The System Mall's Dramatic Changes

The System Mall's Dramatic Changes

After that thrilling comeback, Jiang Yang and Li Hua were even more fired up. They went on to play three more matches.

Two wins, one loss.

The one they lost was a real shame. Halfway through the match, one of their teammates had a power outage at home.

It was a team game, after all. Playing one man down made things far too difficult.

Their lead evaporated almost immediately. By the time the disconnected teammate came back near the end, the situation was already far too unfavorable, and they ultimately lost.

Losing one match was a pity, but Jiang Yang hadn't expected to keep climbing without ever losing.

Besides, the teammate hadn't done it on purpose. There was nothing anyone could do about a power outage.

After the match ended, Li Hua called out, "All right, Jiang Yang, you keep playing. I'm going swimming to lose weight. We can play together again tomorrow if we have time."

"You're so disciplined I barely recognize you," Jiang Yang teased, then said goodbye to Li Hua.

Their afternoon of climbing had been incredibly enjoyable, a nearly perfect gaming experience.

They had played five matches in total and won four.

By his calculations, he had gained around a hundred points that afternoon. He was now in the middle of the B rank, and another hundred points would get him to B+.

Once he reached B+, was S really that far away?

Then, with a thought, he opened the system.

"Let's take a look at mine!"

[Old Timer: Jiang Yang]

[Age: 30]

[Team: None]

[Status: Preparing for a comeback]

[Overall Level: Amateur Level 3 (Expand)]

[Comeback Points: 911]

[Signature Skill: 'Hunter's Eco Assault (Beginner)']

[Personal Items: None]

[Comeback Missions: 1. Reach first place on any platform and announce your return.

2. (Daily) Run 5 kilometers every day to maintain good physical condition.

...]

Jiang Yang examined the contents of the system panel.

He had opened it specifically to look for changes, and he immediately noticed something different.

First, the "Personal Items" section no longer contained "Sleeping Black Tea."

But he understood that. It disappeared once used, and it seemed he could buy more later in the System Mall with Comeback Points. It was a consumable, after all.

Then there was the increase in Comeback Points.

He had originally only had 259 Comeback Points, but now he had 911.

The daily five-kilometer mission could reward Comeback Points, but he hadn't run five kilometers today.

Running in a dream didn't count, did it?

Then he found the detailed record of his Comeback Point earnings in the system.

He quickly discovered that the Comeback Points had come from winning ranked matches.

In ranked games, the system settled his rewards based on his performance. The better he performed in a win, the more Comeback Points he received.

The comeback match they had won from behind that afternoon had given him the most Comeback Points.

The match they lost had given him absolutely nothing.

So as long as he played enough ranked games, he could keep earning Comeback Points.

He just hadn't figured out what Comeback Points could be used for yet.

But looking at the vanished "Sleeping Black Tea," he entered the System Mall and prepared to buy a pack to keep in reserve.

His energy was still abundant right now, so he didn't need Sleeping Black Tea to replenish it. But what if he needed it someday?

Yet the moment he opened the System Mall, he froze.

Because he saw several items displayed inside the shop.

The familiar "Sleeping Black Tea" was still on the far left, but several new items had appeared behind it.

[Beginner Rifle Proficiency Experience Pack], [Clearwind Mill Map Proficiency (Advanced)], [Random Factory New Butterfly Knife (Game Item)], [One Random Hex Card], [A Banana]

Jiang Yang was instantly dumbfounded by all the items that had suddenly appeared.

Then he spotted an explanation for the System Mall in a small corner.

"The System Mall refreshes every day at 6 a.m. Certain items obtained from missions will remain permanently."

So when the system had been activated yesterday, that had counted as the System Mall's official refresh?

He continued examining the new items in the System Mall.

Among them, [A Banana] and [Random Factory New Butterfly Knife] were real-world items.

As long as he bought them, he could successfully obtain them.

He didn't care much about [A Banana], but he really wanted the [Random Factory New Butterfly Knife]. After all, he was still broke. Aside from the 500 yuan his mother gave him as spending money, he had no other source of income.

That afternoon during ranked play, one of his teammates had lent him that Butterfly Knife. It really did feel great to use.

Ma Xixi truly had a lot of skins. If Jiang Yang wanted to use one, Ma Xixi would definitely toss it to him.

But it wasn't his own, so it just didn't feel the same.

However, after checking, he discovered that the [Butterfly Knife] was not cheap.

Its purchase price was a terrifying 1,000 Comeback Points.

Jiang Yang only had 911 points in total, leaving him 89 points short of buying the [Butterfly Knife].

He could only temporarily abandon that idea and turn his attention to the other items.

[Beginner Rifle Proficiency]

[Description: Slightly increases Rifle Proficiency by 500 points.]

[Price: 200 Comeback Points.]

The appearance of a Rifle Proficiency Experience Pack made Jiang Yang's eyes light up.

With something like this, he could definitely become stronger faster.

As a new player who had only recently gotten into the game, having an Old Timer like Ma Xixi around meant he wouldn't go astray on the path to improvement.

But it would still take a lot of time.

Right now, he was like a sponge, constantly absorbing knowledge about CS:GO.

But CS:GO was an intensely competitive game. There was too much knowledge to learn, and it took time to accumulate it all.

If Jiang Yang wanted to quickly enter the professional scene, he could never have too many things like this.

However, he did not have many Comeback Points on hand right now, so he didn't buy it immediately. He decided to look through the other items first.

[Clearwind Mill Map Proficiency (Advanced)]

[Description: Greatly increases Clearwind Mill map proficiency by 50,000 points.]

[Price: 20,000 Comeback Points.]

How many?

20,000 points?!

That was more Comeback Points than he had years left to live!

Jiang Yang was shocked by the outrageous number of Comeback Points required, while also searching his memories.

He found no information about a map called "Clearwind Mill."

So was this some future map? ...Jiang Yang speculated.

But he had no use for it for now, nor did he have enough Comeback Points to buy it, so Jiang Yang simply left it alone.

He continued looking.

[Random Hex Card]

[Description: One of countless unknown Hexes. No one can guess whether the next one will be a reward or a punishment.]

[Price: 500 Comeback Points.]

The term Hex reminded him of Teamfight Tactics from the League, the game everyone called auto chess.

That game also had Hexes with different effects. Could it be something like that?

But the contents of the description made him somewhat cautious.

What if he got something bad?

But after thinking it over, he was already at rock bottom. He had nothing much left to lose.

So he decided to go all in!

He first bought one [Random Hex Card], then used his remaining Comeback Points to buy the [Beginner Rifle Experience Pack].

He had originally wanted to buy several more, but the items in the System Mall were limited to one purchase each.

That made sense.

Otherwise, he could grind Comeback Points until the end of time, max out his experience packs, become some legendary rifle god from Ten Mile Slope, and beat those pros until they forgot who they were.

Jiang Yang imagined that scene for a moment, and it was actually pretty amusing.

But that would be boring too. CS was only fun when you kept challenging higher levels.

Jiang Yang didn't enjoy stomping weaker players, but if the "fish" were people stronger than him, then he liked it.

After letting his thoughts wander, Jiang Yang focused his mind on his personal inventory.

"Use [Beginner Rifle Experience Pack]?"

"Yes."

The next second, he felt as if he had played several games with rifles such as the AK47. Scenes of rifle kills began appearing in his mind.

"That's it?"

Jiang Yang complained speechlessly in his heart.

Before he could even react, the scenes in his mind had ended.

But then again.

It only cost 200 Comeback Points. What more did he expect?

[Rifle Proficiency: Amateur Level 2.]

[Progress: (23/2000)]

But his proficiency had indeed improved. During today's matches, although he preferred using the Sniper Rifle and MP9, rifles were still the weapons he used most frequently. Naturally, his proficiency had improved considerably. With the experience pack he had just bought, he had directly gone from Amateur Level 1 to Level 2.

Next, he looked at the [Random Hex Card] with its unknown effect.

"Use [Random Hex Card]?"

"Yes."

"Congratulations, Old Timer, you have obtained the Hex: Use First, Pay Later (One Time)."

"Description: After using this Hex, Old Timer may purchase an item first and pay for it after using it."

Jiang Yang: Huh?