Insect Tamer's Ascension

When Theo realized that he couldn't see the mantis on the ape's body, he instead saw it on his shoulder, sitting without moving.

When Theo made eye contact, he moved his hand with affection, just like how he gave affectionate pats to the pup and the boar; the mantis was not any different.

Theo tapped the small head of the mantis gently multiple times to show it that it had done a good job.

The mantis didn't say anything, yet it then looked at the boar with unknown emotions. Theo wanted to know what was on its mind as understanding one's own beast was the most important thing in this world.

Soon, when the mantis looked at Theo again, it moved its forelegs and face back and plucked some freshly grown moss on the patches that it had used before. It all had just come back some time ago.

"Hm?" Theo questioned as he saw the mantis hold out it's forelegs toward Theo with the regenerative moss.

It was as if it was offering it to him, which was the first time he had seen something like this done by it.

Its gaze fell on the boar, and Theo finally realized, "You want to give this to him?" He asked with a curious smile.

After hearing it, the mantis moved its hands even further, as if it understood every word Theo said.

Theo chuckled and kept his hand near the mantis, who quickly kept the little moss in its forelegs on Theo's hand.

Before Theo could retract his hand, it rummaged through his hind one more time and plucked some more moss before keeping it on the hand too.

Theo was overwhelmed with emotions at this point, he didn't know the mantis had this much awareness around him or even a little bit of empathy, which it was showing.

Clara looked at the situation with curiosity and confusion too, she still hadn't figured out what the insect was doing.

Now, Theo had a good amount of Mantis's body moss, and finally, the mantis had stopped giving it too.

Theo retracted his hand and showed Clara what it was. She was still confused yet had a small smile.

"Mantis has given this regenerative moss for the boar to heal. Can you feed this to the boar please? It's just healing medicine." Theo stated.

While he had said that it was a healing medicine, he wasn't so sure about it.

But at the same time, the description of the skill stated that the moss was regenerative for the mantis and all Theo needed to know was if it was regenerative for the other beast or him too.

"That is very considerate of him, young master." Clara stated with surprise while looking at the mantis before she moved her hand for Theo to keep the moss on it.

When he did, Clara moved it to the boar's mouth, and without any wait, a single lick of its long tongue made all the moss vanish in one go while making the hand all slobbery.

Clara quickly used the handkerchief to wipe her hand clean while she took some deep breaths.

"We should go and rest now, Clara. It has been a long day, and I would like to report to father for what has happened today." Theo stated, and Clara nodded.

The situation was nothing but normal. Even for Clara, it was a beast that was very tough to defeat without some pre-planned strategy or higher-level beasts of her own.

"This ape is definitely from the mid-lower area of the forest, young master. Such beasts don't come down to the outskirts ever as there is nothing but food here for them, not anything to make them stronger. This was artificially done in my eyes." Clara stated with cold eyes.

Theo looked at her with a frown, "Artificially?"

"Yes, beasts of this category and level might go even deeper in the forest, but never will they try to go to the outskirts as there is nothing but low-level creatures that will not help them become stronger. Beasts in the deeper forest such as the mid-lower are intelligent, to say the least." She said with some nostalgia.

Theo nodded, "We really have to report it as soon as possible, Clara. If this is really artificial then…" Theo tried to understand why someone like him would get targeted for something like this.

He wasn't even the main heir of the Merrick Barony.

"I know what you're thinking, young master. But you have to give more credit to yourself than that. The level of confidence and maturity you showed in the ceremony was outstanding. And everyone is still very curious about your affinity and about the fact that you had the meeting with the royals." She muttered while looking around.

Now that the aura of the dangerous beast was weakening, the vipers were going to become the same as usual.

"There are bound to be people who will try to hurt you; that is why I am here, young master," Clara said and kept a hand over her heart in a military grade proud salute.

Theo grinned confidently, "Well, my confidence in your abilities has increased two-fold again, Clara. The prowess and experience you showed in this fight today made me learn a lot."

Theo and Clara talked a little more before they started departing. He tried looking for any healing happening on the boar, but it seemed the blood on it was too much to know what was happening.

But at the same time, he also knew that while the amount of regenerative moss was good enough for someone the size of the mantis, it was nothing for the big body of the boar. If it really had to be healed this way, there was a need for a lot more.

Theo couldn't help but be excited when the mantis would grow bigger, there was already a partial evolution that had promised it.

Now, all he had to do was check what he could do as a level 3 human while allotting some of the free points to the mantis.

It was finally time.