Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 63: Glutton (2)

In the room, Theo was looking straight ahead with a baffled expression. Even Clara seemed surprised beyond measure.

CRACK

Another cracking sound resounded, and Theo took a big sigh of disappointment.

"You glutton…" Theo started approaching the front and stopped when he saw that the mantis was inches away from him.

The mantis should not have been in the room in the first place. It was kept inside its box in the terrarium.

Yet now, Theo saw a cracked wooden door of the terrarium room and a torn-off sack of the ore they were saving up for everyday consumption.

"Young master…" Clara muttered when she saw the door that had been properly broken from the bottom.

"Mantis, come back." Theo ordered, and the mantis’s head flinched. It quickly looked toward Theo before starting to move toward him. Experience tales at novelbuddy

When Theo saw the ore’s quantity again, he smiled bitterly—it was almost gone.

Theo picked the mantis up, letting it stand on his hand, yet even at that moment, the mantis was munching on a small piece of ore.

Theo inspected it and was baffled—the mantis’s ’Metallic Strike’ skill had another 7% increment.

By now, Clara had already made her way to the gate and crouched to inspect the broken door.

"Now do you think the mantis is at least a little strong, Clara?" Theo stated with a smile.

"This is property damage by a tamed beast, but… I must say, breaking this door shows a level of strength, young master."

Theo nodded as he looked toward the mantis again, which had been staring at him for some time now.

’Mantis, you are not allowed to do this.’ Theo gave a mental command, hoping the mantis would understand it.

While there was no way of knowing if the mantis could understand him, Theo decided to wait until its intelligence increased to a somewhat stable level.

For the time being, the mantis’s level of intelligence was not like that of an average beast—it was lower. And while the mantis had good battle prowess, its ability to understand commands and grasp concepts was still limited.

There was the mantis, and then there was the cub. Theo knew that even though the cub was a level lower than the mantis, there was still little chance the mantis could defeat something like this just by sheer skill level.

"You have eaten a lot already. Are you ready for training?" Theo muttered, yet he still didn’t expect an answer.

But surprisingly, the mantis went into its fighting position, making Theo grin.

"No training until I change your clothes, young master."

"Yes, yes."

After a few minutes, Theo was in his usual comfortable clothes again. He went in to look inside the terrarium, and with relief, he found that the mantis had not done anything to his other main insects.

If it was able to break a thick wooden door to travel further, breaking glass would have been a piece of cake. But seeing as it did not do so showed a type of restraint that Theo appreciated—especially coming from an insect.

They started the training again, and by the time sunset arrived, Theo had increased the mantis’s skill proficiency by another 4% and was satisfied with the progress given the limited time he had.

Soon, he started making his way to the dining hall of the castle.

As everyone had already seen each other just a few hours ago, nobody really talked with each other until the Baron and Baroness arrived.

Theo took a deep breath—it was about time everyone knew about his situation.

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After some small talk, the Baron went on to give a brief explanation about Theo’s affinity and level.

And after that, Theo was to explain the situation on his own.

Theo decided to tell them everything he had told his father and the others so far while making sure to hide some things, such as the partial evolution. Too much development in so little time could make him be called a genius, which he neither needed nor cared for.

By the time he was done, everyone had a shocked expression. Even Cedric, who was mostly aloof about anything that didn’t relate to a sword, looked at Theo with a somewhat surprised expression.

Many questions arose, and Theo decided to answer them to the best of his ability. Yet in the end, he was as oblivious about most things as the others were.

But the fact that it had only been a week or so since his ceremony, and he had already made such progress, led to Theo being praised by the others too.

The only thing that irked everyone, including his mother, was that he tamed something that was considered the lowest form of being in the world.

"Can you show us your beast, Theo?"

To his surprise, Cedric spoke out, catching Theo off guard. He looked toward his father, who, after a moment, nodded in agreement.

"I will be happy to do so, elder brother. Please give me a moment."

Theo quickly left the dining hall and went to his room, where he grabbed the mantis in his carry box. The guards and the other staff still didn’t need to know about his tamed beast.

When he reached the dining hall again with Mantis and Clara, everyone looked at the box with mixed emotions.

"Everyone, here is my tamed beast," Theo stated as he opened the latch and gave a mental command for the mantis to only hop onto his shoulder and do nothing.

With hope in his heart, the mantis became a blur and hopped onto his shoulder.

Rowena, Celeste, and Gideon got up briskly and stepped back. There was a sense of paleness on their faces.

The Baron had already made all the soldiers leave, and when it came to outsiders, only the attendants and the head butler remained. The attendants were as surprised as the rest.

The others looked at the mantis with awe.

"I have never seen a creature like this…"

"Is this supposed to be an insect?"

"…Isn’t it kind of large for an insect?"

Everyone muttered, and Theo smiled. It was not a bad reaction, especially considering all the negative possibilities he had prepared for.

But to everyone’s surprise, the mantis did something Theo hadn’t realized even once.