"Eleven points to distribute?"
Luke blinked, completely thrown off.
Was this stingy system suddenly being… generous?
Trying to contain his excitement, he opened his stats panel. It was finally time to level up properly.
[Name: Luke] [Age: 19] [Strength: 15] [Agility: 16] [Constitution: 15] [Points Available: 12] [Skills: Master-level Swordsmanship, Master-level Parkour, Master-level Throwing Knives, Master-level Martial Arts]
Strength and Constitution were still locked—no upgrades allowed for now.
So, Luke dumped all his points straight into Agility.
[Agility: 16 → 20] [Points Available: 12 → 4]
Eight points gone in one go. Agility boosted to 20.
The difference was instant and dramatic. Even without any skill buffs, Luke felt like he could walk into a circus and, after a few minutes of practice, become a gold-medal acrobat.
Tightrope walking? Check. Balancing on rolling balls? Easy. Plate-spinning? Give him a few tries.
He could do it all.
If he went into esports, his reflex speed and hand-eye coordination would be off the charts—perfect mouse control, lightning-fast reaction time.
That's what happens when your body control and reflexes reach superhuman levels.
And with his Agility raised, all his current skills got stronger too.
His throwing knife accuracy improved the most—he could already throw knives up to 100 meters, but his perfect accuracy range used to cap at 60. Now it had jumped to about 75.
His parkour, swordsmanship, and martial arts also benefited—his energy expenditure dropped drastically, letting him perform more extreme moves in a row.
He used to max out at four long-distance acrobatic flips; now he could do six without breaking form.
Luke couldn't help grinning. This upgrade was amazing.
With 20 Agility, he was already twice as fast as a normal human—practically touching the limits of human potential.
He had a hunch that once any of his three stats hit 30, something extraordinary would happen—a full-on transformation.
Too bad his stat caps were locked for now.
[You have reached your current potential limit. Further upgrades unavailable. Complete the mission: Establish an intimate relationship with any non-Type B female to unlock the next stage of potential.]
Luke had more or less figured out what "intimate relationship" meant, and once he handled his current tasks, he planned to test that theory.
"System, recalculate my action-scene success rates."
[Danger Level C: 95% Success Rate.] [Danger Level B: 35% Success Rate.]
So, Level C had gone up from 90% to 95%, and Level B from 32% to 35%.
Not a huge jump—seems skill level still mattered more—but if he could boost Strength and Constitution to 20 too, Level B stunts could hit close to 50% success.
He was starting to see his path clearly.
[Mission Phase 2: Star in a Hollywood action film that becomes the top-grossing movie worldwide of the year.] [Rewards: Attribute bonuses based on performance.]
Yep—just as he thought. A chained mission. The moment he completed Phase 1, the system dropped a way harder Phase 2 right on him.
And this one was insane.
The global box office champion? In this era?
That meant going head-to-head with monsters like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
In 2002, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers had raked in $936 million. And in 2003, The Return of the King hit a mind-blowing $1.14 billion.
By comparison, even the boldest projections for Stephen Sommers' The Mummy Returns were around $600 million—and that was considered huge.
The gap was ridiculous.
To beat The Lord of the Rings, Luke would need to land a massive blockbuster role—and soon.
He didn't have the luxury of waiting a few years. Every year from here on out had some unstoppable box office juggernaut.
2002 might be his only chance—maybe he could beat The Two Towers. But 2003's Return of the King? Practically unbeatable.
That meant he needed to secure a major role in a top-tier project before that.
He mentally ran through the list of big films for 2002: Star Wars: Episode II, Spider-Man...
Yeah, no chance. There was no way Hollywood would cast a Asian lead in either of those.
So what now?
He'd have to find another angle—something bold, unexpected.
Maybe it was time to talk to Mr. Eisen again. After the success of his last two films, he finally had enough clout to sit down and renegotiate things properly.
Just then, his phone rang.
"In this lifetime, when paths cross, there's no escape…"
The ringtone—Wang Fei's new song Flowing Years—made Luke chuckle. Fitting lyrics, considering how fate seemed determined to pit him against The Lord of the Rings.
Damn it.
He picked up.
A warm voice came through: "Congratulations, Luke. It's been a few months since we last met, and you've really made a name for yourself."
"Thank you, Director Ang Lee. Congratulations to you too—you've had quite a year yourself."
Indeed—at the 73rd Academy Awards, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had swept four Oscars: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography.
It was an unprecedented triumph for Asian cinema—and even as of 2024, Luke knew, still unmatched.
Director Ang Lee had always looked out for him, even gifting him a $1.5 million bonus after Crouching Tiger's massive box office success.
Naturally, Luke was genuinely happy to see him earning global recognition.
He'd just been too busy with his own movie releases to attend the Oscars, so they hadn't spoken in over six months.
"Luke, are you busy these days?"
"Maybe a bit. Why—do you have something in mind?"
"I'm starting a new film soon," said Ang Lee. "Would you be interested? If you are, I can tailor a role just for you."
"Oh? What's it called?"
"The working title is Brokeback Mountain. It's about two men who—"
"Yeah, I think I'll pass. If it's not an action film, I'm focusing elsewhere for now."
No way was Luke touching that project. He knew exactly what Brokeback Mountain was about—and there was no universe where he was starring in it.
Sure, the film would go on to earn critical acclaim, but still—hard pass.
He had no desire to become a "symbol" of that particular cultural movement.
Now, if Ang Lee ever offered him Lust, Caution down the line… well, that might be a different story. Technically, that could count as an "action" film.