Dynasty Awakening: Building My Own Football Empire-Chapter 260: School of Stares

Michael woke up to his alarm buzzing in the morning like usual, feeling refreshed. Unfortunately his system was still shut down since 24 hours had yet to pass since he chose to upgrade it.

Since it was the first day of the international break today he likely wouldn’t have a chance to check it out until he returned home from the office tonight. Although it was a bit of a bummer, he didn’t mind too much.

The two men went for their morning espresso and had breakfast before heading off to the training ground. While they were sitting in the car, Michael noticed something weird.

Was it just his imagination or were people looking at him at the traffic lights? Whenever he raised his head he would see people turning around after presumably staring at him while he wasn’t looking.

"Is there something on my face?" Michael turned to Kenji and asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

"Nothing more than usual." Kenji replied without missing a beat, checking his stocks.

Michael’s eye twitched at these words. It seemed as if his billionaire owner was turning into a smart ass as of late. This was very unlike Kenji in his previous corporate life, which begged the question, what would have happened if he hadn’t bought a football club?

He knew so little about the Kenji of his previous life, only that he was a ruthless shark. But the fact that he felt comfortable enough to play pranks and joke around with him was a positive thing.

Michael let out a sigh, he shouldn’t be thinking about such things when he was just about to go through 5 full days of tactical analysis.

They finally made it to the complex and walked in through the gates. He could tell that it was not just himself who was dreading the tactical review this week. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Arthur Milton who looked as pale as a ghost walking into the office, clutching a bag of jelly babies.

Once again Michael felt as if he had more eyes than usual on him, sending goosebumps up his arms.

’What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of prank?’ He looked around only to see the same thing that had transpired in the car this morning. Even the cleaning lady was staring.

He dealt with the feeling until finally making it to his office and letting out a sigh of relief. Michael didn’t think that he would ever be thankful to make it safely to his desk, especially on review week, yet here he was.

What came next was what he had expected, one spreadsheet after another, each as mind-numbing as the last. They finally had a reprieve when the lunch break arrived.

After closing the laptop, Michael couldn’t help but sigh loudly. He and Kenji got out their luxury bento boxes which held a note from Sarah.

’Buy a striker!’

He felt a smile pulling on the corner of his lips after seeing the note and felt a little better. However, just as he was about to dig into his sushi he saw a woman approach the office door.

Michael who currently had his mouth wide open and was about to place a piece of tuna into it suddenly put his chopsticks down, feeling a flicker of nerves in his stomach.

’The Club Secretary...’

A wave of memories flooded his brain as he saw the formidable woman who controlled the paperwork in front of him. She had short grey hair and wide glasses that flashed with intelligence.

Although she was nearing 60 and not a player, she was beginning to show signs of the stress that the transfer window would bring in the future.

Michael was troubled by the mix of emotions that his manager brain was currently going through. Considering his mental age was already that of a visionary, he should have no fear for a woman this administrative.

However, perhaps it was his past life’s trauma with paperwork that had made him want to hide under the desk.

’What is she doing here? Isn’t she in the admin block?’

"Hi Michael, I heard you made the Manager of the Month shortlist." She said, adjusting her glasses.

"Uhh, yeah." He replied awkwardly.

"I’ll be there to organize your press conference, so do your best." She said, her stern cheeks turning a light shade of red. After saying this she walked out of the room, leaving Michael stunned into silence.

His mind was empty, yet his professional pride caused his cheeks to also flush in embarrassment. In reality he couldn’t be blamed for his reactions, since the Secretary had never even acknowledged his existence in his previous life except to scold him about receipts.

"Oh? Someone has an admirer." Kenji couldn’t help but poke at Michael verbally, enjoying his manager’s expression.

Michael shook his head, trying to get the weird feelings out of his mind.

"I don’t even know who that is." He lied, inwardly thinking that he needed to stay away from the admin block in the future as it was too weird.

Kenji let out an exaggerated sigh, "My manager is already so popular only after 2 games this season. I wonder when secretaries will start looking at me." He lamented, however Michael could tell that he was just making fun of him.

Michael’s eye twitched in response.

’This guy had his own fan base when he made his first billion yet here he is complaining about me getting the attention of 1 admin lady...’ He felt the whole situation was bizarre, if not a little funny.

As soon as they finished lunch the phone rang and it was back to transfers once again. By the time they were done for the day, Michael’s head felt as if it was going to explode.

He had never been good at contract clauses and although he could memorize the tactics, it was still tedious answering all of the agent questions.

There was no training until Friday which Michael was thankful for. The two made their way home in the car, looking like zombies since they were mentally drained.

Once arriving back home Michael went straight up to his room and sat on the bed. Now that the day was over and he was alone, it was time to open up the system and see what had changed.

#SYSTEM ALERT

SYSTEM HAS SUCCESSFULLY UPGRADED TO LEVEL 4.

SYSTEM SHOP IS NOW UNLOCKED

PREMIER LEAGUE SYSTEM

SYSTEM LEVEL: 4 (800/20000 Influence points to level up)

NAME: Michael Sterling

ROLE: The Architect

INFLUENCE: S+

INFLUENCE POINTS: 800

USER MENU:

-STATS

-SCOUTING

-SYSTEM SHOP

-MIRACLE ENGINE (Locked)

-ZONE OF CHAOS

-TRUE VISION

Michael’s eyes widened in surprise. Without hesitation he opened up the System Shop with a sense of anticipation, wondering what kind of treasures it held.

#SYSTEM SHOP

Lottery Tickets

Elixirs

Skills (locked)

’Yes! This is what I’ve been waiting for.’ Michael had an abundance of Influence points which he had only been able to save for upgrading the system. Now that the system shop had been unlocked, he could finally find somewhere to use them.

Yet his thoughts quickly turned sour as he saw the prices.

#Lottery Tickets

Bronze Lottery Ticket - 1000 Influence Points

Silver Lottery Ticket - 2500 Influence Points

Gold Lottery Ticket - 10000 Influence Points

’So expensive!’ It seemed that getting the lottery tickets through missions would be a lot easier than buying them from the system shop, which probably meant that Elixirs and Skills would be the same.

It was as he expected. B-grade Elixirs were priced at 2500 Influence points, whereas A-grade’s were 10000 which was the same price as a Gold Lottery Ticket.

Michael was a little disappointed, but at the same time it changed his perception of the rewards he received from missions. If he were to win the Premier League the reward was a Platinum Lottery Ticket and 5000 Influence points. This meant his total reward would amount to a fortune.

He had been hoping he would be able to improve his squad before the Liverpool game this weekend and thought that the upgrade may help facilitate this. However, it turned out that he was poor and could not afford the goods in the system shop.

But there was one thing that he could do in order to get stronger. After having dinner and getting ready for bed, Michael returned to his room and a look of determination flashed onto his face.

DOES THE USER WISH TO ENTER ZONE SIMULATION?

[YES/NO]

"Yes."

Michael entered the Zone simulation and went straight to tactical drilling. It was quite tough against the upgraded Shadow Manager who was sending heavy metal pressing at him, but as long as he persisted, he would be able to get the rewards.

He continued the same routine for the entire week, taking meetings during the day and completing Zone simulations at night. Unfortunately, thanks to the supreme tactics of his older self he was only able to complete one of the missions.

Defeat 50 Low Blocks - 500 Influence points + A-grade Patience Elixir [COMPLETE] Claim rewards

[Congratulations, you have been awarded 500 Influence points and 1x A-grade Patience Elixir]

Without waiting, Michael went straight to the Inventory and checked his items. He still had the Silver Lottery Ticket from the Chaos missions.

’Please something good.’ He prayed inwardly as the wheel began to spin slower and slower, finally coming to a stop.

[Congratulations, user has drawn an A-grade Tactical Insight Elixir.]

’Jackpot!’

Michael jumped out of bed and couldn’t contain his joy, pumping his fists in the air as if he had just signed Messi. Of course he couldn’t vocalize his joy, but the dance and jubilation was enough to see how happy he was.

’I didn’t even know that the silver lottery gave out A-grade Elixirs’ he thought.

His tactical insight grade was directly tied to his ability to see and exploit the opponent’s weaknesses during matches. It was currently sitting at B+ which allowed him to track most, if not all tactics from mid-table managers.

However, now that he had gotten his hands on the A-grade Elixir it should shoot into the A grade and increase his managerial prowess by leaps and bounds. This would allow him the ability to clear the tactical missions in his Zone simulation a bit easier also.

Thinking of being able to counter every formation thrown at him caused a grin to tug at the corner of his lips.

"Would I be as good at tactics as Klopp after this?" he mumbled.

Yet remembering the almost supernatural ability of the Liverpool boss, he quickly shook his head. Although he couldn’t see his hidden stats, Michael had a feeling that Klopp was at least an S rank in tactical insight despite his teeth.

Michael quickly got into bed and chose to consume the Elixir. In his excitement, he forgot the potent side effects of the Tactical Insight Elixir, causing him to feel dizzy almost immediately.

Without warning, Michael sat up and almost emptied the contents of his brain onto the pillow. At the last moment he managed to hold it back, preventing a terrible migraine situation.

He was forced to crawl on his knees towards the bathroom where he spent the next hour hugging the cold tiles.

Thankfully no one bothered him for the duration of his stay. Only after splashing his face about a dozen times did he head back to his room and fall into bed, quickly entering the embrace of sleep.