Maxine thought over why there would be other Maxines, but couldn't come up with anything that made sense. She sighed as she realized that there wouldn't be any answers until the people from Seton Academy arrived and she looked over to the two battling armies.

The locals were winning so far and the four-horned kanzil elites hadn't moved. However she wasn't going to let down her guard and kept her Shadow Wolf Kings on guard duty. She needed them to protect her since she was still wounded and in a great deal of pain. She doubted she could fight at half strength in her current condition.

She looked at the blood still scattered on the ground and felt her nausea rising when she remembered that she drank some of it. Ugh, I don't think I will be able to do that again, but I can't throw away a means to sate my hydra bloodline's hunger. Hmm, if I were to refine it all into pill form, I think I could stomach it a bit better. Guan's notes describe the method of making pills, but they are usually reserved for gold stage and up. I don't have that level of skill just yet, but I could try my hand at it. With a wave of Maxine's hand, most of the blood on the ground was sucked into her dimensional ring.

She didn't dare do anything that would require too much of her focus when she is so close to a battlefield. However it quickly became apparent that they paid little attention to her after she stopped attacking. So, miss big, red and badass has kept her word. I wonder what kind of weapons she uses. Hell, I don't even see a storage ring or braclet. Unless, she's using her storage device as a piercing. Maxine's eye's gravitated to the female four-horned kanzils ears, but didn't see any earings. Strange, I'm almost positive someone of her status would have a dimensional storage device. Maybe the dimensional storage item is hidden beneith her clothes. 

Meanwhile the battle raged on. Countless people on both sides were dying in droves. Regardless of their superior numbers in the air, the locals' silver stage cultivators were taking heavy casualties, but thus far they were still better off than the four-horned kanzils, whom lost fifty percent of their numbers. The situation on the ground was far better for the locals favor as their weaponry blasted the iron stage four-horned kanzils into a bloody mist. 

She checked on Cassandra to divert her mind away from the nightmare she was watching. Cassandra had changed into some battle gear and looked like she wanted to charge into the fight. The other gold stage draconic warriors seemed to have the same mindset. I don't blame them for wanting to join in. They are watching friends get torn apart when they could stop it.

Her awareness jerked back to her body when she sensed movement nearby. She turned her head and saw a huge serpent. It's body was as thick as her waist and it had to be at least thirty feet long. It was looking at the corpses littered on the ground and looked at her before repeating the process. She wasn't sure what to make of this behavior until she noticed a dozen other snakes just as big as the first one appear just inside the forest. Oh, they smelled the blood. I guess their hungry and are asking me for permission to eat my 'kills.'

Maxine shrugged and said, "Go right ahead and eat them. I don't think they care anymore. Just don't eat them infront of me. I'm feeling nauseous enough as it is." Surprisingly, the snakes nodded their heads before each one latched onto a corpse before dragging it into the forest. Uh, that was a little creepy. Snakes have never shown that they understood me to that degree whenever I spoke in the past. Oh, well. It's not like it's that handy of an ability anyways. Most of those snakes are not even iron stage and the ones that could be of use probably wouldn't listen to me.

[You can command snakes?] the female four-horned kanzil asked via spiritual sense without any warning.

[Technically, no. They only listen to me due to my bloodline. Didn't Sitan tell you which one I have?] Maxine asked in return.

[He did mention you possess a hydra bloodline, but never specified which variant of the species,] the female four-horned kanzil answered, [But being able to talk to serpents can be a useful gift.]

[If you say so,] Maxine replied, [But what's up with females being so scarce in your forces? You are the only female of your race that I've seen.]

[Oh, there's no mystery there. Females are outnumbered by males by fifty to one and my race breeds at a stupidly fast rate compared to these humans,] the female four-horned kanzil replied, [The males incapable of keeping a mate are forced to vent their violent and lustful nature urges during wars against other races. It's the only reason we havn't wiped ourselves out due to infighting.]

[Damn,] Maxine said reflexively, [I'm surprised they're are not trying to rape you.]

[I wish they would,] the female four-horned kanzil said almost longingly, [It's actually rather fun to have attention from so many males at once. There was even this one time when seven males--] 

[I have to stop you right there,] Maxine interupted, [I do not need that mental image in my head.] God, damn it. Their entire race is fucked up.

[This coming from the being that not only ate my warriors alive, but also just drank a great deal of their blood,] the female four-horned kanzil said mockingly.

[First off, I don't have control of myself in full hydra form and the drinking blood bit was to keep that part of me from coming out again,] Maxine snapped.

[Interesting,] the female four-horned kanzil said. Shit, I probably should've kept that part to myself. The pain from my wounds are making me act stupid.

[What you find interesting has made me feel nauseous at the mere sight of meat and now I'm leaving. I've just stayed here to make sure you kept your word and since you have, I see no reason to stay here physically. But I will keep an eye on the battle. Bye,] Maxine said before forcibly severing thier spiritual sense connection.

She created an arch and returned to the hospital basement. However she left her Shadow Wolf Kings behind hidden in the shadows of the trees just in case the four-horned kanzils broke their word. 

Maxine disengaged her Shadow's Embrace armor and sighed at her damaged and bloody clothes. With a thought she removed all of the blood in her clothes and began to cultivate to speed up the recovery of her wounds. 

When she felt the return of the powerful spiritual sense, a day had already past since she began to heal her wounds. She checked the battlefield and saw that everyone had stopped fighting. They were staring at a large space craft heading towards the city. It looked like it was going to crash into some buildings, but it stopped a few hundred feet above the tallest building. 

To her surprise, dozens of hatches opened and hundreds of silver and a dozen gold stage cultivators flew out of it. A lone woman whose cultivation Maxine couldn't see through was clearly the immortal ranked cultivator that she talked to earlier. She looked to be in her early sixties, but Maxine knew the woman could easily be over a thousand years old.

[Why are you hiding in that dusty basement?] the older woman from before asked.

[Myself and the locals don't get along. They tried to turn me into a research subject,] Maxine replied, [So I'm on a bit of a vendetta against their leadership.]

[That's very unfortunate. I was hoping you would serve as our translator until we learned their language for ourselves,] the older woman said regretfully.

[I can still serve as your translator, but I need to be careful,] Maxine said as she transformed into her shadow queen form, [There that should do the trick.]

[You can transform? That's a rare trait,] the older woman said.

[Thank you. I shall arrive there shortly,] Maxine said.

[Very well,] the older woman said and disconnected her spiritual sense.

Maxine brought out her bow and slung it over her shoulder like a proper elf. However, she didn't want to put up with the horny young men from Seton Academy and activated her Shadow's Embrace armor once more. However she kept it's original face mask in place, but not it's hood. She wanted them to see her ears.

Afterwards, she created a portal in a forested area nearly fifty miles to the south of the city under siege and started flying towards it just above the tree line. She arrived after a mere five minutes and waited just outside of the particle cannons on the city's walls. 

Within moments a group of draconic warriors were approaching her. She quickly adopted her ice queen facade. "I can't believe it. It's the elf that helped us earlier," one of them said.

However their leader was more disciplined as he spoke, "I'm sorry, miss. While I appreciate the aide you rendered earlier, I still can't allow you to enter the city at this time."

"I'm fully aware of that," Maxine answered coldly, "And I'm not here on a social visit. I'm here to translate for you, savages."

"We are not savages. Just look at how advanced our technology is," a younger draconic warrior said flippantly.

"But from my point of view, you are. Your leaders have caged my cousins and a group of harmless fairies for research," Maxine said with a tone colder than a blizzard, "I can only imagine what you foul creatures have done to them in the name of science before they were freed, but their emotional wounds were plain as day to me. Is that the work of a civilized race to torment the beings they revere or that of savages?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I.. uh..," the young draconic warrior stuttered.

"Now if you are done, bring me to the offworlders before someone does something stupid," Maxine said without paying the young draconic warrior any more mind.

"Fine," the leader of the group said, "But I have to escort you there the whole way."

"Very well," Maxine said and motioned for them to lead the way.

It took them mere moments to arrive to where the people from Seton Academy had congregated. They had chosen a large park and were taking a non-aggressive stance. Maxine broke away from her escorts and landed infront of the immortal stage aged woman and bowed as she greeted her in Alliance common, "Greetings, elder. What do you wish to tell them?"

"I believe it would be wiser for you to give me the linguistic skills through a knowledge stone to avoid mistranslations. Are you able to do this?" the older woman asked as she handed Maxine a knowledge stone. I guess she doesn't trust me not to antagonize the locals. Maxine nodded her in acknowledgement and did as she was bid before handing the knowledge stone back to the immortal stage cultivator.

"Is there anything else that you need, elder?" Maxine asked.

"You could entertain some of my students while I have a chat with the local officials," the immortal cultivator said as she gestured towards a group of young women that were staring at Maxine. 

"As you wish, elder," Maxine replied and approached the young women. As she got closer, she noticed that most of those young women's gazes were focused on the opaline gem on her forehead. 

Unfortunately, before she could reach those young women, a young man stood in her way with a cultivation of gold stage rank one before he said, "I'm Aziel, young master of the Kelborn Clan." He was smiling in a charming way, but Maxine wasn't impressed. 

"And?" Maxine asked coldly.

"I find you to be the most beautiful creature I've ever seen," Aziel said flatteringly. He hasn't even seen my whole face and he says that. For all he knows, I'm heavily scarred beneith this mask. Time to mess with him.

"Creature? Do you take me for some kind of beast?" Maxine asked in a cold tone, but she was smiling on the inside. This idiot walked right into that.

"What?! No, I would never!" Aziel said defensively and retreated a step.

Maxine walked past him and snorted before laughing to let him know she was just teasing him. Some of the young women even started to laugh with her. She didn't have to look at him to know that he figured out she has just been messing with him and to know that he was angry.

"So, which one of you wanted to talk with me?" Maxine asked the assembled young women in front of her. Before they answered, Maxine noticed that each of them were wearing a small badge on their waists. One half of the badge, showed a mother holding an infant and the other half showed a warrior woman with a spear protecting children.

"We all do, but I have some questions first," a young woman with golden blonde hair said, "I'm Sandra Sylvan by the way and I'm a member of the Guardian Mothers." Guardian mothers? That's an interesting name for a group.

"Pleased to meet you, Sandra. I'm Maxine," Maxine replied politely, "And yes, that is my real name." The assembled young women seemed excited, but at the same time, restrained.

"Could you please take off your mask?" Sandra asked and Maxine raised her eyebrow in response, "It's just that there have been many 'Maxines,' but none of them looked exactly like her. There were always small imperfections with their appearance."

"Sorry, but no, I will not," Maxine said apologetically, "Or rather, I prefer not to infront of your male classmates. I've had enough bad experiences dealing with young masters due to my beauty. You'd be surprised how insistent they can get."

"Oh," Sandra said, "That makes sense, but we can't get any accomodations until Elder Miyan finishes negotiating with the local officials." So that was her name. 

"Good and until then, how about we do some trading? I've got a few healing potions," Maxine offered.

"Yes! We could definitely use a few of those. How many can you spare?" Sandra asked.

"I have twelve on me, but they are not very effective for anyone stronger than silver stage. I've yet to figure out the recipe for the gold-tiered potions," Maxine explained. I don't see any harm in admitting I'm an alchemist. It's not like I'm trying to hide it anymore.

"You're an alchemist?!" Sandra asked excitedly and Maxine felt an angry glare aimed at her back turn into a greedy one. It looks like Aziel is a glutton for punishment. Oh, well. It just means I can mess with him some more at a later date.

"Yes, I am. It's one of the reasons I'm on this world. I found a particular fruit that is a wonderous healing agent for those with a serpentine bloodline and I was trying to figure out it's growing conditions," Maxine answered, "If I could get my hands on enough of them, I might be able to figure out how to make a better healing potion that works for everyone."

"That's amazing! So, what's stopping you?" Sandra asked.

"The locals havn't been very cooperative," Maxine said, "In fact, their leaders tried to turn me into a research subject."

"What?!" everyone in earshot said as one and Sandra said, "Those idiots! Don't they know they are fucking themselves over?! They are just lucky that they didn't try pulling that shit with Guan or his surviving daughter. They would've slaughtered them."

"I really want to kill them myself, but there is someone, or rather something, that deserves vengeance more than I," Maxine said calmly, "A she-drake that was caged for who knows how long and having her blood drained to make draconic warriors."

"These people are suicidal!" Sandra exclaimed, "They don't deserve our help."

"I couldn't agree with you more, but the children on this world are still innocent," Maxine pointed out, "Thus I will only go after their leaders, no one else."

"Yes, you're right." Sandra agreed and she looked over Maxine's shoulder, "Hmm? It seems they have normal cultivators, but they must be rare. That's the first one I've seen in this whole city."

Maxine turned her head and saw Decaan approaching her while Cassandra talked with Elder Miyan. "Oh, him? I gave him a cultivation manual and he extrapolated his own," Maxine said, "He's a monstrous genius if I've ever seen one."

"Maxine! What are you doing out here?!" Decaan asked in the local language as he looked around fearfully, "The gold core draconic warriors will capture you if you stay here!"

"I don't think they canl," Maxine answered, "By the way, did you ever find out what kind of conditions purple snake fruit grows in?"

"Yes, it grows in tropical climates primarily, but it can grow in temperate conditions just not as quickly. It's a rather hardy tree," Decaan answered, but he got back on his rant in the next moment, "But nevermind that, what do you mean that they can't catch you?"

"I can create portals. You saw me do it," Maxine answered flatly and she noticed Sandra wanted to be part of the conversation, "Oh, one moment. I need to do something real quick." Maxine extended her finger towards Sandra's forehead and touched her mind for a moment.

[Just relax. I'm going to transmit the local language to you,] Maxine said via spiritual sense to Sandra. She only nodded briefly before Maxine streamed the knowledge into her head. It only took a handful of moments for her to finish and Maxine returned to her conversation with Decaan once she was done. It will take Sandra a few minutes to absorb that. So might as well continue my conversation with Decaan.

"Now, where were we?" Maxine asked.

"You were about to tell me what an alchemist does," Decaan said flatly, "And you might want to hurry. I think the draconic warriros are on their way."

"Alchemists refine the medicinal elements in various herbs to create potions that have a variety of effects. Some aid in breakthroughs, trigger rapid healing, restore energy reserves or even awaken sleeping bloodlines. There is even a formula to revive the dead as long as you have their soul on hand," Maxine explained, "Although the ingredients for that particular concoction are supremely rare. It's only been used successfully once."

"You can't be serious," Decaan said in disbelief, "I can believe that the other potions exist, but I just don't see how you can revive someone that's dead using a potion."

"I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it for myself," Maxine retorted, "And before you ask, it's a hard profession to take and I absolutely refuse to teach someone it without consulting my teacher first."

"I understand," Decaan said, "But shouldn't you be getting out of here now?" Maxine noticed several gold stage draconic warriors flying straight at her, but at a slow enough speed that they wouldn't harm civilians by accident.

"No need. Even if they surround me, I could still get away easily," Maxine said confidently, "By the way, something's been bothering me. Why do you guys insist on fighting the invaders like that? Sun Tzu would be having fits of rage if he saw how idiotic you guys are handling this."

"Sun Tsu?" Decaan asked in confusion.

"An ancient master of war from my homeworld. Now answer my question," Maxine demanded.

"The invaders have an uncanny ability to see through any kind of misdirection and ambush us whenever we try to ambush them," Decaan complained, "We lost hundreds of thousands of our people before we figured out that only simple tactics and strategy works against them."

"Well, your leaders need to take into consideration your opponent can use spiritual sense and research on how to counter it," Maxine answered, "Also they could use a favorite tactic of mine. Infuriate a lot of beasts in the area and lure them into an enemy force. It's a simble and brutally effective tactic so long as you can find someone brave enough to pull it off." 

"Hmm, I can see how it would be effective," Decaan commented, "But researching materials that counteract spiritual sense will take time that we don't have."

"Well, your military already made a facility that can't be penetrated by my spiritual sense, so they are clearly aware of such materials," Maxine said and just as she finished speaking the gold stage draconic warriors had surrounded her.

"You are wanted for the disappearance of General Bertram. If you know what's good for you, you will not resist," one of them said.

"Him and the rest of your leadership acted against me first after I showed only peaceful intent," Maxine declared angrily, "And now you act innocent and blameless when i retaliate? You're all nothing but hypocrits. I should've never helped you worthless maggots if this is how you treat those that come to your aid." Her rant got the attention of elder Miyan and she didn't look the least bit pleased.

"Is this true?" Elder Miyan asked coldly.

"I don't know the exact details, but former General Detar should," Cassandra replied.

"For your sakes, it better not be true," Elder Miyan said with a hint of anger in her tone. However the gold stage draconic warriors were rapidly shrinking their encirclement.

Maxine looked at them carefully before she removed her face mask. The young women part of the 'Guardian Mothers' group froze as they saw her face. Aziel took this moment to stand between her and the draconic warriors.

"You will not lay a hand on her," Aziel announced heroically in alliance common, but none of the draconic warriors understood a word. He can't be serious. Does he really think I will fall for him just because he came to my defense? 

"I do not need someone to defend me," Maxine stated and Sandra chose that moment to finish absorbing the local language.

"What an interesting-," Sandra stopped herself as she saw Maxine's uncovered face and her eyes widened, "You look exactly like Maxine Levings in her battle form!" However the gold stage draconic warriors were still closing in and Aziel was preparing to fight them.

"Thanks, but really, I must be going now," Maxine said before she created a bubble of shadow essence around her and shadow stepped out of the city. She glanced back with her spiritual sense for a moment to see Sandra and the other 'Guardian Mothers' freaking out. Well, that was fun. Now, I better go back to the hospital basement to cultivate. I used up a sizeable chunk of my energies.