Ning tried finding more information about the Foreman family, but he couldn't succeed at all. Unfortunately for him, there wasn't anyone that had the exact information he had.
So, he wrote an encrypted letter and sent it to a location in the city, which was a safehouse of the Paradise Hunters. With this bit of information, Ning hoped they would be satisfied for now.
Time continued passing and day after day, he improved. He was sent 4 more crystals the following month and 5 more the month after that as Ning had written normally in his letters that he was close to reaching the Essence Manifestation realm and would reach it in just a few months if he got more pure Essence.
Ning continued with his studies for the time being and also continued his training with Tenn. He slowly improved his Essence rank as well, getting closer and closer to reaching the Essence Manifestation realm.
One day, after the theoretical essence class was over, Ning stood up to leave. It was lunch now, so he wanted to go eat some food.
However, before he could get out, the teacher walked in front of him and blocked him. He was a little surprised and looked at the young middle-aged man.
"Teacher Hayan, how can I help you?" Ning asked.
"Student Ning, how are you doing these days? How's your essence training going on?" the teacher asked.
Ning got a little confused, but he answered honestly. "Everything is alright, I suppose," he said.
"Do you mind following me somewhere? It will take an hour or so," the teacher said.
"Uhh… an hour? But I will miss my lunchtime," he said.
"It's fine, right? If you're very hungry I can meet you after you have some lunch," the teacher said.
"No, I'm not particularly hungry, but I would like not to go without it if possible," Ning said.
"Then you don't mind having lunch afterward?" the teacher asked.
"Not necessarily, but I don't see how I can have lunch when not in my lunchtime. If I miss my class, I will have to give up credit, so there is that problem," Ning said.
"If you come with me, I will give you 5 credits," the teacher hurriedly said. He was starting to get annoyed by all the useless talk.
"Oh, where are we going, teacher?" Ning asked.
"To the training hall," the teacher said and took Ning along.
Ning still didn't have any idea what was happening exactly, but he was more than happy to go to a training hall. It had been over 3 months since he had come to the academy by now and had yet to test himself.
He hadn't even tested himself since the test to enter the academy so he was curious to see how much he had improved in time.
The teacher took him to the training hall and started with the physical tests. He tested his physical strength and senses.
Ning realized that while he had definitely improved in those regions, he hadn't improved as well as he should have. Or at least, the improvement wasn't as drastic as it was early on.
Instead of being as strong as 25 humans, he was now as strong as 27 humans. While an increment, Ning didn't care about this increment at all.
His senses were the same as well. While improved, they didn't improve as well as he would've hoped they would.
'They did say the improvement got worse and worse as we got stronger,' Ning thought.
Then, he moved on to the Essence sense test. Ning hadn't taken this test before, but it was rather easy.
All he had to do was see if he could tell the differences between the various different elemental essences at various different sizes and distances. They used all the information to formulate just how strong one's Essence senses were.
The teacher's eyes went wide when he realized that Ning had nearly as good an Essence sense as him, and he was a bloody High Essence Soul realm ranker. He couldn't believe it at all.
"Pure Essence sure is amazing," he spoke softly to himself before turning to Ning. "What Essence Absorption skill do you use? Did your father get you anything special?"
"Absorption skill? I use the generic Twin Moon Essence Absorption skill, teacher," Ning said.
"No way!" the teacher said. "You can't be this good with such a shitty skill, pardon my language."
"Well… I am," Ning said.
"Can I… test your Essence?" the teacher said.
"Test my Essence?" Ning was a little confused for a moment. "Oh, you mean the Essence in my core? Sure."
The teacher nodded and placed his palm on Ning's abdomen where the core would be and closed his eyes to get the best sense he could.
He sensed the pure Essence floating around in Ning's core and slowly his eyes widened. He didn't just sense the purity in his core either, but the strength as well.
"Wait… you're close to breaking through to the Essence Manifestation realm," the teacher said.
"Yes," Ning said.
"That's amazing news!" the teacher shouted all of a sudden, surprising Ning. "That was exactly what I was worried about and now I don't have to worry about it at all."
"Uh? What do you mean?" Ning asked.
"Oh sorry, I was supposed to tell you this before I celebrated," the teacher said. "Say, you know about the Interschool competition that is held every year right?"
"I'm aware of it, although not entirely," Ning said.
"Good! You see, the next one is being held in about 2 months and we are looking for students to take part in it, and I think you are a perfect choice," the teacher said.
"Hmm, I don't know teacher, I'm not even at Essence Manifestation realm, so wouldn't that be a big problem?" Ning asked.
"Don't worry," the teacher said. "I don't need you to fight or anything. All I need you to do is show up and show off just how pure your Essence is, and with that, I think we are set for quite a few points this time around."
