Maxine stayed completely still while focusing on the construct around her to appear as part of the sea floor. It was one of the many tricks she developed to avoid the shadow lords, but many of them were useless now since the shadow lords had figured out how they worked. I've created multiple warp points, used a bunch of shadow clones that scatter in random directions, hid in toxic clouds directly above volcanic vents, gave them the run around in maze-like oceanic caves and my personal favorite, latched onto the bottom of their submarine for half a day. I just need to stay hidden for a couple more days, but at this rate, I'll be caught before then. If there were only one or two peak gold stage shadow lords tracking me, I could just kill them, but against twelve, I can't do shit.
She smiled to herself at some of her antics for a moment, but froze when she detected a faint shift in the surrounding currents. She carefully looked around while inside of her construct and spotted tiny motes of dust shifting around something invisible. Damn, they're zeroing in on me. I've got maybe a couple hours before they figure out that I'm hiding right here and I'll be forced to make an early return to my timeline. If there was no other choice, I suppose I could just scream through my spiritual sense at everything within range before fully transforming into a hydra. That would coincide with that warning that I gave to Elowynn, but I really rather not do that. Even assuming that I could retain control of that state for a few days, those shadow lords would most likely feel obligated to capture me and attempt to help me regain my previous state. So, that won't work. And there is the matter that I can still sense my constructs in the shadow world. While I could possibly create a portal to the shadow world, I don't dare to even attempt it while I'm being watched. The shadow lords in this timeline could possibly follow me to my timeline. That would just be a nightmare just waiting to happen. So, I'm limited to this special warp stone to send me back to my timeline.
Maxine continued to wait for the invisible shadow lords to leave since she could afford to at the moment. Afterall, unlike them, her scales mitigated the cold temperature of these water, but even she needed to swim near a volcanic vent from time to time to warm up. Still, she could force herself to endure the cold for another day before that became a necessity, but she knew that they would find her long before then. For now, she was simply waiting for the best opportunity to get off of this moon and use that wretched stone to return to her timeline without being spotted by the shadow lords in the process. I just hope this defensive artifact has got enough of a charge to keep me from being torn apart.
Maxine waited for nearly an hour, before the shadow lords both visible and not, left the immediate area. Without hesitating, she surged towards the ice directly above and threw out her spiritual sense in a narrow beam. In the instant that she could sense the surface, she sighed in relief that they were on the night side of the moon and shadow stepped to the surface. Next, she burst off into space at her full speed and flew towards deep space. If I'm lucky, it'll be a good five minutes before they are able to follow me. Even if I'm not, they'll still be at a minimum a couple minutes behind me. That should be enough time for me to activate this warp stone to create a rift and get through before they can stop me.
She flew for a good three minutes with her spiritual sense spread out around herself and failed to detect any sign that she was being followed. She swiftly put on her breathing mask filled with air, devoured a dozen nutritional pills and began forming a purely-defensive crystalline structure over a foot thick around herself in preparation for going through the rift. She had no idea if she would even still be conscious once she got through since her defensive artifact hadn't recharged all of the way. She wasn't completely confident her preparations were sufficient, so she put on the defensive artifact that Guan had gifted her before activating the return stone.
A rift appeared infront of her and with a small jolt of her energies, she was propelled through. Like last time, it felt like she was put through Satan's forth-dimensional washing machine, but this time it was even more intense than before. Even with two shielding artifacts protecting her, the crystalline structure around herself was rapidly degrading. She couldn't even do anything about it due to the disorientation caused by the distortions within the rift. She could only pray that it would last long enough for her to get through.
When she was finally ejected out the other side, she instantly lost consciousness. Thankfully, she wasn't unconscious for long, but her thoughts were sluggish. So, it took her a few moments to realize that her crystalline shell was still a few inches thick and that she was rapidly approaching a world that had a similar climate to Earth. Why am I not surprised that I wasn't sent to Earth? I guess I should be grateful that he put the exit over a habitable world after the rough return trip. He could've set up the exit over a fucking star and I would've been powerless to keep myself from plummeting towards it. All this accomplished is forcing me to wait for my body to recover before I open a portal back to Earth.
Her energies were a swirling mess within her pathways. Making it nearly impossible for her to use them at all. Still, she could feel that her energies were very slowly calming down. It would take a few days for them to settle down enough for her to create a portal home. Her body, on the other hand, was rapidly recovering from the stress that it just went through.
In her current state, there was little she could do to prevent herself from falling towards the planet, so, she just remained motionless within what was left of her crystalline shell. And unlike the last time, she had an additional layer of protection. Making the risk of injury much lower. It still didn't make the prospect of turning into a living fireball any more pleasant.
Sadly, she could feel her consciousness starting to slip from her again and swiftly estimated that she would impact in a rather sizable lake. If there are locals on this world, they will have a harder time finding me in that lake before I can regain my strength. And I really would prefer to avoid them if at all possible since I'm pretty certain they would respond quite negatively to my appearance. Hell, I'd be lucky if they even tried to communicate with me before attacking me out of fear.
A few moments later she spotted a faint orange glow appearing around her as she entered the atmosphere and she waited to see if she could feel any heat through the crystalline shell around her. Oddly, even after she was completely engulfed in flames, there was no increase in temperature. If it didn't take so long to form, I might try to use this technique defensively against fire based attacks. Still, I'm almost certain it will shatter apart once I make contact with that lake. Crystals, while heat resistant, are terrible when it comes to blunt impacts.
As she predicted, the crystalline shell around her shattered like glass on impact with the lake and swiftly vanished as if it were ice melting on red hot steel. She didn't focus on it for long as her body swiftly sank beneath the water and spread out her spiritual sense. She detected rich levels of mana and wasn't surprised when she saw huge fish swimming past her. At least, they're not big enough to swallow me whole. Not that they could hurt me, but the idea of being swallowed whole by those things is rather unsettling. Now, let's see. I'll need a day or two before my energies are stable enough for me to create a portal back to Earth. That should coincide with the correct time that I was supposed to return to Earth anyways. As for my body, I'll need about an hour before I'll have my full strength back, but I should be able to move around for now.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Maxine tested her hands and nodded to herself in satisfaction before she started swimming to the lake's bottom. Speaking of which, she was actually surprised that she had only fallen about three hundred feet under the surface of the water. She had expected to be sent deeper. Still, she grew increasingly concerned the deeper she swam. Many of the fish that she saw were easily bigger than any great white shark that she had ever heard of and a few were comparable to an adult sperm whale. Yet, none of them so much as gave her a second look. Can they sense how powerful I am? Or is it their instincts warning them about the threat that I pose to them? Either way, I'm happy that I don't have to deal with these critters trying to eat me. I wonder how Earth's oceanic critters compare to these guys. It might be a good idea to do that once I get home. There might be some creatures that make these guys look like tiny minnows in comparison.
When she finally reached the bottom, she saw an absolutely massive turtle from it's side. She couldn't see it's head, so she couldn't figure out what kind of turtle it was. There were a few possibilities and thankfully, most turtles of this size were generally quite peaceful. But there was one in particular that was both extremely territorial and intelligent: a dragon turtle.
[Oh, a hydrakin?] Maxine heard an ancient voice resound in her head, [I havn't heard of one of your kind appearing for over a thousand years. What an unexpected turn of events. Might I ask your name, child?] Oh, shit. This thing must be truly ancient to have seen something like me before, not to mention powerful. I just hope that I remember the etiquette that grandma insisted that I learn in the past.
[Maxine,] Maxine answered reflexively, [And may I ask yours, elder?]
[Genbei,] the ancient turtle said as a turtle head the size of a large house exited his shell and turned to look at her.
[Thank you for sharing your name, elder Genbei,] Maxine said as she bowed her head respectfully. She was thanking all that was holy that Genbei was not a dragon turtle. Instead, he was something even more rare: the mythical black tortoise. To her knowledge, there were only a few thousand in existence.
[Think nothing of it, child,] Elder Genbei said happily, [You're a significant improvement over my usual company. They usually try to injure me and once they realize that they can't, they insult me.]
[Those idiots! Do they not know how rare of an existence that you are?] Maxine asked.
[I believe they don't,] Elder Genbei replied, [To them, I'm just an oversized turtle that has a very potent core that can lead them to greater heights of power.]
[If that's the case, I can't imagine why you would stay here, elder,] Maxine said.
[I made a promise to meet another of my kind in this place,] Elder Genbei replied, [It's been two thousand years since that promise was made and I shall continue to wait for another two thousand years. To you and I, it's but a short wait.]
[Elder, I've not even seen my thirtieth year,] Maxine said honestly.
[Oh, I wasn't aware. I thought you were much older due to the clarity of your thought. It normally takes several thousand years for your kind to achieve sanity and thousands more to have the clarity of thought that you possess,] Elder Genbei said and his tone became one of regret, [I wish this wasn't the case. If only those those foolish dragons hadn't cursed your ancestors bloodlines with madness, there might be more of your kind for the both of us to converse with.] WHAT?!
[Elder, do you know why they cursed us?] Maxine asked.
[I'm not entirely certain, child. The thoughts of those prideful creatures is hard to understand,] Elder Genbei replied, [Perhaps, it's simply that they couldn't tolerate any other creature in existence that could challenge their place as a peak predator. A foolish action in my opinion. Without competition, their species will slowly degrade and become a shadow of what it once was.]
[I couldn't agree more, elder,] Maxine said as respectfully as she could and she felt somewhat guilty for not correcting him earlier, [Um, I have something to admit. I havn't been exactly honest with you. Or rather, I didn't correct you when I should have. I'm not actually a full-hydra. I only possess the bloodline of one.] Oddly, as soon as she finished speaking, Maxine sensed approval from Elder Genbei.
[I already knew that, Maxine,] Elder Genbei answered, [I simply wished to test your character. May I ask why you decided to tell me the truth?]
[It's easier to be honest,] Maxine answered honestly, [And I was hoping that you might have an inheritance of the ancient hydrakin.]
[Such an inheritance wouldn't be that beneficial to you,] Elder Genbei pointed out, [In fact, it's practically useless for anyone that isn't a hydrakin.]
[It wouldn't be for me,] Maxine replied, [It would be for my adopted brother. He was forced to become a hydrakin before he was ready. In fact, he's still a child.]
[Show me,] Elder Genbei said and Maxine sent her memories of Lucas to him, [That poor child. He should've never been forced into that state against his will. And you are correct. I do possess such an inheritance. I can pass it along to you, but I expect that you'll only give this to those that need it.]
[That's my intent,] Maxine replied honestly, [And as you said, it would be pointless to share it to anyone else anyways.]
[Good. Now, brace yourself. The inheritance isn't a small thing,] Elder Genbei warned before Maxine felt a dozen different techniques flood into her mind as well as a unique cultivation technique. Sadly, like Elder Genbei said, only one of the techniques would be applicable to her. True hydrakin have race specific energy pathways and the vast majority of these techniques use them. However, there was a single technique that she could use and it was simply named 'Wrath.' It incited a hydrakin's bloodline to the maximum causing their strength to soar and any injuries that they receive to almost instantly heal. Unfortunately, it also caused them to go completely berserk until their perceived enemies were dead or they ran out of energy. Either way, after it ended, it would leave the hydrakin in a defenseless state for several days. It's definitely a powerful technique, and since I have hydra bloodline, I could use it myself. Although, I'm not sure how effective it will be on me since I only possess a bloodline. But even if it works to it's maximum potential, I don't think that I would use it. I don't like even being a little out of control and willingly going berserk is out of the question. Not to mention, the fact that I would be defenseless afterwards.
[Thank you, Elder Genbei,] Maxine said while bowing deeply to him.
[You are most welcome,] Elder Genbei said calmly, but for an instant, she sensed the he was distracted, [There is a small cave beneath me. You can rest there while your energies stabilize. And I suggest that you get into it quickly. There are a group of local mages approaching and in your current state, you don't have the means to defend yourself. Those mages have a tendency to capture and experiment on any new creatures that they find.] As he spoke, he slowly lifted himself off of the lake's floor. She wasted no time and swiftly swam into the small cave.
As soon as Maxine was in the cave, Genbei lowered himself back down and withdrew into his shell. She spread out her spiritual sense and saw a dozen peak silver stage mages gliding a few dozen feet above the lakes bottom as if searching for something. They must be looking for the 'meteorite' that just fell. It's too bad for them that they don't know that it was actually me. Still, I wonder why Elder Genbei has been so friendly towards me.
[I'm simply repaying a small portion of the debt that I owe your father. You see he unintentionally freed my daughter from enslavement from a rather unscrupulous sect,] Elder Genbei said gently, [She was being used as a literal shield by those cretins. Thankfully, he only used a poison specifically designed to kill humans, not beasts. And no, I'm not reading your mind. I simply sensed your confusion directed at me and made a guess as to why that was so. You don't live as long as I have without learning how the minds of humans work.] That's actually understandable. Black tortoises are known for their stupidly long lifespans. Even at merely gold state, they can live for millions of years, so that's plenty of time to observe human behavior. Hell, this old guy could pre-date the appearance of humans on Earth by a significant margin.
[I see. Thank you for enlightening me, Elder Genbei,] Maxine said respectfully, [If it's alright with you, I would like to meditate for a short while.]
[By all means,] Elder Genbei replied.
Maxine got comfortable and began to meditate. It didn't actually speed up her recovery any, but it felt nice to calm her mind after the series of events that she just went through. Now, with Elder Genbei looking out for me. I can finally relax a bit until I return to Earth. On that note, I know it's juvenile, but I have this urge to make an epic entrance when I go back.