It had been two weeks- since Willard got ba-ck to Marquis city, h-is mission this time -was vastly different -from the first time h-e had ventured to the- city. Back then, he had ju-st regained his memor-ies and decided to jo-in an academy to gain access to knowledge about this mortal world he could never be afforded at the small Yellow Hew village.


    After spend-ing over two years in- captivity with Aorah, -he no longer wanted t-o join an academy, af-ter all, with his current str-ength, he could forcefully demand all the k-nowledge he needed from most exper-ts.


    Within his quarters, -Willard was seated wi-th his legs crossed a-s he meditated and st-udied the internal wo-rkings of his element-al core.


    After his fi-ght with Aorah, Willa-rd had gained  kno-wledge to something h-e had never known bef-ore. The existence of- that red substance a-nd its connection to -the ring his father h-ad given to him.


    Will-ard was painstakingly- studying the red sub-stance and its applications. Willard discov-ered that he was only- able to sense and ab-sorb this red substan-ce when he tried to cultivate e-lemental energy.


    His -absorption of the red- substance greatly in-creased whenever he t-ried cultivating the -fire element. And unl-ike the elemental ene-rgies that he could c-ompress into balls, t-he red substance was -unable to be condense-d into balls.


    No matt-er how hard he tried,- the red substance fr-eely floated in its r-ed gaseous state with-in Willard''s core. Wi-llard also discovered- that the usually dor-mant ring he got from- his father would onl-y react when that red- energy was injected -into it. He couldn''t -understand why that w-as the case, but whene-ver he injected that r-ed energy to his ring-, he was able to full-y sense the lightning- element. Almost as i-f he had created a li-ghtning elemental cor-e and cultivated it t-o the tenth level.


    This was strange to W-illard because to his- knowledge, there was- no known instance wh-ere something like this had happened. Willard continued t-o diligently cultivat-e this red substance, he had the feeling t-hat this was just its- beginning stages and- that this substance -might evolve if he wa-s able to cultivate i-t.


    Within the two weeks,- Nana had integrated -quite nicely into Ger-ret household. She ha-d long ago grown out -of her usually quiet -and shy personality i-nto a more out-going and social one-.


    Because of the grow-ing tension within th-e city, Nana had spen-t all of her time wit-hin the Gerret househ-old. She had gotten t-o know everyone and b-ecause of her innocen-ce and good qualities-, she quickly grew in- favor to the majorit-y of people she inter-acted with.


    Because o-f her interactions wi-th everyone in the Gerret household, Nana -did not miss the comp-any of Willard that much. She kn-ew he was the type to dedicate his time training for long hours- and to stay secluded. A-nd because he was a wel-comed guest in the Ge-rret household, he was saf-e and was able to train in peace.


    **********************


    Sebastian was seated -in his study going th-rough various maps of- Marquis city. After -every few minutes, he- would circle a locat-ion and write somethi-ng down.


    After he rec-eived the letter from- the Minya family, Se-bastian had been stre-ssing and trying to f-igure out a way where- the Gerret household wo-uld survive the comin-g storm.


    In truth, Se-bastian was very frus-trated at his father’-s lack of interest in- running the Gerret house-hold. Not just his fa-ther, even his grandf-ather, and the succeed-ing generations were -the same exact way. A-nd because of their l-ack of interest, the -Gerret household had bee-n declining through the -ages.


    His family prim-arily sent every tale-nted person they cult-ivated or recruited s-traight to the milita-ry, leaving their ter-ritory within Marquis- city lacking manpower. Sebast-ian was determined to- grow the household back- to its former glory -during the founding d-ays, but for now, his- priority was survivi-ng the incoming storm.


    While Sebastian was s-tudying the maps, the- door to the study cracked open. A warrior wea-ring a brown robe ent-ered the study. His i-ntrusion broke Sebast-ian out of his previo-usly immersed state. Seb-astian turned to look- at the person who ha-d interrupted his research, but on seeing thi-s person''s solemn expression, his previous- angered state turned into that of anxiousne-ss.


    “Balish, has some-thing major occurred?-” Sebastian asked eag-erly awaiting this pe-rson''s response.


    Bali-sh was one of the Ger-ret household''s spies that- worked with a networ-k of other planted sp-ies within the other -founding families. Se-bastian had spent a l-ot of effort in plant-ing these spies withi-n the various importa-nt families within Marq-uis city. In truth, S-ebastian wasn''t the o-nly that had done thi-s, other families had- their own spy networ-k which was vastly su-perior to that of the- Gerret household.


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    “Young Master, the Jur-ong family has made the- decision to join the -Minya family.” Balish replied with a complicated expression.


    As Seb-astian heard those words, th-e shock had caused hi-m to unconsciously dr-op the book he had or-iginally been holding-. The Jurong family w-as one of the fo-unding families and the final puzzle piece for this uprising. Now that they had joined the Minya household, it meant the uprising was guaranteed to happen.


    The Jurong family - was the family that Mubi,- the friend that had -noticed Willard and t-old Asyut, belonged t-o. This decision was -a major matter, and i-t meant that more tha-n half of the forces -within the city had f-inally agreed to stag-e this uprising. Now -that this was the cas-e, things would soon -be playing out in the- open. Now all eyes w-ould be on his Gerret- household because they -were the last foundin-g family that hadn''t -officially made a decision.


    “Now that this is th-e case, call all of t-he Gerrett household''s war-riors back to the ter-ritory. When everyone- comes back, I will a-ddress them.” Seb-astian said with an e-xhausted expression on his face.


    “Yes, Young Master,” -Balish responded with- a bow.


    ‘I guess it''s time to- face this directly. -Father, why haven''t y-ou returned already? -Do you really not min-d our family''s dilemma-?’ Although Sebastian- knew of his father''s- indifference to the -situation within the -Gerret household, he -had still held on to -some hope of his fath-er''s return with some- aid from the militar-y. But now that thing-s were reaching the e-nding stages, his fat-her''s absence had cau-sed him to feel even -more frustrated.


    Sebastian got out of -the study and directly walked -straight towards Willard’s- quarters. On the way-, he walked especially- slow, taking in the scenes of the various -activities that were going on within his household.


    He especially knew that there was a g-ood chance all of this m-ight not remain after- the incoming storm. They migh-t all have to evacuat-e out of the city or -worse; be exterminated. On h-is way, he ran into N-ana who had been chat-ting with a maid in t-he garden.


    Noticing her newfound behavior, he smiled a little and proceeded to exc-hange a few greetings with her and then continued to proceed towards Willard''s quarters.


    Willard who was still- meditating opened hi-s eyes and looked tow-ards his door. Now t-hat Willard had compl-eted his natural ener-gy base, his ability -to sense the changes -within the natural en-ergy in his surroundi-ngs had greatly incre-ased. Because of this-, he could instantly t-ell when someone was -within 30 feet of his- current location.


    Willard go-t up and walked out o-f his room, he saw th-e dejected look on Se-bastian’s face and proceeded to comfort his friend. “What- happened, Sebastian? You se-em quite worried.” Willard -asked with a smile as he patted Sebastian''s shoulder.


    “The Jurong family ha-s joined the Minya’s -camp. It shouldn''t ta-ke too long before we- hear from them.” He sighed as he replied solemnly.


    “Don''t worry too much- about that. Let them- come.” Willard confi-dently said as he stared with resolution in Sebastian''s eye.


    Sebastian gave Willar-d a strange stare, he- knew exactly how pow-erful the forces of t-hese founding familie-s were. Although Will-ard was a supreme gen-ius, this time, the e-nemy was numerous and- quite powerful.


    With-in his heart, Sebasti-an had praised Willard’s -boldness and confidence, but he simp-ly dismissed it as jus-t youthful vigor and -ignorance. In the face of- this storm, he hoped- Willard might be abl-e to escape.


    ********************************************************************


    Author''s Note:


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    ~Devine_Exodus