Insect Tamer's Ascension Chapter 517. We are leaving, and I didn’t ask you

Theo wasn’t surprised that Varelya spoke first. She was aggressive enough to take charge without hesitation.

"You’re the only fourth-year present, so what you’re saying makes sense," Theo said. Then he glanced at the chest in his hand before looking at the dummy lying on the ground.

"We haven’t been given a carriage, so one will have to carry the dummy while another has to take the chest that has our supplies."

He turned back toward her. "Are you good at detecting traps, Miss Varelya?"

The girl stared at him for a moment before opening her mouth to answer.

The others were more interested in what she would say than in starting an argument of their own.

"I have some experience with it..." she said. "I have trained for these games, Theo Merrick. I know what I’m doing."

"One minute gone!" Velra announced from the side, making Theo nod.

"Does anyone here have any objection to her being the leader?" Theo asked.

Rhevard stayed silent. Osric simply shrugged as if he didn’t care, while Saevra quickly moved her face to the right, clearly wanting the conversation to end already.

"Professor Velra, are we allowed to change the leader later?" Theo asked, making the professor grin.

"You can, but only if I permit it. And if I don’t see today’s leader show any leadership quality, I will say so myself," Velra added.

"Then Miss Varelya Halvec will be our team captain for this practice," Theo declared.

Professor Velra looked slightly surprised by how quickly the decision was made, but he soon nodded. "Decisive thinking for everyone, I like it."

"Then you are off to the practice now! There is no time limit; your goal is to get the dummy to the end of the map while it stays fully intact."

Velra stepped aside while continuing to watch them carefully.

At that moment, Theo noticed one of the assistants walking toward them and looking at the ground.

Only two of the five team members noticed the assistant approaching. The others ignored him completely, which made Theo realize there was probably a reason for it.

The next moment, Theo was dumbfounded.

The assistant’s eyes glowed red, and a thin layer of the energy shield formed around each member of the team like a protective coating.

Theo quickly set the chest down and opened it. Inside were a rolled scroll, a small badge, and a healing cloth meant to be torn into strips and applied when needed.

"If they just gave us the shield just now... then why include the first-aid cloth too?" Theo asked in curiosity.

"Shield? What shield?" Osric asked with equal curiosity, making Theo stare at him as if the guy was joking. The man’s personality was tough to take seriously.

"We just saw that energy coating our bodies."

All four members of the team looked at Theo with different expressions; some were mildly confused, others fully showing it on their faces.

’Wait... can they not see the energy getting coated our bodies?’ Theo wondered.

A realization slowly sank in.

It felt like he had been wrong this whole time. He was the only one who could see the energy coating their bodies.

Theo looked back at the assistant and saw the man’s eyes were still growing red.

When the assistant noticed Theo staring at him, a knowing smile appeared on his face, as if he too was surprised that Theo had caught it.

"That assistant over there—can you see his eyes glowing red right now?" Theo asked, wanting to make sure.

And only then did the others turn to look at the man.

All this time, Rhevard had been staring at Theo instead, wondering how he had immediately noticed the shield activation right away.

"His eyes are glowing red, just like the referees at the arena records," Osric said in an amused manner, and the others agreed as well.

"Interesting. How did you know about it, Theo Merrick?" he asked right away.

Theo just looked at the guy and shrugged. "I saw his eyes turn red just now, Sir Osric."

"Hmmm~" Osric hummed in amusement.

"Enough chit-chat. Focus on the practice," Varelya said as she pulled the scroll out of the chest.

She opened it, and Theo leaned closer to look at it. It was a detailed map of a route leading through the forest before them.

Theo’s gaze drifted back to the real forest, noticing that it was incredibly dense. Unlike the training grounds they usually used for classes, this place wasn’t open at all; trees covered almost every stretch of the land.

"On another note, did anyone realize why the professor told us not to summon our beasts?" Theo asked, drawing everyone’s attention.

"It’s because you don’t want to reveal to the enemies what beasts you possess. A few minutes of observation is enough for our enemies to come up with a plan to take us down," Osric replied with that same calm smile.

"As expected of Sir Osric. You are right."

Theo was glad about the fact that at least one of them understood the real reason behind the instruction.

’Knowing this means he’s not just a textbook warrior. He also understands how the real world works... or maybe his knowledge is simply far more diverse than I had expected. I will have to see to what extent he goes.’ Theo made a mental note.

For now, Varelya might have been the leader, but Theo was the one carefully planning his entry to that spot.

And he wanted it to happen as naturally as it could be.

One glance at Osric was enough for Theo to realize the man might already have an idea of what he was trying to do.

Meanwhile, Varelya kept staring at the map until she finally placed it down and pointed at one of the routes.

"We will take the west path instead. According to the map, it’s cleaner and less dense than the other one. The east route, on the other hand, is too densely packed with trees."

Before anyone could respond, she folded the map and stood up.

"We are leaving now. Let’s go."

At that moment, Theo saw his first opportunity to completely flip the situation around—and he looked forward to it.