With a smile, Ania casually placed her hand on the boulder, at least she tried to. Before her hand could actually touch it, the boulder would crumble away when it came into contact with her essence.

"Do you see what I mean? My essence has a nature to break things down on contact," explained Ania. "So, cla.s.s, what do we learn about essence nature from this?"

"That teacher is really strong!" shouted Yeter.

"That essence can naturally attack!" yelled a wildebeest.

The lynx that Oli had once fought on test day also raised his tail to speak. "Your essence nature affects how we attack one another."

Ania nodded. "Those are all true, but there's still a lot more to essence nature than just that. Oli, what else do we know about essence nature?"

"Well, our essence nature is directly linked with our cultivation techniques," stated Oli. "Our cultivation techniques shape and create our essence nature over time. The higher our plane, the stronger our essence nature can become."

"Right! Please, Oli come to the front of the cla.s.s."

Oli followed his mother's command and walked to the front. When he got there, another boulder of the same size appeared in front of him.

"Everyone, watch closely. Oli and I use the same cultivation technique, so our essence nature is similar, but since his plane is much lower, his essence nature is much weaker," explained Ania. "For me, I don't even have to try and the boulder will crumble away. She what happens to Oli when he does the same thing."

When she motioned for him to act, Oli released essence around his hand like she had done earlier.

But when he reached for the boulder, his hand was able to land on it without it crumbling away.

"Alright, that's enough Oli. Please, go return to your seat." As Oli walked back, Ania continued. "Everyone, if you look at the boulder, it's clear to see that his essence nature is far weaker than mine. But you can also see that they're similar because he was still able to leave a handprint carved into the boulder with only his essence"

"For a good comparison, I want Yeter to come up as well. Come on Yeter."

Happy to be an example for everyone to see, Yeter trotted up to the front with a giant smile on his face.

"Yeter, I want you to do the same thing as Oli, but I want you to do it beside his handprint so we can see your difference in essence nature."

The stallion did as he was asked and put his essence covered hoof on the boulder.

"Good, not take your seat."

"Okay!" Proud of himself, Yeter walked back to his seat with his head held high.

Ania pointed at the two marks on the boulder. "Cla.s.s, notice the difference in their essence natures. Though both of them use earth essence and both of their essence natures naturally cause the earth to crumble on impact, notice the difference in the types of impact they created."

"Oli's essence nature naturally carved and crumbled the boulder around his hand, yet Yeter's essence nature caused the boulder to crack and start to split. This is where you start to realize that even if cultivators share an essence type, their abilities can still vary greatly."

Fascinated by the live example, all the students were drawn into the lesson.

"Now, let me mention a few things about your essence nature," added Ania. "You should choose your future battle arts to compliment your essence nature, otherwise you won't be able to maximize your potential as a cultivator."

"Also, keep in mind that the longer you use the same cultivation technique, the stronger your essence becomes. That's why everyone here has been given at least an elder-grade cultivation technique and some have earned a perennial-grade technique after entering the top three seats.

She continued, "If you ever plan to change cultivation methods, remember two things. First, remember to do it as soon as possible. It's easier to change your cultivation technique at lower planes."

"Second, try to keep it as similar to your previous technique as possible. That will increase your odds of successful cultivation in the future," explained Ania.

"Teacher, have you ever changed techniques before?" asked the wildebeest in the fifth seat. "I only have an elder-grade technique, but I want to get a perennial-grade one so I can become a divine beast."

"Yes, I've changed my cultivation technique before," answered Ania. "A long time ago, my husband gave me his cultivation technique which is much better than my previous one. Though it wasn't the closest kind to my former technique, the potential it gave me was worth all the time it took to change my essence nature."

"Teacher, how long did the change take?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Since it was a total change of essence nature, it's taken me over thirty years to completely alter my essence nature."

"Thirty years?!" Yeter blurted out in surprise. "Mama Ania, how old are you?!"

"First off, it's not nice to ask a lady such a question," laughed Ania. "But I guess I'll explain the average cultivator's life span since we mentioned it.

"As novices and adepts, your lifespan is mainly affected by your bloodline. Once you become elders, then your life span will be around two hundred years for the most part, but certain bloodlines can go longer."

Astounded, Yeter then asked, "So, if elders are two hundred years old, how old are perennials?"

"Perennials can usually live up to one thousand years, that is if they can survive that long," Ania chuckled. "And that's just perennials. It's said that king plane cultivators can live ten times that long."

With amazement welling up in their hearts, they all looked at Ania with a new level of respect. They also set the goal to become perennials and increase their life span dramatically.