Chapter 413 City lights


    ??No sooner had they settled into their seats than some of the yers immediately fell asleep. The exhaustion was evident on their faces. Although they hadn''t shown it previously in the locker room, the match had left them exhausted.


    And as thest of them settled, the bus driver stepped on the gas pedal and started the bus. The venue, which had previously been alive with roaring fans, was now almost deserted, a stark contrast to the earlier electric atmosphere.


    Outside, the city lights flickered brilliantly, casting a vibrant glow over the deserted arena. Though the energy of the match had dissipated, the city''s nightlife was just awakening.


    While the bus continued to tread its path through the streets, Hiro gazed out the window, observing the cityscape whiz by. The streets were alive with activity, filled with people navigating the night, especially the sry workers d in suits and carrying briefcases. They wandered from one pub to another, seeking to wash away the stress of their day.


    The bustling nightlife of the streets reminded him of his previous life. There was a moment in his life when he too would unwind in such ces. Though his circle of friends had been small, there were still a few of them with whom he had a pretty decent rtionship.


    Especially Sumire, she''d help him with his hangovers, listen to hisints and self-loathing, and help him to his room. Truly she had suffered a lot due to him.


    Reminiscing such moments, made him feel guilty. Even when blessed with such generous people, he had been nothing but ungrateful, a truly unruly son and an unruly partner.


    It was supposed to be a joyous night for him. But, now that he remembered a glimpse of his past life, he couldn''t help but frown.


    The bus rumbled through the city, and he found himself lost in thought. Hispanion beside him was already sound asleep, and so were the most of yers on the bus. The pulsating rhythm of the nightlife outside the window felt both familiar and distant, evoking a sense of nostalgia.


    There was a bittersweetness in watching the world go by outside, a strange mix of longing and contentment. And, all of a sudden all his previous glory felt like it amounted to nothing.


    But life had given him another chance. A chance to turn things around. An opportunity to atone. So although he couldn''t change his past, he still had the opportunity to make things right.


    Then shaking this heavy feeling of guilt and remorse, he took his phone out of his pocket. Turning on his phone, he opened his ount. But just as he opened his ount, he noticed a flood of messages.


    Congratting him for his earlier performance, many of them expressed their feelings. Fewined about him not informing about his debut. Overall, it seemed that everybody was genuinely happy for him.


    Reading their messages, brought a smile to his face. Without even realizing it, he had started smiling again. And even those heavy feelings that gripped him for a moment ago alleviated on their own as he went through their message.


    Then he answered their message and sent them the pictures he had taken previously. Few were still online, so they responded immediately. There was still some time left before they reached their destination, so he too engaged in a conversation with them.


    "You bastard! Do you even consider me your friend? You didn''t even inform me about your debut," Akashi messaged him, sounding quite furious.


    "It was meant to be a surprise. Sorry for not telling you sooner," Hiro apologized.


    "Congrattions on making your debut. You were really great out there," Sumire''s text message read as such.


    "Thank you. You were watching?" Hiro texted her back.


    For some while, he continued to reply to all the texts he had received from his close ones. And, he answered all of them.


    Then after a while of texting, he turned off his phone to receive his reward from the earlier aplishment. After all, he had yet to im his reward from the quest. But since almost everyone around him was sound asleep, and he had quality time alone, he didn''t feel like waiting.


    He wanted to im his reward in silence after getting back to his room. Moving out from the academy, he had been staying with Tatsuki and Naoto.


    ''System activate,'' he thought as hemanded the system to activate.


    As usual, a holographic blue panel appeared before him just as he made thatmand. Though to the outside world, it remained invisible, he could vividly see it. A lot has changed since he advanced to the professional stage.


    With the addition of new features such as the reputation stat and all others, it had be even more sophisticated. One of the special features was the fusion. It was a feature that allowed him to fuse two or more talents based onpatibility. It also allowed him to fuse his talents with his skills, but it had a much greater cost and also a lower probability of obtaining something remarkable out of it.


    However, he had yet to try this skill because he required sufficient experience points which he could only earn through quests. After a major update, the feature of the attribute point was reced with the experience point as well.


    There were quite a lot of changes in the system.


    As he skimmed through the system interface, he headed to the reward section to im his reward. There were quite a lot of options avable. But most of them were practically useless to him. So, he ordered the system to eliminate the useless ones and present him with a few that could possibly be some help to him.


    [First Touch (A), Powerful Right (S), Phantom Steps (A+), Clinical Finishing (S), Leadership (B), Aggression (B+), Injury Resistance (A)]


    ''Pro''s really are something else. Even after so much elimination, look at all these talents. Even the lowest is of at least B rank,'' his eyes glistened with awe and greed as he skimmed through the talents he could copy.


    Unlike the times, he tried to copy from his peers his age, it was a different experience. Almost every single one of those talents was of great use to him. They''d surely increase his potential and be of some help to him in his career.


    He could only marvel at the sheer number of choices in front of him. Yet, he could only pick one.


    But most of them were already simr to the ones he possessed. However, even those weren''t wasted at this moment with his fusion feature. Even if he selected a simr talent, he could just fuse itter when he had the required experience point.


    Yet, he still needed to weigh his options and pick carefully. So, he went through their description before deciding his pick.


    [First Touch (A)]


    [Helps improve your positioning, and initial control of the ball upon receiving a pass]


    ''Well, my first touch is already good. So, I don''t think I''ll need it,'' he thought as he went through its description.


    His first touch even without the aid of this talent was already one of the finest in the league. But that didn''t mean that it wouldn''t help improve his skills even further. If he were to choose this talent, he''d receive a boost to his already impressive ball control. It''d probably take his ball control to a level further.


    But despite the benefits, he decided to give up on this talent.


    [Powerful Right (S)]


    [Increases the muscle mass in your right leg, giving you more firepower and slightly decreases your chances of injuring your right foot]


    ''It''s a great talent. But if I chose it, it might contradict my other talent Ambipedal, and create some disbnces. It''d also affect my gamey as it''d make me reliant on my right,'' he deduced as he went through its description.


    The talent was great. But, it wasn''t suitable to his style of y since he used both his legs. If he were to choose it, it''d make him a little more reliant on his right foot which would disrupt his harmony. So, due to such worries, once again he decided to give up on another talent.


    There were benefits, but there were drawbacks too. So, he had to be careful while choosing the talent he wanted to copy.


    Onto the next talent, Phantom Steps (A+).


    It wasn''t his first time seeing this talent making its appearance. He had already encountered it in the qualifiers for the U17 World Cup. It was one of the talents that allowed the star yer of the Korean National Team, Park Seung-Gyu to flourish after all.


    Back then it had intrigued him, but since he didn''t have any use of it due to the presence of a simr skill he abandoned it.But, it was a different case right now. With the presence of the feature Fusion, he could fuse it with his skill Lightning Steps.