"Long time no see!"
Outside the Milanello training base, Leon came face to face with someone he had not expected to see at all.
Su Jing!
A fellow compatriot from the East he had crossed paths with back in Sarria.
"Surprised?"
Su Jing smiled at Leon.
"Very surprised!"
"Aren't you at university? Is it a holiday?"
Leon smiled back.
Here in Milan, Leon did not have a single genuine friend.
Seeing a compatriot from home, and one he had actually shared a history with, naturally brought a warm feeling.
It was a strangely pleasant sensation.
"Please! I'm at university, not secondary school!"
"Well? Aren't you going to take me out for a meal?"
Su Jing looked at Leon with a smile.
Leon felt somewhat awkward in return.
"I have training now!"
"Let me get you a ticket to the match instead!"
"Tomorrow night, against Napoli!"
Leon thought it over and said this to Su Jing.
"Pfft!"
"You really are..."
"Fine! You absolute training machine!"
Su Jing laughed, lost for words.
She had not expected that after joining AC Milan, Leon was still exactly the same relentless training obsessive as before.
Plenty of players, after signing for a big club, tend to lose some of that original drive.
Su Jing had assumed Leon's training load would be more measured and scientific, but if anything it was still bordering on madness.
Leon gave a quiet smile.
He wanted to relax too, but the time for that had not yet come.
There were still far too many areas where he needed to improve.
Hitting the daily cap of 10 system points through training was something he could not afford to skip.
That said, Leon was blunt and straightforward by nature, but he was not completely without social awareness.
He took Su Jing to the nearby hotel first and helped her get checked in.
"How many guests?"
The front desk receptionist asked.
"Ahem! Just one!"
Su Jing glanced at Leon, and a sudden flush crossed her face, as though some strange thought had just passed through her mind.
At that moment, Su Jing realised she really had done something a little impulsive.
She had been thinking about Leon for days, and then she had simply come.
Italy was somewhere Su Jing had never been before, and yet she had shown up here without a second thought.
'Pfft!'
'This man is so completely clueless, I might as well be the one selling him off!'
The thought made her laugh out loud again.
"Wait, are you Leon?"
The blonde woman at the front desk looked up and recognised him.
As Leon's performances for AC Milan continued to impress, more and more supporters had started to take notice of him, and Leon had become something of a modest local figure around the city of Milan.
"I am!"
Leon smiled simply.
"Oh wow! Could I get an autograph?"
The blonde receptionist was visibly thrilled, and had every look of a devoted AC Milan supporter.
Leon signed for her and passed it over.
"Leon! Don't worry, I'll keep everything completely private!"
The blonde receptionist glanced at Su Jing with a knowing smile.
Leon did not take the bait and simply smiled and shook his head.
Once Su Jing was settled, Leon headed straight to the training pitch to do his laps.
"Pippo! Leon is out running laps again!"
Tassotti watched Leon begin his run on the training pitch with a look of quiet disbelief.
"Does this kid ever need a rest?"
"Let him be!"
"Everyone's built differently. Maybe he just gets stronger the more he trains."
"Remember how Ronaldinho used to go out harder the night before a match, and then play better the next day?"
Inzaghi said with a grin, giving a nod to Ronaldinho.
"Ha! There might actually be something to that!"
"In that case, I'd definitely take the mad training over the nightclubbing!"
Tassotti laughed along.
Both of them had enormous respect for Leon.
Inzaghi in particular felt that Leon had single-handedly salvaged his managerial career.
Ten points from the past four matches had suddenly made Inzaghi's position as head coach feel very secure.
Now, both the club's senior leadership and the most committed AC Milan supporters were firmly behind Inzaghi.
Out on the training pitch, Leon kept running without stopping.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have earned 2 system points!"
"Ding! Reminder to Host! Today's training system point cap has been reached!"
The familiar system chimes sounded in Leon's mind.
'Not bad!'
Leon completed one final lap and gradually slowed to a stop, breathing heavily.
Every day was exhausting, but the gains were enormous.
Including the 10 training points earned today, Leon had now accumulated 1,750 system points in total.
On top of that, his [Willpower], [Work Rate], and [Stamina] attributes had all been maxed out through training alone.
The moment those three attributes reached their ceiling, Leon felt an immediately tangible difference.
On the pitch, Leon could now eliminate almost all mental interference.
Whatever happened during a match, Leon could guarantee one hundred percent concentration.
This was an invisible but enormous boost to his overall capability.
Some players possessed technical attributes that were extraordinary, yet their mental attributes were so poor that they could never perform to their actual potential in a match.
And when a team came under serious pressure or fell behind, those same players would often fall even further below their own standard.
The influence of mental attributes on performance should never be underestimated.
There were times when a player with strong mental attributes could contribute far more in a real match than a player who was purely technically gifted.
'System! Begin attribute exchange!'
Leon recited the command inwardly.
The opponents in the previous four matches had not been particularly demanding, so Leon had not rushed to exchange attributes after each fixture.
With the next match coming up against a Napoli side boasting serious attacking firepower, the time had now come to spend.
Higuaín! Hamšík! Insigne!
Napoli's forward line was one of the most respected in Serie A.
Aerial Command: 10 to 15!
Cross Interception: 10 to 15!
Defensive Organisation: 10 to 15!
A total expenditure of 1,500 system points, which all but wiped out everything Leon had built up.
250 system points remained.
But Leon considered it entirely worthwhile.
With these upgrades in place, Leon now had formidable defensive ability against wide deliveries into the box.
Higuaín was not a traditional target man type, but Napoli's attack relied heavily on crosses from Hamšík and Insigne out wide.
The [Cross Interception] attribute did not apply only to high balls into the box.
Half-height and low driven crosses both fell within its range.
Leon was now considerably better prepared for the high-stakes clash ahead.
"Oh no!"
As he was about to head back to the dorms, Leon suddenly remembered something.
He had promised Su Jing a ticket to tomorrow's match, but he did not actually have one.
Leon immediately felt the awkwardness of the situation.
Tickets for Napoli's home ground would certainly be sold out by now.
AC Milan's strong run of form had seen them close the gap on Napoli in the table, and the upcoming match was likely to decide which of the two clubs would claim the European place.
Demand for tomorrow's tickets had been enormous.
Finding a spare one at this point would not be straightforward at all.
'I'll go and ask the manager and see.'
Leon did not have many people at AC Milan he was close to, and the only one he could think of who had always been decent to him was Inzaghi.
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