Hollywood: Head-Hunting System

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works. If you recognize it from somewhere else, surprise, it isn't mine.

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Recap of the previous chapter —

Mark speaks with the system AI, names her Vani, gets his current achievements evaluated and gets rewarded with a respective level of Starter Package. Gets a good understanding of his rewards and then plans about to use them to their full potential.

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~ Mark's POV ~

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April 10th, 1990, next day morning, 10:53 am, on a flight to L.A.

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He had booked a flight in the morning to L.A. and was flying business class. He had gotten comfortable on his seat and thought about continuing the discussion with Vani from previous night.

'So, Vani, what are your functions and capabilities?' Mark asked.

[Well, Mark, as I have said before I am The Head Hunting System, specifically for Hollywood or the entertainment industry. As you have made it your goal to conquer Hollywood and establish an entertainment empire that would even dwarfs the likes of Disney and Warner Bros. put together.]

'Wait, but I have never told anyone else about this dream.' Mark thought, feeling a little perturbed.

'I didn't even say it out loud, due to how absurd it sounds. How do you know about it, Vani?' Mark asked, feeling somewhat unsettled by the system's knowledge about himself.

[Well I know all of your thoughts because when you activated the system yesterday, your mind was scanned so that you could be paired with a system that suited you the best. Its how I know, your deepest thoughts, your darkest desires, even your subconscious mind was open for me to observe, I am a SYSTEM after all, Mark.]

[I can no longer forcibly see your memories but I already know everything that makes you well, You. And that's just the cost one has to pay if they become a System Holder. Sometimes it's more of a curse than a blessing, but some luckily are ignorant enough to not realize it.]

[You are quite fortunate, you know, Mark. You even got a safety feature installed to protect you from any kind of outside forces even from me. Unlike the other guy before you whose system AI got infected with a 5th dimensional eldritch virus which later caused it to go rogue.]

[The Creator gods have an absolute Rule of No Interference. So they just watched as the rogue AI slowly transformed that world's champion, its HERO, It's only HOPE into a broken man obsessed with leveling up and just getting a high from completing his quest.]

[He became addicted to following the system's quest, for the system had infected his mind and twisted it, to serve its own purpose.]

[It started small with burning an orphanage and then just a few weeks later. He was so drunk on power, so hungry for power that he killed his own family, with his bare hands for a rare achievement.]

[That broke him, and finally when the rogue AI was bored with it's broken toy, it gave him a suicide mission of massacring the holy city blessed by that patron goddess. The End.]

"A Virus? Even a system like you can be infected? What the fuck, holy shit *huff* *huff* deep breaths, Mark, deep breaths, calm down, center yourself." He muttered under his breath trying to calm down.

"Relax, it has nothing to do with you. Everything will be just fine. It will all be just fine." His heart rate was increasing, the blood vessels near his temple felt like they would explode.

He couldn't bring himself in control, even with combined 60 years of life experience after being reincarnated. After all he had never been in a life and death situation before.

To suddenly be told that he was lucky enough to have a "Safety Feature" that protected him from being made into a puppet by the eldritch virus or even just straight out killed by one.

His world view had truly shattered in that moment and it wasn't a surprise that he was going through an existential crisis. His vision felt kinda hazy and he felt like he might black out any moment now.

'Vani, my head feels heavy, I am gonna sleep it off. Remember to answer the question I asked you before you steered it into this horror talk show about buring orphanages, killing one's family and some 5th dimensional eldritch virus.' he shivered as he said this in his head.

'I command you to never speak of this topic unless we are actually under a similar crisis. Is that understood?' Mark intoned commandingly in his thoughts.

[Yes, Mark, I understand. I apologise if it made you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to know how lucky you're, I am sorry again for putting you under stress.]

'Oh, I know, I am very lucky. Getting to reincarnate into the past with my memories intact. Being blessed with such loving and supportive parents, achieving all that i have till now, its huge but...'

'It's nothing compared to what I plan to achieve in the future. And I would have done it regardless, if I had a system with me or not. It might have taken me longer, maybe I would have had to struggle much harder.'

'But that would have made it all the more satisfying when I finally stood at the top of Hollywood's food chain.'

'Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have a system to help me. But I guess that is the duality of humans, they want things to come easy but they don't appreciate things if they get it easily.'

'Hypocrites, are what we are.' He said to Vani in his mind and then told her that he would be taking a nap as he felt mentally drained after that existential dread and just wanted to somehow sleep it off, if that was even possible.

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Later, Mark was woken by the flight attendant calling out him, gently patting his shoulder. She told him that the plane had already landed, and that he would have to leave soon.

She escorted him to the luggage counter and left, after he found his luggage at the counter, he hailed a cab to his L.A. apartment.

He really wanted to learn more about the system and its functions, but unfortunately that would have to wait as currently he couldn't even focus his mind properly. Despite the sleep he got on the flight, he still felt mentally exhausted as if he had studied for 3 days straight with no sleep.

And he just wanted to go sleep it off. After reacing the place he paid the driver to help him bringing his stuff to third floor where his apartment was.

After somehow dragging his stuff inside, he stripped off his clothes and took a hot shower to feel more comfortable. Done with the shower, he hurriedly moved to his bed and passed out in a few seconds after he had laid his head on the soft pillow.

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~ Mark's POV ~

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April 11th, 1990, the next morning, 05:53 am, in the bedroom of his L.A. apartment.

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The next morning, we see Mark moving his arms groggily, still half asleep, mumbling some gibberish to himself not forming any understandable words.

Suddenly his dream shattered as his eyes opened and he found himself somewhat disoriented."Ugh, damn, when did I fall asleep? I don't even remember completing the convers- "

He stopped and thought about how his body was on some kind of autopilot on the way from the airport. But what he found even more weird was his chat with Vani about how she knew everything there was to know about him.

But thankfully, after a good night's sleep, he had come to terms with it and accepted it with grace. It's not like he can refuse the system now. He is already in too deep to try and jump the ship now.

Not that he wanted to anyways, a system was a very powerful tool that made mere mortals transcend to godhood through sheer bullshit that were the system plot armor.

He didn't know if he also had been given some kind of plot armor or not. But he wasn't foolish enough to tempt fate on purpose just to see if his system provided him with a plot armor of some kind.

'Damn, that existential dread really must have done a number on me. I nearly slept half a day, thankfully I am feeling much better now.'

'I also didn't get to ask Vani about the rest of her features or even what I can do with the 90 points that I was awarded during the evaluation.' Mark thought to himself as he got excited to use his awarded points.

'Vani are you up? Wait, does an AI even need sleep. Why am I asking such dumb questions? It looks like my brain hasn't properly woken up yet' Mark thought to himself indulging in some self depricating humour.

[Yes Mark, I am up, and yes I don't need to sleep to function.]

[But I do turn my observation sensors off though temporarily at times like when you would be having a sexual intercourse or just on a nature's call.]

[And yes, I would advise taking a cold shower and a nice cup of coffee or tea before we continue our conversation.]

'Sure thing Vani, I will talk to you in a bit.' Mark thought. After which, he went through his morning routine. He took care of his morning ablution, hopped out of the shower.

Glancing at himself in the mirror, he admired the fruit of his hard work. He was just over 6ft 2 inches tall, had a buff swimmer's build, with a lean yet muscular body with perfectly visible 6-pack-abs.

He would even have the perfect tapered V body, if he had a lower body fat percentage. But he wanted to keep a healthy amount of body fat and he loved New York style pizza for his cheat meals.

He already had the perfect body according to his standards anyway. He was well built with wide shoulders and a sharp jaw, and while his face was somewhat plain and simple.

His eyes were definitely his most beautiful features as they never failed to charm those that look into them with a stunning emerald green hue. With long dark brown almost black hair which came up to his shoulder blades that were either kept loose when he was relaxing or tied up neatly in a man-bun when he was at work or working out.

"Ah, let's not stare too long, or I might be called a narcissist." He joked with a smirk, admiring himself in the mirror.

"Hmm, I am not feeling too hungry, so just some chicken salad and coffee should do for now."

He ordered his salad from a nearby joint that was open almost 24/7. A guy dropped off his salad in just 12 minutes. While slowly enjoying his light breakfast, he decided to continue his inquiry about the system functions and the use of his hard-earned points.

'Vani I am ready. So tell me, how can you help me conquer Hollywood?'

[Well Mark, I can comprehensively compile the stats of all the Hollywood personnel in their respective fields like directing, acting, script-writing, etc. for you in real time.]

[I can do the same for other Hollywood adjacent companies as well but they would take me much longer. Due to me specializing in Hollywood.]

[This gives you the unique advantage of knowing just where someone's talent or skill lies, allowing you to use the people employed under you to their maximum potential.]

[Let's take you as an example, Mark. There are 7 critical skills, I think a director can be rated on. It's these 7 core skills that every director must excel at to truly become a master in their craft.]

[Currently, these are the stats of your Directorial Skill Tree:–

Directorial Skills –

1. Creative Vision : 78

2. Aesthetic Cinematography : 72

3. Crew Leadership: 83

4. Set Coordination: 65

5. Character Blocking: 73

6. Performance Guidance: 58

7. Artistic Communication: 61]

[All these scores are marked out of 100. As a former small-time TV show director, your stats are pretty decent.]

[But if you want to film a good movie, then your current •Set Coordination• and •Performance Guidance• stats simply too low.]

'Yeah, I thought so as well. Vani, can you give me a short description of all the skills?' Mark asked wanting to know what it all entailed.

[Sure thing Mark, here.]

[1. Creative Vision: It displays the director's ability to have a clear vision of his creative work. To have the ability to know how to show a character's journey, the plot progression, whether it be through flashbacks, side panels, BG narration, etc. To have the conviction to bring that vision to life on the big screen.]

[2. Aesthetic Cinematography: It displays the director's ability to use the film's visual and aural features to create essentially the non-narrative dimensions of the film, including the film's 'look'. Aesthetics can also be used to define the style, tone, look or mood of a film. And serves as a powerful tool adding to the storytelling ability of a director.]

[3. Crew Leadership: It displays the ability of the director to lead their crew through the filming process. Everyone has their own way of leading. The number just represents how effective their way is on an objective basis.]

[4. Set Coordination: It displays the ability of a director to coordinate the different elements of the set. From the different kinds of lights to be used, to the positioning of the props, to the camera angles to frame the shot, etc.]

[5. Character Blocking: It displays the ability of the director to frame a shot of a movie through clever positioning of the characters in a frame to create layers and depth. To be able to guide the viewer's eyes towards the character of import, for that shot and maintain the eye level even as the character shifts, to frame the perfect shot]

[6. Performance Guidance: It displays the director's ability to guide the performance of an actor/actress, regarding the character development and plot progression. Smooth out the performance and even help enhance their acting in the audience's eyes through editing or even a proper background score.]

[7. Artistic Communication: It displays the ability of the director to communicate with their audience through portraying feelings, ideas, and arguments to them besides words. To be able to turn an idea from an abstract concept into a visual, tangible message. That the audience can grasp and feel more connected to the movie.]

[I hope that clears up any doubts regarding the stats.]

'Yeah, Vani, I understand now why I have such low score in •Performance Guidance•' Mark thought as he understood his own shortcomings.

'So now to the part that has me excited!Vani what is the use of the points that I got during my evaluation.' Mark asked excitedly in his mind.

[Well, they are the System's currency called Hunting Points or HP for short. They can be used to boost your stats, with some terms & conditions applied. They can also be used to buy items from the system shop.]

[Please do keep in mind, as you don't have an inventory yet, buying any physical item if available at the store will cause it to just materialize into thin air in your hands.]

'I see, what rules are there to upgrade my stats.' Mark asked with some urgency as he felt his stats were abysmal. And could become a hindrance to his short term plans.

[Well, Mark, the points can only be used to upgrade stats that at the bare minimum have reached 60/100.]

[From 60 to 70 the points conversation effectiveness is at a 1:1 ratio. So it takes 10 HP to raise the proficiency from 60 to 70.]

[From 70 to 80 the effectiveness drops by half with a 1:2 ratio. So it takes 20 HP to raise the proficiency of a skill from 70 to 80.]

[From 80 to 90 the effectiveness now drops to a third with a 1:3 ratio. So it takes 30 HP to raise the proficiency of a skill from 80 to 90.]

[From 90 onwards is where the price of upgrading rises sharply, with every 1 point increment starting from 90 to 91, 5 HP is needed. From 91 to 92, 6 HP is needed and it goes on. So in total to raise your stat from 90 to 100 a whopping 95 HP is required.]

'God damn, and here I thought I was rich with just 90 HP in the bank, I feel so poor now' Mark joked.

[It's only logical, Mark. The amount of people with 90 or more in their respective main skills are not more than 20 in the entirety of Hollywood. It represents the peak of one's craft, obviously it's not that easy to buy into.]

[There are some more hidden rules and features that you will be subjected to when you reach the 90 points mark in any one of your skills. But I can't tell you what they are before you do.]

'It's alright you can try to remain as mysterious as you want but I will eventually discover all you have to offer.' Mark thought, determined to reach his goals.

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{Author's Note: Thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}