The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 36 - 23: Best Player

’A Regional Level Passive Skill Card?’

The moment Wang Shuo heard the name, he knew it was a treasure.

He immediately entered the Ball God System to check out this Skill Card.

’This time I’ve really hit the jackpot!’

As its name implied, a Regional Level Passive Skill Card could help Wang Shuo upgrade one of his Passive Skills to the Regional Level.

There were two main ways to use it.

The first way was to upgrade one of his two existing Professional Level Passive Skills, [Insight] or [Swift], to the Regional Level.

His [Breathing] skill was already at the Regional Level, so the card couldn’t be used on it.

The other way was through a random draw.

Any Passive Skill obtained through the draw would be directly upgraded to the Regional Level.

"Excluding special Passive Skills."

Wang Shuo noticed this sentence.

’The implication is that among the remaining Passive Skills, some are considered special.’

Wang Shuo wasn’t sure which ones were special for now.

’But he pondered, since special Passive Skills can’t be directly upgraded to the Regional Level, does that mean using this Skill Card for a random draw won’t yield any of those special Passive Skills either?’

Wang Shuo noticed that the soccer ball interface had 12 pentagons. Three were lit up, but among the remaining nine, how many were special Passive Skills?

’That’s not important right now.’

’Should I upgrade an existing skill? Or go for a random draw?’

The answer was obvious.

For now, his Professional Level [Insight] and [Swift] were more than enough for Wang Shuo to excel in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Upgrading them further would provide only a limited improvement.

In contrast, drawing a new Passive Skill and having it instantly raised to the Regional Level would be of the greatest benefit to Wang Shuo.

But now was not the time for the draw.

Head coach Klopp was already calling for him from a distance.

Wang Shuo quickly exited the Ball God System and walked over to Klopp.

...

On the way from the pitch back to the locker room, the Mainz players clearly saw head coach Klopp’s favoritism toward Wang Shuo.

The burly, bearded middle-aged man even had his arm affectionately around Wang Shuo’s shoulders, chatting and laughing with him the entire way.

The Mainz players were all very surprised.

When had they ever seen the head coach so affable?

At Mainz, Klopp had a "brutal" reputation.

He was incredibly demanding, whether in training or during matches.

Back in the Bundesliga, his reputation as a "tyrant" was hardly any less fearsome than Magat’s.

The latter was known for making his players do long-distance runs and climb mountains for no reason, cementing his brutal reputation for years.

So, seeing Klopp be so friendly with Wang Shuo truly made them envious.

Besides envy, the Ecuadorian forward Borja felt more worried.

He was even a little resentful.

Wang Shuo was also a forward.

Fortunately, he had also scored in this match.

It was his first goal of the second half of the season, and he was still the team’s top scorer.

’As long as I’ve broken my goal drought, the goals will start pouring in!’

The Ecuadorian forward was confident in his abilities.

Having won the game, everyone was happy.

Upon entering the locker room, Klopp clapped his hands forcefully.

"Everyone, listen up!"

All the players immediately stopped what they were doing and looked toward the head coach.

"First, I want to congratulate everyone. A 6-1 victory at home against Paderborn keeps our hopes for promotion alive."

"This is the most exhilarating match we’ve played so far this season!"

The players in the locker room immediately cheered and applauded loudly.

"To win this match, I believe the MVP was our very own 17-year-old, Wang!"

Klopp pointed toward Wang Shuo.

The players in the locker room were a bit surprised. This was him anointing Wang Shuo as the best player.

But soon, they all began to applaud.

Not only had Wang Shuo scored the first goal, but during the hour he was on the pitch, he had been the team’s hardest-working player and also its best performer.

He also had an assist.

After the match, the data provided by Krawietz showed that he was the most active player on the pitch with the highest rate of involvement.

Only Borja’s expression soured.

Anyone could see that head coach Klopp was extremely partial to Wang Shuo.

This made Borja look at Wang Shuo with a wary gaze.

"This was Wang Shuo’s first match, and through his hard work and outstanding performance, he has proven his ability."

"And now, I want to say something to Wang."

Klopp walked up to Wang Shuo, smiling and nodding.

"I believe that it’s not just me, but all the fans out there, and everyone here in this locker room, who are all looking forward to seeing you perform even better and help the team achieve more victories!"

"Keep it up, Wang!" Subotic, who was sitting next to Wang Shuo, forcefully slung an arm around his shoulders, offering encouragement with a smile.

Wang Shuo nodded firmly in response.

"I also want to say that while the 6-1 victory over Paderborn was spectacular, it’s now in the past."

"Our crisis is not over yet."

In this round of matches, Mainz’s direct competitors had mixed results.

Cologne beat Osnabrueck 2-0 at home.

Coincidentally, Mainz’s opponent in the next round was also Osnabrueck, but it would be an away game.

Hoffenheim suffered a crushing 1-3 defeat away to St. Pauli.

Fuerth defeated Offenbach 2-1 at home.

Meanwhile, Freiburg lost 2-3 away to Koblenz.

As a result, after 29 rounds, Mainz moved up one spot in the 2nd Bundesliga standings. They were now tied with Freiburg at 46 points but ranked 5th due to a superior goal difference.