When Ethan returned to his apartment, it was already midnight.
After their victory, the coaching staff had gone to a bar near the stadium to celebrate. The drinks flowed freely, and the mood was high. Even Haruko, the Japanese team doctor, had a rosy flush on her cheeks from the alcohol.
The cool night breeze helped clear Ethan's head as he rubbed his face, took out his key, and unlocked the gate to the yard.
"Hey… boy!!!"
Ethan was startled. The yard was dark, yet Old Sol was sitting on the bench in the middle.
"What's up, Uncle Sol?"
Even though Ethan knew he and Miss Roy hadn't done anything inappropriate, he still felt a little guilty facing Old Sol.
"Come have a drink!!!"
Only now did Ethan notice the empty bottles at Old Sol's feet. It looked like the old man had already downed quite a few.
"At this hour…?"
"Cut the crap!!" Old Sol barked, raising his eyebrows.
With a shrug, Ethan walked over. The old man grabbed a glass from beside his chair, filled it with whiskey, and handed it to him.
"I haven't seen a team play that well in a long time," Old Sol said, clearly a bit drunk.
Ethan sat down on the bench. Sitting through an old man's drunken ramblings at this hour wasn't exactly ideal.
"You'll be seeing more of it," Ethan said casually before taking a sip of his drink.
"I believe you… you're a good coach!" Old Sol turned to him. "The home crowd's boos today were because of those damn media reports twisting things."
"I know." Ethan wasn't bothered. He didn't have any deep attachment to Luton Town. Right now, he saw the team as a stepping stone in his career. He had ambitions far beyond this club, and while he respected the fans, he wasn't too concerned about their opinions.
"That's good…" Old Sol nodded approvingly.
"If I could see that kind of football every week… I wouldn't object to you and Roy." He gave Ethan a sly wink.
Ethan let out a helpless chuckle. "Miss Roy and I aren't in the kind of relationship you're imagining."
"Oh, come on…" Old Sol took a swig from the bottle. "My daughter's beautiful. You're telling me you're not tempted?"
"Hah… she is beautiful," Ethan admitted, taking another sip and leaning back against the bench.
The next morning, Ethan woke up with a dull headache. He could usually hold his liquor well, but after celebrating at the bar and then drinking even more with Old Sol in the yard, he had definitely overdone it. He barely remembered getting back to his apartment before passing out.
He glanced at the clock on his bedside table—past 9 AM.
Sitting up, he rubbed his temples. As was tradition after a win, he had given the players a day off. Of course, if they had lost, he would have made sure they felt his frustration in training.
As he sat there, he suddenly remembered something—he hadn't checked the football card system since their victory. He quickly activated it.
A light screen appeared in midair. By now, Ethan wasn't even surprised by this. He was a pragmatist—if the system gave him an advantage, he didn't care about the logic behind it.
"Congratulations! You've won the first official match of your career! You've earned 300 experience points and a card draw!"
That annoyingly sweet voice again. It sent shivers down his spine.
"Can you change that voice?"
"Understood."
The voice switched to a robotic tone. Ethan finally felt normal again.
He opened his attribute panel. After this win, his stats remained the same, but his experience bar had changed:
Level 1: 300/3000
So, winning a match in League Two earned him 300 XP. That meant he needed ten wins to level up.
Wait… what did leveling up even do?
"Each level up unlocks an additional card slot," the system informed him.
Ethan sighed. The system reading his thoughts was still unsettling, but he had no way to stop it.
Still, an extra card slot was useful. After experiencing the power of the cards in previous matches, he was eager to see what he would draw next.
"Wait… does this mean I have two draws now?"
"Correct."
Ethan stroked his chin, considering his options. Then, the system spoke again.
"You can trade two draws for a guaranteed Yellow Card."
A Yellow Card exchange? He remembered the system's explanation: in order of effectiveness, Yellow Cards were just one step above the weakest White Cards.
"What are the odds of drawing a high-tier card?" Ethan asked.
"For a standard draw:
White Card: 80%
Yellow Card: 15%
Green Card: 3%
Blue Card: 1%"
"Skip to the highest-level Purple Card."
"0.01%."
Ethan collapsed onto his bed.
A one in ten thousand chance…
Trying to pull a top-tier card was basically like buying a lottery ticket. If his luck was bad, he might never get an advanced card in his entire career.
Ethan's Football Lottery Dilemma
"Wait, why does it take two lucky draw attempts to redeem a white card voucher? Logically, the white card should be obtainable through the lucky draw itself. So why can only one white card voucher be redeemed for two draws?" Ethan questioned, confused.
"The card exchange voucher allows you to choose the exact card you want," came the response.
Ethan immediately understood. The lucky draw was random—you never knew what you'd get next. But an exchange voucher? That was different. It let you pick the right card.
"Can I see which cards are available for exchange?" he asked eagerly.
"Of course!"
The screen in front of him flashed rapidly, and soon, the card exchange interface appeared.
The Legendary Purple Cards
Ethan went straight to the highest-tier purple cards. As he opened the interface, his jaw dropped.
"Lying… slot…" He was speechless.
The first card stunned him.
Player Card (Maradona): Grants all of Maradona's peak attributes for 90 minutes. Can be assigned to a single player. Cooldown: one week. Usable ten times.
"A prime Maradona in my team?!"
This was game-changing—a football legend appearing out of thin air!
He scrolled further and saw more legendary players: peak Ronaldo, peak Messi, Zidane, Maldini, Buffon, Ronaldinho, Beckham… even Beckenbauer and Cruyff!
Drooling, he reluctantly shifted his focus to the other card types. Besides the player cards, most purple cards provided team-wide boosts:
Pass success rate +15%
Shot-save probability -15%
Team stamina +20%
"If I stack enough of these cards, I'd be a god-tier coach!" Ethan thought. Now, he understood why purple cards were so rare—their impact was game-breaking.
White Cards and Exchange Costs
Still in awe, he turned to the white cards he could afford. Unlike purple cards, white cards provided smaller, individual upgrades:
Heading ability +5%
Long-range shooting +5%
Ethan considered redeeming a long-range boost but hesitated. Was it really worth it?
"If I want higher-tier vouchers, how do I get them?" he asked.
"You can use lucky draw attempts. A white card costs two draws, a yellow card costs four…"
"Then a green card?" Ethan guessed.
"No… sixteen draws!"
His heart sank.
"...And a blue card?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"Two hundred and fifty-six draws!"
Ethan was in despair. By this logic, an even higher-tier orange card would require 256×256×256×256 draws!
With just one draw per match, getting those elite cards through luck was impossible.
The Mission System
"Don't panic! Besides draws and vouchers, you can earn rewards by completing missions," he was told.
"Missions?"
The task interface popped up:
Main Mission: Save Luton!
Avoid relegation: +3,000 XP, Green card voucher, 10 draws
Achieve promotion: +5,000 XP, Blue card voucher, 10 draws
Win the League Two title: +8,000 XP, Orange card voucher, 100 draws
Ethan's eyes sparkled.
"The harder the challenge, the better the rewards!"
A championship… I need to win the title!
His heart burned with determination. For these incredible rewards, he was ready to give everything on the pitch.