Reborn As A Nephilim: The Rise of A Manaless Prince

"You completely blew me away with that fight!" Zen exclaimed, "I don't think I'm anywhere near the level of you two."

Arvell smiled lightly in response, feeling somewhat down due to his bout being stopped before they could reach a proper conclusion.

"So, how did your fight with the princess go?"

Zen turned his head and looked to the side with an awkward look.

"She completely and thoroughly beat me up."

"Lilliana's that strong?"

"Yup."

'Well, I guess she is from the royal family, so 'that power' of theirs isn't something to take lightly.' Arvell nodded in understanding

"Could you at least keep up with her movements?"

Zen let out a sigh.

"While I could track her movements with my eyes, she was far too fast for me… It was a complete and utter defeat on my part."

Arvell turned an eye towards the princess, who was busy socializing with some of the female students in the group.

'She hasn't been slacking off in the slightest, I see.'

"Alright, everyone, I'm back!"

The voice of professor Lorine brought Arvell out of his daze.

Walking over to the group of 10, professor Lorine smiled lightly.

"First of all, I would like to applaud each and every one of you. I had heard that this year's batch of students was full of anomaly-level students, but even I had not foreseen the true extent of just how strong you all are.

Usually, kids your age would have just finished forming their mana cores, but… This class's average level of mana cores is the 3rd stage of the first circle. Some of you even reached the 5th stage!"

The professor threw a side-long glance at Marcus and Lillianna.

Marcus huffed and averted his gaze while Lillianna smiled politely at the professor.

"I said I would show you all the fundamentals, but if I were, to be honest, most of you already have somewhat grasped the basics or have a rough understanding of them.

If I went over things you already know, it would be a waste of my time and yours. However, I'm bound by the course syllabus to at least go over them once with the class. In any case, some might not fully understand specific aspects of Arcane Warrior combat."

Professor Lorine looked amongst her students.

"You know what? I'll let you all try your best to explain the principles of Arcane Warrior combat to the best of your abilities first. Then, I can point out any inconsistencies or incorrect information for you to fix afterwards. So, alright, whoever wants to try and explain it, just raise your hand."

The students all formed disinterested looks when they heard the professor's proposition.

To them, this sounded like a pain.

Seeing no hands go up, Professor Lorine let out an exasperated sigh.

"Tough crowd? Is there really no one who wants to go up?"

Just as the professor was about to choose a student, a hand rose.

"I can do it, professor!"

"Ah, Mr. Silvercolt. Thank you for taking the initiative here. I'll hand the stage to you."

Arvell turned to Zen with a slightly perplexed expression.

"I felt a little bad for her. It must be tough getting the silent treatment by the whole class," Zen whispered in Arvell's ear.

Realizing his friend's actions were fueled by a mixture of pity and empathy, Arvell smiled lightly.

'Zen is too nice of a person. It's like he's some kind of morally upstanding golden child.'

"A-ahem!" Clearing his throat, Zen started, "I guess I'll start off with the difference between Arcane Mages and Arcane Warriors. Arcane Mages are magic users who use ranged abilities to fight from a far-enough distance. In contrast, Arcane Warriors fight in close combat using magic to augment their bodies in various ways."

Everyone in the class watched him with somewhat bored expressions.

After all, this was common sense for all of them.

'Learning' something like this after fighting with all their strength felt… Anti-climactic.

"Arcane Mages focus on hitting their enemies from a distance, so in fights, they prefer to stay as far from their enemies as possible. The opposite is true for Arcane Warriors, who tend to charge up and fight their target head-on." Zen continued.

"That's indeed correct, Mr.Silvercolt." Professor Lorine nodded, "can you tell me why some types of magic elements are considered Arcane Warrior or Arcane Mage exclusive? Why can most Arcane Mages never learn how to fight like Arcane Warriors? Or vice-versa?"

Zen looked at the professor with a blank expression.

"Umm… Isn't it because different magic elements don't work the other way?"

The majority of the class nodded their head in agreement.

They had no idea why the professor asked Zen such a complicated question, but Zen's answer seemed to make perfect sense for her question.

After all, It's not like one can just take a magic element like body enhancement magic and suddenly make it into a ranged attack.

Everyone watched the professor's expression to see her reaction to Zen's answer.

But instead of hearing her agree with Zen's answer, something completely unexpected happened: The professor shook her head.

An action which caught their group of 10 wholly off-guard.

Zen tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What? It was wrong?"

"Yes, while what you said does make sense from a normal point of view, you need to consider that magic users aren't inherently limited to how they choose to wield their power. Instead, what limits them is their strength, speed, and imagination."

The students gave professor Lorine a look of blatant disbelief.

What they'd heard made no sense from what they were taught.

Only Arvell and Lillianna seemed to be relatively unperturbed by her words.

Since Arvell didn't have any mana in the first place, none of this remotely perturbed him.

While he had to admit he was curious about what the professor meant, unlike most of his class, he wasn't left speechless by her proclamation.

"How does that make any sense?" A student with bright orange hair exclaimed, "If you use the wrong type of magic for the wrong purpose, it won't work out! For example, say you try to use healing magic and fight in close range!"

Professor Lorine smiled lightly when she heard the orange-haired girl's inquiry.

"You know, it's not completely impossible. Even if someone has only healing magic, they can still fight like an Arcane Warrior if they properly utilize it. Think of it like this, if said healer managed to train to heal themself mid-fight, taking them down would be a hassle, to say the least. It'll be like fighting an undead."

The orange haired-girl was left slackjawed by her response.

"How…? Is that even possible?"

Professor Lorine nodded her head.

"It certainly is not easy, but at the same time, it's not impossible. You've all been given the tool of magic, but how you use it decides just how far you'll go in life. That and how much mana you have in total.

Suppose you don't have the appropriate mana capacity, no matter how ingenuitive you are with your magic utilization. In that case, it'll be fruitless in the end."

Arvell inwardly flinched when he heard the professor's words but didn't let any of his emotions break his calm exterior.

"In fact, your released states should take considerable inspiration from just how you use your magic, not that it matters for you all just yet.

As I was saying, you all need to be as versatile and unique as possible with how you use your magic. All of you should aim to form a fighting style that is perfectly designed for you.

I suggest that you take the time to visit the academy's library and read through some of the books that pertain to your magic element. You might just end up finding the perfect inspiration."

After that, Professor Lorine continued explaining the fundamentals of fighting at close range and going over the various situations that would be bad to fight in as an Arcane Warrior.

The rest of class time passed by in a flash, and they were led back to their classroom, where the Arcane Mage group was already waiting.

Arvell considered talking to Lillianna but was more preoccupied with the matter with Marcus.

Now that he had been given the time to rationally think about Marcus's fighting prowess, nothing seemed to add up.

How was a regular human and a gravity magic user no less able to match him in strength? His strength was far beyond what anybody his age could hold off without using magic.

But when Arvell tried to use his status skill on Marcus, he soon realized that the black-ringed boy was in the same boat as Titus and August.

Arvell couldn't see his status!

'Just what could be the reason I can't see it?'

Even Lykos, Arvell's source of information, decided to keep it hidden from him.

'Trust me, Arvell. It's not like it matters too much to the current you either way. You can actively try to figure it out, but the answer you find out won't be worth the effort.'

Arvell shook his head.

'I'm not going to actively search it out, but I am still quite curious. So if I find an opportunity, I'll crack this mystery.'

Tossing the thought to the back of his head, Arvell walked back into the classroom and plopped onto the seat that had unofficially become his personal spot over the last day and a half.

'Let's get today's class down with as soon as possible. I have a certain rematch with my name on it.'