"But if Vloz had tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate 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 circ.u.mstances."

"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 cla.s.sroom, 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 cla.s.s'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 cla.s.s.

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 surpa.s.s 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 pa.s.sion.

"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 cla.s.s 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 cla.s.s amazed.

"Dominus was told to have the power over s.p.a.ce, 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 s.p.a.ce type essence."

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