Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 437. the main goal for entering the gate

The two instructors stepped forward to explain the remaining details, while the third, the youngest one, simply stayed back, smiling.

Theo glanced at him several times, and each time, he found the young man already looking at him, with that same unwavering smile.

Theo couldn’t understand his behavior at all, but he didn’t have the time to dwell on it either since there was so much to write down.

"Your main goal is to survey the gate," Instructor Mae explained, prompting everyone to either nod or hurriedly take notes. "You will assess the terrain, identify the type of beasts there, study the plant life, and finally, determine what materials can be extracted from there. You must also bring back samples of each, stored in compartmentalized boxes so that they can be properly segregated after your return."

Theo quickly grasped the gist of it. These were the standard goals, very common ones, and he was relieved they weren’t being asked to do something akin to destroying the gate, a task he wasn’t confident he could handle just yet.

Corvan was the next one to take over, explaining to them the safety protocols of the gate and survival strategies.

Among all the things he explained, one point stood out to Theo: "Stay close to each other, and don’t venture too deep into a beast’s territory without having any information about its capabilities."

He followed it up with an example: about how there was a team a while ago who had grown a little too overconfident because everything had been going smoothly for them. And how they ended up entering a beast’s territory who could manipulate the land itself and had actually set traps beneath their feet.

As Theo listened, it sounded more like he was referring to a human and not a beast. There were all kinds of beasts inside a gate. But according to Corvan, gates housed all kinds of creatures, some so intelligent that they went unnoticed, while others just too dumb yet overwhelmingly powerful for their intelligence to matter.

Once they were done covering the basics, both the instructors turned toward Oric, the youngest earth-affinity scholar, who finally rose from his seat.

"Now that the boring stuff is out of the way," Oric began, "we will conduct some practices. You will learn how and what you should do when you encounter a new type of beast, a valuable plant, or a metal node during your mission to the gate. We will also show which tools you should use in each situation."

Mae just smiled faintly, while Corvan had a grumpy expression on his face. Theo could tell the two were very competitive with each other; it seemed such things were common among the people who give their lives to academia.

Oric clapped his hands aggressively a few times, signalling the workers to step forward with various items.

When Theo saw a large, square object covered with a cloth, chains attached to its sides and carried by the two workers, he felt a sudden wave of nostalgia.

"That’s a cage," Theo muttered, reminding his teammates.

"You are knowledgeable. Is that from experience or books?" Oric asked, stepping closer. Theo simply smiled, maintaining his usual poker face.

"Mostly from books, but some from experience, Instructor Oric," he replied, making the man nod thoughtfully.

Soon, they saw some workers bring out literal giants of soil pots, almost the size of small boulders, with plants growing in them that looked incredibly valuable.

Theo immediately understood what they were about to be tasked with.

"Alright, let’s start with the basic stuff. Who among you will volunteer for extraction?" the instructor asked, drawing everyone’s attention.

"You mean extraction of plants and materials, right, Instructor?" Theo clarified, noticing the others looked oblivious.

"And beasts too! You will need to bring back at least one beast, alive and all tied up. No taming it either," the instructor added, making Theo nod.

All the people gathered in a cluster, and Theo turned to face them.

"Who among you is confident in extracting plant life?" Theo asked the group, making them look at him.

Clara and Elias raised their hands. After a moment, Cassian followed.

Theo noted their names on a sheet of paper before moving on to the next one.

"Instructor, will we also need to mine materials from the land if we find anything?" Theo asked.

The instructor smiled and nodded. "You will need to bring back at least one kilogram of samples. It simply helps us determine the level of extraction team we would need to send out later."

Theo gave a firm nod and turned back to his team.

"Who would like to volunteer for the mining-type extraction?" he asked while looking at the group, making them exchange glances. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Once again, Clara, Elias and Cassian raised their hands. Theo wrote their name.

He then looked at the girl who was assigned as their healer. She bit her lip nervously.

"I will focus entirely on healing everyone..." she said. Theo nodded in agreement.

The young instructor looked at the girl with a knowing smile before turning back to Theo, who seemed to be in a deep thought.

"Young Theo, you must first understand your group’s strengths and weaknesses. Only then will you be able to assign their roles effectively," he advised.

Theo met his gaze and nodded.

"Alright, for the last category of the extraction types," Theo spoke while the young instructor observed him closely.

"Who would like to volunteer for capturing the beasts alive?" Theo asked.

This time, Theo wrote his own name down first. Then the knight raised his hand, followed by Marek, the noble, and Lucien.

Clara, Elias and Lucien had raised their hands again, making Theo nod; they were well-suited for something like that.

He felt relieved that the noble brat hadn’t caused any trouble during the selection. At least he was contributing and was on the list.

"So, for plant extraction: Clara, Elias, Cassian, and myself," Theo announced aloud.

"For mining extraction: again Clara, Elias, Cassian and myself."

His words made a few of them give him odd glances.

"And for beast extraction: again Clara, Elias, and Cassian, along with Sir Cassel, Marek, my elder brother, and myself," Theo concluded the list.

Lucien nodded, but the others looked at him with perplexed expressions on their faces.

Then someone raised a hand and spoke.

"Why are you on every list?"