Insect Tamer's Ascension

Elias gave the small vial of the liquid to Theo, who just looked at it from every direction.

"What does this do?" he asked in curiosity.

"This is my town's healing paste. It's said to give instant relief on bruises," Elias spoke while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, as if thinking the gift was too little for the youngest Merrick.

"I got permission from the butler that you can use this—it's safe to use."

Theo looked at the ointment in a new light. His knight training was very hard sometimes, so pain in the wrists and shoulders, with some in other connecting muscles, was a normal day for him.

Even now, his arms were sore from the training in the morning.

He quickly opened the wooden cork from the vial and got some of the paste in his hand.

"It's really cold," Theo stated while he smudged it between his fingers.

Soon, he applied the paste on his left arm to see if something happened.

While it was cold to the sensation, Theo didn't feel any relief in his arm. Yet it was not something he could show on his face to Elias, so he smiled.

Until a moment later, he felt an instant relief in his arm. He moved it up and down and jerked it, only to find that the arm was not hurting.

"Wait, where was this paste all this time, Elias? Did you have to wait for my birthday??" Theo asked with wide eyes, yet there was satisfaction in his expression.

Elias looked at him in disbelief before he chuckled, "That's my bad, I had this since a week ago too."

Theo did not know what to say to him. He quickly applied it on his other arm and both wrists and saw, a minute later, the same relief that came instantly.

"Please don't apply this on a daily basis. If your body makes a habit of this paste, it will start having little to no effect, young master."

A few minutes of talking with Clara later, Clara bid farewell for the day and went back to her family.

What Theo liked about this setting was that she was able to spend a lot of time with her family too. Their cost of rations had gone down as well. While she sold the leather and the other important organs and parts, she kept the meat of all the monsters for her family, making them happier.

That was what Theo wanted for the ones he would currently and in the future call his people—people with a positive outlook on life, a good personality, and where the help was two-way.

Theo slept like a log that day. He had to, as the next day was going to be a lot more difficult than any so far.

Elias too got a good night's sleep. He needed to protect Theo no matter what, and looking at his history, there was always some anomaly happening with Theo in the forest for some reason.

In the morning, Theo bathed and got in front of his new leather armor. It was royal brown in color, with a scaly skin that would tell anyone it was related to a dragon within seconds.

When he got ready, Theo saw that the armor was adjustable with strong buckles and many more things.

It was better, as at his age, he was bound to grow a lot bigger soon. And if the armor was only stretchable, he could only take it to some extent and would have to throw it away. But this was better.

The belt had extra compartments, and Theo placed all kinds of important things in it. The rope might have become heavier, but it was totally worth it.

"Let's go, Mantis," Theo spoke, making the bigger Mantis hop onto his shoulder. Feeling the new texture of the armor, the Mantis scraped at it many times only to find out it could not tear through it.

Theo felt great too. If Mantis was not able to cut it with its strong blade-like forelegs, there weren't many in the Outskirt Forest that could tear through it either.

To make itself a lot more comfortable, the Mantis grabbed the shoulder with its forelegs—something it had not done before—showing Theo that it knew it couldn't hurt him while he wore this.

Yet soon enough, the Mantis had to go inside the bow again to not show the other guards and knights the beast Theo still didn't fully trust yet.

There was a lot of talk about his beast, as it was a mystery to many, but all that talk died down at once when he got up, which told him that the head butler might have had something to do with it.

But still, people were curious, and it was getting to the time that Theo needed to tell everyone about his beast.

Though he was only comfortable to do so when the Mantis finally evolved a second time.

He met up with Clara at the entrance of the castle, and with Warren as the driver, Theo made his way toward the forest again. He closed his eyes to meditate—something he had picked up along the way in the past 6 months to help calm the nerves.

When they finally reached the forest, Chip went flying to find a level 7 boar.

"I have defeated 10 level 1 boars, 3 level 2s, 5 level 3s, and 3 level 4 boars on my own," Theo stated while he got out of the carriage, gaining the attention of all three present.

"I didn't try level 5 to 7 yet, but I am not alone in this fight," Theo spoke again, this time looking at the Mantis who was tending to its forelegs.

"With it and me together, I don't think this will be as tough as I am thinking it to be," Theo stated with a loud breath.

Since he realized that he could fight alongside the Mantis in this fight for the level 7, they were considered 'together'—and it was not talked about a lot because it was not common for a knight to fight alongside their beast, or for a beast tamer to fight alongside their beast.

Theo was striving to be that one percent who did both—making him a lot more powerful.