Dynasty Awakening: Building My Own Football Empire-Chapter 245: Impossible Challenge

"Whoa!" Michael’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the Chaos Missions and rewards that floated in front of his face. The 5-goal win mission seemed the most glaring as it rewarded 10 times the Influence points as well as a Gold Lottery ticket and A-grade Elixir.

Michael had never even used a Silver lottery ticket, so the thought of using a Gold one made his imagination run wild.

"Maybe it will give me a skill to control the referee’s mind?" He thought, rubbing his hands together greedily.

Without further ado, Michael grabbed the silver whistle and headed into the technical area before squaring up towards the pitch.

"Wait, who is managing Liverpool?" He asked aloud.

A moment after he asked the question a tall German man appeared in the opposite dugout, wearing a baseball cap and grinning with terrifying teeth. Before he could even realize what was happening, a heavy metal press started, causing his ghostly players to lose the ball instantly.

"Goal." The robotic voice of the commentator sounded out behind him, knocking him out of his reverie.

"K-K-Klopp!????" Michael’s whole body felt as if it had lost strength as he stared at the legendary manager of Liverpool. What the hell was Jurgen Klopp doing in his Zone simulation?

Michael’s attention was drawn to the scoreboard behind the Kop end which had the possession stats flashing in red upon it.

"12%? There’s no way that it was that low..."

Then it dawned on him, most elite simulation engines used effective playing time rather than total time.

"12% effective possession!? How the hell am I meant to counter that? That’s like touching the ball once every ten minutes..." Suddenly, the missions that once felt achievable, now seemed as if they were an unclimbable mountain. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

2 more lightning-fast counter-attacks went straight through his defense and into the net, sucking all of the enthusiasm out of Michael’s body. Just as he was about to give up, he saw a notification appear from the system.

SYSTEM HAS NOTICED THAT THE USER IS UNABLE TO COUNTER SUCH INTENSITY. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOWER THE DIFFICULTY?

WORLD CLASS (Current)

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

PREMIER LEAGUE (Recommended)

CHAMPIONSHIP (Stats will not be recorded towards missions in this difficulty)

LEAGUE ONE (Stats will not be recorded towards missions in this difficulty)

"Oh thank god!" Michael breathed a sigh of relief, seeing as he could choose his difficulty level. It would be pointless going up against peak Klopp at his current level. However, it filled him with even more enthusiasm for his future as a manager.

"Let’s go with Premier League."

The moment he selected the option, someone unexpected showed up in the opposite dugout; Himself. Or rather, himself in his first season when he was fighting relegation.

Looking at the younger, more stressed version of himself felt a little weird, however it had a positive psychological effect on Michael. His current goal was to surpass himself, both in his tactical life and managerial career.

Going up against his former self seemed to make this goal tangible, filling him with fighting spirit.

"Hahaha! It’s time to see what it’s like on the other end of one of my buses." Michael pointed the whistle towards his previous self and let out a laugh.

Getting into position, his eyes narrowed as the opponent performed his low block.

WHOOSH

’Long ball to the target man! Who do you think I am?’

THUD

"Goal."

"Damn it! What the hell was that set piece routine?" Michael complained.

"Again!"

THUD

"Goal"

"Again!

"Goal"

"AGAIN!"

Michael tried and tried again to break down the defense, but there was something wrong. With his new Influence grade, he was able to shout instructions clearer, however he always seemed to be cut off.

This time, he decided to let the attack go, focusing his vision on the defensive shape from when it left the goalkeeper’s hands until it ended up in the striker’s path.

"W-What!?"

The defense seemed to move in an odd fashion just before closing the space, changing its shape ever so slightly despite being a simple 4-4-2.

"Is this what all my opponents felt like during the relegation battle?" Michael mused, feeling frustrated. Now that he had seen it up close, he could now understand what was happening.

His desperate instructions and panic allowed the players to fling themselves in such a way where there was an unusual chaos applied to the block. This made its structure unpredictable, especially just before the ball reached the danger zone.

But unfortunately, knowing about the quirk did not make it easier to score. Therefore he decided to just work on his counter-attacks for a couple of hours tonight before getting some sleep.

By the end of the 2 hour session, he had managed to successfully execute 100 counters. Despite having a skill, he had only managed to convert around 50% of the breaks into goals, the others either hitting the post or missing completely.

Of course he was going up against a relegation-threatened defense which was fighting for its life but still, it gave him a wake up call not to blindly rely on the Zone of Chaos.

While the Managerial System was a great tool to help him achieve his dream of building a dynasty, it was just that; a tool. If he didn’t put in the work and utilize it correctly, then it would feel as if he had achieved nothing.

And if the system were to disappear one day, he would have learned nothing either, returning to his previous stressed self. This was not something that he would allow happen.

As his thoughts drifted, Michael’s consciousness reappeared in his bedroom and he quickly took a look at his alarm clock which read 3:30am.

"Looks like I need to adjust my caffeine intake if I want to do Zone simulation every night." He mused before turning over, falling asleep only a few minutes later. It seemed that the managing had taken its toll on his mind.

Time seemed to fly as the humidity steadily rose around London and Michael began to see the early signs of Premier League fever appear on every billboard and taxi cab.

Michael and Diego Nunez continued with their rituals, even increasing their pre-match pizza consumption to keep fueling their growing superstitions. Over a span of two months, Diego’s bald head had grown shinier, probably thanks to Vladimir Petrovic constantly polishing it for good luck.

The two were still as chaotic as ever, spurred by their desire to become the most annoying duo in professional football history.

Vladimir had taken to his Vice-Captaincy training much faster than expected, greatly surprising Sergio Ramos who had merely thought he had some potential to shout at people in Serbian.

Michael on the other hand had been making the most of his Zone Simulation, losing against his virtual self every night that he could just to learn the weak spots of his own tactics.