Insect Tamer's Ascension

When the Mantis was fully dry, there was proper moss growth on its body. It was not just on the exoskeleton level, but had grown upward too, just like a plant.

"Ohh… so that's where the moss in its name comes from," Elias spoke and nodded.

"This is a game changer," he muttered, making Elias look at him.

"What is?" Elias asked with a smile as if he were talking to a kid.

Theo looked at him and just shook his head before looking at the Mantis again. Getting used to Elias would be really tough.

He checked the bent-up foreleg and sighed. All the other damages were not that prominent anymore, but the bent-up leg was still the same.

The Mantis was licking the very foreleg that was injured, and Theo didn't know what else to do.

"After about 5 hours, I can do the same thing again. Till then, I would like to rest, Elias," Theo stated, and Elias went to his closet right away and brought back the clothes.

Theo's whole day went into helping the Mantis heal and having some rest time too. It was the only rest day he was going to take.

Getting used to the constant presence of Elias was making Theo have a tough time, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Soon, night came, and Theo went to sleep, leaving the Mantis to roam around on its own.

While the Mantis had been sleeping most of the time, after getting a lot of healing through the baths, it was a lot more active.

With no food around, it hopped off the bed and went to the table where the only consumable in the room was present.

Without Theo knowing, it moved inside the bath water again, which was filled with high-grade potion, and leisurely sipped on it.

_________

In the morning,

"Young master, it is time to wake up."

Theo heard a sound near his bed and opened his eyes instantly. It was not a very familiar voice, and when his eyes got focus again, he saw Elias standing there with a big smile.

"Yawn~ okay," Theo got up with a big yawn and sat there for a few seconds before he looked at Elias, who was still standing there.

"I will get ready on my own. Can you get the breakfast ready, Elias?" Theo said after getting up with another yawn.

"Ah… Do you really not need help in getting ready, young master? I can help."

"NO," Theo showed him a hand and went toward the big bathroom connected to his room. "I am old enough to get my own baths, Elias," Theo spoke, making Elias raise an eyebrow.

But he soon realized something and spoke again, "What would you like to eat today, young master?"

Near the door of the bathroom, Theo thought for a moment before he spoke, "Tell the chef to make the usual again. Make the amount of food double. I am going to start my training today," he said and closed the gate after entering the bath.

Elias sighed and went toward the room's exit before he heard tapping sounds from the table.

"Hm?" He frowned in surprise, looking at the Mantis tapping the little mug to its side with its foreleg.

It was directly looking at Elias as if asking him to do something.

"You want the bath, huh…" He came closer to the mug and went in thought, "I swear this cup was full when I left… Hmm…"

"Well, it is the young master who knows how to make it, so just wait for him, unusual beast," Elias said and gave a small smile to the Mantis, who looked at him with its usual serious and unmoving face.

When Elias started feeling awkward, he went out of the room for breakfast.

After some time, Theo came out of the bath with a fresh set of clothes.

"My armour is not out…" He frowned, and after a sigh, went to his closet to get it himself.

TAP TAP TAP

Theo heard the usual tapping sound from the Mantis and went to the mug.

"Did Elias throw the bath water already?" he thought aloud and made the small bath again with the same procedure.

Theo noticed the Mantis who, for some reason, was very excited to go inside the bath—he could tell. Theo felt a sense of relief; if the Mantis was trying to do something on its own, then it meant the procedure was working.

"Keep yourself inside the bath till I tell you to," Theo gave a command and wore his leather clothes right away.

A deep breath of air came out his mouth. Today was the day Rhys was going to train him as a knight. Theo was both nervous and excited at the same time.

He left the Mantis alone to feed the other insects in the terrarium. As the livestock insects had already multiplied a lot in the big terrarium, Theo shifted the spider inside it to let it have a hunt of its own.

The spider was the only insect in that terrarium who was progressing the most, much to Theo's satisfaction.

When Theo came out of the terrarium room, he heard the same "TAP TAP TAP" sound from the table.

He went toward the mug again and froze. His expression darkened, "You little glutton…"

The mug containing the newly made bath was all empty, and the Mantis was tapping it again as if asking for seconds.

"You're not supposed to drink all the medicine bath, you rascal," Theo said after moving closer to it. "You're supposed to soak it in from your exoskeleton."

The Mantis moved one of its foreheads closer to Theo's face and tapped it once before going back to tapping the mug again.

"Oh, you won't be getting it again this morning, glutton. It's your punishment. Have this instead," Theo muttered while he moved to the lavishly big cupboard in the corner. There were a lot of ores of the same kind just sitting in it.

When Theo brought out some of it, the Mantis had already moved its face toward it.

"Food is ready, young master."