Chapter 5: An Epic Breakthrough! Reaching the B Tier!

Sunday mornings at university were always slow and leisurely.

Xiao Guang turned over comfortably, basking in the morning sun streaming through the window. Just as he was about to continue enjoying the warmth of his bed, the rhythmic clicking of a mouse and tapping of a keyboard gradually reached his ears.

He glanced under the bed and then fished out his phone from beneath the pillow.

“What are you crazy about? Playing CSGO at eight in the morning? No wonder I dreamed someone was gaming beside me…”

“Couldn’t sleep, so I got up to practice shooting,” Su Zhe replied casually.

“Do you think you’re some workhorse? Even workhorses don’t work this hard,” Xiao Guang complained, lying on his back. “I know you want to reach B rank, but training your aim isn’t as effective as praying. It’s better to have luck than to have a hard gun. If you get carried by a pro, you can climb ranks easily.”

Su Zhe turned to ask, “Is that why you dropped to C rank yesterday afternoon?”

Yesterday, while he napped and studied the system, Xiao Guang had spent the entire afternoon grinding ranked matches, winning only two out of more than ten games.

Encountering trolls, toxic players who never communicated, and all sorts of bizarre teammates had completely shattered Xiao Guang’s morale. His personal skill hovered around average C to C+ level, and without capable teammates, he lost alongside them.

So, rather than relying on luck to be carried by a pro, Su Zhe now preferred to be the pro himself.

Recalling yesterday’s ranked matches, Xiao Guang sighed, “I’ve come to realize that we play games; we don’t let games play us. Ranking up or not doesn’t matter anymore. What’s the point of practicing aim so hard?”

“Because I want to go pro,” Su Zhe answered casually.

Xiao Guang was momentarily stunned, then laughed aloud, “Going pro, huh? You want to try out for the Tianlu youth team?”

“Maybe later.”

“...Well, good luck then!” Xiao Guang said encouragingly, though inwardly he was skeptical.

Though it had only been a bit over a month since the start of their freshman year, Xiao Guang had already seen through Su Zhe’s nature.

He was just someone with a three-minute burst of enthusiasm, probably hyped up by some highlight reels or pro player montages.

In a few days, he’d likely lose patience, just like himself.

Su Zhe paid no mind to Xiao Guang’s words and continued to diligently complete his daily tasks.

He could hear the unspoken implications from his roommate, which was normal. Without the system’s presence, he himself doubted he could keep this up for more than a few days.

After all, talent has its limits. No ordinary person could sustain their energy on something with no visible future.

[ Ding~ Rise Points +181... ]

[ Ding~ Rise Points +211... ]

After finishing his daily training tasks, Su Zhe was pleasantly surprised to see the accumulated rise points.

He hadn’t expected the rewards to increase rather than diminish, proving that this mechanical aim practice was significantly improving him!

He then had an idea, and a translucent system panel appeared before his eyes.

[Host: Su Zhe]

[Age: 18]

[Team Affiliation: None]

[Positioning: 32-37]

[Movement: 17-22]

[Aim Control: 20-25]

[Awareness: 51-26]

[Reaction: 51-56]

[Weapon Proficiency: AK-47 (LV2.6) ... (expand)]

[Rise Points: 768]

[Skill: Chosen One]

[Overall Evaluation: The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago; the second best time is now. Although you have been recklessly wasting your talent before, it is not too late to start now. Keep going, the future belongs to you!]

[Task One: ...]

Looking over the system data, Su Zhe quickly noticed the differences from yesterday.

Before sleep last night, he had opened the system panel multiple times out of curiosity and remembered the previous data clearly. After today’s aim practice, his [Positioning] and [Aim Control] stats had both increased their upper and lower limits by about one point.

His AK proficiency also rose by 0.1!

Could such rapid improvement happen without system stat boosts? He suddenly thought of the [Chosen One] skill. It seemed that these two days of hard work and this skill were inseparable factors behind his progress.

It was like a permanent experience card for a prodigy!

In high spirits, Su Zhe looked at his nearly perfect platform rank score and clicked “Start Matchmaking.”

He planned to ride the wave of his hot hand to try overcoming his long-standing mental block.

Sunday morning matchmaking was slow; after waiting three minutes, the successful match notification finally popped up.

The map was still his most familiar, Scorching Sand City. Su Zhe spawned on the defending side.

As all ten players joined, the match officially began.

No communication at the start. Each player chose their position based on their spawn point.

Su Zhe’s position was closer to point B. Seeing his teammates’ 3A1B formation, he decided to use his USP to test the sand area.

Spotting a bandit near the oil drum, Su Zhe subtly adjusted his crosshair in response to the enemy’s movement.

“Pew pew! Bang!”

[“Breakthrough King of the Cape” scored a headshot with a USP, killing ‘ni give me a KO’]

The other bandits, seeing their teammate fall, showed no hesitation. Instead, they boldly pushed from mid and the oil drum area, moving quickly toward the small passage.

Facing such targets, almost like sitting ducks, Su Zhe had no reason to back down and locked his aim again with the USP.

“Pew pew pew!”

[“Breakthrough King of the Cape” scored a series of USP headshots, killing ‘Good Eater Loves to Eat More’]

[“Breakthrough King of the Cape” scored another USP headshot, killing ‘Tang Done Is Song’]

“So sweet! So sweet!” his teammates cheered over voice chat upon seeing the kill feed in the top right.

The last two bandits, seeing their comrades fall one after another in the sand CT point, lost their bravado.

One hunkered down at mid-long L, the other behind A door, both setting up for a static gunfight, but soon found themselves surrounded by the CTs.

As expected, Su Zhe’s defending side won the pistol round, and the team began steadily accumulating points.

Though Sand Two was once an attacking map in pro play, in ranked matches—especially at lower tiers lacking coordination—the defense side had an easier time scoring.

Thanks to early round point gains, the team’s communication improved significantly.

Meanwhile, the attacking side seemed to give up after losing several rounds in a row.

Checking the scoreboard by pressing TAB, ‘ni give me a KO’ noted:

“That ‘Breakthrough King of the Cape’ on the other side must be a troll smurf with a 12-3 KD, and it’s only the sixth round!”

Next to him, teammate ‘Good Eater Loves to Eat More’ nodded: “Most likely. That guy just pulled out and headshotted me—definitely not local. Damn troll! Hope the pro carries us next round!”

Su Zhe felt his aim getting sharper with each kill, while the opposing attackers had practically become defenders, locked in static gunfights outside A door and mid-long.

Despite holding better gun positions, Su Zhe couldn’t outgun them head-on; half a magazine of AK bullets went wasted with no kills.

By the time rounds switched, the score was already 9-3.

Starting the pistol round in the second half, Su Zhe led a rush on B.

He had the best stats on the team and the most influence; his group moved like agile mountain dogs, all donning half armor, charging the bomb site.

The two CT defenders at B lacked any defensive gadgets and relied solely on shooting skills, quickly overwhelmed by the Glock barrage.

With such a lead and good team communication, no upset occurred.

The final score quickly settled at 13-6.

[MVP: Breakthrough King of the Cape]

[KAD: 28-4-13]

[Rating: 1.73]

[Score: 1582 → 1613]

[Rank: C+ → B]