Insect Tamer's Ascension

Everyone looked at Celeste beside their father with mixed emotions.

Theo was perplexed too. Was she in puberty? It had been a while since they had met up with the Baron, so Theo thought it could be a product of that; she had forgotten how hard her father was.

But to everyone's surprise, the Baron just huffed in a chuckle and kept his big hand on her head. When he did so, Celeste giggled like a normal child.

'I should definitely have a talk with her, but only after my main tasks are complete.'

The baron started gently explaining to her why she could not get it.

Theo's attention went away from the family bonding and back to the wisp.

It was a creature he had not seen before, or more exactly, it was the first creature he saw that defied logic.

Up until now, all Theo saw were beasts that could spew fire from their mouths, electric currents from their hooves, or something related to that. Even these creatures, while drastically changed from the original ones he saw in his own world, were still a bit the same looking.

But this 'wisp' was another logic altogether; it was just a fireball floating in the air as if it's the most normal thing to do.

"Are there more creatures like this that haven't been born in our own world, Mother?" Theo asked right away without even thinking about it.

His mother looked at him and stopped for a moment. "Hmm… there are many creatures that have come here from beyond this world. And we have done a great job of increasing their population in our world."

"There is no book about this in the library. I was shocked to know something like this was never mentioned in the things I read in the library, and I have read a lot, Mother," Theo said with a curious expression.

His mother nodded. "That's because there wasn't any need for a book that expensive till now. But I will get some for you soon, don't worry."

At that comment, Theo's eyes instantly gleamed in joy.

He nodded profusely to show his appreciation and finally closed the topic.

They all talked about the wisp for quite some time together, to which the conclusion only came out that there was nothing more than its abilities and its element that they knew about.

The concept of how these creatures worked was still being researched. While other beasts had organs just like humans, only a few extra ones at most. These wisps were ethereal; they didn't have anything remotely close to an organ.

Theo found a lot of curiosity and wanted to research them, but soon reality fell on him, as this was not a creature that was tameable for him.

He decided to focus more on his own 'problems' rather than getting his mind diverted even more.

In the end, when they all had their dinners, everyone started leaving back to their rooms until only Cedric, Lucien, Elara, and Theo were left. FindthetranslationonMV&LEMPYR.

After a few seconds of still being seated, all the elder siblings looked at Theo with confusion.

'Shit, I thought they would be going back too,' Theo thought with an internal click of his tongue.

Before annoying everyone, he finally spoke, "Father, may I ask you something?" Theo spoke with courtesy.

The Baron only nodded while he ate some extra portion of the food that the lower-ranked butler brought out for him.

"Have you ever found insects inside a gate you visited?" Theo asked right away, making the Barons slow down their eating to think.

The Baroness spoke, "The gates, they are their own world, Theo. You could even say they are worlds that get connected to our own." The Baron spoke, and Theo nodded.

"As for those insects…" The Baron stopped to think again. "I may have seen some. One type was a real pain to deal with too." The Baron stopped with a frown, as if reimagining a bad memory.

"What were they?" Theo's eyes locked in on the Baron. When the others looked at that determined look, they couldn't help but get surprised—except Lucien, who already knew most about Theo's personality.

"Ants… but not that small kind… they were huge. Some of them had a very hard armor. What do you call it in those insects?"

"Exoskeleton."

"Yes, that. They were a real pain to get rid of. There was a colony with more than 100,000 of these things."

"100,000?" Theo marveled over the number. "Did anyone try taming them there?" he asked right away, seeing that Cedric was getting impatient now.

"Theo, it's common knowledge that ants can't be tamed. They are too loyal to their own queen—even I know that," the Baron said with a frown, as if disappointed that Theo didn't know that.

"No, no, what I meant is… did anyone try taming the ant queen?" Theo asked with a shake of his head. He obviously knew how ants worked.

"Oh, that. No, nobody did. The ant queen was the size of a big cart, and it was so fat that even after we killed it, it was really tough to move it back. Nobody even thought about taming it, as it itself couldn't move without the other ants carrying it."

Theo leaned back on his chair with a thud. The Baroness looked at him with worry but then saw that he was only thinking as usual.

'There are stronger insects that even my father had trouble taking care of… I knew it.' Theo thought with excitement welling all over his mind.

"Father…" Theo hesitated, but with determination, he finally asked, "If I can't go with you… can you get me an insect like that to tame for later?" Theo asked with hesitant eyes.

He really wanted to go on his own, yet knew the odds were all against him.

Elara looked at Theo with a sharp gaze, as if thinking about something. Cedric just stared at him with a calm face, and Lucien grinned.

The Baron only looked at Theo for a moment before an unexpectedly warm smile formed on his face.

"If I survive the gate, I will try to bring something back for you."