As Maxine walked into the room that held her elven charge with a bowel of a thin vegetable soup in her hands, she got cursed at in at least two different languages that she didn't understand. This wasn't the first time Maxine got to hear this tongue lashing either. Not twenty minutes ago the poor woman woke up after sleeping for a day and hurled venom filled words at her. Maxine was only grateful that she couldn't understand a single word of it.
"Enough of that. You need to eat to regain your strength," Maxine said in the most professional tone that she could muster, and the elven girl gave Maxine a look filled with caution, "If I wanted to kill you, it would have been simpler to do it while you slept. At least that way, I could have avoided the tongue lashing." She set the bowel down on a bed side table and got a spoonful of the soup before bringing it to the elven girl's lips. Reluctantly, the girl sipped the soup. Once she finished that spoonful, Maxine quickly brought another to the elven girl's lips and repeated this action until she decided to speak.
"Thank you," the elven girl finally said after eating a dozen spoonfuls.
"You're very lucky that I was able to save your limbs and that those idiots decided to bring you to me instead of someone else," Maxine said as she continued to feed the elven girl, "If anyone else had tried, they would have killed you and even if you had survived, you would have been turned into someone's sex toy."
The elven girl's eyes burned with fury as soon as Maxine finished speaking, but the anger quickly passed as it was replaced with confusion. "How were you able to keep a straight face earlier?" the elven girl asked, "The insults I hurled at you would have caused several of my elders to at least glare at me angrily. It's almost as if you didn't understand your own native tongue."
"That's because I didn't understand it," Maxine answered honestly.
"How can a Shadow Lord not understand her own people's language?" the elven girl asked and Maxine nearly locked up. However she had been expecting that question so she wasn't as bothered by it as she normally would have been.
"I don't know what a 'Shadow Lord' is. Is it a type of elf?" Maxine asked while trying her best to play dumb. Acting wasn't her strong suit, but thankfully, it worked.
"They used to be," the elven girl said sadly, "But they left this world eons ago, before humans began to appear on this world. Their excuse was there was no need to stay with a bunch of inferior beings."
"I see. I'm sorry," Maxine said softly. So good to see that thier attitude was always garbage and that it isn't a new development. I wish they could understand that there is no superior or inferior beings. Just those that have different strengths.
"It's alright. It doesn't matter and I'm sorry for saying those things even if you didn't understand any of it," the elven girl said apologetically, "Just out of curiosity, how many of those jewels do you have? Most normal Shadow Elves only have one that corresponds with the energies that they use." So that explains why I found only one on her. Although, I found it rather odd that she has a ki core.
"Three, why do you ask?" Maxine asked, but she already knew the answer when she saw the elven girl's reaction.
"That would make you a Shadow Queen, but that's only if I follow the fucked up logic of those Shadow Lords," the elven girl said but in the next moment, she started cackling as she seemed to realize something, "Those idiots! They ruined themselves by killing one of the Poison Emperor's daughters seeking a Shadow Queen when one was on this world the whole time." I wonder how she knows that little detail. Although it might be possible they have a means to contact the Shadow Lords using some ancient tech.
"And why is that funny? And what do you mean they killed someone?!" Maxine asked angrily.
"I'm not laughing at that poor girl's death. I'm laughing at the irony of this situation. They left this world thinking themselves superior and after all of that, the being that they sought after was birthed on the planet they abandoned," the shadow elf girl laughed all the harder, "And those same idiots antagonized the deadliest, if not the strongest, man in the known universe. It's priceless."
"I see your point," Maxine agreed, but didn't laugh with her, "If you are done laughing, what do you intend to do once you've recovered?
"I don't know. Before those fucking 'heroes' dragged me into fighting those beasts, I was planning on returning to my people once I found a my beast companion," the shadow elf girl said, "But now, I think I will stick around this city. You clearly have a lot to learn about our people and it gives me a good excuse to put something off."
"I hate to break it to you, but I'm only a half-elf," Maxine said and finally realized she hadn't introduced herself yet, "I'm Maxine Cinderson by the way."
"I'm Mara," the shadow elf girl said, "So, you've taken the path of a healer?"
"That's right, and I'm probably one of the best healers amongst the humans," Maxine said with an iota of pride.
"Don't let it get to your head," Emily said as she walked into the room, "We both have a ways to go before either one of us are the best."
However, Mara was looking rapidly between them in disbelief before smirking and saying, "You two are lovers. You two must have thrown the humans for a loop."
"And how did you know that little detail?" Maxine asked out of curiosity.
"It's easy. You two looked at each other like my parents often do," Mara answered. Maxine felt her face heat up slightly and got the treat of seeing Emily blush as well.
"I'm not sure how to take that," Maxine said with a smile.
"Take it as a compliment," Mara said while weakly lifting on her her hands.
"Then we will," Emily said happily. Maxine noticed that Mara was quickly running out of strength and would most likely fall back to sleep in a few moments.
"Now you need to get some rest," Maxine said firmly as she noticed Mara's strength quickly fading.
"Fine, but we are going to talk more later," Mara said in a progressively weaker tone as her eyes quickly closed. Within seconds, Mara was snoring softly.
"Well, that was interesting," Emily remarked.
"Indeed, I always thought Shadow Lords came out of the primordial muck as a group of insufferable jackasses, but it seems they had to work at it," Maxine said with amusement and Emily chuckled lightly.
A sudden thought occured to Maxine and she placed her palm on Mara's belly. She extended her spiritual sense into Mara's body through her hand towards her ovaries. To her surprise, Mara's ovaries had a lot of viable eggs. She had expected Mara to have only a few hundred viable eggs due to how long shadow elves had existed, but in the next moment, Maxine smiled. So, they interbred with other races. Although from the looks of it, they didn't do it very often. Just enough so that their race remains fertile. They are much wiser than the Shadow Lords.
"Teacher, I'm here to remind you about our training session today," Lanitherin said from outside the room.
"Head to the training courtyard. I'll be there in a moment," Maxine answered him before turning to Emily and saying via spitual sense, [I hope I'm just being paranoid, but I think we should keep an eye on Mara.]
[Why? She seems friendly to me,] Emily replied, [What are you worried about?]
[I'm worried that she might tell her people about me and that in turn could lead to one of them letting slip that I'm on this world to the Shadow Lords. They seem to have a means to contact them,] Maxine replied, [We need to be extremely cautious while I grow stronger. I don't need to tell you what might happen if we get discovered.]
[Alright, I understand,] Emily said, [You best get to training with Lan. I believe you promised to give him some practical training today.]
[That I did,] Maxine said with a smile on her face.
Maxine got up and made her way to the training courtyard to find Lanitherin already practicing his basic forms. She watched him for several minutes trying to find a flaw in his movements, but even after he did six sets, he hadn't made a single error. In fact, he was approaching the dancelike stage.
"Very good," Maxine said once Lanitherin took a moment to catch his breath, "But remember, those twelve forms are only the foundation and the stronger your foundation, the more powerful you will become. It doesn't matter how destructive or swift a special attack is. If you lack a solid foundation, you could loose to someone that only knows the basics."
"Yes, teacher," Lanitherin said as he paid Maxine special attention.
"I think you're ready for the next stage of your training. Normally, I would take you out to fight against some beasts, but at your current strength, that would be no different than suicide. There is a safer, but slower, method to gain experience," Maxine said as a smile slowly spread across her lips as she grabbed a wooden blade and took up a stance facing her student, "And that is to spar against me. Don't worry I will lower my strength and speed to your level so that this won't be a one sided beating. Ready?"
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"Yes, teacher," Lanitherin said nervously after he got into a proper stance.
Maxine didn't waste a moment and slashed diagonally at Lanitherin. He positioned his blade so that hers would slide off the flat of his blade. Good, so far. However he made a mistake by trying a spinning strike when he took his eyes off of her.
Maxine twisted her wrist and smacked him on the back of his head with her wooden blade knocking him down. "Never take your eyes off of your opponent. The only exception is if they are dead," Maxine scolded Lanitherin, "Now back on your feet and try again."
Lanitherin rubbed his head for a moment in surprise before he got back onto his feet, but he didn't wait to be attacked. He rushed at Maxine and unleashed a vicious waist chop. Maxine retreated a step as his strike threw him around slightly. She shook her head and thunked him on top of his head with her blade. "Never strike so wildly. It will leave you open to attack," Maxine instructed him, "Always have a follow up or a path of retreat prepared in case your opponent dodges your attack."
This time Lanitherin was angry at being hit and attacked with a series of aggressive slashes. Maxine simply examined his attacks. He hadn't over extended his attack in any of them, but he was quickly loosing strength due to the ferocity of his assault. She simply dodged and parried his attacks until he wore himself out and gently tapped him on the head again to prove a point. "Do not fall for the goading or taunts of your opponent and act on anger. All you will do is wear yourself out in your rage while they perserve their strength. Once you become tired, you will be as helpless as a child in his mother's arms," Maxine said firmly, but her tone softened, "However you did manage to combo those earlier attacks quite nicely without over extending yourself. Were you against an opponent of equal skill, they would've had a hard time defending. Well done."
Lanitherin sat down hard and rubbed his head with his free hand while his other was still grasping his wooden blade. "Teacher, did you have to hit me on the head every time?" he asked.
"No, but I like the hollow sound it makes when I hit you there," Maxine teased a now speechless Lanitherin, "Teasing aside, you did a good job for our first sparring session."
Lanitherin eventually regained himself and asked, "When will I be as good as you?"
"Only time will tell," Maxine answered honestly, "Although it may not be as long as you might believe. You're absorbing everything phenominally fast and you never make the same mistake twice, once it's been revealed to you. You will make a fine blademaster one day."
"It's still not fair for you to spar with me," Lanitherin complained, "I should be practicing against others at my skill level or at the very least my age."
"And who do you suggest you spar against? Someone else's student who, I might add, could cripple you for life by 'accident' at the first opportunity. No, I think not," Maxine said as she shook her head.
"What about Silky?" Lanitherin asked. That's a big no.
"I doubt you would be able to fight at full strength against her. I've seen how you look at her when you think I'm not looking," Maxine said with a knowing smile, "Not to mention, you and her use completely different weapons."
"What do you mean?" Lanitherin asked, "I've never seen her use a weapon at all."
"That's because she has reached a level of mastery that I can no longer teach her anything. Her weapon type is beyond my knowledge," Maxine said honestly, "But if you must see her practice, very well. Silky, could you come here please. I know you're watching us."
Silky skipped cheerfully out of the shadows nearby. "What's up, mama?" Silky asked.
"Could you give Lan a demonstration of your whip skills?" Maxine asked.
"Sure!" Silky said cheerfully before she grabbed what looked like a belt at her waist and pulled it free. Her belt came off of her waist to reveal itself as a long whip. The whip was twenty feet long with a trio of small blades at the end. It was a very narrow whip, but it was more durable than steel. It was afterall made of Silky's arachne silk and she had nearly perfect control of it.
Maxine walked over to a table and threw a single piece of fruit. Silky lashed out a single time with her whip cutting the piece of fruit into five different pieces. The newly sliced fruit on a plate set on the table directly infront of her. "As you can see, Silky's skill is quite impressive and if she were to fight against you, you wouldn't ever get close enough to even use your blade," Maxine cautioned Lanitherin, "It's why I haven't allowed you to spar against her as of yet."
"I see," Lanitherin said as he quickly got to his feet and began training with remarkable vigor. However he kept glancing at Silky while he trained and every once in awhile Silky would glance back. And that's how it starts. And if we are going to live here for five to ten years, those two will no doubt start dating. I might as well let him know what I expect of him if he wants to persue Silky.
"Keep this in mind, Lan. If you want to woo my daughter, you need to be able to keep up with her in combat," Maxine cautioned Lanitherin as a smile appeared on her lips, "Otherwise you will be wasting your and her time. For I will not let my daughter be wed to a man that can't even stand beside her."
"Yes, ma'am," Lanitherin said firmly without stopping his training.
"Good," Maxine said, "Now, I'll get to my training."
Maxine got into a loose stance and began training. However she sent a portion of her mind to the task of examining the Four-Horned Kanzil's ship. She had created a shadow clone just for this occassion, but without a core, it wouldn't stay active for more than a few days before she had to make another.
She just had one big problem. The whole computer system was setup in such a way that anyone that tried to access it incorrectly would trigger the defensive protocols. Which of course caused the whole ship to self-destruct. She hadn't ever heard of such extreme measures to protect the ship's main computer. She knew there was a way around the biometric scanner to access the computer systems, but thus far she hadn't found it. It was so frustrating that she was almost at the point that she was going to remove the computer system and make one of her own in it's place.
But she had to remind herself that she knew nothing about computer programming and she would have to trust the locals to program it. That was definitely not an option. She could barely trust them not to stab her in the back as long as she did her job. There was no way she could trust them to program a ship that was quite literately centuries ahead of their own technological level. They were more likely to just steal the ship to reverse engineer it rather than do what she asked. She would just have to do some studying so that she could do it herself. If all else fails, I could sell it too them. Although they would probably complain when the damn thing explodes on them. Hell, I almost lost my shadow clone due to the numberous traps on this thing and I knew where the traps were from the Four-Horned Kanzil's memories. I can't imagine how badly someone going through this ship blindly would end up.
Maxine returned her focus back to her main body when she felt someone besides Silky and Lanitherin was watching her. She turned her head and saw an unfamiliar greying old man with noticeably thinning hair. However he was staring at her far more intently than she was comfortable with.
"I don't recall telling the staff to let anyone in without notifying me first," Maxine commented loudly, but it didn't seem to bother the older man.
"I apologize for staring. It's not every day I get to behold a beauty such as yourself," the old man said, "Your daughter will do doubt grow into a similarly beautiful maiden herself one day." Okay, I'm not against getting complimented, but he still hasn't told me why he is here.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Maxine asked coldly.
"I'm Norman Gates, or to your tree dwelling cousins, Delegate Gates," the old man said smoothly, "I've simply come to see the person they were negotiating so fiercely for and another matter as well, Ms. Cinderson."
"You've seen me. So unless there is something else you wish to see me about, I ask that you leave," Maxine said as neutrally as she could and added, "I'm sure you are aware that I do not like men."
"I'm very sorry that my presence upsets you," Delegate Gates said apologetically and quickly asked, "How much do your services cost? And are you able to restore limbs? And if so, to what extent?" Huh? Where did that come from? And here I thought he was going to be an asshole.
"The Hero's Association pays me monthly for my services," Maxine answered neutrally, "And to answer your second question, I can't restore limbs without certain herbs, but if I had them, I could completely restore a severed limb." Delegate Gates' eyes sparkled with hope. One of his relatives must have lost a limb.
"Which herbs and how much of each do you need?" Delegate Gates asked quickly.
"The primary herb I need is actually a blood red tree sap and I do mean blood red. The amount I need is the size of a large nut. There are a few other herbs that I need, but that one is the rarest," Maxine answered, "I can find the rest quite easily."
"I'm familiar with that substance. It will indeed regenerate a limb at the cost of one year for ever five pounds of flesh regenerated," Delegate Gates answered, "My grandson lost both of his legs and using that 'herb' would cut his lifespan considerably."
"That is why I need the auxillary herbs. They nearly eliminate the side-effect of the primary herb," Maxine explained professionally.
"Huh? How come I've never heard of this before?" Delegate Gates asked in confusion.
"As you said, the blood-red sap is expensive. I doubt anyone even considered finding a way to mitigate it's side-effect due to the cost," Maxine answered logically.
"I see," Delegate Gates said as he stroked his chin, "Can you give me a complete list of all the herbs that you need to heal my son? It would save you the trouble of finding them yourself."
"Certainly," Maxine said as she got a pen and paper before drawing several very detailed pictures of the herbs she needed, "I'm not sure what your people call these herbs, so I drew pictures of them instead. I only need one of each."
"Good," Delegate Gates said business-like and looked at the pictures, "I know what most of these are and it shouldn't take me long to procure them."
"Just get them to me," Maxine said confidently, "I will need some time to get the concoction ready. May I ask how it happened?"
"A demihuman terrorist managed to get a hold of a bomb," Delegate Gates said sadly, "My grandson happened to be playing nearby and a peice of debris landed on his legs. By the time they were able to free him, his legs were too damaged to save."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Maxine said sympathetically, "Just bring me the herbs and I should have the potion ready the next day. He will need a lot of nutrition dense foods once he drinks it. It will speed up his regeneration."
"I'm aware and thank you," Delegate Gates said.
"Don't thank me yet. It's my job to restore those in need," Maxine replied. And it doesn't hurt to have a friend in this world's government. It will definitely deter a lot of idiots from trying something stupid.
"I will get those herbs to you in the next few days," Delegate Gates said with a smile.
"Alright," Maxine said and watched Delegate Gates leave. She noticed he had two peak silver stage bodyguards trailing behind him.
Maxine turned around and resumed her training. While she did so, she thought about a few things. Well, I just revealed that I'm an alchemist. I'll probably be swamped with requests to make potions now. Ugh, that will definitely cut down my free time quite a bit and it will become hard to make time to spend with Emily. Perhaps I can cut that down somewhat if I start requesting rare herbs for those potions. It's what Guan did. Regardless, I will have a friend in this world's government. I know it will keep any idiots at by, but I wonder for how long. No matter, It will give me plenty of time to try finding a way to bypass that ship's biometric scanner and access the computer system.