A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 31

With a plan in mind, Su Bei began to execute it. He first went to the library, starting to search for books related to mental energy. Because of the Mental Energy Enhancement Class, the school naturally provided them with corresponding textbooks.

However, the beginner-level mental energy teaching materials likely didn’t contain what he wanted. Su Bei wanted to learn about advanced mental energy.

However, content related to advanced mental energy was confidential, and ability users who could master advanced mental energy were extremely rare.

He searched for a long time, until the moon rose high, before he finally found a relatively suitable book.

This was the only book in the entire library about advanced mental energy, showing just how rare such books were.

If it weren’t for the deep foundation of the Endless Ability Academy, built specifically to train students, Su Bei wouldn’t have even seen this book.

Su Bei was overjoyed and immediately began reading. His reading speed had always been fast, and in just two days, he had read most of it, successfully finding the content he wanted.

The book said that, unlike low-level mental energy, which could only enhance abilities, advanced mental energy could itself be used as an ability. When mental energy reached a certain level, it could become tangible.

The book specifically gave an example: an advanced mental energy user could use mental energy to directly lift objects in front of them.

In addition, advanced mental energy had a detection function. Even a gaze from far away could be sensed by them.

The book cited an experiment where an ability user with the [Seeker] ability activated it to find an advanced mental energy user.

The moment the ability was activated, the latter could clearly sense someone watching them.

These were the two main overt characteristics. The rest were less noticeable, such as being able to more clearly feel the flow of one’s own ability.

For Su Bei, these two were enough.

He placed the book in a spot that was not too obvious but would definitely be found, then turned and left the library.

“What have you been doing these past few days?” As he was washing up back at the dorm, the voice of Manga Consciousness suddenly rang out.

Though it wasn’t always online, it occasionally checked on its chosen savior. These past two days, Su Bei had been holed up in the library, not interacting with the protagonist group or studying the plot.

If it weren’t for knowing that Su Bei had been crying over the upcoming monthly exam just days ago, Manga Consciousness would have thought he was giving up.

Su Bei knew what Manga Consciousness was asking. While tinkering with some small crafts, he smiled and replied: “You’ll find out tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Manga Consciousness felt much more at ease. So far, most of Su Bei’s actions had been effective. Since he already had a plan, Manga Consciousness naturally wouldn’t say more.

The next morning at six, when the sky was still dim, Su Bei arrived at the classroom. The Endless Ability Academy started classes at eight, and he usually got up around seven, jogged for half an hour, ate breakfast for half an hour, then came to class. Arriving this early was unprecedented.

The classroom was extremely quiet, with not a single student present. Su Bei began his preliminary preparations. Whether his plan would succeed hinged on this moment.

Moments later, after finishing his preparations, Su Bei returned to his seat, patiently waiting for the right moment.

Anyone slightly observant could notice that in Class F, Jiang Tianming always arrived first, followed by the Class Monitor, Mu Tieren. Perhaps because of his background, he always woke up early and came to the classroom early.

Hearing footsteps, Su Bei realized Jiang Tianming might be coming. He quickly went to the door, sticking his phone camera out slightly. After confirming it was indeed the person he needed, he hurriedly returned to his seat.

The footsteps grew closer, and Su Bei’s ears twitched slightly. Having trained, he was always sensitive to footsteps.

Judging that Jiang Tianming was one step away from the door, able to see the podium, he immediately spoke: “Perfect time to test the distance.”

As he finished speaking, he pulled his hand back. A chalk, tied with transparent elastic string he had bought in advance, placed on the podium table under the chalk box, flew into his hand along the string.

The footsteps outside the door stopped abruptly.

The corner of Su Bei’s mouth curled imperceptibly, knowing his plan had succeeded halfway.

Pretending nothing had happened, he continued speaking: “As expected, having just become advanced, doing this is still a bit strenuous.”

As soon as he finished, he suddenly adopted a vigilant expression, shouting toward the door: “Who’s there?”

No sound came from outside.

To keep up the act, Su Bei maintained his vigilant demeanor, walked to the door, poked his head out, and looked around. Confirming no one was there, he returned to the classroom, leisurely lying on his desk to catch up on sleep.

When he woke, it was already eight. After one class, Su Bei noticed Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing glance at him before leaving together.

At that moment, Su Bei knew it was in the bag!

To help them find a direction for their investigation faster, Su Bei acted listless all day. After the Mental Energy Enhancement Class, he even went to the teacher to ask a few irrelevant questions.

Alright, he had done everything he needed to. Now it was up to the protagonist group to perform.

By Friday, Su Bei went to the library to check. The advanced mental energy book he had placed in the corner was gone. As expected, it had likely been taken by the protagonist group.

“Now do you know what I’ve been doing?” Su Bei suddenly asked.

Manga Consciousness, which had been absent for a while, appeared: “Aren’t you afraid that what you’ve done won’t appear in the manga, making it all for nothing?”

“I’m afraid,” Su Bei answered honestly.

If the manga didn’t depict the protagonist group investigating his anomaly, it would be a big problem. He had already shown the protagonist group that he was an advanced mental energy user. If the manga didn’t include this part and his mental energy didn’t actually improve, the chances of him being exposed for acting would be much higher.

“But there’s no other way.” He chuckled lightly, his tone carrying a hint of nonchalance. “Isn’t life just one big gamble?”

If he succeeded, it would be a meteoric rise. Even if he failed, it didn’t matter. As long as it wasn’t a direct death penalty, he didn’t mind putting himself on one side of the scale.

Seeing him like this, Manga Consciousness suddenly seemed to understand why, compared to others, Su Bei had that 3% chance of winning.

Because he was crazy enough.

The usual Su Bei always seemed lazy and detached, whether acting or in his normal state, as if he didn’t care about anything.

Though he had thoughts of wanting to become stronger, Manga Consciousness could sense that if it weren’t for saving the world, his desire to grow stronger wasn’t actually that strong.

Thinking this, it couldn’t help but ask: “Have you ever thought about what you’ll do if you successfully balance good and evil?”

Su Bei hadn’t really considered this question carefully, as until now, he had no confidence in successfully completing the mission. A 3% chance of success meant it was almost impossible for him, let alone thinking about the future.

But since Manga Consciousness asked, Su Bei didn’t mind thinking about it. After all, fantasizing was always fine.

“Open a hardware store,” he said half-jokingly. “Gotta have a beginning and an end, right?”

As expected. Manga Consciousness understood. Su Bei truly had no attachment to abilities, money, or power. Otherwise, he wouldn’t still be thinking about opening an ordinary hardware store after saving the world.

It couldn’t help but sigh, saying no more.

Su Bei didn’t know what Manga Consciousness was thinking, but if he did, he’d definitely say it overestimated him.

He wasn’t a saint without desires. At the very least, he wouldn’t let go of the benefits that rightfully belonged to him.

It was just that Su Bei didn’t know if, after everything went smoothly and the balance between good and evil was restored, leaving him unneeded, the abilities he gained from the manga would still exist.

Su Bei always assumed the worst. If they didn’t exist, he’d return to his original plan. After all, he’d earned a life, so it wasn’t a loss.

Time flew by to the third week since the start of school. During the last self-study class on Monday, Meng Huai suddenly walked in.

He rarely appeared in the classroom outside of teaching hours, so his presence made many people speculate.

Sure enough, Meng Huai got straight to the point: “Everyone knows about the monthly exam at the end of the month, right? Let me explain the process for this exam.”

Hearing his words, the class immediately buzzed with excitement. They had been curious about this for a long time and were finally getting answers. For a moment, many students whispered excitedly with their neighbors, the noise incessant.

A vein twitched on Meng Huai’s forehead, but he smiled and picked up a piece of chalk.

Almost instantly, the class fell silent. No one wanted to test Meng Huai’s aim with the chalk. If they passed out and missed the exam details, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Seeing everyone behave, Meng Huai nodded with satisfaction: “This monthly exam is divided into two parts: individual battles and team battles.”

“First, the individual battles. It’s simple—arena matches. The one who falls off the platform or is judged to have lost by the referee loses. Winners proceed to the next round. Individual battles will probably last three or four days. If you lose, you can take a break until the team battles.”

Individual battles… Su Bei barely restrained himself from frowning. His ability offered no help in individual battles, so he’d have to rely entirely on himself.

He could probably handle Class D or Class C students, as he was skilled in combat techniques and had a good chance against ability users with weak or unpracticed abilities.

But if he directly faced a Class A student and lost early, it risked ruining his persona.

Clearly, he wasn’t the only one worried about luck. A student immediately raised their hand: “Teacher, are the individual battles randomly matched? If we face Class A students, won’t we have to forfeit immediately?”

Meng Huai shook his head: “Though I think losing early means an early break, the school has considered this.

For the first two days, each class will only face opponents up to two ranks apart. That means you’ll face Class C students at most. On the third day, it’ll be fully open.”

Hearing this, Su Bei breathed a sigh of relief. Though Class C abilities were already significant, he wasn’t worried about facing unpracticed ability users.