The Desire of the Strong

Lionel Pontes' training drills were all the most basic, ordinary content, making them the most tedious and boring to practice. Even when working with ten-year-old kids, some fun games had to be mixed in.

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

Not only that, changing a person's habits is extremely difficult and painfully hard.

As the saying goes, if a man can even quit smoking, how ruthless must his resolve be?

And changing a person's football habits, along with the muscle memory formed from years of playing, is definitely harder than quitting smoking. Pontes himself even thought it was an impossible task.

But in the days that followed, Su Dong proved his determination through action. He made Rony believe that he wasn't just all talk, but someone truly wanting to change and improve.

Facing Pontes' training regimen, even the most boring and basic drills, he carried them out meticulously.

Not only did he not cut corners, but he actively increased his own training volume.

He spent most of his day on Pontes' basic training, only taking time in the morning and afternoon to head to the indoor court for one-on-one battles with Rony, accumulating some King of Football Points.

At first, Rony was skeptical, unsure if Su Dong could hold up.

But gradually, he began to notice that Su Dong not only held up, but did even more, doubling the training volume Pontes required. Sometimes even Rony, watching from the sidelines, found it unbearable, yet Su Dong kept gritting his teeth and pushing through.

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

Putting aside everything else, with that kind of drive, he firmly believed that if someone like Su Dong couldn't make it as a professional footballer, then God must be blind.

But how could he know that what kept Su Dong going wasn't just his own willpower, but also the system?

Since the potential values for all six attributes were maxed out, Su Dong's top priority now was to tap into that potential through training and boost his own strength.

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

The initial period was definitely the hardest to endure.

On one hand, Su Dong's fundamentals were truly terrible—problems and bad habits from unprofessional youth training back home had held him back, making it especially painful to execute Pontes' plan.

Progress was slow, training was grueling, and Su Dong's mood was incredibly tough to bear.

But whenever he thought of his parents back home, who had sold everything to send him to Europe for training, full of hope for him, and the football path he had vowed to follow since childhood, Su Dong gritted his teeth and pushed through.

After surviving the first week, training started to fall into place.

Not only did the numbers on his personal attribute panel in the system increase faster, but Su Dong also handled Pontes' training plan more easily. This shift in his mindset let him see a promising future.

By the third week, he became even more composed and effortless, and his personal strength improved at a quicker pace.

Rony was happy for Su Dong's progress too. At the same time, he stayed in touch with Lionel Pontes, updating him on Su Dong's development and adjusting his training items to keep him improving.

Even though it was just over the phone, Lionel Pontes was curious and full of anticipation about the Su Dong Rony described.

"He really surprised me, but now I'm even more curious: how far can he go?"

No one knew, not even Rony.

In their one-on-one matches, Rony still maintained an overwhelming advantage over Su Dong.

This made Su Dong admire him while also fueling his own motivation.

With a powerhouse like Rony pushing and challenging him on the sidelines, he couldn't afford to be too mediocre.

Time slowly crept into mid-July.

European football began its preseason preparation period, also the peak time for friendly matches.

As a semi-professional team, Sporting Portugal didn't have a strict preseason buildup. Many of their first-team players weren't even professional; each had their own jobs to handle, only coming to the team for training and matches in their spare time.

If the first team was like that, the youth team was even more relaxed.

In Su Dong's words, it didn't even look like a youth team—more like a football training class back home.

Because of that, Su Dong had never reported to the team. Instead, he trained on his own at Edward VII Park under Rony's supervision.

Every day, they met at the park gate at five in the morning sharp, then spent the whole day there, accompanied by football.

Until one day, Su Dong waited at the park's south gate but Rony didn't show. He went to the indoor football court to train on his own, but Rony still didn't appear.

Just as he was wondering what was going on, a dark-skinned African-heritage teenager showed up.

"Are you Su Dong?"

The African teen first watched Su Dong train from the sidelines for a bit, then casually walked onto the court.

"I am. Who are you?" Su Dong asked, puzzled.

Usually, the park wasn't very crowded, mostly couples from nearby Lisbon University.

"Jose Semedo, I'm Rony's teammate." The African teen grinned as he introduced himself.

His smile made him seem very approachable.

Su Dong stopped training and walked over, asking with concern, "What's up with Rony today?"

"Don't worry, he's fine," Semedo said with a laugh. "He had some family emergency and caught a flight back last night to handle it. He asked me to come tell you he'll probably be gone for a few days, so you should train on your own."

"Oh." Su Dong felt a bit disappointed inside, since he'd been training with Rony every day for the past month.

But knowing that Rony was fine, he stopped worrying.

"By the way, is everything okay at home?" Su Dong asked with concern.

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

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

"Has he been training here with you for the past month?" Semedo suddenly asked.

"Yeah." Su Dong nodded.

"But I see you're..."

"Not good enough?"

Semedo looked a bit embarrassed, scratched the back of his head, and let out a sheepish laugh.

"Is Rony really good on your team?"

As soon as Su Dong finished asking, Semedo stared at him with a very strange look, as if he'd asked a really dumb question.

"So, you don't know?"

"No, I just know his name is Rony and he's great at football. That's it."

Semedo suddenly found it amusing. "So he likes it that way."

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

"Oh, right. Yeah, he's really good—probably the best on our team. But that's debatable, because three guys all think they're the best, and Rony's one of them."

"Then what about you..."

"You'll have to ask him that yourself later." Semedo put on a mysterious smile.

Su Dong was annoyed. Was that really necessary?

Maybe it was because he'd seen Su Dong training and his feet were itching, or maybe he wanted to show off a bit, but Jose Semedo didn't give Su Dong a chance to ask more questions. He just walked straight onto the pitch.

"Come on, I haven't played indoor football in a while. I'll play with you."

Su Dong wasn't about to refuse.

A teammate of Rony's couldn't be bad, and farming King of Football Points would be efficient.

Even though Jose Semedo was about the same height as Su Dong, he was noticeably bulkier.

He played center-back, occasionally filling in as full-back or defensive midfielder, which made his playing style completely different from Rony's.

Rony was a technical player, relying on dribbling skills and changes of pace and direction to get past people. But Semedo was different—he was simpler, more brutal, and more direct, always using his body to overpower Su Dong.

What they had in common was speed. Su Dong couldn't keep up with their rhythm or pace at all.

The biggest difference was that every duel with Rony gave Su Dong a max of 200 King of Football Points, while dueling with Jose Semedo only gave him 100 points per round.

That meant Jose Semedo was far weaker than Rony.

Even so, Semedo was more than enough to handle Su Dong.

The guy was probably pretty frustrated on his team, and since he rarely ran into someone weaker than him, he was having a blast.

Su Dong didn't mind. For the sake of points, even though he was getting crushed, he refused to give up, challenging him again and again.

Gradually, Jose Semedo started to feel Su Dong's tenacity. He couldn't help but realize why Rony liked Su Dong so much—they were way too alike.

He remembered back more than two years ago, when he first joined the team. Rony was as skinny as a monkey. His technique wasn't bad, but his playing was mediocre, especially his physical condition.

Because they both had Cape Verdean blood, they got close.

Rony helped Semedo fit into the team, and Semedo took Rony to the gym—the place Semedo was most proud of.

At first, Rony was pathetic in the gym, but he never backed down, always pushing his limits again and again. He practically lived in the gym, training hard day and night.

Once, he stayed until after two in the morning and only left when a security guard on patrol found him and kicked him out.

But through that stubborn persistence, in just two years, Rony's physical condition skyrocketed. His speed and strength rivaled defenders like Semedo.

Because of that, Rony became the best-performing, most talented rising star on the team.

Now, Jose Semedo saw the same spark in Su Dong that he'd once seen in Rony.

But he had to say, Su Dong's future wasn't bright.

At least, if he wanted to become a professional player, he'd missed way too much, and it would be incredibly hard.

Jose Semedo didn't even understand what Su Dong was still holding on for.

When night fell and the two of them lay panting like oxen on the sidelines, Semedo finally couldn't hold back and asked his question.

"That's the tragedy of you weaklings," Su Dong laughed in reply. "Because you'll never understand the hunger of the strong."

That was just too much.

Semedo was so pissed he jumped up on the spot and went another three hundred rounds with him.

During the new book period, I beg for tips, collections, and recommendation tickets! Thank you!