The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

With the Champions League final looming, Dortmund kept their celebrations confined to the Olympic Stadium Berlin after winning the title.

Although the DFB-Pokal final kicked off at 7:00 PM, it was already very late by the time the match and celebrations were over. Nevertheless, Dortmund decided to return to Dortmund that very night.

The recovery training session on the morning of the 22nd would proceed as scheduled!

To be fair, the schedule was quite demanding, almost like being forced to work overtime.

But everyone on the team took it in stride, their spirits soaring.

On the bus back to Dortmund, the glistening gold DFB-Pokal trophy was passed from player to player. Everyone had to hold it and touch it, treating it like a peerless beauty.

Humans are just so fickle!

In terms of prestige, the Bundesliga championship shield was definitely more valuable.

But having won the championship shield both last season and this season, this was a new experience.

The last time Dortmund had won this trophy was back in the 88/89 season, a full 22 years ago.

Moreover, in the entire history of the Dortmund Club, they had only won the DFB-Pokal twice.

This season marked the third time.

It got to the point where Foyelner couldn’t help but playfully scold the teammates who were trying to snatch the trophy from him.

"You all say I’m chasing novelty, but what about you? How long has it been since we got the championship shield? You’ve already tossed it aside."

"What are you all fighting over? It’s just some lousy DFB-Pokal trophy."

Still not satisfied, he finished with a bold declaration.

"Next season, we’ll win it again!"

The whole bus erupted, everyone cheering wildly. The atmosphere was electric.

The journey from Berlin back to Dortmund was quite long.

The players were exhausted. They had just finished an intense match and celebrated wildly, and on top of that, it was late.

The bus gradually quieted down.

Wang Shuo closed his eyes, feigning sleep, and entered the Ball God System.

"Post-match Summary: 7 Passive Value."

"Congratulations on helping Dortmund win the DFB-Pokal in the 10/11 season. Reward: 150 Passive Value."

Just as he had expected, the reward for the DFB-Pokal title was 150 Passive Value.

Since all of Wang Shuo’s current Passive Skills were at least National Level, the old-timer system didn’t even offer a National Level Passive Skill Card, defaulting to Passive Value instead.

Checking his Personal Attribute Panel, he saw his Passive Value had reached 613.

Yes!

He was thrilled; everything was going exactly as he had predicted.

Arriving before the giant soccer ball, Wang Shuo immediately invested 500 Passive Value to upgrade the Passive Skill [Foundation].

"Congratulations! You have successfully upgraded [Foundation] to World-level, officially unlocking the Domain Skill: [Blasters]."

"[Blasters]: The Domain Skill for [Foundation] at World-level. Allows the user to accumulate full-body muscular strength in an instant and unleash a controllable internal energy explosion."

’What does that mean?’

’An internal energy explosion?’

’Wouldn’t that blow my body up along with it?’

Wang Shuo’s initial reaction was one of disbelief, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

’Given the Ball God System’s cautious, old-timer style, it would never do anything to harm me.’

Most importantly, among the four Domain Skills Wang Shuo currently possessed, [Blasters] had the shortest description.

Just a single sentence!

’What’s that saying again?’

’The fewer the words, the more serious the matter.’

Wang Shuo believed that the shorter the description, the more powerful the skill.

Besides, [Foundation] itself was an incredibly potent Passive Skill; otherwise, Wang Shuo wouldn’t have rushed to upgrade it to World-level so quickly after having drawn it last.

Looking closer, Wang Shuo noticed some fine print below.

But this time, it wasn’t an annotation, but a friendly reminder.

"Friendly Reminder: This Domain Skill is immensely powerful and places an extreme instantaneous load on the body. Overuse can easily lead to muscle fatigue or even accumulated hidden injuries. Requires extremely keen physical awareness for precise control of the force."

’Just listen to that!’

’Immensely powerful—so powerful it could easily cause muscle fatigue or even hidden injuries.’

’Back when I first encountered the Ball God System, I definitely would’ve thought this was just the system hyping itself up, singing its own praises.’

’But after getting to know it over the years, I know this is a genuine friendly reminder.’

’All I can say is, the [Domain Skill: Blasters] is incredibly powerful!’

As for the "extremely keen physical awareness," Wang Shuo went back and reviewed the descriptions of his twelve Passive Skills, word by word. Only [Eagle Eye] mentioned improving acuity.

’Does this mean that if I keep upgrading [Eagle Eye], it won’t just improve its current abilities, but will also give me a keen awareness of my own body, allowing me to control my internal power more precisely?’

’This Ball God System really is perfectly interconnected. Its whole deal is making sure nothing goes to waste!’

As for exactly how strong the [Domain Skill: Blasters] was, Wang Shuo couldn’t be sure right now.

’I can’t very well test it out here on the bus, can I?’

Checking his Personal Attribute Panel again, Wang Shuo saw he had 113 points left.

So, he decisively upgraded the National-Level [Breathing] to Intercontinental-Level.

There were two reasons for this decision.

First, the match against Barça would be a war of attrition, so the recovery effect from [Breathing] would be more beneficial for Wang Shuo.

Second, upgrading [Breathing] would also correspondingly increase the power of his [Domain Skill: Hunter].

Of course, Wang Shuo considered the wellness and cosmetic benefits—like optimizing cell metabolism and slowing telomere shortening—to be nice little bonuses.

’For someone as good-looking as him, eternal youth was practically a basic necessity!’

...

Exiting the Ball God System, Wang Shuo pulled out his iPhone and opened the "Champions League Semifinal Hat-trick Society" group chat.