After taking a closer look, he figured out how it worked. A striker's overall rating was determined by averaging four stats: shooting, positioning, heading, and physique.
Although his shooting was 70, his positioning was only 56, his heading was only 54, and his physique was only 63 (physique here referred to the strength a striker needed to hold his ground and contest physical challenges).
Likewise, a winger's rating drew on four combined abilities: speed + acceleration, dribbling, crossing + cutting inside to shoot, and defense. His dribbling was only 58, his passing and receiving only 57, and his defense only 43. All of these dragged him down.
Attacking midfielder went without saying. That rating drew on five abilities: passing and receiving, vision, ball control and shielding, shooting and late runs forward (positioning), and defense. Naturally, his performance there was even more pathetic.
Judging by the numbers, he really was best suited to playing striker right now. Besides, his overall striker rating was 60.74, complete with decimal places.
What level was 60.74? A look at this comparison made it clear.
Top five leagues: starters 75-85, substitutes 70-80.
Second-tier leagues: starters 65-75, substitutes 60-70.
Third-tier leagues: starters 55-65, substitutes 50-60.
Fourth-tier leagues: starters 50-60, substitutes 40-50.
In other words, he was at the level of a starting striker in the Chinese Super League, or a substitute in third-tier leagues such as EFL League One, 2. Bundesliga, Segunda División, Serie B, and Ligue 2.
Not bad. He wasn't that pathetic. Among the U20 players, he really did belong in the higher-level group. No wonder he had attracted jealousy and been targeted at every turn.
That was all there was to the football-system half. There was a [Mis...] tab, but it was missing.
Of course, there was also a beginner gift pack. Zhang Kuang hurriedly opened it with a thought:
[Heaven Rewards Diligence Football King System] beginner gift pack: Reward 1: one legendary card, [Cristiano Ronaldo Heading Skill Card]. (Can only be officially activated once the basic overall heading rating reaches 80 or above.) Introduction: Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest heading footballer in history, with over 146 headed goals in his career, the most in football history. Obtaining the card does not mean possessing Cristiano Ronaldo's peak heading ability ready for immediate use. This is like purchasing "Qian Xuesen-Engineering Cybernetics." You have only obtained the direction and knowledge for learning, meaning an awareness of the essence of Cristiano Ronaldo's heading. You must still practice diligently and meet the skill requirements within the skill card before obtaining Cristiano Ronaldo's heading ability. Reward 2: 100 skill points. Reward 3: mastery of the languages of the top five leagues.
That was it?
The Cristiano Ronaldo Heading Card was pretty flashy, but unfortunately, it was just like being issued a set of middle-school textbooks when you started middle school. Whether you learned well still depended on your everyday efforts.
This kind of reward... had none of the satisfaction of using cheats. Boring.
The second reward, 100 skill points, ought to be useful. Perhaps he could max out his striker stats? Surely it wouldn't be that easy? He would look into it later.
The third reward was the most practical of the three: instant mastery of five languages. How much money would that save him? It would also be good when he joined a team later. After all, only by communicating could he get along with his teammates and coaching staff.
If a striker had a bad relationship with his teammates, they wouldn't even set him up for goals. Some attacking midfielders or wingers treated the striker as someone who stretched the opposing defense and supplied the final pass, making him do the dirty work and heavy lifting, then leaving him responsible for the final ball while the winger or attacking midfielder scored.
Yes, Benzema had the most say on that point. He had played that role at Real Madrid for years. Only after Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid did Benzema get his chance to emerge.
A bona fide Ballon d'Or-caliber striker had spent so long as a wingman and the green leaves setting off someone else's flower. He really had suffered.
So Zhang Kuang understood how important it was for a striker to build good relationships with his teammates. This language ability was pretty useful.
Enough dwelling on that. He needed to look at the other half of the system. An immortal cultivation system! Tsk, tsk, who wouldn't drool over that? What was more enticing than women, wealth, and the like? Becoming an immortal!
The [Introduction] section of this [Heaven and Earth Creation Immortal Cultivation System] contained a great deal of text. Writing it all out would probably invite accusations of padding the word count.
It basically introduced the sect he belonged to, the Azure Cloud Sect, a righteous sect, and advised all disciples to abide strictly by righteous principles and not exploit the special properties of their cultivation methods to commit evil.
Then it introduced how to cultivate, followed by allocating points to cultivate. But allocating points alone wasn't enough. He also needed [Upgrade Cards]. What were these [Upgrade Cards]?
Huh? Below that was a detailed explanation of how to obtain qi and blood points:
Cultivating diligently every day would earn qi and blood points, but there were also daily limits depending on whether the cultivator was at the early, middle, late, or perfection stage of qi refining? At qi refining early stage (qi refining first, second, and third layers), he could cultivate at most 9 qi and blood points per day?
No, there was a stitching issue here. There was another way to obtain qi and blood points:
Scoring goals or providing assists would earn qi and blood points. In first-tier leagues (the top five leagues), one goal earned 1 qi and blood point, and one assist earned 0.5 qi and blood points.
For competitions above first-tier leagues (the UEFA Champions League, Europe Cup, and World Cup), qi and blood points for goals and assists were doubled.
Below first-tier leagues, the corresponding qi and blood points were halved for each tier dropped. For example, a goal in a second-tier league earned 0.5 qi and blood points, and an assist earned 0.25. In a third-tier league, a goal earned 0.25 qi and blood points, and an assist earned 0.125...
Single-match MVP reward: 2 qi and blood points in first-tier leagues. Using this as the baseline, competitions above were ×2, and those below were ÷2.
Annual MVP = 2 qi and blood points for a first-tier league × the annual fixture schedule (such as 38 rounds) = 76 points. For other leagues, refer to the single-match MVP calculation.
Other awards offered no qi and blood point rewards.
Damn! These two systems were stitched together pretty tightly.
Now, what exactly was this so-called [Upgrade Card]?
(See the end of the text for the Upgrade Card introduction.)
After reading the explanation of the Upgrade Card's function, Zhang Kuang's head ached from the trouble. Every increase in his immortal cultivation realm required Upgrade Cards. Without them, he couldn't level up.
And obtaining these Upgrade Cards required winning Golden Boots and championships. In other words, if he wanted to raise his cultivation realm, he had to work hard to score goals and win championships.
The crucial point was that every level-up required not only Upgrade Cards but also the corresponding qi and blood points. Leveling up required enormous quantities of qi and blood points, and allocating points to football skills required qi and blood points too.
Damn, how many fucking qi and blood points would he need to reach foundation establishment? He couldn't even work it out in his head. He would have to use a calculator.
So apart from eating and sleeping, would he have to cultivate nonstop every day? Who the fuck could stand that?
"Fuck, isn't this forcing me to cultivate every day and also bust my ass scoring goals, winning Golden Boots, MVPs, and championships?
"Heavens, I'm a transmigrator with a cheat! Just let me cultivate every day. Why do I also have to play football and win championships? How many years will reaching foundation establishment take?
"At a rough estimate, I probably won't establish my foundation without eight or ten years. What a bullshit system. You call this a cheat? Even transmigrators without systems would successfully establish their foundations in eight or ten years, wouldn't they?
"Transmigrators with cheats establish their foundations in one year, form a golden core in three, reach nascent soul in five, ascend to immortality in ten, and become Immortal Emperors in a hundred. Fuck me, you're making me spend eight or ten years just for a chance at foundation establishment? What's the fucking point of cultivating immortality?"
What absolute bullshit. Zhang Kuang was furious, but helpless too. What could he do?
"System buddy, can we start over? Transmigrate again?"
"System buddy? Daddy? Grandpa? Ancestor? Dada? Hubby... fuck, ptooey, no chance."
Zhang Kuang looked at the system again. There wasn't much left, just a shop function. A glance showed football and immortal cultivation skills and cultivation methods, along with weapons, items, and so on, all requiring qi and blood points to purchase.
There was no need to introduce those in detail...
Right, there was also a beginner gift pack from the [Heaven and Earth Creation Immortal Cultivation System]. Open it, open it! Give me an explosive drop!
-----The following is purely introductory content-----
The host requires [Upgrade Cards] for every level-up.
A minor breakthrough within a realm (from qi refining first layer initial stage to middle stage) requires one Upgrade Card. Advancing a realm (such as from qi refining first layer to qi refining second layer) requires 2 Upgrade Cards.
In addition to Upgrade Cards, every minor breakthrough within a realm deducts 1,000 qi and blood points.
(Note: Upgrade Cards are like keys that open doors, while deducting qi and blood points is like needing strength to open the door. Pushing open a door across realms requires the corresponding qi and blood points.)
Advancing a minor realm requires 2,000 qi and blood points, while advancing a middle realm requires 4,000 qi and blood points.
Across the four realms of qi refining-early, middle, late, and perfection-the corresponding qi and blood points and Upgrade Cards double with each realm advanced.
Examples:
Advancing from initial stage to middle stage in qi refining first, second, or third layer (such as breaking through from qi refining first layer initial stage to qi refining first layer middle stage) requires 1,000 qi and blood points + 1 Upgrade Card.
Advancing from qi refining first layer to qi refining second layer requires 2,000 qi and blood points + 2 Upgrade Cards. Likewise, breaking through from qi refining second layer to qi refining third layer also requires an additional 2,000 qi and blood points + 2 Upgrade Cards.
Advancing from qi refining early stage to qi refining middle stage requires 4,000 qi and blood points + 4 Upgrade Cards, such as breaking through from qi refining third layer to qi refining fourth layer.
A minor breakthrough from initial stage to middle stage within qi refining middle stage's fourth, fifth, or sixth layer requires 2,000 qi and blood points + 2 Upgrade Cards.
Advancing from qi refining middle stage to qi refining late stage requires 8,000 qi and blood points + 16 Upgrade Cards, such as advancing from qi refining sixth layer to qi refining seventh layer.
Each minor breakthrough within a realm in qi refining late stage (seventh, eighth, and ninth layers) requires 4,000 qi and blood points + 4 Upgrade Cards.
Advancing from qi refining late stage (ninth layer) to qi refining perfection requires 16,000 qi and blood points + 32 Upgrade Cards.
Within qi refining perfection, breaking through from initial stage to middle stage, middle stage to late stage, or late stage to perfection each requires 8,000 qi and blood points + 8 Upgrade Cards.
Advancing from qi refining perfection to foundation establishment requires 32,000 qi and blood points + 64 Upgrade Cards.
Foundation establishment stage and golden core stage are calculated separately. This plane probably cannot support the qi and blood points and Upgrade Cards required!
Methods of obtaining Upgrade Cards:
Top five leagues: Golden Boot ×2, championship ×4. (Football cups, the Football Association Cup, the League Cup, and the like are halved.)
Second-tier leagues (2. Bundesliga, Serie B, Ligue 2, Segunda División, EFL Championship): Golden Boot ×1, championship ×2.
Upgrade Cards for Golden Boots and championships in the next tier down are halved again, and so on.
UEFA Champions League Golden Boot ×4, championship ×8; FIFA Club World Cup Golden Boot ×4, championship ×8.
AFC Champions League, South America Liberation Cup, and other continental competitions: Golden Boot ×2, championship ×2.
World Cup Golden Boot ×8, championship ×16.
Upgrade Cards for annual MVP = the corresponding league's Golden Boot.
Golden Boy Award ×8, Ballon d'Or ×16. Continental Ballon d'Or awards are halved.
The most distinctive features of Cristiano Ronaldo's heading are: 1, the best positioning in the business, always reaching the attacking point for a header. 2, tomahawk headers (with the force of rushing thunder, powerful and fast). 3, springing straight up from dry ground (overpowering all rivals). 4, looking back at the moon (catching opponents unawares). 5, the lion shakes its head (fierce and swift). 5, hovering in midair (hang time, up to 0.92 seconds).
Therefore, the Cristiano Ronaldo Heading Skill Card also adds points to these five aspects.