Chapter 299: Chapter 299. Do you want to hurt yourself?

Theo looked at his father with his mouth agape.

"Learn hyper jump? Is that possible at my level, father?" Theo asked.

"Pft... your level? What rubbish! Every level can do a hyper jump; it’s just the jump’s length is dependent on your body’s stats. Haven’t you seen Lucien do it before?" The baron asked, making Theo go back in time.

When finally a memory passed his mind where Lucien jumped with him in tow, and the baroness kept shouting for them to come down.

"What level was Lucien when he did that?" the baron asked with a cheeky grin.

"... Level 7."

"There! You should be able to do the same thing. But you still won’t be able to. You know why? Because your body is too weak, Theo!"

"I will teach you the basics of hyper jump first, and then you will start training not with the sword but your body, Theo. But it will be better if you train with the sword too, because if you increase muscle mass, then being consistent with sword training will have a better outcome."

"Come here, we will start right now." He spoke and moved away.

Theo went to the bond and checked on the ants through the ant queen, and it seemed there was no issue with the situation currently.

’You all are using the big chamber that the crawler made? Nice.’ Theo thought through the bond and then went forward.

"You ready?"

"Yes!" Theo shouted in a good mood.

"Good. Now, I want you to jump as high as you can without holding back, okay?" the baron said, making Theo nod and get in position.

He bent his knees, trying to copy what the baron did before, making the baron grin.

He placed all the strength he could into his thighs and leg calves before jumping up with one hand raised.

When he was in the air, Theo saw the baron from just a little higher, making him feel that he had jumped a lot higher than expected.

BAM

When he got down, he looked at the baron to know how he did, only to see a big frown on the baron’s face.

"Uhh... was that not okay, father?"

"Bad! So bad! I have never seen such a jump before. Can you even call this a jump, Theo?!" the baron shouted with frustration.

Theo felt like he was seeing his father like this for the first time.

’... Did I make a mistake trying to learn from him?’

"But I guess I should have explained how to do it before making you try. Though it did let me know YOUR level, son." The baron said with judging eyes, making Theo smile awkwardly and scratch the back of his head.

"Look, there are 3 things you need to make sure before you do another hyper jump."

"1st!" the baron shouted with a finger up, "Compression. You have to pull strength inward instead of outward, unlike you did right now. Understood?"

Theo looked at him with a blank expression.

"... How do I tell if I am pulling strength inward rather than outward?"

"You don’t know?" the baron asked with confusion.

"...." Theo had no words.

"We will get to that soon. Now! 2nd!" The baron did the same thing with the same energy.

"You have to lock your trajectory." the baron spoke and continued, "You need to first lock where you want to exist, not where you will jump. Okay?"

Before Theo could even ask what that meant, the baron screamed again.

"3rd!" He placed up the third finger, "INSTANT RELEASE!" He shouted again.

"You have to let go with no thinking, no confusion, no second thought. Use every grain of muscle and strength in your body." the baron spoke before remembering something and frowning again.

"That jum— no, that thing you did. I could feel how much strength of your body you used, brat."

The baron opened all his fingers and showed him both his hands.

"10%!" He spoke, making Theo frown this time.

"That cannot be right, father." Theo spoke. "I remember using every bit of energy in my body." He said and then realized he did something wrong but could not put a hand around it.

A vein popped on the baron’s head and he looked at Theo as if he was going to start beating him.

"Calm down, Aldric... phew... he cannot survive this."

Theo felt like he should run right now seeing the baron trying to calm himself on his own.

"Uh... Now I understand!" Theo spoke with fake realization, making the baron look at him with surprise and then a grin.

"That’s my son!" he said with a roar, "Now, try again."

"..."

Theo went into position again and started thinking.

’Compression... trajectory lock... instant release.’ Theo thought and looked up in the air, especially at the ceiling.

He locked his trajectory, that was the place he needed to go.

The baron nodded to himself.

’Instant release.’ He thought and without any hesitation this time, no matter how bad it looked, Theo jumped right after bending his knees.

His eyes closed from the pressure and when he was up, he tried looking at the ceiling.

’Fuck...’

The ceiling was still very far but when he tried landing down, Theo’s body froze.

Currently, he was at two times the height of the baron. Which in simpler terms was total bonkers to even think about, much less do.

His legs flailed for a second before he calmed himself and tried landing only to feel a tug with pressure on his stomach.

The baron caught him with one hand midair.

"KUGH!" Theo felt a pressure around his waist he hadn’t felt before.

The baron was like iron, and it was like he was in a hydraulic press being compressed between his arm and shoulder.

"Don’t you know how to land? You would have just hurt yourself, Theo."

"Well you need to teach these things first, father!" Theo shouted while trying not to get squashed between his arms.

"Hm? You should have told me before, I would have taught you."

Theo did not know what to say. It seemed it would be a while till he learned this skill.