Right Here at the Barber Shop!

For the ID, Jiang Yang thought about it for several nights and had already racked his brain.

He finally thought of one.

Young.

Meaning "young person."

It also sounded like a homophone for his name, 'Yang.'

The system had once told him that Old Timer Jiang Yang, at 30, had wasted his years on the competitive stage and retired in despair.

This time, Jiang Yang wanted to make a name for himself on the stage while he was still young.

This ID would allow him to seize the opportunity and avoid ending up retired and broke.

Jiang Yang took out his phone and called MO: "Captain, I've decided on my ID, it's young."

As he spoke, he also sent the ID via WeChat.

MO nodded: "Are you sure you won't change it? If not, I'll report it to them. You should also get ready, we'll be starting the IEM Autumn qualifiers in a couple of days."

"Though, we usually don't have much pressure getting into the closed qualifiers."

The number of teams signing up for the Major qualifiers in China every year is staggering, but many are just playing for fun.

Although Steel Helmets is a semi-professional team, they also have the nickname 'professional quality inspector.' Getting into the closed qualifiers is a sure thing for them.

"How many spots are there for Asia this year?" Jiang Yang asked.

He was quite knowledgeable about CS: GO competitions.

The next event was the Major, the most prestigious tournament in CS: GO.

If possible, he definitely wanted to go further.

MO sighed instead: "There's only one spot for the entire Asia-Pacific region this year. Let's hope Tyloo can make it through smoothly."

Just then, he heard Jiang Yang ask: "Why can't it be us?"

MO was stunned for a moment, then chuckled: "Ambitious. I like this youthful spirit of yours."

"Steel Helmets is a semi-professional team, and there's still a difference between us and professional teams. Others practice tactics and strategies every day, while we rely on instinct. There's definitely a gap."

As the third-best team in Asia for CS, Steel Helmets had played against Tyloo and VG many times, and had basically never won.

So, he didn't think they could win in the upcoming matches.

"How do we know if we can win if we don't try?" Jiang Yang was still eager to compete.

His recent performance in ranked matches and training matches had greatly boosted his confidence.

He didn't believe he was worse than those professional players from Tyloo.

Moreover, the charm of CS: GO lies in the fact that as long as the match isn't over, anything is possible.

The match hadn't started yet, so Jiang Yang couldn't believe he would lose.

"Alright, I'll be looking forward to your performance then." MO replied with a smile, "I'm going to report it now. Bye."

Jiang Yang could hear the perfunctory tone in MO's voice. He wasn't a person who liked to 'talk' much; his approach was to do things first and then talk about them.

But he still didn't like MO's attitude, which felt like they had already lost before the match even began.

Although he understood that the gap between professional and semi-professional teams was indeed large.

But they still had to strive for it!

Neither of them was wrong; it was just the difference in mindset between a young person and a retired old timer.

Jiang Yang just hid this feeling in his heart and then threw himself into his daily marksmanship training.

MO didn't even pay much attention to this matter and still made time to proactively explain maps to Jiang Yang.

Jiang Yang had been playing CS for too short a time. He had learned many playstyles from ranked matches and needed to make certain adjustments.

Jiang Yang also studied hard every day, but he didn't fully accept MO's game understanding. When he believed he was right, he would still stick to his own views.

His learning speed and adaptability in this game were extremely fast.

He now understood that game understanding was like some minor differences in their perspectives.

Both of them wanted to win.

But MO had rich experience and recognized the gap between Steel Helmets and professional teams, so he naturally made the worst-case scenario plans. This way, even if they lost, the psychological impact wouldn't be too great.

However, Jiang Yang was young and spirited and couldn't accept the outcome of being considered a loser before the match even started. He wanted to give it his all, and only then could he accept the result even if they lost.

There was no right or wrong in their thinking; they were just different choices.

It was like their game understanding.

MO's game understanding leaned towards teamwork, being more stable and reasonable.

But Jiang Yang, from the very beginning of ranked matches, had taken on the role of a star player. He was destined to break some 'common sense' and make plays that ordinary people couldn't comprehend.

Therefore, regarding MO's game understanding, he only absorbed and learned from it.

After the map explanation ended, Jiang Yang suddenly saw familiar small text appear.

[Join a team and return to the professional scene.]

[Quest: Completed]

[Rewards are being distributed...]

[Congratulations Old Timer on receiving the Twistzz Gift Pack!]

[Congratulations Old Timer on receiving Hextech Advanced Transmuter]

Jiang Yang raised an eyebrow. The system's sudden completion of the quest surprised him.

Before, when he joined Steel Helmets, he had been wondering if he needed to join an official professional team.

But now it was suddenly completed.

At this moment, MO said from the side, "Your ID has been registered, and I just grabbed a photo from your Moments for your avatar."

Good heavens, Jiang Yang finally understood.

In the system's evaluation, Steel Helmets was also considered a professional team.

It was just that he hadn't confirmed his ID before, so strictly speaking, he hadn't officially joined the team.

After all, Jiang Yang couldn't enter a professional match with the ID 'Ma Xixi I'll Kill You To Death'.

On the Major stage, a string of text would pop up in the top right corner.

[Ma Xixi I'll Kill You To Death uses AWP to kill ZywOo]

Then the bullet comments in the livestream wouldn't be praising him, but rather spamming [Ma Xixi I'll Kill You To Death] in CSBOY, some even with exclamation marks.

That scene would be truly hard to bear, and Jiang Yang couldn't help but chuckle.

Snapping back to reality, Jiang Yang entered his personal inventory.

[Open 'Twistzz Gift Pack'?]

"Yes!"

With a thought, the Twistzz Gift Pack was opened.

[Congratulations Old Timer on receiving the Twistzz Rifle Short Burst Technique!]

[Congratulations Old Timer on receiving the skill: Start From Scratch!]

[Congratulations Old Timer on receiving 2233 Comeback Points...]

He knew the player Twistzz, the renowned headshot master internationally.

Mr. Headshot, whose headshot rate was directly proportional to his bangs, one of the most outstanding rifle players.

Jiang Yang's rifle skills weren't actually that great; he mostly played using game sense and pre-aiming. His personal abilities were quite skewed.

However, he wasn't slow at learning these things. Given time, he could quickly catch up.

But with the Major approaching, if he wanted to shine, time was his most lacking resource.

With a thought, he immersed himself in the [Twistzz Rifle Short Burst Technique].

His fundamental skills were slowly taking shape. He wouldn't completely adopt other players' playstyles and abilities wholesale.

But some of the techniques and playstyles of others could still give him inspiration and help him avoid many detours.

The insights provided by the system were equivalent to him watching many specific clips of the same player, greatly shortening his learning time.

He began to sink into the system's simulation space, constantly watching Twistzz's rifle sprays.

Twistzz's playstyle was interesting.

He wasn't like NIKO, who liked to single-tap and instantly kill, pursuing the thrill of a one-shot kill.

Nor was he like traditional riflemen who would spray a whole magazine from start to finish to maximize damage.

His playstyle was a four-round burst short spray that combined aesthetics and practicality.

When engaging enemies, he would generally aim and spray three shots, and as soon as conditions allowed, he would reposition and then perform another three-shot short spray.

With a sufficiently high headshot rate, three shots were usually enough.

The Director's rifle playstyle could be described as elegant and extremely beautiful.

Due to his unique pre-aiming talent, Jiang Yang's headshot rate was actually not low. It was just that in most multi-target engagement scenarios, he preferred to spray and transfer his aim.

However, his recoil control wasn't ideal, which resulted in his transfer efficiency not being very high.

For example, where top professional players could spray and transfer to hit three enemies in one go, he might only manage to kill two and wound one.

His control was still a bit lacking.

But now, it seemed like learning this three-round burst shooting method temporarily would be a good idea.

Jiang Yang was somewhat tempted.

Then he looked at the second reward item.

[Skill: Start From Scratch]

[Description: A new story always needs to start from scratch. Every time you get a new hairstyle, showing a completely new look can slightly boost your confidence.]

Jiang Yang: "..."

He could only say it was worthy of the Director's gift package, this thing.

However, Jiang Yang did want to get a new hairstyle.

He didn't like his current hairstyle, it had been ruined by the previous barber. Coupled with the hot weather, he was thinking of shaving it all off and growing it out again.

At this moment, he also noticed that this reward had given him a brand new Hex.

[Hex: Advanced Transfiguration]

[Description: This Hex can transfigure your existing Hex into a higher quality Hex. PS: Transfiguration requires 168 hours. The original Hex can still be used during transfiguration.]

[Existing Hex: Dungeon Boss. Transfigure?]

Jiang Yang took a breath.

He had to admit, the temptation this time was huge.

Isn't this just a transfiguration reorganizer?

The 'Dungeon Boss' Hex had really improved Jiang Yang a lot.

But this time, 'Dungeon Boss' could even give Jiang Yang a higher-grade Hex.

He was truly looking forward to it.

In the end, Jiang Yang gritted his teeth and took the gamble!

"Yes!"

[Transfiguration initiated. Remaining time: 167.9 hours...]

Writer's block, cries~