Dead silence. Utter dead silence.

The immense shock made all sound vanish completely, a stark contrast to the noisy chaos from just moments before. Even seeing it with their own eyes, they still couldn’t believe it. A practice player, an insignificant practice player, had just completed a perfect sixty-yard pass? This was pure fantasy!

"ROAR!" The cheers, shouts, and celebrations of the practice squad members shattered the deathly silence. All the starters looked at each other, then turned to face the ecstatic practice squad, falling silent. They couldn’t refute it, couldn’t even move.

Everyone on the practice squad was celebrating wildly. Even if it was just a victory on a single pass, even if it was just a chance win in a three-on-three drill, they didn’t care. To them, this was the greatest thing in the world. When else would they get a chance to slap the starters in the face like this?

Logan sprinted over manically and slammed his body into Lu Ke’s chest, roaring with a face full of joyous surprise, "Man, be honest, have you been putting in extra practice on your own? Your accuracy and power today were spot-on! That was awesome!"

Lu Ke had never hidden his desire and ambition to become a quarterback. Logan and Lu Ke had been classmates in middle school; they had become friends after a rocky start. After that, they had always played on the same team. Logan was a Tight End, and Lu Ke was a quarterback. They trained together, helping each other out. Lu Ke helped Logan practice his catching, and Logan helped Lu Ke practice his passing. It had become an important part of their dynamic.

Passing accuracy had always been Lu Ke’s strong suit. He’d had flashes of inspiration before where the power and accuracy of his long passes were decent. But generally, Lu Ke’s accuracy was reliable only up to about thirty-five to forty yards. Beyond that distance, his accuracy would plummet. Forget sixty yards; even his success rate at forty-five yards was only around fifty percent.

Back in eleventh grade, Lu Ke had attempted a fifty-yard pass once, and Logan had caught it cleanly. But today, a sixty-yard pass had actually succeeded! He had actually, really done it! It was so incredible that none of it felt real, just like a beautiful dream!

"Luck! It was definitely luck!" Kevin finally snapped out of his daze but was still unwilling to believe it. He shook his head forcefully, shouting as if possessed, denying reality, "Do it again! Let’s go again! That one doesn’t count!"

Seeing Kevin’s flushed face, Rick couldn’t take it anymore. Seething with uncontrollable anger, he roared, "You just summed up your entire god-awful career in one sentence!" Kevin froze as if doused with a bucket of ice water, completely dumbfounded. But Rick’s tirade had just begun. He pointed at Lu Ke in the distance. "If you had one-tenth of Lu’s dedication and hard work, you’d have been an all-star long ago! Talent, around here, is a fucking pile of dogshit!"

Rick chewed Kevin out so badly it made his head spin, but he wasn’t finished. "You know what? With that performance just now, you’ve successfully demoted yourself from the third team to the reserve squad. Now, get out! Get the hell out of my sight right now!"

Everyone was stunned, including the members of the practice squad. Kevin stood there, lost and bewildered. Seeing this, Logan yelled directly, "Get lost, you idiot!"

Kevin finally reacted, slamming his helmet onto the ground with a vengeance, sending up a spray of grass. He then stalked off the practice field. The other third-team players tried to stop him, but the coach’s voice boomed out, "Formation! What are you all still doing! Get ready for the next drill! Every single one of you, get your heads in the game! You clueless bunch of bastards! The starters’ training is doubled today!"

That had been the bet for the three-on-three match.

The starters all let out wails of despair, trying to protest, but Rick wouldn’t hear it. "Anyone who makes another sound of protest gets triple!" Under such a threat, the players instantly and obediently shut their mouths and got back to today’s training. However, the atmosphere had suddenly become dejected.

No one likes to lose, especially not a loss caused by the practice squad.

The field returned to its usual state. Anthony walked up and patted Lu Ke’s shoulder. "Lu, are you sure you’re okay?"

"I’m fine, I’m fine." After catching his breath, Lu Ke finally took off his helmet. He was drenched in sweat, revealing a head of short, jet-black hair and a handsome face. Among a crowd of blond, blue-eyed giants, his yellow-skinned, black-haired features looked truly out of place.

Anthony didn’t speak immediately. He studied Lu Ke carefully, and after confirming he was unharmed, he let out a breath of relief. He looked up and shouted to the other practice squad members watching from a distance, "Break it up, everyone, break it up. Back to training." Anthony patted Lu Ke’s shoulder again. "You just take it easy for the rest of the day. Report to the infirmary first and have them give you a full check-up."

Lu Ke nodded in agreement and turned to walk toward the benches on the sideline. Behind him, he heard Anthony’s scolding voice, "Logan, I’m talking to you! Lu doesn’t need your help, get back to practice!" Lu Ke couldn’t help but smile. He sat down on a sideline bench. He needed to catch his breath before heading to the infirmary.

Everything had just happened so fast—first the conflict, then the showdown, then the pass. Lu Ke had almost forgotten what it felt like to throw a pass like that, let alone a sixty-yard bomb. He needed to cool down. His whole brain felt like it was overheating; he strongly suspected he was about to start smoking.

After calming down and reviewing the events, he remembered the cold, stiff voice in his mind. ’System?’ Lu Ke shook his head and gave a wry smile. ’I must have gotten a mild concussion when I fell, causing me to hear things.’ But before the smile could fully form on his lips, the voice echoed in his mind again. "Yes, how may I help you?"

"GASP!" Lu Ke was so startled he sucked in a sharp breath. He looked left and right, front and back, but there was no one else around. It wasn’t a prank. ’So, what in the world is going on?’

Lu Ke tentatively called out again, ’System? What system?’

Immediately, a voice sounded in his mind, "The Rugby Superstar System."

Along with the voice, Lu Ke could "see" a translucent, sapphire-blue screen floating in the center of his mind. It looked incredibly high-tech. At the top were the words "Rugby Superstar," and below it was what looked like a login interface with a line of data: "Host: Lu Ke".

Lu Ke felt like a gamer, except this game was appearing inside his own head. It was like... like aliens in a sci-fi movie.

’Aliens? Could it be related to that star-filled cosmos I saw in my mind earlier?’

’If it’s a system, then was that voice an NPC or a god-like being?’

"Host." The voice suddenly sounded in his mind again, startling Lu Ke once more. He still wasn’t used to someone having a direct conversation with him inside his head; it was honestly a bit terrifying. "Host, I am not Voldemort." Lu Ke choked. ’How could I forget? My thoughts are transmitted directly. Does that mean none of my thoughts will be private from now on? Including those... wait, why does that feel a little off?’

’Stop.’ He forcibly cut off his train of thought. There was a system in his mind waiting for a conversation. ’What... are you? What is all this?’

"This is a growth-type game system designed to cultivate top-tier sports superstars in real life. My name is No. 7, and I am in charge of this Rugby Superstar System. You can choose to accept or refuse..."

"If I refuse, you’ll leave? Leave my brain? And you won’t spy on my private thoughts?" Lu Ke interrupted the system’s rambling explanation. But before it could answer, he immediately followed up with more questions. "I’m more curious, if you’re No. 7, does that mean there were six others before you? Besides the Rugby Superstar System, is there also a Soccer Superstar System? A Tennis Superstar System? Is your number an overall designation, or is it specific to the football branch?"

"Oh, and you mentioned ’The Alien’ Ronaldo Lima—did he have a system? Or maybe Lionel Messi. If they had a cheat system, that would explain it. I’ve always thought they weren’t human. What about football? Who were the previous six people? Did anyone get a system and still end up being mediocre and accomplishing nothing? Wait, you’re not from Earth, are you? Huh, are you even a living being? Or are you an AI? No. 7? Seventh? Qi?"

Silence. Still, only silence, with just Lu Ke muttering to himself. Lu Ke discovered that if he didn’t speak aloud and just formed the words in his mind, his speaking speed more than doubled. It was practically the speed of light; a whole torrent of words came out in a flash.

"Qi? Hello?"

Lu Ke called out again, and this time he finally heard a voice. "Host, are there any other questions?"

"The game manual! I need a manual!" Lu Ke wasn’t sure how this all worked. Before he could ask anything else, the interface in his mind shifted with his thoughts, automatically refreshing to reveal a complete data panel.

First Name: Ke

Last Name: Lu

Age: 21

Birthday: November 11, 1989

Position: Blank

Jersey Number: Blank

Dominant Hand: Right

Height: 193 cm

Weight: 78 kg

University: UCLA

Professional Team: None

Physical Fitness: 61/100

Spiritual Quality: 81/100

Daily Quests: None

Special Quests: None

The entire system menu was a dazzling nine pages long. Below was a long list detailing various sub-abilities. It included breakdowns of basic physical attributes like speed, strength, and jumping, as well as specialized technical skills like short pass, medium pass, long pass, evasion, breaking tackles, and Observation Field of View. It wasn’t just limited to quarterback skills; it also included techniques for every position on the offense, Defense Team, and special teams.

Just from a quick glance, without even a chance to examine it carefully, Lu Ke was already overwhelmed. More importantly, the shock and excitement from this massive amount of information churned wildly in his chest. ’So, by using this system, I can become a top Rugby Superstar in real life?’