God Of football

Chapter 988: 99

In the confines of the dimly lit room, Izan woke up with a guttural groan like someone dragged back from a different plane.

The ceiling felt unfamiliar for a second, as if it belonged to another life, but after blinking a couple of times, it all started rolling back to him.

"This hasn’t been the best experience," he muttered as he leaned forward from his reclined position, but in the next moment, a small ping rang through his mind just as he blinked.

He frowned before he opened his eyes.

"...you’re loud," he muttered, voice rough, tongue heavy in his mouth.

Silence followed for half a beat before the system came through again.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: BODY ADAPTATION COMPLETE]

After a moment, the only question Izan could muster was how long he had slept for as he gathered his thoughts, but the answer made him almost cough his heart out.

[EVALUATION: 6 DAYS, 11 HOURS, 23 MINUTES]

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"You said it was only going to take 3 days at the most and even said there would be no need to leave the house for it."

"Now what?" Izan spat again as his feet touched the ground for the first time in a week.

[System senses host’s agitation. It would be best if you calmed down after not moving for so long!]

That message from the system almost broke something in Izan, but he calmed down still, waiting for whatever reason that had caused the time for whatever the system was doing to him to double.

[It was, in fact, supposed to take 3 days for everything, but the remaining 3 days and 11 hours were used for optimisation. If you had been allowed to wake up after the third day, you would have most likely spent the next month trying to get acclimated to the new body!]

"New body, huh?" Izan questioned curiously as a ping came through again, like a nod from the system.

Izan exhaled through his mouth, still in thought, before he pushed himself upright, the sheets sliding down his waist.

There was no dizziness now, and if anything, he felt... aligned.

Like everything sat exactly where it should.

—Muscle density recalibrated.

—Neural response latency reduced.

—Internal load distribution optimised.

Izan scoffed softly.

"What in the Blue Beetle is this?" he muttered as he rolled his shoulders once.

"And the world?" he asked after a moment.

"Did they know I was gone?"

[Public curiosity remains elevated with a bit of media inquiries ongoing. Still, the external narrative remains unmanaged. I felt you would be the better person to handle it.]

"You felt? And better person?"

Izan huffed a quiet laugh.

"I am the only person, at least according to what you said," he muttered, saying the last part a bit more silently as the system continued, unprompted this time.

[And it’s been made so that family, coaching staff, and a few select teammates remain unaware of temporal displacement.]

And almost as if to confirm what it had said, the door to his right opened.

Izan’s head snapped to the side on instinct, and there, Olivia stepped in like nothing in the world was out of place.

She had her hair tied up, now and her feet bare against the floor.

She crossed the room, tiptoed a bit, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Morning," she said as Izan recovered, kissing her back on the cheek before responding with a curt "morning."

After that, she made her way into the bathroom on the side before taking off the rubber band that was holding her hair up together while she rambled on about how swamped she might be for the rest of the week with projects and stuff, all while Izan nodded and hummed like he was invested, while still in thought.

A couple of minutes later, and now in a different outfit, she turned to leave, then paused at the doorway. ’

She then looked back at him, eyes narrowing just a touch.

"You feel different," she said, before the corners of her mouth rose.

"I like it," she said.

Then she was gone.

Izan stood there, frozen for longer than necessary.

"...That’s new," he murmured, but the system chimed again, and this time the interface surfaced in his vision.

[PLAYER RATING: 99/100]

His eyes flicked across the details automatically.

Spatial Awareness has overclocked from |95 → 101|

Body Control has overclocked from |94 → 102|

Izan let out a slow breath while looking at the glowing stat in his vision.

"So I do all that," he said, half annoyed, "and still don’t hit a hundred."

But the system hit him harder than anything could.

[You only have 1 Ballon D’or!]

Izan chuckled wryly, feeling the sting of what the system had said before the companion came again.

[Also, Overall ratings are cumulative representations. You are closer than any active player.]

"Still doesn’t feel like it," Izan replied as he tilted his head like he was considering something.

"So what does it take?"

There was no immediate answer.

Then:

[More than one Ballon d’Or and, as always, more than dominance. And then finally, Completion.]

Izan clicked his tongue softly.’

"Always vague when it matters."

"Alright," he said, standing.

"You’ve made your point," he said, but at that moment, he felt a slight cool past his body and that made him aware of how wrong his body was.

Sticky and clogged.

"I’m showering," he added. "If you’ve got another revelation, save it."

He walked toward the bathroom, rolling his neck once more and soon, steam began to fog the mirror.

.....

An hour later, the engine settled into silence the moment Izan eased the car into the lot.

King’s College rose ahead of them, all pale stone with students drifting past and paying much attention to the dark Mercedes tucked between two sedans.

Olivia was the first to move.

She unbuckled, then paused, half-turned toward him.

"Miko’s vet appointment is today," she said, like she was reminding herself as much as him.

Izan nodded, eyes still forward.

Olivia, seeing this, didn’t open the door.

Instead, she looked at him properly this time. "You good?"

He turned.

One brow lifted, just slightly, like the question caught him off guard.

Then he nodded again, slower.

"Yeah," he said. "I’m good."

Olivia studied him for a second longer than necessary.

Then she reached across the console, cupping his face with both hands, thumbs warm against his jaw.

She leaned in and kissed him, quick and soft, more grounding than affectionate.

"We’re here," she said quietly, forehead brushing his for a moment before she pulled back, smiled once, and stepped out of the car, closing the door with a soft thud.

Izan stayed seated, watching her walk around to the back until she disappeared into one of the buildings.

And in the next second, his eyes drifted to the passenger-side window where Miko sat there, a white cloud with ears, staring straight at him.

Izan snorted under his breath.

"You should’ve eaten an apple," he told the dog, reaching out and pushing a little button to lower the windows.

"Doctor wouldn’t stand a chance."

Miko tilted its head and then barked, looking a bit unimpressed.

Izan shook his head at that and pulled away, joining the traffic of the London morning.