Insect Tamer's Ascension

Theo did not know how, but he took another ten rounds in that state under Rhys's sleepy eyes.

After that, he was in a state of exhaustion he had never felt in his life. Rhys was now sitting with the support of the big tree, yet his eyes didn't leave Theo even once.

Even drinking water became a problem. Whenever he took a sip, a stark pain ran through his neck that didn't seem to go away anytime soon.

When Theo was in that state for a while, Elias did everything he could to try fixing Theo again. But to his dismay, Theo was not only tired right now, but he was determined to complete every training thrown toward him.

The whole morning went by, and all Theo did was run forward. It was his third break, and as for the number of laps he had already taken, nobody was keeping any count.

When finally Theo couldn't get up anymore, Rhys did and sat beside him with a yawn.

"You did well today," he said, which did not even surprise Theo as he was just trying to make his restless legs calm again.

"What was the reason again?" Rhys asked, making Theo look at him in confusion.

"Reason?"

"For you to try learning this," Rhys asked in seriousness, yet Theo did not even have to think about it.

"When my beast can't protect me, I want to become good enough to protect myself." Theo stated with a confident grin, yet he went back to massaging his legs right away.

"So even if you were to learn knighthood… your main focus will still be taming?"

For this question, Theo thought a little. For some reason, he thought that this question might judge if Rhys would teach him or not.

But Theo did not care about lying. "Yes, I don't want anything like that incident to happen ever again, Sir Rhys." Theo stated with determination, "And I need your help for that."

For the first time in a while, Rhys smiled, and the sleepiness on his face went away. Theo was so curious as to why he was always so sleepy, even after getting ample sleep. It was a mystery.

"Would you like to try a hybrid style?" Rhys asked.

Theo first didn't understand, but when he thought of what that word meant in this situation, he froze.

"You mean…"

"It means fighting together with your beast. Not many do it in this kingdom." He continued.

Theo imagined it in his mind—the mantis going for an enemy and he would dash at the same time, it paralyzes the enemy while Theo gives the killing blow.

His eyes started sparkling, and it was at that moment that Rhys got half of his answer.

"Good, you're more than capable to learn how to become a knight. Your father was worried for nothing." Rhys got up from the ground and offered Theo a hand.

With all the strength left in his legs, Theo got up, somewhat wobbling, but in the end, he stood confidently.

"Pride and willpower is the greatest resource the Merricks have, young master. And I am glad to say that you possess both. It will be interesting training you." Rhys grinned.

"So… what I just did… that was also training, right?" Theo asked in curiosity.

Rhys went silent, and Elias just shook his head. "Yeah, let's go with that. Come here, we will start your basic training now."

Theo did not know whether to laugh or cry. He did all that just to get accepted as a student. Just thinking about the future made him wonder just how bad it was going to be.

The trio travelled toward the other side of the training hall with a lot of practice wooden swords.

Theo took Elias's support to keep walking.

"We can stop for today, young master. If you want, I will tell him that." Elias muttered in his ear, but Rhys looked back anyway, making Elias straighten his back.

"I am here to train, Elias. I don't know what you are worried about."

Elias only looked at him with worry. He was not able to even walk properly, and only the morning had gone by till now.

When they reached the swords, Rhys hummed a little while he touched each and every single sword in that rack. Theo saw them all and thought about one thing—they were all the same.

After a minute of looking around, Elias finally took one of the swords in his hands before throwing it toward Theo, who caught it from the hilt without a problem.

Rhys took a wooden sword too and stepped forward until he came opposite to Theo.

"Attack me however you want," he stated, making Theo look at his sword once.

The sword was slightly heavy for his arms, even if it was wooden, which irked Theo.

He remembered the little stance Clara had taught him and went into the attacking position before he gritted his teeth and pushed forward.

Rhys nodded, looking at his posture. There was something right about it.

"HAAAH!"

SMACK

Theo used all the strength he had to make a forward vertical slash, trying to hit Rhys's head. Everyone knew it was impossible, yet still, he was told to show his skills from what he understood.

Rhys just guarded himself in an aloof way. Even if the sword hit with all of Theo's might, not a single inch of it moved back.

Theo gritted his teeth and retracted his sword. He made a few steps back and assessed the situation.

'Where should I attack?' he thought.

Normally, while sparring with the guards, Theo could see some openings in their attacks or defense due to their height difference, and he was known to spot and attack these weak spots among them.

But right now? Even when Rhys was just standing casually, Theo did not even want to move forward—he did not have confidence in any attack of his. There was no opening.

Still, he went into his attack formation again and went forward.

"HAAAHH!"