Kenneth King: "@Ethan Brooks, Old Brooks, your card skills have really improved! You're playing some fancy tricks. I'm about to head to H City in the next couple of days, so it's the perfect chance for an epic showdown with you. Let you relive the days of being dominated by the card god."

Ethan Brooks replied instantly: "@Kenneth King, Little Ken comrade, come on, come on, daddy will be waiting for you in H City. Same old rules: loser buys breakfast for a week."

Kenneth King: "It's a deal, hahaha! I'm just waiting for the big star to buy me breakfast."

"Oh ho!"

The group chat suddenly got even livelier, with some people shouting they wanted to join, and others asking to watch a livestream of the match.

Actually, when it comes to card skills, Ethan Brooks really isn't as good as Kenneth King.

No way around it—this guy is a freak. He won first place in the national math olympiad and made it onto the national team, then got directly admitted to the Yao Class. He's that kind of monster.

This once made Ethan Brooks, who had worked hard at his studies since childhood and was proud of himself, feel a deep sense of defeat. He felt the IQ gap between himself and Kenneth King was even bigger than the gap between himself and Emily Foster.

In the entertainment industry, Ethan Brooks calls himself a top student, a genius, and no one dares to challenge him.

But in this class, forget it.

Hi everyone, just call me Little Brooks, or Old Brooks.

After chatting and joking around in the group for a while, Ethan Brooks went to check his Weibo again.

Unlike the previously deserted scene, his Weibo was now buzzing with activity.

In just a short time, his follower count had increased by over a thousand, and it was still climbing.

It was probably because Ms. Miller had managed to borrow some money, and after discovering his Weibo video, realized it was a good marketing point, so she started promoting around the video, bringing him a wave of traffic.

Pretty efficient, but that's to be expected.

If you don't take advantage of the opportunity before the website buries the film, are you going to wait until it's completely cold before making a move?

Ethan Brooks clicked on his second Weibo post.

It was a short video, just over a minute long, with the caption: "Diligence makes up for lack of talent. Since I don't have much acting talent, I can only work hard on my skills. Wishing 'Prequel to the King of Gambling' a big hit."

The comments on this Weibo post exploded.

"My mom asked me why I'm kneeling while watching Weibo."

"'Diligence makes up for lack of talent' my ass. If you don't have talent, I might as well go get a certificate for being all thumbs."

"Brother Yixia is so handsome, so handsome, so handsome."

"Fake, right? This is all special effects, right?"

"Idiot, are you blind? Can't you tell this was shot at home in the study with a phone? Ethan Brooks even put a watch next to him for timing. The whole video is just over a minute, and there's no sign of any editing or special effects."

"I'm a fan now, even if it's special effects, it's super cool. I'm going to watch 'Prequel to the King of Gambling' right now."

"Don't be fooled, the card-cutting effects in that crappy movie aren't even as good as this casually recorded video."

"The movie's not bad, but don't get your hopes up too high. You have to get through the first thirty minutes—it's only exciting after Ethan Brooks appears."

"Exciting my ass, this idiot actor is just a poker face, can't even deliver a line properly. Other than looking decent, he's got nothing going for him. The entertainment industry is polluted by people like this, leaving veteran actors with no roles to play."

"Being handsome is enough, Ethan Brooks, mom supports you..."

"Yixia, hurry up and release an album and hold a concert. Sis will work to support you."

"Alex, when are you filming 'Prequel to the King of Gambling 2'?"

"......"

Ethan Brooks was overwhelmed by the flood of comments. He remembered that when he first debuted, even with the company hyping him up and buying comments, it never got this heated. Plus, quite a few comments were calling him Alex, clearly new fans who had come after watching 'Prequel to the King of Gambling'.

And just then—

"Ding!"

A crisp system notification sounded.

"Congratulations, the character you played, [Alex], has increased in popularity and recognition. The skill card [Card Control Technique] has been upgraded to [Green - Excellent], and you have obtained the card trait [Charm of Light]."

Huh?

Ethan Brooks was stunned for a moment, then immediately showed a look of surprise.

He originally thought that the skill card drawn after wrapping up filming was fixed—if it was white and ordinary, it would always be white and ordinary.

He didn't expect that after the film was released, the character's popularity and recognition could still increase.

Now this was interesting.

"Check skill card."

Ethan Brooks focused his attention on the [Card Control Technique] card. The previously plain white card was now emitting a faint green glow, with a new ring of golden wheat-like trim around the edges, making it look much more luxurious.

And in the card description, there was now a new, green-glowing trait—[Charm of Light].

Focusing on the trait called [Charm of Light], a detailed explanation immediately appeared in his mind.

"[When you use Card Control Technique, you emit a charm of light, making it easier to attract attention and generate positive feelings toward you. Note: The higher your Card Control Technique star level, the stronger the effect of Charm of Light.]"

At the same time, Ethan Brooks also noticed the star level of Card Control Technique.

Although the proficiency was still only at one star, the experience bar had already reached about twenty percent.