CHAPTER 38: RECOVERY

Meanwhile, back in Lukas’s room.

"I should send her a text soon. I don’t know what to say, though," Lukas thought as he tried to get up from the bed.

"Oh my goodness! What is this feeling?" Lukas groaned. His whole body felt so sore.

He had gotten used to the LTC making all his soreness go away after a training session, so his current feeling felt foreign to him.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I have to go to Riederwald for the recovery session today. How am I supposed to do that?"

[*Are you thinking to yourself, or are you asking me for an answer?*]

"Do you have an answer?"

[*You haven’t logged in for your LTC session today.*]

"That’s not an answer, though."

[*Just do it!*]

"Login to the LTC."

Lukas closed his eyes shut as the white light engulfed him.

"No matter how many times I do this, I will never get used to this blinding light."

"Cue ’Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd."

[*It’s never gonna stop. And shutting your eyes doesn’t make you not see it.*]

"Yeah. But it helps, psychologically," he responded as he lowered himself to the gym floor.

[*Alright. Whatever works for you.*]

"Why do I still feel so sore even in here? Isn’t my real body supposed to be in my bedroom?"

[*Think of this as a one-to-one depiction of your real body. So anything you’re feeling — soreness, injuries — whatever it is, if you feel it in the real world, you will feel it here, and vice versa.*]

"Wait, so if I just chill here for 48 hours until I stop feeling sore, I can go back to the real world and the soreness would be completely gone?"

[*That would work.*]

"So I can stop my after-match soreness in just 48 real world seconds?"

[*That’s about right.*]

"Instead of just waiting around, can’t I do a recovery session in here? Does the LTC have that ability?"

[Recovery Session Tasks

Task 1: Foam Rolling for Calves, Hamstrings, Quads, Glutes, and Lower Back. 100 seconds per zone.

Task 2: Dynamic Mobility Routines

– 20x Leg Swings (Front & Side)

– 20x Hip Circles (Each Direction)

– 20x Arm Circles

– 10x World’s Greatest Stretch

– 5 minute light jogging

Task 3: Technical Activation (with Abstract)

– 50x Right Foot Passes

– 50x Left Foot Passes

Task 4: Cardiovascular Recovery

– 30 minutes Light Swimming Session.

Task 5: 8 minutes Ice Bath. ]

Lukas read through the recovery task list presented on the system window while laying on the floor like it was his bed.

"There is a swimming pool here? I never knew that."

[*You never asked. And yeah, there is everything needed for your training here.*]

"An ice bath too?"

[*Something like that, yeah.*]

"Okay then. Give me a few minutes before I start."

[*Take your time.*]

Lukas lay on the floor for almost half an hour, bored and tired, as he tried to count how many panels the ceiling of the LTC gym had.

"79..80..81.. It’s always different each time I count it. TT, you’re doing something to it, right?"

[*You probably just don’t know how to count.*]

"Yeah, right. Anyway, that’s enough rest, I should start the session," Lukas grunted as he forced himself up from the floor and walked towards the part of the gym with foam roller.

* * *

"THE ’ICE BATH’ WAS JUST YOU FREEZING THE POOL!?" Lukas screamed as he ran out of the pool, a towel wrapped around his waist as water dripped down his hair onto his face.

[*It’s technically an ice bath isn’t it? When you asked me, I didn’t say yes, I said ’something like that.’*]

"Smart mouth, huh?"

[*Sorry for not warning you, but how do you feel?*]

The question made Lukas pause in his steps and bounced on his feet. He had successfully completed the recovery session, and there was a stark difference between how he felt before and after the session.

"It’s not 100%, but I feel better by a mile."

[*Yeah obviously you’ll have to eat and rest to get to a 100%. You can rest here, but you’ll have to go back to the real world to eat.*]

"Well I might as well rest for a few hours before leaving," he thought as he walked into the tactical training room. He didn’t have to change his clothes as they changed automatically depending on what part of the center he was in.

The room was as huge as a theater, but it had just one seat in the middle, and was completely dark.

As he sat down on the seat, "Play the Spain vs Germany match played on July 5th, 2024," he gave out the instruction.

Immediately, the scene shifted.

The empty dark room transformed into a huge stage.

The atmosphere at its peak as Lukas sat at an area just beside the bench.

He had the same view of the match as the coaches, and could clearly hear all their instructions.

It was another feature added to the LTC after it’s upgrade to v2.0. It was like the match was unfolding live in front of him.

"This is still so crazy to experience. It’s like I’m right there."

As the whistle blew, Lukas sat up on his chair, his elbow on his knees, and his fingers propping up his jaw as he became engulfed in the match.

As the match edged closer to the end of the first 90 minutes, both Luis De La Fuente and Julian Nagelsmann, were screaming instructions at the top of their lungs.

Lukas watched how the players reacted to the instructions. Even with the fans virtually swallowing up the coaches’ words, some players were able to understand their coach’s tactics just by following the hand gestures.

He watched Wirtz equalize in the 89th minute to take the game into extra time and Mikel Merino’s 119th-minute dagger to the heart of 84 million+ Germans.

* * *

Lukas walked into his sitting room.

He sat down on the sofa, and opened up Netflix.

"Just one episode and I’ll leave for Frankfurt," he muttered, trying to convince himself he could stop anytime.

Just as he went to continue Breaking Bad, a TV show he had watched from the beginning to the end more than ten times, Javi stepped in.

"Hey.. If it isn’t my debutant. Once again, I’m really sorry I couldn’t make it to Stuttgart yesterday, I had a shortmeeting with my thesis advisor which turned out to be a 5-hour discussion," Javi strutted into the room with hot coffee steaming from his mug as he took a sip every few seconds.

"It’s alright, Dad. I know you can’t make it to every game, and I don’t expect you too. And like I told you, I wasn’t even sure I was gonna get minutes."

"Well with the performance I saw on that YouTube video, I promise you’ll get a lot more minutes from now on. And I’ll try to attend as many games as I can, especially the home games."

"Thanks, Dad. By the way, Anne, I can literally see your shoes right here. Are you gonna leave them here?" Lukas raised his head from his phone, as he stared directly at Javi’s direction.

"What are you talking about? Anne isn’t here," Javi tried to deny as he shuffled his feet towards the door.

He was planning on covering her so she could sneak out of the house without Lukas noticing, but Lukas had already seen her shoes when he walked into the sitting room, and he heard the murmurs from them when they found out he was in the living room.

"He’s caught us already. What’s the use of hiding? What am I even hiding for? It’s not like I committed a crime, right?" Anne asked as she walked out from behind Javi, she looked tidy like she had taken her time to clean up before she left Javi’s room.

She was barefooted, though.

"Exactly. You did nothing wrong. There’s no need to hide," Lukas replied as he moved his attention back to his phone as if saying, "it’s not a big deal."

A slight smile played on Javi’s lips for a moment as he realized that Lukas had accepted Anne into their house without any issue. He was conflicted on how to talk to him about her potentially spending weekends with them.

"Congratulations on your debut, Lukas. I saw the video."

"Thanks, Anne. I really appreciate it."

"They uploaded the video really quickly. I gotta watch it again," Lukas made a mental note as a proud smile rested on his face while he thought about the match.

"Since I don’t have to hide, I might as well have breakfast before I go, right? I’m hungry," she said as she looked at Javi with puppy-like eyes.

"Dad! You were gonna send her home hungry? What happened to all those talks about being a gentleman?"

Of course Javi and Anne’s initial plan was to sneak Anne out of the apartment, then Javi would meet her outside and they’d have breakfast together, but there was no need for all that anymore.

Lukas helped Javi as they set the table for breakfast.

"Just sit down Anne, don’t worry about anything," Javi insisted when Anne tried to help. Without realizing it, he was starting to hope that she would be his final destination.

A/N: Chapter for 17th July.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day/night.

If not, I hope I have been able to be a distraction to any problem you might be facing.

I love you all.

And stay safe.

-Writ.