Chapter 33: Huh? A Trial for the First Team?

After more than twenty hours of flying, Su Zhe finally arrived in Sweden.

Guided by the club's airport pickup staff, he arrived at the entrance of the NiP club, where he saw someone waving at him from a distance.

"Hey! Brother!"

After comparing the person with a photo he had prepared in his phone album, Su Zhe realized that the person waving was k0nfig, who had added him as a friend twice in a row.

As they got closer, k0nfig gave him a big bear hug. "You're finally here. You must be exhausted from the trip."

Such a warm gesture made Su Zhe feel a bit shy; it was his first time encountering such an enthusiastic "stranger."

k0nfig greeted the staff member who had led the way and then said to Su Zhe, "Let's go, I'll take you to the training room first."

Su Zhe nodded and followed behind k0nfig. k0nfig talked quite a bit along the way, introducing him to the club's various facilities.

Su Zhe nodded from time to time, surveying his surroundings. He couldn't help but marvel that NiP was truly a powerhouse in the CS:GO world; even the hallways inside the club were several times wider than those at TyLoo, where he had been before.

The decor went without saying; it was no different from the grand villas he usually saw in movies.

He followed k0nfig into an elevator and up to the training room entrance. Peeking inside, he saw only four people.

Su Zhe asked curiously, "Is your academy team this small? Or is it not training time yet?"

Hearing this, k0nfig couldn't help but laugh. "How could this be the academy department? This is our main team's training room."

"I see." Su Zhe scratched his head awkwardly.

He was a bit face-blind when it came to foreigners. Aside from the famous ones or those with very distinct features, everyone else looked the same to him.

Just then, the people in the training room noticed the commotion at the door. A tall man with curly hair stood up and walked toward the entrance. "You must be Arrow, right? I'm es3tag, NiP's current interim captain. Come on in."

REZ and headtr1ck looked at Su Zhe with curious eyes.

The coach, djL, who had been watching a demo, stood up and shook hands with Su Zhe, smiling. "Tough trip, right? Have you booked a hotel? The tryout is scheduled for two o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

Su Zhe asked, "Is it possible to do the tryout today?"

k0nfig looked surprised. "Huh? Didn't you just arrive from China? Don't you have jet lag? You should at least get some rest."

Su Zhe shook his head. "No need, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape right now."

Although he felt exhausted after the twenty-plus-hour flight, he had managed to get some sleep on the plane. More importantly, Su Zhe was too excited about this tryout. He was afraid that if he spent the night overthinking, he would suffer from insomnia, which would only make his performance worse during tomorrow's tryout.

es3tag gave him a thumbs up and smiled. "As expected of an eighteen-year-old, full of energy. I was just like you ten years ago, training for over a dozen hours every day without feeling tired."

djL hesitated for a moment before saying, "Alright then, let me contact Heroic to see if they are available today."

With that, he took out his phone and walked outside.

*Hmm? Heroic?*

Su Zhe thought his English listening skills might have failed him, so he looked at es3tag and said, "Could you tell me where the academy department is? I can find my way there myself."

es3tag looked confused. "Why go to the academy department?"

"For the tryout."

"Why would you go to the academy department for a tryout?"

"Where else would I go for a tryout if not the academy department?"

"Hahahaha!" Their exchange made everyone in the training room burst into laughter.

k0nfig clutched his stomach, laughing. "We didn't bring you here to recruit for the academy team; otherwise, we wouldn't have bothered with all this."

es3tag nodded. "Exactly. If you pass this tryout, you can join our main team directly."

He then added, a bit sheepishly, "Though, for certain reasons, this tryout might be a bit difficult. You'll need to put up a strong performance."

"But based on your outstanding performance in the ladder matches, as long as you're in good form, passing the tryout shouldn't be a problem."

Su Zhe felt dizzy; his attention was entirely on the first half of the statement.

*Huh? Me? Directly into the main team?*

The NiP team that could easily crush TyLoo actually wanted me to join the main team directly?

Hearing this news, Su Zhe felt like he was living in a sci-fi novel. This was too surreal.

Seeing Su Zhe silent, es3tag thought he might be nervous, so he continued, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Heroic's goal is also to try out new teammates. They have three newcomers today, so they won't be using complex tactics in the matches."

At this, es3tag couldn't help but sigh for his home team.

Denmark had always been a country that produced strong CS:GO teams. There was Astralis, which won three consecutive Major championships, forging the longest-lasting dynasty in CS:GO history.

Heroic, as Denmark's second team, was also frequently ranked in the world's top ten.

However, a few months ago, Heroic announced the benching of their soul, cadiaN, and key players stavn and jabbi betrayed the team to join Astralis.

This left the team that once reached world number one with only sjuush and TeSeS, and their ranking plummeted.

k0nfig, standing nearby, suddenly spoke up. "Don't just stand there. Since we're doing the tryout today, Brother Arrow, go warm up at that computer. We'll get ready, too."

He pointed to one of the computers in the training room.

Su Zhe snapped out of his overwhelming joy and quickly agreed.

Sitting in front of the computer, he quickly calmed his mind and focused his attention.

Although he still didn't understand why he had gone from an academy prospect to a main team tryout, now that the opportunity was in his hands, he would never let it slip away.

Su Zhe had shot about 300 bots on the aim map when the coach, who had stepped out earlier, returned.

"Luckily, Heroic's new players arrived early and stayed at the hotel arranged by the club last night. Otherwise, we might not have been able to schedule this on such short notice."

He walked behind Su Zhe and asked, "Is there anything else you need to prepare?"

Su Zhe shook his head. "I'm ready. We can start whenever."

djL nodded. "Okay, keep warming up. The other side will be ready in a moment."

Under es3tag's guidance, Su Zhe joined the TeamSpeak server. After waiting for over ten minutes, the ten players from both teams entered the custom lobby.

Just before starting, es3tag, serving as the captain and in-game leader, reminded everyone on the voice channel, "We'll be on the attacking side. No set plays, just defaults. Same goes for when we're on defense."

Su Zhe nodded upon hearing this, feeling that such a tryout was quite reasonable.

Set plays were strategies planned in advance before the match began, where everyone followed a routine at the start of the round. As a newcomer, it would be impossible for him to coordinate such tactics perfectly.

Defaults meant controlling the areas of the map they were responsible for early on, and then deciding how to proceed based on the situation in the mid-round.

This approach tested a player's individual skill and experience more heavily, which was the main purpose of testing a new player.

Su Zhe loosened his finger joints, ready to begin at any moment, while coach djL stood behind him with a tactical notebook, ready to take notes.

Both sides chose a map. NiP chose Mirage, while Heroic chose Inferno.

The tryout rules were to play 12 rounds on each side, regardless of the score, and then switch sides to play another 12 rounds.

Map one was Mirage, chosen by NiP, and they decided to start on the attacking side.

Soon, all ten players loaded into the server.

T-Side: es3tag, k0nfig, REZ, headtr1ck, Arrow
CT-Side: Nertz, TeSeS, nicoodoz, sjuush, kyxsan

Before the match officially began, es3tag looked at Su Zhe, who had a serious expression, and reminded him once more:

"Good luck! The opponents are veterans who have played professionally for years. Be cautious during the match; don't play like you do in ladder games."

"Got it, okay!" Su Zhe nodded.

Upon entering the server, his first feeling wasn't nervousness, but rather how incredibly smooth the 20-plus millisecond server latency felt!