When I opened my eyes, I was in a familiar place, but everything was smaller—the desk, the chair, the ceiling fan that barely worked. My limbs were short, my voice high. My mother called from the kitchen with that youthful tone she hadn't used in years.
I was ten again. Fourth grade. Back in the body of my childhood.
And in the corner of my vision, a translucent screen hovered.
Welcome to Total Football System v1.0
Primary User: James Wong
Age: 10 (Reincarnated)
Passive Skill Unlocked: "Karma Memory" – Retain emotional experience from prior timeline
Skill Tree Initialization:
Ball Control: Level 1 Vision: Locked Resilience: Maxed (Origin: betrayal + injury) Trust: Broken Leadership: Dormant
I stared at my small hands. The hands that would lift no trophies in the first life. Maybe in this one.
The Philippines hadn't changed. It was still the same basketball-crazed archipelago, with cracked roads, broken goals, and barely any turf. Football was still a hobby, not a dream.
But this time, I had something more. Knowledge. Pain. Fire.
I was going to build it myself. From the dirt. From the shadows.
A new league. A new movement.
A new me.
This time, I wouldn't just play the game. I would change it.