Chapter 182: What is a Hive Mind? (2)
When they reached back to the castle, Theo absentmindedly went inside while thinking.
He did not greet any of the guards and knights passing by, which made them think something was wrong.
"How has your day been, young master Theo?" a guard asked after seeing Theo walk by.It seemed as if his mood brightened after looking at Theo.
"Hm, it’s good," Theo spoke with his head straight in a dazed manner, and he walked past, making the guard surprised.
He kept standing there with his mouth hanging open while Theo went past everyone.
Elias only sighed, looking at Theo’s state. All this time, he had only thought that Theo was enthusiastic at all times.
But he only thought that because he didn’t look at Theo at the time of the ceremony to get affinity.
Theo went to his room and lay down with a sigh. The mantis looked at the ores on the ground, and after taking a small piece out with its mouth, it went hopping toward Theo and sat beside him while munching the ore.
When Theo looked at him, the goal of evolving it came back to his mind, and he got up.
"Young master, we need to talk," Elias spoke with tea in his hand.
"No time for that, Elias. I need to leave immediately," Theo spoke in haste and quickly got out of bed, opened the gate, and went outside the room, leaving Elias with the tea in his hand.
It was after a few seconds that he realized he was supposed to be with Theo and ran toward him.
Theo made his way toward the library and halted, listening to loud steps coming toward him.
"Elias, please go to the Head Butler and ask him to meet me. I will be inside the library waiting," Theo spoke and got inside the library, making Elias hasten toward the gate and halt there.
"Wait, young master!" he shouted, which finally made Theo stop and look back at him.
Old man Bernard looked at the gate and frowned.
"Please come back and have some rest first. You have been out in the forest since the morning," Elias quickly spoke and made the hand gestures for him to come out.
"I have no time to rest, Elias. Just go to the Head Butler and ask him to get to me when he is free," Theo said seriously and went forward only to take a sharp turn right in an aisle, making him disappear from the gate’s view.
Elias could only take a long breath and go do his duties. He wanted to be with Theo at this time, yet duties said otherwise.
When Theo saw Bernard sitting on the same table and chair as usual, puffing smoke from the pipe,
He felt like some things just never changed.
"Well, well, well, it sure took you no time to reach level 5, young master," Bernard spoke in a casual tone, and Theo approached him with a smile.
"Old man Bernard, how have you been?"
"Same old, just taking care of this library like usual," he spoke and continued, "But you have come after a long time. What are you stuck at right now?"
Theo’s smile only widened listening to him; there was no time wasted, just direct talk about what was up.
"I finally have my level 5 breakthrough quest. But it’s a lot more unexpected than I thought," Theo stated.
"Well, unique affinity holders do get some quests at the weirder side, but nothing that is impossible to do."
Theo nodded and finally came to the point, "Old man Bernard, do you know anything about a Hive Mind?"
Theo knew if someone knew what it was, it had to be Bernard. He had knowledge far superior to anyone in this castle. Even Alfred, the Head Butler, could not compare to his knowledge.
And there was also the fact that this man was level 12, a level that many reach, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not hard to get to.
"Hive Mind... hmmm..." Bernard thought about it with squinted eyes.
There was a gap for a whole two minutes until he finally made eye contact again.
"That does not ring any bells. Tell me what your quest is."
Theo told him what his quest was word for word, and Bernard finally nodded in understanding.
"This sure is different," Bernard spoke with a light chuckle, "There is a word stated in this quest that totally changes the whole scenario. Young master, what is it?" Bernard asked while finally keeping the pipe in its holder.
Theo knew he got serious. He read the wording again and thought for a moment until he realized it too.
"It’s ’discovered’?"
"Smart as usual," Bernard spoke, "Discover means you have to find it. It may even mean it’s never been found before too," Bernard explained.
Theo looked at him with a frown, which was obviously not directed at him.
’To discover something that has not been discovered in a thousand years?’
"I know what you’re thinking," Bernard chimed in again with a smile, "That if we didn’t discover it in the last thousand years, what will change now?"
Theo only nodded. He wasn’t even surprised as Bernard always had a way of reading him like a book when it came to knowledge.
"That doesn’t mean anything. Even after these thousand years, we still find out the most basic things, young master," Bernard took the pipe back again.
"If in the last thousand years, we weren’t able to find it, then it’s only because of two things," he explained with two of his fingers out.
"One, it’s really hard to find. It may not even be in our world, but a gate, or even less, somewhere even beyond," Bernard spoke, making Theo’s eyes widen.
Something even beyond? What was that?
"Second, it was just something nobody wanted to find. It’s as simple as that," he said while taking a puff.
"Let’s take an example: that beast of yours, the Moss Carapace Mantis. What’s it able to defeat these days? You being level 5 already says many things," Bernard asked.
And for the first time in a long time, Theo saw a craving for knowledge in his eyes.
It even made him feel better again.