Maxine slowly stretched as she circulated her energies to triple check that her energies were completely stable and smiled with delight as soon as they finished a full cycle without impediment. Her recovery had taken her an extra day longer than she anticipated, but that was in part due to the local mages bombarding her with insults via spiritual sense messages. It kept her from completely concentrating on regaining control of her energies.

What they said didn't bother her that much as how often they bombarded her with those inane, not to mention childish, insults. In fact, she's heard better insults from grade schoolers. Thankfully, they had only persisted for a few hours and left shortly after. It gave her plenty of time to chat with Elder Genbei.

[I see that you have recovered,] Elder Genbei stated, [I take it that you will be returning home soon.]

[Yes, I will,] Maxine replied, [And I would like to thank you again for sheltering me while I recovered.]

[Think nothing of it,] Elder Genbei, [I rather enjoyed having someone friendly in which to converse.]

[I can imagine so,] Maxine agreed, [Those mages' actions are little better than a group of small children flinging insults that they don't understand.]

[An apt comparison,] Elder Genbei said with a chuckle, [Oh, it seems we have inadvertently summoned them.]

[Speak of the devil and he shall appear,] Maxine chimed, [It's an old saying from where I come from.]

[Interesting saying, but not inaccurate,] Elder Genbei said.

[Come out from your hiding spot, you scaled sea witch,] one of the mages roared at her, [Or shall I bring out your child and torture her infront of you?] Maxine was immediately shocked by his statement. Even Elder Genbei reacted to it. However, she immediately calmed down. If he really had a hydrakin in his custody, he would've directly brought her here. It's nothing more than a cheap trick to goad me into coming out into the open.

[It won't even take us that long to fetch the brat. We already know where she is,] another one said and an image of a clothed hydrakin child playing with a middle-aged woman flashed in Maxine's head. I need to remain calm. If I go out there now, I'll just get myself into trouble.

[Maxine, I can sense your desire for violence, but you must not give into it,] Elder Genbei cautioned Maxine, [It's what they want.]

[They've seen a young hydrakin girl. If there is even a chance that she still lives, I need to protect her,] Maxine replied.

[I understand that,] Elder Genbei replied, [But if you wish to find her, you need not bother interrogating them. Simply, spread out your spiritual sense and locate the child that way.]

Maxine took a moment to calm herself and shut out the annoying mages before slowly spreading out her spiritual sense. She did it slowly to avoid missing anything. Her mind may operate at extremely fast speeds, but she was still at her core human. Thankfully, it didn't take her long to find the child, but she wasn't a hydrakin. It was a humanoid chimera that was the adopted child of a sorceress. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm not surprised. It would've been nice to find Lucas a female to partner up with, so that there will be more hydrakin running around. But finding a young female hydrakin and having her live with Lucas wouldn't guarantee that they would end up becoming a pair. It's best to let things happen organically.

[Thank you, again, Elder Genbei,] Maxine said calmly, [And I must bid you farewell. I really must be returning to my home now.]

[I understand, Maxine. Take care of that young hydrakin,] Elder Genbei said kindly, [He needs you more than you know.] Maxine gave Elder Genbei an uncomprehending look before nodding her head. I'll figure out what he means by that later.

With a thought, she reached out to her constructs on Earth and frowned for a moment. She sensed the energies of another gold stage cultivator through one of her ravens. She hoped this didn't mean that an incompetent had named themselves Earth's representative and left a huge mess for her to clean up. Not that the Alliance would accept them. Since there is no physical evidence that I'm dead, they should wait for a minimum of 2 years before they allow someone else to take the job.

She took a deep breath and coated herself in her energies before switching with a duplicate of herself in a forest on Earth. Immediately, she exhaled to clear out any lingering water in her nose and breathed in deeply. She allowed herself a moment to enjoy the earthy smell of nature before she got to the other things that she needed to do. After a few seconds, she focused her mind on the task at hand. She spread out her spiritual sense and found the gold stage cultivator that was on Earth. It was cocky chinese man that was demanding the UN secretary name him Earth's representative. Wow, that's definitely an odd hair style. How did he manage to just dye the ends of his hair blonde like that? And how the hell did he manage to get it so ... spiky?

"I'm sorry, but you know that we need either Maxine to willingly step down from that position. OR, confirm that she's dead before such a thing can happen in accordance with Alliance law. So far, she's only been missing for a few months," the UN secretary stated calmly, "By law, you're unable to takeover her position unless she's been missing for no less than two years. It doesn't matter what your wishes on this matter are."

Without any warning, the UN secretary was grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air. "You will make me the representative, or I will kill you," the cocky chinese man stated with a vicious smile.

Maxine had seen enough and stretched a shadow in that office before shadow-stepping into it. I really wanted to make an epic entrance, but I can't take the risk that this idiot will kill a non-cultivator. He probably doesn't even know the consequences of killing a non-cultivator, so I need to stop him before he does. She smiled and waved at the UN secretary before silently walking up behind the idiotic man.

"Why are you smiling?" the idiotic man asked just before Maxine gently placed the claws of her upper arms against his throat, right above the major arteries and veins in his neck.

"He's smiling because of me. Now, release him," Maxine said gently, but firmly into the idiot's ear, "Or I will open your throat here and we will see which will kill you first: my venom or blood loss." The idiot stiffened up and very carefully released the UN secretary.

"Thank you, Ms. Levings," the UN secretary said.

"Don't mention it," Maxine said and directed her attention back to the now frozen with terror idiot, "And as for you, you'd better be on your best behavior from now on. You've already come very close to breaking an Alliance law in just the short exchange that I witnessed. So, if you know what's good for you, you will go back home and properly educate yourself on those laws and how to properly conduct yourself." She didn't give him an opportunity to nod his head in understanding. She swiftly coated him in her energies and teleported him to a rural town in China. He should be lucky that I didn't drop him into a big pool of sewage. He has it coming since he acted like a piece of shit.

"With that out of the way, where the hell have you been?" the UN secretary demanded.

"Vacation," Maxine stated with a smug smile.

"You can't be serious," he said with a flat stare.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Technically, it was a long training session for me to better get a handle on this form," Maxine said with a smile, "But it doubled as a vacation."

The UN secretary pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as he said in a calm tone, "Please, would you inform me the next time that you need to go on one of these long 'training sessions'?"

"Of course," Maxine said, "But I shouldn't need to for a good while."

"That's a relief," the UN secretary said, "And you should know that the Alliance has made a few attempts, legally speaking, at removing your adopted daughter, Kerrigan, from Earth. Thus far, we've managed to find a few loopholes that prevented that, but I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep them from succeeding." So, that's why someone wanted me to disappear for three months. Paranoid fuckers can't help but be afraid of a hive matriarch, even a friendly one, being anywhere near them. Now, if they're real intent was to kill me using that assassin, I can only say that they're fucking insane. Daddy would kill everyone involved, if not go on a full on genocidal massacre on their worlds.

"Well, there are at least five laws that protect her status as a resident of this world. It would take a major rewrite of those laws for her to be forcibly expelled," Maxine pointed out, "And I doubt there is anyone willing to go through that kind of work to make it happen. They were using fear tactics to make you give in an evict her yourself." This is particularly hard since Kerrigan can't technically traverse the stars just yet. She's just recently achieve silver stage and most hive matriarchs don't acquire the ability to traverse the stars until early gold stage.

"I know that, but these offworlders are putting a lot of pressure on both me and your grandmother's clan," the UN secretary explained, "We can only withstand so much before we would be forced to give into their demands."

"Do any of these people control the trade routes that either Earth or my grandmother's clan use?" Maxine asked, "If not, they can pressure us until the end of time for all I care. They already know that they've ruined any chance of a peaceful relationship after this stunt and now they will keep it up to avoid looking weak."

"So, it's a matter of pride then," the UN secretary stated.

"Exactly," Maxine said as she nodded her head, "Now, is there anything else that you would like to talk to me about? If not, I need to go see my girlfriend."

"Not at the moment," the UN secretary replied, "But I need you to participate at the upcoming assembly next month, preferably in person. It would help allay some worries that we're hiding your death with some clever CGI."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Maxine replied.

"Good," the UN secretary said as he reached for his phone. She thought about stopping him, but she figured that her return was already going to be known fairly quickly anyways.

"I'll just leave you to your work then, bye," Maxine said as she wrapped herself in shadow and teleported herself to a secluded alley near the hospital that Emily worked at.

She carefully scanned her surroundings and reverted back to her base form. With a simple motion of her energies, she changed her clothes to something more appropriate than her tattered leather clothes and began walking towards Emily's energy signature. Honestly, I'm surprised that she's still working. Her energies should be restrained by almost half at this point and in another two or three months, it'll be reduced to less than ten percent. It would almost be pointless for her to work much after that. She just wouldn't have the stamina for it.

While she walked towards the hospital, she noticed that one in ten young women and girls had dyed their hair to a silvery sheen similar to her own. Well, I would like to say that I'm surprised at this, but at the same time, I understand it. I've become a major role model for those young women and girls.

When she was only a few hundred feet away from the hospital, she felt someone slap her ass. She whipped her head around and glared angrily at the culprit. He was heavily muscled and towered over her. It probably helped his confidence that his cultivation was silver rank five, but he picked the wrong person to mess with. Why is it that these cocky idiots always decide it's a good idea to swat the ass of a beautiful girl? Do they honestly think that they're immune to the consequences?

He appeared as if he was about to say something, but Maxine didn't want to hear it. She rushed forward before he could so much as blink and kneed him in the balls. Several nearby men groaned in sympathy as the large man fell to the ground clutching at his crotch while groaning in pain. She wanted to hit him some more. However, she reined in her anger and stormed off while blasting without making an effort to mask her cultivation.

When she was only a few dozen feet from the hospital entrance, Emily walked out of it. They smiled brilliantly at each other for a moment before moving forward to hug each other. "I'm so glad that you're back!" Emily shouted happily.

"I'm glad to be back," Maxine said in return as they separated, "I hope it wasn't too hard while I was gone."

"The worst thing that I had to deal with was some overconfident idiot trying to throw his weight around last month. He had literately just broken through to gold stage," Emily said offhandedly, "Hellen sorted him out for me." He's lucky Daddy didn't sort him out. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough left of him to fit in a teaspoon.

"He wasn't asian by any chance, was he?" Maxine asked cautiously, "Did he also have this strange spiky hair that's dyed yellow near the tips?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Emily asked in return.

"Ugh, I met him literately as soon as I got back," Maxine explained, "I wish I could've just beaten him half to death, but we need every gold stage cultivator that we can get. It's just crappy luck that the second one our world has produced is full of himself. It will probably take a few painful lessons before he learns to rein that attitude in."

"Please, try to restrain yourself," Emily requested before changing the subject, "Now, let's go get something to eat. I just got off for my lunch break."

"Oh, it is about that time, isn't it?" Maxine commented more to herself than to Emily, "Where to?"

"I was thinking home," Emily said, "It's better for me and the baby if we get a decent meal rather than fast food."

"I couldn't agree more," Maxine said as she opened a portal to Emily's home with a simple flick of her wrist, "Shall we?"

"You really have to teach me how you make those," Emily remarked as she walked through the portal.

Maxine followed behind her and said, "I would if I thought your energy type would work with it. Hell, I still can't quite place where shadow fits best amongst energy types. It's able to do anything any other attribute can do, but it's less efficient about it."

"I can see the issue," Emily agreed, "But let's not talk about that. I need to make something to eat."

"Oh, no, you don't," Maxine said forcefully, "Sit your butt down and let me make your lunch. I should be the one spoiling you."

"Alright, but I expect you to make me something good," Emily said with a smirk.

"When have I not?" Maxine asked with a confident tone.

"Good point," Emily said as she sat down while Maxine headed into the kitchen. But after a few minutes, Emily asked, "Maxine, you said that your attribute can emulate any other type, right? Did you ever consider that it can do this since it's the form that primordial energies take?"

"I did, but that's impossible. Shadow is too stable to be primordial chaos," Maxine replied while she swiftly cut up some veggies and set some water to boil, "Although, it's possible that shadow might be a step below it." I would've literately been torn apart the first moment that I ever tried using my energies if my attribute was primordial chaos. But my shadow attribute is resistant to fully becoming something else. Hence, why I can only mimic different energy types without it becoming them.

"That's an interesting thought," Emily said, "It's like your attribute is a combination of yin and yang from eastern mythology, but not quite the same thing."

"You're not wrong," Maxine admitted and decided to change the subject, "Anyways, how is your work at the hospital? Nothing too hard, I hope."

"I'm swamped with parents hoping that I can cure their children," Emily complained, "You don't have any idea how hard it is to tell them that I can't cure cancer, or grow them a useable limb if they didn't have one in the first place."

"That sounds rough, but ... it's not entirely impossible to help those kids," Maxine said and she could feel Emily's incredulous look directed at her back, "Well, cancer is easy for me to remove, but growing a new arm or leg from scratch is hard as hell. Making sure that all of those small bones, nerves, blood vessels and muscles are in the right place is maddening."

"You can seriously do that?!" Emily asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Maxine said, "But I can only help them one at a time since it requires my entire focus and before you ask, don't ask me to fix a deformed limb. Bones that have already taken shape are extremely resistant to change and it's near impossible to shift the blood vessels and nerves to where they need to be without making any mistakes." Potions can do the job better anyways. It's too bad that ones that are gentle enough to be used on normal people are rare, not to mention stupidly expensive.

"I see," Emily said as her excitement diminished somewhat, "Still, you'd be able to help a lot of people and children."

"I'll see what I can do after you eat your lunch," Maxine said as she continued to make Emily's lunch. Hmm, cancer already has had a cure developed by the Technological Union. I think they use some kind of sonic device to kill it without using any kind of surgery. I wish I knew how it worked or at the very least, what frequency they use. It would make it far simpler. Maybe, I could use my voice as a carrier for my energies to gently eliminate any cancer or harmful micro-organisms within any of those kids. I could also use that same method to repair any damage that they may have suffered as well. As a bonus, I could entertain those kids with a song while I treat them using this method. This should be fun.