I Became an Extra Without Growth in the Academy

When a person loses consciousness, they lose track of time.

You know that experience when you doze off for just a moment, and suddenly, whoosh, hours have flown by?

Because of that, the biggest danger when using public transport is dozing off. If you’re not careful, you could end up going somewhere beyond your destination.

…So, how long have I been out?

And what happened while I was unconscious that I’m now using Alkiné’s lap as a pillow?

I stood there blankly, unable to understand, when Alkiné gave my forehead a light smack.

“Get up if you’re awake.”

“Yes, got it!”

Finally snapping back to reality, I hurriedly got up. I quickly glanced between Seria and Alkiné.

No matter how I think about it, I just can’t figure out how my lap pillow situation with Alkiné came to be.

I mean, if it were Seria, I could just chalk it up to her being nice, but what’s up with Alkiné?

However, both Seria and Alkiné just looked at me with strange smiles and didn’t seem inclined to explain, leaving my questions unanswered.

Reluctantly deciding to let that part go… suddenly, a wave of embarrassment rushed over me.

I just remembered what I had done .

“I got way too carried away.”

I should have considered the risks involved, but I acted recklessly, thinking of it as an experiment with something new.

As a result, I ended up fainting from a not-so-strong explosion.

I wouldn’t say I have a big ego or anything, but I’ve been trying hard to show off my skills as an experienced player, and now I’m just embarrassing myself like this, right?

So, I decided to look away for a moment to collect my thoughts.

“Hmmm, those flowers are pretty.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? What flowers are here…?”

“No, I mean, look! This flower, soaked in the colors of nature, isn’t it beautiful?”

“Rudion, that’s just grass.”

“…Isn’t that a bit too blunt?”

“If you entertain him, Rudion will never stop.”

Hmm, I guess that’s true. Now that I think about it.

But normally, I would’ve accepted that a little more, don’t you think? I feel like she’s doing this on purpose because she knows I’m embarrassed.

So, I had no choice but to act more shamelessly.

I ignored Seria, who didn’t seem like she wanted to indulge me any further, and focused intently on evaluating the grass growing on the ground.

Then, all of a sudden, my eyes met Alkiné’s, who was still sitting in the same position she was when she was giving me the lap pillow.

…Was it a bit much to act like this in front of Alkiné? Unlike Seria, I haven’t spent that much time with her…

As I pondered this, Alkiné got up and spoke up.

“It’s fine, Rudion. My mother always said that every grown man is still a child at heart. So I understand.”

“…Are you teasing me right now?”

“Did you figure it out?”

Ugh… Not a single ally in sight.

I probably deserve this for messing up, but still…

“sigh It’s my fault for acting so carelessly. Feel free to criticize me as you wish!”

“Huh? Why would I criticize you for that?”

“I want to ask the same thing. Why have you been so embarrassed since earlier?”

So, I decided to just accept it, but then… their reactions were completely different from what I expected.

“The things Rudion usually does are much more embarrassing! I just thought it was cute… cough, I mean, funny, so I wanted to poke some fun at you.”

“Yeah, Seria’s right. This can be chalked up as a mistake, but your usual behavior is quite bizarre, to say the least.”

It seemed they were just teasing me about the fact that I was embarrassed this whole time.

…Wait, was it just me feeling embarrassed? I feel like I’ve just been punked.

Of course, feelings of shame can vary from person to person, and it’s still embarrassing to make such a foolish mistake… but if no one else thinks it’s a big deal, then I’d just look ridiculous for being overly dramatic.

Since dragging this conversation on would just bring me more trouble, I decided to steer the topic elsewhere.

First, let’s summarize the results of that experiment I tried a moment ago.

“I’ll stop the experiment on infusing mana. I didn’t expect it to blow up like that… it’s dangerous.”

“Exactly. We’re lucky it was a small explosion, or it could have been a big problem.”

“Likewise, the experiment involving putting your mana sword in is canceled.”

“You were actually considering doing that too?”

Well, I thought that stuffing everything I could find might be somehow helpful, so at this point, I had collected a bunch of random items.

If I had to mention the most recent item I stuffed, it would be the fork I took from the student cafeteria.

It suddenly came to mind that I might find it useful after my experience with fork sparring at the royal palace.

…But then I thought, what if trying to stuff an item filled with mana causes it to explode? That never happened in the game…

I couldn’t try it right now, but I didn’t think items that went into my inventory in the game would explode.

As those thoughts crossed my mind, a random question popped into my head.

“Seria. Does putting mana into spatial pouch items cause them to explode?”

“It depends on the conditions. The connection with a spatial pouch is based on mana structures, and the materials that create the pouch are highly susceptible to interference.”

“Right. That’s why you can’t take it into rifts.”

“Speaking of which, there was a paper published the other day about maintaining spatial magic within rifts…”

…Now I’m not that interested anymore.

I didn’t expect it to be so technical; the game never explained this in detail.

“…Did I just hear that right? What’s the prerequisite for executing that method?”

“You need to be able to cast at least three separate spells simultaneously, and have the ability to control mana at different rates for each spell.”

“Is that really possible?”

“I can do it!”

“…Rudion. I will rely on your abilities. I look forward to your cooperation from now on.”

At first, Alkiné seemed interested, but soon she reached the same conclusion as I did.

Seria, while quite disappointed, also agreed that it seemed like the efficient path.

…That didn’t sound like it was motivated by efficiency.

Speaking of which, when did she get the chance to read papers like that?

I knew she had an insatiable thirst for knowledge regarding magic. A talented genius who is joyfully diligent—Seria is that person.

But she was just at the royal palace the other day, right?

Thinking about how diligently she was reading the latest papers there is a bit intimidating.

Anyway, I need to bring the conversation back to where it was.

“What I actually wanted to ask was whether I can put mana-infused items into a spatial pouch.”

“By mana-infused items, you mean things like magic stones or mana-enhancing tools, right?”

Hmm, I was thinking more along the lines of something like a magic sword or a dragon’s heart… but close enough?

“The mana tied to any material has completely different characteristics. You could say there’s a… how should I put it? The structures are such that they can’t interfere with each other, so there’s no problem putting those types into a spatial pouch.”

“…Oh, so that’s how it is? I thought there were safety measures for magic tools.”

“In order to create safety measures, we’d have to apply the theory I just mentioned.”

“Looking back, that was an unbelievably foolish thought.”

Apparently, this isn’t a well-known fact, as even Alkiné had a look on her face as if she learned something new.

The theory is now settled. One thing for sure is that inventories and spatial pouches share many similarities.

The main difference is that, unlike fragile spatial pouches that break easily, inventories are practically indestructible.

The fact that my attempt to infuse mana blew up right when I tried it probably means the inventory managed to come out on top in the battle against mana.

Alright, as I listened to Seria’s theoretical musings, thinking simply like this gives my head a break.

“Now that we have the spatial pouch discussion settled, let’s get back to experimenting.”

If I delved any deeper, I felt like Seria’s solo lecture would start, so I decided to return to our original goal of testing the inventory.

To be honest, I had already done tests of things I could do alone.

Simple tricks that worked in the game.

If I had to point out the most important tricks when using an inventory, it would be Quick Swap and Cancel.

Quick Swap, as the name suggests, is the technique of changing the item you’re holding rapidly, essentially the basic technique of inventory tricks.

Therefore, Cancel is utilizing Quick Swap.

Delay Cancel, Cooldown Cancel—whatever it might be, it’s all about using Quick Swap at the right timing.

Unlike simply swapping items, this requires precise timing, making it a pretty high-level technique… but I’m a pro at that, so I’d have no problem.

Though I couldn’t test it directly since I didn’t have any usable weapons at the moment, considering that Quick Swap is possible makes me think it probably would work.

Well… of course, using Quick Swap doesn’t mean you’ll deal extra damage, and there’s hardly any benefit from canceling delay and cooldown, so it’s a trick rarely used unless it’s PvP…

That’s something that only applies to the protagonist who’s steadily growing, though.

For me, it’s like a timely downpour in a drought. I’ve gotta utilize it well.

I digressed a bit, but really, all of this was based on game mechanics.

However, what I gathered today wasn’t about those game elements but about how far they’d be permitted to translate into reality.

Though it was a failure, my attempt to infuse mana was part of that inquiry.

And the experiment I’m about to conduct is a very risky one.

Yes, it’s dangerous.

Testing whether I can put an item someone else is wearing into my inventory could straight-up land me on the criminal route if I mess it up.

Eh, but come on… I’m not trying to cancel anything with Quick Swap, I’m just trying to put it in the inventory, so what could possibly go wrong?

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