Even for a prepubescent, twelve-year-old prince, the day started early. Before the roosters did the thing that roosters usually did in the mornings, Reivan already had someone bugging him to wake up.

"Yani~ Wake up~!"

"Ugh... Go away..."

"You have to get up or that old guy's gonna get mad at you again."

'Fuck.'

"I'm up..." Reivan grumbled before he rolled out of his massive bed, tumbling down to the floor with a dull thud. This was not an accident, but something he did to wake himself up.

The pain was an easy way to shoo the drowsiness away.

"Good morning, Yani. Breakfast is ready, so let's eat together."

"Okay..." Reivan pushed himself up from the carpet and finally opened his eyes. If it weren't for the constant usage of the beast king's ichor through his [Effect Reproduction] skill, he wouldn't be able to function like a normal human being.

'Well, I'm not a normal human being anyway. I'm not even fully human!'

"Heh." He couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Have you finally gone crazy from all the stuff you do?" A girl voiced from the side.

"Not yet." Reivan rubbed his eyes to get rid of all the built-up crust before looking at his little sister.

"Since you're not crazy yet, let's go." Jiji beamed as she grabbed his hand. "Huni might eat it all, y'know?"

Letting himself get pulled along, Reivan's gaze dropped down to Jiji's snow-white tail, which was swaying from left and right. He couldn't help but compare it to how it was when they had first met. Back then, she'd been skin and bones. As for her tail, it had looked like a worn-out piece of rope.

Now, Jiji looked like any other healthy eleven-year-old girl — except for the animal parts sticking out of her body.

'Children should be healthy like this. And well-fed, too.'

These were Reivan's honest thoughts. He truly felt that kids should be able to play around and do stupid stuff, then fall and get hurt... only to stand up and continue doing stupid stuff. It was the privilege of the young to make mistakes.

He'd been somewhat doubtful whether taking a pair of sisters in and taking them away from their relatives was a good idea, but seeing how Jiji turned out, Reivan was now sure that his mother had made the correct decision.

'Now, if only Helen and her could get along...'

There was a quote in a certain novel he'd read that was something along the lines of "Time breeds familiarity. And familiarity breeds understanding. In turn, understanding breeds acceptance.".

'I really want to ask the author what drugs he was taking when he wrote that...'

Two years.

Helen and Jiji had known each other for two years.

In that time, Jiji had learned English and grown her hair out while Helen had started talking a bit more in addition to unlocking her Qi.

For two years, they were in each other's vicinity because Reivan was a common point of interest. And yet, the relationship between the two girls had continuously become worse.

'I can't believe these two...'

The first thing Jiji had done after learning enough English was to provoke Helen, so at that point, Reivan could no longer defend her innocence. He could only try to stop the fire from growing bigger — a futile effort, he quickly learned after the first few months.

'If only they got along half as well as Hector and Mimi...'

Somehow, his only male friend and the older of his two little sisters had become fast friends even though they couldn't understand each other. And their friendship grew much faster than Jiji's vocabulary. Reivan didn't really understand why, though.

'I guess they just have good chemistry?'

In fact, Mimi seemed to get along with just about anybody. Despite being different from everybody else in the empire, she'd quickly become the center of a large group of young girls. At the moment, she was sleeping over in House Mercer's manor at the invitation of her friends.

"Yani, do you have free time today...?" Jiji peeked up at him while they walked side by side. "Huni's been spending too much time with her friends!"

'You're exaggerating. Mimi's been to one sleepover this entire month. Besides, why don't you get some friends too, then...?'

He knew that was easier said than done, though. After all, he didn't have a whole lot of friends either. Jiji was a shy kid too, the direct opposite of her elder sister.

"Please, Yani~? Let's go play out in the city. Please~?"

Reivan chuckled awkwardly, knowing he wouldn't be able to give her what she wanted. He was so busy, he barely had enough time to rest. In addition to all of his private projects, his father gradually placed more responsibilities on his shoulders — something that made him happy but troubled at the same time.

"I think we can have lunch together, at least. After that, I'm not sure..."

Jiji tugged at Reivan's sleeve and gave him a pouty look. "Yani~ I'm lonely..."

Reivan's heart squeezed with guilt, and he made a face. "Don't look at me like that... I think Helen's free...?"

"Tch."

"Don't click your tongue."

"Even if I wanted to waste time with her, she's busy all the time too!" Jiji cried out in frustration. "Geez! Everyone's just leaving these days... I've barely even seen Mother these past few weeks."

Reivan couldn't say anything to that. He knew everyone was ridiculously busy. Some recent activity in the Outlands forced his mother to accompany the patrols more frequently. His father and brother were also busy by default. And his sister-in-law, Stella, had been frequently going off to the northern mountains — the border separating the kingdom from the empire.

As for Reivan, he wasn't even in the palace half the time.

"Sorry, Jiji." He gently stroked her white hair. "I'll make it up to you some other day."

"That's what you always say..."

Seeing the disappointment on her face and the teary look in her eyes, Reivan couldn't help but groan. In the end, he heaved a sigh of defeat.

"Fine... I'll try to finish my tasks early. We'll go to Worgon's night market for a bit, okay?"

Jiji looked up, a bright look on her face. "Really!? The night market!?"

"Yes... but only for an hour. I still have some stuff to do afterward."

"That's okay!" she chirped in glee before muttering to herself. "I can't believe he fell for that..."

Reivan frowned. "What did you say?"

"Nothing~!"

[Lie Detection] has activated! [The Truth buried in Lies] has revealed the truth!

Reivan stood there for a moment, quickly processing the information that was jammed into his head.

'So it was Mother again...'

It seemed like his dear mother had found the time in her busy schedule to teach his littlest sister some strange things — namely, how to needle him for things.

With a tired sigh, not even an hour after waking up, Reivan marched toward the dining room.

Hopefully, some breakfast would do him good.

"Are you ready?" Donovan asked, his signature scowl draped over his face. His face, illuminated from above by the giant orb of light buried halfway into the ceiling, would have terrified most children and given them nightmares for weeks — maybe even months!

It was a good thing that the only other person in the underground training hall wasn't affected at all.

"Yes, sir." Reivan nodded. He dexterously twirled the sword in his right hand while a dagger hung loosely from his left. "I'll definitely break my record today, sir."

The old man scoffed. "That's what you said yesterday."

'Go bald.'

Reivan grimaced, inwardly cursing at his teacher.

Donovan rolled his eyes before sighing. "Let's get this over with. It's a waste of time to draw out the inevitable."

As he readied himself, Reivan's face couldn't help but twitch in annoyance. He'd have loved to say that after two years of being with the old bastard, he'd gotten used to the man's sharp tongue. But Donovan managed to get under his skin and rile him up every time without fail.

'His ability is the real deal. How the hell was he not murdered when he was a child?'

Shaking his head of idle thoughts, Reivan took a deep breath and exhaled, letting the tension flow out of his body. For a moment, he closed his eyes, to focus on the feeling of everything around him — the chilly air caressing his skin, the sound of running water from the undine wall surrounding the field, and finally, the faint scent of steel. In a relaxed posture, he opened his eyes.

He stood in the middle of the stone platform, waiting...

And then it came.

Reivan's right arm swept outward, shattering an ice shard with the flat of his blade. Yet another one flew in from behind, but he easily handled that too.

'Keep 'em coming, old man...'

For a dozen seconds, clumps of ice the size of someone's fist rocketed at him faster than a major league pitcher's fastball. Although they came at him one by one, he had to defend himself from all sorts of angles.

However, with practiced ease, his body moved before he could even think. The frosty projectiles only managed to acquaint themselves with his weapons before shattering in a brilliant shower of crushed ice.

'It's about time.'

Reivan took a single step forward, casually dodging an ice shard aimed at his left thigh. Then he took another step, and another, and then another. Although his pace was slow, he started walking to make it harder to get hit.

However, his task also increased in difficulty. From one ice chunk at a time, to two at a time, to three at a time... the pace of his steps increased with the rate that the difficulty increased.

And soon enough, he was running at full speed in order to avoid as many projectiles as possible, all while using his sword to slap away the ones he couldn't avoid.

'It starts now!'

His ten-year-old self would have long been eliminated by now, but for the current him, the training had only just begun.

Reivan's narrowed eyes traced the trajectory of a particularly small — but incredibly sharp — shard of ice that resembled a rose's thorn. He didn't miss the subtly way it adjusted itself midair, following his movements. With a grunt, he angled his sword to deflect a stray ice shard that had been aiming for his face, sending it straight toward the frosty needle.

Not even checking to see if he'd aimed correctly, Reivan turned his attention to the next projectile.

More and more of these seemingly sentient ice thorns came at him, but Reivan always dealt with them the same way he did the first. It was a good thing his body did all the running and normal parrying for him, since otherwise, he wouldn't have the leeway to distinguish which projectiles had homing functions.

Those annoying things were just like the heat-seeking missiles from his original world. And so, he would deal with them in the same manner — by sending missiles to destroy them before they landed.

That said, there was a limit to doing things this way. For example, what if every single missile was a heat-seeking missile? Naturally, he wouldn't be able to use them to get rid of each other since they'd fly back to him after he deflected them.

Reivan barely managed to slice apart an ice needle before it made another hole between his ass cheeks. "Fuck!" he cursed before he wildly swung his sword to get rid of three more that had been aimed at his nipples and his third leg.

'You old bastard!!'

At this stage of the training, moving around didn't make much of a difference. As such, Reivan bolted to the middle of the room where he decided to hunker down and defend as best as he could for as long as he could.

With that, the dagger in his left hand changed into a sword. Despite becoming the dual-wielding badass he'd always wanted to become, beads of sweat covered nearly every inch of Reivan's body as he fought against the mental pressure and anxiety.

Reivan let out a warcry to psyche himself up before his arms waved around in a wild manner, showering his already-drenched body with a baptism of powdered snow with every swing. He was the living embodiment of an ice grinder.

Despite his seemingly bottomless stamina due to [Effect Reproduction], the homing projectiles gradually flew at faster speeds. And the needles of ice had grown to be longer than he was tall — in fact, they were more like spears instead of thorns or needles.

At this rate, he wouldn't be able to keep up.

"Here goes nothing!" As Reivan's voice boomed throughout the hall, his eyes glowed like sapphires. Soon, his body started to follow as well. It was as if he had a halo of blue light surrounding his body.

Bodily Reinforcement through Magic Power application has been detected. Your manipulation of Magic Power has resulted in a Perfection Rate of 20%

Accompanied by the semi-transparent screens filling his vision, was a familiar surge of power filling his entire body.

Your Might has been increased by 300 points. A perfection bonus of 20% has increased the bonus to 360 points. Might: 96 → 456

His innate ability as a hybrid warbeast, the various special abilities he'd obtained, and even the Armament Energy that his trusty weapon injected into his body... all of them were forbidden during this exercise.

Only this power was allowed here.

Advanced Magic Power Application.

Otherwise known as Mana Augmentation.

An art that the vast majority of warriors outside the kingdom never manage to learn was being used by Aizen's twelve-year-old prince.

'Damn. This always feels so good.'

Reivan found it slightly difficult to maintain focus when the intense feeling of exaltation that accompanied Mana Augmentation washed over him. It made him feel as if he could do anything. Like he was on top of the world.

He knew the reality though. That he was just a small fish in an endless ocean filled with megalodon sharks, Krakens, and all sorts of other terrifying monsters lurking in the deep.

As such, he quickly calmed down.

With his physical abilities increasing by more than four times, Reivan now had an opportunity to catch his breath and regain his bearings. This was always the part when the training ended. It had been this way for the past year. It would signify great growth if he could last just a few more minutes.

In his eyes, the deadly spears of ice soared through the air in slow motion. It was just like in that one movie played by John Wick's actor.

But he knew the moment of respite would not last for long — or rather, he knew that his teacher's horrible personality would never allow him to rest for too long.

"Since you've entered the realm of superhumans,"

To Reivan, Donovan's droll voice practically dripped with malice and all sorts of other evil feelings.

"Let us test you like a superhuman."

Reivan clenched his teeth as he watched part of the water wall evaporate, turning into a dense fog that billowed inwards, shrouding his surroundings in mist. With his superior vision, he still managed to see through it, but that required him to divert some of his focus to that. He could see through it if he truly wanted to, but using [Supreme Insight] would naturally be considered cheating.

'Fuck...'

And furthermore, just beyond his vision range, Reivan could vaguely feel something long and solid slithering through the air.

'Damnit!'

Boom!

The sword in Reivan's right hand stabbed through empty space, just in time to shatter an ice shard that had broken the sound barrier. Learning a lesson from past sessions, Reivan's swords were replaced by maces. Honestly, if it was allowed, he would've preferred shields. But that would make it too easy — and his teacher wouldn't like that at all.

At these speeds, he no longer had the leeway to deflect the projectiles. The only option now was to either shatter them or dodge them. Just the other day, he discovered that the latter wasn't very smart because of the thing lurking within the mist, so Reivan's only choice was to smash them to pieces while staying his ground.

And the best weapon for that purpose was a blunt instrument like a mace.

Hence, he now had two of them.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Reivan bellowed a warcry to psyche himself up even more.

However, he was still eliminated after ten seconds.

Beaten and exhausted, Reivan cradled his bruised stomach while sitting on the cold stone floor. He'd healed it by now, but the phantom pain still remained. The old man had naturally held back at the last second, but it didn't change the fact that it hurt like hell.

Still, there were more important things than how he almost became a donut.

"Uh, sir... How long did I last this time?" Reivan anxiously looked up at his teacher.

Donovan looked down at him while standing in the air. His pure white robes billowing with every stray gust of wind made the old man look slightly cool in the young boy's eyes.

"One hour and seventeen seconds."

"Oh, that's five seconds more than last time!" Reivan cheered, a huge smile on his face. Even if the entire thing felt like just a few minutes, he'd actually been smashing icicles for more than an hour.

'Baby steps. Next time, let's aim for an hour and twenty seconds!'

Needless to say, seeing the fruits of his efforts in such an easy-to-understand way made him feel extremely proud of himself.

While chuckling, electricity snaked around his body, evaporating all of his sweat. Afterward, a cold mist washed over it, making him seem as if he was fresh out of the shower.

Looking at him, Donovan's brows furrowed slightly. "Is making people uncomfortable with your stink a strange hobby of yours? Take a bath. You still have other duties to fulfill today, don't you? You must uphold what little honor the men of the royal family has left."

Reivan flinched at his biting words, but he waved the old man away. "I was already planning to do that from the start."

"As you should." The old bastard scoffed. "In any case, you must come here again tomorrow morning. At the same time. And do not be late."

"Yes, sir..."

"Say it louder."

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. See you tomorrow."

Leaving those words behind, Donovan disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Ugh..." Reivan groaned as he massaged his stomach. The phantom pain still hadn't subsided, and it still felt like there was a basketball inside. With a grunt, he got up and walked to the edge of the central island. "Time for a quick bath..."

He stripped off his dirty clothes and looked down at his stomach to see if there really was a basketball inside. Luckily, there wasn't. There was no ball in his stomach, just six smaller clumps of muscle that formed his abs.

'It still hurts...'

Hopefully, the cold water of the indoor lake would do something about that.

"Wahoo!"

As naked as the day he was born, Reivan dived face-first into the water.