037 Blue Lock: System Ten Years Early

At a glance at the reward list, all kinds of golden and purple lights were practically blinding Shinichi's eyes. In all his years of living, aside from the forcibly fused Genius trait, he had only one gold-tier skill that counted as a welfare bonus—the Zone—and apart from that, he had never had a single gold trait. And now, all at once, he could choose four!

Who would have thought that more than ten years of effort before couldn't compare to this brief and effortless first-stage selection? But thinking about it, it made sense. If he hadn't awakened the system in advance, he would have entered Blue Lock as a blank slate. In that case, the system's rewards naturally wouldn't be stingy—especially since this evaluation was extremely high.

"Let me take a look… Divine Shooter. This is the one I locked before, and after another settlement it's become a purple trait? Feels like locking it was a bit of a waste—maybe it even took up one of my gold trait slots."

Shinichi felt a bit of regret. Back then, he really didn't have much of a concept of the system's rewards, so he locked this trait because it looked helpful. Now it seemed like a misstep, but after upgrading to purple, giving it up felt hard to swallow.

"A familiar Genius trait—what a pity it's only purple. If it were gold, I'd be tempted to choose it. That way, as long as I got another gold Genius, my Genius trait could be promoted to red." Continuing to look down, Shinichi suddenly felt a stab of heartache, reflecting on what he might have done wrong for this trait not to advance to gold.

"Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent… emmmm, that's really subtle." Shinichi looked at the next trait with a head full of black lines. This even counted the time he spent at the Legendary Athlete System training camp at night. But he was already training 20 hours a day—why wasn't it a red trait yet?! Do you need to train 25 hours a day to upgrade to red?!

Continuing onward, Shinichi's pupils shrank violently as he immediately selected the trait flashing with red light, as if afraid someone else would snatch it away.

"All attributes +2! And the highest attribute gets another +2—just the speed attribute alone gets a 14-point bonus! Not to mention there's an additional special effect!" Shinichi's eyes lit up as he looked at the highest-tier trait he currently possessed. He allocated the extra attribute bonus to speed, and then a surge of power welled up from his heart, instantly filling his entire body.

[Ding, your speed attribute has reached 100 points. You may choose one special effect. This effect will apply to all actions involving the speed attribute.]

[1]Hallucination: All actions that rely on speed become more deceptive

[2]Burst: Your instantaneous explosive power becomes stronger

[3]Sudden Stop: The buffer time needed after starting and after sudden stops is reduced

[4]Direction Change: The degree of deceleration during direction changes is weakened

"So reaching 100 points in an attribute actually grants an extra special effect?" Shinichi pondered the prompt, then chose Direction Change.

Direction changes and ball contact slow you down—this was the one problem he still hadn't solved and was currently the most troublesome. As for the others, they could all be compensated for with even greater speed. And in his view, an extreme, no-deceleration direction change could even be called an unsolvable ability.

This single trait alone brought about a complete rebirth in strength. Shinichi felt that even if he had only gained this one trait, it would have been more than satisfying. In high spirits, he hummed softly and continued scrolling down.

"The skills given are a bit disappointing. My positioning is already good enough—no need to waste a choice to improve off-the-ball movement. Plunder is something I've already had certified in the training camp; it's a duplicate ability."

"Piece Placement – Formation? The skill effect sounds impressive, but compared to boosting teammates, I'd rather improve my own abilities." He kept scrolling down, but there were no rewards that made his eyes light up like the Monster trait. However, when he saw the special reward at the very bottom, his eyes widened once again.

"Special reward: obtain complete control over something… in the real world…" Shinichi murmured softly.

"Interesting. Very interesting. You can even do something like this? Hahaha, good! Just right—there aren't any traits left that really tempt me. Then I'll play along with you properly."

With that thought, Shinichi didn't hesitate and directly selected the final special reward. This reward wouldn't increase his strength in any way, but it would pave the road ahead for him to become a legend!

...

"Someone's already here?" Itoshi Rin walked out of the passage and immediately saw Shinichi sitting off to the side, eyes unfocused. 'Not that blue-haired guy—meaning this one entered after me but came out before me.'

Rin frowned slightly, silently wondering if he'd been a bit lax lately. After giving the absent-minded Shinichi another glance, he found a spot and sat down as well.

"Oh my, to think the splendid me is actually the third to arrive."

Before long, the door opened again, and Aryu Jyubei strode in, flicking his jet-black, glossy long hair.

"Three per group—team up and move forward?"

"Everyone's here. Don't waste time—hurry to the next stage." Rin stood up first, but Aryu Jyubei rejected it without a second thought.

"To choose me at a glance, a symbol of fashion, shows admirable aesthetic judgment. I express my sincere appreciation. However, I still have teammates who haven't arrived yet, and moreover…"

Aryu Jyubei looked toward Shinichi sitting to the side.

"There's also someone here I absolutely must defeat. How could I possibly team up with you?"

Shinichi, still receiving rewards: "Ababababa..."

"Waiting for teammates… hmph, such boring bonds. You people who still treat football as a game—go on, keep indulging in your childish play."

"Allow me to respond to your accusation. I did not make this choice out of inner emotion. On the contrary, my teammates were influenced through their matches with me. That is a responsibility I must bear as one who represents the trend."

"Meaningless ego…" Rin still didn't give Aryu Jyubei a pleasant look. "Do whatever you want."

Shinichi: "Ababababa..."

Negotiations failed, and the waiting room fell into silence. Although Shinichi had already regained consciousness midway, since everyone seemed to enjoy putting on a cold facade, he saw no reason to break the calm. He continued resting with eyes closed, carefully experiencing the changes the Monster trait brought to his body.

This strange calm continued on and on, until… the door opened once more.

"Fourth, huh. Looks like I still have a long way to go." Hiori Yo emerged from the passage, panting.

"But it's fine—you haven't left yet. Looks like I didn't get shaken off this time."

"Cut the crap and move. I don't want to waste even a second here." Rin stood up again. However, this time, the one who stopped him was Shinichi.

"Hold on, hold on, Itoshi Rin. I never said I wanted to team up with you." Shinichi stood up with a smile.

"Since teaming up is required, it's obvious there's a match ahead. So—have a match with me. The younger brother of the new-generation World Eleven."

That final title directly poked Rin's reverse scale. Combined with all the impatience he'd accumulated, plus the fact that this guy cleared the stage in less time than he did, all these factors piled up, making Rin glare at the smiling Shinichi with killing intent.

"Fine. I'll have a special match with you, my stepping stone."

"I'll show you just how naïve you are, still treating football as nothing more than a sport."