Novels2Search

Chapter 151

Maxine woke up and looked at her grey hand. It was devoid of usual claws that she had grown somewhat accustomed to. Horatio Quay had told her to revert back to her 'elven' state for a few days after he saw how aggitated she was yesterday evening. She welcomed that order, and he put their training on hold for a few days while aggression reset. I should get out of bed. I have quite a few things I would like to do today. And since the Guardian Mothers have no intention of being on friendly terms with me, I may as well start recruiting some people to be part of my personal force. I know neither Ismena or Reina are up to any kind of real violence. I best go out to the Alchemist Association and get what I need for making potions. After that I should see if anyone is interested in being part of my personal force.

She got up and put on some simple clothes. She prefered to wear simple clothes since whatever she wore ended up in tatters sooner or later. She reserved her nice dresses and the like for when a situation called for them. And she had no need to braid her hair since she wasn't going to be doing any training and simply let her hair hang freely down to her waist.

As soon as she opened her front door, she saw Melina bowing to her at almost a ninety degree angle. I wasn't expecting this first thing in the morning.

"Why are you here?" Maxine asked coldly as she donned her ice queen facade.

"I'm sorry for the way I treated you, yesterday," Melina said sincerely while maintaining her bow, "It was unfair of me."

"You're damn right," Maxine said angrily, "And while we are on that topic, why the hell did you call that potion a fucking poison?! Any potion healing or otherwise can be used as a poison given the right circumstances! Hell, any cultivator with half a brain knows that you can't take more than one healing potion of their level a day without overexerting their body's reserves. If you do, that WILL kill you!"

"I'm sorry. But when I heard that you were half-hydra, I became afraid of you and I now know that I shouldn't have said what I said," Melina practically sobbed, "Just please don't blacklist my guild." She was worried about that?! I would only be able to blacklist her branch with my authority within the Alchemist Association and it would be idiotic to make an enemy out of their guild. I have enough of those as it is just from being daddy's little girl.

"Blacklist? Do you honestly believe I'm that petty?" Maxine asked incredulously as she put her hands on her hips and leaned forward.

"Well, I...," Melina said uncertainly and Maxine cut her off, "Just leave. I don't want to even look at you." Maxine walked around Melina and started walking toward the Alchemist Association's building.

"Wait, were you serious about what you said yesterday?" Melina asked from behind Maxine.

"Yes, but consider my offer of friendship rescinded," Maxine said angrily without turning around, "You have to earn it now." She didn't wait for Melina to speak before she launched into the sky, but she didn't head to the Alchemist Association. She changed her mind and headed towards the elven quarter. She felt the need to relax and calm down before she did anything related to money making. I need to chill out before I work with anything alchemy related. A calm mind produces better results anyways.

She quickly landed at the entrance and admired all of the green trees there. Elves were known for growing their homes out of trees and declorated them with flowering, but not harmful, vines of various colors. It was a sight to behold.

"Welcome, cousin. I'm Elwynn," a beautiful blonde elf with red eyes said cheerfully, "Are you called Maxine by any chance?" You don't see a blood elf every day. I wonder if the others realize that she needs to drink blood periodically to remain healthy.

"Yes, I am," Maxine replied in a friendly tone.

"Great, there's been a question that I've wanted to ask you," Elwynn said carefully, "Or rather, everyone in our academy has wanted to ask."

"Go ahead," Maxine said.

"What kind of hydra are you descended from?" Elwynn asked nervously, but still in a cheerful manner. What sort of question is that?

"A Quilled Hydra and one that had twelve heads," Maxine replied. And it was also a king-class hydra. Hence it's title: Twelve Headed Hydra King. Although I can understand why they omitted quilled part of its name. It's title is already a mouthful as it is.

"Oh, thank the maker," Elwynn said in relief, "You see a bunch of the students thought you were a descendant of a Silver Hydra of all things." Is she serious?! Those fucking things prefer to eat children for some fucked up reason and were hunted to extinction for that very same reason more than half a millenia ago.

"I don't know why anyone would make a mistake a basic as that. While there are silver hydras with quills, they are not only much larger, but they tended to avoid humanoids. Humans just are not worth the effort of eating due to their immense size. That question shouldn't have even been necessary if someone had bothered to do some research about the characteristics of that particular variety of hydra," Maxine answered irratably.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Elwynn apologized by bowing deeply.

"Just do not bring that up ever again," Maxine warned Elwynn, whom straightened up, "So, is it alright if I just wander around here for awhile? I need to relax and this place is definitely helping."

"Of course, so long as you don't mind everyone's cautious stares," Elwynn said, "But you don't have to worry, I will let everyone know that you are not a silver hydra descendant."

"Thanks," Maxine said to Elwynn as she left.

Maxine continued to wander around the elven quarter to admire all the vegetation and was drawn to the sound of music and song. She found that elves were taking turns singing while the rest performed dances. She knew that this was their means of relaxation and fun inbetween classes. Should I join in? But the decision was taken from her when a couple elven women grabbed her hands and physically dragged her towards the stage.

"Wait a second," Maxine pleaded with them.

"Oh, come now. I could tell you wanted to sing, but you were too shy to go up on your own," the elven woman pulling Maxine's right hand said just before they got onto the stage, "Now, go ahead and sing." I never thought elves would be this forceful. Oh well. Singing is a good way to relieve stress anyways.

Maxine began to sing a forest elf song and watched the elves dance to it. Even after she finished that song, she was enjoying herself so she continued singing the various wood elf songs that she knew. The crowd of dancing and smiling elves quickly multiplied. She only stopped when sh ran out of songs to sing and stepped down from the stage for it to be taken over by someone else.

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The young elven woman that dragged Maxine up to the stage quickly ran up to her. "You were amazing!" the young elven woman said, "But why did you only sing forest elf songs? I can only imagine how wonderful you would sound singing in high elven."

"I only know forest elf songs," Maxine replied, "I lost all of my memories prior to five years ago."

"That's too bad," the young elven woman said sadly and quickly added, "I hope all of your good memories return and all the bad ones don't."

"That's an interesting thing to say," Maxine commented.

"Even with our long lives, it's better to be happy than sad, right?" the young elven woman asked.

"Definitely," Maxine agreed.

"I'm glad that you agree," the young elven girl said before she glanced over Maxine's shoulder, "It seems the only other shadow elf here has arrived. I'll leave you two alone then. Have fun!" The young elven girl said as she danced back into the crowd.

"You too," Maxine called out as the young elven girl disappeared from her sight. She's a nice girl. It's too bad that I didn't catch her name.

"I didn't think you would sing on your first visit here," Turan said from behind Maxine, "Still, it was wonderful to hear you sing."

"Thank you and I needed some stress relief," Maxine replied calmly.

"Yes, I've heard how you threatened to eat several people recently," Turan said with a slight smile, "It's good that you didn't. I know how much it upsets you when you realize what you've done."

"That it does," Maxine said softly, "Can we talk about something else?"

"Certainly," Turan replied, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Well, I would like to know why these people think that I'm related to the extinct Silver Hydras," Maxine stated in irratation.

"A few ignorant humans in this school voiced that assumption," Turan said sadly, "They've been corrected already by a teacher, but that didn't prevent the rumor from spreading."

"Well, that's one question on my mind that's been solved. Still I can't believe anyone would believe such a stupid and unfounded rumor," Maxine complained.

"You would be surprised what others think," Turan said in amusement, "Almost everyone in the school thinks we are betrothed."

"You're joking," Maxine said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not," Turan said apologetically, "It doesn't help that I'm the only man you speak with consistently."

"I know, but you are fully aware of why I don't like men," Maxine complained.

"Yes, your adoptive father ... wait does that mean your memories have returned?!" Turan asked excitedly.

"Some of them," Maxine said.

"What do you remember exactly?" Turan asked cautiously.

"I think it would be best if we had this discussion in private," Maxine said coldly, "Let's just say I'm very disappointed in you and leave it at that."

"Alright," Turan said while lowering his head in shame.

"Now, what have you been studying exactly?" Maxine asked to change the subject.

"Formations and illusion arts mostly," Turan answered calmly, but she could see in his eyes that he was anything but calm.

"That's interesting," Maxine said, "Um, what's your rank on the leaderboard?"

"One thousand seven hundred thirty seventh on the martial leaderboard," Turan answered with an iota of pride, "Although I still don't understand why they didn't allow your entrance exam to count towards your rank." That's pretty impressive when you consider there are over fifty thousand students at the peak of silver stage like he is.

"I didn't hear about that. Piras just told me it would take them awhile to judge my rank, but I can see why they wouldn't," Maxine reasoned, "It probably had something to do with my teacher manipulating the testing array."

"You could always take the test again," Turan offered.

"I could," Maxine agreed, "Where is that testing array? Piras Long neglected to inform me about things like that."

"It's about ten kilometers north of the Alchemist Association building," Turan answered.

"Huh, I can't believe I hadn't noticed it before," Maxine commented to herself, "Thanks for letting me know. I will go take that test again. I just hope that my teacher hasn't made any modifications to it."

"I doubt even he is that courageous," Turan said as Maxine turned around and took flight.

Maxine flew towards where the testing illusion array was supposed to be and saw it after flying for a short while. Just like outside of the academy, there was a leaderboard posted beside it that automatically updated. Just out of curiosity, she walked up to it and tried to look herself up and found that she was given the ranking of twelve thousand thirty eight for no particular reason. Hmm, there doesn't seem to be a score of any kind next to my name. I guess they just put me in the top fourth and hoped it would make me happy.

She walked over to the illusion array and began the test. Just like when she performed in the illusion array outside of the academy, she first faced the shadowy figures that were pitifully unskilled. She dispatched them with greater ease than before, but when it came to the point that the landscape changed, she faced ten gold stage one shadowy figures. This should be fun.

These stronger shadowy figures were far faster than their previous incarnations and were able to use weapon energies. They were difficult to defeat, but they were no where near as difficult as the endless hordes that she has been fighting in Horatio Quay's illusion arrays. It took her less than a minute to cut them all down.

However, she felt her irratation rising when their numbers doubled in the next round. This doubling trend continued after each successive victory until she was faced with one hundred and sixty gold stage rank one adversaries. She fought fiercely, but she eventually was struck down before being thrown out of the illusion array.

"Damn it!" Maxine growled as she landed on her butt just outside of the illusion array. She ignored the looks she was recieving from several onlookers and checked the leaderboard for her ranking. She saw her name become highlighted as it jumped to the five hundred fourth position. Oh? It seems there are a little more than five hundred people better than me in the silver stage. That shouldn't be too surprising. Some of those guys are nearing one hundred years old. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they are better than me. Even if I include both of my lives, I havn't been a cultivator more than twenty years and they have had teachers to guide them inbetween real life experiences. The only thing I have more than most people in my rank is raw power and speed. Although the gap in the purely physical arena would increase sharply if I were to transform. Still I have a lot of catching up to do.

"Unreal," Piras Long said softly from behind Maxine, "I knew you were a gifted warrior, but I had no idea to what extent until now."

"What's there to be surprised about?" Maxine asked, "I'm a silver stage queen cultivator. I'm far faster and stronger than anyone else at my level, but I can admit there are others more skilled."

"Perhaps, but everyone in the top 500 are prodigies that have been studying here at the academy for at least a decade. You havn't even been here for a month," Piras Long explained.

"My teacher is a madman," Maxine said simply, "He throws me into very realistic training scenarios in the form of illusion arrays. So it's either learn fast how to dodge and attack or suffer a lot of pain. And don't get me started when it comes to one on one sparring sessions. That prick doesn't hold back at all against me. I can show you the welts he's given me if you want."

"He's known for being rough, and I don't recall him ever being that effective of a teacher," Piras Long remarked.

"Well, his teachimg method is effective with me," Maxine said with a shrug, "But I'm mostly motivated to get better than him, so I can give him the beating of his life, heal him afterwards and continue that process until I get tired of beating him."

"No comment," Piras Long said with a slight smile.

"Well, I best head back. My teacher gave me a few days to get my hydra side time to calm down and I intend to relax most for most of it," Maxine said.

"Enjoy yourself," Piras Long said.

"Thanks," Maxine said before flying off towards the cottage that Horatio Quay was letting her use.

It didn't take her long to arrive there and she went inside. She noticed a few things had been moved and that there were a few small silver scales stacked neatly on the table. However she didn't pay those details much mind, and headed to her room to cultivate for the rest of the day and evening to ensure that her foundation was stable. She wanted to be extremely certain that the spirals within her cores were perfect before she even attempted to breakthrough to gold stage. She had no plans to breakthrough before at least a year had passed since her recent surge to her current cultivation level. Hmm, I still have a lot of work to do, but my teacher did say to relax for now. So, I should just spend the rest of my time off doing things that I find relaxing. Oh, I nearly forgot! Before Maxine went into her cultivation session, she sent a message through her alchemist's badge to ask them to put out a notice that she is looking for people to do certain tasks for her. With that out of the day, she got comfortable and began cultivating.