Chapter One: Demon King C+, You Call Me a Genius?

“Dude, finish him off!”
“Come on, man! Why did the guy across instantly headshot me, but when it’s you shooting, you can’t hit a thing!?”
“Running AK? Shooting while moving with an AK!?”
“Bang!”
Desk HP: -1
[ID: Cape’s First Entry Specialist]
[Score: 11-13]
[Points: 1589→1563]
[Rank: C+→C+]

As the defeat screen popped up, Su Zhe, who had been agitated just moments before, now felt his mood sinking into disappointment.

How many times had he failed to rank up to B? Was this the fifth time? Or the sixth?

He rubbed his face hard, trying to banish the negative emotions of defeat from his mind.

At that moment, his roommate Xiaoguang leaned over, peering nervously at the screen. When he saw the score, the worry on his face melted away.

“I knew you were my best bro! You wouldn’t just ditch me and rank up to B on your own! I’m only two games away from B myself. What do you say? Want to team up and hit B together?”

Xiaoguang clapped Su Zhe on the shoulder with a grin.

“You go ahead and play, I’m going to take a nap,” Su Zhe waved him off, then promptly shut down his laptop and climbed into bed.

With his wealth of experience fighting for rank, he knew that if he kept playing now, he’d probably plummet straight from C+ to C—or, if especially unlucky, crash into the dreaded D+.

“Fine, go sleep. Just don’t get jealous when you wake up and see I’ve ranked up. I can do it without the eagle-eyed support you need!” Xiaoguang called after him.

Su Zhe ignored his roommate’s chatter. Lying flat on his bed, his thoughts went back to the last game, unable to calm down.

“Am I really that untalented at gaming?”

Since childhood, he’d had no other hobbies but gaming. A few months ago, just after graduating high school, he’d discovered CSGO and soon became obsessed.

The first time he downloaded the Perfect World platform and finished his placement matches, he landed in C rank. Back then, he thought he must be some undiscovered FPS prodigy—after all, below C are D+ and D, and landing in C on his first try had seemed impressive.

But he soon learned that while CSGO was easy to pick up, it was hard to master.

Now, months later, even with the game updated to CS2 and over 500 hours played, he was still stuck in C+.

He no longer dreamed of reaching S rank; getting to B would be enough to make him thankful.

The northern October sun at noon was no longer as harsh as a few months ago. Its warm light filtered through the window of their cramped four-person dorm room.

Wrapped in his wandering thoughts, Su Zhe slowly drifted off to sleep.

...

A clear, ethereal chime jolted Su Zhe from his slumber.

He rubbed his temples, trying to shake off the dizziness from sitting up too quickly.

Xiaoguang’s shouting grew clear in his ears, mixed with frantic mouse clicks.

“A site has a thousand enemies! Nice shot! Hurry and defuse the bomb!”

“I’ve got the kit!”

“What? How did we lose that?!”

So this was what woke him up—Su Zhe was about to tell Xiaoguang to keep it down when he suddenly noticed lines of pale blue text floating before his eyes.

“You were born on the same day as CS and are destined to be the chosen one of this game.”

“At six, influenced by your older cousin, you first encountered CSGO, and your gaming talent began to shine.”

“At fifteen, you topped FPL, attracting the attention of many pro teams, though you were also accused of cheating.”

“At eighteen, having finished your studies, you decided to enter the CSGO pro scene, determined to silence your doubters in offline tournaments.”

“This system will assist you in becoming the true chosen one of CSGO!”

“Mission: Please log in and run the CSGO client to receive the CSGO Prodigy Gift Pack.”

He must have woken up too abruptly—was he hallucinating?

Su Zhe lay back down, but every time he closed his eyes, those pale blue lines appeared in his mind, no matter how dark it was.

Open, close. Open, close. The text remained.

He sat up with a start. This wasn’t a hallucination. He’d won some sort of cosmic lottery!

Although gaming was his passion, he often read web novels before bed to help him sleep, so concepts like “systems” were nothing new.

But this system’s introduction confused him. He knew what FPL was, but there was no way he’d ever reach number one—he couldn’t even qualify. And at age six? Back then, he remembered being far more interested in the girl next door than any shooter game.

And him, a prodigy? He always joked that C comes before S in CSGO only to comfort himself and his friends.

Getting destroyed by S-rank players had given him a pretty clear sense of his own limits.

With over 500 hours and still stuck in C+, he was as far from a prodigy as one could get.

If desktop wallpaper selection counted as a shooter, then maybe he’d be at the top...

And as for being born the same day as CS, that was even more ridiculous—he was born in 2005 and neither CS nor CSGO matched that timeline.

Did the system pick the wrong person?

But soon his thoughts shifted—wrong person or not, as long as he could add skill points, it was a good system.

He wanted to test right away whether the system would work for him.

At that moment, Xiaoguang stood up, still muttering curses under his breath. Spotting Su Zhe awake, he sheepishly apologized, “Sorry, I forgot you were napping. You know how CSGO gets; I just couldn’t help myself...”

Su Zhe ignored the apology, quickly got out of bed, and sat down at his desk to power on his gaming laptop.

The machine booted up swiftly—quicker than 99% of other computers in the country. He launched Steam, clicked to start the Chinese server, and entered the game in one smooth sequence.

With the laptop fans roaring, the game loaded up, and Su Zhe noticed the blue text had changed.

“Do you wish to embark on a professional CSGO career?”

Below the line, two options appeared: [Yes] and [No].

There was nothing to hesitate over. Every gamer had dreamed of becoming a pro at some point—especially someone like him, whose college entrance exam results had only gotten him into a no-name university, his future prospects bleak.

Now, with a chance to choose the pro path…

Su Zhe focused his mind on the [Yes] option. The text shifted again.

“Activation successful... Binding successful...”

“Congratulations, host, you have obtained the Prodigy System…”

As the lines appeared, Su Zhe turned to Xiaoguang. “I’m heading to the bathroom.”

Though he’d confirmed only he could see the system, he didn’t want to act strangely in front of others. He decided to check out the system further in private.

Once inside the restroom, as soon as he thought of the system, a panel appeared before his eyes.

[Host: Su Zhe]
[Age: 18]
[Team: None]
[Overall Skill: Unknown]
[Rise Points: 0]
[This is the Prodigy System. It will help the host become a professional player and reach the peak of the pro scene!]

So it really works! Seeing his own name as the host, Su Zhe finally felt a bit relieved.

He’d feared that if the system picked the wrong person, he’d be left out.

He focused on the [Rise Points] and immediately more text appeared.

“Rise Points: Can be used to purchase items in the system shop or exchanged for attribute points to help the prodigy rise quickly!
Rise Points can be earned through mission rewards, daily training, and other activities.”

After grasping the system’s basic functions, Su Zhe checked the shop page.

[Attribute Point (1): 1000 Rise Points]
[Random Skill: 10,000 Rise Points]
[Random Pro Player Insight: 1,000 Rise Points]
[...]

There were all sorts of items to boost CSGO ability, but for now, he could only window shop.

He then noticed the mission panel at the bottom.

“New mission: Play three games on any platform. The system will assess your performance.
Completing the mission will grant a random reward.”

…