When Maxine called General McKenzy, she was told to come to the base before she could offer to teach other essence cultivators. She ran to the base and was led to his office. As Maxine walked in, she saw his furious glare and quietly shut the door behind her. Amanda was there as well and was sitting off to side looking rather weary.

"Ms. Levings, I hope you are aware just how much of a headache these last few days have been. I have had to convince congress and the press that you and the other enhanced ability users weren't a threat. It became especially difficult after someone posted a video of your battle with that Terror Bear, as you called it," General McKenzy calmly stated, "Doing all of that was part of my assignment. However, the damage and material losses to my base that you caused are a serious issue. An issue that I am willing to overlook as long as I get some answers from you. Is that understood?"  Maxine nodded her understanding. "Good. First, I assume that the research materials aided in your vast increase of power. I want to know if it is possible for anyone else to perform that feat," the general said.  

"Yes, but it's unlikely that anyone else would have survived, if they attempted to do it to the extent that I did, and that is if they knew how to do it in the first place," Maxine answered. 

"I see," General McKenzy said, "Next, I want to know what that substance covering you, during your battle, was."

"It is armor of sorts. It is made of the same stuff as my darts. I just covered my whole body with it," Maxine answered.

"Unfortunate," General McKenzy said. Maxine knew he wanted to be able to produce that material for his soldiers. It would make an excellent body armor, if she could sustain it away from her body for any period of time. He knew it would just dissolve as soon as it was away from her more than a few seconds.

Amanda spoke up rather quickly, "I have a question for you, Max. Why in god's name did you make yourself look like a scaled monster wearing a white mask? I almost thought that stuff was your skin before it started dissolving into smoke." Maxine's face began to burn feircely as she remembered how close she had gotten to giving those soldiers a full view of her figure. She looked at the general desperately for help to avoid answering that question, but he only lifted an eyebrow.

"I didn't really have a choice in how it looked. It just ended up looking like that on it's own," Maxine answered, "Do you seriously think I wanted to look like that?"

General McKenzy spoke before Amanda could, "No, I doubt you would. I have one last question. It is something I have suspected since my grand daughter told me about the origin of her abilities. Can normal humans become enhanced ability users?" Amanda immediately looked concerned. 

"Yes, and that is the thing I wanted to talk to you about in the first place," Maxine said.

"Explain," he said. 

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"I know we need more people capable of fighting essence beasts and I am willing to teach them how to become like me and Amanda," she said. Only after she said it, did she only realized that she had never used the word essence to describe the beasts to the general. However he didn't interrupt her. "If we have more people like us, we could go and hunt them instead of being on the defensive. It would help prevent more of those hordes and in turn it would result in fewer casualties."

"Intriguing idea. However most enhanced ability users, other than yourself, are only on par with professional athletes in physical ability and their abilities give them similar firepower to that of a handgun. How could they possibly be of significant help when modern weaponry is available?" General McKenzy asked.

"Those people didn't have any kind of training to enhance their power. If I am allowed to teach and I have access to certain resources, I can have twenty individuals capable of one tenth my strength with their own special armor inside a month," Maxine stated confidently. One tenth may not have sounded like an impressive number, but when considering how powerful Maxine is, it is a frightening ammount. However it would take alot of effort on her part to get it started. She would need to refine alot of copper essence cores for them to absorb before they formed their own cores.

"What do you need?" General McKenzy said. 

"I need alot of essence cores, the copper colored ones, and none of my students can be older than 20. I prefer it if they were still in their mid teens, but I doubt that will happen. You see the older someone gets the harder it is for their bodies to accept anything new and that will inhibit their progress significantly," Maxine stated. 

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by essence cores?" General McKenzy said. 

"Those are the jewels that I used to boost my power. They are required to make the students as strong as I said," Maxine replied. 

"Very well," General McKenzy said, "Is there anything else that you need?" She wanted to ask for a female only class, but knew that wasn't going to happen. She knew that General McKenzy would select people from the military and women were in the minority. So, she opted for the next best thing.

"Can Amanda be there when I teach?" Maxine asked. She saw an understanding look appear in General McKenzy's eyes. 

"Unless she objects, I have no problem with that," the general said as he looked to Amanda. 

"Of course I will," Amanda said as she reached over and placed her hand over Maxine's. Maxine was grateful to Amanda. She couldn't stand the thought of being by herself infront of a bunch of men. She still hadn't conquered her fear of them.  

"If there is nothing else ladies, I have alot work to do to make this happen. I will inform you when the classes will begin," General McKenzy said before showing them both to the door.

Amanda had other tasks to do and didn't accompany Maxine out of the base. She ran towards her house since it was faster than driving. She tried to make a proper lesson plan in her head as she ran. She would have to teach them cultivation first and basic techniques once their cores form. Teaching them to use spiritual sense would be difficult and when they reach bronze stage, she would have to teach them how to form their own essence armor. It would be challenging, but not impossible. She was just worried about how effective of a teacher will be. 

When she got back home, she noticed how ragged around the edges her clothes were. She needed to find a sturdier material to be used for her everyday clothing if she is going to continue to running around like this.