Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 32
Two days passed since the announcement had been made andWilliam decided he needed a proper assessment of where he actually stood. The system had been giving him fragmented updates during his training sessions, but he hadn’t sat down and checked his complete status in weeks.
It was Thursday afternoon, and he had a free period after Magical Theory. Kai was out at the library or wherever he disappeared to between classes, which meant the dorm room was empty. William sat on his bed and pulled up the full system interface instead of the brief notifications he usually dismissed.
The main menu materialized in his vision with far more detail than the quick updates he’d gotten used to.
---
[SYSTEM INTERFACE - COMPLETE STATUS]
Personal Information:
- Name: William Cross
- Age: 16
- Height: 6’1" (185cm)
- Weight: 175 lbs
- Academy: Celestial Heights Academy
- House: Ascendant (First Year)
Cultivation Status:
- Rank: Foundation Establishment (Mid-Stage)
- Essence Capacity: S-Tier
- Essence Control: C Rank (improved from D+)
- Combat Assessment: C+ Rank
Elemental Affinities:
- Fire: 54% [GATE OPEN - Combat Ready]
- Wind: 49% [Gate Opening - Nearly Accessible]
- Water: 37% [Gate Sealed]
- Lightning: 33% [Gate Sealed]
- Earth: 29% [Gate Sealed]
- Shadow: 24% [Gate Sealed]
Physical Attributes:
- Strength: C+
- Speed: B-
- Stamina: C+
- Reaction Time: B
- Endurance: C+
Skills & Techniques:
- Basic Sword Forms: Intermediate
- Essence Enhancement: Intermediate
- Fire Manipulation: Basic
- Combat Adaptability: Intermediate
---
William studied the numbers and felt reasonably satisfied with his progress. His essence control had jumped from D+ to C rank, which explained why he could maintain enhancement longer during sparring sessions. His fire affinity breaking past fifty percent meant he could reliably use it in combat without worrying about the technique failing mid-fight.
The wind affinity sitting at forty-nine percent was frustrating because it was so close to the threshold, but he knew from experience that forcing cultivation progress usually backfired. Master Erian had warned him about students damaging their pathways by trying to rush gate openings.
His physical stats showed improvement across the board, with speed being his strongest attribute at B-. That made sense given how much footwork training Valdris had drilled into him, and how Liam’s sparring sessions forced him to react quickly or get hit.
The curse section of the interface was next, and William hesitated before opening it. He knew the percentages had been climbing, but seeing them all listed together was going to be unpleasant.
---
[CATASTROPHIC ALLURE - ACTIVE CURSE]
Status: Fully Active
Effect: Heroines and Villainesses experience escalating obsessive attraction
Threshold: 45% - Violent Possessive Behavior Triggered
Current Monitoring: 6 Targets
Critical Risk:
- Seraphina Ashenheart: 47% [WARNING: Post-Activation]
- Claire Hivolt: 44%
Moderate Risk:
- Lyanna Stormweaver: 27% [Stable - Investigating Anomaly]
Low Risk:
- Mira Ashford: 13%
- Sara Whitlock: 9%
- Elena Marsh: 6%
Reward System: [LOCKED - No activations completed]
---
William stared at Claire’s percentage and felt a headache forming. Forty-four percent meant she was one bad day away from crossing the threshold into violent possession territory, and the competition starting next week would definitely qualify as a stressful situation.
Seraphina was still sitting at forty-seven percent, which meant she hadn’t recovered from whatever the curse did to her during the Vale expedition. She had been avoiding everyone since that incident, probably out of embarrassment, but the percentage hadn’t dropped at all.
Lyanna’s twenty-seven percent was concerning in a different way because she was actively researching what she thought was a medical condition. If she got too close to figuring out the truth, that would create its own set of problems, though William had no intention of confirming her suspicions regardless of what she discovered.
The three newer additions to the list—Mira, Sara, and Elena—were all sitting at relatively low percentages, but the system’s note about accelerated growth during competition meant they could jump quickly if circumstances aligned wrong.
William dismissed the curse interface and moved on to check his available options.
---
[AVAILABLE ACTIONS]
Cultivation:
- Standard Meditation (Daily Practice)
- Affinity Focus Training (Select Element)
- Multi-Element Integration [LOCKED - Dangerous Until Control Improves]
Combat Training:
- Solo Practice
- Sparring Partner Sessions
- Instructor-Led Drills
Social:
- Manage Relationships (Risk: Curse Percentage Changes)
- Attend Events (Risk: High Exposure)
- Isolate (Effect: Temporary Percentage Stability, Long-term Suspicion)
Competition Preparation:
- Review Bracket Information [AVAILABLE MONDAY]
- Study Opponent Records [AVAILABLE MONDAY]
- Final Training Sessions
---
The interface was straightforward enough, though William didn’t need the system to tell him what his options were. He had already established a training routine that was working, and changing it right before the preliminaries would be stupid.
What he really needed was a strategy for managing the curse during the competition. The system had warned him about accelerated percentage growth during the tournament, which meant he’d have to be careful about who he interacted with and how much time he spent around the affected targets.
Seraphina would probably be competing in the Arcturus preliminaries, which meant she’d be busy with her own matches and less likely to cross paths with him. Lyanna and Claire were both in Luminara, so they’d be dealing with their house’s competition structure. That left the lower-percentage targets like Mira, Sara, and Elena, who were all in different houses and unlikely to cause problems unless he specifically sought them out.
The real danger would come during the inter-house phase if he advanced. That’s when all four houses would be competing in the same venue, which meant proximity to multiple targets simultaneously. The system had already proven that group situations could trigger activations—Seraphina’s episode at the Vale happened when multiple people were present.
William closed the interface and lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling while thinking through potential scenarios. The best approach was probably to focus entirely on his matches and avoid unnecessary social interactions during breaks. It would come across as antisocial, but that was better than dealing with another curse activation in public.
The door opened and Kai walked in carrying a stack of books. He glanced at William, raised an eyebrow slightly, and set the books down on his desk without comment.
"You look like you’re contemplating something unpleasant," Kai observed while settling into his chair.
"Just thinking about the competition," William said.
"Worried about the matches?"
"Not really. More concerned about everything else."
Kai didn’t press for details, which William appreciated. His roommate had a talent for knowing when to leave things alone, probably developed from years of deliberately avoiding drama.
"You’ll be fine," Kai said while opening one of his books. "You’ve improved more in a few months than most students do in a year. The preliminaries shouldn’t be a problem for you."
"The preliminaries aren’t what I’m worried about."
"Then worry about it after you’ve advanced," Kai suggested. "No point stressing over hypothetical problems."
That was actually reasonable advice, though William suspected Kai would be singing a different tune if he knew about the curse. Still, the general principle was clear that he needed to focus on immediate challenges before worrying about future problems.
William sat up and grabbed his training schedule to review what he had planned for the rest of the week. Two more sessions with Liam before the preliminaries started on Monday, plus regular classes and cultivation practice. Master Erian had offered extra lab time for students preparing for the essence demonstration portion of the competition, which William planned to take advantage of.
His fire affinity was reliable enough for combat use, but the essence control demonstration would require more precision than just throwing flames around during a fight. He’d need to show refined manipulation—shaping fire into specific forms, maintaining consistent output, maybe even demonstrating some level of artistic control if the judges were looking for technical excellence.
The written theory exam was the least concerning part of the competition. William’s
His transmigrated knowledge combined with Lyanna’s tutoring would give him a solid foundation in magical theory, and Professor Ashcroft’s lectures had filled in most of the gaps. As long as the exam didn’t ask about obscure historical details or extremely specific technical formulas, he’d be fine.
"Are you competing?" William asked Kai.
"No," Kai said without looking up from his book. "I have no interest in representing the academy at inter-house events, and I definitely don’t want to deal with the inter-academy competition. It’s too much attention and effort."
"Fair enough."
They fell into comfortable silence, with Kai reading and William reviewing his training notes. The afternoon passed quietly, and William found himself appreciating the calm before what would probably be a chaotic week once the preliminaries started.
Evening came and William headed to training ground seven for his scheduled session with Liam. The protagonist was already there, as usual, going through warm-up exercises that looked deceptively simple but required excellent body control to execute properly.
"Ready?" Liam asked while tossing William the practice sword he’d provided last session.
"Yeah."
They started sparring immediately, and William noticed that Liam was pushing harder than their previous sessions. The tempo was faster, the strikes came with less warning, and there were no breaks for corrections or advice, just continuous pressure that forced William to adapt on the fly.
William enhanced his sword with fire essence and managed to land a few hits that Liam had to actively defend against rather than casually deflecting. The improvement was noticeable, though Liam was still clearly holding back from his full capability.
After twenty minutes of intense sparring, Liam finally called a halt. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"That’s much better," he said while catching his breath. "Your fire enhancement is becoming second nature. You’re not thinking about it anymore, just doing it."
"S
It still feels inefficient compared to how you use enhancement," William admitted.
"That’s experience. You’ll get there." Liam sat down and gestured for William to do the same. "The preliminaries start Monday. Are you nervous?"
"Not about the fights."
"Then what?"
William considered how to answer that without revealing too much. " I’m just aware that competitions create problems beyond the actual matches."
Liam studied him for a moment with an expression that suggested he understood more than William had said. "You mean the social stuff. People paying attention, expectations, all that."
"Something like that."
"Yeah, I get it," Liam said. "I had the same problem when I first started competing. Everyone wants to be your friend when you win, and everyone wants to see you fail when you’re successful. It’s exhausting."
"How do you deal with it?"
"I don’t, really," Liam admitted. "I just focus on the fights and ignore everything else. It doesn’t always work, but it’s better than trying to manage everyone’s opinions and expectations."
That was simpler advice than William expected, but it made sense coming from Liam. The protagonist had grown up fighting for survival, he probably didn’t have the patience for complex social maneuvering when straightforward approaches worked just as well.
They trained for another hour, focusing on specific techniques William might need during the preliminaries. Liam suggested some defensive strategies for dealing with opponents who had range advantages, and they practiced a few combination sequences that mixed fire enhancement with regular strikes to create unpredictable attack patterns.
By the time they finished, William felt confident about his combat bracket chances. The essence demonstration and written exam would require different preparation, but the fighting portion of the competition was something he could handle now.
"Good luck Monday," Liam said as they were leaving. "I’ll be competing in Luminara’s preliminaries, so we probably won’t see each other until the inter-house phase."
"You’ll make it through easily," William said.
"Probably," Liam agreed without arrogance. "But you never know. Competitions have a way of producing surprises."
They parted ways, and William headed back to his dormitory while thinking about the week ahead. The preliminaries would test everything he’d learned over the past few months, and the curse would make everything more complicated than it needed to be.
But he’d dealt with worse situations since transmigrating into this world. A tournament and some percentage increases weren’t going to kill him.
Probably.
