1 [1] Talent System

"How nice..."

a 6-year-old boy muttered while sitting on a bench with his legs swinging back and forth as he observed the entirety of the park in front of him.

One could mistake the boy as an adult with how calm and unnatural his expression was if it weren't for his small body that is.

Usually, children of his age would be playing or messing around but this boy was clearly different.

He was just sitting there, at a random park, enjoying the view as if he were some old man reminiscing a memory.

This made the scene quite comical from an outside perspective considering a boy of his age was acting like an old man.

But the truth was, that boy was indeed an old man...

"Reincarnation, huh..."

The boy muttered again as he switched his gaze up to the skies, observing the naturally flowing clouds drift in the air.

"Who would have thought an old man like me would reincarnate"

The boy laughed, clearly enjoying the situation he was presented with.

At first, he was confused when he realized he had reincarnated with his memories of his past life intact but over time he had come to learn to accept his situation.

Part of the reason he accepted it quickly was because he had used to read manga and watch anime, even some manhwas.

Naturally, he had read a few reincarnation or isekai genres which made him think he was in a similar situation.

And what made him even sure of it was the world he had come about.

It was different from the past world he had lived in.

Though there were some similarities, there were a few differences as well that he had noticed.

One of them was a man named Noel Noa, a footballer or a soccer player, depending on which country you are in.

But then, so what?

How could this man's existence be any different from his world?

Whether this man was the best striker in the world or not, it wouldn't change...

That is if you haven't read the manga Blue Lock.

That's right, this old man...

No, now a 6-year-old boy once read this manga in his past life and was an absolute fan of it.

It was a pity that he died early on and couldn't finish the whole thing.

He only got to the part where the Bastard Munchen was fighting against the PXG team.

After that, he unfortunately died and got reincarnated in this place, the world of Blue Lock.

Now how would that knowledge change this boy's situation?

Well, for one, almost every reincarnation, transmigration, or even isekai story.

The protagonist is accompanied by a system or some sort of cheat to help out their journey.

And he, the boy who got reincarnated had just turned 6 years old today and had awakened his very own system.

[The Talent System]

"How very nice..."

The boy muttered as a small grin appeared on his face but it only lasted for a second before it returned to the calm expression he had a while ago.

"Status"

[Ding!]

= = = = = = = = = = =

[Name: Izumo Kizashi]

[Sex: Male]

[Age: 6]

[Strength: F]

[Stamina: F-]

[Dexterity: F+]

[Agility: F]

[Intelligence: B]

[Talent: Natural Ambidextrous]

= = = = = = = = = = =

"How simple and straightforward... I like it"

Izumo commented and smiled after looking through his status when his eyes were suddenly attracted to his talent.

"I have... a talent?"

Izumo raised his right eyebrow and couldn't help but feel curious as he focused on his talent panel.

[Ding!]

[Talent: Natural Ambidextrous]

[Description: The talent to be completely and evenly ambidextrous with either foot or arm with the same level of power and accuracy on either side]

Reading the description of his talent, Izumo felt a certain familiarity as if he had heard of it before.

He racked his brain, trying to recall where he had heard it before he finally remembered why he felt familiar with this talent.

"Isn't this Noel Noa's god-given blessing!?"

The ability to be ambidextrous at either side of the foot. That was the talent that made Noel Noa an absolute monster of a striker.

Knowing that Izumo had the same talent as the best striker in the world, a certain emotion called pride welled up within him.

"Haha... doesn't that mean I have the talent to be the best striker in the world?"

Arrogance...

Izumo felt like nothing could stand in his way and that he was destined for greatness...

Is what an ignorant dumbass would think.

As someone who had experienced a full 80 years of life, Izumo had come to learn about life and its entirety.

He knew that even if he had the same talent as the best striker in the world, it wouldn't mean that it was 100% destined that he'd become the best.

What made Noel Noa the best was not entirely because of his talent but because of his machine-like intelligence to make full use of the potential of his talent.

There is no such thing as a good or bad talent, everything lies within the person.

If they can't make use of the full potential of their talent, then they'll never step foot in the realm of geniuses.

That is what Izumo Kizashi believed and gleaned from the 80 years of his past life.

"So... I just need to bring forth the full potential of this talent of mine. Sounds like a fun challenge"

Izumo grinned and felt excited at turning his talent equal to the current best striker in the world.

"Hmm..."

Now that Izumo had seen his status, it was finally time to see what his system truly was but judging from the name itself, he had an inkling of what it was going to be.

"Sus... Cough! I mean, system"

[Ding!]

= = = = = = = = = = =

[The Talent System]

[Points: 0]

[Bronze Chest = 10 Points]

[Silver Chest = 100 Points]

[Gold Chest = 1,000 Points]

[Platinum Chest = 10,000 Points]

= = = = = = = = = = =

"Huh??"

Izumo looked dumbfounded as his eyes were constantly blinking in confusion, wondering what the hell this was.

"This is not what I thought at all..."

Izumo had speculated from its name that the system would help nurture or evolve his talent but instead, he was met with this.

Still, now that he had seen the system panel, another speculation occurred to him and he needed to confirm whether this was correct.

"System, isn't this just gacha?"

[...]

"It's a damn gacha, isn't it?"

[...]

Hearing the silence, Izumo wondered whether this system was non-sentient when a familiar notification bell rang inside his mind.

[Ding!]

[Beginners Reward Sent to Host!]

[1x Silver Chest acquired]

[Would you like to open the Silver Chest? Y/N]

Looking at the series of panels that appeared before his eyes, Izumo stayed silent and wondered whether this was the system's way of apologizing for misleading him.

"If it is... then I'll gladly accept it"

Without a single hesitation, Izumo clicked [Y] on the panel as a virtual silver chest appeared in front of him before it opened up and erupted in intense light, blinding his poor eyes.

"Keuk!?"

It took two seconds for him to regain clarity as he had to rub his eyes to ease the irritation.

"System, couldn't you have warned me before this was going to happen?"

[...]

"The silent treatment, huh..."

[...]

"Well, no matter..."

Izumo stopped caring and turned his eyes to the new panel that appeared after the silver chest disappeared.

[Recieved Talent: Eagle Eye]

"Oh? This is... Oh!"

Izumo had an interested look as he gazed straight into the talent he had received and recognized it instantly.

It was the talent Shun Izuki had, the vice-captain of Seirin High Basketball Club and a regular point guard position in his team.

[Talent: Eagle Eye]

[Description: The talent to be able to "see" the field from a different perspective in a smaller range]

"I knew it"

Izumo wasn't the least bit surprised after seeing the talent panel since he had already known what it was.

"Though, I much prefer if I had gotten the Hawk Eyes instead but I can make do with this"

In fact, out of all the talents that he could think of, this was the type of talent he had wanted to get or have.

Izumo knew how useful this was in soccer/football since this was just another version of spatial perception.

A talent that could easily evolve into meta-vision and it's a must-have skill for players if they ever want to step on the higher fields or to become the best.

From what Izumo remembers, you need a high football IQ to acquire this sort of skill.

Of course, there are exceptions like Isagi who already has the talent, the spatial awareness which makes it easier for him to acquire it later on.

Even Barou who was a monster didn't have meta-vision, though he did later make it up by acquiring the predator's eyes.

As for Izumo, he had the confidence to acquire meta-vision, especially after getting eagle eyes.

The only thing he lacked was experience and that's something that he could achieve with time.

Luckily, there is still a long way before the Blue Lock project starts.

As for how he knew...

Well, he had naturally searched on the internet for the names of some footballers in Blue Lock, mainly Rin, Kira, and well, pretty much the famous ones.

And none of them had come up which implies that there was still a lot of time till the story of this verse started.

The only thing Izumo hoped was that he wasn't born so early that he would miss the Blue Lock project.

"That's settled then..."

Izumo breathed out a mouthful of breath before his eyes laid upon a certain panel.

[Points: 0]

"Now, how do I get points?"

[...]

"Not a single reply, I should have expected it"

Izumo mulled over his tiny brain, thinking all sorts of speculation on what is needed to acquire points.

And as he was mulling over, his ears caught upon an interesting conversation.

"Hey! Where did Shuiro go?"

"He said he was sick"

"What?! Why now! We needed 11 players to play a match with those jerks and he just had to get sick today"

A spiky-haired boy, looking quite the same age as Izumo was holding a soccer ball in his hands as he shouted in bitterness at the misfortune that befell upon them.

While these groups of kids were shouting at each other, a certain boy had undoubtedly sneaked behind the spiked-haired boy and tapped his shoulders.

"...?"

The spikey boy feeling the tap on his shoulder, looked behind him just to see an unfamiliar boy smiling at him with a wide grin.

"Say, couldn't help but overhear your conversation..."

Izumo smiled, quietly glancing at the soccer ball in the spikey boy's hand, and smiled even more as he stared straight into the boy's eyes.

"How about I substitute for that friend of yours"