Chapter 130: Strongwald Villa

Marcus and Emily arrived home and immediately went into the Stone of Destruction.

Zoey who stood beside Marcus was still adjusting to going in and out of the stone. Her eyes darted all around the place.

Marcus began walking. "Let's go see the others." 

Zoey closely followed, her eyes were still roaming around the room. She still couldn't comprehend how they could teleport here or how this place was even built. 

They soon arrived in front of a door. Marcus opened it and gestured to Zoey. 

Zoey glanced at him and stepped inside the room. She could see Erika and Emily sitting cross-legged. However, what surprised her the most was the quality of the mana. 

She gulped as the mana in the room danced around her. Zoey has been to a first-rate country a few times, but she had the quality of mana there couldn't even come close to this one. If she were to compare, the mana in the first-rate country is trash.

She turned her head to Marcus who also stepped inside the room.

"This room's mana, how?" Zoey could feel the mana circling close to her.

Marcus chuckled. He pointed to the glowing orb. "Just sit and cultivate close to that ball in the center, or anywhere you like and start cultivating."

Zoey stared at him. "You really do trust people easily."

'You are basically one of us.' Marcus inwardly chuckled. "That is not true. I'll be going out, see you three later."

With that, Marcus disappeared.

Zoey blinked a couple of times before walking near the glowing orb. She then sat cross-legged and started cultivating. 

----

Marcus furrowed his brows as he got back in his car. The vermilion-colored car floated and streaked in the air. 

Marcus sat inside the backseat with his eyes closed. He had no idea where to find Vid. He knew where the large mansion of the Strongwald's was located, but he has no idea if Vid or Vid's lab is there.

Marcus opened his eyes and out of the car window. The people of Estra seemed to be back to normal. The buildings and roads were fixed. The shops and malls were opened.

'That evacuation plan seemed to have worked.' Marcus thought.

He then checked his watch and called someone.

It rang for a few seconds before an image of a blond man popped up.

"Hello, Marcus?" Leo, who was on the other side, spoke.

"Good morning," Marcus greeted. "Do you know where Vid is staying?"

Leo had a puzzled look on his face. He didn't understand why Marcus would look for someone from the Strongwald.

Nevertheless, he still answered. "I don't know myself, but I'll ask my father. I'm sure he knows where."

Marcus nodded. "I will be waiting."

Leo hastily dropped the call and contacted his father. He knew that Marcus wouldn't call him if it wasn't important, so he didn't dare dally. 

Marcus sat in the car and sighed. He looked straight to the horizon. His thoughts weren't on any mortal troubles right now, but it was on the heavenly realm. Even after his memories returned, he had never stopped thinking about the heavenly realm and how his empire and his mother were faring.

He knew that after he left, nothing was holding his mother back anymore, she wouldn't pull any of her punches and might even face the might of the other races head-on.

Marcus sighed. 'Strength, strength is what one needs to protect the people around him.'

He never wants to experience the despairing events that happened in the past ever again. Where he could not protect the people he loved.

He then noticed something. His hands slowly went towards his chest and slowly spoke. "I need to fix this, or else my opponents can use it against me."

Right now his heart fears a lot of things. He knew that he is quite vulnerable if ever his opponents target the ones he loves.

'I need them to grow stronger too.' He never wanted to reach the peak alone. He knew that he and loneliness were never good friends. He knew that Emily, Erika, Eva, Nexus, and maybe Zoey had what it takes to reach greater heights together with him.

Zoey had just passed Lazula's trials, and she was a mortal while doing so. The difficulty of the trial might scale, but still, Zoey had no experience like those individuals in the higher realm.

'I need to get back to the heavenly realm as soon as possible.' Marcus clenched his fist.

His thoughts were interrupted as his watch began ringing.

He answered it and Leo's image popped up.

"Do you know where he is now?" Marcus asked.

Leo nodded. "He should be at the main villa of the Strongwald family. My father said that he loves to spend a lot of time in his lab, and that lab is there."

"Thank you," Marcus smiled and ended the call.

Marcus after hearing where Vid was, still didn't relax. He could guess that the main house is well guarded and is not a place where he could just waltz right in and go straight to Vid.

One bigger problem was, he had no idea where the lab was located.

Marcus turned his car around and headed in a different direction.

Soon he arrived outside the building of his company.

He exited his car and went straight to the top floor. He was, of course, not stopped. Everyone here knows who he is. Vermilion-colored hair and eyes weren't common here in Estra. Someone who had those features would definitely be easily recognizable.

Marcus went straight to the office where Eva and Nexus were staying. 

He opened the door and greeted, "Big Sis, cat, how's the company doing?"

Nexus, who was reading a bunch of papers, didn't raise his head. He just kept doing his work as if he had not heard anything.

Eva on the other hand faced at Marcus and smiled. "What brings you here Baby Brother?"

Marcus grinned. "I'm here to borrow Nexus for an hour or so."

Eva nodded. "Where will you two be going?"

Marcus walked closer to her. 

Nexus placed the pieces of paper in his hands and looked at Marcus.

Marcus took a deep breath. "During the party that we had at our house, one of the Strongwald's didn't seem to be interested in being there that night. He hardly reacted during the deal. So I did some digging and found that he hardly cares about the Strongwald's, and when he was a child, he was bullied by them. He was the round man named Vid." 

Marcus followed up by telling them about what the Preparation Stage expert told him. He told them both all about the Octopi and how the Strongwald's are cooperating with them. About how all of what happened with the sea monsters were done by the Strongwald's

Eva sighed. "No wonder they were so quiet."

Marcus nodded. "We'll be leaving Estra soon, so you guys don't have to work hard for this company anymore."

Nexus smiled. "Finally, we can leave."

Eva chuckled. "I have also been feeling a bit bored lately."

The three chatted for a while. Marcus and Nexus soon left together with Eva.

They separated ways as Eva went home after she finished an important agenda in the office.

Marcus and Nexus on the other hand were on their way to the Strongwald family villa.

"What do you need me to do?" Nexus asked. The two sat in the backseat of the car.

"What else?" Marcus spoke. "Search him, find where his lab is, better yet, find where he is."

Nexus smirked. "That sounds simple."

"Which is why I gave you that job." Marcus mumbled.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nexus narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing," Marcus smiled. "We're almost there. Go search for him."

Nexus then used his soul sense to locate Vid. 

"Hm," Nexus closed his eyes. "Not here, not here, not here, hm, found him."

"Where?" Marcus asked as the car landed a few kilometers away from the Strongwald villa.

"Around forty meters below the main house." Nexus replied as he got out of the car.

"You mean the large house?" Marcus too got out of the car. 

"If that's not the main house then I don't know what is. Now do your hocus pocus and send us in." Nexus walked forward.

"We're too far, I need to get closer to open a portal," Marcus spoke as he headed towards the villa

The two walked side by side and were soon closer to the walls of the villa.

"There are a few Preparation Stage experts guarding, all of which are rank 4," Nexus reported.

He then continued. "Vid is in what seems to be in a la--"

Nexus stopped. With his soul sense, he knew what Vid was doing. 

He turned his head to Marcus and asked, "You're not planning on making him manage the chamber are you?"

Marcus chuckled. "He looks to be the best choice we have."

Marcus only planned on finding the weak link to gather information, but when he found out about Vid and his experiment, he thought that Vid would be a great choice for the chamber.