My Goalkeeping System

[ Quest Failed ]

Dave was breathing heavily as he stopped just before he could run into the highway.

He placed both of his hands on his knees while he was panting and after a few seconds, he raised his watch to see that the timer had stopped at twenty-nine minutes.

<You were close, really close>

"You call four minutes off really close," Dave muttered.

<Yeah, it didn't hit thirty so it's close>

'Why did I even think I could complete six kilometers in under twenty-five minutes?' He thought, getting up on his feet fully.

<Well, you did it under thirty minutes and your energy didn't even fall that much, that's something>

[ 37/100 Energy ]

"Yeah, something," Dave muttered before he turned and slowly began to walk back from where he had come from. "Six Kilometers walk, I didn't even think of that before I decided to run six kilometers."

Dave had gone out for his run by 6:00 AM and approaching his house now he checked his watch to see that the time was 8:07 AM now.

"Two hours seven minutes." He muttered before stopping in front of the door.

He opened the door expecting to see Emma somewhere around the area but his expectation had been cut short as she didn't seem to be in the kitchen or living room.

He turned to head upstairs as he believed that he would find her there but just before he took the first step, he spotted something on the dining table.

He slowly walked to the table and picked up the piece of paper and when he opened it, he saw that there was something written on it and he knew who that handwriting belonged to.

'I don't know where you went, leaving your phone behind, if you find this note then that means I've already left for work, there's something in the fridge if you're hungry.' He read the note subconsciously.

"I forgot that she has to go to work every day apart from weekends now." He muttered, slamming his palm into his face.

<You have to go to work too, you have a training session this morning remember>

"You don't have to remind me."

The goalkeeper quickly made his way upstairs to brush his teeth and after that, he came downstairs and took his food out of the fridge.

He microwaved it because it was already cold and just as he sat down to eat, his phone began to vibrate on the table where he had dropped it.

It didn't take before Emma's name popped up as the caller.

"Hey, babe." He said after picking up the call and placing the phone against his ear.

"Hey, are you back from wherever you went?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was about to start eating before you called." He said.

"Okay, where did you go?"

"My morning run of course, where else would I go by six in the morning," Dave replied.

"I know you went for your morning run, but where did you go after that?" She asked.

"Nowhere, just my run." He said.

<Just tell her what changed, you're dragging the conversation>

"Really? So you need an hour plus to complete two kilometers now."

"Ummm.....I didn't run two kilometers today."

"Huh?"

"It was six kilometers, that was the reason why I was out for so long," Dave explained.

"Six Kilometers?" Emma said, sounding surprised. "Hope you didn't pass out on the way."

"I know you don't think of me as a tough guy but come on its just six kilometers."

"Yeah, just six kilometers," Emma said. "I only called to make sure you were back home."

"Well, that has been confirmed," Dave said.

"Yeah, I have to go now."

"Wait," Dave said before she could click the end-call button.

"What?"

"How's work going?"

"Well, I've only been here for a few minutes but everything's going well so far."

"And the article you submitted, did your boss like it?" He asked.

"She hasn't called me to say anything about it yet but she's going to call me anytime soon now, I just hope she likes it."

"She will," Dave said.

"I hope so." She said, "I have to go now, have a nice day."

"You too babe." He said before she ended the call.

He quickly ate his healthy breakfast before making his way to his private gym to complete his last daily quest.

Their training was starting by 11:00 AM so he had roughly enough time to train in the gym before heading to the stadium.

[ Daily quest completed ]

[ Spend two hours in the gym ]

[ +20 exp received ]

[ 125/400 exp ]

With his last daily quest done, the goalkeeper went upstairs and took a quick shower before making his way down the staircase.

He was putting on Unique FC's black jacket which had the web logo embedded on its chest side and the black silky sports trousers.

He arrived ten minutes late to training but that wasn't a problem as the coach and coaching staff were yet to arrive.

He decided to catch up with his teammates for a while, especially Ferran and Mateo for the meantime.

"Yeah, that goal was sick," Mateo said. "I didn't expect him to shoot from that far out."

"He always does the unexpected," Ferran said.

"Yeah, too bad the match had to end in a draw Barcelona were better in both halves," Dave said.

"Yeah but Real Madrid will always be Real Madrid, they don't really care about ball possession but with the little they can get against a team like Barcelona, they make sure to use it well," Ferran said.

"So, they are still leveled on points now," Mateo said.

"Yeah, but Barcelona are still on top of the table with the higher goal difference," Ferran said.

The three continued talking about other leagues, players, and matches until Norman and his coaching staff arrived.

He talked to them about the last match, the things he noticed, and the ways he plans on fixing them, and then he talked about their next match which was going to be taking place in their stadium tomorrow against Lave City.

After that, he went on to talk about a few other things before the training session officially kicked off.

They started with the ruining of laps before switching to the routine stretches and then the strategic training.

The players were doing rondos now as Dave kicked five balls toward the goalpost.

He placed the balls in rows just a little distance away from the eighteen-yard box, the same spot where he had tried something like this before.

<Crossbar challenge>

'Well, it's not exactly a crossbar challenge if there's no one to challenge it's just crossbar practice unless the system can turn into a challenge again.' Dave replied as he slowly stepped back.

<The system gives you quests in situations that it deems worthy of turning into quests, I'm not the one that gives the quests>

'You've said that before but sometimes it feels like you're the one in charge of that.' Dave replied, moving toward the balls now.

<I'm not>

[ Quest received ]

[ Hit the crossbar twice in five tries ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +15 exp ]

[ +3 skill points ]

"Yeah." He muttered as he drew back his right foot and kicked the first ball in the row aiming for the crossbar.

****

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.