Chapter 1: Back to the Past
"He always chokes at the critical moment."
"He disappears when the team needs him most."
"Is this really a father-son rivalry?"
"Losing to LVG is one thing. I can count that as supporting CNCS, no problem."
"But nobody told you to lose to B8 and mibr too! Losing to Europe, Asia, and South America. Have you no shame at all?"
"How did I end up becoming a fan of a team like this?"
Watching Falcons get eliminated from the Austin Major at lightning speed, Edward, just like NiKo, covered his face in pain.
As a CS player, he had started in 2021 and had been watching matches for four years. Among all the pro players, his favorite was NiKo. Like every NiKo fan, he had always hoped NiKo would win a Major championship of his own.
But what he got, over and over again, was disappointment.
He could not understand it. Ever since NiKo missed those three shots into an opponent's back in Stockholm, and failed to beat 2K at the Boston Major, it was as if some curse had settled on him.
Whenever the team needed him to step up, he always let people down.
Still, saying Edward hated NiKo because of that was not really accurate.
After all, whether NiKo won championships or not had nothing to do with his own life. What Edward felt was more like regret that something good never came to fruition, a messy mix of admiration and resentment.
After letting out a long sigh, Edward lowered his head and looked at his phone screen. Messages kept popping up nonstop.
As someone who had played CS for four years, he had naturally joined several groups and made a few friends who also played CS.
CS was not like LOL. Sure, there were trolls once in a while, but most players minded their own business. They might like one player, but that did not mean they automatically hated another, especially not a veteran like NiKo.
Even if someone did not like him, they would not be celebrating his elimination or leaving hateful comments.
Most players, even those who were not NiKo fans, still felt some regret for him. As one famous commentator once put it:
"Every match a veteran plays is one less match we get to watch."
Even the trolls did not actually want to see NiKo retire, because then who would they even troll?
Edward picked up his phone. The chat messages kept sliding upward until his eyes stopped on one particular thread.
[Big Boy Who Likes Barking: Damn it, I've watched for four years, and it's the same result every year. I really can't keep being a fan anymore. Why is it so hard just to watch NiKo win one championship?]
[Big Boy Who Likes Barking: I seriously don't get it, what is m0NESY doing? Why is he moving around all over the place? Can't he just hold banana properly?]
[Big Boy Who Likes Barking: We lost a 5v3! I don't see what's so great about zonic, the five-time champion coach.]
...
Looking at the messages Rey had sent, Edward felt like every line matched exactly what he was thinking.
He and Rey had been college roommates. They had basically started playing the game together and became NiKo fans together, which made Rey one of the few real friends Edward had in college.
Later, even after they went to different places for work, they still stayed in touch and often called each other to watch matches or queue together.
Edward thought for a moment, pressed the screen unlock button, and tapped the input box at the bottom. Just as he was about to type something, a sudden wave of dizziness hit him.
He had no choice but to put the phone down, and a thought flashed through his mind.
"Did I overwork myself so hard that my blood sugar dropped?"
He did not know how much time passed. The dizzy feeling slowly faded.
When he opened his eyes again and saw everything clearly, his pupils shrank.
Because the place in front of him was no longer his home.
It was a place both familiar and strange, a place he had lived in for nearly four years.
His university dorm room.
Before Edward could process what had happened, Rey, sitting behind him, suddenly slapped him on the shoulder and pointed at his own computer screen.
"Holy crap, why were you so slow turning around to grab something? You missed the best part."
"Just now, NiKo snuck up to the third floor, got behind s1mple, and missed three shots!"
"Do you know how insane that is?"
Hearing those words and seeing what was on the screen, Edward became completely certain.
He had transmigrated.
He had gone back to November 7, 2021, the day the 2021 PGL Stockholm Major ended.
This was where his CS journey had truly started, and from here, he had gradually learned about the big-name pro players until he eventually became a NiKo fan.
At the same time, this was also the first semester of his freshman year, only two or three months after school had started.
Then Edward's eyes suddenly lit up.
He had been reborn four years into the past.
Did that mean he had another chance to change his future?
Four years later, the job he found after graduation had been unstable. The courses taught at his university were too outdated, and he had learned almost nothing truly useful, so once he started working, he basically had to start from scratch.
As for the graduate school entrance exam, to be honest, Edward simply could not force himself to study for it.
He was a very ordinary student in his class, even slightly below average. He had barely made it into an undergraduate program in the first place.
He knew he was not cut out for academics, so he had never seriously considered that path.
After graduation, Edward worked as a programmer, a security guard, and a delivery driver. But his highest monthly income had only been five or six thousand yen, and sometimes it was as low as one or two thousand. There were even times when he had to ask his parents for money just to survive in a big city.
He did not understand why he had suddenly returned to his university days, but one thing was certain.
This was an opportunity to change his situation.
Edward lowered his head and began seriously thinking about what he could do to change his future.
Stocks?
But he had no money.
If he tried to persuade his parents to hand over the family savings by claiming he had been reborn, he would definitely get a brutal scolding, and there was no chance they would actually give him the money.
CS skins?
Current skin prices were far lower than what he remembered, but they were still not something a broke college student could easily afford.
In other words, even though rebirth had given him a lot of money-making ideas, he still lacked one thing.
Start-up capital.
Dropping out right now to work was one option, but even then, the money would not be enough. At best, he could make some profit, but it would be nowhere near enough to guarantee a comfortable, worry-free life in the future.
Thinking of this, Edward's brows tightened.
At that moment, Rey's voice sounded again.
"G2 lost."
"NAVI won the championship, just like everyone expected."
Hearing that, Edward looked up at the computer screen, and his pupils suddenly expanded.
Because right after the Major ended, a pale blue panel abruptly appeared in front of his eyes.
[Congratulations, Host! You have awakened the CSGO Hard Work Equals Genius System]
[Host Name: Edward]
[Age: 17]
[Attributes]
[Status: Excited (All attributes slightly increased. Calculation formula: Base Attribute + (Value in Parentheses) = Final Value)]
[Marksmanship: 31-34 (+2) (Mastery > Proficient > Standard > Clumsy > Unskilled > Unfamiliar)]
[(USP: Clumsy (When using this weapon, Marksmanship attribute -6))]
[(Glock: Clumsy)]
[(AK-47: Unskilled (When using this weapon, Marksmanship attribute -8))]
[(M4A1: Unskilled)]
[(FAMAS: Unskilled)]
[(Galil: Unskilled)]
[(MP9: Unfamiliar (Little Honeybee) (When using this weapon, Marksmanship attribute -10))]
[(MAC-10: Unfamiliar (Hairdryer))]
[(AWP: Standard (When using this weapon, Marksmanship attribute -4))]
[Reaction: 81-92 (+2)]
[Awareness: 22-26 (+2)]
[Mentality: 60-69 (+15)]
[Map Proficiency: Dust2 (34 points), Mirage (28 points), Inferno (25 points), Nuke (18 points), Vertigo (8 points), Overpass (10 points), Ancient (11 points)]
[Talent: None]
[Effort Value: 0]
[Daily Training (Can be activated)]