Reborn As A Nephilim: The Rise of A Manaless Prince

"I think this is the one."

Zen pointed to the door right in front of him before turning to his two companions.

"According to the directions we were given, it checks out." Arvell agreed.

"Let's go in then!"

Zen pulled the door open as hard as he could.

*CREAK*

The yirnwood door creaked lightly as it swung open.

Zen took a peek into the room and gasped.

Calling it beautiful would be an underestimate.

From the looks of it, the academy spared little to no effort in providing them with the highest quality amenities money had to buy.

Even as the son of a duke, Zen was blown away by the sight before him.

The classroom was designed as a lecture-style room, so the seats in the back were considerably elevated compared to the front seats.

At the front of the class sat a table, a chair, presumably for the teacher's use, and a blackboard for writing.

The room's layout wasn't what amazed Zen; it was the room design.

Their classroom seemed to follow the academy colours of white and gold, giving life to a pearl-white classroom with golden accentuations.

An example of this was the several chandeliers which were littered across the ceiling of the classroom.

Having chandeliers in rooms wasn't totally uncommon, but the thing that caused Zen's eyes to widen was the fact that each and every one of them was made of solid gold.

Furthermore, each of them was encrusted with several diamonds, which only seemed to accentuate their beauty.

Arvell sighed when he saw the room.

'This just looks like a massive waste of money.'

While Arvell felt it was unnecessarily excessive, most of the students in their class were nobles who liked to satiate their excessive vanity.

Seeing the door open, the students sitting down all turned to the door.

"Hmm? Aren't you Zen Silvercolt?"

A boy with lavender hair lifted his head off the table and looked at Zen with a pair of dead-fish eyes.

From the bags under the boy's violet eyes, he looked pretty sleep-deprived.

"Ah yes, that's me?"

"I heard that you were going to be joining our class, but I'm still surprised the son of the war hero here."

Hearing himself being once again referred to as the 'son of the war hero,' Zen's mouth twitched slightly.

"Is there something you need?"

The boy shook his head.

"I was just curious."

He rested his forehead on the table before covering the rest of his face with his arms.

"That was weird...." Reyna quietly muttered.

Zen nodded his head in agreement.

"Yea, what was his deal?"

The rest of the room watched Arvell's group quite closely.

Mostly Arvell.

"Ohhh! Who's the hotty?"

"I know, right? But, hey... wanna go up and talk to him?"

"What kind of person do you think he is?"

While the girls in the room threw Arvell's winks and blatantly stared at him, The boys in the class glared at Arvell with visible malice.

"I don't know who he is, but I feel a strong and compelling urge to rearrange his face."

"Count me in... Pretty men deserve to die a painful death."

The boys exchanged glances and shook hands.

It was said that it takes a common enemy to bring people together.

Uniting under the flag of jealousy, the S-class boys' hearts had become one!

Today would mark the start of the "Anti-Arvell faction," but that's a story for another time.

*SNORE*

Arvell's ears twitched as someone's snores entered his ears.

Turning his attention to the back, he saw a boy with pitch-black hair leaning back on his chair with eyes tightly closed.

Since he was snoring, the boy's extended canines were fully visible to all those that looked.

It was as if his jaw was taken straight from a wolf.

Furthermore, the black-haired boy appeared to be decorated with several circular black lines, one on his neck and two on each hand.

The boy seemed to be unfazed no matter how loud the surroundings were.

Arvell's eyes continued to scan the room before landing on a familiar bald scalp.

'He's here.'

Seeing his partner from the entrance examination, Arvell began walking up the stairs to Titus's seat.

"Hmm? Does Arvell seem to know him?" Watching Arvell near the bald youth, Reyna turned to Zen for answers.

"Didn't Arvell say he worked together with a boy named Titus to defe- MURPHHH"

Reyna hurriedly covered her finance's mouth with her hand, preventing him from speaking further.

Using her remaining hand, she brought her finger to her mouth and glared at Zen.

"Shh! Remember it's supposed to be a secret, remember?"

Zen's eyes widened with realization before he nodded his head with understanding.

Taking Reyna's hand off of his mouth, he awkwardly smiled.

"Thanks for the save there, Reyna."

"Sigh..."

Reyna shook her head before grabbing her fiance's hand.

"Come on, let's catch up to Arvell."

Arvell, on the other hand, was slowly walking towards Titus, but from the boy's reactions, it seemed that he didn't seem to notice Arvell approaching at all.

He was too preoccupied with the chocolate chip cookie in his hand.

After contemplating for a moment, Titus popped the cookie into his mouth and devoured it with a single bite.

Titus closed his eyes with a content smile as if savouring the lasting taste of the cookie.

"Hey, Titus."

Arvell's voice entered Titus's ears, causing him to turn his head toward the voice.

"Oh, hi."

"It's been a while. How have you been?"

"Good, how are you?"

"I'm doing well."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah."

'I forgot just how hard it was to hold a conversation with this guy,' Arvell thought inwardly.

"By the way, I met Lydia earlier, and she's doing well. She even got placed in the B-class."

"That's nice."

Realizing that he was getting nowhere fast with him, Arvell decided to make a tactical retreat.

"Anyways, I'm going to find a spot to sit, but it was nice seeing you again."

"Yeah."

Without sparing Arvell another glance, Titus reached into his robes and produced another cookie, which he plopped into his mouth.

Walking back to Zen and Reyna Arvell shook his head.

'Well, that was weird.'

"Hey, Arvell, was that Titus?"

Zen asked with an expectant gaze.

He'd heard of Titus's feats straight from Arvell, so he was curious to meet him in person.

Arvell nodded his head with a conflicted smile.

"Yes, that's him."

"Hmm... He's bald, just like you said. How is he already bald our age, though? Did he do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10km running every day?"

Reyna stifled a small laugh.

"What kind of training regime is that?"

"I read somewhere that it would make you strong, but you'd turn bald. You should give it a try."

"Eh?" Reyna desperately clutched her hair with a slightly scared look, "I'd rather not go bald, thank you very much."

Arvell sighed when he watched the two's antics.

"Come on, guys, let's find a spot to sit first."

Without even needing to search, they found an empty row near the front of the class, a place which they almost wholly occupied with all three of them.

After Reyna plopped herself down in the spot on Zen's left, she released August and set him on the table.

Stretching his legs, August released a resounding "Kyuuu" before scampering over to Arvell.

"Hey, Aug."

Arvell rested his hand on August's head as he brushed his soft fur with his index finger.

'Sometimes, I forget that his real body is a scaly golden dragon. This fur feels so real.'

Unfortunately, the appearance of August seemed to break the mental barriers that the girls had about approaching Arvell, causing them to immediately shoot to their feet and flood over to him.

'Oh f*ck.'

Arvell instantly regretted his mistake, but sadly it was already too late.

They had already descended onto him.

"Hey, that's a cool pet fox you have there. Does it have a name?"

Arvell frowned lightly in response.

"He's not my pet."

The girl hurriedly brought her hands to her mouth.

"I-I'm so sorry! I thought you were his owner, from how close you two looked. I swear I didn't mean any offence."

'Look, you scared the poor girl,' Lykos tutted, 'But I agree, referring to a noble dragon as your pet is too much. For a race that would rather die than be dishonoured like theirs, calling them pets would be an insult to the highest order.'

Arvell had gotten a glimpse at the resolute dedication and honour of the dragons from Kujak, so he had a vague idea of what Lykos was addressing.

Turning his attention back to the girl standing in front of him, Arvell let out a small exhale.

"It's fine... Just don't do it again."

The girl's eyes lit up with joy after hearing that she was being forgiven.

"By the way... I didn't quite catch your name. Would you mind telling m-"

*CREAK*

Ignoring the girl in front of him, Arvell turned his attention to the door.

As soon as it opened, two girls stepped into the room, one with fiery red hair while the other's was a cool turquoise.

"Oh my goodness, it's the princess!"

"To think we can see her this close! S-class rules!"

"She looked pretty from far away, but she looks even more beautiful up close!"

Arvell clenched his fist tightly, digging his nails into his flesh.

Even his legs shook in nervousness.

'Finally... I've waited so long... After 5 long years, I can finally talk to you again, Lily.'