Cedric was gone before Theo could have any conversation with him. But one thing was clear—Cedric had reached a level of sword aura Theo could only dream of for the moment.

The moment he saw the scabbard and the aura exuding out of it, Theo could feel a prickly feeling all over his skin.

And at that moment, the difference between him and Cedric started to show. Cedric gave all his time to swordsmanship, while Theo had a couple more things to do, and training with the sword only got a few hours in the morning.

Theo went back to the room and devised a plan for what to do next.

Since he came back from the gate, only a day or two had passed, but he felt a slight pathless feeling.

That made him work a lot more on devising a plan, and the first thing that came to mind was the ants.

They had reached a point where Theo could feel them working on their own, but that could only get him so far.

His advantage was the ability to change a beast for the better, and that was what he decided to put his mind on.

A few hours later, Theo had already written down a small plan and had a small smile on his face.

And when Clara was done with her fabric-making studies with the academy book, Theo decided to give her a few tasks.

The next morning, Theo decided to move toward the ant colony again, only this time, he had a few things in his bag.

He had already talked with the Ant Queen about what he was about to do, and it agreed with Theo.

"What are we going to do today, young master?" Clara asked as she saw the same plan of moving toward the ants. It was always a little boring for the others, as while Theo saw images and whatnot inside the colony, all the others could do was sit and wait for him to be done.

"You remember those two shardjaw ant queens we captured not too long ago?" Theo asked, making Clara and Elias nod.

"And then you remember the smaller ants that were red and blue colored?" Theo asked with a smile.

"The embermaws and the aquamandibles," Elias spoke with a cough, making Theo nod.

Clara only looked at the guy acting all high and mighty and couldn’t help but become a lot more serious for the next question.

"I am going to turn the shardjaw ant queens into embermaws and aquamandibles. But do you remember what is the disadvantage about them?" Theo asked while looking at the two attendants.

"Oh! They are very small, and while their attacks sound fascinating, they have no real power to them," Clara spoke in a light shout, as if she was competing or something, making Theo chuckle.

"You are right," Theo spoke. "So the plan is to turn the two shardjaw ant queens into each of these elemental ability ones and get them to birth more ants," Theo explained and continued.

"Their size will still be small, but what I will do is give them a lot of food. Just like when the Ant Queen consumed a lot of crawlers, the broods started coming out with a much bigger size, I will use the same technique with them," Theo spoke.

Both Clara and Elias were in awe. A simple conversation turned into such an explanation that they weren’t expecting to get anytime soon.

"But before we reach there and I get to what I am supposed to be doing... what is the status of your breakthrough quest?" Theo asked.

Both Clara and Elias stared at Theo with a knowing look, as if they were asking, "Why did he change the topic so suddenly?"

"I have been studying about making the healing fabric, young master. To make a master-grade one is to have the proper knowledge before the start," she spoke and continued. "As for defeating 20 level 10 rare-grade beasts with just my knives, I have only dealt with one..." she spoke as her eyes went down.

Theo took a deep sigh. "Your requirements are tough to complete, but we have to advance, if only by a little."

"I did complete one of the requirements, though—the one where I have to throw 100 consecutive good throws of a knife. That took some training, but I was able to do it," she spoke, making Theo smile. She kept the good news for last.

"I believe my requirements are a lot more unfair, young master," Elias pitched in.

"For me to stay in a territory of a level 10 beast while my beast eliminates 20 beasts.

Not only that, but to make a Grade A fortified camp in a high-hostility zone for 7 days. And for everything to be done by me." Elias stopped speaking after that.

Theo sighed again. "I want to say life is always unfair, but I would rather you focus on completing these requirements."

"But I want you to understand one thing—if you don’t give your all and keep trying to protect me or serve me when it’s not needed, I am going to get a lot farther than you both," Theo spoke with a serious look.

Clara and Elias looked at each other and then at Theo before nodding.

"From now on, I will get my food and basic daily things from a maid, while you both only work on completing these requirements. That is your only job for as long as it takes you."

Theo spoke, and no matter how much the two complained about how Theo would need them, he didn’t care.

He needed his people to get to his level as fast as he could. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

He knew life was going to be slower from now on, and all he would do is study, work with aura, and his beasts, as those were the only things that were lagging behind.

They quickly reached the ant colony, and from there, Theo went ahead with his plan.