As the dust cloud approached Cecil and Elizabeth were somehow able to hear an indistinct screaming. When the two trained their ears onto the sound...

"WAAAAAHHHH STOP STOP YOU STUPID BEAST!!!"

A pitiful screaming was what found their way into their ears. The two looked at each other dumbfounded.

"..."

"...Cecil."

The two nodded and waited for the dust cloud to approach. Cecil saw that it was set for a collision course with their carriage, so he stepped forward and extended a hand. A strong, semi-transparent golden barrier formed in front of him and he waited for the dust cloud to come colliding into his barrier.

DWAAAANNNNGGGG

Just as he expected, whatever was causing the dust cloud didn't have any intention to stop and collided head on with the barrier. The object rebounded and was sent flying upwards and backwards away from the duo.

"ARRRRGGGHHHHH?!!"

"RAAAAAWWWWRRR!!!"

A pitiful scream and roar of pain ensued.

'What the hell?' Cecil only stared back in confusion.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..."

*Whine*

"Stop whining you idiot! I told you to stop, you stupid fool!"

"ROAR!"

"WHAT? YOU WANNA HAVE A GO?!"

"?"

At the weird exchange that was happening inside the cloud of dust, Cecil could only stare stupidly in response, completely speechless and not knowing what else to do. Once the dust settled, a large basilisk monster that seemed to be a mount was currently having a stare down with a large tin can that had its weapons drawn.

"Uhm... excuse me?" Cecil spoke up hesitantly.

"Ah?" The tin can broke his glare from his mount and looked towards the boy.

"OH! You're that Cecil right?! The second ranked amongst the 1st years?!" The tin can asked in a gruff voice. Judging from its voice, Cecil and Elizabeth concluded that the person was a body.

"Uhhh... yeah?"

"Ah... finally... that means I made it!"

"..."

When Elizabeth heard the words 'I made it' she immediately went into the motion of drawing her rapier. The tin can upon seeing this immediately became flustered. He dropped his weapons while shaking his hands toward the two while crying out, "Ah, wait, wait, wait!!!"

The tin can took it a step further and even kicked away the shield and mace he had dropped before kneeling with his hands raised up in surrender, "I-I-I–I'm not here for any trouble!"

"Okay, so what are you here for?" Elizabeth asked menacingly.

"Hold on! Let's not be hasty!" The tin can expressed hastily.

"First off, you can begin by introducing yourself... tin can."

"T-T-Tin can?!"

"Hurry up! Before I change my mind and cut you down!"

"Yes, yes..." The tin can said as he carefully took off his helmet.

Underneath the full plate helmet was a chubby-faced dark-furred tigerkin. He had a very 'cute' face, but he definitely looked like a pushover in Cecil's opinion. Elizabeth, however, seemed to have a different opinion since she lowered her guard a bit after seeing the tigerkin's face. She thought that the guy was harmless, but if he was an enemy, he would've definitely taken advantage of Elizabeth's reaction. Thankfully, he wasn't.

The tigerkin placed his helmet slowly on the ground and introduced himself respectfully since he knew that Elizabeth was the Kingdom's princess, "My name is Lucius Yulgaria Darkfang. I'm a second year at the academy and I'm also part of the... Alchemy faction."

"Faction?" Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, raised her guard back up, and glared menacingly at Lucius after hearing his words.

"Hold on, hold on... I'm not here to cause trouble! My fiancé only asked me to come out here and help with something."

"Fiancé?"

"Yes! Uhm... if I'm not mistaken... this party should be the 'Little Kings', right?" He asked.

"Yes..."

His expression immediately brightened after receiving Elizabeth's affirmation.

"Then I didn't come to the wrong place! My fiancé is definitely a member of your party!"

Cecil and Elizabeth already deduced who this tin can's fiancé was because the only tigerkin in their party was Velicia. Elizabeth wasn't going to take Lucius's word for it because he said he was from a faction, so who knows if what he said was actually true or not. The only way to affirm if this was true was to hear it directly from Velicia, so without her confirmation, she wasn't going to let Lucius into their camp just yet.

"So... you're saying that Veli is your fiancé?"

"Veli? You mean Velicia? Yes, she's the one! My Angel! My beautiful fiancé! Ahhh..." At the mention of Veli's name, Lucius immediately had a longing and love-struck expression plastered all over his face.

"So, you're Veli's fiancé? Well... she's in the mountain hunting for Armamite Golem's right now, so–"

"ARMAMITE GOLEMS?!" Lucius screamed in disbelief. His abrupt scream caught both Elizabeth and Cecil by surprise.

"Y-Yeah..."

"My cute and beautiful Velicia is hunting ARMAMITE golems...all by herself?"

"Eh?"

"Wha?"

"GRAAAAHHH!!! Velicia!!! I-I'm coming! I'm coming to save youuuuu!!!" Lucius roared before quickly swiping up all his equipment that were lying on the floor and dashed away into the mountains.

Cecil wanted to stop him, but the fatty had already disappeared, so his hand only froze awkwardly in mid-air.

"...Shouldn't we have stopped him?"

"..."

"He doesn't even know where Veli is..."

"..."

"Cecil?"

"I just have a feeling...that he might not lose his way in the mountains and even immediately find her..."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"You can't be serious?!" Elizabeth exclaimed in surprise. "What happens if he's–"

Before she could say anything further the two of them heard a loud echoing voice coming from deep within the mountains, "WAH LUCIUS?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"VELICIA!!! I'M HERE!!! COME GOLEM! FIGHT ME!!!"

"...Told ya."

Even from the campsite, the two heard the loud voices of Velicia and her fiancé echoing deep from the mountains.

"...How the hell did he find her so quickly?" Elizabeth asked, astonishment dyeing her tone.

The two of them didn't wait around and rushed into the mountains towards Velicia's location to see what was happening. Deep in the mountains, Velicia was currently standing dumbfounded at the scene in front of her. Her fiancé had somehow appeared out of nowhere and he was currently bashing the golem with his mace into the ground.

"HOW! DARE! YOU!" Lucius was shouting something rather weird while he was smashing the golem with utmost vigor, "HURT! MY! CUTE! AND! BEAUTIFUL! FIANCE!"

Lucius continued smacking around the golem until it no longer moved. He opened the visor of his helmet and turned towards Velicia.

"Are you okay?"

"..." Velicia raised her hands to cover her blushing face while nodding in response.

"Ah, that's good!"

Lucius hopped down from the golem's large body and walked towards Velicia, his stride looking awfully cool in her eyes. By the time, Cecil and Elizabeth arrived at her location. The battle was long over and they had to witness the scene of their friend blushing and fidgeting at the sight of her fiancé's 'heroic' figure.

"...Why did we even come..." Cecil facepalmed and immediately flickered back towards the campsite.

"Hey! Cecil! Is this okay?" Elizabeth asked as she quickly chased after Cecil. "Lucius might interfere with Veli's training!"

"Argh... after seeing the way that fatty acted. Would you like to try convincing him to not help Veli now? If you want to, then be my guest. I don't want any part in it though."

"..."

"Yeah, thought so."

Once they made it back down to the campsite, Cecil began taking out the stuff he had put away earlier. After he was finished setting up the campsite again, he turned towards Silver who was vigilantly eyeing the basilisk that Lucius had brought along earlier. He saw that the two were currently having a staring contest and shook his head before walking into the carriage to check in on Lucia.

"Zzz...zzz...Cel~ uehehehe~..."

"Oi~i Lulu. Wake up now... you have to eat lunch."

"...zzz...zzz..."

Cecil scratched his head helplessly and jumped back out of the carriage. He looked around and sighed, "Man... this sure is boring..."

He looked around to find Elizabeth, but saw that she was nowhere to be found. He activated Mana Sense and scattered his sense into the mountains, quickly locating his friends.

"Veli's with her fiancé. Oh. Eli's with Fina and Ainz...he's finished? But what the heck is he doing?"

He retracted his Mana Sense and stopped paying attention to his friends after seeing that they were all okay. He walked away to an empty space near the campsite and began practicing his family's martial arts with a single thought in mind.

'I'm so close to making my own mana cultivation technique. The feelings there, so I'm definitely on the right track. I'm close, I can feel it.'

Cecil was indeed one step away from turning his family's martial arts technique into a mana cultivation technique that also encompassed breathing techniques and combat skills. He was just at a loss on where to take the final step. The sensation that he felt a month ago during class he was able to grasp again and again, but he still felt that he was missing something.

After a month of practice, almost all of his mana had fully condensed into liquid form. Only a small fraction was left, but this small amount was like a bottleneck to him. If he couldn't find out what was wrong with his technique then he knew that somehow, he wouldn't be able to take that final leap towards the Mana Sea Stage and convert his family's martial arts into a proper cultivation method.

'Just what is it am I missing? I've already referenced all the low-tiered to high-tiered mana cultivation techniques in the library's 1st to 4th floor... so what the heck am I missing?'

Cecil contemplated in frustration. He kept circulating his mana while practicing his forms and once again he was able to enter that ethereal sensation.

'Here it is again.'

He kept practicing, and soon his mind quickly went blank. All he felt was the natural flow of his movements and the harmony it had with the elements in the air. Unaware of the changes to his surroundings, Cecil single-mindedly practiced. He began adding more strength into his forms and the aura around him rose and fell with his every breath. He soon felt a feeling of harmony, liberation, and freedom in his movements.

Cecil kept this up until the sun set and the moon shone in the night sky. When he finally felt satisfied and stopped, that feeling of freedom and harmony also vanished. He felt 5 intense stares directed at him and quickly turned his head to look at the source only to see that his friends were also looking back at him in disbelief and awe.

"What is it?"

"..."

They only pointed back at him and he became puzzled. He looked down at his body and at the surroundings before gaping in shock at the scenery that filled his eyes.