Maxine was about to ask Emily what she was thinking when Jonathan Levings turns around and looked straight at her. In that moment, Maxine was afraid of him, but she quickly managed to surppess that fear since she knew that he couldn't actually hurt her. However, her efforts didn't banish her fear entirely. I was worried this might happen. He's the source of my androphobia afterall. It only makes sense that I would still be afraid of him.

"Maxine, before you get mad, please hear me out," Emily said gently, "He's changed. He's no longer the same man that hurt you. I'm not asking you to forgive him. All I'm asking is that you give him a chance." He doesn't deserve a change and he didn't change on his own. He was FORCED to by daddy.

"Fine," Maxine said through grit teeth, "I'll try to be civil, but you have some explaining to do later."

"But don't forget that you do as well," Emily said while gesturing towards Maxine's hand.

"Yeah, I know," Maxine replied, "Can we get seated? I'm very hungry."

Suddenly, a small voice asked, "Mom, who is that lizard lady with spiky hair?" Maxine turned her head and looked at her little brother. He had brown hair and eyes. This is the first time I've actually gotten to see my little brother with my eyes. He's such a little cutie.

"Nathan, that's your big sis," Claudia answered him, "And she doesn't always look like that. But I'm as curious as you as to why she chose to appear like that."

"It will take more than a few minutes to explain, so I would prefer that we get seated first," Maxine answered and she saw Claudia's gaze land on her hand with surprise and horror, "Don't worry about my finger. It will grow back and yes, I know for a fact that it will grow back. It just needs time and I need a lot of calories and nutrients to speed up the process. Hence, why I'm so impatient to get something to eat."

"That explains one of my questions," Emily said, "Let's get something to eat."

A few minutes later, they were seated in a secluded spot of the restraunt and had returned from the buffet with full plates. However, Maxine was uncomfortable as she ate. Jonathan Levings was staring at her with a gaze full of regret. She felt her anger trying to boil up, but she forced it down. She didn't want to upset Emily by breaking her word.

"So, how did you loose your finger?" Emily asked.

"I was kidnapped and they wanted to present Guan with proof of that they actually had me. My finger was cut off for that purpose," Maxine answered, "Too bad for them that they were forced to release me as bait so they could escape. I managed to escape from that bad situation and believe me when I say that I cut it really close."

"They didn't do anything to you did they?" Claudia asked with concern.

"Aside from cutting off my finger? No," Maxine replied.

"What about the rest of the time that you were missing?" Emily asked, "I've already told Claudia about our time on that hero world."

"Well, I travelled to a planet that was being attacked by these really nasty aliens called Four-Horned Kanzils," Maxine answered and glanced at her little brother before she continued while keeping in mind to leave out the worst parts, "They are an extremely aggressive race and were using the inhabitants of that planet as training material. I helped as both a healer and a warrior in the defense of their world. I stayed there for a few months. After that, Guan enrolled me in an academy to learn how to use my blades better. I'm almost positive my teacher was a sadist. The jerk kept throwing me into illusion arrays that forced me to fight endless hordes of enemies that kept getting stronger and stronger. And bullying is rampant in that academy and Emily, at least, knows how I feel about bullies. I beat them up and in the course of events, I managed to stand up for a pair of gorgon sisters. They wanted to repay me for my kindness, so I had them help me out with a few errands. As a bonus, the bullies tended to avoid them. Unfortunately, someone got wind of my distaste for bullies and set me up to be sent on a mission. It was on that mission that I was kidnapped by the people that cut off my damn finger and once I freed myself, I went back to the academy. I let everyone invovled with that whole mess feel my displeasure for setting me up like that without killing any of them. Although, I think most of them would've prefered it if I had killed them." Claudia, Emily and Jonathan looked at Maxine with concern while her little brother Nathan just gave her a confused look.

"At least, you are okay now," Jonathan Levings said encouragingly.

"Yeah, that's true," Maxine agreed, "Any other questions?"

"Did you meet any nice young men while you were travelling?" Claudia asked hopefully.

"Yes, but only one of them was interested in me," Maxine replied, "Jason tried to come to my rescue when a bunch of peak gold cultivators tried to kidnap me. I can still hear him roaring 'Get away from her' at the top of his lungs while shooting arrows at them. It's too bad that I can't reciprocate his feelings. A certain someone made it nearly impossible for that to happen with how they treated me when I was a child." She glared at Jonathan Levings and began to rapidly shove various meats down her throat to avoid saying anything more. However, she still saw him lower his head in shame.

Nathan, however, had a confused look on his face as he looked between Maxine and Jonathan Levings. "Mama, who bullied big sis?" Nathan asked innocently.

To Maxine's surprise, Jonathan Levings answered before Claudia could, "I did."

"But you said I'm not supposed to bully girls," Nathan said innocently.

"I know I did," Jonathan Levings said, "And I wish every day that I hadn't."

"So why did you bully big Maxine then?" Nathan asked. However Jonathan Levings didn't answer. She could see him tormenting himself from the small changes in his expression. Has he been like this since daddy poisoned him? I've hated him this whole time while he's been punishing himself. Fine, I will rescue you just this once.

"He believed the lies someone else told him about me," Maxine said, "The lies were not entirely wrong either, but a certain someone should've told him the truth." I know he thought Claudia cheated on him when he found out that I wasn't his, but daddy should've revealed everything to both of them to clear up this whole mess. If he had, I probably wouldn't have been abused for five years of my fucking life.

Claudia gave Maxine a grateful look before she said, "I just wish he realized the full truth sooner."

"So, do I," Jonathan Levings said and no one else seemed up to commenting further. The mood around their table had gone from uneasy to sour. The only one uneffected by the mood was Nathan, whom was too young to understand what was going on, as he ate happily.

Maxine got up after finishing her plate and went to get some more food. She filled two more plates with different kinds of meats and used her tail to hold one of the plates. However as she was returning to her seat, she heard a commotion coming from the front of the restraunt.

"What the hell is that thing?" an angry man said. Maxine glanced over at him and saw an ugly man pointing at her as his friends looked at her as well. Oh, great. I knew there would be more intolerant assholes running around. I just didn't expect to encounter them twice in one day. Oh well, I will just have to put up with his bullshit. Hell, even if the prick attacks me, I can't fight back. If I do, they will just scream and holler that I'm abusing my power. Don't those pricks know how fucking hard it is to control my strength? If I just use a tiny bit too much of my strength, I could end up ripping one of their arms off instead of simply throwing them.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Sir, she is a paying customer and if you continue to act like this I will have to ask you to leave," the receptionist said loudly enough for Maxine to hear.

"Fine, but seat me as far away from that thing as possible," the man snapped.

"Not a problem, sir," the receptionist replied calmly. Thank you, miss receptionist! Now both of us can eat our meals in peace.

Maxine got back to her seat and set both of her plates infront of her. Nathan watched her the whole time with wide eyes. "I didn't know you could use your tail like that," Emily commented, "I wonder how dexterous your tail actually is."

"I havn't really tested the dexterity of my tail," Maxine replied, "But as far as I can tell it's like having another hand." To prove this fact, she used her tail to pick up a fork and feed herself with it.

"That seems like it could be useful," Emily remarked.

"It is useful when I'm making my potions," Maxine agreed, "But aside from that, I mainly use my tail to strike my opponents from tricky angles. The pain and surprise of being hit like that often gives me another moment to either attack once more or escape. It all depends on the situation. The biggest drawback is that a quick fighter might reflexively strike at my tail and trust me that hurts like you wouldn't believe."

"You've lost part of your tail before?!" Emily asked in surprise and concern.

"Yeah, nearly two foot section at the end of it," Maxine said calmly, "It grew back though. It's also how I know that I can regrow my finger."

"How long did it take?" Emily asked.

"Hmm, a few days I think, but I had access to a special fruit that enhanced my regeneration," Maxine replied, "But that rapid regeneration uses up my internal reserves and puts a lot of stress on my body. It's better to just let allow my body to regenerate naturally."

"That sounds a lot like what happens to people that drink too many healing potions consecutively," Emily complained, "They end up half killing themselves from the intense stress cause by the potions."

"Only half?" Maxine asked in surprise, "They're lucky. Normally it's a death sentence to drink even one too many healing potions. They must be using healing potions for people a full tier below their own."

"How the hell would you know that?" Emily asked.

"I'm an alchemist, remember?" Maxine asked in return, "Anyways, those potions would put less stress on your body, but are no where near effective enough to keep you from dying. Those would at most buy you an hour or two to get to a proper healer. For earthlings, that isn't a bad idea, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone planning on going off world. The chances that you get a healer that is willing to risk their neck on a mercenary contract is terribly low. Hell, I was one of thirteen healers out of thousands of mercenaries that went to help that planet being attacked by goblins."

"Wouldn't that make you severely understaffed?" Claudia asked out of concern.

"You have no idea," Maxine said as she ate the last of the food on her plates, "Anyways, I need to get myself a couple more plates."

"You eat like your pregnant," Claudia said jokingly before her expression turned thoughtful, "Are you pregnant?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I'm not pregnant," Maxine said with a shrug as she stood up, "I need to eat that much to maintain my strength while in this form. It uses up a lot of calories, but my dietary needs are much higher when I'm more active."

After Maxine returned with another two heaping plates of meat, Claudia commented, "If you keep this up, you'll end up eating more than Silky ever has. I can't imagine how much your grocery bill is."

"It's not as much as you would think and as you said before, my current state isn't a permnament one," Maxine said, "It's part of my training. If I don't master this form and I use it for any reason, I get prone to violent outbursts and there is a small chance I will go into an uncontrollable feeding frenzy in the middle of a fight."

"Feeding frenzy?" Emily asked in confusion before her expression turned to one of horror.

"From your expression, you've probably guessed what happened," Maxine replied with a depressed look on her face that mirrored her mental state, "It's not something I'm proud of. Anyways, the chance of it happening again are very low. It's unlikely for me to be put under the same kind of stress that triggered that state again and I'm not going to tell you how it was triggered. I get nightmares about it." Emily put her hand over Maxine's comfortingly and Maxine looked into Emily's eyes as she smiled to show her gratitude.

"Was there anything positive that you can talk about?" Emily asked.

"Yes, there is. I learned that I have a gift for singing," Maxine said, "You would be surprised how often the elves asked for me to sing when I visited their living area at the academy. Even the lamia, gorgons and marilith children enjoyed it when I sang for them."

"Elves?" Claudia asked, "You've actually seen elves?"

"Yes, and several different varieties at that," Maxine said, "They were very welcoming even to someone with just a elven bloodline like me. Only a few of them were distrustful of me."

"I always thought they behaved as if they were superior to everyone else," Claudia remarked.

"Don't believe cultural media," Maxine retorted, "Most elves are friendly until you give them a reason not to be. There are a few exceptions though."

"That's interesting," Claudia said, "But why havn't elves come to Earth yet?"

"It's probably because of how much pollution there is here," Maxine replied.

"Oh, that's too bad. I was looking forward to seeing some elves," Claudia said in disappointment.

"Technically, there is a large group of people with an elven bloodline already on Earth," Maxine said.

"Oh?" Claudia asked hopefully, "Which group is that?"

"The Kavros Clan," Maxine answered, "One of their ancestors was a shadow elf with two cores and due to their arrogance, those shadow elves with two cores named themselves Shadow Lords."

"So that's where you got your elven blood," Claudia said in realization, "I was wondering why you said you had some elven blood in you."

"Yeah, but there are downsides to having elven ancestry," Maxine said casually, "It's harder for me to have children due to my longer lifespan. There are ways around it, but those methods are expensive. Thankfully as an alchemist, it's rather easy to accumulate wealth."

"I imagine so," Claudia said, "Emily earns quite a bit of money at the hospital."

"She should," Maxine said, "She can heal virtually any wound. She's like an ER trauma surgeon."

"Yeah, that more or less sums up what I can do," Emily agreed, "My attribute isn't suited for anything else."

"You forgot it's top notch defensive," Maxine reminded Emily, "If you focused completely on defense, there are only a handful of people in the same stage that could breach your defenses. Myself included."

"That's true," Emily said with a smile and she frowned as her phone rang, "One second." Emily pulled out her phone and got up before walking a short distance. Maxine could tell something was up, but trusted Emily enough to not listen in. If it's important, she would talk to me about it.

A few minutes later, Emily came back and sighed before she spoke, "Amanda just called. The russian embassador wants to meet up with you for some reason. I told her you wouldn't be interested, but she wanted me to ask you anyways."

"I'll think about it, but I probably won't see him," Maxine answered truthfully, "I may loose my temper with him due to the actions of a certain group of russians."

"Yeah, I know and they even share the same family name as the one that ordered it," Emily remarked, "I can't imagine what you would do if it was actually him."

"I rather not talk or think about that kind of what if scenario," Maxine answered.

"I don't blame you," Emily said.

"Yeah," Maxine said in a downcast tone before she forced herself to cheer up, "Now, let's finish up this dinner. I made a promise to spend the night at my other parents' place and they might be getting a little impatient for me to show up at this point."

"Sounds good to me," Emily said, "Although I'm a little disappointed that you won't be spending the night with me."

"I'm sorry. I can't risk accidentally scratching you with my claws in my sleep," Maxine apologized.

"It's alright," Emily said understandingly, "Just so long as I get to meet Lucas later. I still can't believe you found him."

"Alright, who told you about him?" Maxine asked.

"Hellen did. We talk from time to time," Emily answered defensively.

"Figures," Maxine said and finished cleaning off her plates. By this time, everyone else had already eaten more than enough. They were simply waiting on Maxine to finish. I havn't eaten quite as much as I want, but this place's manager keeps glancing at me. If I keep this up, I may get blacklisted. So, it's best if I stop here.

"I'll go pay for dinner and meet you outside," Emily said.

"Alright," Maxine said and as they left the restraunt, she grabbed Jonathan Levings before whispering into his ear, "I don't want to ever hear about you hurting Nathan. Otherwise, I can't be responsible for what will happen to you. Understand?" Jonathan Levings nodded his head nervously. "Good," Maxine said before she walked off towards Emily.

"You're not serioulsy going to kill your dad, right?" Emily asked with concern.

"No, but I can make his life a living hell," Maxine replied, "But that's only if he hurts Nathan. Otherwise, I don't care what he does."

"Fair enough," Emily said, "So when are you leaving for the night?"

"In a few minutes," Maxine answered honestly, "I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed dinner with you tonight."

"Charmer," Emily said with a smirk.

"You know it. Oh and before I forget~," Maxine said before she leaned in to kiss Emily, "Good night. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll see you then," Emily said happily.

Maxine smiled as she created a portal to Guan and Hellen's home and waved one last time to Emily before jumping into it. Once through the portal, she saw Lucas running towards her at top speed and swiftly hide behind her. Seems like mom has been disciplining this little guy a lot today. She glanced around and saw strips of cloth and scratched up furniture. Yep, she definitely punished him for messing up her home. Now, I bet this little guy will insist on sleeping next to me tonight. I just hope he doesn't have the same habit of laying on top of me like Silky did.