On the football field, Winston and Bongani trained using different drills, ranging from passing to shooting. Winston continued channeling Nethen essence into his legs. His passes and shots gradually became stronger—so strong that one of his passes nearly injured Bongani.
"Ugh!" Bongani winced as the ball slammed against his foot.
Seeing his friend in pain, Winston gave a wry smile. Let me dial it down. Otherwise, I'm going to injure Bongani.
"Sorry about that. I'm just in the zone."
"It's okay," Bongani said, resisting the urge to rub his aching foot. "Oswin told me that training with you wouldn't be easy."
He glanced at Winston before asking, "By the way, Wis, I heard you were trained by Dumi. How was his training? Man, I would love to be trained by one of the football legends."
With his cleat resting on top of the ball, Winston pondered for a moment. He thought about all the training sessions he had gone through with Dumi. "It was brutal, but it was informative too. I learned a lot from him." He nudged the ball forward with his foot. "You know, I was training without any proper guidance before I met him. Dumi helped me become more comfortable with my football skills."
"Wow. How did you get him to train you?" Bongani asked as he weaved through several cones scattered across the field. "The last time I heard anything about him, he was turning down offers from rich people and even football clubs."
Winston smiled. "His daughter helped me convince him to train me." He chuckled. "Thank God he didn't charge me for the training."
After finishing the dribbling drill, Bongani turned toward Winston with wide eyes.
"Wow, you're really lucky." He passed the ball back to Winston.
Winston channeled a small amount of Nethen essence into his lower body and started weaving through the cones. In a blur of fast movements, he dribbled through the cones lined up in a straight row.
Once he was done, Winston slowed to a stop and pondered. Finally, I'm able to control and channel it through my body. Although, I still can't channel it into my upper body. I wonder why. Every time I try, it feels like something is stopping me.
Winston sighed and shook his head. For now, he decided to push that thought aside. He was simply happy that he could finally feel, control, and channel the Nethen essence through his lower body.
I'll figure out the rest later.
Just as he was about to open the Core system, a translucent screen suddenly popped up in front of him. It had been a long time since Winston had last opened—or properly checked—the Core System.
Ding!
[Nethen Essence: Level 1]
Physical
Physical: 75
Jumping: 75
Stamina: 75
Strength: 75
Aggression: 75
[Voltage Core: Level 1]
Pace
Acceleration: 75
Sprint Speed: 75
[Innate Terra: 14%]
[Spatial Zenith: 14%]
[Absolute: 14%]
Reward Points: 10
Winston frowned when he saw that nothing had changed in the Core System. Shaking his head, he waved his hand, and the translucent screen disappeared. Bongani watched him with a furrowed brow. "You okay? I didn't see you make any mistakes while dribbling through the cones."
Winston turned his gaze toward Bongani and replied, "Yeah, but my dribbling isn't as sharp as I want it to be." He glanced toward the cones. "I need to keep the ball closer to my feet so it doesn't travel too far away from me when I'm dribbling in tight spaces."
Bongani looked at the drill in front of him before shifting his gaze back to Winston. He honestly didn't see anything wrong with Winston's dribbling. To him, it had been perfect. It was like watching a professional dribbler right in front of him.
Seeing the confused expression on Bongani's face, Winston walked over to him. "Don't overthink what I just said. You wouldn't have noticed it from where you were standing."
"Oh, by the way," Bongani asked, playing with the ball between his feet, "what are you planning to do about the One-on-One Challenge next week?"
Winston shrugged, he hadn't done any research on the players in Group C yet. "I haven't researched the players in Group C, but maybe I'll take some time this weekend to figure out which players I should challenge next."
In all honesty, Winston was waiting for the Core's daily challenge to give him a task. He didn't want to challenge a player only to find out later that the Core wanted him to challenge someone else.
For now, Winston focused on his training and getting used to the two abilities he had recently awakened.
"C'mon, I think it's time for dome training," Winston said, putting away the last piece of training equipment. "Oswin said that after dome training, he wants us to meet here for your promotion celebration into Group C."
Bongani smiled and nodded. The two packed their belongings before heading toward their separate domes for the day's training.
Upon arriving at the attacking dome, Winston scanned the players scattered around the field. Not seeing Oswin, he stood behind a group of players who were chatting. He sat down and began fixing his cleats before quickly doing a few stretches. He was halfway through stretching his legs when a training bag was placed beside him.
Winston shifted his gaze toward the figure towering over him.
"Morning, sunshine. Let me guess—you overslept," Winston said, stretching one leg out before switching to the other.
With a wry smile, Oswin took out his cleats, sat down, and began putting them on. He yawned before replying, "Yeah. I was searching for the thief who's been stealing my lunch bars."
"Did you find the thief?" Winston asked.
"No," Oswin replied with another yawn. "I spent hours searching for them, but I didn't find them."
Winston chuckled and shook his head. "You should let them go. What are you planning to do when you find them?"
"If you let a thief go without teaching them that stealing from others is bad, they'll just do it again," Oswin replied, twisting his body and allowing his back to crack.
Oswin then pulled the ankle weights from his training bag and began fastening them around his ankles. Winston was caught by surprise. He had almost forgotten that he had given Oswin the ankle weights.
"Are you sure you want to put those on now? You should probably wait until our dome training."
"Nah. I tested them last night, and I think I'm getting used to them," Oswin said, fastening the second ankle weight. "The movement was difficult at first, but after a few steps, I got the hang of it."
The bald, short instructor walked to the front of the dome and stood before the youths with his hands clasped behind his back. He swept his gaze across the players, who immediately gave him their full attention.
"Today's training is a finishing drill," he announced, pointing toward two cones situated outside the box along the width of the field. "You'll be doing a series of running drills through the scattered cones and mannequins. Once you're done weaving through them, you'll receive a pass from one of the instructors and have to finish."
He pointed toward the two cones. "Okay, form lines behind those two cones." With that, he blew his whistle. The players quickly formed two lines.
The first player sprinted along the flank and weaved between four cones before darting toward the middle of the field with the ball between his feet. More cones and mannequins were scattered across the center, forcing the players to weave and dash around them while exchanging passes with the player performing the drill on the opposite side.
The player who made the final pass had to sprint toward the nine-yard area, where an instructor was waiting to deliver the finishing pass. The player overhit his shot, sending the ball sailing over the empty goal.
The bald instructor blew his whistle. "C'mon, next! Don't dilly-dally! Move, move, move!"
The finishing drill continued until it was Winston's turn. He waited in a running stance for the player ahead of him to finish. The moment the player cleared the drill, Winston dashed along the flank and weaved around the four cones before cutting into the middle of the field.
He channeled Nethen essence into his legs, tensing his calves as he accelerated through the cones and mannequins. His movements were so fast that the player on the opposite side struggled to keep up.
Winston was annoyed that he had to slow down. I have to control my pace. I don't want to injure someone again.
When he received the next pass, he immediately returned it without trapping the ball. The other player winced as the ball slammed into his feet. After receiving Winston's final pass, the player stopped and massaged his ankles.
Winston took a deep breath before launching into a full sprint toward the goal. The instructor sent the finishing pass toward him. Without hesitation, Winston struck the ball. It flew toward the empty goal and slammed into the top corner of the net.