A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 289

Soon, it was the third day of the competition. Learning the first match was against Elvis’ academy, Su Bei’s interest piqued.

As a recurring side character, Elvis’ match wouldn’t be simple.

“Why’re you here today?” Zhang Sheng asked, surprised, seeing him.

Su Bei sat casually, brushing it off: “Got a friend competing.”

“Friend?” Feng Manman, being pestered by Mu Yunfan, recalled: “Alpha Ability Academy, right? I remember you exchanged there.”

Surprised she knew, Si Zhaohua asked: “You remember, President?”

“I helped arrange it, and exchanges aren’t small matters,” Feng Manman replied calmly.

Though those exchange students didn’t cause as much trouble as Su Bei’s group, their strength drew attention. As Student Council secretary, Feng Manman’s meticulous nature made the event memorable.

Si Zhaohua nodded thoughtfully, aspiring to be president: “Senior, if I run for secretary, what’s my success rate?”

The second week of the new semester held Student Council elections. The president was usually the former secretary, while other roles were reshuffled.

“Depends on your competitors,” Feng Manman said, not stingy with guidance, glancing at Qi Huang, Si Zhaohua’s likely rival. “Grades, reputation, achievements—all matter. Unless you dominate in one area, it’s a comprehensive evaluation for the best secretary.”

She won by crushing in reputation and achievements. Despite a weaker Ability, her first-year contributions in a campaign, saving countless lives as a Healing Ability User, made her the clear next president.

“I see…” Qi Huang murmured, pondering. She knew she lagged behind Si Zhaohua. To win secretary, she’d need a unique edge. Feng Manman’s words sparked ideas.

“There’s another way,” Mu Yunfan cut in.

Though Qi Huang expected nonsense, she couldn’t resist: “What?”

Mu Yunfan flicked his hair, confidence oozing: “Make all classmates fall for—mmph!”

Feng Manman stood, covered his mouth, and pressed his face to the table, explaining helplessly: “Sorry, the former president sometimes loses it.”

“Understood,” everyone nodded awkwardly, ignoring Mu Yunfan’s struggles.

Uninterested in this, Jiang Tianming’s group focused on the match. Jiang Tianming asked eagerly: “Teacher, can I face Elvis? We were exchange classmates and know his Ability.”

Si Zhaohua perked up: “Let me fight him, Teacher. We tied last time—I think I can win now.”

Lan Subing whispered: “I can too.”

Seeing their enthusiasm, Wu Mingbai, who hadn’t faced Elvis, joined: “I haven’t fought him. Let me try, Teacher!”

Elvis was a first-year, so first-years competing was fine. Teacher Li scanned them, landing on Su Bei. Learning from last time, he refused: “You said I’m off individual battles.”

Promises couldn’t be broken. Teacher Li sighed: “Rock-paper-scissors then.”

Wu Mingbai won. Having no prior interaction with Elvis, this clash convinced Su Bei that Elvis wouldn’t escape the upcoming crisis. The closer to the protagonist group, the worse the luck—manga logic.

Wu Mingbai and Elvis’ battle was thrilling. Normally, Elvis’ time Ability, like Su Bei’s Destiny, countered all. But Wu Mingbai wasn’t weak. Knowing Elvis’ Ability from Jiang Tianming, he made the ground collapse, walls crumble, and boulders fall, aiming to overwhelm Elvis’ Ability, finding a gap to win.

Jiang Tianming had beaten Elvis this way, and Wu Mingbai followed suit.

But Elvis wasn’t the same. Having lost to this method, he wouldn’t repeat the mistake.

He’s improved a lot. Seeing Elvis’ new moves, those familiar with him sat up, watching closely.

Elvis altered the arena’s time flow—two different rates. Wu Mingbai’s space slowed, making his skills sluggish, while Elvis’ sped up, boosting Mental Energy recovery and actions.

But that wasn’t shocking. What stunned them was Wu Mingbai’s slowed Abilities being rewound, and Elvis’ wounds healing rapidly.

Elvis used four effects: speeding his time, slowing Wu Mingbai’s, and rewinding time for both. Multitasking four ways—he’d mastered [Time Hourglass].

Compared to the Elvis they saw six months ago, he was leagues stronger. Even Su Bei wasn’t confident he could win.

Not just the first-years—second- and third-year seniors looked grave. Wei Yuexi asked incredulously: “You beat him? Or at least tied?”

If they had that strength, she’d step aside—the main team spot belonged to them.

“He wasn’t this strong,” Si Zhaohua frowned. “He said he’d improved, but we didn’t take it seriously…”

It wasn’t just improvement—he’d transformed. Others grew incrementally; he’d leapt qualitatively.

Lan Subing nodded: “Really improved a lot.”

She looked worriedly at the arena, and Jiang Tianming voiced her concern: “Mingbai’s in danger.”

If it was the old Elvis, countering him wasn’t hard. But now, with so many time buffs, his power was immense—look at the seniors’ serious faces.

As feared, Wu Mingbai couldn’t handle this Elvis. Unless with a special Ability, most were countered by time. Under raw strength, Wu Mingbai lost quickly.

His face was sour coming off. He could accept defeat, but it stung, especially when his friends had won.

Back, he asked Wei Yuexi’s question: “You all beat him?”

Jiang Tianming repeated Si Zhaohua’s explanation, sighing self-deprecatingly: “We caught him at a good time.”

“Against him now, we’d lose too,” Lan Subing agreed. “What steroids did he take?”

She looked at Su Bei: “Can you beat him now? You and Ah-Jiang won last time, right?”

“Not sure,” Su Bei answered honestly, not claiming victory for his persona. Against this Elvis, the old him would lose. In the time it took to alter Destiny, Elvis could rewind time multiple times.

But now, it’d depend on speed. If Su Bei was faster, altering Destiny and using an instant skill, Elvis’ rewind wouldn’t matter. If Elvis was faster, applying a rewind debuff, Su Bei had no counter.

Jiang Tianming and the others weren’t surprised. Though Elvis was now absurdly strong, they didn’t think Su Bei would lose.

“Even Su Bei’s not sure he’d win. We’d probably lose too,” Jiang Tianming said, feigning lament to comfort Wu Mingbai.

Wu Mingbai forced a smile: “It’s fine. I’m outclassed. Time to figure out how to get stronger.”

While he grappled with this, after his loss, it was Mu Yunfan’s group’s turn.

Alpha Ability Academy wasn’t like the mediocre schools before. As an international academy’s secondary team, their strength was undeniable.

This was Su Bei’s chance to learn Mu Yunfan’s Abilities.

Mu Yunfan’s [Light of Hope] materialized hope, usable as magical attacks, physical weapons, or shields—an all-round Ability.

Most notably, it was the only known Ability not consuming Mental Energy but “hope.” As long as Mu Yunfan had hope, it worked.

With hope, it could absorb others’ hope, growing stronger with more allies. In individual battles, its strength was endurance and versatility; in Team Battles, it shone.

Wei Yuexi’s [Arms Dealer] conjured weapons, fueled by Mental Energy—a demanding Ability.

Thus, she focused on boosting Mental Energy. Su Bei, with high Mental Energy, sensed hers was the most active among the main team, likely reaching high levels soon.

He Shang’s [Instant Buddha] literally turned him into various Buddhas with diverse Abilities. Su Bei saw three or four types.

Luo Li’s appearances caused uproars—she was only twelve, barely junior high age. Only the competition’s student-only rule let her join.

Her [Destruction] Ability destroyed objects, Abilities, even Mental Energy.

Due to her age, her mastery was low, relying on basic effects—flat attacks. Yet, it was strong, earning her a spot.

Finally, Zhang Sheng’s [Vast Knowledge] stored Mental Energy up to twice his capacity, explaining the team’s endurance.

Its attacks used knowledge—raining letters, manifesting physics, materializing poetry.

A versatile Ability, it demanded imagination and knowledge. Despite his carefree demeanor, Zhang Sheng topped third-year cultural exams, as Su Bei learned from Feng Manman, who topped second-year.

Their strength matched the main team. Though Alpha was strong, they were defeated one by one. Except for Wu Mingbai’s loss, the rest won.

“Who’s the protagonist?” Su Bei murmured, chuckling. If he were a grade higher, not with the protagonists, he’d be strong and safe like the seniors.

But not entirely safe. He was curious why such strong seniors couldn’t join the second phase.

After the Alpha match, Elvis approached. He seemed in good spirits, unbothered by the loss—his team lost, not him. His teammates’ failures weren’t his problem.

“How about it? With my strength, if you don’t compete, wanna spar?” Elvis asked directly, eyeing Jiang Tianming, Su Bei, and Mu Yunfan’s group eagerly.

Though he wanted to fight them, they had matches ahead, so he settled for beating Su Bei and Jiang Tianming to clear his past loss.

“No interest,” Su Bei refused. He couldn’t afford to lose—before, maybe, but now it’d ruin his persona. Despite a 50% win chance, he declined.

Cheating by adjusting Destiny beforehand would ensure victory, but if caught, he’d be out. Too risky without necessity.

“Why?” Elvis asked, displeased. “Scared?”

Su Bei raised an eyebrow: “I don’t fall for taunts or seek trouble.”

He pointed to others clearly interested: “Plenty of opponents for you.”

Elvis pursed his lips. He had others to fight, but he wanted Su Bei and Jiang Tianming, who’d beaten him.

With Su Bei refusing, he turned to Jiang Tianming: “You and me then?”

While they fought, Su Bei had no interest in watching, returning to the hotel. He was still pondering the Nightmare Beasts’ next move. Individual battles had at most two days left—they should act soon.

The competition’s main spots were the venue and hotel. The venue was likely dangerous, but the hotel wasn’t safe either.

Entering the hotel, Su Bei adjusted his luck to the best and headed to the rooftop. In manga and novels, rooftops and parking garages were common event spots. If the Nightmare Beasts had traps in the hotel, they’d be there.

With top luck, he wasn’t worried about danger. In dire straits, max luck wouldn’t help much, just ease the end. But short of that, it’d avoid many risks.

The rooftop was empty, only cold wind whistling. Su Bei stood at the door, silently staring at a dense cluster of Destiny Compasses floating in the air, then nodded to himself: “Wrong place. I’m leaving.”

He turned to go.

But before he could, the rooftop door slammed shut. A shrill, doll-like voice sounded behind him: “Hey, you found us, didn’t you?”

Su Bei froze for two seconds, then turned: “More curious why Sesbia’s government didn’t find you. So careless?”

As he spoke, he observed the rooftop. In a moment, it had transformed. The once-empty space was now filled with Nightmare Beasts.

Most were Mid-Level, but the black gourd-like Nightmare Beast speaking was High-Level. Their collective invisibility likely came from it. Su Bei sighed—too bad its color wasn’t right, or he’d suspect a children’s story came true.

His question was to ease awkwardness, but it was genuine. What was Sesbia’s government doing, letting so many Nightmare Beasts in? If this got out, they’d lose hosting rights for a century.

“We bypassed patrols,” the Gourd Nightmare Beast said confidently. “And we’re hard to detect.”

It didn’t elaborate, asking: “How did you know we were here?”

All High-Level Nightmare Beasts shared perspectives, so though Su Bei hadn’t met the Gourd, it knew him. The shared perspective was like a massive multi-screen display.

Unlike humans, Nightmare Beasts handled information easily, but not all could process it fully. Higher Mental Energy meant more data received.

The Gourd’s high Mental Energy, plus Su Bei’s frequent screen appearances among fifteen-year-old humans, made it familiar with him.

Knowing he wasn’t fully on humanity’s side, often staying out of trouble, it held off attacking.

If peaceful resolution was possible, the Gourd preferred it. It infiltrated without attack power, as did the Mid-Level Nightmare Beasts here. Despite their numbers, facing Su Bei, the outcome was uncertain.

Su Bei saw their non-hostile intent, his mind racing with possibilities, answering lightly: “Know little? Your plan—I don’t want to be involved, so I checked.”

The Gourd didn’t know how much he knew. After mentally conferring with others, it offered assurance to keep him from interfering: “If you don’t compete, the Nightmare Beasts inside won’t affect you.”