Rise of a Football God

A few weeks after the end of the 2022/2023 NPFL season and as the champions were decided, the NPFL released a publication on social media concerning the upcoming 2023/2024 football season.

The news was also publicized by major Nigerian news channels.

(NTA News Story!)

(BREAKING NEWS!)

(After a lot of planning by the administration, the schedule for the 2023/2024 NPFL season has been decided.)

(The league will go back to the regular 38-matchday seasonal schedule, and the season starts on 9th September, 2023.)

(Together, let's make Nigerian football great again!)

Immediately after the publication, all the clubs and players of the NPFL finally knew how much holiday time they had to rest and unwind in preparation for the new season. Fortunately, they had more than a month of rest time.

Additionally, the Nigerian FA cup already came to an end as its winner was concluded after Enyimba FC crashed out of the tournament.

Against all odds, despite managing to knock Enyimba FC out of the tournament, Plateau United was unable to ride the momentum forward and get to the final as they fell at just the next round of the tournament.

In the end, Enugu Rangers and Bendel Insurance made it to the 2022/2023 Nigerian FA Cup final and after a cagey affair, secured a 1-0 win which took their historical tally of FA cup wins to 3, their first win since 1980.

For Bendel Insurance, it was a historical season.

And with that final played, football officially came to an end in Nigeria as the players of all the clubs finally got time for themselves to rest and recover.

A particular player, Sam took advantage of the opportunity to the fullest.

Since he was still injured and recovering, he would likely not play football yet even after the season started. This was the reason why his parents persuaded him to follow them back to Abraka, Delta State after the doctor approved it.

That way, Sam got to stay and live with his family again after the events of last year December 22nd that turned his life upside down.

Returning to Abraka, Sam soon learned that his life was no longer the same.

He left as an anonymous youth in the town who loved football, but he returned as a star who just won the CAF Champions League trophy with one of the biggest clubs in the country, Enyimba FC.

"Hey, bro, is that not Sam?"

"It's him! The rumors are true, he really came from Abraka!"

"Should we approach him?"

"No, just take a picture of him".

Since he was always playing football, both at home and being on the road, traveling for away matches, Sam never really got the time to think more about it but now that he was free all of a sudden, he felt the price of stardom.

It was not fanatical yet but still, it affected his life in subtle ways.

And of course, Ian, his best friend and his father kept on bragging to the end of the world about him, leaving him embarrassed every single time.

Sam felt weird. It almost felt like for almost all his life, he was invisible and finally, after becoming a star, he became visible to the world.

People recognized him in the streets, some thought he earned millions, asking him for money and give away in the streets.

At first, it felt a bit unbearable but Sam soon became used to it. And after he didn't give anyone money after a few days, they stopped asking.

In this time, Sam enjoyed life even as his system was lenient. Due to his injury and since he could only walk with a crouch for now, his system put all his daily system quests on hold.

Talking of system quests, he remembered a series of system notifications that he already opened even before his injury.

He got them immediately after winning the league title with Enyimba FC, it was the second season system quest he completed of the original 3 that he was given. Unfortunately, he failed the FA cup season system quest.

~----~

[You have completed a Season System Quest!]

[Congratulations! You have completed Season Quest 1!]

[You have completed mission 1: Win the NPFL Championship title with Enyimba FC!]

[You have been rewarded with +50 Skill Points!]

[You have been rewarded with a random reward!]

[Randomizing reward…, please wait…]

[Randomization complete!]

[You have received a golden card!]

[Click to open reward card:]

…

Sam was familiar with this sequence; he had seen it before when he got a golden card with an image of Ronaldinho that gave him his only legendary inheritance of the elastico dribble skill.

This time, the golden card hovering at the middle of the system interface had a different image of another familiar football face.

This time, it had the image of the legendary Polish forward, Robert Lewandowski who now plied his trade for FC Barcelona.

The image was that of a prime Lewandowski donning his FC Bayern Munich jersey. In the image, the legendary Polish striker jumped, suspended in the air as he was in the process of volleying a shot into the net.

Sam was familiar with this image. 'It's that game!' His eyes gleamed. 'The one where Lewandowski scored 5 goals within 9 minutes!'

Sam's heart tightened in excitement; he already had a hunch about what this random reward would be about. He didn't hesitate further, clicking on the golden card and immediately, it burst into countless golden specks and from the golden specks came his reward.

…

[You have been rewarded with an ability card: Shoot it like Lewy!]

[Available card uses: 3]

[Card Effects:]

>This card can only be used within a minute after scoring a goal. Once used, for the next 10 minutes, your positioning, shooting technique, and shot power are amplified, granting you an 80% chance of scoring with every shot that you take<

…

[You have been rewarded with a +3 increase to 5 random football attributes!] Discover hidden tales at empire

[Randomizing attribute…, please wait…]

[Randomization complete!]

[You have been rewarded with a +3 increase to your physicality attribute!]

[You have been rewarded with a +3 increase to your shooting attribute!]

[You have been rewarded with a +3 increase to your pace attribute!]

[You have been rewarded with a +3 increase to your passing attribute!]

[You have been rewarded with a +3 increase to your defending attribute!]

[Congratulations! You have met the requirements to level up!]

[Your overall player rating has increased to 77!]

[NOTE: The higher your attributes, the harder it is to increase!]

…

Player Attributes:

*Pace: 76

*Shot: 75

*Pass: 79

*Dribbling: 74

*Defending: 38

*Physicality: 66

*Stamina: 80

Overall Rating: 77

~----~

Right at that moment, Sam was broken out of his daze as his sister pushed his door open, rushing into his room.

He was almost irritated before he saw his parents right behind her.

'What…?'

"Happy birthday!" They screamed.

"Huh? It's my birthday?"