Chapter 200: A trolley for ants to travel with the party! (1)
Theo closed his eyes for all the notifications to first come all together.
It took ten seconds to finally normalize, and that was when Theo realized it was going to be a complicated process from now on.
He had to look at the notifications this time, but he already knew that in times of danger, he would have to disregard the notifications to fight forward.
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[Congratulations! Your Shardjaw ant helped defeat a leopard roach (Level 0)!]
[Both Grade (+) and Level (+) benefit detected]
[Adding 20% to the base EXP]
[EXP gained: 0.63 + 20%
Distribution:
Shardjaw worker ant: 0.05 EXP
Shardjaw ant queen: 0.03]
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These were the messages that popped up 16 times.
15 were for the worker ants and the ant queen, while one was for Theo.
When Theo looked at the amount of experience each ant was getting, he couldn’t help but frown.
’It’s too little, I might need to do something about it.’
Now that he knew he had not only tamed the ant queen but all the ants included in it, which will, in addition, include those that will come out of the larvae.
After so long, Theo was feeling that same need to complete that brainless grind of experience points, which he did with the mantis.
He got some more roaches and told the ant queen that they were going to get strong for the outside world this way.
The queen accepted the challenge every time, which was a bit weird.
And by the end of the third wave of roaches he sent their way, he had realized that the command had to be a lot more complex than this one.
Fortunately, the ant queen could make intelligent decisions like this one.
So from then on, Theo told it to make only four of the worker ants fight with the roaches that were, in fact, just a harmless bunch in front of the ants.
Some time passed, and Elias entered the terrarium room after making sure all the tasks given by Theo were completed.
"Congratulations, young master, the case on Sir Knight has been taken back."
"What? Really??" Theo asked with dumbfounded happiness.
He almost yelped out in a cheer but realized that there was an open box of many roaches in his hand.
Yet his happiness was overboard, he gave the box to Elias and yelped out in excitement.
When Elias looked at the countless roaches just moving around on top of each other while making some scittering sounds.
He froze in place and was stuck between two decisions; it was either to chuck the box away or keep it in his hand with his eyes closed.
Theo looked at that and just shook his head in a chuckle before grabbing the box away and listening to a literal sigh of relief from him.
"That is great news, Elias." Theo thought while he made his way toward the ants again and threw all the 20-something roaches inside that kept moving forward.
Theo told the ant queen to train the same tactic he gave it with all the roaches. It was for a group of four worker ants to take on a single roach as a team.
This way, if it was defeated, then the EXP would go to only six individuals including the four ants, the ant queen, and Theo himself.
Chugging all the tiresome notifications away, Theo looked at Elias again. There was this expression on his face that Elias was able to detect right away.
He went and closed the gate of the terrarium room and stood there waiting for Theo to speak.
Theo nodded in appreciation and finally spoke, "Elias, you and Clara will be the only ones I will talk to about this for now. Ensure that what you hear is to be kept top secret. Or there will be consequences." Theo spoke in a smile, but Elias could look at those serious eyes.
He gave a deep bow to Theo and spoke with confidence, "I will keep it a secret as long as you want me to keep it, young master."
Theo nodded with a deep sigh, yet there was no pressure in it. After so long, Elias could see calm and relief on Theo’s face, which he couldn’t help but want more, as if it was a rare occurrence.
"I completed my quest before I went unconscious, you know that, so did the others in the room when I told it."
Yet Theo continued to tell him the main thing now, "Well, now I have also tamed my second beast, Elias. And they may look weak right now, but if my dream comes true, they can one day become unstoppable." Theo spoke in a confident voice.
Yet Elias already had his jaw widened and his eyes almost scared for his own life. Theo could feel déjà vu from that expression.
"W-What did you do now, young master?" Elias spoke with an almost shivering voice, as if things had ended before it even started.
Theo grinned proudly and jerked his thumb toward the ant colony.
Elias looked at the trajectory and understood right away. There was only one thing behind Theo right now.
"Young master... why did you do that? Do you want me to be killed this early in life?" Elias spoke with a horrified expression.
"Why are you reacting like that, Elias? In life, you have to take risks to be stronger, and as for the insect taming part, have I not already made it normal in my case? It’s all okay." Theo spoke and clapped once.
Elias still had the same expression and spoke in a low voice, "You don’t understand, young master. Your mother! Your mother told me to stop you from taming any more insects!"
When Theo heard that, he could almost imagine the scenario where his mother instructed Elias to do that. Just like how she tried with Clara once.
Before he knew it, he burst out in chaotic laughter, which confused Elias.
"Hahah... you don’t have to worry, Elias. I will take care of that. You just need to keep making things real for me, whatever I think about. And I have a got a big, big task for you right now!"
When Elias looked at that big smile on Theo’s face, he felt a warm sensation. After taking a deep breath, he became his normal calm demeanor again before speaking up.
"Whatever you need, young master."
"That’s the spirit. I don’t have a design ready right now, but I think you will understand it normally." Theo spoke and continued, "You remember that guy who was dragging the cage from the group of tamers that came to get the level 7 boar from our forest? Where we flew on top of a wyvern?"
"I don’t remember flying on top of a wyvern, but yes," Elias spoke, and Theo got nostalgic.
"Yeah, yeah, you were dragged with us, but you did fly, so it makes it a rare situation, right? Anyway, I got an idea around these ants with the cage in mind."
"I want you to help make a small carriage like that. Where there is a big terrarium like this inside. It could just be a block of compressed soil or another substance, but it should be breakable enough to help make these chambers inside for the ants."
"Do you want to look at the chambers like right now, young master?" Elias asked while taking notes in his little book that came out of the professional attire’s pocket.
"No, it’s not a necessity anymore. The ants can have their own privacy, I don’t have the need to keep watching it like that." Theo said while looking back before speaking again, "Anyway, I have tamed the ant queen, and with that, all the other ants have also been tamed at the same time. The ant queen gives orders to the ants, and me, to the ant queen, so it works fine."
Elias nodded and looked in awe, seeing how many ants he was controlling at the same time.
"So you need a trolley-like system with tires that can handle the terrain of the forest, and also, there should be a big block of compressed soil or a material like that so that it doesn’t fall apart but the ants can still make a good enough chambered home in it?"
When Elias summarized all that, Theo felt another stream of happiness, which literally made him giggle like a child.
"You understand the most basic things I say and still understand it, Elias. Yes, I would want what you just described. You can take your time making this. I will mostly be in this room to help with the evolution and the level of the ants, Elias."
"Oh, I can’t wait to see what the ants will change into, young master," Elias spoke and moved forward to take a closer look at the massacre the ants were partaking in right now.
"I will remember this shape and color of the ants so that I can see the difference. Farewell, young master."
Just like that, Elias went away to get the trolley with the ant colony ready, while Theo kept giving orders to the ant queen to learn how to get them to kill even stronger foes.
It was at that time that he felt a painful scratch on his leg. When he looked down, he chuckled awkwardly.
’I totally forgot about you, mantis. My bad.’