Become A Football Legend

"Don't be too humble about it Luke, you planned it all from the beginning," Ekitike said as he sat down on the bench, his shirt hung over his shoulder. He turned towards Götze and said, "He told me he'd find me if I stayed onside."

"Really? So you had that play planned ahead of time?" Larsson asked as he came out of the shower.

"I was just thinking of getting the ball to Hugo, there was space, but I knew the midfielder could intercept it if he knew that's what I was trying to do," Lukas responded, still smiling. "I can't exactly tell them Ozil taught me how to do it without even having to think about it, right?" he thought.

"Alright guys, nice game today," Topmöller said as he walked in side-by-side with the man of the match, Omar Marmoush. They had just come from the press interview together.

"I was very impressed by some of you today," Topmöller said, causing Larsson to sneakily nudge Lukas in the ribs.

"We head back, we rest. Tomorrow we decompress and recover. Then we prepare for the Tuesday game. It's tough, I know... But we cannot use that as an excuse. We just got back to winning ways. I need this momentum for the next game too.

Now go freshen up. The bus leaves for the hotel in 30 minutes then to the airport in an hour. We don't have much time."

The boys clapped as they all headed off to do their thing.

About 15 minutes later.

Lukas came out of the locker room shower with a blue towel wrapped tightly around his waist and a smaller white one draped over his head. He ruffled his hair with the white towel as he stared at the mirror.

"TT's really kept me in great shape."

[*It's all you buddy. I just tell you what to do. You're the one who does the hard work. And it's starting to pay off.*]

"That's true. Thanks TT."

He walked over to his locker and took his phone from the bag.

There was a flood of congratulatory messages coming from family and friends.

One stood out to him, though.

"Oh no! I didn't tell her..." Lukas thought as he stared at a message from a number saved as 'Jo' with a blue heart sign next to it.

He responded with a voice message.

"Hey, Jo, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I swear I was gonna, but then it skipped my mind. I also wasn't sure I was gonna get any playing time. I promise to invite you to the next one, alright?"

"That was nerve wracking," he thought as he finally breathed out. He held his whole breath while recording the message so it doesn't spoil the tone of his voice nor make him sound like he's breathing into the mic.

After replying to messages from a few more important people such as João, Anne, and Javi, who informed him he'd be spending the night at Anne's and coming back home the next day, Lukas headed to the bus.

* * *

Lukas woke up at 8AM at a personal little apartment at the ProfiCamp.

The flight landed at 9:30pm, so Lukas decided to spend the night at the center and head home after today's group recovery and training sessions — if there were going to be any.

"Log into the LTC," he thought.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of the LTC gym for about five minutes without saying a word. He had gone a little worried after not being able to log in for over two weeks since his birthday.

The only thing that kept him believing he had not been hallucinating TT's existence was the progress window and the fact that his football skills did not disappear when he could not use the system.

[*Are you done collecting yourself?*] TT's familiar voice asked as Lukas sat up from the floor.

"Yes, I hav— WOW... So the fancy renovation is what took you so long," Lukas thought in amusement as he looked around the now extraordinarily large gym — at least in comparison to it's previous size.

"Why's this so big now when I'm the only one using it? Don't tell me... Can I now bring other people in here?"

[*You wish. It ain't for you, it's for me. I love the bigger space.*]

"Bruh..."

[*Anyway, this is why it took so long...*]

As TT completed his speech, the golden screen appeared in front of Lukas.

[Legend Training Center V3.0 Unlocked

Time Limit: 72 hours in LTC every day in the real world.]

"Oh nice. Version three with an increased time limit. What else can it do?"

[*You'll find out. But first, the limits has been upgraded. See your profile.*]

The profile window appeared in front of Lukas.

[ PROFILE – LUKAS BRANDT – FOOTBALLER

DATE OF BIRTH: 30/12/2008 (16)

HEIGHT: 178cm

WEIGHT: 62kg

CAREER STATUS: EINTRACHT FRANKFURT FIRST TEAM

POSITION: ATTACKING MIDFIELDER (*new*)

CURENT LIMIT: 85 (*new*)

RATING: 81

PLAYER STATS:

ATTACK:

Off. Awareness: 80

Ball Control: 80

Dribbling: 80

Tight Possession: 80

Low Pass: 80

Lofted Pass: 80

Finishing: 80

Header: 80

Set-Piece: 80

Curl: 80

DEFENCE:

Def. Awareness: 75 (↑4)

Tackling: 74 (↑6)

Aggression: 71 (↑4)

Def. Engagement: 70 (↑3)

STRENGTH:

Speed: 80

Acceleration: 80

Kicking Power: 80

Jump: 80

Physical Contact: 80

Balance: 80

Stamina: 80

Note: Good enough for to be a nice Bundesliga player. ]

"Hmm... Not bad... Not bad," Lukas said as he stroked his chin while going throught the system window.

"Wait a minute, where are my skills? Where's the expand button?"

[*Oh that has been changed to its own skill window. So you can call it up without having to view the whole status window separately.*]

"Big brain move right there, TT. Open the skill window."

[SKILLS:

Injured From Training? Not me. Passive. Level 4/5 (↓1)

First Touch Ball Control. Level 2/5

La Croqueta. Active. Level 2/5 (↑1)

Step Over. Active. Level 2/5 (↑1)

No-Look Pass. Level 2/5

Disguised Through Pass. Level 2/5

Chipped Finishing. Level 2/5

Ozil Bounce. Level 1/5]

"Wait a second, why has the passive skill's proficiency reduced? Does this mean I will be feeling more soreness and pains after the workouts?"

[*You've gotten smarter since you last came here. I'm proud of you.*]

"I'm being serious... Will this keep happening?"

[*Your body could not withstand the pains from full training when you got me, so it was set that way. Since you've gotten older, and stronger, it has been adjusted to fit your current limits. As you get stronger and able to withstand more longer sessions, the skill's proficiency level will reduce. But you don't have anything to worry about, it'll never get so bad that you won't be able to walk after training.*]

"I have a feeling you just lied to me. You're definitely gonna make it so I can't walk, aren't you?"

[*I am pleading the fifth*]

"The last time I checked, we weren't in the US, so that means nothing to me whatsoever.?"

[*Hmm... I got my point across, though.*]

"Anyway, what do I start with? I still feel sore from the match, I should do a recovery session first."

[*Your choice.*]

* * *

"You see that over there, that space shouldn't exist, Robin. Kev, you should scream at him to cover it," assistant coach Buck said to Robin Koch and Kevin Trapp.

The whole first team was seated in a room replaying videos from the match against St. Pauli.

It was the 13th of January and the team was preparing for their home match against SC Freiburg the next day.

Coach Topmöller sat to the side, contemplating a completely different situation from what the players were thinking about.

"So he's really gonna leave?"

* * *

A/N: Official chapter of today, Aug 2, 2025, but there's more coming in a bit.