Path of a Battlesoul Master

Noah walked into the class with a placid expression. Including him, the class contained 50 students, which meant the students ranked 1st to 50th were now his classmates. He quickly spotted Leonel, who sat at the middle of the class disturbing the boy named Argos with his endless chatter.

The transmigrator sighed as he saw this but still moved towards them. Damien and Mona who sat at the end of the same row behind Leonel, quickly noticed him and waved. He nodded in a taciturn manner and sat beside Leonel.

The boy felt the familiar presence besides him and smiled. He stopped bothering the poor Argos and put his hand over Noah's shoulder. "You're late, you know that right?"

The Half-dragon shrugged. "As long as I didn't come in before the teacher, I'm not late."

"Ah, Noah. How are you doing?" Argos noticed him and stretched out his hand while revealing a smile. "I hope that next time, we can finish our fight."

The transmigrator hesitated a bit but still shook the outstretched hand and nodded. "Likewise."

Leonel parted his lips as if wishing to speak, but at that moment, a man walked into the class releasing an aura that made all the students sink into their seats. Their eyes shifted, drawn to the individual who stood before them as if he were sucking them in with his presence alone. He possessed an impeccable body, one which sought to tear past its chains that were his clothes, his handsome face featured dark colored hair and eyes and radiated a ferocious vibe due to the scar that ran from his right eye to his cheek. Everything about the man before them spoke off 'brutality'. And the subconscious murderous intent that he released only further increased that.

Noah didn't care for all that. He was of course implanted into his seat like his classmates due to the newcomer's aura but the murderous intent barely affected him. What stunned him was the weird attraction that forced the attention of the students towards the man. He knew that it could not be achieved through the man's aura alone, which meant… 'He has the Gravity affinity!'

In the end, multiple students seemed to be on the verge of passing out after a few seconds of the man's aura pressing down on them. But there were still some, who seemed to be doing fine for a while.

The man in question smiled as he noted this and dispersed his aura. "Good morning to you all. I am Liam Maine and I will be your homeroom teacher and also your physical trainer through your first year within the academy. I will also teach you guys the basics of world of Maest, things that most of you don't know about. As for the assessment before, it saddens me that only some of you passed the test so I will be doing this every morning when we meet until all of you can last more than 30 seconds under my aura but only at the Expert Stage."

Despair appeared on the most students' expression but they didn't dare to complain, they knew how the Soaring Star academy was. It was an academy that didn't care even if you were a part of the royal family itself so complaining was useless as not only would the teacher continue with their actions but they could also be deducted Credits, or worse, expelled.

"No complaints? Good." The man clapped his hand in satisfaction and smiled brightly. "So today will be about the basics, Path of Battlesoul masters."

Confusion appeared on Noah's face for once as he had never heard about this before, still he was a master at controlling his body, so hiding that expression was a piece of cake to him. 'It seems there's still much I don't know about this world.'

"For those who don't know about it, don't think about it that badly. Your family status just aren't high enough to obtain such crucial information till now that's all." Seeing the confusion that appeared on some of the students, Liam waved his hand and explained before continuing his lecture. "Anyways, The Path of the world as it is known is the path that Battlesoul masters take while on their journey to the top. There are divided into three; The Path of the Body, The Path of the Soul and The Path of Essence.

"Most Battlesoul masters follow the Path of the Soul, that's the designed Path for the world of Maest, given that we awaken the special phenomena known as Battlesouls. It's the safest Path we can take to greatness. The Fiends who attack our world, follow the Path of the Body, as shown by the monstrous physiques that they possess. That is the designed Path of their world, Fiar.

"The Path of the Soul is one we know much about. Any and every Battlesoul master takes on this path. Those who walk this Path awaken Intent upon reaching the Expert Stage, a power that run on Soul Essence and displays its might through its connection with its surroundings and its ability allow its practitioner influence it however they choose. Those who find themselves taking this path transform their Essence Cores to Soul Essence Cores upon reaching the Expert Stage.

"The Path of the Body grants monstrous strength to its practitioners, strength that if practiced to their greatest can topple entire regions with just a flick of their fingers. Those who walk this Path do not awaken Intent, but instead something like a derivative to it called Intent Body, it allows them to embody their affinities with a part of their body. It isn't as powerful as the Fiends but that's because those species possess Chaotic Essence and that aspect of them inhibits them from utilizing systems like Battle arts so there's no need to envy them. Of course only people with suitable Battlesouls can walk this path but this mostly happens among Special type Battlesoul masters. Once they decide to completely follow this path, they transform their Essence Core to a Blood Essence Core as that is their fuel.

"The Path of Essence is arguably the most difficult to embark on. Practitioners of this Path don't gain much but the ability to subtly feed on foreign Essence even if it comes from your enemy and the ability of a much larger Essence Core, at least 5 times the size of someone following another Path while on your level." Surprise appeared on the faces of the students, Noah included. He really couldn't see how the cons would turn out to outweigh such pros, the thought of such a large reserve of Essence at his fingertips nearly gave him goose bumps. Yet Liam proceeded to throwing cold water on his and the students' thoughts with his next words. "You guys think that's good right? Now think of the amount of stress that would place on your normal body. Think of how hard it would be to refill such a reserve and how difficult it would be to refine such a large amount of Essence. Think of the amount of Essence you would have to block while manipulating only the amount needed for the execution of your Arts, scratch that, think of how hard it would be to manipulate that amount of Essence at all!"

The class simmered down as they heard this. Indeed, the stress needed to overcome such massive cons were crazy. Just thinking of manipulating Essence 5 times the normal amount would give anyone a headache.

"It seems you have realized it now." The homeroom teacher smirked as he witnessed their downcast expressions. "This is why most people don't take the Path of Essence, and even if they do, they become hermits cultivating all their lives because they wish to keep gathering the Essence needed for their advancements! BUT!!!"

His words caught the attention of all the students even without his aura. "There's a way that can circumvent these disadvantages...

"The Binate Paths."