American Football: King of the Bay Area

Just imagining the positive effects the Hidden Attribute ”Luck” might bring was enough to get Lu Ke’s blood pumping with excitement and anticipation.

”Qi, can I read the description for this Hidden Attribute?” Lu Ke asked tentatively. Previously, whether it was Special Skills or Hidden Attributes, the specifics were never visible in the mission rewards. He could only find out the details after opening the reward. But today, things were a little different, so Lu Ke had to tread carefully.

Qi didn’t answer, but instead simply displayed the description.

Lu Ke read it over carefully and gradually began to understand.

Luck, as it turned out, was simply a matter of probability.

For example, a crucial pass, off by a hair’s breadth, could be either dropped or caught. With the influence of luck, it might result in a completion. Or take another example: in a critical moment, the pocket collapses, and what should have been a sack is avoided by the narrowest of margins, allowing the pass to be completed.

The most direct example came in Week 12 of the 2017 regular season, during the game between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. The Broncos’ young quarterback, Paxton Lynch, was in the red zone trying to score a Touchdown. He targeted Wide Receiver Virgil Green, who was triple-covered by defenders.

Lynch’s pass, thrown with too much force, bounced high off Green’s arm. At that critical moment, Green shoved a safety, who immediately fell to the ground. Green and two other defenders then scrambled for the ball, but it was like a hot potato, bobbling between the three players’ hands before finally... landing in the arms of the safety who was lying on the ground.

And just like that, the player made an interception while lying on his back.

That, is luck.

In official competitions, situations like this are countless. In table tennis, a ball might clip the net or the edge of the table; in soccer, there are unexpected own goals. These things are impossible to prevent, yet they can always influence the outcome of a game in different ways. As Tony Romo said after the second week of the regular season: luck is a part of skill.

Now, the system could display Lu Ke’s Hidden Attribute, ”Luck.” He could also use special points to increase his luck, allowing it to play an unexpected role at critical moments.

Similar to his first Hidden Attribute, ”Anticipation,” ”Luck” was also a passive ability. It was impossible to predict when or how it would take effect, nor was it possible to understand its specific function. It simply increased probabilities.

Furthermore, this ”Luck” couldn’t truly affect Lu Ke’s daily life; its effects were confined to the football field. He could forget about getting rich by buying lottery tickets. At the same time, the ”Luck” was primarily focused on Lu Ke himself, with only a very faint influence on his teammates.

According to the description, during a pass, it could, to some extent, influence the receiver or the Offense Line’s pocket protection. But beyond that, his influence on the Defense Team and special teams members was incredibly weak. At most, his own lucky, repeated narrow escapes might boost team morale and give them a performance buff—but as for how much of a buff, that was impossible to know.

In other words, he couldn’t have used Magic to make the Philadelphia Eagles’ last-second, fifty-one-yard field goal bounce out.

So, should Lu Ke choose to unlock the Hidden Attribute, or go with the Point Lottery Ticket?

To be honest, ”Luck” was very appealing. In a critical moment, when skills were pushed to their limit, a little bit of luck could indeed change everything. Even if it was just a matter of probability, the psychological impact was immeasurable. If he could, Lu Ke wanted to be the ”lucky guy” on the field too.

But, on the other hand, Lu Ke’s own abilities still had a lot of room for growth. Rather than trust in luck, he should trust in his skill. Luck was just the icing on the cake. Ultimately, absolute strength was what decided victory or defeat. If he focused on building his abilities in a steady, down-to-earth manner, everything else would fall into place.

Of course, Lu Ke believed that as a reward for a hidden mission, the influence of ”Luck” was likely far greater than it seemed, with perhaps more unknown ways it could control the flow of a game. What’s more, the reward included an immediate boost of five special points. Lu Ke couldn’t help but feel a little curious and excited about what his ”Luck” score might be.

However, after hesitating for a long time, Lu Ke forced himself to look away from the Hidden Attribute. He secretly clenched his fists and said decisively, ”I choose the Point Lottery Ticket.”

Maybe the Point Lottery Ticket would give him a ”0,” leaving him with nothing. Maybe ”Luck” had more functions waiting to be unlocked. Maybe, after missing this chance, it would be ages before he got another opportunity to unlock the ”Luck” Hidden Attribute. But in the end, Lu Ke still believed in his own skill and his own hard work. Steadily growing stronger—that was the true path to improvement.

”Would you like to open the upgraded Point Lottery Ticket now?” Qi’s professional voice rang out.

Having made his choice, Lu Ke regained his composure. No regrets, no looking back. The ”Luck” attribute was now in the past. ”Yes, open the Point Lottery Ticket.” Even so, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth and pray silently, ’Please don’t be a ’0’, or I’ll really regret this.’

’Wait, my luck isn’t that bad, is it? Hold on, if I had chosen ’Luck,’ would I have had a better chance of getting high numbers on future Point Lottery Tickets? No, wait, is that an exploit? Why didn’t I think of that before? Is it too late to change my mind?’

BANG! BANG BANG!

The fireworks from opening the ticket exploded once more. Clearly, it was too late. From the depths of his mind, Qi spoke dutifully, ”Congratulations. By opening the Point Lottery Ticket, you have won seven basic points and three special points.”

A faint sense of regret flickered and was gone. Lu Ke let out a long sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t two ”0”s, and the point haul was actually pretty good. ”Qi, this was an upgraded Point Lottery Ticket. What’s the difference?”

”The minimum value is different,” Qi immediately explained. ”The minimum for basic points is one, and the maximum is twenty. The minimum for special points is one, and the maximum is five.”

In other words, the maximum values hadn’t changed, but the minimum had gone from ”0” to ”1.” So that’s what made it an upgraded Point Lottery Ticket.

After the truth was revealed, Lu Ke felt a tightness in his chest. ”Wow, what an... earth-shattering upgrade.”

”Yes, you think so too?” Qi’s deadpan reply landed like a heavy blow to Lu Ke’s chest.

He let out a long breath, pushing all opportunistic thoughts aside. Although he had missed out on the ”Luck” Hidden Attribute, the haul from the upgraded Point Lottery Ticket wasn’t bad, especially the special points. Getting three points from a range of ”1-5” was a good result. Could this be considered a silver lining?

Tallying it all up, for Week 4 of the regular season, he had earned a total of thirteen basic points, three special points, and one beginner’s cheat. Even though he had lost the game, the generous rewards once again proved that effort pays off. If they had won the game, would the rewards have doubled? Would the prize for the hidden mission have been even more impressive?

Lu Ke would never know the answer to that. But one thing was certain: he had to work even harder and give his all in the upcoming games.

Next, it was time to allocate his points. After giving up ”Luck,” the three special points could only be added to ”Anticipation.” Lu Ke applied them without hesitation and was surprised to see his ”Anticipation” score reach eighty-one. This meant another of his skills had broken the eighty-point threshold. His arsenal was finally starting to expand.

Then, his gaze fell on the thirteen basic points.

After much thought and reflection on the previous week’s game, he had finally allocated those points. This week, Lu Ke didn’t hesitate much when it came to his choices.

His top priority was to keep enhancing his strengths and improve his competitiveness on the field. His physical fitness and mobility still required a massive point investment, so it would be difficult to raise them to an average level in the short term. If he didn’t focus on optimizing his strengths now, he would just become another ordinary quarterback, relatively average in all aspects—

The Alliance was full of quarterbacks like that. Decent physique, decent running ability, decent tactical sense, decent passing skills—average across the board, but lacking a true trump card. Alex Smith, Scott Torsin, and many others were just like that.

To stand out from the competition, he couldn’t rely on being ”average.” He had to leverage his strengths to gain an advantage, and then, one by one, work on his weaknesses.

Everyone says the shortest plank of a barrel determines its capacity, and that’s true. But before you can even fill the barrel, it’s the longest plank that determines its maximum potential capacity. Right now, Lu Ke needed his greatest strength to become even more dominant.

And so, in a flash, Lu Ke finished allocating all the points.

First, he added four basic points to Short Pass Accuracy, raising it from seventy-one to seventy-five.

Second, he added seven basic points to Mid-range Pass Accuracy, raising it from sixty-eight to seventy-five.

Third, he added two basic points to Tactical Awareness, raising it from eighty to eighty-two.

In the blink of an eye, all thirteen basic points were gone.

Right now, Lu Ke hoped to improve his Tactical Awareness as quickly as possible. The Offense Line needed his direction, and he needed to be able to read defenses and recognize various tactical combinations during the game. He had to catch those fleeting changes on the field to give himself more protection and complete his passes.

This was also the first time in a while that Lu Ke had upgraded his pass accuracy. Aside from his eighty-two-point long pass, the instability of his mid-range and short passes had been thoroughly exposed over the past four weeks. The data didn’t lie: his completion percentages in those two areas were relatively low.

Now, Lu Ke had finally raised the accuracy of his mid-range and short passes.