Limitless Potential

"Complete your first official match. Reward: 10,000 King of Football Points."

"Score your first career goal in an official match. Reward: 10,000 King of Football Points."

"Complete your first brace in an official match. Reward: 30,000 King of Football Points."

"Debut goal and brace. Reward: one Star Ability Card. Redeem at the shop."

The moment the referee's final whistle blew, a stream of system notifications flooded Su Dong's mind.

Su Dong was stunned by the barrage of rewards.

So many King of Football Points all at once?

And even a Star Ability Card!

Damn, this was a massive haul.

But thinking back, it wasn't surprising. This was his official debut, with a goal and a brace—an achievement so incredible that even he found it hard to believe.

Even now, he was still in a daze.

"Well done, Su."

"Great game!"

"You completely dominated the second half. Both goals were beautiful."

"You're our warrior!"

On the pitch, results speak for themselves. Su Dong's performance had helped Sporting Portugal defeat a strong opponent, earning him respect from his teammates—especially since both goals were spectacular.

Matello walked over, threw an arm around Su Dong's shoulders, and grinned as they walked side by side.

Over the past while, he'd been training Su Dong every day. It was his job, sure, but watching Su Dong improve bit by bit made him happy too.

But before today, Matello never imagined Su Dong would shine so brightly in his debut.

A brace!

How many players in the Portuguese Second Division managed a brace in a season?

"Kid, if you keep up this momentum, we won't be able to hold onto you for long."

Matello's tone was a mix of relief and pride, but also a hint of regret.

That was the sorrow of a weak team in professional football.

The players they unearthed, they couldn't keep. Even if they forced them to stay, what then?

This was their way of survival.

"Don't overthink it. Keep working hard, push forward, and charge ahead!" Matello shook off the feeling and encouraged him.

In the stands, the thousand-plus Sporting Portugal fans rose as one when the players walked off the pitch, applauding warmly—especially for Su Dong, walking alongside Matello.

Sixteen years old, a brace on debut—could there be a better performance?

Most fans didn't know him; no one could call out his name. But that didn't matter.

They cheered for Su Dong's number 36 jersey, and when he and Matello neared the stands, the applause erupted louder than ever. That was the best recognition they could give.

Matello had been the standout player of the match—no surprise there.

Su Dong was the second-half surprise, taking down Loretano with two goals.

What made it even more exciting was how beautiful both goals were, reminiscent of Serie A's warrior, Batistuta.

As they passed the stands, Matello pulled Su Dong along, clapping loudly to thank the fans for their support and affirmation, before the two headed into the player tunnel.

The Sporting Portugal fans responded with even more thunderous applause.

Head coach Gorba sat among the fans with the club's management.

When the team was on the back foot in the first half, Gorba's expression had been grim.

But as the second half turned around, especially after Su Dong's goals, Gorba's face was practically beaming like a sunflower.

The team had beaten their opponent, and Su Dong—whom he'd discovered and nurtured—had scored a brace. That was all Gorba's credit.

Especially when he heard the fans chanting for number 36, Gorba grew even more excited.

"This kid's improving fast," Gorba said to the management beside him.

"If I remember right, he came in through a referral?"

"Yeah, a very unprofessional Chinese agent. He gave us some money to train Su Dong for two months. At first, we didn't think much of it. Su Dong's performance wasn't great either—he even missed over a month of reporting to the team."

Gorba paused here, shooting his boss a smile. "But during a recent assessment, I noticed he'd made huge progress. Maybe because his previous training wasn't professional. After joining us, he's been improving by leaps and bounds. Now he's already got the ability to start."

"Once I saw that, I immediately sought to renew his contract. But since he's only sixteen, we could only sign him to a youth contract. Still, I believe—especially after today's match—I'm convinced he'll only get better."

"Mm." The superior understood what Gorba meant and guessed his intentions. "You want to recommend him up?"

As a Lisbon-based club, Sporting Portugal didn't have good relations with Benfica or Sporting Lisbon. Instead, they maintained a long-term friendly partnership with Belenenses, serving as their feeder club.

Discovering players and recommending them to Belenenses was one of the cooperative projects between the two clubs.

If the other side showed interest, they would immediately arrange for scouts to follow up, actively liaise with Sporting Portugal to learn about the player's situation, and if the player performed well, Belenenses might even buy him outright.

"Recommending him up is a given. First, we'll leave his name with Belenenses, and we'll step up our training efforts here, ideally pushing him straight into the starting lineup. As long as he keeps performing well, I'm confident we can sell him for a good price."

"Can we get thirty thousand euros?" the superior asked with concern.

That would be a pretty decent price for a young player in the Portuguese Second Division.

"Depends on his performance. If he plays a few more games and does exceptionally well, thirty thousand, or even fifty thousand, I think is entirely possible."

Fifty thousand?

A clear glimmer of desire flashed in the superior's eyes. That would be a substantial sum for Sporting Portugal.

"Then do as you say."

Su Dong had no idea that Gorba and the management were scheming from the stands about how to sell him for a good price.

In the locker room, he accepted congratulations from his teammates.

Defeating Loretano was Sporting Portugal's first three points of the season, and it was crucial.

Although the team had no hope of promotion, no one wanted them to be relegated either. Dropping another division would mean facing mostly amateur teams, essentially playing amateur matches with little challenge.

Even head coach Antonio Pereira didn't hold back his praise, encouraging Su Dong to keep up his performance.

"From now on, I'll give you more opportunities and playing time. Keep up the good work."

Su Dong was naturally happy and grateful.

Once everyone had dispersed, he sat down in front of his locker and let out a heavy sigh.

The match was over.

Even though he had only played half a game, the toll on him was enormous.

This was adult-team football, something he had no prior experience with.

The pressure of the match, the physical battles, executing tactics...

Too many tasks weighed on his shoulders, constantly draining his stamina.

This was a feeling that private practice or team training could never replicate. Only by stepping onto the pitch and truly clashing with opponents could he understand that kind of pressure.

I probably don't have the stamina to play a full adult-team match yet, Su Dong thought to himself.

Youth matches for his age group usually lasted sixty minutes, thirty per half. Whether in tactical execution, physical confrontation, or match intensity, they couldn't compare to adult games.

What's more, although Su Dong's endurance had been raised to 57 points, his physical strength was only 41 points.

That meant his endurance barely scraped the mid-line for semi-professional teams, while his strength was still far below passing grade.

Under these circumstances, going head-to-head for ninety minutes against tall, strong center-backs would definitely be too much for Su Dong.

This also made him realize just how much more intense adult-team matches were.

At the same time, he needed to improve his physical condition as quickly as possible.

With that thought, Su Dong stopped dwelling on it.

He entered the Path to the King of Football and pulled up his personal attribute panel.

That match had earned him over two thousand King of Football Points, but that wasn't the main point.

The key was that when the match ended, the system had rewarded him with a lump sum of fifty thousand King of Football Points.

Su Dong immediately converted those fifty thousand points into 100 potential points, splitting them into four portions and injecting them into the four physical attributes.

First, he raised the potential for both Speed and Explosiveness to 99 points. Then, he boosted Endurance's potential to 99 as well. The remaining 15 potential points went into Strength, bringing it up to 65.

But he still felt it wasn't nearly enough, so he used more King of Football Points to convert another 34 potential points, pushing Strength's potential all the way to 99.

With that, the potential for all four physical attributes was maxed out.

Combined with the fact that over the past period, Su Dong had mostly spent his potential points on technical attributes, already maxing out those four, he now had two full categories of attributes at their potential cap.

What he needed to do next was to train his actual ability up as quickly as possible.

But that was just a matter of time.

Having spent so long with the Path to the King of Football system, Su Dong had gradually figured out some of its rules.

So-called potential was like a player's talent.

Before, Su Dong's talent had been limited, quickly hitting a ceiling. No matter how hard he trained, it was useless—he couldn't make any progress.

But the Path to the King of Football had brought him a world of change, allowing him to continuously raise his potential. That was like improving his talent. Once the potential was up, as long as he was willing to train hard, his ability would gradually follow.

Progress at the Ball Trunk level was slower than at the Ball One level, and he believed that as his level rose further, it would only get slower. But for Su Dong, that was just a matter of how much time he spent.

Compared to before, when he hit a ceiling and all his efforts were in vain, this was infinitely better.

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