It took a lot less than half an hour before Maxine heard Lanitherin approaching. However it was clear just from how the way he walked that his blade skills had improved yet again. But by how much, she had no idea.
"Silky, I may enjoy the view, but most people find arachne a bit unnerving," Lanitherin said with a loving expression and he glanced at Maxine as he approached Silky, "Oh, who's your friend? She's kind of cute."
"Friend?" Silky asked in confusion as she turned around, "That's my mom."
"That's teacher?!" Lanitherin said in incredulity as he turned to face her and bowed, "I'm so sorry for not recognizing you!"
"So, I'm kind of cute?" Maxine asked with a raised eyebrow and smiled when she saw him get nervous, "Relax. I'm just teasing you. But I am curious about how much you've improved since I last saw you. Would you like to spar later?"
"I would love to. Do you mind if some members of the guild spectate?" Lanitherin asked as he straightened up, "Some of them need to see what it's like for skilled combatants to face each other."
"That's fine with me," Maxine said with a smirk, "But be warned, my skill has improved vastly since we last sparred."
"I'm confident that I can, not only, keep up with you, but also defeat you," Lanitherin said confidently.
"We shall see," Maxine said, "Go set up this sparring session and make sure the place that we do it has a lot of space and outside. Even when sparring, the shockwaves of two cultivators at silver stage fighting can and will shake buildings apart."
"I know," Lanitherin replied, "We managed to get an array master to create a training ground for us behind the guild."
"I'm surprised you could get an arrray master to do that for you," Maxine commented, "And the resources required to operate them can drain your wealth rather quickly."
"I believe they use beast cores to power it and it was a local that set it up," Lanitherin said and gave Silky a smile before he turned to leave, "I'm off to talk to Amanda about the sparring match. I'll be back shortly."
Once Lanitherin was well out of earshot range, Silky turned to Maxine and asked, "Please, take it easy on him, mom. If he looses too badly, it will lower how many students he can get and in turn, it will reduce how much he can make."
"I'll be fighting at the same level as him, so you don't have to worry. I can tell how much he's improved since we last had a match," Maxine said while feeling some pride in Lanitherin, "I have no doubt he will give me some difficulty in our spar." Even after training under Horatio Quay, my blade energy has only matched Lanitherin's blade energy in quality from six months ago and that kid improves at a scary rate. I have no doubt he will be able to cut through my blade energy. The real factor will be how much he's improved his skill. In any case, if I think too much about it, I won't have as much fun sparring with him.
"You really think so?" Silky asked.
"Yes, I do," Maxine said before she turned back to folding and packing the arachne silk equipment.
After a few minutes, Lanitherin returned and gestured for Maxine to follow. She followed him around the building and left it out of the rear entrance. She saw a rather large grassy field, but she could sense the formation array. It absorbed shockwaves from impacts, and hardened the soil. However, she didn't detect any formation arrays responsible for preventing injuries or short range teleportation to save anyone that got injured. What's more is that neither of them could withstand the forces generated by a gold stage cultivator. Bare minimum training grounds. That explains how they could afford to have it set up. Those two arrays could be set up by a student rather than a real master.
"You're lucky that I was already intending on restricting my cultivation," Maxine said calmly, "Because those two arrays won't be able to withstand it if I were to use my full strength."
"Yeah, I know," Lanitherin said as he scratched the back of his head, "It's all we could afford at the time."
"I know. The better formation arrays are quite expensive," Maxine commented, "Now, let's get in position. I hope you have a training blade handy."
Instead of answering, Lanitherin simply grabbed a wooden training blade and walked to the center of the formation array. Maxine shrugged as she formed two blades with blunted edges out of her essence before joining him.
They stood twenty feet from each other before taking a stance. Maxine carefully studied Lanitherin's stance. He's using a two-handed grip like he did in the past, but his stance is slightly wider than before. I don't see any obvious openings, and I don't see any tension in his muscles. Good, that means he will be able to perform at his best. Now, I wonder if his patience has improved.
Maxine continued to observe Lanitherin for a few minutes before she saw a glimmer of impatience in his eyes. However, he didn't attack first. She understood that he was waiting for her to strike first. Well, if you insist, I might as well accept. She rushed forward and slashed horizontally at Lanitherin with her left blade. Instead of parrying, he lowered his blade and leaned backwards, so her blade narrowly missed him. Next he twisted his grip and rapidly brought his blade up.
Maxine stomped on the ground to throw herself backwards and watched as the wooden blade passed a scant milimeter infront of her nose. "Nice counter!" Maxine praised Lanitherin and before he could perform his follow up attack, she used her tail to bash him into his unguarded ribs, "But there was too much delay on your follow up. It leaves you wide open." He retreated seveal steps while holding his blade between himself and Maxine.
"Thank you for the instruction," Lanitherin said through grit teeth and she saw how he was favoring that side. I didn't feel any of his ribs break. Oh! That's right. His liver is on that side. No wonder he looks a little sick.
"Remember your movements must flow smoothly like water," Maxine reminded Lanitherin before she rushed at him again, but this time she attacked from two different angles with her blades. Lanitherin parried her left blade as he stepped to her left to avoid her second strick, and when she lashed out with her tail, he swat her tail away with his wooden blade. He even followed it up by diagnally slashing down from left to right.
Maxine kicked the ground and dodged again. However she was half a step too slow and felt the blade brush against her shoulder. "Very good," Maxine complimented him, "You managed to defend against my tail and counter attack in the same movement."
"Thank you," Lanitherin said with a proud smile. Don't get overconfident. I noticed you havn't been using your spiritual sense.
"But~," Maxine said just as she used her tail to throw dirt in his eyes and rushed forward to slam the pommel of her left blade in his gut before placing her right blade against his throat, "You rely too much on your eyes. I've told you dozens of times to expand your spiritual sense around yourself when you fight." I might as well go into full teaching mode. It will lessen the hit to his reputation if they believe that I'm his teacher. Afterall, I'm supposed to be better than him if that's the case.
Lanitherin coughed a few times as he blinked the dirt out of his eyes before he said, "But you rely on your eyes as well."
"Of course, I do. Humaniods have excellent eyesight. It's only natural that we take advantage of it, but if I were to suddenly loose my eyesight with my spiritua sense active, I could still fight without any delay," Maxine responded, "Being blinded for even a fraction of a second will get you killed in a fight."
"I know, but it's hard to concentrate on two things at once," Lanitherin complained.
Maxine swiftly slapped him upside the head with her palm. "Use your spiritual sense all the fucking time then," Maxine yelled at him, "When it become second nature to you, it won't be a burden to use it during a fight. You should already know this. Don't tell me you've gotten lazy in training it since you've come to Earth? Or is it that you've spent most of your time flirting with Silky?"
"Well, I... Uh..," Lanitherin sputtered guiltily.
"Just shut your trap and get into position," Maxine growled, "It looks like I will have to teach you to use your spiritual sense the hard way. Now we spar with our eyes closed. You better learn fast if you don't want to get a beating." She, immediately closed her eyes while staring right at him.
Lanitherin took a combat stance and proceeded to close his eyes. Moments later she felt his spiritual sense expand out. She waited a moment for him to get used to using only his spiritual sense to see before she charged at him again. This time she did hacked down at his head. Unfortunately, it was clear he hadn't practiced fighting like this at all since she last saw him and his reaction speed was significantly slower as he deflected the blow. It delayed him enough that she shoved her other blade roughly into his gut before he could counter attack.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The next twenty minutes of their sparring session revovled around Maxine beating Lanitherin until he learned to clash with her at least five times before loosing. It was a massive improvement, but she was still angry with him for slacking off so much. Hence why she gave him multiple bruises to remind him that training is an ever present necessity.
"I think that's enough for now," Maxine stated as she walked away from a barely standing Lanitherin, "I expect you to keep up with your training at all times." By this time, she knew every member of his guild present was glaring at her hatefully. Silky in particular was giving Maxine a very angry look.
"Mom, how could you?!" Silky yelled at Maxine, "I thought you were going to take it easy on him!" Maxine glanced to the side and saw several of the guild members mouth the word 'mom' while looking confused. They are just now figuring that out?
"I was taking it easy on him," Maxine replied, "To be honest, his skill level is almost on the same level as mine, but he lacks the experience to properly use it. And if we were using blade energy, I would probably be on the loosing side of every clash. His only real flaw is that he refuses to use his spiritual sense." She saw all of the observers look at her in disbelief.
"If that was taking it easy, I'd hate to see you fighting seriously," one of the members of the Ice and Fire Guild said offhandedly.
"I've fought my way out of an encirclement of hundreds," Maxine replied honestly.
"Bullshit," the same person said.
"I don't care if you believe me or not," Maxine replied calmly, "Because quite frankly, your belief won't change the fact that I'm far more powerful and skillful than anyone here."
"Does that mean you're a gold stage cultivator?" Silky asked hopefully.
"Peak silver for now," Maxine replied, "Give me another month and I should be ready to breakthrough to gold. Unfortunately, I can't let many people watch. I've heard the weather will go nuts when ordinary cultivators breakthrough to gold. I can't imagine the havok I will cause when all three of my cores breakthrough at once."
"That sounds like it will be cataclysmic," Silky remarked.
"That's why I intend to breakthrough in the middle of a large desert or over the ocean. There isn't much in those places to get torn up," Maxine said.
"Thank you for that consideration," Amanda Maze said as she walked towards them, "Although, I wish you hadn't beaten our blade instructor so badly infront of his students."
"It's his own fault for slacking off," Maxine said calmly, "I didn't put the effort into teaching him just so he could get lazy. He needs to be the best to protect my daughter. I will not tolerate anything less."
"I can understand that," Amanda Maze said with a smile, "But you could've sparred with him privately."
"I wasn't the one that wanted to make this sparring match public," Maxine said with a smile and gestured to Lanitherin, whom was still recovering, "He did. I think he's regretting that decision now."
"I bet," Amanda said while shaking her head and suddenly had a thoughtful look on her face, "Do you have any plans on teaching here?"
"No, I'm better at one on one instruction," Maxine said, "I won't baby someone that can't keep up with everyone else."
"That's harsh," Amanda remarked.
"Well this universe that we live in is harsh," Maxine said, "And if treating my students harshly ensures that they survive, I will do it without a single sliver of remorse."
"What happened to you?" Amanda asked with concern, "You used to be much more forgiving and kind."
"Too much," Maxine replied honestly, "Far too much." Amanda seemed to hesitate for a moment before moving to give her a hug. With a thought, Maxine thickened the layer of energies over her quills to prevent Amanda from getting poisoned as she hugged her back.
"You don't have to worry about anyone trying to make a move on you here," Amanda said comfortingly and withdrew from the hug, "Your 'daddy' would wipe them out from existence if they tried."
"Yeah, he does have a reputation for doing just that," Maxine said with a knowing smile.
"Don't remind me," Amanda said with a hint of fear, "I keep hearing horror stories about him from our otherworldly visitors."
"I'm not even going to ask which stories you heard," Maxine said, "Anyways, let's talk about something other than that depressing topic. How's little Sarah doing?"
"She's happy and full of energy," Amanda said happily.
"That's awesome," Maxine said, "I can only imagine how much Chris has been spoiling her."
"Not as much as you would think, but I will admit he's a bit over-protective of her," Amanda said, "At least, we both agreed that we should give her a few chores to do around the house." I can definitely see him being an over protective dad. I can't wait to see how he reacts to her having her first boyfriend.
"I can't imagine that went over too well," Maxine commented as she remembered how she reacted in both her lives to being assigned chores.
"Believe it or not, she actually enjoys doing them," Amanda said in amusement.
"There has to be something wrong with that child," Maxine said more to herself than anything else.
"That's exactly what Howard said," Amanda said while smiling.
"I bet he did," Maxine said while nodding her head, "So, do you have any plans for the next few days?"
"Sadly, I do," Amanda said apologetically, "I'm supposed to greet a russian ambassador tomorrow. I believe his name is Andrevich." Maxine felt rage bubbling up inside of her at the mention of that name. However she kept that emotion off of her face.
"Oh? What was his background before he became an ambassador?" Maxine asked.
"I'm not sure, but I think he was part of a special branch of their military," Amanda answered. Is it really him? It's possible that it's him, or it could be someone else. The only way to be sure is to see him for myself. Thankfully, I still have that man's face etched into my mind. I didn't use that soul searching technique on that russian kidnapper for no reason. But even if it is him, I can't make a move on him right away. It will effect Amanda if her 'old friend' were to suddenly and inexplicably murder a foreign ambassador out of nowhere.
"I see," Maxine said and quickly changed the subject, "Well, I have a bunch of time on my hands before I meet up with Emily. Do you guys need to be restocked on potions?"
"Yes, we desperately need them." Amanda said, "How much do you charge for bronze and iron tier potions? And don't tell me you won't charge us for it. I don't want to owe you a favor."
"Alright, alright. We can talk about my fee inside. We've drawn quite a crowd," Maxine said as she gestured to the members of Amanda's guild that were watching them.
"I understand. Men still make you uncomfortable, don't they?" Amanda asked as they walked inside the building.
"Yes, but it's not nearly as bad as it was before," Maxine admitted, "It only becomes a problem if they get too close."
"Good," Amanda said and a few moments later, they entered a small office, "Now, how much do you charge?"
"Well, it depends," Maxine answered and instantly decided to give Amanda a huge discount due to their friendship, "If you can provide me the materials, I'll only charge you $150 or a bronze per potion below silver-tier. A silver-teir potion will cost you ten times as much." I doubt she realizes just how much I'm severely undercharging her. I should be asking for at least five times as much considering how much potions cost off of Earth and that's not considering how much more mine sell for.
"We have a lot of medicinal ingredients on hand," Amanda said, "I saw the need to make preparations in advance in the event that an alchemist came to town."
"Great, just take me to them and tell me how many you need," Maxine said cheerfully.
"We need as many as you can make," Amanda said.
"Understood. Where do you have those medicinal ingredients?" Maxine asked.
"It's in the basement. I'll have my secretary take you there," Amanda said, "I would take you myself, but I have a lot of paperwork that needs to be done before I see the ambassador tomorrow."
"Not a problem," Maxine said.
Amanda quickly made a phone call and a young woman arrived to show Maxine to the basement. It took only a few minutes to arrive and Maxine whistled at the large array of medicinal ingredients. Wow, I can make at least 500 bronze-tier, 200 iron-tier and maybe 50 silver-tier potions with what's here. And that's just healing potions. I'll be very busy. Well, I best get to it.
Maxine created elven shadow clones and began gathering the medicinal ingredients before she and her shadow clones began concocting bronze-tier potions. She could make these potions like this only because of how low tiered they were. She wouldn't be able to do the same thing with the iron and silver-tiered potions.
She kept making potions like this for three hours and contacted Amanda via spiritual sense to gave her an update on her progress, [I've managed to make 512 bronze and 12 iron tier potions. I've color coded them to make it easier for you guys.]
[Thanks again for doing this,] Amanda said, [But I'm surprised you could make so many that fast.]
[I just made a bunch of shadow clones to speed up the process, but don't expect this kind of speed for the iron and silver-tiered potions,] Maxine replied, [Anyways, I should start to head out. I'll be back tomorrow to finish the rest.]
[We should have your payment by tomorrow anyways. See you then,] Amanda answered calmly, [And if you can, stay for dinner. Sarah has always wanted to meet you ever since Chris told her about you.]
[I'll see what I can do,] Maxine answered before she made her way out of the building and glanced at the wall mounted clock before she left the building. Good, I have half an hour to reach the hospital. Even if I fly slowly, I should get there with plenty of time to spare.
She took her time flying to the hospital and arrived just in time to see Emily walking out of the front doors. She wanted to hug tackle Emily, but resisted the urge as she landed beside her instead. "I hope I didn't make you wait," Maxine said honestly.
"Not at all. You arrived right on time," Emily said as she walked towards the parking lot and Maxine followed behind her, "Follow me to my car and we can go get something to eat."
"You're driving a car?" Maxine asked incredulously, "We can literately fly faster than the speed of sound. Why bother?"
"It's to avoid terrifying ordinary people," Emily replied, "They're still getting used to the idea of cultivators running around. Rubbing it in their faces will only cause more problems."
"Huh, I never thought about it that way," Maxine said.
"I know. I didn't think about it either until one of my coworkers pointed it out," Emily admitted and finally stopped next simple grey car. It isn't even one of the newer models, but I wonder how the hell I will be able to get into it. I can move my tail around, but what the hell am I supposed to do about these quills on my head? They will shred the head rest. It looks like I will have to make myself uncomfortable to fit in that car.
Emily had already unlocked the car and was getting in by the time Maxine moved to the passenger seat. She rapidly used her energies to push her quills down against her head and neck. It put a lot of stress on her scalp and it made her feel like someone was trying to pull her hair out, but she managed to smooth them out enough that she wouldn't damage Emily's car with them.
"This is really uncomfortable," Maxine complained as she sat down in the car and put on her seat belt, "I hope the restraunt isn't far."
"It isn't," Emily said and Maxine caught a faint glimmer of guilt in Emily's eyes. What does she need to feel guilty about?
Like Emily said, the drive to the restraunt was short and to Maxine's delight, she found out it was a buffet. I still need to restrain myself otherwise we will get kicked out.
They both got out of the car and went inside. However, when Maxine looked towards the reception desk, she understood why Emily felt guilty. She saw Jonathan and Claudia Levings with their five year old son waiting off to the side. I hope Emily has a real good reason for pulling this shit. She knows full well why I never wanted to see Jonathan Levings again.