Standing in front of a big football field, Ryan and Emily had opposing expressions plastered on their faces.
Ryan held a large smile while Emily's brow was raised in puzzlement.
"How are we going to make friends here?"
Turning toward Emily, Ryan said, "It's simple, we join the school's sports club."
"Sports are a great way of meeting people."
'Plus, girls love the captain of the football team.' Ryan added in his mind.
Ryan had seen the sports club advertisements in the hub that proclaimed them the biggest campus club. Figuring it would be an easy way to meet and show off to the ladies, Ryan had decided to at least see what the club was about.
While talking with Emily, he realized that she would be isolated if she were without friends, so he decided to bring her along.
Walking up to the duo was a purple-haired girl with her hair tucked into a baseball cap with the words "Tiger Squad" written on it.
He could see she wore the number 7 on her purple jersey that had a captain tag on her right shoulder.
"Are you too looking to join the sports club?" She asked, her brown eyes scanning the duo, "We're just getting a game started. Care to join?" She said, indicating behind her to 18 other people on the field.
Nodding, Ryan stretched out his hand and said, "I'm Anthony. This is Emily. We'd love to join you." Glancing at his hand, the girl grinned at him, turned towards the field, and started running away, "I'll shake your hand if you can beat me, Anthony."
Seeing the girl run off, Ryan got a glint in his eye and turned to Emily, "Let's show them what Royalty can do."
Nodding vehemently, Emily started running toward the field. She looked at the girl running away and swore she would teach that arrogant brat a lesson.
No one refused a handshake from her prince and get's away with it.
As Ryan got to the opposite side of the field from the Tiger Squad, he met with his other nine teammates: eight girls and one man.
Ryan had also noticed two males on the other team and asked, "Why are so many guys in the sports club?"
The male-to-female population on campus was close to 1:1000. Seeing three guys out of nineteen was definitely out of the ordinary.
A girl with abnormally large breasts wearing the number 22 answered, "Enhancers like you don't have a lot of class time, and I heard you have a requirement for physical activity that can be met by joining the sports club."
The only other male on the team nodded his head in agreement.
"So, how does this game work?" Ryan asked as he saw that seems weren't the same on earth.
The goalposts that one could score a goal in were about twice as long as normal and almost three times the height.
Emily looked at him, questioning, "You don't know how to play Nova Ball?"
Seeing Ryan shake his head, Emily beamed, "Then I'll explain it to you!"
"The objective of the game is to score goals with the Nova Ball by getting it in those nets."
"Each time you score a goal into the net, your team gets one point, and the first to five points is the winner!"
"You can't touch the ball with your hands or go out of those white lines around the field. There are rules like offsides and penalties, but you'll learn those as you go." Emily said nonchalantly, waving her hand in placation.
Ryan's eyebrows twitched as Emily brushed over the most complex part of the game and prayed the rules were the same as the Football (American Soccer) he was used to.
"Hm… anything else?" Emily said as she tapped her chin, contemplating.
"You forgot the most important part for him," Number 22, who spoke up earlier, added, "While playing Nova Ball, cultivators aren't allowed to activate any energy besides enhancing their kick. However, the ball can calculate how strong the cultivator is and adjust accordingly, making the game actually favor the enhancers."
Confused, Ryan asked, "What do you mean?"
"Say I am 500 energy points away from F-Rank. The ball will detect that and adjust my kick to that strength. However, if I can't control my full energy, I might only be able to output the strength of 550 energy points away from F-Rank, making my kick weaker than someone who has no energy and can always exude their full power."
Ryan's eyes lit up, and asked, "So, Nova Ball allows you to practice your energy control?"
Nodding, she said, "Not only that, but the Nova Ball itself is a treasure, allowing a cultivator to gain a higher energy control if they score while using at least 80% of their energy's maximum power."
Ryan was eager to play, but he had to ask, "Then why are the goals so big? Won't it be too easy to score?"
Emily, who was waiting for her chance to jump in, immediately answered, "It's because the goalie can use their energy for speed, but if they're fast enough, they have to wear special shoes that limit their speed, but that's only for people with heavenly screens."
Nodding in agreement, number 22 said, "Correct, and the goalie will gain a slight improvement to their speed control if they stop a ball from getting into the net."
"Nova Ball is an official sport of the four great empires, and an official tournament is held every ten years, including all the major empires and kingdoms. Even the Dawn Pavilion has a team and has won the last three tournaments in a row!"
Ryan wasn't too surprised that sports were such a popular event. He had seen stadiums filled with fans on earth and had heard of events being watched by hundreds of millions of people.
While this world contained cultivation and magic, he could feel the imperceptible connection to earth, especially in the academy.
The internet, cell phones, academies, and now sports.
The world had dragons, demons, and a system, for fucks sake. There was no coincidence that he had heard about them on earth, Ryan was sure. The worlds had to be connected. Somehow.