Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 421. Evolution II

"Not much had happened since you were asleep, young master. It’s just... the atmosphere in the castle had grown quite gloomy..."

Clara sat beside Theo, and even though the baron and baroness had wanted to stay by his side, duties they couldn’t ignore had pulled them away.

"That look he gave me..." Theo muttered, pressing a hand over one eye, his expression bitter.

"It was almost as if he was... disappointed in me," Theo muttered out loud.

"Well, what else did you expect, young master?"

A voice came from the side, drawing Theo’s attention.

"You did something everyone warned you not to do. You could have taken it slowly, but instead, you forced yourself this far..." Elias said, his voice lanced with an unfamiliar aggression, completely unlike him.

Upon hearing that from him, Theo was left speechless. If Elias was acting like this, then it only meant things were truly worse than he had thought.

"I don’t know if anyone told you this, young master," Elias continued, his eyes cold. Clara stepped forward, glaring at him as if to say, ’Don’t you speak another word.’

"But you were dead for a few hours when you came out of the hive."

"..."

The atmosphere in the room shifted completely. Elias looked at Theo with frustration, but Theo, on the other hand, couldn’t think anymore.

"What...?" he asked in disbelief, trying to recall what had happened.

The harder he pushed his mind, the more it felt like the fog was becoming thicker, preventing him from forming clear thoughts.

Yet Theo was used to this so much that he drifted away into that hazy state, trying to piece things together.

A minute passed.

Both Clara and Elias exchanged worried glances before turning to Theo in panic as they grabbed him and shook his body aggressively to snap him out of it.

"What has happened to you, young master? Why would you do this to yourself?" Clara asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Seeing her like that pained Theo deeply, and only then did he remember something.

"LEAVE."

Theo’s voice turned serious, making both Clara and Elias freeze and look at him in shock.

"...We won’t leave, young master," Clara said firmly, only for Theo to shake his head

"...When I was in there, did anyone say ’LEAVE’?" Theo asked.

Both Clara and Elias looked at Theo and then at each other.

Clara extended her hand and placed it on his head.

"No fever, fortunately."

"Just tell me, Clara," Theo asked again, making her shake her head.

"No one would dare say something so ominous at a time like that, young master."

But when she looked at Theo again, she felt like something was wrong.

"Why? Did something happen, young master?"

Theo looked at her confused but exhausted expression, and only one thought came to his mind.

’I shouldn’t give them any more trouble.’

"I am feeling just a little sleepy. I will be fine after having some rest. Both of you... please don’t worry anymore," he said and lay back down, leaving them both hanging while trying to get an answer.

While his eyes were closed, Theo couldn’t help but continue thinking.

’I definitely heard someone say ’LEAVE’ ... in a very dead voice in the end... Who was it?’

He asked himself, but there were no answers.

’...But my mind was really exhausted at that time... I might have been having hallucinations back then...’

At that moment, his bond with the ant queen opened again, and Theo felt like there were too many surprises coming in a single day.

’...SO something really said ’LEAVE,’ huh... was it someone in the room?’ Theo asked the ant queen.

But deep down, a part of him knew that the voice hadn’t belonged to anyone present in that room. The voice simply hadn’t sounded normal by any means.

And as that thought settled, the ant queen showed him something: a small video-like image to Theo that made his blurry memories come to life.

Something akin to a red, laser-like light entered through the hive link... and reached him... before it pierced straight into his mind, then everything went dark as he fell unconscious.

’And you heard it too, ant queen?’

The ant queen nodded to that.

Theo thought about it for a moment before sleep pulled him into its embrace once again.

He woke up a few hours later when his mother came to check up on him.

The moment he saw her, Theo felt like it was the right time.

He pushed the blanket aside and slowly sat up, then rose to his feet.

His mother gasped as she saw him walk properly, without any sign of weakness.

Theo, on the other hand, was doing his best not to slip while casually walking. His spatial awareness still felt strange, almost disorienting, but with the help of spatial arts, he was able to keep himself stable and move as if nothing was wrong.

And that was when the thought returned to him; Theo felt like it really was the right time.

He quickly checked his status, and there it was, the hard-earned fruits of all his labor.

"Have you seen my status, Mother?" he asked, a genuine smile spreading across his face, only for his mother to nod with an exhausted face.

"Congratulations on your breakthrough... son," she said, her voice carrying only half the cheer it should have.

That was when Theo stepped forward and hugged her.

She returned the embrace, and they stayed like that for a while before Theo pulled himself back and checked his status again.

Noticing the passion in his eyes, the baroness stepped closer and kissed his forehead and gently told him not to overwork himself before leaving.

*****

Theo Merrick

Level 11

Type: Foundation human

EXP: 0/120,000

*****

Theo felt a surge of happiness at his breakthrough and the fact that he had reached Level 11. But at the same time, his heart sank when he saw the EXP requirements.

Looking over his stats, he noticed something surprising: they had increased by 10 each instead of 1. That alone made him happy, but he quickly skimmed past them until he reached his affinity.

*****

Affinity: Evolution II

*****

’That definitely upgraded.’

After all that pain and everything he had gone through, Theo felt like it had all been totally worth it.

Until his gaze landed on one of the new skills in the ABILITIES section.