Rise To Stardom - Chapter 127

Chapter 127: Editor’s Touch
Opening the door to his apartment, Kyle tiredly dragged himself and plopped onto his bed.

Today had been quite hectic to say the least.

Even if they had only shot two scenes, both had been at two different places.

Sure the journey wasn’t all that long from NYC to Canada but, considering all the stress that had piled up unknowingly, the young man simply lay on his bed, unwilling to do anything.

Typically, he’d have headed over to the kitchen to cook something to eat…

Yet, for someone who enjoyed cooking, even that seemed like a chore at the moment.

“Takeout?” Oliver questioned as he walked in, watching as his ward, tiredly gazed at the ceiling.

“Please do.” Kyle responded, a hint of genuine gratefulness in his weary tone.

“They would’ve loved to have you at the dinner party you know?” Oliver closed the door behind him, lowering onto the sofa as he ordered their meals from a reputable restaurant.

“I know. But it feels like I haven’t been at home in forever…” Kyle replied, comfortable with his decision to visit his cozy apartment, if only for one night.

“Well, it has been a hectic month for you overall. I think they’ll understand.” his agent, having placed the order for their food, removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie with a tired sigh of his own as he relaxed onto the sofa.

Although Kyle was busy with acting as at the moment, Oliver had been the one, singlehandedly managing his music career for a whole month.

It was a pretty stressful job on its own to say the least, although the agent wasn’t complaining.

As long as his ward was staying relevant in the music industry despite not being available for all other things that other artists usually needed to do to keep their relevancy, he was happy.

Still, he was just as tired as Kyle as at the moment.

“I’ll just stay here for the night…” Oliver soon said to his ward who simply, raised up his arm and signaled ‘ok’ with his fingers.

Once again, the crew and cast would be heading back to New York tomorrow morning to continue shooting the last few episodes.

To a certain extent, Kyle was feeling quite excited yet slightly sad about the whole scenario.

On one hand, he couldn’t wait for the general public to finally to see what they had created.

Yet, on the other end of the spectrum, Kyle as an actor, wished he’d play his dream role a bit longer…

Still, regardless of it all, the young man was mostly excited.

One month and they’d already shot five episodes, all thanks to both the efforts of Tiana, their principled director, they themselves as good actors and the crew who were always ready to work without any infightings or disruptive incidents.

It was rapid, to say the least, especially since only four more episodes were left.

‘Speaking of rapid…’ Kyle thought to himself, mentally bringing up the string of notifications that had been ringing in his head after they had shot the last scene for the day at the park.

| You have acted before everyone and impressed them! |

| You have obtained a huge amount of exp. points! |

| 2500 exp. points have been awarded! |

| Total exp. points available (25,750) |

| Acting has advanced from level 11 to level 12! |

| Advancement in acting will become even much harder from here on out! |

| Keep acting to improve your skills! |

___________________________

{Kyle Kestis} – Exp. Points (25,750)

⸶Skills⸷

| [Soulful Vocals (P)], [Growth Spurt (P)], [Appraisal(A)], [Resonance (P)] – {B}], [Charisma (P)], [Polyglot (P)], [Deep Dive (A) – {A}], [Recollection (P)], [Scene Stealer (A)], [Action & Stunt Mastery (P)], [Bleeding Effect (P)]…

* Exp. Points can be used to create skills.

⸶Levels⸷

| Singing › Level 12

| Acting › Level 12

| Composing › Level 12

| Dancing › Level 6

| Instrument Mastery (Piano/Guitar) › Level 10/8

* Levels will increase in accordance to your growth.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––

‘Finally!’ the young man excitedly thought to himself as he watched his total points accumulate to 25,000 exp.

Sure he was glad he had leveled up in his acting stat but, more than that, the skill he had in mind for the longest time, could now be created!

‘Feels a bit like cheating though but…’

‘It’d be a waste if I didn’t try it out…’ the young man, made his decision as he mentally created the skill.

___________________________

Active Skill – [Editor’s Touch]

Upgrade stat levels by consuming exp. points.

Exp. Points Available – (25,750)

Exp. Points Consumed – (500)

Exp. Points Left – (25,250)

___________________________

-Ding!

| Active skill, [Editor’s Touch], has been created! |

Kyle’s eyes widened in a mix of shocked confusion.

‘What the…’ he inwardly questioned, a puzzling expression gracing his features.

The skill he had been extremely wary of creating for the fear that it was going to be a high-grade skill, only consumed 500 exp. points.

Rather, what was more confusing to Kyle, was how the skill, wasn’t even termed a high-end skill.

As a result, the young man, blinked his eyes a few times in disbelief.

In fact, if not for the fact that despite everything happening, Kyle was still evidently tired, he would’ve sprung up from his bed in genuine befuddlement.

Luckily, it at least, ensured that Oliver couldn’t notice his ward’s current expression as he tried to wrap his head around what was the case for this.

‘Wait a minute…’

‘Active skills, tend to not really consume exp. points…’ Kyle began to think.

‘No… that wouldn’t explain the cause for [Editor’s Touch] not being a high-end skill… [Deep Dive] consumed quite a lot too…’ he countered his own argument.

‘Rather, skills that don’t actually effect me, as a person, tend not to consume exp. points…’ Kyle mused.

‘That theory, should apply to system-based skills… like [Appraisal]…’ the young man soon reached an interesting conclusion.

‘That would explain why, even though it’s such a good skill, it was never high-end and it never consumed exp. points all that much…’ Kyle came to a certain realization.

‘Same for [Editor’s Touch]…”

‘It’s a busted skill, but it doesn’t actually, have any major effect on my body in a real sense so, the exp. points for its creation are less, since it’s system based…’ he kept unfurling his conundrum, a few fingers placed on his chin.

“However… that should change, when I actually decide to use the skill itself…” the young man, quietly mumbled to himself as he gave a mental command;

___________________________

Acting › Level 12

Upgrade to Level 13 with 5,000 exp. points?

Exp. Points Available – (25,250)

___________________________

“Just as I thought…” Kyle quietly muttered to himself, his thoughts, right on the money.

However, at the same time, a certain realization dawned on him.

For the longest time, he had been wondering, if the exp. points he got after leveling up, could be used in turn to actually upgrade his core stats.

Turns out, his theory had been right.

And that exactly was why, he came to the realization that this was a skill that he should’ve probably created from the onset.

Yet, at the same time, Kyle was glad that he hadn’t done that back then due to another theory of his.

Inwardly chuckling to himself though, the young man, not particularly perturbed by the fact that he was figuring all this out after all this time, went ahead and upgraded to the next level.

___________________________

Acting › Level 12

Upgrade to Level 13 with 5,000 exp. points?

Exp. Points Available – (25,250)

Exp. Points Consumed – (5,000)

Exp. Points Left – (20,250)

___________________________

-Ding!

| Acting has advanced from level 12 to level 13! |

| Keep acting to improve your skills! |

‘And if my thoughts are truly right then…’ Kyle tested out his other theory immediately after;

___________________________

Acting › Level 13

Upgrade to Level 14 with 10,000 exp. points?

Exp. Points Available – (20,250)

___________________________

‘Yeah… exponential increments… figured as much…’ the young man nodded his head in acknowledgement.

Closing the system interface though, Kyle introspected on the fact that he was now on the same acting level as Jasmine and Bruce.

In fact, maybe it was safe to say that he was now a better actor than both of them, especially with the fact that he also had two busted acting skills in the form of [Deep Dive] and [Scene Stealer].

Still, the fact that he was able to bridge the gap between both of them with his exp. points as opposed to many, many years of experience, did make him a bit concerned.

As of the moment, Kyle Kestis was more or less on the same level as Jeffrey Dickson, a Hollywood star who had been in the industry for so many years.

But then again, despite all this, Kyle remembered once again, that the system was a gift from his loved ones in the old world.

It would be a shame, if he didn’t use it the best he could.

And so, with a mix of a gaze of acceptance and gratitude on his face, the young man, smiled to himself while inwardly stating;

‘I’ll put it to good use guys. Always. That, I promise you.’

No sooner had he concluded his thoughts on the matter, the doorbell of his apartment rung.

“Food’s here.” Oliver whom had been dozing off, sprung up from the sofa.

He too, just like Kyle, was very hungry at the moment.

* * *

{The Curator – Tenth Season | 2nd May 2020 | Act 6 | Scene 1 | Take 1}

“Curator! Where are we headed today?” Kiera walked into the Index with a hint of excitement in her eyes.

A few days had passed since the incident with Tesla and now, The Mad Man that she knew, was back to being all chaotic.

“Kiera! You look lovely today! Have you had a wash?” he asked and then, instantly brushed aside the question with a wave of his hands as he continued;

“Forget that last part. Anyway! Alpha & Beta!” he exclaimed with a smile and explained further as Kiera grinned;

“Boring planet honestly but! There is an interesting twin tower located at its Cape Town on the west side of its mountain range that faces the sea!”

“Now here’s the best part! If you take an elevator up the twin tower and look up, at exactly 6 minutes past midnight on the 22nd of May, 2170, there’s a 500-foot seaweed tree that sprouts out from the middle of the sea that sings!”

“Also, at this point in time, you’ll see more stars and moons in one sky than you’ll ever see at any other moment in the history of the universe!”

“It’s like daylight. Only, it’s not magic, but science!” he rapidly spoke without any breaks or pauses in between his monologues, a stupid grin now plastered on his face.

“Can I read a book about it?” Kiera asked with a genuinely interested gaze.

“You can read, many books about it! Just not on Earth!” The Curator, pulled down the lever of The Horologium!

Instantly, the pendulums started moving faster as the vintage-styled, hourglass clock, made a peculiar sound, indicating that they were already time travelling.

As this happened, The Curator, went to his wardrobe and picked a red-colored, Belle-epoque long coat.

“Did you loot that from another store?!” Kiera asked the mad man who was dressing up with an expression of disbelief.

“Kiera. I’ve saved the earth, more times than I’d like to admit. I think I deserve a reward every now and then.” The Curator dismissed her with a proud smile as he flexed his new long coat.

“C’mon! Hurry up! We haven’t all day!” he ran towards the door the moment the peculiar sound of The Horologium stopped.

Ushering Kiera out, all whilst also being a gentleman as he opened the door for her, The Curator, just before exiting The Index, gazed over at his Horologium and whispered;

“Thanks dear!”

“Cut, Print. Check The Gate.”

The sixth episode of The Curator, was going to be a more laidback one, with the story, focusing on The Curator and Jasmine, exploring the planet of Alpha & Beta, although a certain incident revolving around the seaweed tree possibly not sprouting, did pop up.

And as usual, written in the script, was how both The Curator and Kiera, were going to resolve that incident.

That said, as Jasmine walked off the interior prop of The Index, she glanced over at Kyle with a curious squint.

“Mind giving me some of your drive and motivations?” the lady soon asked the young man with an amused expression.

“Nay.” Kyle simply shook his head in disagreement while continuing;

“It’s a trade secret and I’m a man, of mystery…” he phased a hand across his face like a magician, a playful smile, nestling on his lips.

“I call bullshit.” Jasmine bluntly countered, earning a light, hearty chuckle from Kyle.

Yet, as this happened some other people on set, picked up on the same thing Jasmine did.

For some reason or the other, they had noticed, that Kyle was at his peak while acting out this scene.

Sure he was always a great actor everyday but, there were a few times where he would suddenly get in the zone.

Today was one of such days.

However, as the next few scenes were shot for the rest of the day, a certain realization soon dawned on most of them.

Kyle wasn’t just simply in the zone all day.

Rather, it seemed as if he had figured out how to push himself to act even better than before.

Tiana especially had figured it out from the very first scene of the day.

She, as a director, realized that Kyle’s acting, now felt even more refined and polished, eliciting a mild tilt of her head, her curiosity, similarly peaked.

Things like this, weren’t exactly rare as an actor could evolve and become better over time in the long course of a series but, for the most part, it had been a very long while since she had seen it in action.

Especially, in a single season nonetheless.

‘Wonder how much further he would grow if he was given more than one season…’ the Director, mused to herself as she went to prepare for the next scene with their cinematographers.