Insect Tamer's Ascension

'Requirements are quite something this time...' Theo thought.

He was in his room sitting in his little study by the corner of the terrarium. The one room where no one pestered him.

'But what the biggest question is that... why are the requirements so high this time?' Theo moved his back to take support and looked at the system in thought.

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Requirements-

Defeat beasts 3 levels above the Moss Carapace Mantis (0/3)

Consume 3 litre beast blood (0/3L)

Consume a Thornhide Viper poison sac (0/1)

Reach level 4 for 'Regenerative moss' skill (0/4)

Reach level 4 for 'Spore Lash' skill (1/4)

Breakthrough level 5 (0/1)

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There was only one requirement in there that Theo thought would be the easiest to complete. It was none other than the consumption of blood.

The mantis already did a lot of that without any requirements, so he was not worried about that.

But even before he could go to ability level ups and defeating beasts, what Theo couldn't digest was the only requirement that he thought to be dangerous.

'Consuming a poison sac is by far the worst requirement... even though the mantis is always eating everything in a viper's body. It still leaves behind the skin and the poison sac in the end... That means it can't consume it safely.' Theo thought and he was right, the poison sac was literally filled with around ten milliliters of potent poison.

It was something that needed to be stayed away from.

'But other than that, every other requirement is tough but is not dangerous at least... leveling the skills is already something I want to do so it will only come under the path I am taking. But, isn't it too high? Won't it take me a lot of time to reach there? The progression has become quite stagnant too with each level up.'

Theo kept a hand on his forehead and massaged it while he thought of a plan. This was not something he was willing to tell anyone but Clara about.

He knew telling Lucien would be a good decision as he would be able to speed him through all this. But at the same time, Theo didn't want to reveal this evolution too early, it didn't feel right.

The last time he told everyone what the requirements were, Theo had already made the mantis complete them all, so he decided to take that path again. To tell others when the time comes.

'But the worst part is that the big viper kill didn't count here... the mantis made a pretty deep mark on its body. It could almost be fatal if the bleeding was prolonged...'

Theo thought about it and but, in the back of his head, he knew the attack was simply nothing to such a beast except a big scar. It was a great achievement for him and the mantis, but the viper had still attacked with its full strength at Theo.

And if not for the boar and Clara's help, Theo was going to become a battered mess.

The mantis was inside the big terrarium munching on what seemed like a countless quantity of a small insect variant.

It just swung its foreleg once making many get stuck on the spiky blade and get killed. Theo got messages of kills every second yet he had mastered to ignore them when need be.

'Well, it's not the time to dwell on things like this, I need to make progress,' Theo quickly went and looked at the abilities this time.

It was by far the only thing that was even making him consider to get this evolution. The abilities and other rewards were simply exponential for him.

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New Traits:

Regenerative Moss(Ability) —> Bloodbloom Moss(Ability): Healing moss feeds on enemy blood to accelerate regeneration.

Spore Lash(Ability) —> Venom Spore Lash(Ability): Spores carry a neurotoxin that causes muscle spasms in prey.

Poison Spray(Ability)- Toxic poison sprayed from the mouth with a cooldown of 5 minutes per spray.

Poison Sac(Gland)- The mantis produces a concentrated venom in its body.]

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When Theo first looked at it, it made him feel tingles in his spine. The new abilities seemed to be the evolution of the previous ones.

The new ability 'Bloodbloom Moss' came from the 'Regenerative moss' ability the mantis currently possessed. It was the only skill that was still level 0.

The only way to level up that skill was to just keep making the mantis pluck and eat the moss growing on its body.

While the process was quite slow as the already eaten patches grew back in a day, Theo was now determined to make it eat ALL the moss on its body.

It could grow back anyway so it didn't matter.

The new ability would make the blood of the enemies help heal him which felt like an upgrade if no the best skill.

As for the second one, its name had an added word 'venom' now.

'The part about muscle spasm seems promising but will the paralytic ability just go away? There is no mention about it anymore,' Theo thought in curiosity.

The paralytic ability of the skill 'Spore Lash' was always mentioned in its description but the new ability didn't say anything about it.

It made Theo wonder if it was worth it or not. While the spasming of muscles could inflict some pain and panic in the enemy, the paralytic ability made them unable to fight back at all.

In this scenario, Theo found the paralytic ability better than the muscles spasming. Yet it was all still just a theory. There was no way of knowing if the paralytic ability would be gone if the change doesn't happen.

As for what was the last ability, Theo was quite surprised by it. But more than that, it was the thing below it that took his attention.

'So, this evolution will also help generate a poison sack in the mantis's body...' Theo thought and realized something, 'It will likely make it get yet another affinity with this. Mantis already has metallic affinity, nature and now there is a prospective poison one too... I don't know what to feel about it.'

It also made Theo wonder if consuming a Thornhide Viper sac would be the reason for the mantis to form a poison sac in itself too.

'All things considered, it's too risky to feed the mantis poison... I will only make it eat something like that when all the requirements will be met and the evolution just starts on its own like before...'

After thinking about it for yet another minute, Theo concluded that while this evolution still showed [Optional] in it, he couldn't help but feel good about it.

He got up from the study finally and stretched his body. He knew his mother was going to call on him anytime soon now.

Fighting off a level 6 beast was no small feat if one knew how a level 3 took part in it and helped more than expected.

He went toward the glutton who was munching on the insects nonstop. Theo couldn't help but chuckle while looking at him. The countless looking insects could now be counted in approximation.

There were about a few thousand left now.

Theo left it there inside the terrarium to finish off. He moved to the side when he noticed the green tarantula just facing and looking at him with its usual unreadable face.

Theo took a deep breath and moved toward it. The spider's body did not move at all and Theo crouched down.

When he saw inside the glass walls of the container, Theo could only see countless webs laced with poison almost everywhere.

There were even what seemed like pouches of a considerable size for an insect. Theo knew what was inside them - it was the line of roaches that had just bred and fed to the tarantula.

"It's good to know that you're not a glutton like this one, storing food for later is smart," Theo stated out loud and looked at the mantis who was busy munching on everything it could.

When Theo looked at the 'level 1' in the tarantula's status, he couldn't help but feel nostalgia.

The mantis had started just like this and now it was halfway toward a level 4 beast, a level not to scoff at but not a very good one at the same time.

'If I get the option to tame again at level 5, I would have to choose between them if I don't find something better... Growing anew beast will be as hard as how it was with the mantis... even harder I reckon,'

While Theo's growth was going well, it still couldn't hide the fact that the curse had hindered the full potential of his affinity.

While he could evolve beings like those apes and direwolves, all Theo was evolving was an insect.

Yet at the same time, Theo could feel pride in his heart. With such big odds against him, he was still able to progress and think about things like reaching level 5 which should have been a task he would have completed in countless years if he persisted.

His determination came back twofold and Theo readied himself for the upcoming two months of training, that would decide what he considered the greatest opportunity.

The Gate.