It had been a week since she began to feel restless and oddly, it didn't amount to more than that. She still handed out warp stones to everyone important to her just in case. And decided to spend some time with Emily by going shopping. Unfortunately, her fashion sense was just terrible after being away from Earth for so long. Hence, why she kept asking Emily what she thought about various outfits that caught her eye and did the same for Emily. Right now, they were getting ready to leave.

"Emily, are you sure you want to wait?" Maxine asked once again.

"Yes, for the twentieth time," Emily said in irritation, "You may want kids, but I think it's still too soon for us to have kids. Just finish powering up. You can always use one of your father's potions when we are both ready."

"Alright, alight. I won't push you about it anymore," Maxine acquiesced.

"Good," Emily said, "Now, how confident are you that you can pass this 'tribulation' of yours?"

"Fifty percent chance, I think," Maxine replied without much confidence, "It's something that's very hard to judge. There are not exactly a lot of people in my situation, so I have almost no point of reference. And the only person that I know of that has a similar situation to mine is daddy and he only had his breakthrough from gold to immortal when he had four cores. All of this leads to the simple fact that the more powerful that you are, the much harder your lightning tribulation becomes."

"That doesn't sound good," Emily replied, "Is there any way to improve your chances?"

"Other than improving my blade skills and getting my teacher to set a formation for me? Not a whole lot. I've already made dozens of potions to boost my regeneration and a Stable Mind potion for the mental portion of the tribulation," Maxine said, "Those boost my chances, but don't guarantee success. The armor daddy got me gives me another layer of protection and my blades are perfectly suited for me. The other thing I can do is prepare myself mentally for it."

"It sounds like you have everything covered," Emily replied, "Why don't you try breaking through in a few days?"

"I could," Maxine said, "But I rather hold off on it for now."

"On that note, why did you change your mind about breaking through to gold?" Emily asked.

"I just don't feel that it's the right time to do so and my strength is already comparable to gold rank seven or eight," Maxine answered, "There are not that many people under immortal stage that can defeat me in battle." And even fewer that I can't run away from. Still, there might be a few immortals that don't give a damn about their reputation and come after me anyways.

"But you can still be beaten by false immortals and those at the peak of gold stage," Emily pointed out, "And you are only talking about raw power. There are older cultivators that could be far more skilled than you. Did you forget about your teacher, Horatio Quay? Didn't he beat the snot out of you even though you were physically stronger and faster?"

"Yeah, there is that," Maxine admitted, "But I still want to be as prepared as I can be for it. I've heard about the devastation these tribulations can cause to the surrounding area if I were to fail it and want you to keep your distance if you're going to watch. I don't want you to get hurt because you were too close. It's so destructive that most clans have special places designated for gold stage breakthroughs and those that want to breakthrough to immortal have to do it in space to avoid permanently damaging a planet in case of failure."

"Yeah, Hellen told me about that," Emily said, "But from what I heard, you just have to endure it and Hellen even remarked that my barriers will most likely hold up against it when I chose to breakthrough to gold. And that I shouldn't worry about failing too much, but she never explained what happens to those that fail."

"Death by being roasted alive by lightning and immediately after your core, or cores, will detonate. There literately won't be anything left of you to bury," Maxine answered honestly, "It's one of the reasons I want to be as prepared as I can be."

"But you have your clones. Won't that make it safer for someone like you?" Emily asked fearfully.

"The tribulation lightning doesn't just attack the body. It attacks the soul as well and without my soul to control them, my clones are just piles of meat," Maxine replied with a sad look, "It's either you pass or fail. I mean there are those that just barely survive after failing, but those people are by far in the minority. And it's an even rarer thing for them to recover enough to try again. Just think of it as the universe's solution to keep the population of powerful cultivators to a relatively low number. I believe to prevent large disasters where they fight each other frequently. Regardless, you can see why I'm hesitant to breakthrough just yet."

"You sound like you're afraid and I don't blame you one bit," Emily said.

"You're right. I am afraid," Maxine admitted and her voice trembled slightly as she continued, "Afraid of overpowered lightning bolts that were created for the sole purpose of arbitrarily judging if I'm worthy enough to exist. Based on rules that I don't completely understand. All because I want enough strength to defend myself and those I care about. I'm not some shitty novel protagonist with fucking plot armor three miles thick! And I'll be the first to admit that I've been very lucky so far, but I'm not invincible." It's been a constant worry in the back of my head ever since Horatio Quay told me about lightning tribulations. Why did he have to tell me how fucking dangerous they are? No, he had to tell me. If I tried to breakthrough to gold without being fully aware that it could easily killed me, I would've fail for sure. It didn't help that I insisted to see the records of other people who tried to breakthrough to gold to give myself an idea of what I'm going to face. It was definitely a mistake on my part. The ones that succeeded were all badly injured. Loosing a limb or having a large section of your skin melted off was rather common, even for those properly prepared. One poor bastard lost all of his skin and most of the flesh on his head, including his eyes. He still had some muscles on his cheeks and neck, but everything else was just gone. The fucker looked like very scary version of Skeletor with all of that exposed muscle. It was a small miracle he even lived through that. And he only had one core without any powerful bloodlines. The fatality rate for those with powerful bloodlines or multiple cores is much higher due to the exponential increase in difficulty.

Emily didn't say a word. She just looked at Maxine for a moment and hugged her. "Why didn't you say something earlier?" Emily asked.

"I didn't want you to worry," Maxine said weakly.

"By not saying anything, you made me worry more and you've made a mistake by not telling me sooner," Emily chided Maxine as she grabbed Maxine by the sides of her head and looked her in the eye, "The solution you've been looking for is really rather simple. Just think of the tribulation as an enemy that needs to be cut in a special way. Didn't you say there was nothing that you couldn't cut with your blade energy? I think lightning is included in that and you can ask your bug zapper of an uncle to help practice cutting lightning."

"When you put it like that, I feel like an idiot," Maxine said softly as Emily removed her hands.

"You shouldn't feel too bad. Almost everyone acts like an idiot when they're afraid. Cultivators, like us, are no different," Emily pointed out.

"Thanks for reminding," Maxine said and gave Emily a quick kiss on the lips. By this time, there were several people watching them intently. Right, I forgot where we were, so of course, people will watch the ensuing drama.

"I think we should head out," Emily suggested, "I would love to see little Nathan again. And has he seen you since you first came back?"

"No, not yet. I didn't want him to see me much in my battle form. I'm well aware of how scary that form can appear, and I'm overdue to give my mother a visit anyways," Maxine admitted, "Let me give her a call to make sure it's alright for us to visit."

"That's fine," Emily said calmly.

Maxine pulled out her cellphone and dialed Claudia's number. I hope she still has this number. It's been years since I've last used it. After a few rings, Claudia answered, "Hello? Who is this?"

"Hey, it's me," Maxine said, "How's Nathan been doing?"

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"Oh, Maxine. It's about time you called," Claudia said, "And Nathan is doing fine."

"That's great. Do you mind if I come by with Emily for a visit?" Maxine asked.

"Not at all," Claudia, "Oh! Have you finished your training yet? I've had to constantly remind Nathan that his sister doesn't normally look like a monster girl."

"Yeah, I've finished my training and you might want to avoid using that term around beastkin of any kind," Maxine warned Claudia, "They find it extremely offensive. Mostly because it's a derogatory term that only slavers use."

"I didn't know that," Claudia remarked, "What should I call them then?"

"Unless you know the proper name for their particular species, just call them beastkin," Maxine explained.

"Will do," Claudia replied, "When should I expect you?"

"Oh, in ten or so minutes," Maxine replied.

"Alright, see you in ten," Claudia said as she ended the call.

"Let's go," Maxine said as they made their way out of the department store and took flight. However, it only took them seven minutes to arrive since Maxine called.

Maxine walked up to the front door and knocked gently. After a few minutes, Johnathan Levings opened the door, instead of Claudia. It surprised her for a moment before her expression became cold.

"Come on in," Johnathan Levings said invitingly as he stepped aside to let them in. Maxine didn't say a word to him as she walked in and looked around for Nathan. Emily followed behind her.

Maxine didn't see him anywhere and was about to spread out her spiritual sense when she felt a thump on her left leg.

"Big sister!" Nathan shouted gleefully and he hug tackled her leg. He had been hiding behind the couch that she just walked past. He proceeded to wrap his arms and legs around her leg. She could only smile at how adorable he was acting. Heh, cute little guy. I definitely wasn't expecting this kind of reception after how he acted at the restaurant. Was he afraid of me? Or he could've just been tired.

"Hey, Nathan," Maxine said happily as she ruffled his hair, "Where's mom?"

"She's in the kitchen making dinner," Nathan answered with a smile on his face. It's a little early to be working on dinner, but if she's making something that needs to be cooked awhile in the oven, it would make sense.

"I'll go help her," Maxine stated and noticed that Nathan didn't dislodge himself from her leg, "Are you going to let me go?"

"Nope, Imma leg parasite!" Nathan announced playfully.

"Okay, you little parasite. You better hold on tight," Maxine said with a smile and she started walking somewhat lopsided towards the kitchen while being careful not to move too fast. Nathan was laughing joyfully the whole way.

"I'll help too," Emily said as she followed behind Maxine.

As Maxine walked into the kitchen with Nathan still latched to her leg, Claudia looks over her shoulder and smiles as she says, "Welcome home, Maxine and I see you've gotten yourself a leg parasite."

"Yeah, I do. How do you get him to let go?" Maxine said.

"Tickled him until he lets go," Claudia said and gestured towards a small pile of carrots, "Emily, can you dice those carrots?"

"Sure thing," Emily said as moved to do as Claudia asked, "And Maxine, once you get him to let you go, I need those tomatoes cut up into chunks." Maxine nodded and created a few dozen tiny tendrils before manipulating them to tickle Nathan. He was nervous at first, but as soon as they started tickling him, he burst into laughter. He practically threw himself off of her leg, and she had to catch him using her tendrils to prevent him from hitting his head.

"Can you go play with dad while I help mom with dinner?" Maxine asked Nathan.

"Yep," Nathan said happily and he ran over to tackle Jonathan Levings. She glanced over to where Nathan and Jonathan Levings were and they were play wrestling. That little guy has a lot of energy and doesn't show signs of being afraid of Jonathan Levings. That's good. He's behaving like a proper dad.

Maxine grabbed a knife and began working on the tomatoes. However, she kept watching them with her spiritual sense just in case an accident happens. She still didn't trust that Jonathan Levings had completely changed.

Once she was done with the tomatoes, she brought them to Claudia. "Here you go, mom," Maxine said as she set a bowl of the tomatoes next to Claudia, "Need me for anything else?"

"Not in the kitchen," Claudia said, "But you could spend time with your little brother. He brags that you're his big sister to his friends quite a bit."

"What kid wouldn't brag about having a big sister that can turn into a scary looking beastkin?" Maxine asked.

"Actually, he's happier that you are an amazing singer," Claudia pointed out.

"Really?" Maxine asked in disbelief.

"Yes, there are a few videos of your performance on Youtube," Claudia said, "His friends think it's cool that he has a big sister that's a scary singing alien lady."

"That's nice, I guess," Maxine said uncertainly.

"Now, stop standing there and go play with Nathan," Claudia told Maxine, "Your father can't keep it up for much longer and Emily can help me in here."

"Alright, alright," Maxine said as she walked out of the kitchen. She found Jonathan Levings sitting on the couch looking exhausted while Nathan kept trying to wrestle with him. Well, I can't really expect a man approaching 40 to be able to keep up with Nathan for very long.

Maxine snatched Nathan up and began to tickle him with several tendrils that she just conjured up. He struggled mightily to free himself while laughing. "Stop, I'm gonna pee!" Nathan laughed and Maxine immediately stopped.

"You're not doing that on me," Maxine said playfully as she set him on the floor. Only for him to tackle her in the next moment as he tried to wrestle her. That sneaky little shit. She could only laugh at his antics as she wrestled back with extreme care.

She played with him for nearly an hour when Nathan finally ran out of steam and the 'little shit' was grinning ear to ear as he panted while laying on the floor. Maxine could've kept it going all day, but she knew that if she were a normal woman that she wouldn't be in any better condition than Nathan. So long as the little guy is happy, I'm cool with it.

"Enjoy yourself?" Emily asked.

"Quite a bit, actually," Maxine answered, "How's dinner coming?" In fact, I expected to be mentally exhausted from being so precise with controlling my strength, but I'm not. Maybe, I'm unconsciously controlling my strength when I play with children.

"It should be ready in another hour if we're going to stay," Emily said, "We made enough to feed everyone, including grandpa if he wants to come."

"I think we should stay for dinner," Maxine said, "It's been awhile since I ate here and it would do mom some good."

"I'll call grandpa to see if he wants to join us. I already asked Claudia if it was okay," Emily announced as she reached for her phone and began to walk out of the room.

"Alright," Maxine replied as she got to her feet and sat down on the couch. Jonathan Levings had already gone to another room while the two of them had been wrestling. Nathan got up a few moments later and sat on her lap.

"Can I watch some cartoons with you, big sis?" Nathan asked.

"I don't see why not," Maxine answered and used her energies to grab the remote before turning on the TV. She had just switched it to cartoons when Emily walked back in.

"Grandpa won't be joining us for dinner," Emily announced, "He's going out to hang out with a few of his old friends."

"I hope that old man has some fun," Maxine said calmly.

"So, do I," Emily said.

"I can't hear my cartoons with you talking," Nathan complained and Maxine had to stop herself from laughing out loud. This little shit. He's so lucky that he's adorable.

She ruffled his hair before they went back to watching cartoons and continued to do so until dinner was ready. However, as she walked towards the table, the feeling of restlessness that she constantly shot up in intensity. She immediately spread out her spiritual sense as far as she could in every direction, but found nothing out of place. Weird. My instincts are rarely every wrong. I best keep my spiritual sense spread out while I eat, just in case.

Surprisingly, nothing happened while the five of them ate dinner, but Maxine wanted to leave immediately after they were done eating. She didn't want her family to suffer from any collateral damage from a fight if one happened.

"I'm sorry to eat and leave, but it's getting a bit late. Howard is probably wondering when Emily will get back home," Maxine stated out loud, but sent via spiritual sense to Emily, [My instincts are going nuts right now and I think it's a good idea to get some distance away from here before the reason for it strikes.]

"Yeah, grandpa is a worrywart," Emily agreed, but she said something different via spiritual sense, [Are you sure? Do you want me to stay here to shield your family?]

[No, it will look weird if don't go home,] Maxine replied, [But you know what to do if someone attacks me, right?]

[Yes, I do,] Emily replied, [Contact your father.] That's pretty much it.

"That's too bad. It was nice having you here," Claudia said happily, "Nathan had a blast."

"I'll try to visit more often," Maxine told them and gave Claudia a hug, "But it's best we head out."

Claudia escorted them to the front door and as they walked out of the house, she said, "Take care."

"You too, mom," Maxine said to Claudia before taking flight and she intentionally flew in the direction with the fewest people in it. Emily, on the other hand, flew towards her house. It took only a few minutes for her to get away from any human dwellings and fly over an open forest. If I was going to be attacked, now would be the best time to do it. There are no witnesses and anyone coming to my aide would be hard pressed to get here in time. However no attack came.

She was confused for a few moments, but her feeling of restlessness became a premonition of danger when her dimensional ring began to vibrate. She swiftly retrieved her communication disk from her dimensional ring and answered the call. Zephyr's face was projected above it.

"Maxine, I'm sorry to contact you so late, but it's important," Zephyr said apologetically, "The Alliance recently changed the laws regarding young planets and their protectors. It's now mandated for that planet's first native born gold stage cultivator, or the equivalent of one, to be their world's representative in the Alliance."

"WHAT?!" Maxine exclaimed in fury, "For how damn long?!"

"Until another native born reaches gold stage and is willing to take your place," Zephyr replied. Fuck! I need to see the details of this law. Maybe, I can find a loophole that will let Daddy remain in that position. It's no wonder that I felt restless. It was a prelude to the headache that I'm going to have to deal with since most of the younger civilizations solve disputes with one on one duels between their representatives. They just don't have enough iron and silver stage cultivators to do a limited war like the Kavros and Divine Marks clans did. And with my luck, some greedy asshole will probably challenge me to a duel for some random bullshit to gain some territory on Earth and get access to chocolate. I do not need this shit! This bullshit will make it harder for me to spend time with my family and get myself into the right from of mind before I breakthrough to gold.