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“Oli, you’re probably wondering if there’s ever a chance for common type essences to compete with rare type essences, right?”

Slowly nodding, Oli asked, “Yeah, something like that.”

“Well, if a cultivator can train their essence to the extreme it’s possible. Typically, a cultivator will fit into one of two categories: specialists or generalists,” explained Ania. “allow me to explain the two before I answer any other questions.”

“Specialists focus on one or two aspects of an essence type. An example of a specialist would be Rathe, the territory leader, or Vloz, the academy headmaster. They both classify as specialists,” continued Ania. “Since you’ve all seen Vloz use his essence to disappear and reappear, you’ve already witnessed his specialty.”

“So, he specialized in hiding his essence?” asked Netra, extremely curious about.

Ania laughed, “Not just his essence but his whole being. If there’s a shadow, no matter how small, Vloz can usually hide inside it and completely vanish. Vloz chose to specialize in this because he wanted to be able to escape whenever necessary and kill whoever he wanted in secret.”

.....

“Does everyone understand what a specialist is now?”

Most of the class nodded, leaving only a few still confused.

“Vloz specialized in stealth and assassinations, that’s how he eliminated so many bandit groups in the nearby territories and filled the academy library. As for the other aspects of dark essence, Vloz doesn’t have much control of them.”

Yeter then shouted, “I thought we would use essence to fight? So he used it for evasion instead of defense. What else is there but offense?”

“Those are some great questions, Yeter,” commented Ania, surprised that the simple-minded Yeter was thinking more deeply than usual. “There are all sorts of other abilities with dark essence, some uncommon ones being confusion, poison, and possession.”

“Also, there’s a legend of a cultivator mastering dark essence to such an incredible degree that they were able to have it evolve into the rare type death essence,” added Ania, startling the class.

“Now, as for generalists, I might be the best example in Iron Town. Generalists are more uncommon than specialists because it’s much more difficult to master every part of an essence type,” explained Ania. “Sadly, my husband passed away before we came to this territory. If he hadn’t, then I could show you the true power generalists can wield.”

Karos went wide-eyed and asked, “Which one is more powerful of the two?”

“Typically, specialists are more powerful than generalists, but the strongest generalists will overwhelm specialists. Let me explain why.”

“Specialists have one or two ways to do things, but they are experts at those things. Generalists have some experience with all aspects of their essence type, but can get overpowered by specialists if they can’t counter the specialist,” explained Ania. “For example, let’s say Vloz, who specialized in assassination, tried to kill me in secret. Because I’m not a specialist in earth essence defenses like Rathe, it wouldn’t be too hard for Vloz to kill me.”

“But if Vloz had tried to assassinate my late husband, he would never succeed,” added Ania with a proud smile. “Vloz might land the first attack, but Dioro’s defenses are almost as strong as Rathe’s and he would survive the initial blow. Then, my husband could use earth essence’s overwhelming strength to counter, use its control abilities to affect the environment and slow Vloz down, or even fight from a distance by hurling his own earth essence weapons.”

“Like I said before, specialists are stronger than most generalists, but the strongest generalists will overwhelm specialists,” repeated Ania, letting the lesson come full circle.

“Are there any other questions about specialists and generalists?”

“Which one should we be?”

“Yeah, which one?”

All the students started to think out loud, wondering which would be better for them.

“That’s something for you to decide. Just know that becoming a powerful specialist is far easier than becoming a powerful generalist,” answered Ania. “Becoming a powerful specialist means that you’ll master your cultivation technique to the fullest and execute it to perfection under any circumstances.”

“Becoming a powerful generalist is going against the grain. You’ll have to train your essence to do things that your cultivation techniques won’t help with, and sometimes it’ll be counterintuitive to essence nature you’ve trained through your cultivation technique.”

Ania then warned, “For anyone wanting to become a generalist, ponder the decision carefully. If you aren’t ready to work harder than everyone else in the classroom, then forget it. Cultivation is already an uphill battle, but becoming a generalist is like climbing the most dangerous mountain with no safety gear. It’s unforgiving and you could become the weakest cultivator around if you’re not careful.”

The students took those words to heart. They all wanted to be the strongest, but they now understood that the strongest only get there through hard work, not just the best cultivation techniques.

Most agreed that becoming a specialist would be best for them. Yeter was in this category. The moment Ania said Rathe was a specialist, he committed to becoming the same.

Netra was different. Even though she had Vloz’s cultivation technique, she didn’t necessarily want to become a specialist like him.

“Let me say one last thing about generalists,” Ania spoke up, grabbing the class’s attention once again. “Those with a higher affinity will find it easier to become a generalist than others. Also, over time a cultivator’s affinity can improve, so keep that in mind.”

Smiling, Netra felt much better. She would focus on her bloodthirsty cultivation technique, but she would do her best to become a strong generalist. With her natural perfect affinity, she had the best chances of that in the whole class.

Karos was still torn about it. In the end, he hadn’t decided which he would prefer and wanted to talk with his father about it.

Oli had already decided to be a generalist before he knew what a generalist was. The proof of that was the number of techniques he was training. At the moment, he had now had three different techniques: the Ravaging Earth, Dark Abyss, and Infinite Torture techniques.

Also, Oli was now using his father’s body training battle art, the Infinite Compression art, which was practically another cultivation technique.

It was only now that he realized one reason why his father was so strong because he was a master generalist. Dioro was a generalist in terms of earth essence, as well as soul arts, which was a terrifying combination.

Even when facing his weakness, wind essence users, Dioro wasn’t at a disadvantage.

Oli learned that from a memory of his father. One of Dioro’s many soul arts was called, Spirit Walking, letting his soul walk wherever it wished, including in the air. That was the soul art that let Dioro fight in the air against Brak, the one time Oli saw his father’s true strength.

“Oli, what are you going to be?” yelled Yeter, smiling like always. “I’m a specialist! Let’s both become the strongest specialists around!”

“Sorry, Yeter, but I’m a generalist,” Oli answered while shaking his head. “My goal is to surpass my dad, but I can only do that as a generalist. Otherwise, I’ll never be strong enough.”

“Aaahhh... Okay...” whined Yeter. The stallion then looked at the other two in the top three. “What about you two?”

“Generalist,” stated Netra, who smiled at Oli.

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll consult my father about it before I decide,” replied Karos with a straight face.

“That makes sense...”

Oli laughed, “Yeter, don’t worry about us. If you want to be a specialist like my Uncle Rathe, then do it! Be the strongest specialist.”

“Yeah! Since you’re not a specialist, Oli, that means I’ll be the strongest specialist around!” yelled Yeter, yet again filled with youthful passion.

“Good, now let’s return to our cultivation. This time, I want you to spend the month focusing on your choice, either specializing in one aspect of cultivation or trying a bit of everything. Feel free to take this month as experimentation and decide which you prefer at the end if you want,” stated Ania.

“Teacher, I still have a question.”

“Yes, Oli. What is it?”

“What essence types did Dominus, the Great Creator, and the Demon Ape have?”

With a chuckle, Ania sighed, “I’m not completely sure if this is true, but I can tell you what the stories say.”

At the mention of those legendary figures, the whole class dropped their trains of thought and paid close attention to their teacher.

“It was said that both of them had unique essence types, which are so rare they don’t fall into any other category. Most likely, they were the only ones in history to wield such essences,” explained Ania, leaving the class amazed.

“Dominus was told to have the power over space, able to teleport to any part of the world he wished or tear apart any foe until there wasn’t even blood left behind. As for the Demon Ape, no one knows what it was. But if he battled to the death with Dominus, the Great Creator, it had to be just as strong as Dominus’s space type essence.”

Everyone was in awe. Such legendary figures would only exist in their dreams and would become their idols for cultivation.