Physical talent has always been Lu Ke's weakness. In college, with the same training, Lu Ke saw almost no improvement in all aspects, while Logan could easily meet the training requirements. Lu Ke had to double his training just to feel a little improvement, but the quality was still not as good as Logan's daily training improvements.
Without the Football Superstar System, Lu Ke would have ended his college career as a practice squad player, just like John Ward. He would have left the football field, the professional league, and competitive sports and would have found his place and created his future in society. Years later, when he recalled those years of sweating, violent collisions, and bruises, he would just smile, carefully cherish those memories, and then return to his job and continue to work hard. Perhaps he would have become a top journalist or would have made a name for himself in another field. Although it was a bit of a shame, this was life.
But everything changed with the appearance of the Football Superstar System. It broke through the ceiling of his physical talent, he got a systematic and standardized training plan, and his hope was reignited. He started running toward his dream one step at a time.
Even so, in just one year—or to be precise, in just four short months of strength training—Lu Ke's physical fitness once again reached a bottleneck. This could not be broken by just relying on the monotonous daily training. He either had to force an improvement through the addition of the system's base skill points or break through the constraints with more stimulating and tougher training in the off-season. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to improve and break through his physical fitness in a short period of time. It was like a small stream that slowly accumulates and will one day converge into a river or a lake, but this would take an extremely long time.
Lu Ke vaguely knew that the day he would face another bottleneck would come sooner or later. It just came much faster than he had expected. However, from another perspective, in the past few months, Lu Ke had intermittently used base skill points to improve his physical fitness. Although it wasn't a lot, he still improved at a faster rate than through his daily accumulation and training. What's more, Lu Ke's physical talent was originally very poor, and with the system's intensive strength training bonus in just four months, his physical fitness had improved at a rapid pace, completing a qualitative leap from a quantitative change. A year ago, this was simply unimaginable. So, he should not be too greedy.
In competitive sports, it is about making gradual progress. Those who want to get fat in one bite will often choke themselves to death. After confirming that he had reached a bottleneck again, Lu Ke felt a sense of relief after his initial brief disappointment. If everything went smoothly and was unstoppable, and there was no challenge, no change, and no struggle, how boring would life be? Now, Lu Ke was beginning to look forward to it.
For now, the system's daily training missions have not changed, and it is impossible to predict when they will change. But one thing is for sure: this year's offseason should be very interesting, as this will be Lu Ke's first offseason in his professional career. In college, the offseason was more focused on studying, and the team's training was relatively less formal, at least for the practice squad. But after entering the league, the offseason became extremely important. Players could choose to indulge themselves and relax, but if they wanted to continue to climb the peak, the offseason was the best opportunity.
After the inspection was complete, Lu Ke opened his inbox and began to read the unread messages.
First, the game mission. In the past two games, he won both, and the game missions were all successfully completed. In Week 16 of the regular season, against the Seattle Seahawks, Lu Ke had two passing touchdowns. Along with the other missions, he gained a total of seven base skill points. In Week 17 of the regular season, against the St. Louis Rams, Lu Ke had one touchdown. Along with the other missions, he gained a total of six base skill points. So, he gained a total of 13 base skill points from the game missions.
Next, the special mission, which came from the game against the Seahawks.
"Special Mission: Slap in the Face to Racism."
The mission was mainly aimed at two people. One was Richard Sherman. This player had repeatedly made outlandish remarks in front of journalists and had become one of the most prominent troublemakers in the league. His dissatisfaction and contempt for Lu Ke were never hidden. Although he never said it directly, the discrimination in his words was obvious, not to mention that the two had already been at odds with each other since the rookie training camp.
The other was Carl Smith, the Seahawks' quarterback coach. Very few people know about the direct confrontation between Carl and Lu Ke in the rookie training camp. It was so intense that even the words "on the verge of a fight" were not enough to describe it. The blatant discrimination was completely undisguised, and he attacked Lu Ke sharply and viciously. More importantly, Lu Ke protested, but Carl never apologized. If Sherman was just a clown, then Carl was the real attacker. The condescending discrimination was deeply ingrained in his bones.
In the second to last week of the regular season, the San Francisco 49ers went to CenturyLink Field to face the Seattle Seahawks again. People's attention was focused on Sherman, but the system did not forget the hateful gaze from Carl, and neither did Lu Ke. So, the system gave him a special mission.
In that game, Lu Ke played for a total of three quarters. He not only tore apart Sherman, who was all over the place and had flaws everywhere, which caused Pete Carroll to pull him out of the game, but he also made the Seahawks' offense lackluster. No matter how Carl tried to command his players, the 49ers' offense's dominance firmly held the absolute advantage.
Without a doubt, Lu Ke successfully completed the special mission. After going all out, he not only successfully swept the Seattle Seahawks this season but also truly shut Carl's mouth. More importantly, Lu Ke personally ruined the Seahawks' playoff hopes for this season. It was rumored that after the game, head coach Pete Carroll and Carl Smith had a fierce argument. The so-called argument was actually Carroll venting all his anger on Carl like a flood. He was so angry that he didn't even have time to close his office door before the cursing began. The red-faced Carl tried to retort but was ultimately completely suppressed and felt extremely ashamed.
For Lu Ke, the sweetest moment came when he personally crushed his division rival's playoff hopes. The happiest moment came when Sherman left the field early and Carl fell and tripped over his own water bottle. As for the special mission's reward, it was an extra bonus. But finally shutting those flies up and also gaining something was a double win, and the joy was naturally doubled. So, he gained two special skill points, one unknown special skill pack, and one skill point lottery ticket from the special mission.
Next, the objective mission. This season, Lu Ke had two objective missions, and with the end of the regular season, it was finally time to tally them up.
The first objective mission, "The Transformation of a Strong Team's Game Temperament." The simple summary was a winning streak mission. After a three-game winning streak, he could continue to accumulate wins to get base skill points. This time, the San Francisco 49ers ended the season with a five-game winning streak, which meant Lu Ke gained three additional base skill points. In his two attempts, Lu Ke's highest record was a five-game winning streak. He wondered if there would be an objective mission next season. If so, maybe he could challenge a better record next time to see how long the team's concentration could last.
The second objective mission, "Cultivate a Quarterback's Passing Lineage." This was a mission that appeared in Week 6 of the regular season against the Detroit Lions. The mission requirement was, "Before the end of the 17-week regular season, the host needs to choose two passing targets to complete 15 and 10 touchdowns, respectively. Logan Newman (0/15) and Ted Ginn (0/10)." Now that the season was finally over, Logan had a total of 19 passing touchdowns, and Ted Ginn had 13 passing touchdowns. Both players successfully reached their goals and completed the requirements of the objective mission.
On a side note, in the San Francisco 49ers, Logan was the number one receiving target, and Ginn was the number two receiving target. The stats for Marcus Lynch and Vernon Davis were very close, ranking third and fourth, respectively. Michael Crabtree's receptions and receiving yards ranked fifth, but Kyle Williams's receiving touchdowns ranked fifth. Overall, Lu Ke's passing targets were relatively spread out, which completely revitalized the entire wide receiver and tight end group. He even unearthed Marcus's talent and ability as a slot receiver, building up the entire passing system.
This was a long-term season mission. After finally confirming its completion, the mission rewards were also very generous: one development gift pack and one comprehensive training pack. So, the total gains from the objective missions were three base skill points, one development gift pack, and one comprehensive training pack.
Then, the daily mission. Even in the final stages of the regular season, Lu Ke's daily training missions were never interrupted. This was the last daily training mission of the regular season cycle, and he gained one more base skill point.
Finally, the hidden mission. All the information about the hidden mission was still elusive. After opening the system today, he found out that he had completed another hidden mission. However, before reading the detailed mission description, Lu Ke wasn't sure what this hidden mission was about. The only thing he could be sure of was that hidden missions were always very rewarding and might even bring another surprise.
Lu Ke opened the mission description and read it carefully. When his eyes fell on the mission requirements, his eyes were full of question marks. "What's going on here?"
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