Chapter 201 - Eli’s Worries

When Cecil directed his senses into his body, he found some peculiarities hidden within. His Energy Circuits had been dyed by the previous maroon, black, and grey colored mana, and now there was an additional green color.

His previously uncolored Circuits were now dyed in various colors. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but he did feel that his Energy Circuits had become much more powerful.

The previous blessings that Cecil had acquired were already known to him. The ability to manipulate plants that he received from Corruption, Nature Shift that he acquired through Perseverance, the ability that he still wasn't sure of from Providence's Blessing and finally, Serenity's Blessing.

Cecil didn't receive any information on what kind of ability that he gained from Providence of Serenity's Blessings. There was no new information that was directly transmitted into his brain when he received them.

Cecil could only conclude that Serenity's blessing was probably the chance to experience Marrow Cleansing. He couldn't possibly receive only abilities from the World Tree's Blessings, right?

Cecil then remembered about the enhancements Ki had brought to his body and the healing arts stored away inside the ancient tome inside his head.

"Let's experiment a bit..."

With those words, the boy pulled out a knife from his spatial ring and made a small cut on one of his fingers, blood hadn't even begun to drip out before the wound quickly closed. Cecil frowned and tried again.

"Cecil?!" Serilla who was still bantering with Lucia was the first to notice him harming himself.

"W-w-w-what're you doing?!"

Lucia immediately turned around to face the boy when Serilla started screaming.

"Hm?" Cecil only looked at the two, puzzled.

The second wound that Cecil gave himself was quite large. Instead of cutting only the tip of his finger, the boy instead made a large cut on his palm. This of course caused Serilla to be worried.

Was the stress getting to him? Was he trying to inflict self-harm because of something? Maybe it was her fault that he's like this? The negative thoughts only piled up on top of each other until the girl began to tear up.

"Look," Cecil turned his attention back onto his bleeding palm. He raised his finger that had a small blob of Ki and ran it down the injury.

"Isn't that—"

"It's not Nature Mana, but Life Energy or Ki," Cecil replied.

In the next instant the wound on his palm closed and he was good as new. Cecil marveled at the spectacle. Although the wound wasn't deep, but the way it healed was practically instantaneous. It was much faster than the Elves' healing arts using their nature mana.

"Hoooh...the gains from the trial grounds sure are something! Now all that's left is to confirm the Providence's blessing," Cecil hummed.

Serilla released a sigh of relief knowing that Cecil had only performed a small experiment to test his rewards. Everyone knew that the boy had gotten the World Tree's Blessing, however, the only known people to have acquired the blessing were the Elves and most, if not all, of the Transcendent level figures of the Urrugdrasil Continent.

Cecil took out the Providence and tried to experiment a little. The two girls continued watching him in wonder. They didn't understand what he was trying to do, but if he decided to do something dangerous to himself, they'd step in and make sure the idiot didn't do it.

"This is weird...the first two blessings I got gave me direct information on how to use them...the 4th blessing was most likely the Marrow Cleansing...but how come there's no info for the 3rd blessing?"

Cecil continued mumbling to himself and continued trying to activate the skill or ability that accompanied the blessing, but it was to no avail. No matter what he tried, the 3rd Blessing's ability or skill just didn't manifest itself.

"Don't tell me that vision was the reward..." Cecil's face turned dark when he thought of this. He wasn't even sure if what transpired in the vision was real or fake. How could such a thing be the reward for the blessing?

He quickly denied it and decided to shelve the matter. He'll try and figure it out later.

Cecil stood up from the bed and walked over to the desk just beside it. He plopped down onto the chair and said to the two girls, "You guys can go ahead and rest...I wanna read some of the stuff I recorded earlier..."

Cecil extracted his Infinite Page Magic Tome and began reading the information on the teleportation gate. His focused demeanor made the girls speechless.

He had just returned from copying down all the books and records from the teleportation gates' room and now, instead of resting up, he wanted to read?

"Cel...I think you should take a break..."

"Huh? No way, I'm not even tired yet," Cecil instantly replied. He didn't take his eyes off of the tome.

Lucia's mouth twitched when she saw him like this. She stealthily snuck behind the boy and activated Elemental Burst.

When Cecil sensed the sharp spike of mana behind him, it was too late. Lucia quickly grabbed ahold of his arm and did a shoulder throw. She tossed him onto the bed where Serilla, who had activated Aura Manifestation, was waiting.

The girl quickly caught him and pinned him down.

"Gah! Wh-what're you two doing?!" Cecil yelled.

"Rest! Idiot!" Lucia simply said before flashing over to his side and helping Serilla pin him down. She then continued in a threatening manner, "If you dare use Nature Shift..."

"Alright, alright!"

He released an exasperated sigh. He could only close his eyes and sleep. Just as Serilla and Lucia were about to speak up, they suddenly heard his calm rhythmic breathing.

"Hmph. You were tired after all," Lucia grumbled. She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

Serilla only giggled and snuggled a little closer before falling asleep as well.

******

While the 3 were resting, Eli was currently sitting alone in the middle of the Herb Garden on the east side of the plaza.

"Hey, Eli...so this is where you were," Ainz called out from behind her. He had been looking for this cousin of his. Ainz plopped down next to her and asked, "What's wrong? You've been awfully quiet ever since we've arrived at the last plaza..."

"It's nothing..."

"...is it about your brother?"

"..."

"Lance...passed away because he jumped to protect Manora..."

"I know that! But...it's those beastmen...they're the ones who put her into a dangerous situation in the first place!"

"...yeah..."

"Moreover...it was that disgusting bastard..." Eli growled.

"..."

"When I saw Lance die and that asshole still alive...I really wanted to go over and cut off his head—"

"But you're too scared to do that right?"

"!"

Ainz sighed. He scratched his head not knowing how to reply. It was a mystery why Eli was so averse and frightened by that prince even though it was already a given that she was much more powerful than him.

"I'm not sure what caused it, but you shouldn't be so afraid of him...actually you don't even need to be afraid of him at all! The bastard died already!"

Ainz said in attempt to cheer her up. Silver had already taken care of that asshole. There's no reason for her to be afraid anymore.

"It's not him that I'm afraid of...it's the Empire," Eli replied dejectedly.

"..."

"You should know about that one time where they had successfully kidnapped me...right?"

"...yeah... I heard about it from Mother..."

"Well...they showed me...something...I—"

"Stop right there," Ainz quickly raised a hand and stopped her.

He saw the pained expression on her face as she continued talking. He couldn't bear to make his cousin continue.

"If it's too hard to say, then just don't. I get it. They did something to traumatize you. I'm not such an asshole that I'd be willing to open up your wounds just so that I may satisfy my curiosity.

Just remember, now that that prince is gone, you no longer need to fear about them trying to kidnap you again."

"But—"

"As for their retaliation for us killing the Prince? Pfft, they have too much on their hands. The humans are invading them and don't forget about the person standing behind the brat!"

His words caused Eli to widen her eyes in surprise. She then smiled slightly and replied, "Alright..."

"Come on, your sister's been looking for you. She even pulled me in and ordered me to look around. Honestly, you people are so overbearing at times," Ainz said tiredly.

Eli stood up and smacked him on the back, "Hihi~ thanks for cheering me up, Ainz!"

"Yeah, yeah...that hurt y'know."

"And what're you gonna do about it~? Are you gonna strike back? At the princess~?" She replied playfully.

"..."

Ainz could only speechless look at her and mumble.

"Tch...lucky..."

From afar, Manora saw the two in the garden. Seeing that Ainz was able to cheer her little sister up, Manora walked back towards the cultivation building while humming happily.