The Desire of the Strong

Lionel Pontes's training program consisted entirely of the most basic and ordinary exercises. Training with them was also incredibly dull and tedious. Even when working with children around ten years old, he had to incorporate fun games into the sessions.

For someone Su Dong's age, it was undoubtedly even more boring and unacceptable.

Not only that, changing a person's habits was extremely difficult and painful.

As the saying went, if a man could even quit smoking, just how ruthless did he have to be?

Changing someone's football habits and the muscle memory formed through years of playing was absolutely more difficult than quitting smoking. Pontes even felt it was impossible.

But over the following period, Su Dong proved his resolve through his actions. He made Rony begin to believe that he was not merely a loudmouth who made empty boasts, but someone who truly wanted to change and improve himself.

Faced with Pontes's training program, even its most tedious and basic exercises, he carried them out meticulously.

Not only did he never cut corners, he even took the initiative to increase his training volume.

Most of his time each day went into Pontes's basic training. Only in the morning and afternoon did he set aside some time to go to the indoor pitch and fight Rony one-on-one, accumulating some King of Football Points.

At first, Rony was somewhat doubtful, unsure whether Su Dong could endure it.

But gradually, he discovered that Su Dong had not only endured it, but was doing even more. He even completed double the training volume Pontes required. Sometimes, even Rony, watching from the side, felt he could not take it anymore, yet Su Dong continued gritting his teeth and persevering.

This made Rony begin to acknowledge, and even admire, Su Dong's tenacity.

Leaving everything else aside, with this kind of drive alone, he firmly believed that if someone like Su Dong could not play professional football, then God truly was blind.

What he did not know was that Su Dong's persistence came not only from his own willpower, but also from the system.

Since the Potential Points for all six attributes had been maxed out, the most important thing for Su Dong now was to uncover his potential through training and improve his own strength.

The Pontes training plan that Rony had brought him was undoubtedly the best gift.

The beginning was unquestionably the hardest.

For one thing, Su Dong's foundation was truly terrible. The problems and bad habits caused by the unprofessional domestic youth training system had restricted his ability, while also making it especially painful for him to carry out Pontes's training plan.

His strength improved slowly, and the training was grueling. Su Dong's mood was indescribably miserable.

But whenever he thought of his parents back home, who had sold nearly everything they owned to send him to Europe for training and had placed such great hopes in him, as well as the football path he had aspired to pursue since childhood, Su Dong gritted his teeth and held on.

After making it through the first week, the training gradually found its rhythm.

Not only did the numbers for each attribute on his Personal Attribute Panel begin rising faster, Su Dong also became more at ease with Pontes's training plan. His state of mind changed, and he saw a promising future ahead.

Especially by the third week, he had become even calmer and more capable, while his personal improvement accelerated further.

Rony was delighted by Su Dong's progress. At the same time, he stayed in constant contact with Lionel Pontes, communicating Su Dong's progress and condition to him and continually changing and adjusting Su Dong's training program to help him keep improving.

Though it was only over the phone, Lionel Pontes was filled with curiosity and anticipation toward the Su Dong Rony described.

"He really surprised me, but what I'm even more curious about now is how far he can go."

No one knew—not even Rony.

During their one-on-one clashes, Rony still maintained an overwhelming advantage in strength over Su Dong.

This made Su Dong admire him, while also giving him even more motivation.

With someone as strong as Rony pushing and provoking him from the side, he could not accept being too far behind.

Time slowly reached mid-July.

European football began entering the preparation period for the new season, which was also the peak period for preseason friendlies.

As a semi-professional team, Sporting Portugal had no strict preseason preparations. Many of its First Team players were not even professionals. Everyone had their own jobs to attend to, and only trained and played with the team in their spare time.

If the First Team was this relaxed, the Youth Team was even freer.

As Su Dong put it, it did not look like a Youth Team at all. It looked more like a domestic football training class.

Because of this, Su Dong had still not gone to report to the team. Instead, he continued training on his own at Edward VII Park under Rony's supervision.

The two met at the park entrance at exactly five every morning, then stayed there all day, keeping one another company with football.

Until one day, Su Dong could not find Rony at the park's southern gate. He went to the indoor football pitch to train by himself, but still waited a long time without seeing Rony.

Just as he was wondering what was going on, a dark-skinned African youth appeared.

"You're Su Dong?"

The African youth watched Su Dong train from the sidelines for a while before leisurely stepping onto the pitch.

"I am. Who are you?" Su Dong asked curiously.

There were not many people in the park on ordinary days. Most were couples from nearby Lisbon University.

"Jose Semedo. I'm Rony's teammate." The African youth introduced himself with a grin.

His smile made him look very approachable.

Su Dong stopped training and walked over, asking with concern, "What happened to Rony today?"

"Don't worry, he's fine." Semedo smiled. "There was an urgent matter at home. He took a flight back last night to deal with it. He asked me to come and let you know that he'll probably be gone for a few days, so you should train on your own."

"Oh." Su Dong felt somewhat disappointed. After all, he had been training with Rony throughout the past month.

Still, knowing that Rony was fine, he no longer worried.

"By the way, is everything all right with his family?" Su Dong asked concernedly.

Semedo shook his head. "I don't know. He didn't say, and I didn't feel comfortable asking."

Su Dong nodded. It was someone else's privacy.

"Have you been training here with him this whole past month?" Semedo suddenly asked.

"Yeah." Su Dong nodded.

"But from what I can see..."

"My ability isn't good?"

Semedo scratched the back of his head awkwardly and gave a foolish chuckle.

"Is Rony very strong on your team?"

The moment Su Dong finished asking, Semedo looked at him strangely, as if he had just asked an incredibly stupid question.

"You didn't know?"

"No. I only knew his name was Rony and that he was very good at football. That's all."

Semedo immediately burst out laughing. "So he likes that sort of thing."

"You still haven't answered my question." Su Dong reminded him.

"Oh, right. He's very good. He should be the strongest on our team, but that's debatable, because three people all think they're the strongest on the team. Rony is one of them."

"Then you are..."

"You can ask him yourself later." Semedo gave him a mysterious smile.

Su Dong was depressed. Was there really any need to be like this?

Perhaps seeing Su Dong train had made his own feet itch, or perhaps he wanted to show off his skills. Jose Semedo did not give Su Dong time to ask another question and walked directly onto the pitch.

"Come on. I haven't played indoor football in a long time either. I'll play with you."

Su Dong naturally did not refuse.

Rony's teammate definitely would not be weak, and he would be extremely efficient for farming King of Football Points.

Although Jose Semedo was about the same height as Su Dong, he was clearly a whole size broader.

He played center-back, occasionally filling in at full-back and defensive midfield. As a result, his style was completely different from Rony's.

Rony was a technical player. He relied more on dribbling skill, changes of pace, and changes of direction to beat opponents. Semedo, however, was much simpler, rougher, and more direct, always using his body to crush Su Dong.

Their one similarity was that they were both extremely fast. Su Dong could not keep up with either of their rhythm or footwork.

The biggest difference was that every duel with Rony gave Su Dong a maximum of 200 King of Football Points, while each duel with Jose Semedo gave him only 100.

This meant that Jose Semedo was far weaker than Rony.

Of course, even so, Semedo had more than enough ability to deal with Su Dong.

The guy was probably rather frustrated on the team. Having finally found someone weaker than himself, he was having a great time.

Su Dong did not mind. For the sake of the King of Football Points, he continued challenging Semedo again and again despite being thoroughly crushed.

Gradually, Jose Semedo felt Su Dong's tenacity. He could not help but understand why Rony liked Su Dong so much: the two of them were simply too alike.

More than two years ago, when Rony had first joined the team, he had been as skinny as a monkey. His technique was decent, but his actual play was poor, and his physical condition was especially terrible.

Because they both had Cape Verdean ancestry, they became close.

Rony helped Semedo integrate into the team, while Semedo took Rony to the gym. That was the place Semedo was proudest of.

At first, Rony had been pathetically weak in the gym. But he had always refused to admit defeat, challenging his limits again and again. He practically lived in the gym, training with his head down day and night.

Once, he even stayed until after two in the morning. A club security guard found him and chased him out.

But thanks to that tenacity and persistence, Rony's physical condition improved by leaps and bounds in just two years. His speed and strength were no worse than those of a defender like Semedo.

With that, Rony became the best-performing and most talented rising star on the team.

Now, Jose Semedo saw the same spark he had once seen in Rony in Su Dong as well.

But he had to admit that Su Dong's future was not bright.

At the very least, if Su Dong wanted to become a professional player, he had missed far too many things, and the path would be incredibly difficult.

Jose Semedo could not even understand what Su Dong was still persevering for.

When night fell and the two finally lay gasping on the sidelines after their battle, Semedo could no longer hold back his question.

"This is the sorrow of you weaklings." Su Dong laughed heartily. "Because you'll never understand the desire of the strong."

That was just too much.

Semedo leaped to his feet in anger and fought him for another three hundred rounds.

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