My Goalkeeping System

Just like Clark said, Dave's super busy life began just after shooting the promo video with the furniture company.

He had to travel to two different countries between Tuesday and Wednesday to sign endorsement deals before heading to the Footy Wears headquarters for a photoshoot which they were obviously going to be using for PR in all sorts of ways.

The team had a long session on Thursday to prepare for the game on Friday so Clark made sure to push the little he had to handle for the day to the evening and there was no leaving the country involved since he had a match the next day.

At the moment, Dave could be seen on the pitch with the rest of his teammates.

They had been training for a while, and were currently on a twenty minute break.

Most of the players used the opportunity to rest up and hydrate themselves, Dave also made his way to the sidelines to grab a drink himself, but after that, he returned to the pitch for his usual shooting drill.

While most of his teammates were sitting by the side, the goalkeeper could be seen standing in front of one of the goalposts with his gaze on the other goalpost and about seven balls right in front of him.

"Looks like he's about to start doing it," Minino said, bumping his shoulder against Mateo who was sitting beside him.

"Yeah, I can see that." The winger responded, his gaze fixated on Dave.

Minino stared at him for a while before slowly turning his gaze back to Dave.

"You know, I just got a wonderful idea." He remarked with a smirk.

"Huh? What…"

"Hey, Dave!" He yelled before the youngster could complete his statement.

Hearing his name get yelled like that, Dave slowly turned to him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Can you hold on for a second?!"

"Why?" Dave asked in response.

"You'll see very soon."

Just after saying that, the midfielder got up on his feet and quickly raced down the tunnel.

Dave turned to Mateo after that, and the only thing the winger could do was shrug.

About three minutes later, Minino returned with about five cones in his arms and they didn't exactly look like the ones they had on the pitch currently.

"What in the world does he need those for?" Mateo pondered as he moved past him, heading straight towards Dave.

As soon as he got to the goalkeeper, Minino allowed the cones to drop to the floor before letting out a deep sigh.

"Okay, so what's this all about?" Dave inquired, his face laced with confusion.

"Let's make a bet."

"A bet?" The goalkeeper responded, still confused.

"Mhm." Minino nodded. "I'm going to put five of these cones on top of the crossbar way over there. If you manage to knock three of them out in five tries, you get my lunch today and I'll buy you a deluxe dinner after our game tomorrow or the next day, your choice."

<This guy's a very interesting one>

'I think that much is obvious to everyone who hangs around him.'

"Okay, and if I fail to knock three down in five tries?" Dave inquired.

"Then we'll do the reverse, I'll get your lunch and you get to buy me a deluxe dinner."

"I see."

"So, that's what you were up to."

Minino quickly turned around at that moment to find Roland standing there alongside Mateo.

"But you know, cones won't be able to hold still on top of a crossbar, a little wind and they'll be knocked down," Mateo remarked, his gaze slowly shifting to the cones on the ground.

'Unless…'

"I'm aware of that," Minino uttered before picking up one of the cones. "That's why I went to get these?"

"Huh?" Roland muttered with a confused expression on his face.

"Suction cones," Minino uttered. "Unlike normal cones, they can stick to surfaces."

He moved closer to the goalpost and stuck the one he was holding on the left post.

"See."

"Oh."

"However, their suction isn't that strong, so with enough shot power…."

He picked up one of the balls on the ground with his right foot at that moment before firing it at the cone, knocking it off the surface.

"You should be able to knock any of them down." He remarked, turning to Dave with a smile.

<I see, he doesn't only want to see if you can get to most of them with five tries but if you'll be to get to them with enough shot power to knock them off>

"Something tells me you've been looking for an opportunity to do this for a while now," Mateo remarked, his hand on his chin.

"Maybe," Minino responded with a subtle smile.

"Hey, I have one more question," Roland said, raising his hand.

"You're not in a class or lecture hall, Roland?" Mateo sighed.

"What's your question?"

"You've already established the rewards for the bet if Dave manages to hit three but what if he manages to knock all of them down?"

Minino wasn't too quick to respond to that as he slowly raised his left hand with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Five thousand Euros." He declared. "If he manages to knock all five of them down in five tries, he gets five thousand Euros from me on top of everything else but only if he knocks down five, not four. On that note, he'll have to give me five thousand Euros if he manages to knock down only one, or less than that."

<Wow, now it sounds like a legit gambling game>

"Well, that certainly sounds interesting, leave it to Minino to start a gambling game in the middle of a training session."

Everyone turned to the right after hearing that voice to see Ferran closing up on the area.

"Gambling? Who said anything about that? This is just a friendly bet between two teammates." Minino responded with an awkward smile as he turned to Dave. "So, Dave…"

"I'll do it, sounds like fun." The goalkeeper replied before he could finish his statement.

"Good choice." Minino smiled before he squatted down to pick up all five cones. "Now, if you all will excuse me, I have to go set these up."

With that said, he quickly hurried over to the other goalpost.

"Well, he seems to be very excited about this." Mateo sighed before turning to Dave. "You also seem to be excited yourself." He added, pointing out the subtle grin on the goalkeeper's face.

"Well, as I said, this seems like it could be fun."

'Also.'

[ Quest received ]

[ Knock down most of the cones in five tries ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +20 exp ]

[ +2 skill upgrade points ]

[ Bonus ]

[ Knock down all the cones ]

[ Bonus rewards ]

[ +80 exp ]

[ +5 skill upgrade ]

'Does this thing even understand the concept of a bonus? Why are the bonus rewards greater than the one for the main quest?'

<Don't look at me>

______ ______

About five minutes later, the cones were all set up on top of the crossbar on the other side, and now it was time to see what Dave could do.

Well, they've already seen what he's truly capable of from his goalpost but still, this was a bit tricky.

All of his teammates on the pitch were quite interested to see how this would go so it wasn't a surprise that they all had their gaze on the goalkeeper at the moment.

The rule of the game required Dave to have the balls on the edge of the eighteen-year-old box and he was standing over one there now, waiting for Ferran who had the whistle in his mouth to give the signal.

It didn't take long before that high-pitched sound resounded through the area and as soon as Dave heard that, he slowly took two steps backward before quickly closing up on the ball.

He got to it in no time, and with his right foot, he lifted it, launching it towards his target with tremendous shot power.

To make sure this was in the highest difficulty for him, Minino made sure to spread out the cones properly, but despite that, Dave was able to get to one of the balls, the one in the center specifically, and with a neat hit, he knocked the cone off the crossbar.

<Nice hit>

'Thanks.'

After that, Minino and everyone else watched as he knocked down the second, third, fourth, and fifth one.

He left them all with their mouths wide open as they couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

<Well, would you look at that>

The precision from Dave wasn't really all that great to be honest as he ended up hitting the crossbar on the spot directly under the cones to knock out two of them but since Minino didn't say anything about that not counting, it was his win.