Maxine smiled while watching the news. They were broadcasting the arrest of the former ambassador Petre Andrevich. Someone, probably his own government, had leaked files implicating him on several different operations that harmed innocent people. It was enough that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and he would spend most of his time in solitary for his own protection from the other inmates. If it wasn't for the solitary confinement, I would make a move myself. Humans far too social to withstand being isolated for that long and they will slowly go insane without human interaction. Cultivators are no exception. And his friends thought they were doing him a favor.

However, Maxine found out that Emily had been talking to one of her colleagues far more frequently than the others. Maxine didn't get angry or jealous at this discovery. They could simply be friends. Instead, she approached him on her own during his lunch break at the hospital's cafeteria. I recall that his name is Jerimiah Mattlas. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to date him. He doesn't look half bad and she knows that I'm okay with her seeking a third in our relationship. But I have to be able to at least tolerate any man she chooses. Although, I doubt he understands the risks of dating a cultivator while being just a normal person. Cultivators have a very hard time controlling their strength during sex. If we had sex with a normal human, the result would be death by snu snu. At least, I think that's the right cultural reference. Where the hell did that term come from anyways? To be honest, I think I'm better off not knowing.

"Hi, there," Maxine said, "I'm Maxine and Emily is my girlfriend. She's the divine essence healer that's employed here."

"I know. Can I help you?" Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas asked uncertainly.

"I wanted to say hi and get to know you since you spend so much time with Emily," Maxine said openly as she sat down in front of him.

"Is that all?" Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas asked as if in relief.

"Not entirely," Maxine answered honestly, "I'm also here to inform you of a few things that you might not be aware of. On a side note, I'm curious if you're going to try becoming a cultivator. I'm sure that you're aware of benefits to becoming one."

"I'm fully aware of the benefits and I have no intention to become one. I just don't have the time to cultivate," he answered, "I've got over a hundred thousand in student loans that I still need to pay off."

"That's quite a large debt, but as a cultivator, you need less sleep. So, you can work more hours and in turn, pay of your loans sooner," Maxine countered.

"Perhaps, but how long will it take before I reach a level that reduces my need for sleep? And while I'm busy bringing up my cultivation level, the interest will build up on my debt," he replied. So, he's not the courageous type. He won't even take a single hour a night to cultivate to feel the benefits for himself.

"I thought you would be more open to risk taking. Particularly since, you're spending so much time around someone as powerful as Emily," Maxine commented.

"What are you talking about?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh? You didn't know?" Maxine asked in surprise, "I thought someone as smart as you would at least suspect that cultivators need to have flawless control over their muscles to avoid hurting normal people. You have no idea how many forks and door knobs I destroyed while learning how to control my strength. For few months, I was afraid to even touch my mother out of fear that I would hurt her by accident."

"I didn't realize," Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas practically whispered.

"Normal people rarely do," Maxine commented, "It's worse for people that are even stronger than me. For them, it's like living in a world where everything is made of paper. The slightest slip up results in something breaking or someone getting hurt. And that's the best case scenario." The saddest part is I don't even need to lie. If my control isn't perfect, I could accidentally crush a man's hand into bloody pulp during a handshake and it's also why I avoid physical contact with normal humans. I've gotten a lot better with practice, but I'm still worried that I might misjudge the amount of strength I should use. I don't know how Emily has avoided such fears. Perhaps, it's due to constant practice from all the patients that she treats.

"That sounds terrifying," he said.

"And now you know why cultivators tend to avoid physical contact normal people most of the time. That includes our close relatives," Maxine said, "It would be too heartbreaking for us to accidentally hurt, or, god forbid, kill someone we care about."

"I see, and I think I've finally figured out why you are bothering me. You're worried about my intentions towards Emily," Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas stated, "You don't have to worry about that. I'm only curious about her abilities to heal and I'm trying to figure out a way to recreate an energy field with similar properties to Ms. Herst's healing energies."

"Oh, that explains a few things," Maxine said as she felt her ears heat up. I was getting worked up over nothing. At least, I didn't come out and ask him if they were dating.

"You don't have to worry about me stealing your girlfriend," Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas said with a small smile.

"I wasn't worried. I'm more than comfortable sharing," Maxine replied, "I was just concerned for your health. As I said before, it's hard for cultivators to control their strength in certain situations."

"Is that why Emily refuses to chase Mr. Markham away?" Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas asked.

"What's that idiot been doing to Emily?" Maxine asked.

"Nothing malicious so far," Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas said honestly, "He just keeps asking her about how to get in your good graces and he's becoming more insistent after each attempt." He's already fucked up with me. I don't know why he's bothering Emily like this. He should know that will only irritate me further. I guess Patrick is right. Jason has to be rather stupid for him to pull this shit. Although, I'm concerned at his sudden personality change. He used to be on the timid side. Now he's far more aggressive. Still, it's more likely that the battlefield changed him rather than him catching something that would effect him like this.

"Emily's too nice to tell him to fuck off," Maxine said bluntly, "I'll have to do it for her. About what time does he come by to harass her?"

"He comes and goes into clinic at a random, but if it helps, he usually comes during the afternoon," Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas replied.

"Thanks and good luck with your research," Maxine said as she stood up.

"Thank you," Dr. Jerimiah Mattlas replied.

Maxine walked towards the clinic within the hospital. She wanted to be there when Jason Markham arrived. She just had this strange suspicion that if he didn't get what he wanted from Emily that he might turn violent. She hoped that she was wrong, but it was better to lean on the safe side. I can't just sit there the whole time waiting for him to show up though. Perhaps, I could offer my services as a healer. I'm not sure if that will work or not, but it's worth a try.

She reached the clinic after a short walk, but was surprised that the place was packed. She glanced at some posted signs and realized that it was a free clinic. And that the doctors and healing-type cultivators were volunteering. Well, that makes this easier.

Maxine approached the sign in desk and asked the clerk attending it, "Excuse me. I was wondering how I would go about volunteering here."

The clerk took one look at Maxine and simply asked, "You're a cultivator, right?"

"That's right," Maxine affirmed and held up her hand to use her energies to make her hand glow a brilliant white, "I'm a skilled battle medic and if you need someone to vouch for my skills, you can ask Emily Herst. She's seen me in action."

"One moment," the clerk said and brought out a clip board and a pen, "Fill this out and sign wherever it asks you to. When you're done, bring it back here and we can see about you seeing a few patients."

"Alrighty," Maxine said, "Be right back." It was a rather simple form and Maxine filled it out rather quickly. She returned to the sign in desk and handed the clerk the clipboard.

"Wait, you're the 'Maxine Levings'? What are you doing here?" the clerk asked.

"I like helping people," Maxine answered.

"You're definitely not what I expected," the clerk commented.

"What were you expecting?" Maxine asked with a smirk.

"I don't know to be honest," the clerk answered.

"Anyways, which of these rooms should I use?" Maxine asked, "And which patients should I take a look at? I'm completely new to this whole experience."

"We'll have a nurse bring them to you, but first, we need to confirm if you can really use your abilities to heal," the clerk said, "There have been incidents were cultivators have falsely reported their abilities."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"I completely understand," Maxine said. If something like that happened amongst mercenaries, the idiot that pulled that shit wouldn't be coming back home. They would be lucky to put what's left of him in a baby food jar.

After Maxine was brought to an empty exam room, a young woman with a mild laceration on her wrist was brought to Maxine. It wasn't serious, but it was bad enough that it would need stitches if a healing-type cultivator wasn't present.

"Well, how the hell did she manage that?" Maxine said as she tenderly took the woman's hand and looked at the wound closely, "Broken glass?"

"How did you know?" the young woman asked.

"A tiny shard of glass is still stuck in your wrist," Maxine said as she created a tiny tendril with small grasping hands at the end of it to pick out the glass shard, "Hold still for a moment. I'll have you patched up in no time." Maxine healed the small wound with her energies until there was only smooth skin where the wound used to be.

"Incredible," the young woman said.

"That was nothing. I've seen way worse than a minor cut like that," Maxine said, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, you covered it," the young woman answered, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Maxine said, "Have a good day."

Maxine saw a couple other patients before Emily noticed her. [What are you doing here?] Emily asked via spiritual sense.

[I wanted to help out,] Maxine answered honestly, [And you should know how I feel about Jason Markham harassing you.]

[Who told you about that?] Emily asked.

[One of your coworkers did when I was in the cafeteria,] Maxine answered, [But does it really matter at this point?]

[He shouldn't have told you. I can defend myself from Jason,] Emily answered.

[I know that,] Maxine replied, [You have the best defenses around, but the other patients here won't be able to.]

[Fair enough,] Emily replied, [Just don't break anything if and when you make your move.]

[I was planning on sending him a few hundred miles away by tossing him through one of my arches,] Maxine replied, [I don't think anything will get damaged if I do it like that and it will take at least an hour for him to get back. By then, he should've calmed down. Although, that will be the last time that I will take it easy on him.] I've already taken it easy on him for trying to save my life before. Now it will be because he's a fellow earthling.

[So you admit that you took it easy on him,] Emily said.

[So?] Maxine asked, [He tried to save my life. That gets him out of severe beating, but that's it.]

[Fair enough,] Emily replied, [And he just walked into the clinic. He doesn't look like he's in a good mood either.] Maxine saw him and she was right. He looked agitated. Why does he even come here? He isn't injured and cultivators rarely, if ever, get sick. This is harassment.

[I see him,] Maxine said, [I've already made it so I can react instantly if he becomes hostile.]

Maxine watched him talk to the clerk, but things were getting heated. [Unless you're actually sick, go away,] Maxine said to Jason Markham, [You're bothering the people that actually need help.] Oddly, his agitation immediately vanished as soon as he received Maxine's spiritual sense message.

[Maxine! I've been trying to get ahold of you for days,] Jason Markham said happily, [Where have you been?]

[At my biological parent's place. It's literately on the moon,] Maxine replied, [And didn't I tell you that you had no chance with me?]

[Why don't you like me?] Jason Markham asked, [Is it because of that bitch girlfriend of yours?!] That's it. I've had it with him. The only upside is that I'm not seeing any patients right now. They might die from shock if they were anywhere near me.

Maxine instantly focused her killing intent on him along with a heavy dose of dragon fear. Thankfully, she had practiced a lot recently. Otherwise the people around him would suffer from it as well. [Call her that again and I will castrate you with a fucking spoon,] Maxine said angrily, [And if you're dumb enough to actually hurt her, I will take you to a place that no one will ever find and use you as a test subject for pain-inducing poisons until your mind shatters. And the first one I'm going to try on you is something I've just developed, Thousand Ant Devouring Poison. Are we clear?] I wonder if he realizes that I'm bullshitting him about that poison. It doesn't even exist, but I can easily make a poison that has a nasty enough effect to be worthy of that name. Hell, I may just make it anyways and slip some into Petre Andrevich's next drink if his prison cell is anything but standard.

[Fine, I won't hurt her,] Jason Markham growled without a hint of fear. Huh?! That's never happened before. Even cultivators stronger than me would show some fear before covering it up when I blast them with both dragon fear and my killing intent. Something must be suppressing it and I'm willing to bet it's hidden deep in his head. That was the only place I didn't look too carefully when I patched him up. Maxine immobilized him with a thought by using dozens of tendrils and gagged him as a safety measure before appearing next to him.

She gently placed her hand on his head from behind and performed a deep scan of his head with her spiritual sense. I thought so. He has brain parasites and these little shits like to hang out in the more interior parts of his brain. And to top it off, they're hard to detect even when I know what to look for. No wonder I didn't detect them before. These things feed on the electrical energy produced by the brain, but can survive off of other forms of bioelectricity and are causing some dysfunction in his decision making as well as enhancing his aggression and libido. At the same time, it's lowering his inhibitions and fear response. That explains his behavior to a degree, but I'm still not going to let him completely off the hook. His brain may have issue, but it's not to the degree that he wasn't able to understand that what he did was wrong. Hmm? It looks like these parasites are transmitted through saliva or blood, but not through urine or stool. They must've gotten in his system when some goblin blood got in his eyes or into an open wound. I'm just glad it only transmits that way. It really limits exposure to people that are close to them, but that fucker kissed me earlier. I better check myself out. She quickly scanned herself for any of the parasites or their eggs within her body, but she didn't find anything. My immune system must've already gotten rid of them. I better check Emily later as well just to be safe. We've kissed a couple times recently.

"What are you doing?!" the clerk demanded.

"This man has some nasty brain parasites and was about to become violent. So, if you don't want to be infected, I suggest you stand at least ten feet away," Maxine replied calmly. The other patients waiting quickly got at least twice the distance she recommended away from her.

"How contagious is he?" the clerk asked.

"Very, but so long as he doesn't bleed or spit on you, it shouldn't be a problem," Maxine replied and reached out with her spiritual sense to contact Patrick, [One of your people has brain parasites. He probably got it from fighting those goblins. You should bring the rest of your people along with their families over here for me to check them out as soon as possible. We can't have this shit spreading.] Why didn't I insist on scanning each and every one of them thoroughly after bringing them through? That's basic quarantine procedure and I'm surprised that the mercenary guild didn't catch it either. These things might have some kind of anti-detection ability that only works while they are still eggs. I'll have to collect some of the parasites and devise an airborne poison to wipe them out without harming their hosts in case I miss any. It'll be hard, though. It's hard for most poisons to reach that far into the brain without damaging it. I think I may talk with daddy about this.

[They just got back. Is it really necessary?] Patrick replied.

[If this parasite spreads to ordinary humans, it will cause them to become hyper violent psychopaths that have a penchant for rape,] Maxine snapped, [So, you tell me how necessary it is.] That would be the effect on normal humans. Cultivators have some resistance to it.

[We'll be there within the hour,] Patrick replied.

[Good,] Maxine replied, [Your man should be parasite free by the time the rest of you get here and I should have a faster means of removing them.] As she spoke, she was testing various mixtures of energies to kill the parasites in Jason Markham's head. However, she was avoiding using any elemental energies that could cause brain damage as a side-effect.

"Could you take him into an exam room, please?" the clerk asked as she looked at the other patients nervously.

"Of course. Sorry," Maxine said apologetically as she picked the struggling Jason Markham and carried him into an exam room. By the time Patrick and the others arrived, she discovered the most effective means to eliminate them using only her energy.

It took her only a few minutes to scan everyone's head and only found one person besides Jason had the parasites. Thankfully, the parasites hadn't effected his mind too much before she found them and he had cooperated once he realized what was going on. Still, she couldn't take the chance that some of them might have the eggs for the parasites in them.

"There, that's it," Maxine said, "Sorry for dragging you guys out here, but it's necessary."

"There's no need to apologize," Patrick said, "I made everyone understand just how nasty those parasites are."

"I noticed," Maxine commented, "Well, I still need to see other patients for another hour or two."

"Alright, we will head out. Let me know if there is anything else you need," Patrick said, "Although, it would be nice if you could make a few arches to our respective cities."

"Fine, just go outside and have them speak out their destinations. I'll do the rest," Maxine replied.

"Thanks," Patrick said as he lead his people and their families out of the clinic. Jason Markham gave Maxine an apologetic look, but he didn't say anything as he followed Patrick out. I think he's given up on me.

Maxine went back to treating other patients, but after the scene that was made earlier, it wasn't nearly as busy as it was before. She used this time to scan Emily for the parasites and was relieved to find that Emily didn't have them.

After another couple hours, the clinic closed for the evening and Maxine returned home through an arch . She was about to go look for Guan when she saw him in the TV room. He was letting Lucas wrestle with his arm. Although, wrestle was a strong word. It was more like Lucas trying to get Guan's arm to move while Guan simply held it out for the little guy. It was adorable to watch.

"They've been at that for over an hour," Hellen remarked, "This is the second time this week that your father has played with him."

"Daddy doesn't seem like the type to play," Maxine commented.

"He normally isn't, but that little rascal called him 'papa.' After that, your father warmed up to him," Hellen said happily, "He's called me 'mama' a few times when you were not around as well."

"Why am I not surprised?" Maxine asked no one in particular, "With the amount of time that I spend with him, I'm more like his sister than his mom."

"So, you finally realized how little time you spend with him. You have no idea how starved for attention he is," Guan said as he glanced over his shoulder, "By the way, I've cleaned up your mess already."

"My mess?" Maxine asked.

"Those parasites that your friends brought back with them. You should've checked them over thoroughly after bringing them through," Guan said calmly, "Because of that there were four people infected with that parasite that you had no idea about. I dealt with the issue by injecting them with the cure covertly, so you shouldn't have to worry about it any further." Maxine felt embarrassed about that, but she kept it off of her face.

"Thanks, dad and I know I messed up," Maxine said honestly and she noticed Lucas had started to bite Guan's arm, "You know he's biting you, right?"

"I know, but it's not like he can hurt me," Guan said calmly and he reached out with his free hand to tickle Lucas, "That's for biting me." Lucas unlatched himself from Guan's arm as he burst into laughter. Maxine smiled at that scene and decided to leave them to their fun. I never knew daddy had a playful side to him. I hope I can see more of that side of him in the future.

However as Maxine walked to the kitchen to help Hellen cook dinner, she felt tense for some reason. This feeling confused her. This was the one place where she should feel the safest. Yet, she still felt tense as if some hidden danger was approaching. The animal part of my brain knows something that the rest of me doesn't. But is it even a legitimate threat with daddy here? I doubt it, but it might be a good idea to create a few warp stones to the shadow world or that planet with the glowing blue crystals for Emily and the others.