Chapter 233 A Warm Welcome

[ Quest rewards ]

[ All skills have gone up a level ]

[ Shot stopping attribute is now level two ]

[ +70 exp received ]

'Wow, all my skills have gone up a level, that means my ball magnet is at level three now.'

<Yeah>

[ Ball magnet: level (03) ]

'It's going to be stronger now and I have more tries before the cooldown time.'

<Absolutely>

'I'll have to wait till our next match to see how the shot-stopping attribute has improved.'

<Yeah, but you'll be shocked to see how much you get from just a single level jump, attributes are hard to level up for a reason, I think you got lucky in this one>

'A big jump? That sounds interesting, but isn't this big jump going to affect my stamina and energy more?'

<You'll have to wait and see>

"I have to go get some hot water on my body," Mateo said before he got up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom leaving the goalkeeper all alone in the room now.

[ Dream control deactivated ]

'I know the reflex training isn't over yet but I want to feel like I really slept today.'

<It's okay, I understand>

'Thank you.'

The goalkeeper stared at the ceiling for a while before he slowly closed his eyes and dozed.

_______ ________

The players were set to leave for Bilbeth by 10:00 AM and right now, they were all getting their things ready to start heading out.

Mateo was arranging his things on his bed when something clicked in his mind.

He turned to the wall clock to see that the time was 8:45 AM before he quickly turned his gaze to Dave.

"Hey, could you please help me arrange these things, I'll be back really quick?"

He didn't even give the goalkeeper the time to say what he wanted to say before he quickly dashed out of the room.

"Fine." The goalkeeper said with a sigh before turning his gaze to the pieces of stuff he had asked him to help him park and arrange.

<You know where he's going, right?>

'Yeah.' Dave replied as he kept on arranging his stuff inside his backpack.

After getting ready to leave, the players were all taken to the airport and right now, they were standing near their private plane with Norman standing in front of them.

"I must say, you all have surprised me, you all did really well, even the new faces in the team, with the way we've played so far, I believe that we can fight for the title this season or at least get a Champions League spot, I just hope you guys continue to play with your hearts." Norman expressed. "As you all know, Merino here picked up an injury in one of our matches now but it wasn't that serious and he's fit now so we won't be starting the new season with an injured player which is a good thing."

"You got that right," Merino said.

After telling them about the other things he wanted to tell them, the players made their way into the plane and were now on their way to Bilbeth.

After a few minutes in the air, Mateo opened the small bag he had with him and brought a rectangular object which Dave couldn't clearly tell what it was from where he was sitting.

"What's that? The goalkeeper asked before leaning closer to see what he was holding and after seeing it, he couldn't help but feel amazed. "Where did you get that?"

What Mateo was holding happened to be a painting, to be precise, it was an illustration, an illustration of the winger's first goal against Barcelona in their four goals to-two defeat, the illustration was accurate from the minor details to the major details, the beautiful lob and the way Frank moved toward the ball, that was why Dave was shocked when he saw it.

"It was a gift." The winger said.

"A gift? From who?" Dave asked.

The goalkeeper had an idea of who it may be but he just wanted to be sure.

Mateo stared at the picture for a while and just as a smile appeared on his face, he turned his gaze to Dave.

"It was from Sofia." He replied.

"Wow, where did she get something like this?" The goalkeeper asked.

"She didn't get it from anywhere."

"Huh?"

"She drew it herself." The winger said.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, she's an artist, a very good one."

"Wow, I didn't know that."

"I didn't know either until today, she said this was a parting gift since I came to see her before leaving but it looked like she was planning to give it to me from the start." Matei expressed. "She looked like she was getting ready to head someway and also, my name is written at the top."

Dave looked at the top to see that Mateo's name was written there with a black pen but the writing was a little hard to see unless you look hard enough.

"A parting gift huh? Hope you have her one too?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, she should be receiving it just about now." The winger asked.

"I see," Dave said.

The players arrived at the Unique FC airport after about two hours in the air and before going anywhere, they had to head to the Wondanmo stadium and greet the fans who were all waiting for them there.

"It's nice to be back home," Dave said before taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, but it was just two weeks," Merino said.

"For you guys, it was just two weeks, it was a month plus for me." The goalkeeper said.

"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about that." The winger said with an awkward smile on his face.

"Let's go meet the fans," Mateo said before making his way toward the bus.

The fans were all gathered in front of the entrance to the building as the players made their way toward it but the guards made sure to restrict the entrance with ropes so that the players won't get swallowed by the crowd on their way into the building.

The fans were chanting the name of the players and this time, Dave could hear his name loud and clear, a lot of balls, shirts, and other things were thrown his way and he was happy to sign them all, well, technically not all of them because he wouldn't go home if that were to happen.

The other staff along with the president of the club were already waiting for them inside to give them their own share of a warm welcome.

Tom quickly made his way to his son as soon as he spotted him and hugged him.

"Welcome back son, you're really starting to make a name for yourself."

"Thanks, dad, and I'm glad to be back."

"This is a surprise, I didn't expect everyone to be so warm and welcoming here," Martinez said.

"It hasn't always been this way but I guess things are starting to change and I have a good feeling about how things are going to turn on from here onwards." Mateo expressed.

***

Mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.

Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.