Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 33

William spent the next morning in Master Erian’s essence cultivation lab, taking advantage of the extra practice time offered to students preparing for the competition. The lab was quieter than usual with only a handful of students present, most of them were upperclassmen who looked like they had been cultivating for hours already.

Master Erian was monitoring several stations at once, occasionally offering corrections or adjustments to students’ techniques. He noticed William enter and gestured toward an empty cultivation chamber in the corner.

"Cross. Good timing. I wanted to test your fire affinity control before the preliminaries."

William followed him to the chamber, which was lined with heat-resistant materials and had several target markers positioned at various distances. Master Erian activated a diagnostic array that would measure essence output and control precision.

"The essence demonstration portion of the competition isn’t about raw power," Master Erian explained while calibrating the equipment. "The judges want to see refined control, consistency, and creativity. Show me what you can do with fire manipulation."

William drew on his fire affinity and felt the familiar warmth flow through his essence pathways. He started simple, creating a small flame that hovered above his palm. The flame stayed stable and consistent, not flickering or wavering despite the ambient essence in the room.

"Good baseline control," Master Erian noted. "Now shape it."

William manipulated the flame into a sphere, then stretched it into a thin line before compressing it back into a concentrated point. The transitions were smooth, and he could feel his essence responding more naturally than it had even a week ago.

"Excellent. Now hit those targets in sequence without letting the flame dissipate."

Three targets lit up in rapid succession across the chamber. William extended the flame into a tendril and guided it toward each target, making contact without losing form or intensity. The diagnostic array beeped with each successful hit, recording his accuracy and essence efficiency.

Master Erian studied the readout with an approving expression. "Fifty-four percent affinity is translating to solid intermediate-level control. You’re maintaining consistent output without wasteful fluctuations. That’ll score well with the judges."

"Is there anything specific they look for?" William asked.

"It depends on the judge panel, but generally they want to see three things. First is your basic competence—can you create and maintain your element without it going wild. Second is precision—can you manipulate it with accuracy and purpose. Lastly is something interesting—a technique or application that shows understanding beyond just throwing essence around."

"Any suggestions for the interesting part?"

Master Erian thought for a moment. "With fire affinity, most students go for impressive visual displays like big flames, explosive bursts, that sort of thing. It’s effective but predictable. If you can demonstrate fine control instead, that stands out more. Try creating multiple independent flames and manipulating them simultaneously."

William attempted it, splitting his fire essence into three separate points of flame. The first two formed easily enough, but the third wavered and nearly collapsed before he stabilized it. Maintaining multiple independent manipulations required dividing his focus, like using each part of his body to do separate things simultaenously.

"That’s harder than it looks," he admitted.

"That’s why it’s impressive when done well," Master Erian said. "Practice it over the weekend. Even if you can only maintain two flames cleanly, that shows better control than one large display."

They continued working for another hour, with Master Erian offering technical corrections and suggestions for improvement. By the time William left the lab, he had a clearer idea of what the essence demonstration would require and what he needed to practice.

During the afternoon he had Combat Training with Instructor Valdris, who had apparently decided that the last session before preliminaries should be particularly brutal. The entire class ran through conditioning drills that left everyone exhausted, followed by rapid-fire sparring rotations where students fought three different opponents in quick succession.

William ended up facing Marcus Valen during one rotation, their first match since the tournament months ago. Marcus had clearly improved since then, his strikes coming faster and with better timing than William remembered.

"You’ve gotten better," Marcus said during a brief exchange of blows.

"So have you," William replied while blocking a combination.

"Still planning to make it through the preliminaries?"

"That’s the idea."

They fought for another minute before Valdris called time and rotated partners. William’s next opponent was a third-year student he didn’t know who fought with primarily defensive techniques, forcing William to maintain pressure without overextending. It was good practice for managing stamina during extended exchanges.

The final rotation put him against a second-year wind affinity user who kept creating distance and forcing William to close gaps repeatedly. It was frustrating but educational, showing him what he’d be able to do once his wind affinity opened up fully.

"Good work," Valdris said when class ended. "You’re all as ready as you’re going to be. Don’t over train this weekend, rest is as important as practice before a competition."

Students filed out of the training ground in various states of exhaustion. William grabbed water and noticed Mira approaching with her usual relaxed demeanor.

"Hey William. Are you competing on Monday?"

"Yeah."

"It should be interesting." She paused, then added with a slight smile, "I won some money betting on you during the first tournament. I’m hoping for a repeat performance."

"No pressure then," William said dryly.

"You’ll be fine. I’ve seen you train, you’re way better than you were back then." She waved and headed off before William could respond.

William headed back to his room to clean up and found Kai at his desk organizing what looked like notes for multiple different subjects.

"Preparing for exams?" William asked.

"Just staying current," Kai said. "Unlike some people, I don’t have tournaments to worry about."

"You could compete if you wanted."

"I could do a lot of things if I wanted. I don’t want to." Kai set aside his notes and turned to look at William properly. "You’ve been tense all week. Not like it’s a new thing about you"

William considered how much to say. Kai was perceptive enough to notice something was off.

"Nothing serious, I’m just dealing with some complicating stuff," William said finally.

"Things are always complicated," Kai observed. "That’s life at this academy. You just have to deal with it and move on."

"Helpful advice."

"I try." Kai went back to his notes, apparently satisfied with that conversation.

William spent the rest of the afternoon reviewing competition brackets and formats that had been posted on the house message board. House Ascendant had forty-two students registered for the preliminaries, which would be narrowed down to five through the three-day competition.

The combat bracket was a single elimination with random matchups, though the draw wouldn’t happen until Monday morning. That meant there was no time to prepare for specific opponents, just react to whatever matchup he got and adapt accordingly.

Saturday arrived with light training and final preparations. William practiced the multiple flame technique Master Erian had suggested, managing to maintain two independent points of fire with reasonable stability. Three flames still collapsed after a few seconds, but two was enough to demonstrate the control the judges wanted.

He met with Liam for their final pre-competition sparring session in the evening. The protagonist seemed relaxed despite his own preliminaries starting Monday.

"Luminara has sixty students competing," Liam mentioned while they were warming up. "Top five advance, which means some genuinely talented people won’t make it through."

"Are you worried?" William asked.

"Not really. But it’s a reminder that these competitions are as much about timing and luck as they are about skill. One bad matchup early can eliminate someone who might have won the whole thing with a different bracket."

They sparred for an hour with Liam continuing to push William’s adaptation speed and decision-making under pressure. The session felt different from previous ones, less instructional, more like two equals testing each other’s limits.

"You’ve come a long way," Liam said when they finished. "I remember our first sparring session. You could barely maintain enhancement for five minutes."

"I remember you holding back so much it was embarrassing," William countered.

"I’m still holding back," Liam admitted with a grin. "But less than before. Give it another few months and I might actually have to try."

"Reassuring."

They talked for a while about various competition scenarios and potential strategies before parting ways. William felt as prepared as he could be for Monday—his combat ability was solid, his fire affinity was reliable, and he had a plan for the essence demonstration.

The next day was deliberately quiet. No training, no sparring, just light cultivation and mental preparation. William reviewed theory notes for the written exam and made sure his equipment was ready for the next day.

The dorm room was unusually silent with Kai reading as always and William organizing his thoughts. The calm before the storm, literally, the competition would start in less than twelve hours and wouldn’t stop for three days straight.

William pulled up his system interface one last time before bed, checking the curse percentages.

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[CATASTROPHIC ALLURE - STATUS CHECK]

Seraphina Ashenheart: 47%

Claire Hivolt: 44%

Lyanna Stormweaver: 27%

Mira Ashford: 13%

Sara Whitlock: 9%

Elena Marsh: 6%

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William dismissed the interface and lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow would test more than just his combat skills, it would test his ability to manage himself with triggering anything with the heroines.

He had survived worse situations since transmigrating. A tournament shouldn’t be that much harder.

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Two more Chapters upcoming! Surprise me today and I might surprise you back ;)