Maxine checked on Mara once again and found her walking on her own after nearly a week of bedrest. She still looked a bit too thin for Maxine to in good conscious to let her leave, but she knew Mara wanted to go back home to make a report.
"You should rest for another few days before leaving," Maxine advised, "You're still too weak to travel very far."
"I know better than anyone what kind of condition my body is in and my decision stands. I will be leaving today," Mara replied firmly, "Our people need to know that you live here and don't worry, I won't mention that you're a Shadow Queen. If it makes you feel any better, I will be back as soon as I can."
"It does not," Maxine answered angrily. She had learned a great deal about shadow elves from Mara. Like humans, they believed in the persuit of knowledge, but unlike humans, they didn't wish to compromise nature in that persuit. Hence their progress was extremely slow. However it didn't stop them from developing an interstellar communicator. On the plus side, the thing only worked under very specific circumstances which only occur for three days every five years. Considering they just got very recent information on me, I'm guessing they won't be able to use it for another five years. That should give me plenty of time to increase my cultivation by a few levels as long as I can get my hands on some potent cores.
"I'm sorry, but if I don't return soon, they may think I died," Mara said apologetically.
"You could at least have one of the forest elves escort you most of the way," Maxine complained, but as Mara opened her mouth to protest, Maxine continued, "I know, I know. You can't reveal where your people are located, even to other elves. I get it. I just wish you could bend the rule just once."
"I wish I could too. But without approval of the elders, I would be imprisoned for years, and my escorts would be killed," Mara said sorrowfully.
Maxine was exasperated. She didn't go through all the trouble of nursing Mara for her to commit suicide by leaving in her condition, but she didn't know of a way to convince the idiot from leaving. "Fine, do as you wish. You can get yourself killed for all I care," Maxine said angrily and stormed out of the room.
Maxine didn't look back, but she knew Mara hadn't wasted a moment to leave. Maxine could only refocus her mind back to Lanitherin. He had mentioned yesterday that he had gathered the pre-requisite threads of energy. Although she was curious why he used the word 'energy' rather than essence, ki or mana, but she would figure that out when she reached the training courtyard.
"Teacher," Lanitherin greeted Maxine as she entered the training courtyard. He was standing in the absolute center of it.
"Lan, stay right there," Maxine said as she walked up to him, "We are going to form your cores today. I'm curious which kind of core are you going to form?"
"Essence and ki, I think," Lanitherin answered.
"A Ki core is a great choice for a blade user," Maxine said happily without thinking, but she instantly realized what he had just said, "What do you mean essence and ki?!"
"You said I should gather the energy in the air and refine it, and I did," Lanitherin answered honestly, "Based on the descriptions in the manual, I'm positive I can form a ki and mana core." Maxine had a very hard time believing him.
"Lan, hold still. I'm going to check this for myself. Is that alright?" Maxine asked.
"Yes, teacher. I trust you," Lanitherin said fearlessly. Maxine gently scanned Lanitherin's body and to her surprise and glee, he had told the truth. He had nine strands of both ki and essence.
"Wonderful," Maxine said happily, but her tone quickly became grave, "Remember do not form both cores at the same time. You could make a mistake and permnamently ruin your future if you try to form both of them at the same time."
"Understood," Lanitherin said as he lowered himself into a lotus position to meditate.
Maxine observed the energies cycling in his body. True to his word he formed his ki core first. The strands of ki quickly converged in his lower body and formed a spiral. She could have sworn they felt sharp to her spiritual sense, but she quickly dismissed it as her imagination playing tricks on her. Unfortunately this feeling grew stronger as his core took form and when it finally formed, she saw small blades etched into his core. However it didn't seem to be effecting his core's stability. If anything, his core felt more powerful because of it. What the actual fuck is going on?!
Maxine investigated the interior of Lanitherin's ki core and found that his blade energy mixed perfectly with his ki to form a hybrid energy. She barely noticed when he started forming his essence core. This time she paid special attention to it. His blade energy was merging with his essence strands just as it had with his ki. Incredible. I never knew that energies could be combined in a core safely. Hmmm. I might try experimenting with my own energies, but I will use beast cores for this. I won't risk going insane if I do it improperly on my own cores.
When Lanitherin's essence core finished forming, he opened his eyes and Maxine congratualted him, "Congratulations. You have formed both of your cores, young Blade Lord." Maxine felt a someone watching them and became angry. Who dares interrupt my student's core formation!? She whipped her head around to look at the offender and saw Aenwynn.
"What did you just call him?!" Aenwynn demanded.
"A blade lord, why?" Maxine asked.
"Blade Lords only appear in elven tribes. Never before has one appeared amongst humans," Aenwynn explained, "Humans simply cannot form two cores while infusing them with the special energy." Maxine chuckled lightly.
"Lan, grab your training blade and try to coat it with your energies," Maxine instructed Lanitherin. He bowed slightly and quickly did as he was bid. It took him a few moments to coat his training blade in both essence and ki, but the blade energy made itself known very quickly by making a slight humming noise in the air.
Maxine glanced at a gobsmacked Aenwynn. "Cannot do it, you say? It seems like my student is just like me: capable of the impossible," Maxine said calmly while trying her best not to sound smug, but she knew she failed.
"I wish you had told me he was this gifted. If you had-," Aenwynn said grievously, but Maxine cut her off, "He would be instructed by an elven blademaster that would be prejudiced against him due to Lan being human? Lan deserves better than that."
"Teacher, I don't want to be taught by anyone other than you," Lanitherin spoke up before either of them could continue.
Maxine raised her eyebrow at Lanitherin and looked at Aenwynn before saying, "Well, you heard him. He rather I teach him." Although, I know he wants to stay here due to Silky being here.
"Fine, but should he ever change his mind, all he needs to do is make his desire known," Aenwynn said, but her attitude quickly changed when she seemed to remember something, "I just remembered why I came here in the first place. Why is it that you didn't say anything about your recent guest?"
"She asked me not to," Maxine answered honestly, "I was simply respecting her wishes."
Aenwynn sighed, "I know you have a duty and obligation to protect the privacy of your patients, but couldn't you have stalled her until I got here?"
"No," Maxine said flatly, "She was quite adamant about leaving this morning against my advice. I don't even know if she will survive the journey back to her people."
"Fine," Aenwynn said with a growl, "Just so you know, I will be leaving in the next few days. Our negotiations are nearly at an end. Do you still wish to remain here? Wouldn't you be more comfortable amongst other elves?"
"No, thank you. I've been given enough looks of distain from my elven cousins for one lifetime as it is," Maxine answered. No matter how much you say otherwise, your companions have given me enough of those looks for me to figure out the kind of welcome I would recieve.
"I understand," Aenwynn said with disappointment in her voice.
"If there is nothing else, we need to give Lan some time to get used to his new strength," Maxine said to Aenwynn before turning to Lanitherin, "Go ahead and experiment with your newfound abilities for as long as you want. Try not to damage anything, but I understand if can't avoid it. We can resume your normal training tomorrow."
"Yes, teacher," Lanitherin said with a slight bow before he started swinging his energy clad, wooden training sword.
Maxine left the training courtyard with Aenwynn and escorted her to the front door of her mansion. "Is there something else on your mind? You seem edgy," Maxine said knowingly and Aenwynn sighed audibly.
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"Why didn't you mention that you were an alchemist earlier?" Aenwynn asked. It seems Delegate Gates couldn't contain himself and said something to them.
"I didn't think it was important," Maxine answered, "As a healer, it's my duty to learn everything that I can to help my patients. My alchemical knowledge is just another means to heal my patients."
"Where did you learn your skills?" Aenwynn asked.
"Self-study," Maxine answered simply. I'm technically telling the truth. Guan only gave me his notes. He never guided me personally.
"You keep making a habit of doing the impossible. First you are a blademaster, teacher of a human Blade Lord and now a skilled, self-taught alchemist. Is there any other impossible feat you wish to add to this?" Aenwynn asked almost humorously.
"Not at the moment," Maxine said with an amused smile on her lips.
"Good. You've given me enough of a headache to deal with as it is," Aenwynn said, "I won't be able to come visit you again after today and there is one last thing I want to ask you."
"Go for it," Maxine replied encouragingly.
"What are you going to do once the humans realize what your daughter is?" Aenwynn asked and Maxine felt her blood run cold, "You know how their greed will influence their actions."
"I know perfectly well how they will behave in that situation and I have a plan in place in that event," Maxine answered. I will let my Shadow Wolves loose to cause as much havoc as they can while I flee with everyone atop my dragon.
"Whatever plan you have, it may not be enough to deter the humans," Aenwynn said gravely and she handed Maxine a map and a silver token, "Just know that if you ever need shelter, you will always be welcome amongst the forest elves." Maxine already knew it was a map to the closest forest elf city. She guess the silver token was a form of identification amongst the elves or at the very least, a pass of some kind.
"Thank you," Maxine said gratefully, "But I already have a place picked out to hide at."
"All the same, my invitation still stands," Aenwynn said.
"Thank you again and may you have safe travels," Maxine said as they finally reached the front door to her mansion.
"I will since our guardian beast will be escorting us home," Aenwynn said, "Farewell, my friend."
"Farewell," Maxine said in return as Aenwynn left.
However as Aenwynn left her sight, Hero Alec Ard appeared with a strange man in tow. He was skinny, almost skeletal, in appearance and had raven black hair. She glanced at the badge on the man's hip. He was an A ranked hero, and for some reason, he made her skin crawl more than normal. God I hate this unreasonable fear of men.
"Maxine!" Hero Alec Ard called to her as he jogged up to her with that strange man, "I'm glad I caught you. This is Hero Malcolm. He was recently recruited and I wanted to introduce him to this city's best healer." I doubt that's the truth. I bet he just wanted another excuse to come here and invite me to his team again. Doesn't he ever give up?
"I'm one of the top two healers," Maxine corrected him, "While I am the strongest, there are others far more efficient at using their energies to heal than I am."
"Regardless, you can nearly fully heal almost any injury," Hero Alec Ard countered.
"While true, it's also ruinously inefficient for me to heal an injury to that extent," Maxine answered honestly. However Maxine felt something brush against her mental defenses. Someone's spiritual sense was trying to effect her mind. She traced it to Hero Malcolm. I don't know what he is trying, but he can't break through my defenses. It's rather annoying.
"That by itself still requires skill," Hero Alec Ard complimented Maxine.
"Not at much as you would think," Maxine answered and looked into Hero Malcolm's eyes. He wasn't looking at her face. His gaze was locked onto her chest. I know I have a nice pair of breasts, but he should know better than to stare at them so blatantly. She took a closer look at what he was trying to do with his spiritual sense. It looked like he was trying to stimulate a certain part of her brain. She had no idea what it would do for certain, but she was guessing it would put her in a very suggestive state of mind.
"Don't sell yourself short. You are a miracle worker," Hero Alec Ard continued to flatter Maxine and in that moment, Maxine finally realized what Hero Malcolm was trying to do. That piece of shit.
"If you truly felt that way, you wouldn't bring this sex crazed idiot here. He's actively trying to turn me into his sex puppet," Maxine said angrily and saw Hero Alec Ard's surprise, "Although his attempts are rather pathetic. I could resist his psychic attacks all day."
"What?!" Hero Alec Ard roared angrily before slamming Hero Malcolm to the ground, "Are you stupid?! Pissing off the healers is a sure way to ensure that you die!" You're one to talk. You're probably the one that put him up to this in the first place.
"I'll leave you to deal with this," Maxine said as she walked inside and sighed. It wasn't even lunch time yet and she was already stressed. Thankfully she hoped nothing else would add onto this stress. What she needed to do was relax and she knew just how to do that.
Maxine headed to the library to grab a book. She had made a promise to the children in the refugee camp to read them a children's story last week. She had formed a habit of visiting those children at least once a week to either teach them how to read or tell them stories. But that wasn't all she did for them. She had arranged a charity to help feed the children in the refugee camp. She supplied most of the wealth to make it happen and only a few other heroes pitched in. Because of their kindness, she made it a priority to see to their wounds first and far more thoroughly than she normally would if they ever came to her with injuries.
Once she had a book in hand, she went outside and used her energies to fly to the eastern gate at sub sonic speed. Only a few people glanced at her. She flew around the city enough that very few people considered it odd.
When she reached the eastern gate, she immediately noticed something was off. Soldiers were scrambling atop the walls and heroes were rushing out of the eastern gate. It was then that she heard a siren going off and her heart dropped into her stomach. That siren was to warn everyone that a beast horde was on it's way. Shit, shit, shit! Those fuckers made laws so that even in this kind of situation the children amongst the refugees can't take shelter within the city's walls.
Maxine flew past the wall and found the children clustered together with their parents forming a fleshy wall between them and the forest. Each one of their parents had some kind of makeshift weapon in their hands. She felt a familiar pain as she saw that scene. It reminded her of several events from her past life where several parents sacrificed their lives for their children to live just for a few moments longer. At that instant, she decided to help them. She didn't care who she pissed off with her actions.
Maxine dived down to a spot directly infront of the refugees protecting their children and landed with enough force to knock up a dust cloud. She used that as a screen to put her dress she was wearing and the book in her hand into her dimensional ring and summon forth her Shadow's Embrace armor minus the hood and face mask. Familiar white scaled leather armor covered her from neck to foot. It was only white due to her conscious effort to change it's color.
She admonished herself that she hadn't actually used it since she had gotten it from Guan and thus it wasn't battle tested yet. However she couldn't think about that right now.
As the dust cloud cleared, she used her energies to put her loosely hanging hair into a tight braid since she didn't want her long hair to get into her eyes. Getting blinded by her own hair would not be pleasant while dodging attacks from multiple angles.
She could sense the refugees and the nearby heroes look at her with disbelief, but she wasn't going to stop there. She pulled the remaining dust cloud in to help form two silver blades with her energies in each of her hands. These blades were not as strong as her Twilight Iron Blades, but they were good enough to kill most silver stage beasts. But to kill a gold stage beast, they were completely inadequate. Thankfully she doubted she would have to face a beast of that strength considering the number of heroes nearby.
Still, Maxine wasted no time and walked straight to the highest ranked hero present. "Why havn't you taken these people, or at the very least the children, inside of the walls?" she asked angrily.
"We can't," the hero responded, "They would disrupt our defense."
"And how pray tell would a group of children do that?" Maxine asked, "If anything, they would motivate the soldiers to fight harder."
"Well, I ...," the hero said, but after only a moment of being glared at, he folded, "We can't. It's against the govenor's orders to let them in." She gave him a withering glare.
"Then go inform the govenor that as long as they remain out here, so will I," Maxine growled and when he didn't move quickly, she added, "You best inform him quickly. The beast horde is almost here. I may be a skilled blademaster as well as a healer, but even I won't last that long against a beast horde." She didn't bother to see if he was going to do it or not as she walked back infront of the refugees and their children.
He had apparently sent a runner because not five minutes after she finished talking to him Aenwynn charged out of the eastern gate. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Aenwynn demanded, "Why are you risking your life for some ordinary humans?! Do you have any idea what you've cost us?!"
"Hello, Aenwynn. It's nice to see you too," Maxine said casually, "I thought I wouldn't be able to see you again for awhile."
"Don't play around!" Aenwynn roared, "We won't be able to free as many of my people now because of you!"
"Then simply buy them all back," Maxine countered coldly, "You should know as well as I do humans are highly motivated by greed. You said so earlier. But if that doesn't suit you, start assasinating their government officials and tell them you won't stop until your people are freed."
"That's barbaric," Aenwynn said in horror.
"And that attitude is why humans will always take advantage of you," Maxine replied, "If you won't be ruthless to the people that enslave your people, they will just walk all over you."
"That still doesn't tell me why you are trying to kill yourself over some humans," Aenwynn growled.
"Think what you will. I'm not moving until they are inside those walls," Maxine said firmly, "In any case, I doubt your people will have to do much at the negotiation table. I gave a limb restoring potion to Delegate Gates two days ago and his grandson is already showing signs of regeneration without side-effects. And the heroes that I've saved from loss of life and limb will no doubt make a commotion about me being out here in harm's way."
"And if you're wrong?" Aenwynn asked.
"Then that's my problem, not yours," Maxine answered without emotion. If they really don't bring these people inside the walls and I survive this, I'm probably going to kill all of the delegates and the govenor. After that, I will take everyone to a cave near the Four-Horned Kanzil's ship. Compared to putting up with these corrupt assholes, living in the wilds would be a piece of cake.
Somehow Aenwynn caught onto her thoughts and she backed away from Maxine with a fearful look. "I will try to get them to change their minds," Aenwynn said, "Stay alive until then." She turned into a blur as she ran back into the city. Now all I need to do is wait. Since the sirens just went off, those beasts should be here in roughly thirty minutes to an hour. They better make their decision quick. It will take time to get these people beind those walls and I really don't want to be here when that beast horde arrives. Although I would probably survive it as long as these 'heroes' arn't completely idiots. However these refugees won't be so fortunate.