A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

On Monday, during class, the school began teaching methods to increase mental power. Mental power is the medium through which ability users exert their powers, making it critically important for all ability users.

“In general, the stronger the ability, the more mental power it consumes,” the teacher explained, writing on the board during the Mental Power Enhancement class. “But that doesn’t mean abilities that consume less mental power are useless.”

At this point, he paused and turned around, speaking seriously. “Your Ability Introduction teacher should have emphasized this. No matter how useless an ability might seem, if used properly, it can be crucial in certain situations. And no matter how powerful an ability is, there’s always something that can counter it.”

As the teacher continued with more examples, Su Bei found his mind wandering.

The elusive “Manga Awareness” suddenly spoke: “Aren’t you usually focused during class? And this is the Mental Power Enhancement class you were really looking forward to, so why are you zoning out?”

Su Bei snapped back to attention, shaking his head with a thoughtful expression. “I’m not exactly zoning out; I just realized something interesting.”

“What is it?” asked “Manga Awareness” curiously.

If someone else had asked him, he might not have answered. But “Manga Awareness” was different, as it was above everyone and knew the secrets of this world.

It knew things Su Bei didn’t, and if he could extract some information from it, he could learn more about this world.

So he replied in his mind, “I noticed the teachers seem to be doing something intentional… How should I put it? It feels like they’re deliberately trying to reassure us. More accurately, they’re trying to balance our mindset.”

When “Manga Awareness” didn’t respond, Su Bei immediately understood. He had hit the mark—there was indeed a secret behind this.

Since “Manga Awareness” stayed silent, Su Bei continued, “On one hand, they tell those with weaker abilities that even small powers can have significant effects. On the other hand, they tell those with strong abilities that even powerful abilities can be countered. Isn’t this just an attempt to balance our mindsets?”

Finally, “Manga Awareness” responded, “But isn’t that quite normal? The teachers don’t want you to become unmanageable due to a skewed mindset. Isn’t this common even in regular schools?”

“No, no, no,” Su Bei shook his head, seriously rebutting, “That’s like telling students with poor learning aptitude that they shouldn’t be discouraged, and those with good aptitude that they shouldn’t be arrogant. Ordinary teachers don’t say things like that.”

Upon hearing this, “Manga Awareness” fell silent again. Indeed, regular schools wouldn’t go out of their way to tell students such things.

“So, does it mean that if our mindsets become unbalanced, there will be serious consequences?” Su Bei asked casually.

Once again, silence followed, and “Manga Awareness” hesitated, unsure whether to give a hint. After a long pause, just as Su Bei had given up on getting a response, “Manga Awareness” suddenly said: “Don’t forget your mission.”

It disappeared after that, ignoring Su Bei’s attempts to question further.

Su Bei stopped pushing and began to ponder its words: “Don’t forget your mission?”

The phrase seemed random. Of course, Su Bei hadn’t forgotten his mission, which was to save the world.

But why did “Manga Awareness” suddenly bring it up? Was it implying that he was neglecting his duties?

That couldn’t be it. Su Bei had been working to improve his abilities, which was necessary to save the world. Did they expect him to save it with just the [Gear] ability? Besides, this period was clearly slice-of-life, not plot-heavy.

Realizing his actions weren’t the issue, Su Bei thought back to his earlier question: “So, does it mean that if our mindsets become unbalanced, there will be serious consequences?”

The answer became clearer—the consequence would be failing his mission.

His mission was to save the world because the balance of power between good and evil had been thrown off, with the evil side growing stronger.

Su Bei's conclusion: If students, or ability users, developed unbalanced mindsets, it would further tip the balance of power between good and evil.

What?

Even Su Bei was stunned by this realization. Could their mindsets really have such far-reaching consequences?

As he thought about it, Su Bei grew more confident in his analysis.

Wait—this wasn’t the time to be smug!

Rubbing his temples, Su Bei forced himself to continue this train of thought. If unbalanced mindsets could affect the world, there had to be a reason behind it.

Having read many Manga, Su Bei quickly came up with a plausible scenario: In the past, academies with strict hierarchies bullied weaker ability users, leading one of them to turn evil and try to destroy all ability users.

It was likely due to such experiences that the school now emphasized students' mental health.

Su Bei’s eyes widened, his pupils trembling, as he realized, “How could this world be so cliché!”

He intentionally allowed “Manga Awareness” to hear his thoughts.

“Manga Awareness” was exasperated, feeling insulted. Unable to hold back, it said, “Stop guessing if you can’t do it right!” Then it disappeared again.

Su Bei, however, reined in his exaggerated reaction. He hadn’t truly believed his guess, but since it was plausible, he had played along.

Now that he had received a denial from “Manga Awareness,” he felt relieved. If it had been true, it would have been quite annoying.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

The bell signaling the end of class interrupted his thoughts.

Su Bei decided not to dwell on it further. He knew that when the time came and he became strong enough, the answer would reveal itself.

Now, the current problem—Su Bei turned around and leaned over Feng Lan’s desk. “Feng Lan, what did the teacher talk about?”

Feng Lan looked down, slightly furrowing his eyebrows with disapproval. “You didn’t listen? The Mental Power Enhancement class is really important.”

Su Bei deadpanned. “Weren’t you the one asleep on your desk just now?”

Feng Lan, however, wasn’t the least bit guilty. “But I’ve already learned all this at home. Have you?”

Su Bei: “…”

Damn it! Why were there so many naturals around him?

If he didn’t know Feng Lan’s personality, he might have thought this guy was deliberately showing off. But Feng Lan wasn’t that type; he was simply stating a fact.

And he wasn’t wrong either—if you’ve already mastered the material, listening to it again is optional. But for someone like Su Bei, who hadn’t grasped the concepts yet, it was essential to catch up on what he had missed.

It was all “Manga Awareness’s” fault for distracting him from the lesson!

Although Su Bei had already found a reason to justify himself, it was clearly not something he could say out loud. He coughed and said righteously, “But you were asleep, so how do you know if the teacher mentioned anything you didn’t know?”

“I was only in light sleep. I still have a general idea of what the teacher was saying,” Feng Lan clarified.

Seeing that he had taken the bait, a flicker of joy appeared in Su Bei’s eyes. He immediately asked, “Then let me test you—what did the teacher talk about in the last class?”

Feng Lan: “…”

Now it was Feng Lan’s turn to be speechless. Even he couldn’t help but feel a bit helpless, “Su Bei, I’m not stupid.”

Although he said this, he still seriously recounted the main points of the last class.

After hearing it, Su Bei felt reassured. The first class indeed didn’t cover anything particularly important, just some theoretical knowledge that could be found in the textbook.

The only method mentioned for enhancing mental power was physical exercise. If your physical condition improves, your mental power naturally follows.

During the break, Su Bei overheard many students dismissing this method, thinking the teacher was just brushing off the F-Class students.

However, as someone who regularly exercised, Su Bei strongly agreed with this method.

When his abilities were altered by the Manga, his mental power had also increased a bit. Without that increase, he wouldn’t have been able to make predictions for three people at once.

Logically, making predictions for three people at once should require a lot of mental power, yet he only gained a slight increase, which proved that his original mental power was already strong.

Su Bei attributed this strength to his lifelong habit of physical exercise.

As for those short-sighted people who thought exercise was useless, Su Bei didn’t have much to say. What truly interested him was that if Manga could enhance his mental power, could he somehow take advantage of that?

If he couldn’t alter his ability’s function for the time being, perhaps focusing on enhancing his mental power would be a good choice. If he remembered correctly, there was a significant difference between advanced mental power and ordinary mental power, and that difference might be his best trick for deceiving others.