Niel ignored the taunts and headed into his classroom. The teacher soon arrived and started their lesson.

“Last class we talked about the Battle of Haymo Canyon. Which one of you tell me what year exactly did this battle begin?”

These children here were all high achievers, so plenty of them shot their arms up to answer the question. However the teacher seemed to ignore them completely and turned right to Niel.

“Student Niel, please answer”

“Uhh... “

Naturally he had no clue whatsoever. His memories were already blurry as is, asking him such a specific question didn’t help his situation. He remembered that the current year was 1032 of the Budo calendar, so he decided to take a gamble and just deduct 100 years off the current year.

“I think it was the year of 932”

The teacher looked surprised for a second, before confirming that he was correct. The students were shocked, the famous incompetent Niel actually answered something correctly for once in his life. Niel suddenly felt like all the luck he had been saving up his whole life had been spent in this moment. He managed to tide through the rest of the class peacefully. answering that one question seemed to get the teacher off his back. However he doubted he’d have the same luck, so he’d have to play it safe.

Next was combat class, the students could use weapons or go barefisted. Niel would usually go barefisted because he was far too clumsy to use a weapon, however today he felt something strange. He looked towards the wooden spear that was sitting on the weapon rack and was instantly pulled towards it. Gripping the spear in his hands, he felt like it was an extension of himself, like he had used it for years. There were no special powers in this world, because of this, combat skill was considered a necessity.

Despite the fact that there were no special powers, through training one could wield strength far greater than a normal person. The current king of the Budo Kingdom was said to have the strength of 100 men, that's why he could keep his throne for so long.

Niel continued wielding this spear and felt it move fluidly in his arms. He was suddenly called up to battle his peer. The young man across the arena looked at him with disdain, after all, Niel was famous for going down with a single blow every time.

“Niel forfeit right now. I don’t want to humiliate you for no reason”

“No need. If I don’t fight I’ll never improve”

“Heh, what a great saying. Unfortunately you have to survive a few blows if you want to ever have a chance of improving”

The young man, having finished what he had to say, swung his sword at Niel. Niel however reacted different this time. Usually he would cower and fall back, not even daring to trade blows, but this time, he swung his spear forward in retaliation. Niel watched his spear fly forward and felt a feeling he never had in the past, it was the exhilaration for battle. His memories painted him as a coward who would never take any risks, and yet now he felt completely different. The more the two fought, the cleaner and more efficient Niel’s movements became.

The entire class looked at the battle with their jaws dropped. Niel was actually fighting back, and more so than that, he was slowly gaining the advantage. Soon Niel spotted an opening, and his spear shot forward like a bullet, striking his opponent right on the chest. Niel suddenly felt a confidence rush this his body, this was a familiar feeling, as if he was already used to being a winner, but it also felt strange and foreign. He looked down at the other students and only said two words.

“Who’s next?”

From that day forward, the famous incompetent Niel transformed. He had a new nickname, Rebirth Niel. Because he seemed to be reborn into a different person. His grades started improving, his combat skills got better with each passing day, and his personality seemed to change completely. He was no longer the coward he was in the past, in fact he had become quite popular, especially among the ladies.

Niel was originally not considered a threat towards the other princes, hence they let him be. However with his sudden change, they started to get anxious. In the Budo Kingdom, it wasn’t always the eldest son who became the new king, instead it was the prince who was most remarkable. Niel’s new talents made him slowly overcome his brothers, and within a year it was well known that he was the most talented prince of the bunch.

“What should I do, what should I do?!”

The eldest prince was walking circles in his room, trying to come up with ideas on how to stop Niel’s progress. His advisor who was silent, suddenly spoke.

“Young master, you must know about the war going on in the north at the moment. Niel has astounding talent but no achievements under his belt. King Budo cares a lot about military performance, so you can force Niel to head to the warzone and strike while hes there”

“Brilliant. Let us do that then!”