Insect Tamer's Ascension

Chapter 503: 503. Solo work and perfect guidance

Theo looked at where they had come from and immediately let out a sigh. They had come asking for help, but his smokers still needed to be finished. Whatever decision he made, he needed to stick with it.

Cassie looked at Theo with that same hesitant expression as before, while the others behind her kept glancing between the hut and smoker again and again.

That made Theo feel like he couldn’t bluntly reject them before even hearing their plea. He wasn’t cold-hearted by any means, and connections could prove useful in the long run.

Unable to help himself, Theo sighed again before asking, "What favor?" His voice remained calm.

The girl visibly relaxed when he didn’t reject her outright and hurriedly explained, "We are unable to make the roof stable, young master. The branches keep slipping apart, and our campfire setup is too messy. I know it is shameless to ask, but can you please guide us a little?"

Theo looked toward their camp and then at the group behind her. There were five of them, and at first glance, none of them looked completely useless.

Then again, appearances mean little once actual work starts.

His thoughts drifted to people like Kaelor and Lysara, even Garrick, who were exceptional in their own fields.

"I won’t do your work for you," Theo said, making the girl’s face stiffen.

"But I can tell you where you’re doing it wrong."

Her eyes brightened immediately upon hearing his following words.

Theo walked over with them and stopped in front of their unfinished camp. The branches weren’t tied in a balanced manner at all, and the stones around the campfire were spread far too wide apart.

If they were to start a fire, it would spread outward instead of remaining in control. At least that was one of the bigger mistakes which Theo noticed right away.

"The base is wrong," Theo said immediately and pointed downward. "You all are trying to build the roof before securing the lower support. Fix this first, then tie the upper section."

The students listened attentively, and Cassie nodded quickly.

Theo crouched down and pointed at the stones near the campfire too. "And this is too wide. If you want the fire to stay useful and controlled, keep the stones close enough to trap the heat, but not so close that air can’t flow through."

They listened as if Theo were an experienced survival guide instead of another student like them. Theo straightened his back and gave the entire camp another quick look.

"Also, keep dry leaves away from the immediate fire area. If this were a real situation, your camp might become the first to panic once the flames spread."

Cassie bit her lips in embarrassment and nodded. "Thank you, young master Theo. We will fix it right away."

Theo stepped back without saying anything else, though he did offer them a reassuring smile.

Compared to everything he had already built inside the Gates with his group, this was barely anything. Besides, he still had his own smoker to complete.

The more he stayed there, the more he realized that this class wasn’t about who had the strongest beast or the sharpest sword.

It was simply about who had lived enough in real-world conditions to know what to do.

And Theo could already tell that many of these students had never spent a single day surviving rough conditions in their lives.

He returned to his own camp and focused on the smoker again.

The frame was solid enough, but the opening below needed better airflow for the smoke to circulate properly. Theo crouched down and adjusted the stones underneath it one by one.

Soon, a loud clap echoed throughout the whole forest-like training area.

Theo looked toward the professor and saw those crazed eyes shining even more intensely than before.

"HALF AN HOUR LEFT!" Velra shouted with a grin. "If your camp still looks like a joke, then it’ll stay as a joke in my records too!" he spoke with the same crazy eyes.

Theo had already realized that this man was insane, but adding trash talk on top of that gave him an entirely new layer of madness.

The students who were already panicking only became even more restless after hearing him.

Theo, however, didn’t mind the pressure and instead looked around with curiosity.

That one muscular boy’s group was still ahead of most others. Their camp had structure, a decent fire pit, and even a smart placement near the trees without being too close to them.

Theo couldn’t help but nod internally.

’That guy definitely has experience...’ he thought before his gaze shifted toward Orrin’s group again.

They had finally managed to build something that at least resembled a camp.

But Theo noticed one problem right away. There was no order to it. It looked like each person had done whatever they wanted before calling it teamwork in the end.

Theo sighed and returned to his own work.

When only ten minutes remained, Professor Velra shouted again.

"STOP MAKING NEW THINGS! Fix what’s already there and make sure nothing collapses on its own. I only want to see finished camps when the timer ends!"

At that moment, Theo stopped adding extra support to the smoker and instead walked around his camp one last time.

The hut was stable, the roof was decent, the smoker was bare minimum but still functional, and lastly, the campfire area was controlled.

And there was also enough open space for people to sit around without feeling crowded.

Theo nodded in satisfaction. It wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely one of the best camps there.

The only unfortunate part was that he couldn’t live in this camp, just receive marks and feedback for it.

Soon, the professor raised his hand, and a loud horn-like sound echoed through the training grounds. freёwebnovel.com

"TIME IS OVER!" he shouted.

Many students slumped in relief, while others looked like they were about to cry.

For Theo, it felt normal, but for some, this was already the most intense class of the year, and it was only the first one.

Professor Velra stepped forward, his hands behind his back, and looked around the whole place with a great level of satisfaction.

"Good," he said with a smile. "Now all of you can finally see how pathetic most of you are at real survival."

Nobody laughed at that. Not after many of them had witnessed the truth with their own eyes today.

Velra kept moving around while speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Tomorrow, I will personally rate every camp. I will judge structure, utility, fire safety, placement, thinking, use of beasts and overall practicality."

"You will get your marks tomorrow, and with that, your first impression in my class will be decided as well. If your camp is bad, then I expect you to know why by morning."

Theo quite liked that style of teaching. There were no endless lectures or false comfort, just results that they were going to wait for anyway.

"Now leave everything as it is and head to your next classes. If anyone destroys another group’s work out of jealousy, I will fail them on the spot."