"So you’re saying..." the Baron began, his face serious, "that you are giving this beast greedy offers to make it help you breakthrough level 10?"
Though his face was serious and stern, Theo could see the pride in his father’s eyes as he attentively recalled what he had just explained.
"There still isn’t much trust between us," Theo replied, taking a glance at the crawler, which remained still just two steps behind him, "but I am sure we can work on that later."
It was standing not too close, yet not too far, as if the creature understood personal space.
"What are you going to do now?" the Baron asked as he walked back toward the smoker, checking on the jerky before turning around again.
"I need to complete these untad beast guidance part first. After that, I will think about the next thing, Father."
"And how much will your sword training suffer while you’re busy doing this?" the Baron pressed, forcing Theo to think about it.
"Theo," he then continued, "I am not saying this to diverge you from your path or anything. Honestly, I am not even sure anymore whether you should pursue the path of sword."
Theo remained silent for a mont, thinking, before he answered quickly, "Father, I know all of this is slowing down my progress in the sword training, but I would like to work on my swordmanship for the long term. We humans live a long ti and it’s never a bad idea to learn things slowly, right?"
Even if he was saying that he wanted to make a slow and steady progress, he wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted. His sword training was going well, but when it ca to actual combat, Theo would find that he always fell a bit short in terms of strength or technique.
He had noticed that so ti ago, and that realization had only burned his desire to train brighter.
"If you really an that..." the Baron said plainly, "then just go for it."
His father’s words made Theo blink in surprise.
Theo had fully expected that he was going to get rebuked for neglecting his sword training when, without aura, it was little more than a hobby with no real aning for strength or held a combat value.
"Your path is far more complicated than most, son," the Baron continued with a faint smile forming on his lips as he rested a hand on Theo’s head. "I need to keep that in mind before deciding what’s best for you."
Theo smiled warmly. Ti and ti again, he found himself overwheld by the amount of support his family gave him.
All that only made his motivation burn much fiercely.
With renewed determination, he bid his farewell.
Just like before, Theo saw the crawler following closely behind him. As if he had thought of sothing, he quickly went to Clara and asked for a small piece of the gigantic worm’s at, which she handed without a hint of hesitation.
The mont it saw the piece in Theo’s hand, he could see the crawler’s condition.
The creature clearly wanted to crawl and quickly jump for that piece of at, but instead, it held itself back, shaking slightly as it kept moving left and right in restless anticipation.
Theo smiled.
The crawler might have been a lot more creepy than most of the beasts, but it was still a living thing.
He flicked the piece of at forward and instinctively stepped back.
The crawler leapt into the air, wanting to catch the piece of at that seed to look bigger as it caught it midair.
Theo watched as it gobbled the at down in re seconds, despite the piece being too big for its own size. When it finished, the crawler tilted its head toward him again, almost as if asking for more.
Theo didn’t mind. In the next few minutes, he tossed several more pieces towards it. All the while, the Baron observed the interaction from the side, his expression unreadable.
This gate bored the baron to no end. His strength was way too much to gain anything good from it and the trio needed to grow much stronger.
So monts like these were the only things that keept him entertained and Theo seed never short on them.
Eventually, Theo started moving past the camp where he approached the big hole carved by the worms.
’How is it going, Mantis? You’re not injured, right?’ he asked.
The bond between him and the mantis was never closed so he could feel its emotions at all tis.
Right now, the mantis was fully locked in and why wouldn’t it be? Theo had already received two kill notifications from the mantis, both for gigantic crawlers.
And soon enough, it sent so vague emotions of being busy currently, making Theo chuckle.
The insect was strange for even his own standards, fighting beasts 1000 tis its own size and not just once, but over and over again.
He simply left it with its own things and turned his attention back to the crawler.
’Ant queen,’ Theo spoke through their connection, ’tell it to use it’s abilities before . I need to see what it can do.’
About a minute later, the crawler backed a few steps away. It stretched upward in the air, elongating unnaturally, until its body had reached its limit. Then it twisted its mouth to face Theo directly.
And that was when he saw it.
The crawler’s mouth was lined with countless teeth that were shining faintly. Theo could feel like the crawler was moving it intentionally, but it felt weird.
A mont later, he got another ssage from the Ant Queen, asking him to throw another piece of at at the crawler.
Although Theo was confused, he quickly got one and after aiming, threw it straight at it.
The mont the at ca close, the crawler’s speed surged and the at flew to it’s mouth as if pulled by force.
Theo waited.
An entire minute passed, still the piece of at remained in the crawler’s mouth, looking the sa as it had been before.
Then, slowly, its color began to fade, becoming a little transparent, making Theo move closer, his eyes narrowed.
When the at looked like it was just done for, the crawler removed it from its mouth and lowered itself back down, while Theo stared at the at, his eyes widening with surprise.
"So, you really are like a leech huh," he muttered. "Sucking all the blood out of it..."
Theo felt that this discovery alone made the crawler seem a lot more dangerous than what it seed before.
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