lukas off before he completed his sentence "You gotta clear the one you already got man, you know how he gets" he added. "Lemme see the tab, how much is on it?" "€984.50, you've had this tab open since the beginning of the year man. We are already halfway through the year" "Aight Max, how much is today's drinks? I will pay for that now" Lukas said, bringing out his brown wallet that looked like it had been in war with a washing machine for the past decade. "It's €17.50 Luke" "Here take this €20, remove the change from my tab." Lukas turned, leaving the pub "Even with two of the greatest attacking midfielders in the world for more than 10 years, we still didn't make it to a Euro or World Cup final throughout the peak of their careers, what gives you hope that it will be any different with these new players?" Lukas heard a man arguing with his friend at the pub as they discussed the match that had just ended. He had already given up hope, the emerald eyes that once shone bright with dreams and hope had been shattered countless times. After being dropped by the SV Darmstadt 98 Youth academy at 16, he had decided his dreams were impossible to attain with the talent he had, and decided to cheer on Die Mannschaft from afar if he couldn't make his dreams come true. But even that, had proven difficult. Years and years of World Cup group stage exits, Euros quarter/semifinal exits and even failing to qualify for the 2042 World Cup in Kuwait, he had lost hope in even that consolation of seeing his country win a major tournament. (after Qatar and Saudi successfully lobbied the WC hosting rights and won, Kuwait did too, and you know FIFA don't play about their dough) As he walked down the street on his way home, he thought to himself "What exactly is the purpose of this life Ilived?" as he kicked a little rock slowly down the road reminiscing about the times he still believed in dreams coming true.. "I am only 36, but why do I feel both like I have lived to the end of my life and still haven't accomplished anything in life?" He had gone to Technical University of Darmstadt to study Electrical Engineering like his father but dropped out after a year due to the sheer difficulty. No wife, no sibling, and no other close family in the town since his father passed 8 years ago. He had lived life alone in the apartment his father already paid off for before his passing, and although he had gotten used to that life — sometimes the loneliness gets too heavy. As he tried to kick the rock one more time and missed, he stopped, turned back, looked at the missed rock, and knew it was against the rules to go back and kick it again... But he tried to anyway. As he was turning back, he spotted a kid on the road, must have been at most 7 or 8 years old, going to pick up his ball which had rolled to the middle of the road. "Who lets their kids play so close to a road like this without supervision?" But just as he registered the thought, out of the corner of his eyes he saw a black F-150 heading the child's way. He saw the car even before the driver saw the kid because for some reason he was already running towards the kid in the middle of the road before he heard the car horn blow. "Hey kid!! Watch out!!!." BAAAAMMM!! Lukas successfully got the kid out the way, but couldn't get himself to safety as the car clattered into him. "Mr!!!! Are you okay? Somebody call 112 please!" bystanders gathered as they called the emergency service. He tried to respond, but couldn't move a bone in his body. This was a proper body check on Lukas by the F-150 so he had no chance of getting up. Lukas lay on the ground, blood oozing from the back of his head as he stared at the dark empty sky. His vision started to get blurry. "Haaaaaaa..... Is this it?... This is how I go?....This is just not fair....." Thoughts swelled in Lukas' mind as he drifts out of consciousness— ******************************** KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "C'mon Luke, you have to eat something please." a voice called from outside a room. The room was decorated with posters of football legends of German football — Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Klose, with a huge poster of Messi just above the headboard. It had a small sized single-person bed, a desk at the opposite end of the room had Macbook on it opened with a youtube video titled "Defense Splitting Pass Tutorial" paused in the middle of the video. On the chair in front of the desk, there was a SV Darmstadt jersey with almost worn out boots on the floor beside it. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK The knocking sound came again "Luke please open the door, you at least let me know you're okay before I leave for work please." Lukas opened his eyes, sitting up immediately and throwing his hand to the back of his head to check for the injury that had him leaking blood on the road like a bursted pipe, but couldn't feel any pain. "What the hell is this?" He looked at his hands to see if there were any blood stains and was surprised by how young they looked. He stood up and looked around, it was the familiar house he had lived all his life, but he was in his old room. Some remodelling had been done to the room as it was later switched to his work from home office while he moved to his dad's bedroom after his dad's death, but now it looked eerily similar to how it was in the teenage years. "Is this the legendary 'life flashing before your eyes as you die' moment? It sure is taking it's time.." He walked to the mirror in one corner on the room, the floor cold on his bare feet as he admired himself in the mirror. Short black hair, and emerald green eyes that seemed to stare into his own soul as he looked at the mirror. "Wow! I used to look like.... THIS?" he marvelled as he turned from side to side staring at his jawline. "Maybe this 'life flashing' thing gives you the looks you always hoped you had, cause I definitely wasn't this handsome... Because why would I be single with a face like this? Yeah—that's definitely it." KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Luke I know you're up, I can hear the sounds from in there, come open the door." The same voice sounded from outside the room. It was masculine, but with a very caring, worried even, tone. Lukas almost teleported to the door with how fast he ran to unlock it. The keys turned, the door flung open, and he stood there. Javi Brandt, a middle aged man that looked like someone had taken a photo of Lukas, put a 20 years aging filter on it, and breathed life into it. "DAD!!" Lukas hugged his Javi tight, tears welling up in his eyes. "Is this heaven? I guess saving that kid got me in... I missed you Dad." his voice cracking as he hugged Javi even tighter. "Heaven? Huh.. I guess it is" Javi said as he patted his son on his back to calm him. "You've been in your room all week, I was worried Luke. You barely eat your food, and you don't even leave the house at all." He added, still patting Lukas on his back. "Wait what? That sounds strangely familiar to how I acted when I was cut from the SV Darmstadt 98 youth team" Lukas thought "I understand that you feel like your dream is dead, but it is not over if you don't give up son, keep your head up and keep fighting, and I'm sure you'll find yourself in a place that recognizes your worth." The hug broke, but confusion was now plastered on Lukas' face. "Why would dad be giving me the 'never give up' talk in heaven? Isn't this supposed to be the ultimate goal?" A/N: Finally, I gathered the courage to write something, please let me know what you think. Use the comments as a Q&A session or to point out any mistakes or give advice. Thank you, I hope you enjoy and see you with the next chapter tomorrow. ... Lukas was now staring at Javi, but his mind had already wandered. "I can still feel my heartbeat from seeing dad. Do ghosts have heartbeats too?" "You okay Luke?" Javi asked, bringing him back to the present. "Yeah, Dad, I am okay" "You said something about saving a kid. What were you talking about?" Javi asked, confused. "Ahhh... that... I was just saying nonsense, don't mind me." Lukas deflected with an awkward smile as he looked away as if his eyes were about to give him away. "Hmmmm.. okay. But are you okay now?" Javi asked, his confused face switching back to worry. "Yeah dad, I promise I am fine now, it's just one academy, there are others. This time, I won't give up." "This time? What do you mean? Was there a previous time?" "No of course not, I just meant I won't give up as time is still on my side, I am not even 16 yet, look at Klose, he didn't debut until 20 and didn't even come through an academy, but he still had a wonderful career right?" Lukas said with a soft smile. "Exactly. I was gonna say that right now, I'm glad you see things this way now Luke." "Yeah, because you originally said it just like that." BZZZT* "Huh? What is this now? Am I hallucinating? Is that all this is" Lukas looked at a golden screen just as big as his Macbook's screen [TIME TRAINING SYSTEM ONLINE] [WELCOME LUKAS] Lukas blinked staring at the screen to confirm he wasn't imagining it, but even with his eyes closed, he could still see the screen with the golden hue emanating from each side of the screen like a divine being was behind the screen. "What are you looking at?" Javi interrupted as he waved his palm in front of Lukas' face. Lukas looked at the screen, and then at his father. Surprised that Javi couldn't see the screen right in front of him. "Oh it's nothing dad. Wait look at the time, aren't you late for work dad?" Lukas swiftly changed the topic. "Oh God! Yeah I am late for work." Javi said as he looked at his watch. "Please take care of yourself Luke okay?" Javi said placing his hands on Lukas' shoulders. "I promise I will dad, have a nice day" "Alright bye Luke, your breakfast is on the table, and lunch is in the fridge. Please eat them this time okay?" Javi said as he held the front door open and looked back at Lukas. "I will dad, bye." Lukas stared as Javi shut the door behind him. "Dad's really alive. This is exactly how the house looked when I was in high school." He rushed back to his room and took his phone from under the pillow and tried to turn it on, it didn't. "Oh yeah, this was when I used match replays as background noise." He went over to the desk, plugged his phone, and sat down on the chair in front of the desk. He looked at the date. 04/06/2024 "This is 20 years ago." He thought. "Did I really travel back in time? How is this even possible?" He looked back at the Youtube video "Defense Splitting Pass Tutorial." Recommended: Real Madrid 2–0 Borussia Dortmund. UCL Final Highlight. It had been 3 days since Dortmund fell to Mardrid, and it was still all over the news, both on Youtube and TV channels. Since 2020, when Bayern clinched the trophy in a final against PSG, a German team hadn't gotten to a Champions league final. Although Dortmund couldn't go all the way this time, there was hope that the next season might be the time for a Bundesliga team to finally bring back the title as kings of Europe, with Bayern appointing a new manager, and Leverkusen shocking the whole of Europe with their incredible run. But Lukas already knew how it all went down. "It's still here" he thought as he looked at the screen suspended at his eyesight level. [TIME TRAINING SYSTEM ONLINE] [WELCOME LUKAS] "Time Training System? What is that" [It is what it is named.] "Huh It can hear me?" *It can also speak.* An obviously artificial, but human-like voice rang in his head. It sounded like a male voice from Elevenlabs text-to-speech software was being used. "Are you like a system that will help me achieve all my dreams?" *More like give you the time and space to achieve all your dreams.* "What do you mean?" Lukas asked, confused, but strangely excited. *I will give you the time and space to train to be anything you want to be.* Lukas' eyes widened, finally understanding what the voice meant. Not all men are created equal. Some people only need to see something once to replicate it or even do it better. Some people can sit an exam after a 2 hour light study session and get higher grades than the one who studied all week. But what happens when you literally have all the time in the world to learn something? Of course nobody has that. Most skills will only be useful for a limited time. What is the use of gaining master-level passing and vision in your early 40s? (Unless you're Luka Modric of course :_ ) But this system is claiming it can give you the time to train any skill you want. *Please pick a career to train.* [WARNING] [Once selected, the career cannot be changed] [All training must be related to selected career's development in some way] "What careers are available?" *If there currently exists someone on this planet getting paid from doing it, it is available to select. The legality, or morality of the career, DOES NOT MATTER.* Lukas got shivers down his spine as he heard the system emphasize how it doesn't care about the nature of the career. *Don't be scared. I cannot, and will not, hurt you.* The voice said reading Lukas' thoughts. "Feels like I'm being assaulted with how you read my thoughts." *I can choose to not respond to anything that isn't a question from or discussion with you—if you'll prefer that.* "Can't you just not go through everything and only pickup when I try to communicate with you." *I cannot determine if you're trying to communicate if I don't go through every thought you make, Luke.* "Fair enough." Lukas was now staring at the screen. Staring down the eyes of destiny. He could pick anything—Doctor, Lawyer, Entrepreneur. Anything. And he will undoubtedly become the best at it. But there was never a thought to be had, never a hard choice to be made. The answer was clear even before the question was asked prompting Lukas to even wonder if the system could really go through his thoughts as it claimed. Because if it could, it wouldn't even need to ask the question. *Select Footballer?* The voice rang. "I was starting to think you were a scam system" Lukas replied with a smile. [Career Selected: Footballer] [Goal: Become the Greatest Legend of Football] [Player Profile] Lukas stretched his hands to tap on the 'Player Profile' button, and his hands went right through it. But his player profile still opened. "Hmm.. That's weird" *You cannot touch the interface here as it's essentially only a hologram, just imagine yourself tapping a button or saying a command is enough.* Now turning his attention to the information in front of him. "Oh wow. I am shit at football" Saying it in an almost sarcastic tone. He always knew he was bad. Of course he knew. He was kicked out of an academy of a team whose top flight primarily competed in the 2. Bundesliga—Germany's second division. But that wasn't even the worst of it. In the previous life, he had another opportunity with the youth section of a team all the regional leagues for Hesse. The 7th Division. And he couldn't make it through the tryouts. But seeing his stats in numbers, felt like almost frozen water was poured on him from the sky. [PLAYER PROFILE – LUKAS BRANDT – FOOTBALLER DATE OF BIRTH: 30/12/2008 (15) HEIGHT: 175cm WEIGHT: 61kg CAREER STATUS: SV DARMSTADT ACADEMY REJECT RATING: 38 PLAYER STATS: ATTACK: Off. Awareness: 38 Ball Control: 39 Dribbling: 39 Tight Possession: 37 Low Pass: 40 Lofted Pass: 35 Finishing: 38 Header: 47 Place Kicking: 48 Curl: 48 DEFENCE: Def. Awareness: 38 Tackling: 35 Aggression: 45 Def. Engagement: 45 STRENGTH: Speed: 39 Acceleration: 35 Kicking Power: 48 Jump: 47 Physical Contact: 38 Balance: 40 Stamina: 50 Note: The average stat for a player at your age bracket in this planet is 50. The average academy player your age is to you what Messi is to almost everyone else. ] "Well that was uncalled for." Lukas remarked with a heartbroken smile as got to the end of the system's message. A/N: Chapter 2 done. Yess!!!!!! Let me know what you all think guys. ... Lukas looked back at his stats after reading the footnote of the system's message. [The average stat for your age bracket is 50] The only stat of his that was bang average, was Stamina at exactly 50. "Except Stamina, the rest are trash. Set pieces and heading look better than the others tho, no wonder those were my relatively strong suits." At the SV Darmstadt academy, he hadn't been the best in his age at any thing, not even close to one of the best. But he was good enough to be ranked 8th at set pieces, and could get on the end of a cross with his head once in a while. "So how do I increase my stats? I don't see anything about stat points or a method of adding points to stats. You said you're a 'time trainer' who gives time to develop skills, how do I access that" [Connecting to the Training Centre. Please make sure you're somewhere you won't have to move] Lukas went back to his room, closed the door behind him, and laid down on his bed. [Connecting in 5...4....3...2....1] An almost blinding golden light shone from the screen, Lukas squinted as the light seemed to swallow him whole. [Welcome to the Legend Training Center v1.0, Lukas] [LTC v1.0 Features: Time Difference: 1 hour in the LTC = 1 second in the real world Maximum stay: 24 hours in LTC every 24 hours in the real world] "I get it. So if I spend 24 hours in here, it will be 24 seconds on earth" [*Technically speaking you're still on earth, but yeah, that's how it works.*] The voice buzzed. This time it felt like it was coming from the walls of the gym. Lukas looked around, but didn't think much about it as the voice was familiar and maybe this is where the voice was always coming from. "So what happens if I am moved by someone on earth while in here?" Lukas asked remembering the system's recommendation to go to a place he won't have to move. [*You will be forcibly logged out of here, and no training point will be gained for that session.*] "I have to be careful of when I log in for the daily session, can't have that happen." Lukas made a mental note. "What about food? I don't see anything to eat. 24 hours exercising without food? That's a suicide mission." [*You won't need food in here, your physical body will only have gone 24 seconds in the real world so you won't feel hunger, but you could get dehydrated. Once it's detected, you will be hydrated automatically by the LTC.*] "Wow" Lukas couldn't hide his amazement as he looked around. He was in a fully equipped gym. With some training equipment that he had heard about or seen on Youtube videos of first team players of big clubs during training—but never used even during his time in the SV Darmstadt academy. "Is that a 1080 Sprint 2?" Lukas marvelled as he looked at the sprint resistance device he had always heard about. He looked to his left and there was a brown door, it looked like it was crafted by the best craftsman on earth with a floral design carved out on the door, as he walked to the door and opened it, the system window appeared in front of him. [ICON Arena] [This is the training centre's version of the Elite Skills Arena (ESA) ICON arena. It is used to improve reaction speed, passing accuracy and timing, spatial awareness, and decision making under time pressure. The variation of the ICON ARENA will be automatically adjusted depending on the needs of the user.] "Doesn't just one of these cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to setup. Only the big teams get a chance to use something like this." As he looked around the arena setup— an enclosed circle about 6 metres in diameter, sensor boards all around the edges of the circle. "This is top tech stuff." Lukas thought as he looked around him. It seemed to have everything that could be remotely useful for his development. Heading back to the gym, Lukas closed the door to the ICON Arena behind him. He looked at the window facing outward where some kind of light that mimics the sun was coming from and saw a huge training pitch in front of him. "This is seriously insane. I am now itching to do some training after all this talking." Lukas said as he stretched from side to side. As he finished his stretch, he looked at himself to find that he was already in an Adidas training kit and ready for training. "Is this automatic too? I definitely wasn't wearing this at home." [*You're welcome*] "But what training regimen do I follow though? Who will train me? I don't want to do things that won't be helpful to me, or worse still, something that will be detrimental to my development." [*Of course it will be yours truly, The Time Training System.*] "Oh that's nice.. But who gave you that name?" Lukas asked with a smile? "It doesn't roll out the tongue as easy as I'd like it to. You'll be TT from now on" [*What makes you think you can change my name at whim. The name's TT and nothing else. You don't have the authori—*] "Exactly, like I said. The name's TT from now on" Lukas cut in with a chuckle. [*Who's the comedian here? You're ready for today's session?*] TT buzzed, oblivious to the fact that it had just changed it's name at passing remark from Lukas. Lukas, on the other hand, assumed TT was just trying to be cool but actually liked the name. Also not knowing the full extent of the situation. [You have been granted 2 gift packs for first time in the LTC.] "Open" [Newbie Giftpack 1: 10X Training Rewards Multiplier For First Session Training Each Category]*** [Newbie Giftpack 2: Skill: Injured From Training? Not me. Passive. lvl 5/5 granted Skill description: Everyone keeps talking about injuries during training. Even sore muscles after training. What even are those? Why have I never experienced them? Skill Effects: -100% Injury resistant during training -90% Muscle fatigue resistance during training -No sore muscles due to training] "Well this overpowered skill came at a rather convenient time." Lukas said as his eyes squinted suspiciously. [*Ahem... You're welcome.*] TT said in a playful tone. "Who am I to reject your kindness.. Okay, let's start, I'm itching to go" [Day 1 Training Objective: Strength Training Tasks: 1000 Sit-ups Completion rate: 0/1000 1000 Push-ups Completion rate: 0/1000 1000 Squats Completion rate: 0/1000 150N Resisted Sprint for 25km Completion rate: 0/25 150N Assisted Sprint for 25km Completion rate: 0/25 Rewards (10X) - Speed +30 - Acceleration +30 - Kicking Power +20 - Physical Contact +20 - Balance +20 - Stamina +20] "For sure you've got to be kidding me right now TT" Lukas said with an absurd look on his face. "This has to be a joke. You want me dead, don't you? The rewards are extremely enticing, but the workout itself looks like something Saitama does." [*It's either this, or another life full of regrets*] TT said, this time without any of the playful tone from earlier. Those words echoed in Lukas' head. He had lived his life with regret for giving up, for not trying harder when things got tough. Now with this second opportunity at life, he knew he would be a fool to give up now. A/N: *** This basically means, Lukas gets 10X rewards for the first time he trains any of the three categories, namely: Attack, Defese, Strength. Thank you guys for reading, please leave a comment or a review if you have any inputs to add so far. I love to chat with you guys. If not, see y'all in the next one. ... [*Time left in the LTC Session 1: 20 minutes*] Lukas was now sprawled on the floor of the gym unable to move a muscle. Thoroughly exhausted after he was barely able to complete the tasks. "Didn't you say the skill would reduce my muscle fatigue by 90%? Why do I feel like all my muscles are dead?" He was barely able to muster the strength to speak up. [*Why do you think this is something you'd be able to breeze through? You're currently only feeling 10% of the fatigue.*] "I don't believe that" Lukas thought, unable to even muster the strength to speak anymore. [*Believe what you will, it is the truth.*] "Finally I am done. I hope I don't have sore muscles as the skill claimed or else I don't think I'll be able to move for days." BZZZZT* The system window appeared in front of Lukas. [Day 1 Training Objective: Strength Training Tasks: 1000 Sit-ups Completion rate: 1000/1000 1000 Push-ups Completion rate: 1000/1000 1000 Squats Completion rate: 1000/1000 150N Resisted Sprint for 25km Completion rate: 25/25 150N Assisted Sprint for 25km Completion rate: 25/25] [TRAINING SESSION 1 COMPLETED] [ Rewards (10X) - Speed +30 - Acceleration +30 - Kicking Power +20 - Physical Contact +20 - Balance +20 - Stamina +20 ] "The training was hell but the results sure are nice." Lukas said with a smile as he forced himself to sit-up from the floor. His muscles were still feeling the fatigue from the grueling training but it was now possible to move after laying on the floor for a while. [Rewards Granted] [*Maximum daily LTC limit reached. You will be logged out in 5....4....3....2....1*] TT's voice sounded as the blinding light from earlier shone. This time it was like the light radiated out of the whole gym instead of just the system screen. "I'm never gonna get used to this am I?" Lukas thought to himself as he closed his eyes shut and covered them with his palms too. When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in his room, lying on his bed, and it hadn't even been half a minute. He got up from the bed, and was surprised at how fast he stood. There were no muscle pains or soreness from the workout session. He rotated his arms around his shoulder joint, bounced on his feet to check for any discomfort. "Huh" Lukas was shocked with how much better his body felt to him. Just one session, and he felt like he had a spring in his step. "I really want to be on the field, to see how much I've actually improved." He went out to see the breakfast on the table, to him it felt like a whole day since he last saw the breakfast, but it had now been at most a minute or two. Lukas sat down at the dining table to enjoy his breakfast. Muesli served with yogurt, whole-grain bread and a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. After a filling breakfast, Lukas took one slow look around. The TV still playing the morning news. This time, about Euros 2024 which would be hosted by Germany. "The Euros will kick off in exactly 10 days, and with Germany hosting the competition, and world class players in the team, there is hope that this time—we just might win the cup. Obviously home advantage on our side, what do you think about our chances Lothar" Florian Plettenberg, a Sky Deutschland host on a Sky Sports show asked Lothar Matthaus, German legend turned pundit. "I think our chances aren't bad. Although they were all friendlies, and a few are against weaker nations, we still haven't lost a game in this year. I think the chances are high. We see how Nagelsmann has structured the team. Played on home soil. Kroos is back for his final tournament. Players like Wirtz, Musiala, and Havertz coming into this competition in top form. I think this competition is very much ours to lose." Lothar Matthaus, one of the greatest German footballers alive said. Expressing optimism at the chance of winning the European premier national competition for the first time in 28 years. "Yes it has been a long wait, but this time, there is belief that it can happen." Florian added. "Hope my a**" Lukas thought with a scoff. "Yeah maybe if the match against Spain wasn't filled with weird referee decisions." He remembered the game vividly. Their run through the Euros. The kind of football that they played. The way the fans were starting to have hope. Then the quarterfinal that had buried that hope. He knew how it'd all play out, but he also knew he couldn't do anything about it but get good enough to be included in the next tournament. And with the system and it's grueling training regimen, it was all but guaranteed. "Open Player Profile" Lukas thought, to view the progress of his bone-crushing training. [ PROFILE – LUKAS BRANDT – FOOTBALLER DATE OF BIRTH: 30/12/2008 (15) HEIGHT: 175cm WEIGHT: 61kg CAREER STATUS: SV DARMSTADT ACADEMY REJECT RATING: 49 (↑ 11) PLAYER STATS: ATTACK: Off. Awareness: 38 Ball Control: 39 Dribbling: 39 Tight Possession: 37 Low Pass: 40 Lofted Pass: 35 Finishing: 38 Header: 47 Place Kicking: 48 Curl: 48 DEFENCE: Def. Awareness: 38 Tackling: 35 Aggression: 45 Def. Engagement: 45 STRENGTH: Speed: 69 (↑ 30) Acceleration: 65 (↑ 30) Kicking Power: 68 (↑ 20) Jump: 67 (↑ 20) Physical Contact: 58 (↑ 20) Balance: 60 (↑ 20) Stamina: 70 (↑ 20) Note: Great strength stats for your age. Attack and Defense stats still not up to par. ↓ Expand] "Yeah I can see that. Gotta focus on those in the next few da—well that's new." Lukas cut himself off as he noticed the newly added 'expand' option. "Expand" He thought, giving the command [SKILLS: Injured From Training? Not me. Passive. Level 5/5 ] "Wait a second, was this only included now because only skills given by the system is included in there? Or because you judged that I don't have any football skill?" [*Well what do you think?*] TT said almost mockingly. "I don't believe this.. I know how to do skills like the La Croquetta, or the Elastico. Those are like football 101 right?" [Really? -_-] This time just the screen buzzed in front of him. [And how many times have you used it to get away from players in a match?] "But I can do it right here right now." Lukas tried to argue although knowing that TT was right. He was never able to do something like that even under the least amount of pressure or when it actually mattered. [*That doesn't mean anything, and you know that. I have deemed that you do not have any skill with enough mastery to be included in the skill list. It has to be at least level 1/5 to be included.*] "Fair enough. So I can't gain skills by buying it in some sort of skill shop?" [*What do you think this is? You will only be given the necessary time, items, and training needed to acquire football skills. It all depends on how hard you work to both acquire and raise the mastery of any skill.*] "What about this current one, didn't you give me that? At full mastery too." Lukas asked as he had some expectations from TT. [*That is not a footballing skill.*] "Yeah, I guess you're right—it's more like a training aid than a football skill" Lukas nodded as he seemed to be getting a grasp on the workings of the system. After viewing the player profile window, Lukas closed it as he went to take a shower. It was the 4th of June, and if he wanted to stop the nightmare that put a nail in the coffin for his dreams in his previous life, he had to get even better than he currently is. A/N: You guys have fun. And please point out any corrections or suggestions ... Lukas got out of the shower, a blue towel wrapped around his waist, his still damp hair fraying in the wind as he blew a hair dryer through it. He walked into his room. Walked past the full body mirror close to the wardrobe. Stopped. And back tracked. "Wow—it sure is nice to be young again." Lukas said gently as he admired himself. "But I definitely wasn't this fit." Throughout his days at the academy, he had always been fit enough to play average academy ball, but he didn't look this fit. Visibly defined abs and pecks, a lean but fit physique. He looked like someone had drawn him to life. "I probably could cut a sheet of paper with this jawline." He said, tracing his index finger along his jawline. [*Once again, you're welcome.*] TT's voice rang in his head again. "Yeah yeah yeah, the mighty TT, I am forever grateful." Lukas said with a playful smile. He checked the time, and it was still 10:30 AM. To him, it felt like a new day, but this was still his first day since he returned to the past. "I should go see my friends at the academy." *********************** Lukas thought back on his last conversation with his former coach a week ago when he was dropped from the SV Darmstadt academy. "I'm sorry Lukas, but the club has decided to drop you." Patrick Kurt, the manager of the SV Darmstadt U17 team where Lukas played at the time, said to Lukas with a sorry expression. "As you must have known, this season has been a tough season for the club. The first team suffered relegation from the Bundesliga on its first season after being promoted, even after all the spending from the management to keep us in. They are now rushing to cut costs, and for some reason they think the academy is a great place to start. I'm sorry kid." He added, obviously feeling regret for not being able to stop the dismissal from happening. At this point, tears were already welling up in Lukas' eyes. He had heard the rumors of cuts when the first team's performance in the Bundesliga wasn't going according to plan, with SV Darmstadt sitting unopposed at the bottom of the league. He had prayed it wasn't gonna get to that, but as the season progressed and the table shaped itself, SV Darmstadt still clung to their position, unwilling to surrender to FC Koln, VFL Bochum, or Union Berlin. It became clear that they wanted the position more than the other contenders, but it didn't really matter as Koln, Bochum, and Darmstadt, all went down to the 2. Bundesliga, with Union barely making it out. Now the season was over, the investments to stay in the Bundesliga deemed a failure, the chopping block was set, and Lukas was first up. Patrick looked at Lukas, who was still forcing himself to not breakdown in tears embarrasingly in front of his about-to-be ex-manager. "I know it's difficult Lukas, and I wish I could help, I really do. But we can't risk facing further budget cuts from the management. If we do, we might not even be able to compete in the new U17 Bundesliga system that will be implemented starting next season. We could only release you and some other players who aren't up to par or the management won't get off my back" "I understand coach." Lukas responded, still heartbroken even though he had expected it when the coach called him to his office after training. "You can always come see your friends at the academy during training. You've been here for 8 years and you will always be a part of the Darmstadt family." "Thanks coach." His voice deflated, as he walked out the manager's office. ***************************** That was last week, but he hasn't gone to visit them yet. He couldn't even get himself to leave the house for the past week. After deciding to go the academy, he got dressed with his casual wear. A blue baggy denim shorts and plain white T-shirt. A black adidas campus 00s, with white socks. The distance from his house to the academy grounds was walkable, but Lukas decided to take his bike. "It sure is nice to see you, old friend." Lukas said with a smile as he unlocked his bike. "When was the last time I rode this. I can't even remember." He added with a laugh. As he cycled through the neighborhood, Lukas looked around him—the very familiar but still strange surrounding. Twenty years were enough time to change a lot of things. And in the future he came from, a lot had changed. Students from TUD, were everywhere. Most were heading to the university, some were in Cafe's drinking coffee or having a late breakfast due to an early morning lecture. It was a lively, but cozy city. Not as overcrowded as hub cities like Frankfurt, Berlin, or Munich. But this comes with it's own disadvantages for Lukas because he knows to achieve his goals, he will definitely need to leave this cozy city of his, and move to a big city at some point. This was something Lukas never did in his previous life. Something he never tried to do—getting out his comfort zone. But with a second shot at life, it will be foolish not to. Lukas arrived at the SV98 youth academy in Kastanienallee 61, and greeted the security personnel as he went into the facility. A decent-sized facility, it had 2 football pitches side by side, a smaller one for the U8 to U15 teams and a bigger one for the U17 and U19 teams. The first and reserve teams trained at a separate location. By the side of the smaller pitch, stood a 2-storey building for both administrative and training purposes. This was where match recordings were reviewed for tactical training, and where the academy's doctor and clinic were located. Though already familiar with the environment, Lukas still took his time to take it all in. "It has been a while since I came here." Lukas thought to himself as he looked around. "I see you took me up on my offer, kid." a familiar voice rang out from behind Lukas as he was staring at the U8 kids passing the ball to each other. "Mr. Patrick" Lukas turned and answered with a smile as he saw his former coach. "I didn't have much to do today so I decided to come see the boys train." Lukas added as he shook hands with Patrick. "You're welcome, anytime. You can join us in training today if you want." Patrick said. This surprised Lukas as he had never heard of an unaffiliated player being allowed into an official training even in the academy, unless for a tryout period. "Is that allowed? Won't there be a problem?" Lukas asked, managing to hide his surprise. "It's fine. We still have a while before the next season starts, and this is just a training session focused on running drills. Nothing tactical or of the sort." Patrick, looking at Lukas to guage his reaction. He still remembered how Lukas was holding back tears when he was let go a week ago. And since he had been a member of the academy for eight years, there was no harm in allowing him to train with them this once. Lukas smiled, turned back around to look at the other pitch where the U17 team were gathered doing some drills ran by the assistant manager. "I would love to if you'd have me." He responded. "Isn't this literally a way up served to me on a silver platter?" Lukas thought to himself. He knew it was not a try out, nor was it anyone expecting him to dazzle—but that was exactly why it was the perfect opportunity. What would happen if a single training showed that he was a lot better than he was when dropped? In the previous timeline, he never came to the SV98 training ground again after being dropped. His father, Javi, had gotten him a chance to tryout for the FCA Darmstadt team a few days after he turned 17. FCA Darmstadt, a team that competed in the 7th tier of the German football league pyramid—the Gruppenliga, but he failed to even pass the tryouts. This was a devastating blow to his confidence as a footballer, and he moved his goal from playing, to supporting the German national team. But that too, didn't amount to anything. But now, with TT, he has been given a chance to prove he belongs in this sport. To prove that his passion, and hardwork, were enough to push him to the top. And he wasn't going to give up that opportunity. "Meet Layla at the reception desk, she will give you some training gear. You're not a guest, so you know where the locker rooms are, change up, and come to the pitch." "Alright sir." Lukas answered as he turned and headed to the reception area. Patrick watched him leave as he thought to himself. "I can't put my hands on exactly what, but something has changed with this kid in just one week I haven't seen him." He turned around and headed to the U17 players on the pitch. "Well I guess we'll see." And 'see' he surely will. A/N: Enjoy, and please leave a comment if you have something to add or say. Or just an encouragement will do. It motivates me to see that other people enjoy my imaginations. Also I would like your inputs on if I should change the name of the novel from "Become A Football Legend" to "The Time Training System" What do you guys think? ... "Yo look who's decided to come see us. It's been just a couple of days, but you look different." João Gimenez, a player for the SV98 U17 team, and one of the few friends Lukas had at the academy, said as Lukas stepped on the pitch. Lukas went up to him, a big smile on his face, as he gave him a hug. "It's been a while, João. How've you been?" "A while?" João asked confused. "I was at your house just two days ago man. Although you didn't even come out to greet me." "Oh yeah that happened." Lukas thought to himself. Javi had invited João, and a few other friends of Lukas—from both the academy and his school on Sunday to try and get Lukas out his room. Give him people his age to talk to. People that understood what he was going through. But he didn't even come out to greet the guests who came for him. "That was pretty rude, I'm sorry" Lukas said to João sincerely. "It's alright man, I really understand. If I was cut, I'd probably be just as heartbroken" João said as he shook his head to show its really no problem. "Isn't this dude supposed to be 17 now? How's he so mature in the way he thinks? I was such a fool to lose such a friend." Lukas thought to himself. ************ João had been a close friend to Lukas since João joined the academy at 12 — two years after Lukas. His father moved to Germany from Portugal for work as a lecturer at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, and brought his wife and kids—Joao, his twin sister, Joana, and their youngest brother Ruben. João was initially part of Boavista F.C academy in Portugal before the move to Germany where he joined the SV98 academy. In the previous timeline, he had debuted at the SV98 first team 2 years from now, bounced through several leagues on loan, before he got a permanent transfer to S.C. Braga where he spent the remaining 15 years of his career. Nicknamed 'o tanque de velocidade '—the speed tank—by the Portuguese media, for his ability to both out-muscle and out-run most attackers. He was a mainstay in the team for more than a decade, and was a solid block in the defense for the team who were able to topple the reign of the traditional Portuguese big three—Porto, Sporting, and Benfica. Winning the Primera Portugal League title 4 times, the Taça de Portugal 6 times, the Conference League 3 times, and the Europa League trophy once in that 15-year period. In 2033, João captained S.C. Braga as they went on a surprise Champions League run to the final. That season, they played the whole league stage of the Champions League without conceding a single goal in the process—topping the league and only falling to Manchester City in the final. A season which saw him in the top 10 of the Balon d'Or ranking the following year. He enjoyed similar success with the Portuguese national team. With 130 caps for Portugal in total, he was the 4th most capped Portuguese of all time— behind Pepe, Moutinho, and Ronaldo. He won the Euros 2032, the 2033 Nations League, and was the 2034 World Cup—the golden era of Portuguese football. But his relationship with Lukas, started to sour way before his rise to stardom—and it was through no fault of his. Lukas had started quietly growing resentful of the fact that he was dropped from the academy—a feeling of helplessness turned resentment, and then misdirected. He and João went to the same high school, and would occasionally have to leave school earlier a bit earlier than others to attend to match preparations or the likes. But after Lukas was dropped, he could only watch his best friend do what they did together, and instead of pushing, training harder, and trying to get back on track—he started feeling helpless. This turned to envy. And as João's career took off, the envy bloomed. Into full beautiful resentment. As his career went from strength to strength, so did Lukas' resentment. And so it started—screened calls, ignored texts, flimsy excuses when sent a match ticket. After many attempts by João, he also gave up trying to save the friendship. Lukas had lost a true loyal friend, a friend who was loyal enough to not leave his club even when he was being courted by the mighty Madrid. It was a loss he never got over—but his fragile pride still didn't allow him to try and make things right between them. "I'll message him later. He must be busy. He probably doesn't want to talk to me." These were excuses Lukas kept making, not knowing his life was close to it's end. But, unlike everyone else—he got one more chance. *************** "It really is nice to see you again Jao." Lukas said with a smile "Bruh. For the 234th time, it's pronounced 'João'." João responded with a playful frown. "Okay, I'm sorry, Zhao" Lukas added with a smirk. "That's Chinese, do I look Chinese?" "That's racist" "I didn't mean it like th—" "Alright girls, that's enough catching up." Coach Patrick said as he walked up to them "That's sexist." Lukas thought to himself. "Let's continue the training." Patrick added "Yes sir." Lukas responded as he walked with Patrick and João to the other players who were each doing their own thing is different groups. Patrick blew his whistle to draw their attention. "Guys, Lukas will be joining us for training today. He's no stranger, so don't treat him like one." He then turned and nodded at his assistant manager. "Alright guys, you know how it goes. We will start with a T-Test agility drill." The assistant manager said as he placed the final cone needed for the drill. "You will get a second chance if you think you can do better than your first time, but I wouldn't count on that if I were you. Alright, Wes, you're up next." He looked at Wesley—the captain of the U17 team. "Yes coach." Wesley responded as he adjusted his training gear, walked to the starting line, and started bouncing on his feet. He looked a lot older than he was, 17, and a very deep voice too—puberty hit him hard and fast. FWEEEEEE The whistle blew and he immediately took off running. Straight ahead, tapped the cone base. Shuffled to the left cone, tap. Shuffle to the right cone, tap. Shuffle to the centre cone, tap. Back pedal to the starting point. FWEEEEEE The assistant coach's whistle blew again. "Wes. 10.8 seconds. Not your worst, but you've done better before." The coach said as he looked at the stopwatch in his hands. "Coach I wanna go again. I misstepped when accelerating and that slowed me down." Wesley gave an excuse. "Sure." FWEEEEEE "11.1 seconds this time Wes." Patrick said as he looked at him with an expressionless face. "I...I was still tired from the first run!" Wes tried to argue. A few of the other players let out chuckles. "You guys are laughing, how many of you except João can finish this drill faster than me?" Wesley asked, getting a bit defensive. But nobody answered. They knew he was right. He was their captain for a reason. And in most drills, he was ahead of the other academy players. But that had gotten to his head. Making him comfortable to be a small fish but in a minuscule pond where he feels like a blue whale. "Wait. Why not me? I'm an academy student too, aren't I?" João said, with half a look of disgust He was one of the very few that could compete with Wesley generally. And in an agility drill, he was the only one who could. And Wesley was aware of that fact. "No, except yo—" "Let me do it." Lukas interrupted. Heads turned. "Is he serious?" "What is he thinking?" The students murmured. And they had all the right to. Lukas had always been at the bottom of agility rankings during his time at the academy. With average scores of 11.9 seconds for the squad, his personal best was 13.1 seconds. He almost always loses his balance when it comes time to pedal back from the top cone to the starting line. It was pitiful to watch. Wesley looked like he didn't understand what he just heard. "Lukas!? You want to try?" (He almost burst out laughing like a generic villain but the author stopped him because—cringe.) "Well that's bold. I kinda have a feeling that he will surprise me. He looks and acts like a completely different person from last week" Patrick thought as he watched the drama unfold. "The team's average went from 11.9 seconds to 11.5 seconds in the 5 days we've trained without you. You were dragging us back by 0.4 seconds. One guy, in a 22-man team, was contributing THAT MUCH to the average. And you think in one week, you'll beat me? What drugs are you on?" Most of the team burst out laughing this time. "What's so funny to you guys?" Coach Patrick asked as his eyes looked like they had laser beams flashing out. The players all went silent. Some cleared their throats. Others avoided his gaze. Nobody wanted to be made an example out of. "Most of you are past 16, in some countries you'd be considered adults, and you still act like cartoon characters? That's just sad." He said, his eyes still as angry as before. "Lukas. You're up." Lukas, who had been stretching when all this was going down, straightened up. Walked up to the starting line. And... FWEEEEEEE He took off. A/N: Chapter 6 done. This felt the most fun to write out of all the chapters so far. They all felt fun.. But this was 'funner'... If that's even a word... Fr tho.. is it? I really dk. My laptop broke yesterday after I uploaded ch. 5 :) so I wrote this on my phone. Please point out any errors you see, I'll try and correct them immediately. And I get more inspired when typing on my phone.. just realized that.. type faster too... And feels less like a chore since I'm not stuck to a desk.. Anyway, sorry for the rambling. Let me know if you think the quality of this chapter is lower than the previous 5, then I'll stick to writing on a laptop.. already getting mine repaired. If it's still good, I'll keep updating with my phone as my laptop is being fixed. Love y'all. ... "Haaaaaaaa" Lukas sighed deeply, tired as he plopped down onto the couch in the sitting room of his father's apartment. He looked at the wall clock on the wall in front of him. 6:30PM "Dad should be home soon." He relaxed on the couch, thinking back on what had happened at the SV98 academy grounds. "What a crazy day. I knew I had gotten better —but not that much better." Lukas thought to himself. He had only planned to greet his few friends at the academy—especially João, but what ended up happening, was something he would never had dreamt of. DING He took out his phone as he received a notification. João: {Video attachment} Man you gotta show me what you've been doing for the past week to get so much better. I'm really proud of you. This is the video you asked me to take for you. He smiled as he opened the video **************** FWEEEEE The assistant coach blew his whistle short and fast, but it felt like Lukas took off even before the whistling ended. To the front cone. Quick change of feet, as he moved from running to shuffling. Left. Right. Middle. And then the back pedal to the start. It felt smooth, it looked smooth. The balance—perfect, the change in direction—instant. FWEEEEE "Huh?" The assistant coach was puzzled as he looked at the stopwatch in his hand. '10.21' was what it read. "That's not possible. Something must be wrong." He muttered under his breath. "What is the matter?" Coach Patrick called out from about 5 steps beside his assistant who was still staring at his watch. "Take a look at this Coach." The assistant walked over and handed the stopwatch to Patrick "10.2 seconds? From LUKAS? " Coach Patrick kept a cool face, but was deeply surprised. He had seen Lukas do this drill countless times, and he had never been this fast, not even close. He had never been this smooth neither. The time was nothing mind-bending nor out of this world as several footballers had better records, but it was a big news for their academy. The previous record was jointly held by João and Wesley at 10.54 seconds. Patrick raised his head from the stopwatch, to Lukas. "You wanna go one more time?" He asked, looking at Lukas to study his expression in his response. "Was it that bad? " Lukas thought to himself. "What was the time sir?" Lukas asked. "I'll tell you if you answer my question." "Coach, don't cover for him just because you feel sorry for cutting him." Wesley cut in. "How are you even the captain? You can't seem to shut up." João asked with an annoyed expression. "Today's training must be so easy since you both can't seem to stop arguing. Ten laps around the field should do the trick, right?" Coach Patrick interrupted the argument. Every student turned their attention to Patrick who was still looking at Lukas. "So?" Patrick asked Lukas. "Sure, I'll go once more." Lukas responded, already bouncing on the start line. "Coach, that's not fair!" Wesley tried to intervene. "Quiet Wesley, you also went twice." Patrick shut him up. Patrick blew the whistle this time, as Lukas took off. If the first time was smooth, he was flowing this time. Excellent transition from running to shuffling. Lukas got back to the starting line, and felt it in his body. "This was definitely better than the first. Felt like I was gliding during the shuffles" He thought to himself as he looked up at Patrick who was now staring at his stopwatch in utter disbelief. "Lukas time for the T-Test Agility drill, 9.9 seconds." Patrick announced, with a low, calm tone. Able to hide his surprise with his years of experience as a manager. "What?" "9.9 seconds?" "That's like first team territory." Murmurs filled the training ground once more. Eyes turned from Patrick to Lukas in disbelief. "I can't believe that coach!" Wesley screamed. "One more word from you, and you're running laps around the stadium Wesley." Coach Patrick gave Wesley his final warning "Have you been hiding your agility all this while?" João whispered to Lukas. Who just smiled and shrugged. "He's definitely hiding something from me. No need for me to push though. He'll tell me when he's ready." João thought to himself as he looked at Lukas who also seemed to be deep in thought. "So my current strength stats were enough to surpass these guys this much. TT said my strength stats were 'great for my age.' I didn't know they were this great." ᕦ⁠[⁠ ⁠◑⁠ ⁠□⁠ ⁠◑⁠ ⁠]⁠ᕤ "Oh shut up." FWEE FWEE FWEEE Coach Patrick whistled in short bursts to draw everyone's attention, as the murmur quieted down. "Alright guys, let's keep it moving, the agility drill. Everyone is doing it." After Lukas' performance, it was expected that some morale would be low due to how much he all beat their previous best. But on the contrary, a lot of players were motivated. "If the guy with the worst scores could improve this much, what excuse do I have?" Most carried this mindset as they put their best in the drills. "Karl—10.9 seconds." "Johann—11 seconds." ... "João—10.4 seconds." Patrick called out the time taken for each player, and as expected, none came close to Lukas' record. Still, anew team average was set that day, and all because of one boy. ****************** Marco Kasten, a football agent and owner of Rising Talent Agency(RTA)—a fledgling football agency, was in his office located at Otto-Meßmer-Straße 1. The office was one of the three offices on the 5th floor of a 7-storey building. With just one other employee, Carla, a recent graduate of the Goethe University of Frankfurt, where she studied Marketing. "Come on Pascal, don't you trust me? I left Sports360 because they're too money-hungry." Marco was on the phone with a client of his—or rather an ex-client of his when he worked at Sports360 GmbH, one of the biggest sports talent agencies in Germany. He quit his job to start his company, as he found the way the big agencies treated their players like fresh meat—packaging them up, and selling them to the corporations without considering the dangers of such collaborations on the talent's career prospect. He entered the business world with great ideals—no dealings with companies with blemishes, no kickbacks, every transaction must be open and transparent. But reality had slapped him, and hard. Almost got the thought of that ideal world slapped out of him. Since opening six months ago, he had been unable sign any promising new player to the agencies. Even with the help of a close friend at the Eintracht Frankfurt academy. And as a result, RTA had been hemorrhaging cash. He was already neck in debt to start the company, and was starting to see that the world might not be as idealistic as he hoped. "I'm sorry Marco, I really am. But I have to look after what's good for my career right now. " The voice buzzed from the phone. "And that's me Pascal. Have I ever done anything that wasn't good for your career? I got you the Puma deal, the Monster Energy deal, even your recent transfer to Chelsea. I brought the idea for all these deals and was able to see them through, not because I was at Sports360, but because of my work ethic. That hasn't changed Pascal." "You're right Marco, but you can't claim that being part of a big agency like Sports360 didn't at least help you set up meetings." Pascal's voice was neither upset, nor apologetic. It sounded firm. Unwavering. And Marco could feel it. He knew he wouldn't be getting back his client. The call ended. Marco rubbed his forehead like he was getting migraine. The only good news, was that the office was leased for a full year period, and he still had six months left on the lease. But everything else, wasn't so good—the interest on the business loan was accruing, Carla's salary would be due in two weeks, these were expenses he had to make soon. Just as he was still thinking about what to do about the coming bills— BZZZZZTTTT** He received the most career defining phone call of his life. "Hello, this is Marco Karsten from the Rising Talent Agency, who am I speaking to?" "..." No answer "Hello? Who am I speaking to please?" Marco asked again. "Hello Mr. Marco, nice to hear from you. My name is Lukas Brandt, and I would like to have a chat with you."

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