Have You Seen Lisbon at 5 AM?

"King of Football Points: 25,184."

Seeing this number, Su Dong was completely thrilled.

Over twenty thousand King of Football Points—this legendary trainer Rony was truly extraordinary.

But it also made Su Dong even more curious.

Just how strong was this Rony?

And was he a professional player? Which team did he play for?

As the capital of Portugal, Lisbon was home to dozens of football clubs. The well-known Benfica and Sporting Lisbon were just the two most famous Primeira Liga teams; Belenenses was a step below, and further down in the second, third, and fourth tiers, there were plenty of Lisbon-based clubs.

For instance, Sporting Portugal, where Su Dong played, was in the third division, and it included five or six teams from Lisbon.

Which team did he play for?

If a young player he'd never even heard of was this good, how strong must other professional players be?

And what about legendary talents like the rumored Ronaldinho or his idol Ronaldo? How incredibly powerful were they?

For a moment, Su Dong's heart was filled with admiration.

But at the same time, his determination to grow stronger became even more resolute.

With over twenty thousand King of Football Points in hand, the first thing Su Dong wanted to do was level up.

"Current Level: Ball Zero. Next Level: Ball One. Leveling up requires 10,000 King of Football Points. Proceed?"

Su Dong didn't hesitate to select [Yes].

"Leveling up, please wait..."

In his mind, a black-and-white football began to spin, clearly indicating the upgrade was in progress.

Before long, when the ball stopped spinning, Su Dong received a notification.

"Congratulations, level up successful."

"Current Level: Ball One. Next Level: Ball Trunk. Leveling up requires 50,000 King of Football Points."

"Congratulations on reaching Ball One and officially becoming an amateur player. The Path to the King of Football has unlocked the Potential System."

Potential System?

Su Dong was a bit surprised after reading this. What was that?

When he entered his personal attributes interface, he immediately noticed the difference.

At Ball Zero level, the personal attributes interface was quite sparse, with only three categories: [Attack], [Defense], and [Physique]. It claimed to integrate various attributes, but in truth, it looked down on Su Dong at Ball Zero.

After leveling up to Ball One and officially stepping into the ranks of amateur players, his personal attributes also underwent an upgrade.

The three main categories were each split in two. Attack was divided into [Technique] and [Shooting]; Defense into [Positioning] and [Tackling]; and Physique into [Speed] and [Strength].

Not only that, but each attribute now had two numbers: one for current ability and one for potential value.

Su Dong carefully studied the system's attribute explanations and gradually began to understand the rules of the newly unlocked Potential System.

Current ability was self-explanatory—it was the strength he possessed at the moment. Potential value was also easy to grasp—it was the level he could reach if he fully tapped into his potential.

But the key difference was that ability value could only be improved through Su Dong's own hard training, while potential value could be increased by injecting King of Football Points.

Simply put, with the Potential System unlocked, Su Dong could consume King of Football Points to enhance his own potential.

Of course, after raising his potential, how much he could actually unlock still depended on his own diligent practice.

One thing that frustrated Su Dong was that after leveling up, his personal attributes had actually dropped significantly.

For example, before the upgrade, Attack was 33 points. Now split into two, Technique was 15 points [Potential: 29 points], and Shooting was 18 points [Potential: 37 points].

Before the upgrade, Defense was 28 points. After the split, Positioning was 13 points [Potential: 25 points], and Tackling was 15 points [Potential: 31 points].

Before the upgrade, Physique was 29 points. After the split, Speed was 18 points [Potential: 33 points], and Strength was 11 points [Potential: 25 points].

Su Dong generally trusted the system's assessment of his abilities and potential, except when it came to Speed.

He was well aware of his own strengths—his speed wasn't slow. Even in Sporting Portugal's youth academy, among his peers, he might not have been the fastest, but he was at least above average.

Yet here, Speed was only 18 points, with a potential of 33 points, not even reaching the passing mark.

Since the system's evaluation couldn't be wrong, it meant that Speed here wasn't just about sprinting; it also included dribbling speed, movement frequency, body agility, and other factors.

In that case, it made sense.

So why had Su Dong's attribute evaluations dropped after leveling up from Ball Zero to Ball One?

The system explained that the evaluation was based on a comparison with players at the same level.

In other words, among all amateur players worldwide, the best in Technique would have a full 99 points, so Su Dong's Technique could only be rated at 15 points, and the same applied to his other attributes.

The system also gave a specific reminder: the ability and potential values before the upgrade would affect the potential evaluation after the upgrade. Moreover, as the level increased, the King of Football Points required to raise potential would also increase.

Seeing this, Su Dong understood the rules of the Potential System.

Blindly continuing to level up wouldn't do much to improve his abilities—it might even have the opposite effect.

On the contrary, the most ideal path for advancement is to stay grounded, improving strength and potential at every level, and only moving up when the time is right.

With that thought, Su Dong made his decision.

After spending 10,000 King of Football Points to level up, he had 15,184 points remaining.

Every point of potential required 100 King of Football Points to raise.

So Su Dong converted all his remaining points into 150 potential points, investing 40 each in Technique, Shooting, and Speed, and 30 in Strength.

As a forward, defense had some use but wasn't essential, while attributes like Technique, Shooting, Speed, and Strength were the most critical for a striker and needed to be improved as quickly as possible.

After finishing all this, Su Dong's current strength didn't change much, but his potential had undergone a dramatic shift.

Technique potential reached 69 points, Shooting potential hit 77 points, Speed potential climbed to 73 points, and Strength potential also rose to 55 points.

And this was only temporary.

Next, Su Dong had to keep training hard.

On one hand, he needed to accumulate more King of Football Points to raise his potential; on the other, he had to gradually unlock that potential, converting it into current strength to boost his overall ability.

Thinking about this, Su Dong could hardly contain his eagerness.

He went outside the park, found a random spot, wolfed down some food, and then returned to the park to bury himself in practice.

"You're still here?"

When Su Dong was drenched in sweat from training, Rony's voice sounded behind him again.

The Portuguese youth looked at Su Dong's state and couldn't help but feel a hint of admiration.

Just for that focus and dedication alone, this guy deserved respect.

And from Su Dong, Rony seemed to see a reflection of his own past self.

"Why are you so late?" Su Dong panted as he stopped, looking at his peer. "I thought I'd scared you off from coming."

"Ha, are you kidding?" Rony couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Who was supposed to be afraid of whom?

Walking onto the field, Rony noticed a few bottles of water and some bread by the sideline. It looked like that was Su Dong's lunch and his prepared dinner, which only deepened his respect.

This guy was absolutely insane!

Even crazier than he had been back then.

Su Dong also caught Rony's gaze and smirked challengingly. "I even bought your share, so you've got no excuse to back out now. I'm going to keep at it until you admit defeat today."

Rony grinned playfully. "Shouldn't that be my line?"

Not much in terms of skill, but plenty of mouth.

"Then let's see what you've got."

Rony didn't say another word, just stripped off his shirt and stepped onto the field.

The two of them clashed fiercely again, fighting until the world turned dark and the sun and moon lost their light.

When they got tired, they rested by the sideline; when thirsty, they stopped to drink; when hungry, they gnawed on bread for dinner...

After leveling up to Ball One, the maximum King of Football Points Su Dong could earn per match increased to 200 points. This was a huge surprise, as it meant greater efficiency.

It also fueled Su Dong's fighting spirit.

Neither of them knew how long they played, until both were completely exhausted, lying on the field, panting like oxen.

"It's been a long time since I've sweated this much and had this much fun playing," Rony said, breathing heavily, a satisfied smile on his face.

Su Dong didn't pay much attention, more focused on his King of Football Points, grinning from ear to ear, unable to stop smiling.

Going head-to-head with this guy was definitely the fastest way to rack up points.

"Hey." Rony noticed him grinning slyly without saying a word and nudged him with his elbow. "Are you a student at Lisbon University?"

This was Edward VII Park, and several of Lisbon University's campuses were nearby.

"No," Su Dong shook his head.

"Then which team do you play for?" Rony pressed curiously.

Su Dong's face darkened, and he let out a complicated sigh without answering.

Rony saw his expression and felt a twinge—this guy had a story.

But since Su Dong didn't say, Rony didn't push.

After all, they had only just met, barely knowing each other's names.

"From playing with you, I've noticed your technique is really sloppy. Did you play street football before?" Rony pointed out one of Su Dong's issues.

Su Dong nodded, then shook his head. "Not street football, but close enough. The youth training back in my hometown was terrible."

"Want me to teach you a couple of moves?" Rony asked jokingly.

In his eyes, someone as competitive as Su Dong would never accept.

But to his surprise, the moment he finished speaking, Su Dong nodded without hesitation. "Sure, you said it, it's a deal. Starting tomorrow, I'll train with you, and you'll correct my technique."

Rony froze. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, unless you're afraid I'll end up better than you." Su Dong wasn't about to let him back out.

"Come on, me afraid of you?" Rony got fired up too.

"Then it's settled. Same place tomorrow morning. See you there."

"Fine, name the time. What hour?"

"5 a.m."

Rony was stunned.

Seeing him caught off guard, Su Dong laughed triumphantly.

"Have you ever seen Lisbon at 5 a.m.?"

"I have."

As a new release, I humbly beg for tips, collections, and recommendation tickets! Thank you!