21 Ch 21: breathtaking display.

" Essence is the fuel to everything that moves, morphs or changes in any shape, state or form " these were the first words the white haired instructor spoke, in a voice raspy and straight, it managed to reach all students present in the stadium.

" This ancient source of limitless energy is the drive and heart of our modern society, and it had been that way for generations that passed , and it'll remain as such for generations to come " he spoke such enchanting words that seemed simple yet refined "but to imagine essence the way we process other materials and resources that we normally exploit such as coal and metal, would be a grave mistake all paladins should never uphold."

The man clenched one of his arms to his chest and reached with the other to the sky and continued " essence is the gift of the gods, it is sentient and alive, as much as you and I , and it's use should be under strict rules and definitions "

Aric sighed at first when he heard the religious rambling all paladins uphold so righteously, but decided to perk his ears up when the Oldman spoke again.

" As paladin apprentices, all you can do is feed on the scraps of true essence, the will of the gods carried in pure essence is too great for any of you to resist, the only choice you have is to utilise the pressure and aura released by it to refine the three layers of your body. "

" Now, the apprentice level as many of you already know , is split into three main ranks : control, integration and manifestation , the first rank and the one that most of you reside at is control, where essence roams in the deepest part of your body, so deep it's isolated from the outer realm and all it can be used for is refining the body slowly from the inside…"

" After control comes integration, the realm where one has unlocked his acupuncture points and is able to let essence flow within his inner layer, at a level closer to the outer realm, enough that it's movements in the body is showcased by physical movement in the outer realm."

Having said that the instructor stood from his chair and walked into the dead center of the stage and said " from control to integration, a warrior gets a massive boost in their power, taking something like this…"

The instructor then sent a simple punch forward, with a sharp speed and power, that on its own could break the bones of most students present here.

He then reached back and stood at a stance , took a deep breath then said " to this …"

_ BANG _ the Instructor shot a fist forward and the sharp sound of ripping air traveled throughout the stage.

Silence drowned the stadium and the students present were all dumbstruck by the power of that raw punch.

It was clear that that punch had enough power to rip anyone among them to pieces, maybe not a power possessed by all newbie integration masters, but it was still leagues over anything they can ever showcase, proving the vast difference between the two.

" And that's just integration, most of you would reach such a realm in the next couple of years with ease, the realm that you should all look up to is manifestation, when you break apart your pressure points and essence starts to flow withinin your outer body , cleansing your blood and muscles, so close to the outer realm, it's movement manifestes into the elemental forces residing in your surroundings, bringing about power that can shatter Boulders and melt steel, a power … like this."

The instructor then took a deep breath, and back into his stance, he launched a slow punch forward, slow but it released the sound of tearing wind as it traveled, a sound ten times greater than the one issued by the punch from before.

But the punch didn't seem to carry that great of an amount of strength in its travel, all until it reached the end, where it exploded with devastating wind and power that rocked all the students sitting in the stadium back and forth, those sitting especially close to the stage were even thrown off they're chairs and shot rolling in the dirt.

" That's the power that all of you should thirst for … " the instructor spoke in a glamorous voice and laughed grandly before he returned back to his chair and waited for the other students to draw back and sit down in their places again.

Funny enough, none of the students seemed mad at the instructor who knocked them to the ground like beasts, rather they were all staring at him with glimmering eyes of respect and admiration, this was the effect of power in a society of paladins, centuries of evolution had taught them to admire and respect the powerful,and denounce the weak, it just is human nature i suppose.

Even Aric and Evan were put at the edge of their seats, they were quite far from the stage, yet they still felt the rocking waves of wind blowing back and forth in the entire stadium.

Evan was especially mystified, he was also of the wind element, and seeing the might an expert of his kind could wield made his blood boil of excitement and thirst for power.

It took awhile for the chaos and enthusiasm brought by the instructor's display to die down, he then coughed to bring the attention of the students back to him and continued.

" Now then, the realm I showcased for you just now, is a realm that will take most of you years or even decades to reach, some of you may never even make it that far, thus it is especially important that all of you listen closely to what I'll say next…"

All students were put on edge when they heard the Oldman's words and they all perked their ears to listen.

" Growth is a great thing, no matter what, but fast growth is good only under certain conditions, some might receive power on the price of future potential, others may break through into a higher realm sooner than they should've , these all are mistakes far too common in today's paladin society, and is all the issue of misinformation and teachings of factionless experts and rogues…"

" One should take time to grow, Don't bite more than you can chew , train daily on your control of essence and be patient with the arcane medicine, we're not in a battlefield so what's the hurry, take it in small doses, and try taking it slow, that way you grow both in control and waste less of the medicine…"

The instructor then went on to explain several theories on medicine digesting and use, and took explicit care to explain aliments on the deviation and misuse of essence and how to deal with them.

It was a great class to all new recruits, very helpful even to the more knowledgeable of the bunch such as Evans who found a lot of admiration for the Instructor who seemed to have an infinite supply of teachings and wisdom.

Aric also profited a bunch through this class, even if digesting medicine was not something he had to deal, theories on control and characteristics of essence gave him a ton of ideas and experiments that he could apply to chaos essence to see how it would react, he was filled with a sense of curiosity and he wanted to try out what he had in mind right away.

" ...now last but not least, remember kids, that even though most paladins could breakthrough their acupuncture points at quite an early stage, it's best if you wait on that as long as you can, what acupuncture points you choose to open will define your potential and power further down the line, they're not all that easy to open, some need quite a high level of power and potential to unlock, and it's best to take ample time to research your path down acupuncture opening, a mistake at that stage could cripple your path in mysticism and that's no joke so all of you should be prepared when taking the jump."

It was common sense of an advice, most students present knew that opening ones acupoints before you reache the boundary of 800 kg of force in a raw punch, could cause damage to one's bones and marrow, the body would be too weak to handle essence and some even receive deadly injuries or even get crippled completely.

But that doesn't stop many from taking the risk, due to low potential some warriors have no hope for future growth, and as they grow older , their potential starts to drop and they decide to take the risk and try to breakthrough,and most of the time, they end up either dead or gravely injured.

Aric took special attention to this information, and decided to visit the Library after class to further research acupuncture points.

In normal circumstances, he would've taken a year or two before he had to even bother research on acupoints and how to break through, but now he has the chaos Trinity law, and the realm that he would've reached in a year or two of time, might take him now a month or so to reach.

The instructor having finished his speech on essence theory took a moment to recap the important points, he then took a moment to remember the next scheduled topic he organized his thoughts and said

" Oh yeah ! Our Next topic is on arcane runes and Mystical engineering , what do you all know about that?..."