A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

5:

Jiang Tianming returned to his seat, and Lan Subing next to him asked in a somewhat hoarse voice, “What’s with that person?”

She was severely socially anxious, only able to speak to those she knew well.

“I’m not sure, but it seems there’s no malice,” said Jiang Tianming, an orphan sensitive to human malevolence. “Let me ponder the meaning of his words.”

Indeed, it warranted deep thought. If the other party intended to convey something, it was hidden in those words. Lan Subing nodded, “Then I’ll go check on this person.”

Although students of the “Infinite Ability Academy” were required to board, the school did not prohibit contact with the outside world.

The “Lan Corporation” had significant influence; verifying someone’s identity was not difficult.

“It’s possible.” It was indeed necessary, and Jiang Tianming never minded leveraging a friend’s advantages. A pragmatist, his years as an orphan made it hard for him, including Wu Ming, to realize that not everything could be done alone.

For Lan Subing, uttering these few sentences was already her limit. Feeling the issue resolved, she decisively chose to remain silent. She was mentally preparing herself; the self-introduction session at the start of each term was a major ordeal for her, and the socially anxious girl had yet to decide how to face it.

Meanwhile, Jiang Tianming closed his eyes, contemplating the words of Su Bei.

—”Salutations from fate to you, the unluckiest of the unlucky in this cohort.”

What did this sentence mean?

On the surface, it was easy to understand, suggesting he was the most unfortunate student in the “Infinite Ability Academy” this term.

If the other party could so confidently say this, even claiming to “represent fate,” then their ability was clearly related to destiny, at the very least involving the inspection of one’s luck.

But would such an ability be assigned to Class F?

Almost impossible!

According to him, or rather, the “Lan Corporation’s” understanding, the “Infinite Ability Academy” was strict about class assignments. Generally, they would not allow a lower-level ability into a higher-level class, nor a higher-level ability into a lower-level class.

The former was to avoid wasting teacher resources and to prevent students from falling behind. The latter was to avoid delaying students’ progress and to prevent harm to those in lower-level classes.

In short, switching classes was virtually impossible.

Unless one was like him, unlucky enough to have an issue during the ability test before the term started, detecting the presence of an ability but not its nature, relegating him to Class F.

Or like Lan Subing, an anomaly with the ability of “Word Spirit” that could place her in Class A, but her severe social anxiety prevented her from speaking, rendering her ability useless.

The school, considering her personal and family wishes, and the fact that she could speak more in front of acquaintances, agreed to let her join Class F.

Wu Mingbai no longer had that right; he was directly assigned to Class D. However, his special ability indeed needed polishing—if he had forced his way into Class F, it wouldn’t have been ideal.

Returning to the original question, if Su Bei truly possessed a fate-related ability, his joining Class F would be quite significant. Moreover, the key might lie within himself, otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken the initiative to speak to me as soon as he arrived.

Could it be that he has discovered my secret?!

This thought barely surfaced before Jiang Tianming furrowed his brow, only to relax it moments later.

Judging by his demeanor,

it’s unlikely he saw my true ability. Perhaps he only noticed something like luck—indeed, my luck isn’t great… or rather, it’s extremely poor.

Becoming friends with Lan Subing and Wu Mingbai is the sole bright spot in my otherwise despairing life.

But if Su Bei doesn’t possess any special abilities, then the purpose behind his initiating that conversation is equally intriguing.

Could there be an issue with his background?

As an orphan, Jiang Tianming naturally harbored some curiosity about his biological parents. If someone who recognized his parents by appearance or prior investigation recognized him, it’s indeed possible they would say such things.

However, if that were the case, it would probably be bad news for me. What kind of parents would make someone refer to me as a “jinx”?

Let it be, I’ll see in a month.

In a month, the Ability Academy will retest abilities and potential, and no misplacements will be allowed.

If Su Bei leaves Class F by then, it would suggest he might have indeed seen something through his ability. But if he remains, then I’ll have to consider the second possibility.

Meanwhile, the classmates in the room chatted in pairs and groups, but Su Bei’s side remained quiet. With a student sleeping behind him, anyone with a bit of discernment wouldn’t approach to talk.

To maintain an air of mystery, Su Bei wouldn’t speak up either. Similarly, to avoid clashing with the big shot in the back row, he couldn’t just lay his head down on the desk to sleep.

After some thought, he turned to look outside the window, intently admiring the scenery.

Before long, a man towering at nearly one meter ninety, with an excessively fit physique, walked in. He wore a plain black T-shirt that, due to his abundant muscles, seemed like a tight-fitting shirt. His lower half was clad in cargo pants, also appearing somewhat snug.

The man looked to be around thirty, with black hair and blue eyes. His features were sharply chiseled, and his deep-set eyes exuded a mature charm, making him quite the handsome figure.

Yet, he clearly had no intention of grooming himself to make a good impression. His beard was unkempt, and his pompadour was a messy affair, showing no sign of a fresh start for the new term.

But it was precisely this that endowed him with a wild, untamed charm, his entire being seemingly bursting with hormones.

His eyelids drooped as if he had just woken up, devoid of energy. He sauntered to the podium, pulled out a chair, sat down, and propped up his legs in a lordly manner: “I am your homeroom teacher, Meng Huai, as well as the school’s PE teacher. Come up and introduce yourselves one by one, starting from the one closest to the door.

The girl sitting in the first row by the door perked up at the sight of his appearance.

In the world of comics or novels, such good-looking characters are unlikely to be mere cannon fodder.

Of course, it’s only a probability. Otherwise, how could he himself have become cannon fodder?

“Hello everyone, my name is Zhao Yuxiao, my special ability is…” She paused here, looking towards Meng Huai, “Teacher, do I need to introduce this?”

Meng Huai replied indifferently, “As you wish, but you’ll have plenty of cooperative combat tasks later on.”

Hearing this, Zhao Yuxiao immediately weighed her options and said generously, “My ability matches my name, it’s ‘Laughter’. I enjoy running and my favorite subject is Chinese. Thank you all, I hope for your support in the future.”

Clearly, she placed more importance on the “combat” mentioned by Meng Huai, hence she didn’t elaborate much on her ability. Another possibility was that she was confident she wouldn’t be teaming up with students from Class F, so there was no need for a detailed self-introduction.

The first person’s introduction often influences the others. Following her, all the introducers, regardless of their reasons, did not reveal their abilities, merely stating the names like she did.

The assembly-line introductions finally reached the protagonist, Jiang Tianming, who stepped up to the podium as all eyes in the class turned to him. His black hair and eyes were conspicuous in this comic world, and everyone was curious about his ability.

“Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Tianming, my ability is ‘Summoning’.”

Su Bei, who had read the first comic, knew his ability was ‘Death Summoning’, but he had omitted the first two words.

‘Summoning’ sounded vague, and indeed, it was a broad category of abilities. The strong, like the male lead, could summon spirits, while the weak, like Su Bei himself, could only summon gears.

So when Jiang Tianming announced his ability as summoning, no one was particularly surprised, assuming he was too embarrassed to disclose what specifically he could summon.

But Su Bei understood the real reason he wasn’t clear: firstly, he didn’t want to draw attention from his classmates within this month, and secondly, he felt certain he would leave Class F after a month, so he saw no need to reveal too much.

However, Su Bei, well-versed in comic tropes, didn’t think he could easily leave Class F. The male lead of the bottom-ranked class was definitely a great selling point, and the author wouldn’t miss such a big hook.

So, unless something unexpected happened, during the reclassification in a month, Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing would probably be unable to leave. Not just them, even Wu Mingbai from the protagonist group, currently in Class D, might end up in their class due to the inertia of the plot.

After Jiang Tianming stepped down from the podium, a brief void appeared in the front.

Meng Huai raised an eyebrow, glanced at the roll call list, and with a flicker of understanding in his eyes, deliberately called out loudly, “Lan Subing? Come up and introduce yourself!”

Startled by her name being called, the blue-haired girl who was quietly trying to wrap her scarf tighter, trembled and stood up, instantly drawing the attention of the entire class.

Her face flushed, eyelashes fluttering, she bit her lip gently, unconsciously clutching the corner of her clothes. Without time to worry about the scarf that had fallen to the ground, under Meng Huai’s compelling gaze, Lan Subing, like a tiny quail, bowed her head and hurried to the center of the podium.

Only then did Meng Huai’s expression soften, and he said, “Alright, introduce yourself.”

The students below were curiously sizing her up. Not for anything else, but for her silk-like long hair, beautiful aqua-blue pupils, and fair skin blushing with health, her appearance alone was enough to draw attention.

Under immense pressure, Lan Subing first straightened her body and bowed deeply, then extended her trembling hand, fumbling in the chalk box on the podium until she firmly grasped a white piece of chalk.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around, tiptoed slightly, and wrote three big characters on the blackboard—Lan Subing. The handwriting was elegant and graceful, worthy even of a contract worth millions, clearly practiced.

Seeing her wanting to drop the chalk and flee, Meng Huai reminded her with a headache, “Your special ability.”

At this moment, Lan Subing’s face was burning hot, and beneath her blue hair, the tips of her ears turned even redder. Like a timid hamster dragged forcibly to the center stage to perform. Yet, compelled, she wrote two characters: “Word Spirit”!