My Goalkeeping System

"Sorry, Ferran but I don't think I have time for that, I have a really tight schedule," Dave said before quickly ending the call. He didn't even give the midfielder the time to reply.

After ending the call, the goalkeeper slid his phone back into his pocket and stared off into the distance for a while before he took off.

This time instead of just running straight on the road, he decided to take a route that led into the woods.

There was a clear path in the area so he didn't have to struggle with weeds, stones, or anything else.

After being notified by his watch that he had completed five kilometers, he didn't stop and kept on running deep into the area.

"Let's just add like three kilometers more." He muttered to himself.

By the time the three extra kilometers were covered, he had left the forest area and was now standing in front of a very tall but slanted hill.

[ +1 stat point added to dexterity ]

[ +1 stat point added to endurance ]

Dave didn't even take a look at the messages that had popped up on his screen as he moved closer to the hill.

[ Quest received ]

[ Reach the top of the hill ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +40 exp ]

[ +1 stat point to endurance ]

[ +1 skill upgrade point ]

'Seriously.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously with his gaze on the quest that was displayed on his system screen now.

<It's up to you if you want to complete the quest or not but I think you're in a good condition to complete it>

[ 65% stamina remaining ]

[ 95/126 Energy ]

'Yeah, I guess so.' Dave replied before he slowly squatted and placed both of his hands on the floor of the hill.

He slowly began to climb the hill, the hill was really sloppy and that was giving him trouble but he kept on pushing.

By the time he had gone halfway, he was already breathing heavily.

'Haven't climbed a hill before but I didn't expect it to be this tough.'

<Then maybe you should try climbing it more often>

[ 50% stamina remaining ]

[ 81/126 Energy ]

He kept on climbing without looking down until he finally made it to the top of the hill.

"Finally." He said, breathing heavily.

[ Quest completed ]

[ You have successfully reached the top of the hill ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +40 exp received ]

[ +1 stat point added to endurance ]

[ +1 skill upgrade point received ]

[ Strength has received (+1) stat upgrade ]

'That wasn't part of the rewards.'

<Yeah, it's an improvement from your efforts>

'Oh, okay.'

The goalkeeper had not gotten the chance to look down since he got to the top of the hill as he was busy trying to catch his breath and looking down now, he could see that he had to go down a hill before he could reach the forest in the area and deep into that forest, he could hear a lot of noise.

"Where's that sound coming from?" He said before getting up to look over the forest.

From there, he could see what looked like a marketplace. There were lots of people in the area, some of them buying goods and some of them selling goods.

"I haven't been to this part of Unique before." He said with a surprised expression on his face.

<I think there are a lot of places in Unique that you haven't been to before>

'Yeah, but I know those places, I haven't heard of this place before.'

The goalkeeper's curiosity was telling him to go and check it out but because of the way he was and the amount of time he had wasted on his run, he wasn't going to.

'I would have loved to go check the area out but I don't think I have the strength and Emma must be getting worried now.' He said subconsciously before he turned and began to make his way down the area.

<You have the strength, you just don't want to go but that's okay, I wouldn't advise you to go either>

_____ _____

Dave got home to discover that Emma had already left for work and as always, she left his food for him in the usual place.

He brought his phone from his pocket to see that the time was 8:50 AM.

He went straight upstairs and brushed his teeth before he made his way to his private gym but this time it was the one upstairs.

He spent two hours plus lifting light weights, riding on the exercise bicycle, and training with the other equipment in the room.

After that, he made his way downstairs and had his breakfast, and now it was time for some outdoor training.

He brought out his goalpost and fixed it up in the usual spot, he wasn't going to bring out the ball blaster yet as he wanted to try out something before jumping into that part of the training.

He dropped the balls right in front of the goalpost and because he was very close to the goalpost, he was able to hit the crossbar with all the balls.

<Why don't you move the balls further away and make it more of a challenge?>

'I know I was getting to that.' Dave replied before he began to push the balls away toward his garage area. 'I hope I get a quest for this one?' He said after lining up the balls in the way Mateo usually did.

<What are you waiting for?> Catherine asked as he was just standing there without doing anything.

'I'm waiting for my quest.'

<Quest? What makes you think...>

[ Quest received ]

[ Hit the crossbar with at least five of the balls ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +50 exp ]

[ +2 skill upgrade points ]

<You got a quest>

'That's right and now it's time to smash it.' The goalkeeper replied before stretching his fingers and doing a little jump.

'All I have to do is hit the crossbar five times out of eight times from this far out.' He said subconsciously before taking two steps backward.

After that, he quickly closed up on the first ball in line and sent it flying toward the goalpost.

It looked like the ball was going to hit the crossbar but it just flew over the crossbar in a way that made Dave think that it had made contact with the crossbar.

'That one hit the crossbar.'

<No, it didn't>

'Huh?'

<Check your quest progress>

[ Quest progress: 0/5 crossbar hits ]

[ Tries remaining: 07 ]

Dave didn't say anything and just let out an inward grumble before he took two steps backward.

He raced toward the next ball in line and sent it flying toward the goalpost with a lob.

The ball flew toward the goalpost and it looked like it was about to hit the crossbar until it suddenly got pushed forward a little and lost its lane causing it to fall into the goalpost without touching the crossbar.

"Oh, come on," Dave said with a frustrated look.

<I think I know why you got this quest>

'Huh?'

****

Merry Christmas my lovely readers, wishing you all a happy holiday.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I'll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.