I Became an Extra Without Growth in the Academy

As soon as I stepped into the hidden space, the first thing I felt was a whoosh of fatigue.

With my body feeling heavy, it felt like the air around me was pushing me away.

As I resisted moving forward, the very act of motion felt strange.

I knew what had happened. I’d experienced it in the game.

I pulled up the stats window that I had forgotten because I hadn’t needed to look at it until now.

[Rudion]

[Strength: 17 (-12)]

[Vitality: 8 (-6)]

[Agility: 26 (-18)]

[Mana: 11 (-8)]

It was a stat reduction debuff.

The drop seemed to be around 70%, just like in the game.

It wasn’t a problem. My stats were already below average, and as long as I didn’t touch anything wrong here, numbers didn’t really matter.

But I probably hit a wall in my growth; it looks like things are changing in other ways.

I still had no idea how I’d make use of it, but I thought I’d better keep note of it.

For now, I decided to take a moment to reflect on where I had entered.

There are various secrets in the Rubetia Royal Palace, but three are considered important.

The remnants of the past, the curse of the defeated, and the fate of the apocalypse.

One is the dark knowledge accumulated by Rubetia’s ancestors long ago.

Another is the seed of the demon race created from the curses of the kingdoms that vanished after losing in the Rubetia war.

The last one… well, that’s completely ridiculous, but there’s a very slim chance that the apocalypse gimmick just pops up out of nowhere.

And fortunately, here where I am now, I could deal with that last one.

“If the first two pop up, I’d have a serious headache, but…”

That would at least make some sense. I couldn’t fathom why they would put an apocalypse gimmick in there.

Do you know the feeling of being in a great flow, only to get hit with the message ‘the end is nigh’ and suddenly have the game end on you? sigh

To make things worse, I was caught during my first playthrough after the game was released.

I spent ages trying to figure out what I did wrong, but nothing came up.

It wasn’t until a few months later that the discovery was finally shared online… what a ridiculous situation I was in.

Anyway, it was such a nonsensical ending that its probability of happening must be just as nonsensical, so I didn’t think I needed to worry too much about it… but since I’ve come this far, it’s best to eliminate at least one source of anxiety.

With that thought in mind, I headed inside when a voice devoid of gender echoed through the air.

– An unauthorized individual has been detected.

I looked up in the direction the sound came from, but there was no one there.

Still, I was surprisingly calm.

“So it’s not a single word out of place; it’s exactly like the game.”

It was just another repeat of what happened in the game.

So, I ignored that voice and walked further into the space.

As if it had sensed me, the voice warned again.

– Approaching an unauthorized individual is prohibited. Halt immediately.

– Failure to comply will trigger defense protocols.

“Go ahead~”

Though it called it a defense, it was simply a function to eliminate intruders.

A barrage of powerful mana bullets started firing recklessly. With my vitality at only 2, just one hit would definitely mean game over for me.

In other words, I now had to play a bullet hell game where even a single hit was unacceptable.

And there were no retries!

gulp “This is a bit nerve-wracking.”

But I still had some confidence.

Sure, the difficulty was off the charts, but this was, after all, an experienced player’s playground.

– Executing defense protocols.

The voice in the air said that right before a bright red line began to appear in the air.

I realized immediately what it was.

“You’re showing me this too?”

It marked the locations of incoming attacks.

I had no idea how it determined where to show, but… I was just planning to avoid bullets; this makes it even easier.

Recalling the memories of playing here, I started moving my body.

Dodge what I can. Ignore what I can’t with invulnerability.

Do you think cracking difficult patterns is a realm of talent?

No, it’s surprisingly a realm of hard work.

How many times do you think I’ve game-overed while playing this game?

Ten? A hundred?

“I can’t really remember.”

I posed it as a question, but there was no answer. I don’t know myself.

If I had cleared it enough to count, then that would be the realm of talent indeed.

Once I began putting in effort, the specifics didn’t matter.

I just kept doing it until I cleared it.

That’s probably how I managed to endure this far after coming here.

Looking back, if I had even stumbled once during my evasion or parry, who knows what would have happened?

“I’ve been confident and taken bold moves, but…”

Maybe I had spent too long seeing this as a game-like experience, despite it being reality.

In fact, I’d stepped into this place with that same mindset, but my thinking had to change a bit.

While dodging, my left arm suddenly started tingling.

“Ugh.”

Unbeknownst to me, it seemed one bullet had grazed my forearm.

I thought I had dodged, but the timing must have been slightly off.

This was the first evasion mistake I made in this world, and my first injury too.

– Defense protocol terminated. Granting qualification to the individual.

– Complete. Access granted. Welcome.

Fortunately, the situation ended before I could make any more mistakes.

The bang of the bullets that whizzed by quieted as if nothing had ever happened, and the bright red lines that filled my field of vision disappeared.

Looking around, I saw the bullets I had dodged had made a number of holes in the wall, creating a ghastly sight.

I didn’t want to stare for too long; it was making my phobia flare up. But one thing was for sure.

“…That was awfully reckless.”

I had just come close to really dying.

Honestly, I was grateful it just grazed me. I didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened if it had punctured me somewhere.

I knew well that this was a dangerous place; as an experienced player’s playground, it wasn’t a level of difficulty you should take lightly.

But I thought it would be okay.

As long as I used my evasion skills well, I believed I could push through everything just like before and return safe and sound.

Not true. The torn clothing from the mana bullet and the red liquid trickling from where I was grazed were completely contradicting that thought.

Looking back now, I realized… hmm…

I guess as long as I’m alive, that’s what matters.

I was clearly aware of the situation, but all I could think was how relaxed I was being.

It seems people become calm when faced with death.

And along with that thought that I’d nearly died, another thought crossed my mind.

“So, I need to be pushed this far to miss an evasion.”

With my stats reduced by 70%, my body felt heavy, and bullets were raining down from every direction.

And I managed to miss just once? I think I can trust my evasion skills a bit more from now on.

Of course, I should still think about safety. My forearm was starting to sting.

“How am I going to explain this?”

Looking at the wound, the skin had been sliced open.

Right now, it was just a sting, but it seemed like it would start properly hurting soon.

Not to mention my clothes were torn. I could already imagine Seria would have something to say about this.

For now, I roughly tore off some of the fabric from my ripped clothing to bind the bleeding area and staunch the blood flow.

Was that a good idea? It felt like it was helping quite a bit.

And next… I headed toward the door that had been opened with the message of access being granted.

Having come this far, I couldn’t just turn back… I had to at least prepare a few things I could do right now.

Beyond the door was a large hall with three doors.

Inside the huge hall were all sorts of treasures, relics, and special items scattered everywhere.

“I didn’t expect I could get here this quickly.”

Honestly, I had thought I’d have to find a way to come here at some point, but I didn’t think it would be this soon.

Of course, I couldn’t just grab everything I needed right now.

There were no specific restrictions, so I could pick things up and take them, but if I tried to carry them out, I’d definitely stand out like a sore thumb.

It was regrettable that I still hadn’t unlocked my inventory.

Once I unlock my inventory, I’ll have to come back here again.

Still, I decided searching for items I could utilize right away would be a good idea and started digging through the stuff.

Soon enough, I found the items I had been considering.

A mysterious purple gem. And a strange disk inscribed with some kind of magic circle.

…It’s not giving me any system explanations, huh?

I thought maybe a description about the item would pop up when I picked it up, like how stats would.

But thinking back, if it was meant to pop up, it probably would have done so already.

But not having the info doesn’t matter; I know what kind of items they are and what abilities they have.

[Revenge of the Hidden Witch]

[I had no plans to take revenge on a witch who hasn’t even been discovered, but her ability is revenge personified.]

[When receiving an attack while holding this item, ‘resentment’ will accumulate. You can expend all accumulated resentment to activate ‘revenge,’ dealing fixed damage equal to the accumulated resentment.]

The purple gem was one of the items that crossed my mind when I was racking my brain about how to navigate the world with dodging and parrying.

Of course, the rate at which resentment builds is quite minimal, and it only accumulates up to 500, so it won’t deal exceptional damage that could knock out top-tier enemies in one hit, but… the fixed damage aspect definitely makes it highly valuable.

Of course, I’ve never used it in the game. It’s just that the protagonist’s normal attacks were stronger so there was no need to use this.

That said, considering it could deal 500 damage when fully charged, that’s a significant amount in this grim world. I’d take that as a blessing.

I wouldn’t know if resentment would accumulate properly, and realistically, I’d probably only use it in a critical situation… but better than having nothing, right?

And as for the disk…

[Regret of the Ancient Sorcerer]

[What do you think is necessary before beginning your journey?]

[Courage like a wolf? Grace like a butterfly? Stealth like a snake?]

[All wrong. What you need is the courage to acknowledge your weakness and the courage to abandon your journey.]

[But at least it’s better than having nothing. Take at least one with you.]

[When used, a random type of mark will be inscribed on your body, granting you an ability corresponding to that mark.]

It’s a lottery. A lottery for abilities.

There are three types of marks: Red Wolf, Golden Butterfly, and Black Snake. As long as I don’t pick the useless snake, I should be fine.

But how do I even use this?

Not knowing, I placed my hand on the center of the disk, and suddenly, something like mana started to fizzle around.

At the same time, I felt something leaving my body.

It seemed this was designed to activate automatically when sensing the user’s mana.

This sorcerer fellow was clearly serious about helping newbies.

Flash-!

As the magic circle on the disk glowed, something began to happen.

For me, currently relying solely on dodging and parrying, this was my only hope! Please, let it be the wolf or the butterfly!

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