Chapter 61 - 39: Prestige! The Sixth Passive Skill! A Miracle for Ordinary People

Wang Shuo stared at the message in front of him, finding it a little hard to believe.

After the shock of getting [Damage Reduction], he had become somewhat desensitized to how insane the Ball God System’s Passive Skills could be. After all, he’d been through a lot.

But this passive skill was truly incredible.

"First Move: Enhances predictive ability to anticipate an opponent’s moves."

As the name implied, [First Move] enhanced Wang Shuo’s predictive ability.

But if that was all it did, Wang Shuo wouldn’t have been so shocked.

At first, Wang Shuo thought that [First Move] and [Insight] might have overlapping functions.

But when he took a closer look at the two Passive Skills, he quickly discovered their differences.

[Insight] was about devising strategies and controlling the overall situation, predicting the opponent’s next play.

Here, "opponent" didn’t refer to an individual player, but to both sides as a whole—the entire game.

Therefore, [Insight] was more about improving his ability to read the game, deepening his prediction and analysis of the match’s flow.

This was also why his off-the-ball movement had improved so drastically after he obtained [Insight].

But with [First Move]’s ability to "anticipate an opponent’s moves," the "opponent" here referred to individuals.

And not just one, but every single individual Wang Shuo could focus on, predicting their next action.

The higher its level, the more players he could track.

That was absolutely insane.

More importantly, in one-on-one or even one-on-N situations, [First Move] could dramatically boost Wang Shuo’s individual ability.

Imagine it: when he had the ball, he could constantly track the movements of multiple players around him, predicting and deducing their next moves in advance.

Wouldn’t that allow him to find the optimal solution in real-time?

Wouldn’t it be much harder for opponents to stop him then?

’This is pushing me to keep honing my individual skills!’

Wang Shuo couldn’t help but smile after clearly understanding the effects of the [First Move] passive skill.

Although he hadn’t tested it in a match or on the training ground yet, based on his experience with his other Passive Skills, he was sure [First Move] would be a huge help.

Even though he hadn’t gotten the passive skill he wanted for strengthening his physical contact, Wang Shuo wasn’t disappointed at all.

He believed that [First Move] definitely wouldn’t let him down!

For him, two things were most important now.

One was defeating St. Pauli in the final round to help Mainz secure a spot in the Bundesliga for next season.

The other was his special training over the summer.

He had already mentioned this to Klopp, Buvac, and Axel Busenkel.

This summer was crucial for him, so he didn’t plan on returning to his home country. Instead, he would stay at the club and train hard.

From landing in Germany in January, to arriving in Mainz in March, to now, Wang Shuo felt like a whip was constantly cracking at his back, forcing him to keep charging forward.

He simply hadn’t had time to stop and properly analyze the pros and cons of his time playing in Germany.

So far, he hadn’t properly adapted to and integrated his six Passive Skills either.

He always felt that he was still far from unleashing the full threat of these Passive Skills.

None of the Passive Skills were completely independent. Figuring out how to combine them would require Wang Shuo to find some time to stop, study, and practice.

Without a doubt, this summer was the perfect opportunity.

...

Wang Shuo’s rented apartment was in a residential area south of Mainz University.

It was about 2.5 kilometers from Bruch Road Stadium.

Every morning, Wang Shuo would set off from his apartment, jog past Mainz University, cut through Bruch Road Stadium, and arrive at the first team’s training ground.

Usually at this time, before team practice began, there was hardly anyone around.

But today, as Wang Shuo passed through the parking lot south of Bruch Road Stadium, he discovered that a crowd of fans had already gathered.

Wang Shuo found this very strange.

"Hey, Wang."

A sharp-eyed Mainz fan spotted Wang Shuo jogging over.

The greeting immediately drew everyone’s attention.

"Hi, good morning." Wang Shuo’s smile was a little stiff.

This was the first time he had faced so many fans alone.

He grew a little nervous, especially when he remembered how this same crowd had completely mobbed Bruch Road Stadium last night.

Most importantly, he still didn’t know how to communicate and interact with German fans.

The club hadn’t given him any guidance on the matter.

Finally, a young, blonde female fan came forward and proactively offered Wang Shuo a handshake.

"Hello, I’m a student at Mainz University. Can I take a picture with you?"

"Of course."

The female fan was delighted. She immediately moved closer to Wang Shuo and asked another Mainz fan nearby to take a photo.

"Could you sign an autograph for me?"

"Of course."

Only then did Wang Shuo suddenly remember that he didn’t have an English name, so he simply signed his name in Chinese.

The female fan was overjoyed and gave Wang Shuo an enthusiastic hug.

Wang Shuo stood rooted to the spot.

’She has a great figure!’

’But, miss, we were just taking a picture, why the hug?’

’Did you pay for this?’

’I could report you for assault.’

Most importantly, Wang Shuo wasn’t sure if "hugging back" would get him accused of something.

Thomas Essien had warned him: "It’s a dangerous world out there for a guy, you have to learn to protect yourself."

Wang Shuo would rather play against Cologne again on the pitch than face such an awkward situation.

But once there was a first, others soon followed.