Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me! Chapter 47

The morning sun crept through the window and landed directly across William’s face. He groaned and turned over, pressing his face into the pillow, but the light followed him like it had a personal grudge. He lay there for a few minutes with his eyes shut, hoping sleep would co back, but his body had already decided it was done resting.

He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes, staring at the wall for a mont while his brain caught up with the rest of him. The room was quiet. Kai’s bed was empty and already made, which ant had probably left early again for his midterm preparation routine.

William stretched his arms above his head and felt the lingering soreness from yesterday’s training sessions pull at his muscles. The lightning shocks from Marcus had left a dull ache across both arms that hadn’t faded overnight. He rolled his shoulders a few tis, trying to loosen the tension, then swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood.

He moved through his morning routine without much thought. He washed up then got dressed before grabbing his things. The academy was already alive outside when he stepped into the hallway, students moving between classes and training grounds with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

William headed toward the main building for his first class of the day. Magical Theory with Professor Ashcroft was scheduled for mid-morning, which gave him ti to stop by the dining hall first. He grabbed a simple breakfast of bread and so fruit, eating while walking rather than sitting down.

The dining hall was busy but William found a spot near the edge where he could eat without being in the middle of everything. Students around him were in various states of alertness, so looked like they had been up training since morning, others seed like they’d barely dragged themselves out of bed.

"You look terrible," soone said.

William looked up and found Sara Whitlock sitting across from him with her own tray. She had an easy smile that didn’t require any effort to maintain, the kind of person who genuinely enjoyed mornings.

"Thanks," William said flatly.

"Marcus’s lightning strikes really did a number on you yesterday, huh?" Sara said while unwrapping her food. "I watched your assessnt match. I had thought it was a simple technique but seeing you now makers think otherwise"

"It felt worse than it looked."

"How’s your hands?" She gestured toward his fingers with her fork. "Lightning shocks can cause nerve damage if they’re strong enough."

"The feeling has co back mostly. It’s ust a little bit sore."

"You should visit the dical wing and get so essence salve applied. It helps in speeding up nerve recovery." Sara said it matter-of-factly, like she was giving directions rather than dical advice. "I work there part-ti on weekends. Trust , it helps."

"I’ll consider it," William said, and actually ant it. The soreness was annoying enough that skipping dical treatnt felt stubborn rather than practical.

They ate together in comfortable silence enjoying their food for a while before Sara spoke again. "The team exercises yesterday were interesting to watch. Your team actually worked well together."

"We just got lucky with the matchups."

"Don’t sell it short. Teamwork like that doesn’t happen by accident." Sara finished her food and stood. "Anyway, I’ve got Survival Tactics in ten minutes. Get that hand checked out, seriously."

She left with a wave and William finished his breakfast alone. The advice about the dical wing was probably worth following—he needed his hands functioning properly for today’s training session.

He stopped by the dical wing on his way to class and found a quiet corner where a staff mber applied essence salve to both hands. The sensation was cold initially, then warming as the salve worked through his skin and into the nerve pathways underneath. Within minutes the dull ache faded noticeably.

"Lightning shock residual?" the staff mber asked.

"Yeah."

"This is a xommon problem during assessnt season. Co back tomorrow if it flares up again."

William thanked them and headed to class feeling noticeably better. The soreness wasn’t completely gone but it had reduced to sothing manageable rather than painful.

Magical Theory was already half full when he arrived. He found his usual seat and pulled out his notes, settling in while students filtered in around him. Professor Ashcroft stood at the front reviewing sothing on his desk before class began.

Lyanna arrived a few minutes before the lecture started and took her seat a few rows ahead. She turned and noticed William, offering a slight nod in greeting before turning back to her own notes.

Professor Ashcroft began the lecture with a topic on elental interference patterns—how different affinities could disrupt each other during cultivation or combat. It was directly relevant to William’s situation with multiple affinities developing simultaneously, so he paid closer attention than usual.

"When two affinities share a natural synergy, such as fire and wind, their interference patterns beco amplified," Professor Ashcroft explained while drawing diagrams on the board. "This ans cultivating both simultaneously produces faster results, but the risk of pathway damage also increases proportionally."

William wrote down the key points. His wind affinity had just broken through the threshold during the competition, and he hadn’t done much to actually develop it beyond basic exercises. Understanding how fire and wind interacted during cultivation would help him avoid the mistakes Professor Ashcroft was warning about.

The lecture continued for another hour, covering interference patterns between various elental combinations. William found himself genuinely engaged with the material rather than just taking notes chanically. Understanding the theory behind his own cultivation made practice feel more purposeful.

After class ended, William packed up his notes and found Lyanna waiting near the exit.

"Interesting lecture," she said while falling into step beside him. "The fire-wind synergy section was particularly relevant given what Master Erian said about your affinities."

"You pay attention to my cultivation reports?" William asked.

"Not specifically. Master Erian ntioned multi-elental cultivators in a general discussion last week. It’s rare enough to be academically interesting." Lyanna smiled slightly. "Don’t flatter yourself."

They walked together toward the cultivation halls where William had practice scheduled. The hallways were busy with students moving between classes, and the conversation flowed easily without either of them needing to force it.

"How’s the Inter-Academy training going?" Lyanna asked.

"Intense. Instructor Reylan doesn’t waste ti on anything that isn’t directly useful."

"He has a reputation for that. Previous team mbers said he was the most effective instructor they’d ever had, even if his thods were brutal."

"Brutal is accurate," William admitted. "Marcus Reid’s lightning shocks left my hands numb for most of yesterday."

Lyanna’s expression shifted to concern. "Did you get it treated?"

"Sara suggested the dical wing this morning. It indeed elped a lot."

"Good. Nerve damage from lightning essence can beco permanent if it’s left untreated." Lyanna paused, then added, "Sara’s reliable for dical advice. She’s been working in the dical wing since first year."

William found it weird that Lyanna knew such information but decided not to say anything.

They reached the point where their paths diverged, William heading toward the cultivation halls and Lyanna toward the library for her own study session. She stopped and turned to face him.

"William, the midterm exams are coming up in two weeks," Lyanna said. "If you need help reviewing magical theory or essence cultivation principles, I’m available. The Inter-Academy training probably doesn’t cover theoretical material."

"I would appreciate that," William said, aning it. Lyanna’s understanding of theory was significantly better than his own, and having access to that before midterms would be genuinely helpful.

"I’ll send you a schedule through the contact crystal system," she said before heading off toward the library.

William continued to the cultivation halls and spent the afternoon practicing his fire and wind affinities separately. Master Erian had warned against combining them during cultivation, so he worked on each one independently—fire manipulation exercises first, then basic wind techniques to develop the newly opened gate.

The wind affinity felt natural in ways fire hadn’t when he first started using it. Creating air currents and manipulating their direction ca with less effort than he’d expected, though sustaining the techniques for extended periods still drained his essence faster than fire did.

He practiced for two hours before heading to the eastern training facility for the evening team session. Instructor Reylan ran them through coordination drills that focused on communication and position awareness, less combat-intensive than yesterday but equally demanding in terms of ntal focus.

By the ti the session ended, William was exhausted in a different way than physical combat—his mind felt wrung out from constantly tracking nine other people’s positions and coordinating his movents accordingly.

He headed back toward his dormitory as the evening settled in, the sky shifting from pale blue to deeper shades of orange and purple. The academy grounds were quieter now, most students either eating dinner or retreating to their rooms after long days.

William walked the familiar path from the training facility back to the main building, his thoughts drifting between cultivation theory and tomorrow’s training schedule. The soreness in his hands had mostly faded thanks to Sara’s advice about the essence salve, and his wind affinity exercises had felt productive.

It was a normal evening. Nothing unusual, nothing complicated. Just the quiet walk back after a long day of training and classes.

He didn’t notice the figure walking thirty feet behind him, matching his pace exactly and staying in the shadows cast by the academy buildings.

Kai walked silently, his eyes fixed on William’s back as he followed at a careful distance. His expression was different from the usual apathetic neutrality he wore around the dormitory. He seed focused and serious, maybe sothing close to anticipation.

His lips moved slightly as he mumbled, barely audible even to himself.

"It’s finally ti."

****

I’m back, I fell sick at the start of last week and I couldn’t post any Chapters, during this ti I managed to reflect on so of the errors that were pointed out by you guys. I’m officially back but it will be a Chapter a day depending on how I’m feeling, your support also contributes.