Sacred Body Remnant!
Yang Yu had been looking forward to obtaining a "Sacred Body" for a very long time.
Whether it was the Human Limit or the Great Forest Remnant, he wanted them badly. Unfortunately, their prices in the store were all rather high, and he couldn't afford them for the time being.
But if this was a System mission reward, that would simply be too fantastic.
The mission requirements were actually quite difficult: reach #1 on the platform while maintaining a rating of 1.5 or higher.
Yang Yu didn't know what things were like during the CS2 era, but in the current matches, 1.0 was a normal human, 1.2 was a small carry, and 1.3 was a big carry.
An average rating of 1.3 was already thoroughbred-level in ranked matchmaking—one look and you knew they were an expert.
And if the average rating reached 1.5, that was heaven-defying booster-level.
However, for Yang Yu, it was still relatively simple.
After entering S-rank lobbies, the intensity had increased somewhat, and his stats had slipped slightly, but he was still hovering around 1.56.
His rank was 37 stars in S-tier, only 40 stars away from the current Perfect World #1 at 73 stars. In other words, he needed a net 40 wins.
Slightly difficult, but not too much.
His climb had been quite smooth lately, and his ranked win rate had reached a terrifying 78%.
Not to mention he had just acquired EliGE's spray control fundamentals, raising his level even further. Ranked would surely be even easier now.
Yang Yu felt the difficulty wasn't too high; it just required spending some time climbing. If he successfully reached #1 on Perfect World, he could just use that résumé to try out for TYLOO, RA, and LVG.
These outstanding stats could also become his confidence during those tryouts.
The System was right: score wasn't important; being individually strong was the only thing that mattered. But he wasn't famous yet, so his rating was arguably even more important than his ID.
Moreover, this mission reward had really hooked him.
He felt the System was pretty mischievous too. It could have just directly told him whose Sacred Body Remnant the reward was, but it had to say "random"—wasn't that just opening a blind box?
Straight-up gambling!
But he also knew that since it was a Sacred Body, it definitely wouldn't belong to some scrub. At worst, it wouldn't be too bad.
"So I still have to climb!"
The thought of becoming platform #1 and obtaining a brand-new Sacred Body to grow even stronger made Yang Yu's will to climb burn with extraordinary intensity.
With acquiring "EliGE's Spray Control Fundamentals," he now had another daily practice task.
However, after gaining EliGE's spray control fundamentals, Yang Yu also learned quite a few details about spray practice.
For example, aim training could be done more toward the end of the day, that is, when he was tired, as this was more effective for muscle memory.
After considering it, Yang Yu decided to keep doing his usual 500-kill headshot-only deathmatch in the morning, practicing spray transfers normally during it, and leaving whatever he didn't finish for after his ranked climb.
So, without much hesitation, he queued up for ranked.
As his matchmaking rating increased, queue times began to grow longer.
After waiting several minutes—he had even finished five chapters of his web novel—the match finally popped.
Map: Dust II
T: Stay Calm, Evil Meow Meow Meow, My Art Style Is Above Yours, Buff Kurotsuchi, Sleep King
CT: Great Sage Equal to Heaven 123, Xi'an Tang Person, God of Mini World, The Wind That Misses You Still Blows to Qingyun Sect, Eat My Blue Silver Grass Bind
The moment he entered the game, Yang Yu heard his teammates wailing over voice chat.
"It's over, we're gonna bomb this boost order, bros!!"
"I'm bombing too!"
"The other side is Danking + QUQU, how the hell do we play this? We ran into pros!"
"This Danking's AWP is absurdly accurate, completely unplayable!"
Curious, Yang Yu alt-tabbed to check. Beneath the avatar of "Great Sage Equal to Heaven 123," it clearly displayed: TYLOO professional player Danking.
Seeing this, Yang Yu's reaction was completely different from his teammates'.
He already intended to try out for TYLOO. This ranked encounter was a pretty excellent opportunity for him. If he could stomp Danking, it would absolutely be the best possible foot in the door.
So compared to his boosting teammates' wailing, he was instead rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
He was ready to start weaving basic attacks between normal attacks, shattering the enemy with dazzling plays.
...
Huya livestream room.
Danking, recently in the off-season, had planned to stream some ranked games for fun.
Mainly because the recent tournaments had gone very poorly. In matches, he always felt a sense of helplessness. He was clearly fragging out, yet his teammates kept dying left and right. He was downright baffled at how they could be so stupid.
But these things just rotted in his heart with no outlet.
The constant pressure from the community and a team unable to produce results had given Danking the idea of retiring to become a full-time streamer.
But the unwillingness in his heart made him choose to persevere a little longer.
So during the off-season, he came to ranked to mess around. A few friends happened to be online, so they stacked together.
[Iron Egg, can you get the sticker this year?]
[Can TYLOO make the Major main event!]
[Looks like you matched against 'Stay Calm']
Among a bunch of headachesome questions, Danking picked one he could answer: "Matched against a prodigy?"
He looked up and saw a guy with a "Potato Mine" avatar above his head.
Although he had been competing abroad recently, Danking still paid close attention to the CS:GO scene and knew a headshot demon had emerged in the ranked ladder lately.
He had even been suspected of cheating by streamers like Lai Ang Kai.
But he was quite familiar with this process. As a fellow talented player, he had gone through the same thing.
"Then I've gotta see what the deal is with this 'Stay Calm' on the other side."
QUQU also said over voice, "This game, I'll definitely teach that kid a lesson and show him the strength of Asia's #1 AWPer!"
Hearing this, Danking couldn't quite keep his grin down: "No, no, no."
Amid laughter and banter, the match officially began.
Although it was Perfect World S-rank at forty or fifty stars, for Danking, who had been fighting in the pro scene for many years, this lobby was nothing but smurfing.
So he didn't play very tactically. In the pistol round, he bought half armor and directly pushed out through mid doors.
At the start, holding a USP-S, he came to a spot just before the L-corner on mid.
(this position)
Holding a USP-S, he began tap-firing at the Terrorists outside A doors.
Excellent aim allowed him to secure two headshots with just five bullets.
QUQU, positioned toward A Long, also picked up two with his USP-S.
In an instant, the Terrorist force melted like snowflakes.
The random teammate was a bit shocked and praised, "Clean, Egg God!"
Danking said nothing, enjoying the praise.
...
"This Danking on the other side is really clean."
"I got deleted the moment I saw him."
Hearing his teammates' complaints, Yang Yu, positioned inside A doors, glanced at the info above.
With 1:30 remaining, he was facing a 1v5 clutch.
Yeah, he could already imagine the intensity of this lobby.
Although it was a dead round, Yang Yu didn't rush forward blindly, instead patiently gathering information.
Soon he heard two sets of footsteps:
One moving from outside A doors toward T spawn.
One moving from A Long toward inside A doors.
Yang Yu slowly adjusted his position while walking silently, soon obtaining the angle and successfully spotting the CT silhouette outside A doors.
Yang Yu wasn't a diehard USP-S fan. After calmly aiming, he pulled the trigger and blew out the back of the opponent's head with one shot.
[Stay Calm killed Great Sage Equal to Heaven 123 with a Glock headshot]
Danking, suddenly deleted from behind, shouted in alarm: "In A doors! In A doors!!"
Hearing the callout, QUQU, who was right at A doors, rushed straight in.
However, Yang Yu had already gathered his information. The instant he dropped Danking, he turned and held the headshot line, lightly pulling the trigger.
"Pop!"
[Stay Calm killed Xi'an Tang Person with a Glock headshot]
"In A doors! In A doors." QUQU could only relay helplessly.
Danking complained, "This guy is a bit toxic, right? Doesn't trade on the A Long push, doesn't trade on the A doors fight—he's literally scummier than pond scum."
QUQU called out: "The bomb was at A Long just now; he probably went to pick it up."
After dropping the two close enemies, Yang Yu indeed immediately rushed to retrieve the C4 that had been dropped at A Long.
At this point, he didn't dare fall back anymore. He could only push toward A Long with the bomb.
Yang Yu patiently pre-aimed, slowly gathering info on the remaining enemies.
But after jiggling for several seconds, the enemy toward A site hadn't moved at all, so he continued pushing forward.
Then when passing CT spawn, he successfully spotted one person at the CT respawn. The two exchanged shots but dealt no damage.
Seeing this, Yang Yu quickly moved toward the bombsite and planted the bomb.
At higher ranks, the moment there's a hint of being clutch-flipped, the opponents become extremely cautious. In this pistol round, they didn't want to give any opening whatsoever.
After planting, Yang Yu's crosshair constantly flicked between A short and CT respawn.
After holding for a while, he finally saw a CT swing out from A short. Leaning against the site boxes, Yang Yu jiggle-peeked at A short and finally secured the headshot on his third burst.
But while he was clearing A short, gunfire came from the A Long direction. The enemy was blasting his exposed flank hard. Yang Yu immediately turned, continuously micro-strafing while trading shots.
Finally, as he fired his last bullet, he successfully landed the headshot.
By now, he could hear the CT footsteps approaching from spawn, already reaching the lower L-corner. Yang Yu immediately tried to dodge, but only saw a fly-head CT jump up, the muzzle flash of his USP-S bursting.
"Pop!"
[God of Mini World killed Stay Calm with a USP-S headshot]
"So close, so close." The boosting bros in voice chat sounded rather regretful.
Yang Yu's play had been extremely clutch. If this "God of Mini World" hadn't one-tap headshot him, he would've only needed to play around the cover for a few more seconds to actually clutch the pistol round.
Yang Yu was helpless too: "That jumping headshot—I really had no answer."
On Danking's side voice chat.
When that final jumping headshot landed, the whole team was shouting "Nice!" excitedly.
That pistol round from "Stay Calm" had maxed out their pressure. They had nearly thought they were about to be 1v5'd.
Both QUQU and Danking were streaming; if they had actually been clutch-flipped like that, it would've been quite the spectacle.
So after "God of Mini World" got the jumping turnaround kill, the few of them internally breathed a sigh of relief.
Only Danking smiled.
Just from one pistol round, he had already sensed it.
This "Stay Calm"... seemed to really have something!
...
Just for fun—which team will Potato Mine join first?