Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 417. Why not sell stronger insects to tamers?

Chapter 417: 417. Why not sell stronger insects to tamers?

The man kept on observing the hive for a long, long time.

Eventually, he pulled out a small sheet of paper from his robe and began writing something down.

Theo tried to peek at what he was writing, only to realize it was written in a language he had never seen before.

When the man noticed Theo looking at his note, he smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry, it’s a habit of mine, Young Theo. We scholars use our own coded language to write our notes, in case someone tries to steal them."

Theo didn’t know what to say to that, so he just nodded in fascination.

"This is very fascinating; I never realized that the ants use a spatial connection between them. I can clearly see them communicating with each other..." the man said in marvel.

"Why hasn’t this ant ever been researched before?" he asked after looking at Theo, only to see him sigh.

"Everyone thinks insects are just a weak bunch of beasts who can’t do anything... but they have such complex and amazing abilities... It’s just their size that prevents them from doing anything significant to be noticed."

The scholar studied Theo’s eyes, which were burning with annoyance and frustration.

"Young Theo," the man said as he stood up and placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder.

"Why don’t you become a scholar too?"

"???"

When Theo heard that, he couldn’t help but wonder if the mantis’s suppression attack earlier had somehow turned the scholar senile or something.

But the scholar continued speaking, "I see passion in your eyes for something that very few people have focused on... and I can see that these ants have also grown to an unusual size because of you."

"You jest, Scholar Vale. I am a hybrid tamer. How could I become a scholar?" Theo asked with a light smile, making the scholar shake his head in response.

"Perhaps you could bring a revolution to taming. Insects are not preferred by anyone... but if they become large enough... much like that other insect, people might begin to prefer them..."

He said it in a way that would make Theo understand easily.

When Theo finally understood what he meant, his mouth opened, but no words came out. His eyes were wide open in shock.

Silence filled the room for a few seconds, though to Theo, it felt like an entire minute.

"You mean... I make the insects stronger and bigger using my affinity and then sell them to tamers?" he asked.

The scholar smiled brightly, making Theo fall into a deep thought.

"I don’t know if you can do that. If your affinity works after taming an insect or a beast, then breaking the contract would be troublesome. You wouldn’t be able to do that many times."

That last line brought Theo back to reality. Soon enough, he planned to get there on his own, but the scholar had explained it in such a short time that it made Theo realize that the man was a lot smarter than he had initially assumed.

"I don’t know if I can do that yet, Scholar Vale. But you know, affinities grow with time. Maybe in the future it will be possible," Thoe said out loud, making the scholar nod.

"Affinities can sometimes surprise everyone. Even the most useless ones become valuable once they reach a certain level of understanding. Sometimes there are hidden rules to them."

"There is an example for this," he continued.

"The most basic fire affinity at first seemed strong enough on its own. But over time, as more tamers started gaining it, one such tamer discovered something about affinities that wasn’t known before."

"When a human’s affinity aligns with a beast’s, it can have great effects. A beast that could once generate fire through its claws suddenly started producing molten magma without hurting itself after its tamer reached level 15... After researching the phenomenon, it was discovered that the tamer’s affinity had helped enhance the beast’s own affinity," the scholar explained without stopping for a single breath.

Theo nodded in understanding. The explanation gave him something to look forward to.

’The important part is that my evolution affinity makes these changes faster and better. Instead of a single random magma upgrade, I might get something even better.’

That thought made Theo realize the fact that if he had obtained this affinity without the curse, he would have been improving dragons by now.

But he shook his head, a movement the scholar noticed.

’No, don’t think like that; you need to work with what you have. Comparison is the thief of joy. My insects took time to get stronger, but the mantis just killed twenty-something apes in a matter of minutes. That says something.’

Once his thoughts for the future settled, Theo turned back to the scholar for the present.

"These ants also have spatial affinity, Scholar Vale. If you could help me learn how to operate them better, that would be great," Theo said, shifting the topic.

"Hmm~ I did notice that. All of them are spatial-type insects. But I can also see a bit of variety here. Do you mind if I examine them all?" he spoke.

Theo gave the command for each type to come forward.

"Hoho! You have water, fire and earth affinity ants within a single colony. Has it always been like that? Such variety?"

Theo shrugged off the question. He didn’t want the scholar to think he was too special.

"Alright, I will check their current level of spatial affinity using this." The scholar said and pulled out a simple tool from within his robe.

Theo watched as the small device was brought closer to one of the ants, the Reinforced Shardjaw one.

The moment it was brought a little closer to the ant, the rock-like tool suddenly turned neon blue.

"You truly are blessed, Young Theo. This ant has a medium-grade spatial affinity. And you have a few thousand of these, right?" the scholar asked.

Theo nodded.

"I never knew affinities had grades to them as well, Scholar Vlle."

The scholar sighed.

"Again, one of the sad parts of our society. We hide knowledge from the masses by making it accessible only in the academies. This information alone would have taken you three years to know about, Young Theo."