Theo slipped on the gloves and pressed his fingers against the plant’s surface. The spongy material of the glove gave way as he kept on pressing, until he felt his fingers touch the solid branch beneath.
Curious, he loosened his grip a little to see what would happen and gave a small pull, only to freeze in surprise.
It felt as though his bare fingers were gripping the plant itself, not the glove.
Realizing just how effective the gloves were, Theo began experinting.
Everyone watched him closely, eager to see how he would handle it.
He tugged the branch several tis, gradually exposing a few roots.
Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the branch till his fingers were touching the branch this ti, then pulled up and felt a resistance.
And from that point on, Theo worked steadily, pulling little by little, until the plant finally ca free.
Taking another breath, Theo looked up at the instructor, whose eyes curved into a smile.
"You did well," the instructor said, "but it took you five minutes. That’s not acceptable, so I am failing you for this round." Despite the words, he raised a hand in appreciation.
Theo snickered once and glanced at the fresh batch of plants the workers were bringing in.
Oric instructed the five of them to repeat the process until they passed according to him.
Theo only had five minutes before he was reassigned to be with the next group: the extraction group.
This one was focused on mining. Oric demonstrated the technique of extracting samples from a tree, a rock, and even so precious tals.
By far, it was the easiest and the simplest task, but since Theo now had to pass two tests, he pushed himself to do it a lot faster than the others.
The knight, however, was still stuck with using the gloves to extract the basic thorn plant properly. When the mont felt right, Theo stepped in.
He guided Knight Kaelor through the proper technique: how to grip and pull it out. Eventually, the man succeeded. Now, just like Theo himself, it ca to the point of only increasing his speed.
Clara was the first one to complete the ten-plant test and was moved on to more delicate specins.
Theo, anwhile, finished the log test in a single attempt, sothing he had practiced many tis with the baron and his attendants.
Oric was surprised with his lumberjack skills. It wasn’t every day that a noble would know such things, yet here he was, doing it all with visible enthusiasm.
Next ca the gems and stone extraction, followed by delicate plants after the hardy ones.
Compared to the hardy ones, these were literal torture. So of their roots were so thin that they snapped even while digging around.
And just as Theo was really getting into it, he was called over to the final group: one tasked with subduing the beast.
Everyone gathered except Garrick (the scout) and Lysara (the healer), who remained seated to the side, waiting for everyone’s training to conclude.
"Alright," Oric said, "I won’t be participating in this demonstration. I want you to figure it out in your own way. Work together, use your beasts, and take a few hits if you need to, but make sure the beast stays unhard but is still captured."
With that, he went to check on the others.
A worker pulled the cloth off a cage and they all saw a devastating ss before them
Hundreds, perhaps even more, of small rat-like creatures packed tightly inside. The narrow cage barely contained them, their bodies writhing over one another, making sure none of them escaped.
Theo saw so of them gnawing at the bars, but the material seed a little too tough for their teeth.
"Let’s make a plan," Lucien said, making others instinctively look at Theo.
Theo noticed their gazes and imdiately looked at his brother. "Do you have sothing in mind?"
Lucien nodded. "The ropes they provided us co in different sizes. Once they open the cage, one person restrains a creature while another ties its legs."
A few nodded with a ’hmm’ in understanding.
"A very simple plan, but I like it. Shall we start?" rek asked with a grin, making everyone look at Theo, who smiled and gestured to the worker to open the cage.
In an instant, the rat-like beasts bolted out of the cage, scrambling over each other’s bodies in a frenzy, and everyone charged forward too.
Theo stayed at the back, observing the whole situation, and quickly realized that everyone had rushed in to grab a beast instead of planning.
"Ah, this one died," Sir Kaelor spoke, tossing one aside, his grip strength proving a little too much for the creature.
"Big brother, help young master rek!" Theo called from the side, making Lucien glance at the beast in his hands, who struggled and tried to bite his hands, but he held it firmly, not giving it a chance.
Taking a deep breath, he threw it aside and rushed to rek, who was struggling with his own.
Lucien beca the first one to successfully tie down a beast.
anwhile, Clara had already released her silver direwolf out.
Theo watched as it ran in circles, herding around 15 of the beasts together as if they were sheep.
Clara quickly stepped into the circle the wolf was making and began grabbing the beasts one by one.
Soon, Elias joined her, and together they tied the beasts one by one efficiently.
Theo also noticed many of them trying to escape in different directions, only to be cut down after reaching a certain distance by flying bird-beasts who were controlled by the workers.
Their numbers continued to dwindle by the minute.
Once they were done, the instructor stepped forward.
"I saw everything. Young Lucien and Young rek captured six Mirewhisks, but two of them suffered heavy injuries due to excessive use of force," he said, reading from a paper.
"Young Clara and Young Elias captured twelve of them, out of which all have only minor injuries."
"Knight Kaelor killed five of them and captured two on his own, both of which have at least one leg broken."
"Young Cassian captured five on his own using a fascinating technique. He did injure all of them, but they were within acceptable limits."
He paused.
"Lastly, Young Theo captured ZERO Mirewhisks. He stood there watching everyone the whole ti."
Theo had never seen so many people frowning while looking at him once.
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