A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Seeing what she wrote, everyone was surprised. Unlike [Summoning], [Word Spirit] was not an ability you would expect to find in Class F.

It was known that everyone placed in Class F shared one common trait: their abilities were practically useless. But even the weakest [Word Spirit] was definitely useful, so why was she placed among these failures?

A few clever students began to speculate, watching her behavior closely.

Thinking she was done, Lan Subing breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly grabbed the eraser, and with each character she erased from the board, it felt like a firework was celebrating her escape from misery.

But just as she put down the chalk and eraser, Meng Huai gave her a friendly smile: “Lan Subing, won’t you say hello to everyone? We’re all classmates now, there’s no need to be so distant.”

The classmates instantly perked up, their eyes gleaming as they stared at Lan Subing. —Such a pretty girl, it would be a loss for Class F if she didn’t say a few more words!

Thus, the chalk in the hand of the beautiful Lan Subing fell onto the podium, snapping in two like her nerves.

Great, she thought. Now, Lan Subing really will become a block of ice.

Meng Huai, of course, understood the impact of his actions on a socially anxious girl who only felt safe in her small room, running on her wheel. But as her homeroom teacher, he also knew why Lan Subing was placed in Class F. Part of his teaching task this month was to help reduce her social anxiety, so he hoped she could say at least one or two words.

Don’t underestimate the power of a few words. If Lan Subing spoke up, it would expand her mental circle of people she could talk to. After several attempts, she might start speaking to her classmates as she would to friends.

Unfortunately, he underestimated the power of a new environment on Lan Subing. Thrown unprepared into the spotlight, her first instinct was to seek out a familiar ally—Jiang Tianming. He was her lifeline.

Sensing her gaze, Jiang Tianming raised his hand without hesitation. But before he could be called upon, Su Bei spoke up lazily, “How about saying hello by writing it on the board?”

Su Bei’s suggestion gave Lan Subing an alternative. Even if she couldn’t speak, she had a way to cope.

He wasn’t being kind; it was to ride the plot and gain some favor. By leaving a good impression on the protagonist group, he could offset the hostility his earlier words had created.

This way, he wouldn’t face strong resistance when he tried to approach the protagonist group later.

That troublemaker! Meng Huai almost rolled his eyes and shot Su Bei a warning glare. “You, shut up.”

He then looked at Jiang Tianming helplessly. “What do you want to say?”

Meng Huai knew Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing were good friends. Lan Subing came to Class F because of Jiang Tianming. Otherwise, despite her severe issues, she could have been placed in Class D.

Understanding Jiang Tianming’s desire to help his friend was easy, but now was not the time for him to intervene. Lan Subing’s problem needed solving, and a true friend wouldn’t disrupt the process due to a moment of compassion.

Moreover, Jiang Tianming needed to consider the feelings of other classmates. Meng Huai worried that a boy of his age might make things worse by trying to help clumsily, thus harming Lan Subing.

But Jiang Tianming wasn’t afraid. He understood the teacher’s intentions, but seeing his friend’s pleading eyes, he couldn’t sit idly by. Su Bei’s suggestion had given him a new idea, but that approach wouldn’t help Lan Subing progress and would waste the teacher’s efforts.

He had to find a middle ground.

Facing the muscular teacher’s gaze, he calmly spoke, “Teacher, Lan Su Bing can’t speak in front of a crowd. Can I take her outside to record a greeting and then play it back here for her introduction?”

Severe social anxiety couldn’t be hidden, so it was better to explain it upfront to avoid misunderstandings later.

It was a good plan, as it wouldn’t irritate the classmates and would fulfill the greeting task. The only downside was that it reduced the effectiveness of Meng Huai’s intended outcome.

He wanted Lan Subing to overcome her psychological barrier and speak to the class. Using a recording would still help somewhat but wouldn’t be as effective as speaking directly.

Seeing Lan Su Bing’s grateful expression, Meng Huai knew not to push too hard at once. He waved his hand wearily, “Go ahead.”

With that settled, the classmates continued their introductions, and soon it was Su Bei’s turn.

He swaggered to the podium. “Hello everyone, I’m Su Bei. My ability is [Gears]. I plan to open a hardware store in the future. If anyone needs gears, come find me. As classmates, I’ll give you a discount!”

His down-to-earth introduction made everyone laugh, and several students’ eyes lit up.

They had planned to pretend they never had abilities after graduation, but hearing Su Bei made them realize that even a useless ability could be put to use.

Although not useful for combat, if you can think outside the box, most people can still find ways to profit from their abilities.

Only Jiang Tianming, sitting in the middle row, couldn’t help but twitch his mouth and whisper to Lan Subing beside him, “Do you think what he said is true?”

If his ability is just [Gears], then what gave him the confidence to say those things earlier?

Lan Subing shook her head and typed a message on her phone for him to read: “Maybe he’s pretending.”

While they were talking, the last student, Feng Lan, walked up to the podium: “I’m Feng Lan, and my ability is [Prophecy].”

If the previous introductions were like throwing small pebbles into the lake of the classroom, Feng Lan’s words were like throwing a missile into it.

[Prophecy] ability! This was an extremely rare and valuable ability! How could someone with such an ability be placed in Class F?

Even those who had never been exposed to the abilities world knew that such an ability, no matter what it could predict, would never be placed in Class F.

Some students, who were more knowledgeable, realized from Feng Lan’s surname that he was from the famous Feng family of prophets. And just by stating that his ability was [Prophecy], it was clear his status in the Feng family was not ordinary.

[Prophecy] is a niche ability category that includes predicting the weather, predicting good or bad luck, predicting specific answers, and so on…

Every ability with [Prophecy] trait was extremely rare. According to what they knew, in the Feng family, someone with such a pure ability could directly become the family head.

In other words, if Feng Lan wasn’t lying, he could very well be the current head of the Feng family.

Everyone stared at Feng Lan, hoping to glean more information from him and perhaps form a connection that could benefit them in the future.

Su Bei was equally surprised. He had no background in the abilities world and was unaware of the Feng family’s significance. However, he knew that an ability like [Prophecy] was formidable, even to those who knew nothing about abilities.

So, this person has such an ability, which clashes with his own?

This wasn’t good. Similar abilities would lose their uniqueness, and fans could easily be divided. If the other party had a strong background, Su Bei would be at a disadvantage in gaining fans.

Furrowing his brow, Su Bei decided he needed to find an opportunity to ask Feng Lan about his ability. Only after understanding it could he figure out how to adapt his strategy.

On the podium, Feng Lan didn’t seem to notice the crowd’s attention and expectations. He simply introduced himself and then walked off the stage.

“Clap! Clap!”

Seeing that everyone’s attention was still on Feng Lan, with eyes almost glued to him, Meng Huai clapped his hands to draw their attention back.

The newly minted homeroom teacher seemed to ponder for a moment about what else he needed to say. Then, he smirked with a somewhat sarcastic and mocking expression: “You Class F losers shouldn’t be delusional enough to think you can make a name for yourselves among ability users with your useless abilities, right? I think Su Bei’s suggestion earlier was quite sensible.”

Hearing this, Su Bei’s eyebrows twitched. He could feel the animosity in those words, and a few less insightful classmates were probably already starting to resent him because of Meng Huai’s comment.

But why was Meng Huai doing this? Su Bei didn’t remember offending this homeroom teacher.

After a brief moment of recollection, he had a rough idea. It seemed that his earlier words when he entered the class had caught Meng Huai’s attention. By inciting the class against him, Meng Huai aimed to provoke the students into testing him to uncover his true abilities.

“But since you’ll be spending three years in the abilities world,” Meng Huai concluded, laying out his teaching philosophy, “your only way to survive is to train your physical skills.”

His calm tone while delivering such sarcastic remarks had a significant impact on the naive students. It took them a moment to process what he had said, and then the class erupted in an uproar.

“What do you mean by that?” A boy with plain looks and a face full of acne, sitting next to Su Bei, suddenly stood up, angrily questioning.

Seeing his reaction, Su Bei immediately understood. This boy was about to become the class’s example of what happens when you challenge the homeroom teacher.

Sure enough, Meng Huai didn’t even look up. He casually pulled a piece of chalk from the box on the podium and suddenly threw it—

The chalk flew with lightning speed, hitting the boy squarely on the forehead.

“Thud!”

The boy fell to the ground with a crash.