What Mystic noticed was the sharp dip in the stamina bar above Adekunle's head, a glaring drop that hadn't been there before.
It was a new detail he had caught, and now his thoughts all made perfect sense, the use of that powerful skill had come at a heavy cost.
Mystic quickly connected the dots, such Active level skills like Power Shot drained stamina drastically.
It dawned on him that Adekunle must've seen no reason to use such a taxing move in their previous match, as even the Dark Elites hadn't posed enough of a challenge to force it out of him.
Until now, Adekunle's and Idris' stamina levels had remained consistently high throughout the simulation.
Their endurance stats were clearly superior due to their rank, but Mystic now realized something else, when up against opponents who couldn't pressure them, their stamina barely dipped.
However, the moment they were made to exert themselves to a greater extent, that they have to resort to their active skills then the drain became rapid.
The goal had been scored, but to Mystic's surprise, his team didn't seem rattled.
Instead, they had already taken the ball back to the center of the field. With no hesitation, as the play resumed.
From midfield, Lambert and Jezzy Vingz exchanged quick passes, working to shrug off the aggressive press from Adekunle and Jamiu, despite the pressure, they didn't panic.
Then came their chance—at the 45th minute.
After an exhausting back-and-forth with the energized Bariga Young Boyz, a slight error occurred.
As one of Bariga's midfielders miscalculated a pass, and Lambert, who had been conserving his energy, intercepted it cleanly, the moment the ball touched his feet, two opponents rushed at him, eager to reclaim possession.
But Lambert calmly flicked his right foot, curving the ball out left.
It flew straight toward Mojo, who had been waiting for just such a moment.
Without hesitation, Mojo drove the ball forward with his right foot, cutting through the space on the left flank where the Bariga Young Boyz' right wingback was approaching fast at him.
With the ball pushed forward, a sprinting duel began between Mojo and the wing back, ending with Mojo leaving the defender in the dust before deftly cutting the ball to his right, feinting as if he were about to blast a curler.
The Bariga Young Boyz defence immediately tensed, all eyes on Mojo, so focused were they that they didn't notice Tasty slipping past Idris, in that moment, Mojo slid a perfect through ball between the defenders, threading the needle straight to Tasty.
The pass bypassed all three defenders, it was a clear-cut chance.
Tasty had read the play perfectly and caught up in stride, arms spread, eyes locked on the ball, as he leaned in to fire a shot toward the left side of the post.
[Bronze Rank Skill – Sliding Breeze]
Just as Tasty struck, Idris—who he'd thought he'd escaped—came sliding in from nowhere, executing a flawless tackle that knocked the ball cleanly away before it could even leave Tasty's foot.
It felt like the wind carried Idris as he swept past, then quickly slammed the ball with his right foot toward the right wing back, who met it with a one-touch curl across the pitch to the opposite flank with his left leg, where Alaba had been waiting.
Alaba calmly chested the ball, then volleyed it forward into midfield.
The Bariga Young Boyz immediately sprang into a counterattack, with most of the Dark Elites midfielders still stuck in their own half.
They pressed the advantage with ruthless precision—each player pushing the ball forward with no more than two touches.
The sequence flowed seamlessly, as the system timer continued ticking without calling half-time as the ball was still in play.
To Mystic, it felt like he was watching Barcelona's legendary tiki-taka unfold, as the ball zipped forward until Adekunle finally chipped it over Kado Daniels, who had rushed out desperately to intercept.
Ding!
Dark Elites 1 – 2 Bariga Young Boyz.
Half-time.
And like that after Adekunle scored the half time was called, though it was just 45 minutes into the simulation however Mystic had already witnessed two Bronze Rank skills, clear evidence of how much his players had improved.
They were pushing the Bariga Young Boyz hard, even though it was just the data of the said players being controlled by the system in a serious mode, Mystic couldn't help but feel impressed.
As the system prompted him for potential changes, he smiled and made two substitutions: Apari came on for Oyebuchi (Omo Igbo), and Eboye Victor (Pastor) replaced Okududu, in Mystic's eyes, Omo Igbo had been completely dominated by Alaba on the right wing, so he opted for a fresh player with full energy, hoping Apari could disrupt Alaba's rhythm and neutralize his threat.
Meanwhile, Okududu had barely made any impact on the pitch.
Mystic knew that Kehinde (Okududu) had a quiet demeanour even outside football, but on this pitch, he needed more defensive involvement, and with Iyang (Tizzle) starting to look fatigued, it felt like the right time to reinforce him.
As the second half began, the players returned to the stadium.
The two who had been subbed off now sat in the dugout, watching as a holographic screen above displayed the names of the new players that replaced them.
On the Bariga Young Boyz side, the line-up remained unchanged, but something felt different to the Dark Elites.
They suddenly felt more energized.
It was clear that while they had mentally blocked out the exact moment the half-time whistle sounded, however they knew the break hadn't been long, the system's recovery feature had kicked in, partially restoring their stamina after the gruelling first half.
With that renewed energy, the Dark Elites were ready to get back into the game with newfound confidence.