Reborn As A Nephilim: The Rise of A Manaless Prince

One whole week had passed since the day Arvell finished the final examination test to enter Skysword Academy.

A week he primarily spent training himself to his breaking point.

Once he reached his absolute limit, he would take a short break and recover his stamina before going at it again.

Having to go through mind-numbing pain while enduring it.

Fighting with your body to keep moving, despite its many fervent protests to give up right then and there.

It was said that humans could only use anywhere from 60-80% of their entire body capabilities due to mental limiters.

This was done to prevent themselves from inflicting self-harm by overexerting their muscles.

Arvell, however, had long since passed their barrier, utilizing almost 100% of his body's full capabilities to push himself to the point of self-harm.

Whenever he managed to rip some of his flesh from over-exertion, he used his Nether abilities to heal himself back to normal, improving the speed and control of his Nether Manipulation skills.

Only through using a skill repeatedly could it be improved, so constantly harming himself, he also let him manipulate Nether better to heal himself faster.

While many would have treated such actions as pure torture, to Arvell, it was pure bliss.

With the pain resistance he gained from having to endure the hell known as Nether Body Refining, this was nothing but a simple prick to the silver-haired youth.

Plus, why would he care about some pain if he could train to his absolute limits while not having to be afraid of being killed when he has weakened afterwards?

He was in the perfect environment to train.

Not using it was a waste.

But even so, Arvell kept some measures to protect himself, just in case.

The incident with the Rank 2 beast had a lasting impact on him.

'Always be prepared to fight no matter how safe you feel.'

Meanwhile, Zen, on the hand, kept his training regime with Wilfried.

Arvell wasn't sure exactly what they were doing, but Zen always came home with countless bruises and other scratches all over his body.

However, it was nothing a few healing potions couldn't fix.

On the other hand, Angela took a trip to the Verlice mansion to relay to James the information that Professor Orfina gave her.

Arvell wasn't sure what it was, but from Wilfried and Lienna's reactions, it wasn't anything good.

When he asked what was going on, Angela shook her head, saying that she'd rather not burden them with this information.

Especially when they were nearing their first day of school.

Moreover, she believed Arvell had enough on his plate, with the events of the entrance exam happening only a week before.

However, the tone of their voice screamed that it was something important.

Arvell tried to eavesdrop on their conversations with his sensitive hearing, but that was not enough.

Since Zen got kidnapped, Duke Silvercolt had become slightly distrustful of most of the people around him and gotten into the habit of using his wind magic to block out any and all sound whenever their family had private conversations.

Arvell didn't like being left out of the loop, especially if it was something serious, but given the current circumstances, there wasn't really much he could do until they decided to tell him.

After Angela returned from the Verlice estate, she trained with Arvell for almost two hours daily.

Even James made a few guest appearances, helping Arvell hone his skills.

While they didn't use any truly destructive spells, since they weren't at the Noble's Arena, Arvell could get a glimpse of just how much James had held back in their sparring match.

Arvell was confident that James still had a 99% chance to beat him even if Arvell was going all out.

He wasn't the next head of the Verlice family just for show; James had the strength to match.

Arvell felt his pride being prodded after finding that James had held back so much during their fight, but he knew it was not done with malicious intent.

'I wonder how long it will take before I can fight him on even grounds?' Arvell wondered while training in his room.

"996"

"997"

"998"

His face was damp with sweat as he continuously performed one-fingered pushups from a handstand position, effectively pushing up the whole weight of his body with a single finger.

"999"

"1000"

Arvell pushed especially hard off the ground on his 1000th pushup, swapping from his ring finger to his pinkie.

"1"

"2"

"3"

Since his whole body was caked with sweat, Arvell decided to take off his shirt, allowing him to get at least a little breathing room.

As for his wings?

He managed to get his hands on some sports bandages, which he used to wrap around his chest like a sash, covering just the bit he wanted to hide.

Kind of like a sarashi.

"4"

"5"

Arvell continued to count his pushups as his face scrunched up in concentration.

Today was the day that the academy was scheduled to start, so he needed to finish his early morning training as soon as possible.

After spending another 10 minutes completing 1000 pushups using just his pinkie finger, Arvell pushed up off the floor with enough force to shoot up into the air.

Performing a quick backflip, Arvell landed on his feet like a trapeze artist.

Just in time to hear someone rapping his door.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Arvell? We'll leave in about another hour, so try to be ready by then."

Angela's voice ringed from across the door.

"Will do!" Arvell responded.

"Alright, thanks!"

Hearing Angela's footsteps grow faint as she walked away from his door, Arvell sighed to himself.

'Even till the last day I'm here, she still personally comes to fetch or relay information to me. So I must acknowledge her efforts to be my big sister.'

While Arvell still felt awkward calling Angela his big sister, especially considering how his real big sister, First Princess Cornelia, had thrown him to the curb the instant he revealed his nature as a manaless failure, Arvell wasn't willing to accept anyone new to take up that role.

However, despite how he felt, Angela had loved and cared for him as if he were he was her real little brother.

If a stranger were to hear that they only met a little over 2 weeks ago, they would have called bullsh*t.

That's just how close Angela had become with her brother's saviour.

Arvell wiped the sweat off his forehead with a towel before looking at himself in the mirror.

'I guess I should at least give her a chance... After all, I can't judge her based on something that someone else had done to me. She deserves at least this much.'

Lykos watched Arvell delegate in front of the mirror with a soft smile.

'Finally... He's starting to overcome some of his inner demons.'