Chapter 234: Chapter 234: Weird beasts? (1)

Theo quickly stepped back and showed a hand sign for everyone to see, but the uniformed individuals just ran forward to help the prospective student.

"It’s a paralysis spore. It’s in the air right now, so he might have gotten infected by being so close," Theo spoke calmly. He didn’t know if the uniformed individual would also fall to the ground or not.

Theo had the habit of moving back whenever the mantis used this skill out of instinct but he didn’t know a kid would be this dumb to get in there when the spores were still somewhat visible around the feline.

But to see that kid practically spasm all over in pain—he wasn’t even screaming or saying anything, but the pain could be felt just by looking at his face.

"Hm... your beast’s ability is dangerous to use in a closed space," the cloaked man spoke.

Theo quickly looked at him and stated out loud, "I won’t be using it for my next match then. When do I fight again?" Theo asked.

The cloaked man looked at Theo with a perplexed face.

"... You will have to wait for your turn now," he stated and continued, "The winner for this bout is Theo Merrick." The man spoke before Theo was escorted out of the circle.

When he was sent to the crowd, they made a little distance, making Theo realize that they were thinking wrongly if they believed he had made the kid paralyzed like that on his own.

Through the crowd, Theo saw people getting pushed aside until he could see Ron coming toward him.

Part of him wanted to run the opposite way through the crowd, but he refrained.

"That was crazy good, Theo," Ron spoke with literal sparkling eyes.

His eyes went to the mantis that was on Theo’s shoulder.

"Can I touch it?"

"What?"

"Can I touch it??"

It was the first time Theo saw someone wanting to touch the mantis. Just how weird could this kid get?

"It’s dangerous, it will cut your fingers if you get too close."

"Really?" Ron spoke in a dejected tone, and Theo chuckled.

"No, I’m kidding. You can try."

Ron’s eyes were fixed on the mantis now, who was also looking at him.

He moved his fingers forward, and when the mantis saw it approaching, it grabbed it with the blunt sides of its forelegs and moved its head closer.

At that moment, Ron just jerked his finger back in fright.

"He was going to munch on my finger, Theo!" Ron shouted, disturbing everyone, yet no one dared to speak up to this duo after what had just happened.

"That is sooo cooool! I didn’t know insects could get this strong and cute."

"... You think it is cute?"

"Yes?"

Theo was so proud and happy for his mantis that he offered the annoying kid an elbow tap—he deserved it this time.

The next fight was just two kids making their mammal beasts fight each other like they were two wild animals.

Theo could see the instructor’s bored look already—it was as if this was the norm, which made sense.

They were 10 years old, to begin with.

Ron kept staring at the mantis grooming its forelegs, and the others nearby did too—it was more interesting than watching two dog-like beasts fight each other.

It was five fights later when Theo saw an interesting one.

There was a girl with an aerial beast who fought another one of those aerial types.

The fights were fair to some extent, as the levels, the type, and everything else were looked at before pairing people.

The girl’s small bird chirped once, just like Chip, and then did something that he had not seen before.

When the bird swung its left wing back and forth, a small swipe of energy came off it.

Theo stepped forward to look at it, and the mantis did the same. They had not seen an attack like this one.

The other bird couldn’t even dodge the attack as it was made right where the bird was going to fly.

While he could tell that both birds’ movements were very immature compared to Chip’s, there was an attack that he hadn’t seen Chip do before.

The bird’s barrier popped, and a burst of energy later, it started falling to the ground before its owner caught it.

From then on, the fights were again normal—there were just different attributes to the beasts, mostly the same feline or canine types.

It was not until another 10 fights that Theo saw another weird beast.

It was a bird too, but one that looked just like an ostrich. Theo had not seen it before in this world.

Its legs looked thick, making him feel like they could attack very painfully.

And to his non-surprise, the ground ostrich-like bird beat the living hell out of the other one until the bubble burst.

The bird was big and feathery, standing in the blast, basking in the air in a cold moment.

And when they were done, Theo saw the girl who the ostrich belonged to, she was looking directly at him.

The eye contact was a surprising one, so he just gave an instinctual smile, which the girl reciprocated.

Ron elbowed Theo with a smug smile, making Theo smack his forehead for real this time.

He had been with so many weird kids in the castle that he had forgotten just how weird the real ones were.

After many more interesting matches and some really, really bad ones that were definitely going to end up at the bottom of the class, Theo saw the blue-haired girl come forward into the circle.

"?" There was a slight wait, but at that moment, the brown-haired level 5 boy also came forward with a serious demeanor.

Theo was excited for this fight; he wanted to know what beasts these two had. The fellow level 5s.

Looking at the excitement in Theo’s eyes that came naturally, Ron smiled and looked at them too.

Soon enough, both of their foreheads flashed, and two beasts came out right away.

When Theo saw both of those beasts, he frowned.

They were the kinds he had never, ever seen before.