A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 30

Monday classes began, and the school started teaching methods to increase mental energy. Mental energy was the medium for Ability users to wield their Abilities, crucial for all of them.

“Generally, the more powerful the Ability, the more mental energy it consumes,” the mental energy enhancement teacher said, writing on the board with chalk. “But that doesn’t mean Abilities with low consumption are useless.”

At this, he stopped writing, turned around, and said earnestly: “Your Ability introduction teacher probably emphasized this. No matter how useless an Ability seems, if used well, it can be critical at times. And no matter how powerful, every Ability has something that counters it.”

Hearing the teacher start giving examples, Su Bei zoned out.

The elusive Manga Consciousness suddenly spoke: “You’re usually so focused in class. This is the mental enhancement lesson you were looking forward to. Why’re you spacing out?”

Su Bei snapped back, shaking his head slightly, his expression thoughtful: “Not exactly spacing out. I just noticed something interesting.”

“What?” Manga Consciousness asked curiously.

If anyone else asked, he might not answer. But Manga Consciousness, above everyone and privy to this world’s secrets, was different.

It knew things Su Bei didn’t. If he could pry even a bit from it, he’d understand this world better.

So he answered in his mind: “I noticed the teachers seem to be… how do I put it? They’re deliberately comforting us. More precisely, balancing our mindsets.”

Without Manga Consciousness pressing further, Su Bei knew he’d hit the mark. There was definitely a secret here.

Since it didn’t respond, he continued: “They tell those with weak Abilities that even weak ones can be powerful, and those with strong Abilities that they can be countered. Isn’t that balancing our mindsets?”

Now Manga Consciousness replied: “But isn’t that normal? Teachers don’t want you mentally unbalanced and hard to manage, so they say this. That’s common in regular schools too, right?”

“No, no, no.” Su Bei shook his head, refuting seriously. “That’s like academic talent. Regular school teachers don’t tell students, ‘Don’t be discouraged if you’re bad at studying, and don’t be arrogant if you’re good—you all have your uses.’”

This example silenced Manga Consciousness’ “normal” argument. Indeed, regular schools wouldn’t specifically say this to students. At most, they’d pull a struggling student aside for a talk.

“So, would our mental imbalance cause serious consequences?” Su Bei asked casually.

Silence fell again. Manga Consciousness didn’t speak, hesitating whether to give a hint. This was slightly against the rules, but it was indeed important.

After a long pause, just as Su Bei had refocused on the lesson, no longer expecting an answer, Manga Consciousness’s voice rang out: “Don’t forget your task.”

Then it vanished, ignoring Su Bei’s follow-up questions.

After asking twice without a response, Su Bei stopped pressing and began pondering its words.

“Don’t forget your task”?

It sounded out of nowhere, almost nonsensical. Of course, Su Bei remembered his task—saving the world.

But why did Manga Consciousness suddenly say this? To scold him for slacking?

Impossible. He’d been diligently improving his Ability, a necessary step for saving the world. Did it expect him to save the world with just a [Gear] Ability? Even if he’d done nothing lately, it wouldn’t warrant such a jab. This was a slice-of-life arc, not a plot-heavy one. His inaction wouldn’t affect anything.

Since his actions weren’t the issue, Manga Consciousness’s words weren’t a reprimand but an answer to his earlier question—“So, would our mental imbalance cause serious consequences?”

Serious consequences meant failing his task.

His task was to save the world, needed because the balance between good and evil was off, with evil overpowering good.

So, further, students—no, Ability users’ mental imbalances could widen the gap between good and evil.

Huh?

Even Su Bei was stunned by this conclusion. Had he analyzed it wrong? Could their mental imbalance really have such grave consequences?

Thinking this, he calmed down and reviewed his logic. Satisfied, he nodded. As expected of him, his reasoning was sound. Wait, no! This wasn’t the time to be smug!

Rubbing his temples in frustration, he forced himself to follow the logic further. There had to be a reason their mental imbalance could affect the world.

Having read plenty of manga, Su Bei quickly thought of a trope: Once, Endless Ability Academy was strictly hierarchical, with strong Ability users far above the weak. A pitiful weakling, bullied relentlessly, eventually snapped, vowing to create a world without Ability users.

This tragic lesson led the school to prioritize students’ mental health now.

Maybe Black Lightning was created by this blackened weakling, contributing greatly to the world’s destruction.

Holy crap! This makes so much sense!

Su Bei’s eyes widened, pupils trembling, his purple irises practically screaming, “You’re such a clichéd world!”

His entire inner monologue was open to Manga Consciousness, letting it hear.

Faced with such slander, and the slanderer acting so convinced, Manga Consciousness was exasperated. It couldn’t fathom how someone could reach a completely wrong conclusion from a correct process. Finally, it couldn’t hold back: “Stop guessing if you’re bad at it!”

Then it vanished again.

Su Bei toned down his exaggerated expression. He hadn’t truly believed his guess, but it was plausible, so he’d played it up.

Getting Manga Consciousness’s direct denial was a relief. If it were that trope, it’d be annoying. Those plots often ended with the protagonist’s talk-no-jutsu redeeming the villain.

Speaking of which, if it wasn’t the weakling-to-big-bad trope, then what was it?

“Ring ring ring ring ring!”

The bell interrupted Su Bei’s thoughts, and he stopped racking his brain. He knew clearly that whatever the truth was, it wasn’t something he could access now.

When he was strong enough and learned enough secrets, looking back on today, the answer would likely be obvious.

He had to get stronger.

Alright, now the issue was—Su Bei turned, slumping onto Feng Lan’s desk: “Feng Lan, what did the teacher just say?”

Feng Lan looked down, his fine brows slightly furrowed, golden eyes full of disapproval: “You weren’t listening? The mental energy enhancement class is important.”

Su Bei gave him a deadpan look: “If I recall, you were napping on your desk, right?”

This guy, who knows what he did at night, was a regular class-sleeper. Most teachers knew his special circumstances and left him alone.

But Feng Lan wasn’t fazed, saying confidently: “But I already learned this at home. Did you?”

Su Bei: “…”

Why were there so many natural airheads around him?

If he didn’t know Feng Lan’s personality, he’d think he was bragging. But Feng Lan wasn’t—he was just stating a fact.

And he was right. Knowing the material meant you could tune out. But for someone like Su Bei, who hadn’t mastered it, he needed to catch up on what he missed.

All Manga Consciousness’s fault for distracting him!

Though he’d found an excuse internally, he couldn’t say it out loud. Su Bei coughed, saying righteously: “But you were asleep. How do you know the teacher didn’t cover something you don’t know?”

“I was only lightly sleeping. I still have some impression of what the teacher said,” Feng Lan defended himself.

Seeing him take the bait, a glint of glee flashed in Su Bei’s eyes. He immediately asked: “Then let me test you. What did the teacher cover last class?”

Feng Lan: “…”

Now he was speechless, even he couldn’t help but sigh: “Su Bei, I’m not an idiot.”

Though he said that, he earnestly summarized the last class’s content.

Hearing it, Su Bei relaxed. The first class indeed had nothing critical—just theoretical knowledge from the textbook.

The only mental energy enhancement method taught was physical exercise. Better physical fitness naturally boosted mental energy.

During the break, Su Bei heard many dismiss this method, thinking the teacher was brushing off their F-Class students.

But Su Bei, who exercised regularly, strongly agreed with it.

When his Ability was altered by the manga, he’d gained a slight mental energy boost. Without it, his existing mental energy couldn’t support prophesying for three people at once.

But logically, prophesying for three should require a lot of mental energy, yet he’d only been boosted a bit. This proved his original mental energy was already strong.

Su Bei credited this to his lifelong exercise habit.

For those short-sighted folks who thought exercise was useless, he had nothing to say. His real focus was: since the manga could boost his mental energy, could he leverage that?

If he couldn’t change his Ability’s function for now, boosting mental energy might be a solid option. If he recalled correctly, advanced mental energy was markedly different from regular mental energy, and that difference was his best way to bluff.