Cecil could only gape in shock. The scenery around him was filled with an intense golden aura that didn't dissipate even after a while. The dark night was illuminated brightly by this golden aura that was surrounding him. The aura held a trace of his presence so Cecil immediately knew that it originated from him.

This never happened before. Cecil also noticed that the golden aura that seemed to have originated from him had also somehow caused a geological change to his surroundings. The empty lot he was in had somehow dropped a level in elevation. He noticed that the ground had lowered in elevation by about half a meter with him at the center and the once grassy area was now an empty, barren land.

"Did... did I do this?" Cecil asked. His friends could only nod in reply.

He immediately jumped out of the crater he had created and walked back towards the campsite. He checked out his body and made sure that nothing adverse had happened to him, but to his pleasant surprise he found that all the mana inside his body was now flowing like a raging river.

"I...I did it..." Cecil once again checked his body to make sure he wasn't hallucinating and even smacked his face just to make sure it wasn't a dream. He laughed in surprise once he made sure that this was reality and roared, "AHAHAHAHA!!! I DID IT!!!"

He started circulating his ocean-like mana and a golden aura immediately wrapped around his body. He glanced at the changes to his body and smiled. Normally, he would need to activate Mana Burst to have this golden aura appear on his body, but now he didn't need to do that. Just circulating his mana would make the aura appear and this made him really satisfied since it meant that his technique had evolved to the next level and he no longer had to actively initiate the skill.

Cecil immediately felt his body strengthening with each circulation of his mana. He felt...free...and unrestrained. The euphoric feeling almost felt like a drug and he felt the need to use his power right now. He immediately turned around and stuck his palm out in front of him.

"HRAH!"

WOOOSHHHH BOOM

His golden aura immediately flew out like a large mana bolt and struck a large tree nearby before exploding, blasting it apart along with its surroundings. When the dust settled, there was a small crater in place of the tree that once stood there.

"WOAH!" Cecil exclaimed in surprise at his newfound power but he suddenly turned quiet as his body and mind felt empty and void as a singular feeling started to rise from deep within himself and slowly started to dominate his mind. This feeling was one of insatiable hunger and desire to consume everything around him like a ravenous beast.

He tried to hold back the feeling, but to no avail. His body began to shake in response to his rational thinking colliding with the instincts and commands his body was sending to his brain and it caused him excruciating pain like he was about to explode.

"AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!"

"CECIL?!"

"OI! BRAT!"

"W-What's happening?"

At Cecil's abrupt howl and his subsequent collapse to the ground with his body shaking and spasming, his friends were about to rush forward only to stop after hearing an even louder and more anxious shout originating from behind them.

"CEL!"

Lucia, who had awoken from who knows when, rushed out from behind the group and quickly made her way towards Cecil who was collapsed onto the ground. When she arrived next to him and held him up, she saw that his eyes were bloodshot and they were darting everywhere as if he was slowly losing his mind and immediately understood what was happening to him. She quickly embraced him before covering his mouth with one hand while she began circulating her mana and channeling it into his body.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here," Lucia kept on repeating while doing her best to restrain all of Cecil's limbs with her tails that she noticed had increased in number.

"Lucia! W-What's happening to him?!" Ainz asked when he arrived by their side.

Lucia glared up at him and yelled, "BACK OFF, RIGHT NOW!"

"Uh?"

"I said. BACK OFF!!!"

"Wait a minute. Lucia! Y-You don't need to flare up like that!" Elizabeth said as she got closer to them.

"BACK OFF!!! ALL OF YOU!!!"

Seeing the girl that was cradling their collapsed friend and shielding him away from them like a tigress would do for her cub, the rest of the party was at a loss at what to do. Earlier their friend was laughing happily at something and then in the next instant he suddenly collapsed and was convulsing on the ground while howling in pain.

When they wanted to go check up on Cecil's condition, their sleeping friend had rushed out and began defending him. They didn't do anything wrong so they could only look on, not knowing what to do.

"Please... just stay away for now..." Lucia pleaded, her eyes glistening with tears.

"""!"""

Seeing this, the group quickly backed off.

"O-Okay..."

"We'll go stand watch..."

"Y-Yeah..."

"...don't hesitate to ask if you need anything, Lulu," Fina said worriedly. She only left in reluctance after seeing her friend give her a nod.

At the campsite around the fire, the group was glancing worriedly at the duo. They wanted to do something for them, but didn't know what to do since they didn't even know what was going on with them. They all sighed helplessly and looked at each other while Silver went over and wrapped his large body around Lucia who was tightly embracing and restraining the madly shaking Cecil.

"Just what in the hell was that?"

"...I dunno..."

"Cecil... had a breakthrough, right? So, what happened? He was laughing earlier, and then he suddenly collapsed..." Fina asked worriedly.

"It didn't seem like Mana Deviation..."

"Mana Deviation has different symptoms and did you guys see Lucia? It was like... this wasn't the first time something like this happened," Velicia added.

"..."

Her statement caused everyone to fall into silence... even Lucius wasn't able to speak up after looking at the oppressive atmosphere.

"So... can any of you guys cook?" Ainz asked.

"...can you only think with your stomach right now? Our friend just collapsed earlier and all you can think about is food?" Fina said disapprovingly.

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"It's not like that aqua brat... we should at least prepare dinner not only for us, but for them too... I don't think that those two have eaten yet."

"..." Fina couldn't retort to that so she stayed silent.

"Ainz is right at least... so... who among us can cook?" Elizabeth asked.

"..."

An awkward silence ensued and finally, Lucius, who was silent from the beginning, raised his hand.

"Uhm... I can, but I don't have any ingredients."

Fina smiled and took out the cooking ingredients their party kept inside their party's spatial ring.

"Here you go."

"Oh! Thank you. With these...I guess I'll make a soup?"

"Sure, as long as its edible, big guy!" Ainz laughed.

"By the way... are you really Velicia's husband?" Fina asked.

"Yaaaahhh!! H-He's my fiancé! He's not my husband...yet...ehehehe..." Velicia replied while blushing shyly on the side. There was a wide and happy smile plastered on her face though it quickly disappeared after she remembered what was currently happening to Cecil.

"...woah... so it's true!" Ainz exclaimed.

Lucius smiled while he began prepping the ingredients. The two girls immediately began interrogating their friend while Ainz just stared at his friends who were currently in the clearing nearby. He sighed and looked up at the night sky.

At the clearing, Cecil's body had stopped convulsing and he was currently resting peacefully in Lucia's embrace. His face was pale and he was sweating profusely, but at least he was now fine. Lucia sighed in relief after seeing this and quietly mumbled to herself, "At least it wasn't as bad as before..."

This indeed wasn't the first time Cecil had this happen to him. The first time it happened was many months before, just after the two had left Forest Hill Town and he was still developing his Mana Blade technique which he now called Ascending Blade. The resulting tests and experimentations had burnt a hole through their wallets and it also inspired him to test the upper limits of his Mana Burst and so he proceeded to do a very dangerous experiment using his body.

He activated Mana Burst to his utmost limit and tried to find the threshold of which his body and mind could no longer support the skill's activation. The results were a little unsightly since had fallen into a mana depraved state. His mana and instincts had almost consumed his mind and he began rampaging about like a wild beast.

Lucia was able to restrain Cecil and calm him down though it came at a small cost. She lost one of her tails before her beloved friend finally calmed down and returned to normal. Cecil had a full recollection of the event and he agonized over the fact that he had devoured one of Lucia's tails in order to appease his mindless state of hunger for mana though he honestly couldn't control himself when he did it.

Despite there being a perfectly good reason, Cecil didn't want to make an excuse for the horrible thing he did to Lucia. He felt extremely regretful and to make sure nothing like that happened again, he set a limiter on his Mana Burst technique and all of his other skills, so that he would never ever fall into that state again.

He even gave Lucia a bracelet that let her track his mana levels and it would immediately notify her if his mana levels fell below a certain point. However, despite all of the preparations he's made, he still fell into the mana depraved state and nearly went crazy again. This unforeseen event had somehow depleted his mana in an instant and he was dangerously close to losing his mind for good this time.

It was a good thing the Shock spell that was installed in the mana-tracking bracelet had worked and it had woken up Lucia who was sleeping in the carriage. Thanks to that, she was able to quickly take action and prevent Cecil from turning into a mindless, mana-eating monster.

Lucia let out a relieved sigh as she relaxed her tails and she hugged Cecil even tighter and began to silently sob. Silver only stared at the two before he howled into the air, "AAAAWWWWOOOOOOOO!!!"

The party that was at the campsite turned their attention towards Silver after they heard him howl. The food was ready and a flavorful aroma rose from the pot that Lucius was currently handling. He looked up and called out to the rest, "The soup is ready everyone... if someone can call over those two... please do so. It's better to eat it while it's hot."

"I'll go!" Fina volunteered. She made her way over and heard someone quietly sobbing when she got closer.

'Lucia's crying?'

She hesitated to take a step further, but Silver suddenly turned his head over to her and invited her forward with his gaze. She somehow understood Silver, so she took a step forward and called out, "Lucia? Cecil? The food's ready...best if you eat it now while it's hot..."

"Eh? Oh... okay!" Lucia replied and quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Cecil's still unconscious... but can you get Ainz over here and help him bring Cecil into the carriage?"

"O-Okay!" Fina replied and ran back towards Ainz and dragged him over.

Ainz went around Silver and he helped Lucia bring Cecil over to the carriage.

"Man... first it was you. Now it's this brat... just what the heck's wrong with your mana cultivation techniques?"

"..." Lucia only smiled sadly at that.

After putting Cecil down in the carriage, the two quickly returned to the campfire and sat down together with everyone else. Lucia immediately bowed to everyone and apologized, "...I'm sorry, everyone, about my earlier outburst. I shouldn't have yelled at you guys..."

"Eh? I-it's okay! Instead of apologizing... could you at least explain what happened?" Velicia said in response.

Elizabeth and Fina nodded at her words while Ainz didn't seem to care too much and only proceeded to take a bowl to scoop up the soup that Lucius had finished making. He took out some bread from his spatial ring and began eating silently. Lucius began distributing bowls of the cooked soup to the rest and once everyone started eating, they waited for Lucia to explain what happened earlier.

"Uhm... well... it's a long story..."

"We have all night," Ainz plainly responded while drinking from his bowl.

Lucia hesitated a little, but she still decided to explain, "Uhh... it has something to do with his unique constitution."