CS: I became Top 1 by grinding my skill level

Han Tian opened the panel, and the words "1400 usable proficiency points" immediately caught his eye. He planned to upgrade the M4A1 and Desert Eagle to the purple restricted level. Each gun required 40 + 80 + 160 + 320 = 600 points, which was already the highest level he could reach with proficiency alone. Upgrading further... Han Tian looked at the newly popped-up task in the task bar: [Tournament Task: First Blood] "Win a championship in any tournament. Reward: One universal pink classified catalyst, 10 chances to draw from the Wishing Pool."

"The Electric Snake Cup that the captain mentioned seems to have its qualifiers starting in two weeks. Of the 24 teams, 22 are amateur teams and 2 are youth training teams from clubs."

The Electric Snake Cup is a CS amateur tournament co-organized by the well-known peripheral brand Electric Snake and the Perfect platform for the purpose of promoting the new peripheral GG. The venue is the Jinan City Central Gymnasium where Han Tian and his team are located.

Because the celebrity endorser—a well-known domestic girl idol group—would also be present, the event generated considerable buzz on various social media platforms.

Most importantly, this is the tournament with the highest prize money in recent years. Although it is not even considered an Aladdin tournament and is not officially recognized by Valve, so there are no ranking points, the total prize money is as high as 240,000 RMB. The five champions will split 100,000 RMB each. Moreover, it has no entry requirements, so any ranked players who are confident in their skills will team up to give it a try.

According to Ai Ke, some streamers from various domestic live streaming platforms will also be commentating on this match, including: Leon Kai, whom Han Tian mentioned before, and CSboy, also known as Ma Xixi, will also be commentating.

Du Sinian is currently extremely busy. After all, there is no manager in the team, so he, as the sponsor, captain, and coach, has to handle all the big and small matters. Sure enough, the more labor he takes on, the more responsibility he bears.

However, he mentioned that he was going to bring a beautiful female manager back to the team next month, which was quite mysterious. But somehow, Ekko found out and secretly told Han Tian, ​​"Boss Du's sister is going back to China next month."

The team is not yet fully formed, and Boss Du has given Ekko and Han Tianxia a task: "If you encounter any promising players in ranked matches, try to recruit them and send them messages for a trial." Otherwise, Boss Du will have to use his connections to recruit two top-ranked players to fill the gaps.

Du Sinian didn't really want to find some random players to form a team. Ekko was an exception because they had known each other for a long time. When Ekko was still a greenhorn who had just entered CS, it can be said that Ekko's growth to where he is today was definitely due to Du Sinian's training and investment.

Those who have already made their way to the top in the amateur scene are all a bit arrogant. Du Sinian knew that it would be difficult for a small team like his to integrate well with these kinds of people, and even if they did, they would most likely be poached by a legitimate professional youth training team.

That's why he decided to discover and cultivate talented young people, integrating them into his own system. However, not just anyone can get the generous contract that Du Sinian offered to Han Tian.

Du Sinian believed he had learned a thing or two from his father when it came to judging people. He had a feeling that Han Tian was a "real gold" he had unearthed, with a talent so terrifying that he couldn't see the limits. He knew he had to treat someone with such terrifying talent well and not try to force him to stay. Besides, you can't hold onto a dragon, or he might be the future Simple/ZywOo.

"Sigh, today's treasure hunt has begun."

Han Tian sighed, opened the ranked matches, and realized that he still hadn't found a single one of the three high-quality gunners the captain had assigned for trial training.

"Let's max out all the skill points first."

With that, Han Tian opened the panel.

"The weapon [M4A1] has evolved from the white consumer-grade to the purple restricted-grade, with a stat boost of 30."

"The weapon [Desert Eagle] has evolved from the white consumer-grade to the purple restricted-grade, with a stat boost of 30."

[Available Proficiency Level]: 200 points

"Congratulations, host, you have been granted 6 chances to draw prizes from the [Wishing Pool]."

Han Tian got excited again, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"This is what I've been waiting for!"

Suddenly, a system notification sound rang out.

"The host has been detected to have upgraded three weapons to the purple restricted level. The third module, [Master Class], has been activated."

"Host detected to be currently serving as a [Free Agent] in the team. Matching you with a Master Class is in progress."

Han Tian scratched his head, looking at the system notification that suddenly popped up, "Master class? Are there any master classes like the Desert Eagle back-to-back attack?"

The system's cold, mechanical voice continued: "Each Masterclass is divided into three levels: Excellent, Epic, and Legendary. Each level requires 100, 1000, and 10000 proficiency points to unlock, respectively."

"Masterclasses can be obtained in two ways: after completing each professional masterclass, the system will automatically match the next one. At the same time, other types of masterclasses can also be randomly drawn from the [Wishing Pool]."

Han Tian rubbed his lower abdomen, where his liver was located. "Don't worry, I'm only seventeen, my liver is still plump and resilient!"

"Match successful. Your first professional masterclass is: Ropz Masterclass (Libero), Excellent course: Estonian Sunshine Positioning, Epic course: Porsche Flanking Techniques)." Legendary course: "Pixel-Level Peek Techniques."

Without the slightest hesitation, Han Tian immediately invested 100 points of proficiency to start the advanced course. Because, who is Ropz? In Han Tian's previous life, Ropz was the initiator of the 22-year-old FaZe Galaxy Team, one of the best free agents in the late CSGO and early CS2 era, the completer of the 25-year-old Honeybee Galaxy Team, and also the most sunny free agent player in CS history!

"[Available Proficiency Points]: 100"

The moment the course started, Han Tian noticed his surroundings changing rapidly. When he came to his senses, he found himself sitting in the e-sports arena of a large stadium, with a computer in front of him and a mouse in his hand. Through the reflection of the webcam above the screen, a thin, sparse-haired, dark-eyed white youth came into Han Tian's view.

He discovered that he couldn't control anything; he was just a spectator. But everything around him was blurred, and he could only watch the player named Ropz in front of him make every move during the match.

In this match, which uses Nuke/Nuclear Crisis as the battlefield, there is one minute left on the clock. Teammates are moving into the inner area to prepare for bomb detonation, aiming to attack point A.

Ropz chose to break away from the main force to cover the rear, preventing the enemy from potentially pushing forward and gathering information.

He found a strange, shadowy spot, crouched down, and set up his gun.

"Hey buddy? You can set this up here? It's so dark! Where did you find this spot?"

Han Tian's lips twitched violently, because Ropz was silently squatting in front of the box in the bandit's truck parking spot, a shadow looming over him from behind the wall.

"This location is absolutely disgusting."

Han Tian knew that if the CTs were to advance from the outside, they would have to be wary of enemies pulling out from multiple positions, such as on the water tank, behind the terrorist's hall wall, and in the terrorist's spawn area. It would be easy for them to subconsciously overlook the truck's proximity.

Sure enough, a dozen seconds later, a CT with a gun walked over quietly, searching and eliminating points one by one, afraid of being shot from behind.

At this moment, Han Tian's attention was focused on Ropz's first-person perspective. Suddenly, a slender M4a1 gun barrel peeked out from around the corner in front of him. Immediately afterward, a CT bullet popped out and walked over silently. A sweet-looking back was thus fully exposed to the Estonian boy's AK gun barrel.

"Da da"

After eliminating the CT, Ropz's team suddenly changed their formation. By returning to the outer area, the teammates broke through and flanked B site in an instant, successfully planting the bomb and winning the point.

"This is the kind of help a god-tier sixth member can bring to a team!"

Han Tian sighed, recalling how, in his previous life, when he was still a noob, he had seen too many players in ranked matches who would camp in one spot from the start, ready to ambush others, refusing to team up, provide follow-up shots, or fight in the late game. They were not only called "scheming old men" by the opposing team but also criticized by their teammates for being useless, yet they would still proudly argue that they were "free agents."

Just when Han Tian thought the lesson would continue with a slow, deliberate viewing of Ropz's gameplay, the scene suddenly shifted to Inferno, and the speed increased... followed by Dust Fiery Cross... Mirage... the speed kept increasing... Death Park...

After going through all the maps and playing hundreds of games with Ropz in tournaments and ranked matches, Han Tian suddenly found himself back in Nuka-Crisis, in the same scene from the beginning.

Three seconds have passed since Han Tian entered the course.

Just then, Ike, who was sitting on the far left of Han Tian, ​​came back with two bags of potato chips. He walked closer to Han Tian's seat, intending to throw the cucumber-flavored chips to the kid, when he suddenly noticed that Han Tian wasn't playing a game on his screen. The kid was sitting motionless, doing who-knows-what.

Ike nudged Han Tian, ​​"Hey! Here are some potato chips."

"Splat—"

Han Tian, ​​who had been sitting upright, suddenly slumped back into his gaming chair. Looking closely at his eyes, they were lifeless, and his mouth was agape.

There was no other reason than that Han Tian was forced to play Ropz's Sunshine Selection Highlights on a loop a full 100 times within the system.

He felt like he had been raped by the system, and his brain was severely overloaded.

But at the same time, all of Ropz's shady positioning knowledge was also firmly imprinted in his brain.

"Thanks, potato chips, let me catch my breath."

Han Tian waved weakly at Ike.

"I just went upstairs to get some snacks, and you were done in less than three minutes? Young people are too fast... still not good enough." Ike said earnestly, returning to his training gaming table with a hint of concern, occasionally glancing at it and making "tsk tsk" sounds.

Ignore Ike's antics.

Han Tian, ​​who had just secretly activated the system and drunk the [Bohe Shrimp Oil], has now recovered.

"Double queue?" Han Tian asked Ike.

"No, no, I'll schedule it tomorrow. I'm going to stream and play with girls today." Ike waved his hand. He had started streaming on the CS section of the seafood channel a long time ago. He was quite famous for his excellent CS skills and trash-talking skills. He would occasionally help some fans who sent him gifts to rank up.

"Then I'm going to snipe you, line up opposite you, and smash you to pieces so you lose face in front of the girls."

"Don't give me that crap, you don't even have my alt account as a friend, get lost!"

On the surface, Ike seems carefree and a bit of a troublemaker. But over the past few days, Han Tian has gotten along quite well with him, often exchanging witty banter.

Han Tian checked the time; it was only 10 a.m. He decided to play a couple of ranked matches to improve his proficiency.

"Beep beep beep—"

Match successful, Map: Inferno Town

Having entered the map early, while waiting for his teammates, Han Tian checked the personal panels of both his own teammates and the opposing team.

The opponent has three Demon King S-ranks, the highest being 80 stars and the lowest being 52 stars. The remaining one is a Diamond S-rank with 28 stars, and a Defense (Normal) S-rank with three stars, trembling with fear.

Our team has two Gold S-rank players, one with 18 stars and the other with 12 stars, as well as a Defense S-rank player with eight stars. The last teammate is Demon King S-rank player with the ID zoku, whose profile panel prominently displays... 300 stars.