Regarding this matter, it’s a long story.

Specifically, it all starts with his decision to become an actor.

Ethan Brooks was actually not a professionally trained actor from an arts school, nor did he have much interest in acting.

He had always excelled academically since childhood, entering the province’s elite gifted youth class in fifth grade.

For the college entrance exam, he ranked ninety-third in the province and was admitted to the engineering experimental class at Zhendan University.

At a friend’s gathering, he happened to meet Emily Foster from Magic Drama. After spending some time together, they developed feelings for each other and naturally started dating.

To date, the two have been together for three years, and for the past year and a half, they’ve even been living together.

Because of his relationship with Emily Foster, Ethan Brooks also got to know some of her friends from Magic Drama and people in the entertainment industry. Thanks to his good looks and academic prowess, he was directly recommended to a film and television company.

At first, Ethan Brooks wasn’t too keen on becoming an actor, but he couldn’t resist Emily Foster’s encouragement, and the company also showed a lot of sincerity at the beginning, offering quite a few relaxed contract terms. After some consideration, he signed a short three-year contract.

Initially, the company invested some resources in training, packaging, and even hyping up Ethan Brooks.

But unfortunately, Ethan Brooks’s acting talent was rather average. After playing two minor roles without making any splash, he even refused to cooperate with some excessive persona hype, which led to dissatisfaction among some company executives.

For some other reasons, he also offended the executive who signed him, and was semi-shelved and thrown into a corner.

Being sidelined wasn’t a big deal—at worst, his family could pay a penalty to terminate the contract, or he could just wait for the contract to end.

He could still continue with his graduate and doctoral studies under his mentor, following that path.

Alternatively, he could listen to his family’s advice, finish his graduate studies, and return to inherit the family business—spend a few years as a happy third-generation rich kid, then take over the business passed down from his grandfather to his father and make it even bigger.

Of course, he had also planned out his future with Emily Foster: after officially graduating this year, he would take her home to meet his parents, let both families meet, and after a year or two of graduate studies or work, they would get married.

But everything changed just over half a year ago.

At that time, Emily Foster suddenly became a breakout star in a drama where she played the third female lead. Although her role wasn’t huge, the character was likable and generated a lot of discussion.

After trending on several hot searches in a row, Emily Foster quickly amassed a large fanbase and shot up to become one of the company’s most popular young actresses. High-quality resources flooded her way—guest spots on hit variety shows, second female leads in S-tier big IP dramas, and so on.

At first, she was just busy, and they rarely saw each other. But gradually, she came home less and less, and even their WeChat conversations became perfunctory.

Until a month ago, when she took the initiative to break up.

Ethan Brooks had already mentally prepared for this, so he didn’t cling on and agreed readily.

Coincidentally, around that time, the once-famous agent Emily BoltonMs. Bolton, who had retired from the entertainment industry for five years, returned to the company due to family reasons, hoping to make a comeback.

But all the company’s top artists already had long-term agents, so she couldn’t take them on. She could only dig up some forgotten, bottom-tier artists from the company’s corners, and Ethan Brooks was one of them.

In Ms. Bolton’s words: Ethan Brooks, with my decades of experience, you are absolutely a natural-born superstar. Right now, you’re just a pearl covered in dust. I believe in you, and I’ll do my best to get you big opportunities and make you a star.

Then, without further ado, Ms. Bolton handed him a third-rate web movie, "The King of Gambling: The Prequel," and sent him straight to the crew to audition for the already-cast second male lead, Alex.

Unable to refuse Ms. Bolton’s enthusiasm, Ethan Brooks agreed with a mindset of giving it another try.

Looking back, he was glad he agreed at the time.

Not long after joining the crew, he awakened a system because of the breakup. By playing Alex in "The King of Gambling: The Prequel," Ethan Brooks drew his first skill card—"Card Control Technique."

Thinking back on everything, Ethan Brooks couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.

It was truly a case of unintended consequences. Now that he had the post-filming card-drawing system, he was probably bound to the acting profession from here on out.

As for going back to inherit the family business—how could that compare to drawing cards?

He’d just have to let his father suffer a bit for now.

Anyway, his father still had a year before his fiftieth birthday, was healthy and free of illness, and could easily work another ten, twenty, or even thirty years.

With that in mind, Ethan Brooks sent his mom a message: “Mother, ask Dad for me—can he spare some gold coins to invest in a couple of movies for me?”

With the post-filming card-drawing system, of course it would be best to play those super-powerful characters.

For example, a superhero who can fly and burrow, or a deity from myth and legend. At the very least, starring in a truly big-budget xianxia (fantasy) drama would be great.

But he also knew that, given his current status in the entertainment industry, there was no way he’d get a chance to star in a big production, nor were there that many crews for him to choose from.

So, he could only see if he could take a shortcut through his father.