A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 328 : Chapter 328

Translator: AkazaTL

Proofreader/Editor: JWyck

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Chapter 328

“Of course, you can.” Jiang Yan naturally had no reason to refuse and nodded, leading everyone to the first floor. She first registered everyone and got them a point savings card. Then she took them to another front desk to look at the tasks.

The tasks in the Nightmare Beast world were generally related to high-level Nightmare Beasts. There were tasks to map unexplored areas, tasks to eliminate high-level Nightmare Beasts, rescue missions…

Among them, these tasks were generally around 10-20 points, and the difficulty was not low. If their Class S members were to do these tasks, a task might take two to three people half a day to complete. If the points were divided equally, it would not even be enough for their accommodation fee.

Working hard for a day to complete two tasks was just enough for accommodation points. It was a good thing that eating here only cost ordinary money, otherwise, they would really not be able to make ends meet.

“It’s so hard to go back,” Lan Subing lamented in a low voice.

Jiang Yan had good hearing and turned to look at her after hearing this, “Before entering here, all these things will be announced. Only those who believe in their own strength, or are determined to spend a long time here to train, will choose to enter the Nightmare Beast world from the entrance of our Three Academies Base.”

“Three Academies Base”… Hearing this name, Su Bei couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Did it mean, as the name suggests, a base built by three academies? What a hasty name.

Unlike his wandering thoughts, the others were seriously contemplating Jiang Yan’s words. As she said, under the circumstances of already knowing that they would not be able to leave for a long time after entering, there were only two possibilities for coming here.

“No wonder they all say that the ability users who come out of the Three Academies Base are very strong.” Si Zhaohua had heard of the name of the Three Academies Base back in his family. Now that he understood their internal mechanism, he felt that it was indeed a well-deserved reputation.

At this time, Zhao Xiaoyu suddenly thought of another question, “Teacher, for this map-drawing task, if we can’t draw a map, can we not accept it?”

Before Jiang Yan could answer, a person who was setting up a stall on the ground next to them suddenly raised his voice, “Professional map-drawing talent here, only 2 points to hire. Honest and fair, good value for money, first come, first served!”

Everyone: “…”

There were many people at the task point in the first-floor lobby. Jiang Yan didn’t stay with them for long. After looking at the tasks, she went straight out the door.

Outside the Three Academies Base fortress, there was an open-air camp, which was also within the jurisdiction of the Three Academies Base. You could see many tents, sleeping bags, and some bonfires in the camp.

“They sleep here?” Ai Baozhu asked in surprise. “Aren’t there dormitories?”

Obviously, this young lady who didn’t know the hardships of the world had never seen a suffering person sleeping on the streets.

Jiang Yan glanced at those people and answered indifferently, “It’s because they can’t afford or don’t want to pay the 10-point room fee, so they choose to sleep outside.”

To save points, one needed to increase income and reduce expenditure. Their strength did not allow them to increase their income, so they could only think of ways to reduce expenditure. Zhao Xiaoyu felt that she could understand this group of people. If she came here, she might also choose to sleep outside. But she had a question, “Is it safe to sleep outside?”

“The camp is definitely a bit safer than other places in the Nightmare Beast world. After all, there are so many people here, and the Nightmare Beasts that have been scared away generally won’t come over,” Jiang Yan answered skillfully, as if she had answered the same question many times. “But in fact, the base is not responsible for protecting the ability users in the camp. At night, the entire fortress will be closed. If there is real danger, they can only rely on themselves.”

After listening to her explanation, everyone suddenly understood. To put it simply, it was indeed a bit safer here than in other places in the Nightmare Beast world, but not by much. The real safe area was inside the fortress.

But this was also normal. If the inside and outside of the fortress were the same, and 10 points could only provide a more comfortable place to live, then few people would probably choose to live in the dormitories.

“Then do we have to spend points to live here?” Jiang Tianming asked a key question.

This question was also within Jiang Yan’s expectations. She shook her head, “No, your accommodation fees are fully provided by the academy, and you can leave directly after a month. But if you want to come back after graduation, you will have to follow the rules here like everyone else.”

After thinking for a moment, she added with a rare smile, “But if you are willing to come here for a job after graduation, that’s another matter.”

These students were all top students of the “Endless Ability Academy.” If they could get one to come over, it would be a big gain.

“We will consider it carefully,” Si Zhaohua nodded, although he himself would definitely not stay here, and the Si family would not allow it.

Mu Tieren, on the other hand, seemed a little tempted. He didn’t really want to stay in school as a teacher and preferred to fight Nightmare Beasts on the front lines. For now, staying here seemed like a good choice.

Jiang Yan did not insist on recruiting. After a simple sentence, she clapped her hands, “I’ve roughly shown you the base area. Next is free time. There is a clock in the first-floor lobby. A curfew will begin at midnight, meaning the base gate will be closed. It won’t reopen until five o’clock the next day. So you have to enter the dormitory building before eleven o’clock and then return to your own rooms.”

As she spoke, she distributed the keys with room numbers to everyone. After finishing, she continued, “Because it’s easy to disturb others if everyone walks together, I will arrange for you to explore freely in pairs. If anyone stirs up trouble, that person’s temporary teammate will also be punished.”

After announcing her joint punishment system, she began to group them, “The people I call can form a team and leave directly. Su Bei and Si Zhaohua are in one group, Ai Baozhu and Lan Subing are in one group, Jiang Tianming… Mu Tieren, Li Shu, and Zhou Renjie, you three are in one group.”

Su Bei and Si Zhaohua, who were called first, walked back together. The two of them had a tacit understanding that they didn’t want to explore the Nightmare Beast world first, but planned to go back and continue to learn about the Three Academies Base.

After all, they were going to stay here for a full month. It wouldn’t do not to understand the map.

“Where to first?” Walking into the fortress, Si Zhaohua looked at Su Bei. “I want to go to the fifth-floor arena first.”

Su Bei had no opinion. Because the Nightmare Beast world automatically suppressed happy emotions, he didn’t have much curiosity about this place with no color.

Arriving at the fifth floor, the shouts and cheers were endless. The noise made Si Zhaohua frown, “It’s so noisy, will this really not affect the treatment upstairs?”

“There should be soundproof walls upstairs,” Su Bei answered casually, throwing a pair of earplugs at him, and then squeezed into the cheering crowd in a few steps, turning his head and smiling at the awkward guy, “Come on, come on, let’s watch an arena match first.”

“Since we’re already here,” the classic line for persuading people in China, classic and effective, and it has stood the test of time. Si Zhaohua was indeed persuaded. Although he really didn’t want to squeeze in with others, he still endured his mysophobia and squeezed in.

It was worth mentioning that although the two of them were quite tall in their class and even their grade, they were still minors. In this place full of scarred-faced strong men, they actually looked quite petite. A small body contained great energy. If not for that, they wouldn’t have been able to squeeze in so easily.

Si Zhaohua’s face was extremely ugly, partly because of the smell here, and partly because he was dissatisfied with his height, “I will definitely grow to 1.9 meters in the future.”

“Ambitious,” the person next to him who heard his words couldn’t help but laugh, praising him in a rough voice, but it was hard to tell whether it was a sincere praise or sarcasm.

Su Bei felt that Si Zhaohua’s wish would probably be difficult to achieve. In the manga world, it was difficult for a handsome character to have a strong body. Except for gag manga.

However, he did not shatter the other party’s beautiful fantasy, choosing to look at the arena instead. Two people were fighting in the arena, the kind of ruthless fighting that was meant to kill the other party. This kind of fighting was much more interesting and useful than the practice fights they usually saw in school.

And what Su Bei had to do was to continuously absorb their techniques by watching, striving to learn such techniques without having to personally go on stage. Others might not be able to do it, but Su Bei was a martial arts genius personally stamped by the martial arts teacher, so naturally, there was no problem.

He was watching with relish here, but it was Si Zhaohua, who had proposed to come here to visit, who was a little regretful. After a while, he began to get distracted and brought up other things, “What kind of task do you think the teacher will arrange for us tomorrow?”

“Patrolling,” Su Bei answered nonchalantly, glancing at the crowded first floor. “Other tasks probably aren’t short of people either.”

“You’re wrong about that,” the big man who had laughed at Si Zhaohua before interjected again. “It’s crowded now because it’s morning. There will be fewer people later. The goal of the Three Academies Base is to explore the entire Nightmare Beast world with the base as the center. There are never enough ability users.”

That was indeed a very lofty ideal, and it would not become useless just because of the author’s arrangement for the end of the Nightmare Beasts. The result of completely destroying the meteorites was that Nightmare Beasts would no longer be born, but it didn’t mean that the original Nightmare Beasts would immediately disappear, nor did it mean that this space would immediately disappear.

For hundreds of years, the number of Nightmare Beasts was countless, and the Nightmare Beast world was boundless. Such exploration was very meaningful.

The big man then continued, “But you guys look like you’re still students, right? The academy arranging for students to come over will definitely not have too dangerous tasks. It’ll probably be like you said, they’ll arrange for you to patrol.”

The two of them thanked him and retreated from the arena, returning to the staircase. Si Zhaohua looked up and saw that Su Bei had no ideas, so he made a decision directly, “Let’s go to the sixth floor.”

Arriving at the entrance of the sixth floor, the two guards at the door stopped them. One of them sternly drove them away, “Kids, don’t come here to join the fun, this is not a place for you to come.”

Si Zhaohua took out a high-level item without changing his expression, “I’m here to sell something.”

Seeing this item, the guard did not continue to drive them away. He took out a simple quality evaluation item and tested it. As soon as he saw the item emit a purple light, his attitude immediately became a bit more respectful, and he opened the door, “Please.”

Although the trading platform on the sixth floor was much more advanced than the one on the second floor, it was only that the traded items were of a higher level. In essence, it was the same; they were all transactions made with money. Of course, at some sellers, points were also acceptable, but Si Zhaohua would definitely still use money for transactions.

The young master of the Si family was never short of money.

Su Bei was not short of money either, but it was only reflected in his daily life. He was still inevitably hard-pressed in a venue like this, where things cost millions. So this time, he didn’t plan to buy anything, just to broaden his horizons with Si Zhaohua.

Besides being man-made, the most important source of high-level items was high-level Nightmare Beasts. Many high-level Nightmare Beasts would drop items upon death. Su Bei had encountered many high-level Nightmare Beasts with the protagonist group before, but he had actually killed very few of them himself, so naturally, he hadn’t gotten any high-level items.

On the contrary, the other people in the protagonist group, as far as Su Bei knew, should have at least one each. It was a good thing he wasn’t short of items himself, otherwise, he would have been outraged.

Here, Si Zhaohua was buying things like he was scattering money, the main point being that one could be not stupid and still have a lot of money. After becoming the recognized big spender on this floor, he left with Su Bei contentedly and went to the third floor to eat.

“Don’t you have a lot of items yourself? Why did you still buy so many?” After yawning, Su Bei asked with some confusion.

He often studied new abilities at night during this period, and his Mental Energy was severely insufficient, so he naturally appeared drowsy. But he couldn’t study every day, otherwise, the teachers and classmates would notice something was wrong. Yesterday, he experimented with his ability for the last time, so Su Bei was not in a good mental state today.

However, he was often like this, and Si Zhaohua didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. He answered calmly, “Can one ever have too many items? Anyway, I’m not short of money.”

“It’s great to be rich,” Su Bei gave a thumbs-up in admiration.

There were several restaurants on the third floor. The dishes were made from various Nightmare Beast meats. A meal like this was very expensive outside, but here, it was the cheapest meal. On the contrary, fresh vegetables were rare in restaurants and very expensive.

Su Bei and the others chose a braised chicken restaurant, but the chicken here was a kind of Nightmare Chicken. The meat was plump and fragrant, and it could also replenish a little Mental Energy for the user. Not much, but it could make people feel more energetic after eating.

When ordering, Su Bei casually asked about vegetables, “Boss, are the vegetables here bought from outside? Or are they grown in the Nightmare Beast world?”

This knowledge point was common sense here, so the boss naturally had nothing to hide, “Vegetation can’t be grown in the Nightmare Beast world, so the vegetables here are either bought from outside or directly created by wood-type ability users with related abilities. I am not talented, but my ability is exactly [Plant Growth].”

That was indeed a professional match, but Su Bei had another question, “I’m sorry for being a little offensive, but I still want to ask, isn’t it dangerous for you to enter the Nightmare Beast world with this ability?”

[Plant Growth] sounded like a non-combat D-class, or even F-class ability. Let alone coming to the Nightmare Beast world, it would be difficult to even stay in the ability world. But the boss actually came in and was obviously living a good life.

Seeing that there was no contempt in his eyes, just pure curiosity, the boss then answered, “Do you think my ability has no attack power?”

He casually took out a seed and, with a bit of accelerated growth, a small piranha plant sprouted just like that. The boss smiled and said, “As long as the seeds are in place, my ability can serve all kinds of purposes.”

Su Bei showed a look of sudden realization, “Amazing, thank you for your explanation, boss.”

After saying that, he first activated his ability and glanced at the boss’ Destiny Compass. After confirming that there was no problem, he thought for a moment and placed a silver gear on the counter, “A thank-you gift. This is a gear that can find the opponent’s weakness.”

The “Destiny Gear” could only be called a “Destiny Gear” against a relatively strong opponent who could not be easily attacked. However, Su Bei thought that when the boss used this item, the enemy should be quite difficult to deal with, and the gear would naturally play its due role.

In fact, he originally wanted to give a “Wish Gear” to increase the presence of this ability. But on second thought, he decided against it. Firstly, the effect of the “Wish Gear” was very powerful. It would seem a bit cheap to give it away just because the other party answered a few unimportant questions.

Secondly, the “Wish Gear” had the drawback of backfiring after an hour. He didn’t want to reveal this drawback, so naturally, he couldn’t take out the “Wish Gear” to trick people.

After lunch, the two of them unanimously decided to go to the dormitory to have a look. They were going to live there for thirty days. If the environment was not good, they would have a hard time.

Su Bei and Si Zhaohua’s rooms were right next to each other, which was also the basis for Teacher Jiang’s grouping. After all, they had been together for a year and didn’t need to be grouped in batches to get to know each other. Naturally, it was based on whatever was convenient.

Opening the door, what came into view was a small room. But don’t look down on the small size of the room; in fact, although the sparrow is small, it has all the vital organs. A bed, a small wardrobe, a table, and a chair, that was all there was to the room.

The room was not equipped with a toilet; the public toilet was in the middle of the corridor.

To be honest, it was a bit depressing. The room was already small, had no windows, and the colors were a monotonous black, white, and gray. You don’t have to think much to know that if you really lived here for a long time, you would definitely have psychological problems.

However, it was not a long-term residence, just for sleeping, so it was barely acceptable. At least it was clean and there were no small animals living there.

A day passed quickly. At eight o’clock the next morning, Teacher Jiang came to arrange tasks. As Su Bei had guessed yesterday, their task was indeed to patrol. Four people in a group, each inserted into a different patrol team, responsible for different areas.

It was worth mentioning that Feng Lan did not participate in this task. He was mainly responsible for staying in the rear. Jiang Yan was not even prepared to let him leave the fortress this month. This was also a request made by the Feng family for this research and study.

Walking to his patrol team, Su Bei looked at the few people next to him and felt that his luck was not bad this time. Si Zhaohua, Zhao Xiaoyu, Wu Jin, not a single member of the protagonist group, was the safest of all the teams.

Naturally, the place they patrolled was also the safest one; they only needed to patrol within the camp.

Seeing the few student team members assigned to him, the red-haired captain frowned and looked at the three of them a few times. Wu Jin was subconsciously ignored by him. The captain concisely instructed, “I know you are here to gild yourselves. Stay obediently in the middle of the team and don’t cause trouble for us, otherwise, I will make sure you can’t gild this layer of gold, understand?”

Oh, ho, even a guy that Wu Jin couldn’t notice at first glance was threatening them. Su Bei lowered his head and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, forcing himself not to laugh out loud.

At this time, whoever spoke up would become the face-slapping cannon fodder in the plot. Although this was not a bad plot, it was a bit troublesome. Su Bei was too lazy to make a move; he preferred to watch his teammates show off their power.

As expected, the person who showed off their power was Si Zhaohua. His blue eyes looked at the other party coldly, and he said word by word, “I don’t quite understand, may I ask how you will make us unable to gild this layer of gold?”

The red-haired captain did not see his confidence, or rather, even if he did, he didn’t care. After all, as a captain, he had the right to scold and even teach disobedient team members a lesson. In addition, the Three Academies Base was relatively independent. Even if they went out and complained, the “Endless Ability Academy” would not pressure him for their sake.

So facing Si Zhaohua’s question, he answered arrogantly, “Of course, by beating you up fiercely on the grounds of your disobedience, and then refusing you to rejoin the team.”

However, the one who said these words ignored one point, and that was that these students he looked down on did not need the academy’s help to teach him a sufficient lesson.

Si Zhaohua glanced at Su Bei. Su Bei surprisingly understood his meaning immediately, nodded slightly, and indicated that he had completely recorded what he had just said.

Seeing him nod, Si Zhaohua withdrew his gaze with relief, not worried at all that Su Bei would misunderstand him, and directly activated his ability to attack the red-haired captain.

Wu Jin asked in a low voice, “Is it okay?”

“Who are you referring to?” Su Bei asked in confusion.

If he was worried about Si Zhaohua, then he could only say that Wu Jin’s judgment was not very good. The red-haired captain’s strength was obviously very average. Knowing that there were four new team members, he didn’t even see Wu Jin just now, which was enough to show that his Mental Energy was low. As an ability user, Wu Jin should be very clear about this point. With Si Zhaohua’s strength, he would not be defeated by such a person.

As for worrying about the captain? That was even more absurd. Su Bei did not think that Wu Jin was such a kind person.

“He’s worried about the fight being discovered by others,” Zhao Xiaoyu knew Wu Jin’s thoughts very well.

Sure enough, Wu Jin nodded, tacitly agreeing with her explanation.

Su Bei suddenly realized and then answered, “Don’t worry, this is a place for ability users. It’s normal for someone to fight, right? As long as it doesn’t get to the fortress and no Nightmare Beasts appear, other people won’t meddle.”

He had a basis for saying this. Someone had fought outside yesterday, and the people around were just watching the fun.

As Jiang Yan said, after living in such a depressing environment for a long time, many people’s emotions needed to be vented. Those who could control it could still go to the sixth floor to vent, while those who couldn’t could only fight on the spot.

The battle over there quickly came to a result. Undoubtedly, Si Zhaohua won. He didn’t even use his ultimate move, just using his newly learned “Angel’s Radiance” skill to defeat his opponent.

Let alone the red-haired captain, even the group of team members who had been watching from the sidelines were all dumbfounded. They didn’t expect that this obviously underage student, who probably wasn’t even in his third year of high school, could defeat the captain.

“How did you become the captain of the patrol team?” Si Zhaohua, who had won, did not show any joy, but instead looked confused. “I’m starting to doubt the patrol system of the Three Academies Base.”