Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 426. Preparing an army

"This is an ability I gained after my breakthrough, Father. My affinity evolved," Theo began.

"I can link two individuals, be they human or beast, through my affinity and grant them the same options I receive. Then the same things happen to me. For example, if within the next five hours you reach a gate and receive an evolution option and meditate before the effect fades... you could become a Foundation Human."

The baron listened in silence, then covered his face with his hands and began massaging his temples.

"Theo... Theo... Theo..."

"What am I supposed to do with you..." he muttered, the pressure of his massage increasing with each passing second until he finally stopped completely and took a deep breath.

"At this point, I don’t even know what to think anymore," he said, looking at Theo with unreadable emotions crossing his eyes.

"You do know the kind of trouble you can get yourself into if this gets out, right?" he muttered with unsettled eyes.

Theo nodded; he wanted to keep the smile he had on his face for longer, but it just faded under his father’s reaction.

"This is akin to the benevolent artifact, Theo. Are you saying with this ability, you can give others the opportunity you have had so far? Do you realize how that sounds?"

"I won’t let it spread in the world, Father. I understand the consequences it will have on people. Their greed would take over, and they would want to have their beast evolved through me..."

"Then they will call you a god instead, son."

The moment the baron said that, silence fell across the room.

Theo didn’t know how to respond to that; he was too bewildered by the statement, and so were his attendants and the head butler.

"You need to be extremely careful about who you tell about this, son," the baron continued. "In fact, in my opinion, you shouldn’t tell anyone about it, not even your siblings."

Theo nodded again.

"But I am damn proud that you got such an ability...," the baron added after a pause. "With time, you might even be able to help this world fend off those outer mutts."

His expression tightened into a frown.

Sensing that this was a very good opportunity, Theo asked, "Father... have you ever fought the outer devils?"

Everyone in that room, except for the head butler, leaned forward slightly, as if expecting an answer.

Meanwhile, the baron met Theo’s gaze, his expression difficult to read.

"I have fought them more than ten times by now," he said. "We got defeated during their first time since I joined, but after that, everything turned in our favour."

He paused briefly.

"However, they have started sending a lot of those fake humans made of metal toward us, making things a lot more dangerous."

Theo nodded. Seeing the look on the baron’s face, he chose not to press any further and shifted the conversation elsewhere.

"So... that’s my new ability, Father. I plan to use this to help more of our beasts evolve for the better and grow stronger."

When Theo saw the look on his father’s face, it became clear that the baron had something else in mind.

"From now on, your ability is a family secret. You are not to reveal it to anyone except the family head for as long as I permit it," the baron said in an authoritative voice, then continued.

"You will report to me, the family head, about the beasts you intend to evolve before starting any evolution."

He stopped, waiting for an affirmation.

"Got it?" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Theo placed a hand on his chest and nodded sharply, almost in a military fashion.

"Good. Now excuse me. There’s a gate nearby, and I will return in five hours, after the evolution is complete."

Grabbing the armor that had been stored just beneath the table, the baron stood up, an excited grin spreading across his face.

Theo saw the man wear his armor so fast that by the time he thought of saying anything, the baron was already ready and had opened the window before hopping off like his business here was finished.

"Since the baron has left, I would request you to leave the study as well, young master Theo," the head butler said with a respectful bow.

Theo nodded and glanced around, trying to locate his father, only to realize he had likely hyper-jumped away.

They exited the study and began walking back to his room. Silence settled among the three of them, each lost in their own thoughts.

"This week, before any of my gate training starts, I want you to procure me as many insects as you can," Theo commanded. "I don’t care what type they are. Inform all the merchants that I am willing to pay five times the price."

Both attendants acknowledged the order before one of them immediately left to carry it out.

Theo headed straight to the terrarium and approached the single beetle he currently had.

’I have decided that you will be the one to protect the ant colony, beetle. You need to evolve,’ Theo thought as he stood near its box.

The beetle, being part of the hive, responded instantly; its eyes glowed faintly as if the ant queen had relayed the message.

’Now, I need you to eat anything I will give you, no matter what.’

Theo then went to the table that was covered with various dried meats and other materials he had identified to be useful for evolution.

He carefully fed the beetle small amounts of everything he had in his possession.

Since it had an earth affinity, Theo was confident it would be able to handle even the powdered stone-like materials.

It took more than an hour, but eventually, Theo unlocked the first evolution option, which he began working on immediately.

There were many insects he planned to add to the hive link this time, and now, with a better understanding of the process, he intended to evolve all of them.

Before entering the gate, he needed to finish the basics.

That way, he would be able to bring along all his partially tamed beasts with him at once and would be able to benefit from it, unlike the beetle, the scorpion and the silkworms, whom he would have to leave behind for now.

Many of the silkworms had already turned into moths, and Theo still hadn’t figured out what to do with them, aside from breeding and making the next generation of their evolved forms.