Maxine found it difficult to find the time to experiment with reanimating dead tissue, since Adam Marks kept a close eye on her. Thankfully, he had matured in this timeline enough that he wasn't too much of a pest and allowed her to have some time to 'hunt' in solitude. That gave her a few opportunities make a dozen or so attempts to revive a few dead animals in various stages of decomposition over the past week. She had some success, but it was heavily dependent on there being at least a few intact DNA strands for her to work with. And it was just as energy intensive as she feared. To make matters worse, it couldn't be done in stages. It had to be done all at once or the life form being revived would turn into a pile of goo. Thus, she spent a lot of her time perfecting the reanimation process.
When she had perfected it, Maxine began working on writing her book of recipes and a small encyclopedia on various herbs with hand drawn pictures to show what they look like. And as of the moment, she had almost finished when grandma Victoria walked in to stand beside her. "How's your progress?" grandma Victoria asked as she sealed the tent with her spiritual sense.
"I'm almost done with these two books," Maxine answered as she continued to write. She only needed to finish a couple more pages. Thankfully, it wasn't all that hard. Most of the ingredients that she listed could be found on Earth. There were only a few that were in Guan's revival fluid that were not. But it could be argued that one of each of those rare ingredients had grown on Earth at one time or another, but they had already been used. Hence, they couldn't say that it was impossible for her to have collected them.
"I wasn't referring to that," Grandma Victoria stated, "I wanted to know how your revival technique is coming."
"I'm confident that I can fully revive Shaun, but I'll need to be completely undisturbed for a minimum of a day. And I'll only have one chance to do it. If I fail, it will cause his genetic structure to self-destruct," Maxine answered, "I'll also be in a weakened state, afterwards. Reviving the dead is extremely energy intensive." I'll need to consume a dozen nutritional pills, at a minimum, to maintain my energy levels throughout the process, but she doesn't need to know that.
"That's excellent news!" grandma Victoria said excitedly.
"It is," Maxine said with a smile, "But I need to be in top form to use it."
"Very good," grandma Victoria said happily, "I can arrange for you to perform this resurrection on my ship. Is that suitable?"
"It should work," Maxine replied, "Just be sure to keep it shielded. I can't risk Adam Marks finding out what I'm doing."
"I agree. We don't need you drawing in that kind of attention," grandma Victoria said, "Should I go fetch little Shaun's remains?"
"No need," Maxine said as she locked onto Shaun's remains and created a bubble above her hand using her energies. Simultaneously, she coated what was left of Shaun's skeleton in her energies from afar and teleported them into the bubble above her hand. She popped the bubble and let the tiny skeleton float in the air for only a moment before putting it into her dimensional ring.
"That's a useful trick," grandma Victoria commented, "If I'm not mistaken, you can use that same trick to escape as well."
"You're not wrong," Maxine said in confirmation, "Now, lets get to your ship. The sooner we get this done, the better. And before I forget, take these." Grandma Victoria took them and opened the book detailing various medicinal herbs. She quickly rifled through it until she reached the end and paused with a surprised look on her face.
"This... This is an alchemy technique suited for cultivators with the shadow attribute," grandma Victoria said in disbelief, "Where did you get your hands on it?"
"I developed it myself," Maxine said with a smirk.
"Wonderful," grandma Victoria said with a big smile, "This will help our clan more than you realize." Actually, I do. It will give our clan a unique method to create potions and free them in part from their dependency of Alchemist Association.
"Now, let's get to the ship," Maxine said happily, "And be sure to have some high energy foods available. I'm going to need them after I'm done."
"I'll have them prepared for you," grandma Victoria replied and retracted her spiritual sense before leaving the tent. Maxine followed closely behind her.
As they walked, Maxine spotted Mike and he looked livid as he was literately dragged away from Adam Marks by Sophie. Ugh, can't Adam Marks be nice to people? Is it really that hard? He's pissed off a dozen or so people ever since he got here. I'm actually surprised that no one has tried to punch him yet. Although, I'll admit that his behavior is slightly better than his counter part from my timeline. That idiot always had a gift for infuriating everyone around him.
"We don't have time for you to play peacemaker," grandma Victoria reminded Maxine.
"I wasn't going to," Maxine replied calmly.
"Good," grandma Victoria said as they continued. However, Adam Marks spotted them and began approaching them.
Before he could speak, though, grandma Victoria cut him off, "Mana needs some privacy for the time being and doesn't have the time to talk."
"Why is that, madam Kavros?" Adam Marks asked as he walked beside them.
"As I said, its a private matter," grandma Victoria said firmly, "If you were her husband, I wouldn't see any harm in telling you, but as it stands, you are not. So, please, leave it at that."
"As you wish," Adam Marks said respectfully as he bowed his head. At least, he learned some etiquette in this timeline, but I wish he showed it to everyone rather than just me and grandma. It would solve a lot of strife.
[You know he won't leave it at that,] Maxine said via spiritual sense.
[I'm aware, but there is little he can do once we are inside of my ship,] grandma Victoria replied.
[Are you sure about that?] Maxine asked, [He could've bribed a few of your clansmen into reporting to him.]
[That's possible, but they don't know any more than he does. Nor will they,] grandma Victoria replied, [I'll intend to be standing just outside of the chamber to make sure that there are no information leaks.]
[Great,] Maxine said and after a few moments, they entered grandma Victoria's ship. It only took her a few moments for grandma Victoria to lead her to the private room.
"I'll stand out here to guard the room and maintain the privacy screen," grandma Victoria said, "I hope you don't mind if I keep an eye on you while you're in there."
"Not at all," Maxine said, "Just don't try to bother me. I'll need my entire focus for what I need to do."
"I'll try to contain myself," grandma Victoria said with a knowing smile, "Now, get in there."
"Alright, grandma," Maxine said as she walked into the room and shut the door behind herself. It was a tiny room, and grandma Victoria had already placed a rectangular container on the floor for her. It's big enough for my needs. Now, where is the sterile water that I asked for. She looked around and spotted a jug of sterile water on the bed.
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She paused for only a moment before retrieving little Shaun's remains and gently placing them into the rectangular container on the floor. Next, she poured the sterile water into the container and ground a dozen nutritional pills into a fine dust before adding it to the water. Okay, that solves where the nutrients and water requirements will come from. Now, I just need to begin revive his bone marrow and use the stem cells that they generate to regrow the rest of the little guy's body. And with my energies, I'll speed up the process to make it easier on me as I regenerate various parts of his body.
Maxine took a deep breath, focused her mind and created thousands of microscopic threads of her energies. Each thread wormed their way through Shaun's skeletal remains to find the remnants of his bone marrow and proceeded to place themselves near the most intact cells. A handful of the threads spread out within the rectangular container to slowly warm it up. It was safer to revive Shaun at a healthy temperature for an infant.
Maxine used a combination of divine, shadow and a few other elemental energies to revive the dead tissue. Once enough of the cells were revived, she started filtering the nutrients in the water directly into the cells and smiled when stem cells were produced. They would ease the burden of rebuilding Shaun's body and would fully restore his bone marrow if given enough time. But she sped up the process with her energies.
Next, she used several of her energy threads to rebuild his damaged bone and gently shift his broken skull back into its proper shape. This was a somewhat tricky process since she needed to make them both sturdy enough for an infant, but also flexible to better accommodate growth. She knew his body would correct any of her mistakes with time due to his bloodline, but she wanted to minimize such mistakes as much as possible since it might cause him to develop more slowly.
She briefly checked on the stem cells in his bone marrow before proceeding to build the rest of his body in stages. First, she started with the chest as she formed his heart with care as well as his other organs and various blood vessels. Next she worked her way up to his head. It was particularly hard to form his brain while forming the necessary blood vessels to ensure his brain worked properly. The brain was far too fragile to afford any mistakes no matter how small. The eyes and optic nerves were child's play in comparison. Phew, the two most important organs were properly formed. Although, I don't know how dominant the genes of the hydra bloodline are, but Shaun will, at the very least, have some level of regeneration. So, even if I make a minor mistake anywhere else, his body will correct it given enough nutrients and time. Still, the fewer flaws that I make the better. I don't want him to be an unhealthy baby.
With that part of it done, she took a moment to down a dozen nutritional pills since she had roughly 25% of her energy left and proceeded to work on the rest of his abdomen. She carefully watched as his digestive, respiratory and renal organs grew in place as she constantly fed his body with both her energies and nutrients from the water. His muscles were next as they slowly covered the areas that she had already completed.
After that, she very carefully used her energies to grow his genitals and she took a moment to catch her breath before proceeding to put muscle and various blood vessels onto his arms and legs. While she could start up his heart at this stage, it would make things much harder for her to finish up if he started to move when he consciousness started to stir. So, she used her energies to induce a deep slumber as she jump started his heart and gently lifted his face out of the water. She expelled the water in his lungs and gave him a little help with breathing before he was managing it on his own.
It didn't take her as long as she expected for his skin to form over his little frame and she sighed in relief when the last patch of skin grew into place. She was absolutely exhausted and double checked that every aspect of his little body was where it should be and working as it should before she nudged his mind to wake him up and withdrew all of the energy threads from his body.
Before lifting him out of the water with her hands, she transformed back into her base form to avoid scratching him with her claws and set him down on the bed with extreme care. Next, she began gently brushed a soft towel across his skin to dry him off and wrapped him in a baby blanket that she retrieved from her dimensional ring. Thankfully, by the time that she finished, his eyes had opened and he was looking around. When his eyes rested on her face, he refused to look anywhere else. She instantly felt her heart warm at that. He's very small for an infant and rather thin. I just wish I could've used more nutritional pills, but I was already using the most that I dared to. Still, it shouldn't be a problem. He'll get bigger and fatten up to a healthy weight after getting enough milk to drink.
She very carefully stood up as she held him and turned around just in time for the room's door to open. Grandma Victoria was looking right at him with tears of joy in her eyes and reached out to take him. But she recoiled slightly with a look of concern when Maxine struggled not to reflexively growl at her grandmother. And there's my maternal instincts kicking in.
"I'm sorry," Maxine apologized, "I'm rather tired and it's making it harder to control my maternal instincts at the moment. If it was just from my human side, I think I would be fine, but hydra mama's are extremely protective of their babies."
"It's alright," grandma Victoria said and asked with a hopeful look, "Can I hold him now?"
"Yes, it should be okay now," Maxine said as she took a deep breath and she gently handed him over, "He'll need to eat soon. Did you find someone to be his wet nurse?"
"Of course, I did. There are a few pregnant women in this camp that lost their husbands in some way or another," grandma Victoria explained as she gazed lovingly at little Shaun, "I offered to take a relatively healthy woman with a particularly large bosom as well as her children with us in exchange for feeding this little guy. She'll have no trouble feeding my great grand child."
"That's great," Maxine said happily, but inside, she felt a little sad that she would soon be separated from Shaun. She frowned for a moment at that line of thought, but dismissed it. These feelings are just the result of my exhaustion, maternal instincts and my knowledge that he is biologically my son, even though I never gave birth to him. It's for the best if I don't indulge these feelings. I can't stay and I certainly don't know how to make something that would allow me to keep an eye on him from my native timeline. The best I can do for him is to create a holographic image of his mother so that he knows what she looks like.
"It is, but there is another pressing matter," grandma Victoria said, "I won't be able to keep his resurrection a secret for long. If we're lucky, you will be long gone before it gets out."
"And if not, they will be here within the next few weeks. But that's only if they figure out that he's actually a resurrected infant. It's just as likely that they could think that he's either my or my sister's son," Maxine continued that line of thought, "Still, as a safety precaution, it's best that you head back to the clan with little Shaun at the first opportunity. The people that want to know how I did it won't care who they offend, so long as they get that knowledge. And you know what they might do to little Shaun to get me to tell them how. He'll be much safer within the confines of the clan."
"I'm aware," grandma Victoria replied, "I'll depart for our clan in at a week, at most. And a handful of warriors will remain here to protect this camp until a more sizeable force can arrive."
"Thanks, grandma," Maxine said gratefully.
"You're welcome," grandma Victoria said, "Now, I best take this little man to get fed. He's already starting to get a little fussy." Maxine directed her gaze towards Shaun and saw him squirming from within the blanket without taking his gaze off of Maxine.
"Yeah, he definitely wants something. Although, I'm not so sure it's food," Maxine commented.
"Trust me. He's hungry," grandma Victoria said knowingly, "He's expecting YOU to feed him, but we both know that you don't have any milk."
"If you say so," Maxine said uncertainly. I could swear he wants me to hold him, but grandma's been around a lot of infants in her time. So, I'll let her do as she thinks best for now.
"You can rest in here while I get this little one taken care of," grandma Victoria said happily, "Do you need anything while I'm gone?"
"No, I'll be fine," Maxine said as she reached out and gently stroked Shaun's head, "Just take good care of him and if he turns out like Adam Marks, I'll be very angry with you."
"I assure you he won't," grandma Victoria said with a smile, "Now, lay down while I get some food brought to you. And afterwards, you are going to take a nap. You look like you're about to drop where you stand."
"I'll try," Maxine acquiesced and watched as grandma Victoria left the room.
Maxine laid down on the small bed and tried to get comfortable. Unfortunately, she forgot how uncomfortable these kinds of beds were. A pile of leaves was more comfortable than this. So, she tried to focus on something else. Hmm, I wonder how long it will take Adam Marks to start asking questions. His elder might come up with the conclusion that Shaun is either my nephew or my baby. Although, chances are they the will think it's mine. It's not completely unheard of for a woman to show next to no signs of being pregnant. It also helps that he's so small. It will make it more believable. If they come to the conclusion that he's my sister's baby, the only feasible way to explain it is that she created a stasis bubble around him before her death. Otherwise, he would be older. It's best I clarify that early on if anyone asks. Regardless, it will be a lot easier on me and grandma if anyone comes up with either of those possibilities on their own. But if anyone ever figures out that I actually resurrected him before I leave this timeline, it'll be bad.