Insect Tamer's Ascension

"After having a talk with the Baroness, Theo was given a lot of instruction on how to stay safe in the forest, even though he ignored most of them.

When his brother, Lucien, saw the carcass of the viper, he was impressed too.

Without even being told that the mantis had done something to it, he was able to deduce it right away.

It was when he moved his bulky hands on the viper's face where the deep gashes of the boar's tusks were present.

The viper's face was all messed up due to the boar's tusks and even with that, Lucien could find that cut made by the mantis by shifting his fingers past it.

It made Theo realize just how great the senses of his brother were.

But there was also the fact that the mantis's cuts were always clean while the boar's tusks made a mess out of the bones and the flesh due to their blunt nature.

The time after that, Theo took part in even more hunts in the viper's territory yet he couldn't find a single creature the same level as the big one.

It seemed a level 6 viper was a rare being to find in the outskirts, to begin with.

There were mostly level 4s and lower ones left in the outskirts where Theo stayed.

Even now, it was dangerous to go too deep in a viper's nest. With grass as tall as these, there was bound to be surprises.

10 days passed with training and the mantis came very close to leveling up.

Yet when he was only a couple hundred points away from level 4, Theo stopped after realizing something.

Reaching level 4 meant that all the beasts below its level would now give it a penalty in the experience gain.

With an area that was abundant with beasts lower than level 4, Theo found it hard to believe that his leveling would be stable after reaching level 4.

He was still not developed enough for other beasts and deeper areas yet he had reached a strength where it was better to be in those areas. Theo was perplexed.

In the viper territory, even the level 4 vipers were tough to find. Theo could only take care of a few on a good day.

In that time frame of ten days, he finally found quite a few other people trying to defeat the vipers.

The only difference was that they were in groups just to defeat the most normal one.

It made Theo wonder just how much was the gap between a noble's way of leveling and a commoner's.

By now, only Warren and Clara were the exceptions to reach such a level of strength in terms of people around him.

It made him want to explore the one town in the Merrick Barony's jurisdiction, yet it was not possible until he reached 10 years of age, due to family rules.

So, after getting some advice from Lucien, Theo came to the conclusion that he needed to improve his abilities a lot so that, when a level up would finally take place, he could go for defeating creatures stronger than the vipers.

From that day on, he stopped leveling up again and decided to only give dead food to the mantis for a while to not get an abrupt level up.

Theo made the mantis eat each and every moss present on its body and when all the moss was gone, it still had a greenish hue on it rather than the expected grey.

He did not see a lot of progress of it growing, and only when most of it started coming back with a night's rest and some sunlight through the window did Theo see the ability make a lot of progress.

It seemed making the moss grow back in quantity made the progress bar increase more than when the mantis ate the moss. It was quite the weird ability to level up.

While this was going on, Theo had his focus on the ability 'Spore Lash' too, the skill that improved slowly, yet there was progress after every few uses of the ability.

Another 5 days passed, and the mantis reached level 1 for the regenerative moss ability.

There weren't many changes in how the moss worked, and only after Theo made the mantis eat all the newly grown moss again did he realize the change.

The moss grew back again to an edible amount after more than half a day.

It was only a few hours of decrease in the growth, yet it made Theo realize just how fast it could be after a few more level ups.

His training with his elder brother, Bram, had been great in the past few days too.

His progress was still nothing compared to Theo, yet Bram improved a lot according to Lucien's observation. It was the pace that a person their age should have gone with to begin with.

The barony hadn't seen such events in a long time; its self-centered heirs showed little interest in improvement. The twins served as a prime example of that.

By the end of the second month, Theo made his metallic strike ability reach quarter toward level 3, his spore lash skill was now level 2. While the regenerative moss was still halfway toward level 2.

Through fighting and training, Theo's muscles started to develop a form. The strength stat increase proved beneficial.

Lucien didn't take another test at the end of the second month this time as Theo had already proved his discipline a long time ago to him.

These developments shocked the Barony, and a powerful motivation filled everyone's hearts. A desperate try of stable growth that the eight-year-old boy craved had become fuel for many others.

Theo's mother looked at him and the other heirs through the corridors of the castle many times a day. The training that seemed like child's play before had etched itself as something serious in everyone's mind.

Yet right at the start of the next month, the last he had to prove himself, an important person finally came back to the castle.

It was none other than the Baron; the war was finally over.

Theo didn't hear from his father for two days, which was expected, as he had just won a war for the kingdom.

And just when it was over, he didn't even stay for the big ball party according to the rumors, so Theo knew his father was in his resting mode.

____________

The present,

"Haah!" A man clad in chainmail shouted, his hand moving forward toward Theo.

Theo took no time to dodge that attack, his body instinctively moving toward the side. He tried grabbing the guard's burly hand covered in chainmail and when he actually latched onto it, Theo firmed his grip.

He could smell the sweat coming off the guard, a scent that had become quite normal for him now that he trained so diligently.

Theo attempted to lift the guard by using his shoulder and back, but the guard's surprising core strength held firm.

When Theo realized that, he quickly pushed the guard away, making safe distance, and went on guard instantaneously.

"Good attempt," the guard spoke with controlled breathing and continued, "But I am still two times your weight, young master Theo." He explained and a smile formed on his face.

There were many like him standing to the side with their chainmail on, aside from Theo who was wearing leather armor which seemed to cover all his vitals properly. It was thick leather that helped take off some force from the attacks that hit head-on.

Lucien, his attendant, and Clara were present in the training hall too. They stood opposite the many guards, observing Theo's fight.

"You should have hit his knee to get a better position, Theo." Lucien shouted, and Theo nodded without looking at him.

He looked at the right knee of the guard, which made him move it back. It seemed it would not work anymore.

Theo dashed forward toward the guard again, who was almost three times his height. Given his smaller frame, he tried attacking first every time to try getting a hit in.

He sprinted with a somewhat crouched posture, which gave him an inherent advantage against such a tall person.

He knew what would happen if he was this close to the ground, and the guard, as expected, tried kicking Theo right in his left ribs before Theo could even come any closer.

Theo's eyes flickered with determination and he watched the kick that came within a split second. The guard's legs were long, giving him a good advantage.

When it was close enough, Theo slammed his feet on the ground and pushed forward, his body flipping and arching toward the upcoming leg.

Lucien grinned, looking at that evasion with pride.

Theo's body moved past the leg as quickly as it came. He kept both his hands on the ground to not get hurt abruptly and pushed again to get back on his feet.

All the guards exchanged glances after the spectacle; murmurs filled the training ground.

The guard looked at him with surprise and while Theo may have evaded that kick, another attack came when he was still not ready.

"That is enough; we know the outcome already."

Suddenly, a loud, authoritative voice resounded in the training area.

Everyone looked toward the voice's location, and Lucien looked in surprise before some words came out of his mouth instantly.

"Good morning, father."