Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 43

Saturday morning arrived with William sleeping through dawn combat training for the first time in months. His body had apparently decided that after three consecutive days of intense competition, it deserved actual rest regardless of his normal schedule.

He woke around mid-morning to find Kai still reading at his desk.

"You missed breakfast," Kai observed. "Also missed about fifteen people knocking on the door looking for you. I told them all you were dead and to come back later."

"Helpful."

"I try." Kai turned a page. "There’s food on your desk. Mira dropped it off an hour ago and insisted I make sure you ate it."

William sat up and found a wrapped plate with bread, cheese, and some kind of meat that was still warm. He ate while Kai continued reading, the comfortable silence disturbed only by occasional page turns.

"The house celebration is tonight," Kai mentioned after a while. "Mira said it’s mandatory for the three team members. Those were her words, not mine."

"Is it actually mandatory?"

"Probably not, but she seemed serious about dragging you there if necessary."

William finished eating and considered his options for the day. He had no classes since it was the weekend, no training scheduled, and no immediate obligations beyond the house celebration later. That left him with rare free time and no clear idea what to do with it.

"I’m going to the library," Kai announced while standing and gathering his books. "Some of us have actual studying to do instead of getting hit repeatedly for sport."

"Really? I thought you were a vampire that only goes out at night?"

"Well I don’t want the sun scorching my madien skin now would I" Kai said with a slight smile before turning towards the door.

He left, and William found himself alone in the room with nothing demanding his immediate attention. It felt strange for him after weeks of constant training, competition, and general chaos.

Suddenly being not active seemed almost foreign to him.

He decided to check on his cultivation progress since he hadn’t properly assessed his development in a while. Finding a comfortable position, William pulled up his internal essence flow and examined his affinity gates.

The fire affinity was stable at fifty-four percent, and was reliably usable in combat. Wind had finally broken through, he could feel the gate sitting at fifty-one percent, which meant it had crossed the threshold during the competition stress. That gave him two combat-ready affinities now instead of just one.

The other affinities were progressing slowly. With his water at thirty-eight percent, lightning at thirty-four percent, earth at thirty percent, shadow at twenty-five percent. All moving in the right direction but still years away from being usable if the pattern held.

His essence capacity remained S-tier, which was the only natural advantage he had transmigrated with. His control had improved to solid C-rank through months of training, which explained why he could maintain enhancement longer and execute more complex techniques than when he’d first arrived at the academy.

This was also one of the reasons William hated the novel, the world power scale and growth rate was ridiculous and made no sense at all and the author had to make series of changes so as to favor the protagonist.

It was probably the reason why his growth rate was so slow.

A knock on the door interrupted his assessment.

William opened it and found Liam standing there with a relaxed smile.

"Do you have time for a walk?" Liam asked.

"Sure."

They headed outside and wandered the academy grounds without any particular destination. The weather was pleasant, students were scattered around enjoying their weekend, and the atmosphere felt considerably more relaxed than the intense competition environment from the past week.

"I wanted to talk about the Inter-Academy training," Liam said after they’d walked in silence for a bit. "It starts Monday and runs for six weeks. It’s pretty intensive from what I’ve heard from previous team members."

"What kind of training?"

"Coordinated team tactics mostly, since we’ll be representing the academy as a unified group rather than individual houses. Also opponent analysis—studying the other academies’ known strengths and developing counter strategies." Liam paused, then added, "It’s going to put all ten of us in close proximity for extended periods. Thought you should know in case that creates complications."

William appreciated the warning even if Liam didn’t know the specific reasons why proximity might be problematic. "I’ll manage."

"I figured you would, but wanted to mention it anyway." Liam’s expression turned more serious. "Also wanted to ask—how are you actually doing? You seemed tense all week, and I know it wasn’t just competition nerves."

"Just dealing with some personal stuff," William said carefully. "Nothing that affects my ability to train or compete."

"Fair enough." Liam didn’t press further. "Well, if you need someone to spar with or just want to talk, I’m available. We’re teammates now, which means we should probably look out for each other."

They talked for a while longer about various topics—cultivation techniques, combat theory, speculation about what the Inter-Academy competition would entail. William found Liam easy to talk to without the social difficulty that seemed to accompany most of his other interactions.

Eventually they parted ways, and William headed back to his dormitory to prepare for the evening house celebration. He had a few hours before it started, which he spent reviewing magical theory texts and practicing his newly accessible wind affinity in controlled exercises.

The wind manipulation felt different from fire, less aggressive, more about flow and redirection than direct force. William experimented with creating air currents and enhancing his movement speed, finding the techniques came naturally once the gate had opened properly.

When it was evening William made his way to the House Ascendant common room where the celebration was being held. The space had been reorganized with tables pushed together for a communal meal, and most of the house members were already present.

Adrian stood at the front and raised his voice to address the gathering. "This week, House Ascendant placed three members on the Inter-Academy team. That’s the best performance our house has achieved in five years, and it proves we’re not the weakest house anymore."

Students cheered and raised their cups in acknowledgment. Adrian continued, "William Cross, Patricia Crane, and myself will be training intensively for the next six weeks. We’ll make sure to represent our house well when the actual competition arrives."

More cheering, and then the formal part of the celebration ended as students began eating and socializing. William found himself pulled into various conversations with house members who wanted to congratulate him or ask about the competition.

Mira appeared beside him at some point with two cups of whatever drink was being served. "Told you it was mandatory."

"You were very convincing," William said while accepting the cup.

"I’m persuasive when necessary." Mira surveyed the room with satisfaction. "This is good for house morale. We’ve been considered the reject house for too long. Having three team members changes that perception."

"Does it bother you that you weren’t selected?" William asked.

"Not really. I knew my chances were low once I lost in the second round." Mira shrugged. "Besides, I have other priorities beyond academy competitions. This is your thing, not mine."

They talked for a while longer before Mira was pulled away by other house members. William found himself standing alone near the edge of the room, observing the celebration without actively participating. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"You don’t seem like much of a party person," someone said beside him.

William turned and found it was Cole Rivers, the first-year he’d fought in the house preliminaries. "Not particularly."

"Same. It’s always too loud with too many people." Cole gestured toward a quieter corner. "There’s a balcony that way if you want to escape without looking like you’re ditching entirely."

William followed him to the balcony, which had a few other students who had apparently had the same idea about escaping the crowded common room. They could still hear the celebration but it was muted enough to hold actual conversations.

"Congratulations on making the team," Cole said while leaning against the railing. "Fifth place overall is impressive."

"Thanks. You fought well in the preliminaries."

"Not well enough, but that’s fine. It gives me something to work toward for next year though." Cole looked out over the academy grounds. "Can I ask you something? How did you improve so fast? You went from barely competent at the start of the year to making the Inter-Academy team in a few months."

William considered the question. "Consistent training with people better than me. Liam helped a lot with sparring practice. Master Erian provided guidance on essence control. Valdris drilled footwork and basics until they became automatic."

"So just hard work and good teachers?"

"Mostly, yeah. There’s no secret technique or shortcut. Just putting in the time and being willing to get hit repeatedly until you figure out how not to get hit."

Cole laughed. "That’s probably the most honest answer I’ve gotten about cultivation improvement. Everyone else makes it sound mysterious or complicated."

They talked for a while about training approaches and cultivation theory, joined occasionally by other students who wandered onto the balcony. The celebration continued inside but the balcony group maintained their own quieter gathering.

William eventually excused himself and headed back to his room around ten, feeling socially exhausted but satisfied with how the evening had gone. No drama, no complications, just normal interaction with house members who seemed genuinely happy about the competition results.

Kai was already asleep when William entered, which meant he had managed to avoid the celebration entirely as usual. William changed and collapsed into bed, thinking about the six weeks of specialized training that would start Monday.

Ten students training together intensively. Multiple people he needed to be careful around. Six weeks of close proximity and coordinated exercises.

But that was a problem for Monday. Right now, William just wanted to enjoy one more day of relative peace before everything got complicated again.

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