Almighty Coach

Time flowed away. 90 minutes of regular game ended, and the referee gave three minutes of injury time.

Three minutes later, the whole stadium turned into a sea of jubilation at the final whistle.

"Win! We are the champion!" A lot of people rushed into the field from the bench and, at the same time, Dai Li received a hint from the system.

"Upgraded! So much bonus experience for the championship of the AFC Champions League!" Dai Li showed a surprised expression for an instant.

He had found that the bonus experience was very high in Dingtian’s winning the championship of Chinese Super League before, which also proved the system’s description that the bonus experience gained from the achievements on team events were way more than that gained from individual events. Also, professional football could maximize this bonus experience.

Football is the most popular sport in the world, and the professional football league is also the most widespread league in the world. It is on every corner of five continents. Where there are humans, there are people playing football. Poverty, starvation, and wars, all of these even cannot stop people from playing football.

Even some countries that are the least developed economically, like Africa, hold their own football leagues, such as Iraq has in the past, as well as Syria in recent years. Players have to pass through shells to attend football trainings there. So, the bonus experience of professional football is higher than any other sport at the same level.

When he was in the National Table Tennis Team, Dai Li upgraded to the primary stage of the Famous Coach Level, because the players trained by him won many championships in international games and got gold medals in the Olympics. His upgrade to the secondary stage of the Famous Coach at the moment was, to some degree, due to his experience gained in the National Table Tennis Team. His experience in Dingtian Club also made great contributions to the upgrade.

From another point of view, the Olympic Games, held every four years, is the world’s most important sporting event. The Chinese Super League and AFC Champions League are held every year. They are national level or Asian level, which are much lower, compared with the Olympics.

But Dai Li gained more bonus experience from the Asian Championship than the Olympic championship, with the advantage of the team event and it being a professional sport.

It seems that, if I want more experience in the future, I have to aim at the team events among professional sporting events. Dai Li thought secretly, and at the same time, checked his upgrade rewards.

The first item was a thick stack of square black cloths.

"What is this?" Dai Li asked.

"Athlete Patches. They are consumable. Here are 200 patches," the system replied.

"What’s the function of the patch?" Dai Li continued asking.

"It can offset the athlete’s own physical defects," the system replied.

"Sounds like an amazing thing," Dai Li said, while observing the patch he just got in hand, as he continued speaking. "An athlete, who doesn’t run fast enough, can use patch to run faster? Then, how many patches do I need to offset more defects of one player? For example, how many patches does a player lacking endurance and strength, who also cannot run fast, need? One, or three?"

"In this case, even using up all 200 athlete patches is useless," the system said.

"Do I understand it wrong? Didn’t you say it can offset the athlete’s shortcomings?" Dai Li questioned unhappily.

"I mean the physical defects of a player’s own. Lacks of speed, jumping ability, strength and endurance are all shortcomings of a player’s abilities, but not his physical defects. The Athlete Patch has no use on a player’s shortcomings of abilities," the system said frankly.

"Then, what are an athlete’s own physical defects?" Dai Li laughed, "An athlete with only one arm? Or only one leg?"

"You’re right, the lack of limbs is really a physical defect for an athlete," the system said seriously.

Dai Li suddenly wanted to say dirty words, and he asked with anger, "Have you ever seen an athlete, who is short of arms and legs? Oh, a disabled athlete? If this patch is for the disabled athletes, as you say, then I have to seek a job in the Disabled Persons’ Federation!"

"I’m going to train a disabled athlete who is lacking of a leg, and give him a patch. And then his leg appears! How amazing! Magical technology! Should I apply for a patent? Oh! I would better publish dozens of papers to get a Nobel Prize!" Limb regeneration, the biggest discovery of the 21st century! This is really lucrative! I have decided the news headline: ’A Sports Coach Makes More than One Hundred Million Monthly with His Limb Regeneration Technology’!" Dai Li spoke ironically. He had a feeling of being deceived and thought that the patch was useless.

Athletes are all strong, and their physical qualities are far better than the average. Athletes trained by a coach like Dai Li were even stronger, and had greater physical talents. Those who lack legs or arms were impossible to be made into professional athletes.

What’s more, things like limb regeneration went way beyond the boundaries of modern sciences. An athlete without legs or arms suddenly got his limbs back? He would definitely be the experimental subject of scientists. And Dai Li, as his coach, would be in big trouble then.

Therefore, Dai Li regarded the patch as being something useless to himself and didn’t dare use it, even if it was effective. The system explained, "You misunderstood me. What I just said is: offsetting a player’s own physical defects, not regenerating limbs. Damaged limbs cannot be regenerated, but disabled athletes can have the feeling that their physical defects have been offset."

"Let me give you an example of an athlete who lacks an arm. Compared with ordinary people, he has a deficit in balance, besides a physical disability. He can use the Athlete Patch to make up for the deficiency of his sense of balance, but he still can’t use his arm, due to his lack of that arm. All this, even though he now feels that he is just like a normal person with two arms."

"I have understood, generally." Dai Li nodded, calming down.

And the system explained more, "Another example: An athlete went through a surgery to remove his meniscus, which affected his movement. And if the patch is applied to him, he would overcome the lack of the meniscus, to move and act just like his meniscus was not removed."

On hearing this, Li was instantly excited, and he finally understood how great the Athlete Patch was. It is normal for a professional athlete to remove some "parts" of his body because of injuries. Important organs, such as the heart, lung, and kidney, cannot be removed. But it’s okay to remove the meniscus, or the splinters of bones after a fracture. Even some joints can be replaced by artificial joints.

But the artificial ones could never work better than the natural joints. Not to mention that some parts are simply removed. That’s the difference between "I have" and "I do not have"... when they remove some of their body parts, it is very difficult for many good athletes to get back to their former competitive states, and they even retire with lifetime injuries.

The Athlete Patch solves that predicament perfectly. Really, for an athlete’s needs, it can make him recover to his former state, and in a larger sense, it can save his whole career.

"One more question. Is this Athlete Patch lifetime effective, or valid for only a period of time?" Dai Li asked.

"The duration of the Athlete Patch is one year, which means that, after the use of the athlete, it is valid for one year, and when one year passed, a second patch is required," the system replied.

"Is there any restriction of the times of use on one player?" Dai Li continued asking.

"Yes. Every player can only use patches for three times in his lifetime," the system said.

Dai Li nodded silently and began to calculate in his heart, "Three patches. One patch for one year. A total of three years. It’s enough. After all, most professional athletes’ careers are very short. Many professional athletes will retire before the age of 30. Occasionally, some of them could extend their career life to their thirties. On average, it would be great for an athlete to have a ten-year career. Three years almost occupies one-third of an athlete’s career life."

"And many of the athletes’ injuries are caused by accumulation over a long period. They usually suffer from serious injuries in the middle and late stages of their careers. They are set to retire, even without injuries. From this point of view, three years is enough for them."

Thinking about that, Dai Li asked, "In total, there are only 200 patches?"

"Yes, 200. No more. So, you must be prudent and make full use of them," the system replied.

"Are there any other restrictions, besides the times of use?" Dai Li continued asking.

"These athlete patches are currently inactive, and you have to activate them before you can use them. As for the activation requirements..." The system paused, and then said, "You can activate an athlete patch by consuming only 10,000 points of experience."

"Another 10,000 points of experience! I know it cannot be that easy!" Dai Li could not help saying.