Chapter 140: 140. Starforge
Sometimes later, a knock on the door to his room woke him up.
\'Have we arrived at the Starforge?\'
He thought, yawning.
"Coming."
He stood up from his bed and opened the door to see that it was Lisa, his maid.
"Young Master, we have finally reached the Starforge," she said excitedly. "Also, Mike is calling for you so let\'s talk on the way."
"You seem really excited," Orion nodded, observing her exuberance. "Is this your first time here too?"
Lisa nodded her head heavily as she walked along the narrow passageway leading to the conference room.
"Yes, Young Master," she said, looking at Orion. "Although I have been following you all these years, I didn\'t have the chance to visit a space station before."
Orion nodded at her. He, too, felt excitement at visiting a space station. As a kid growing up in one of the seven Magi families, he heard many great things about it. But sadly, he never got the chance to visit any space stations before. So, now that he was here, he really wanted to go there and see if it truly lived up to its excitement or not.
Soon, they arrived at the conference hall, where Famir, Ryfin, and Ron were already sitting on the chairs beside the huge round table, and at the other end sat Mike.
Also, the black-and-white lightning brother and sister duo were standing beside Mike.
As soon as Mike saw Orion, he swiftly stood up and gestured towards a chair.
"Young Master, please sit."
Orion nodded and sat down.
"Have we arrived?" He asked, looking at Mike.
"Yes, Young Master." Mike said, pointing at the side wall.
Orion turned to look and was surprised to see the wall suddenly turn white, with something appearing on its surface.
"Is that the Starforge?" Orion asked, shock colouring his face.
"Yes, Young Master." Mike nodded and smiled, seeing Orion\'s shocked expression.
On the white surface of the wall, a brilliant starry sky twinkled, with a gigantic structure suspended in the midst of the empty void at its center.
The structure was composed of many parts but the most noticeable were the long arch of a blue-colored tower and tens of hundreds of half-disc-like structures revolving around the entire tower.
There were also various void shuttles, like theirs, zooming towards the gigantic structure. Some had the same size as theirs, while others appeared ten times the size of their void shuttle.
But the shocking thing was that all the void shuttles, big and small, looked like nothing but groups of fireflies moving towards the space station.
This was the scene that truly shocked Orion. He had expected the space station to be large, considering the number of void shuttles landing there for refueling, but the immense size of the Starforge still surprised him
He also saw that, as time passed, the size of the space station kept increasing.
\'It seems we will land soon. \'
Orion thought, turning his head to Mike.
"We will also be exploring the Starforge but don\'t worry, we won\'t mess around." He said this to Mike.
However, Mike unexpectedly shook his head upon hearing him.
"Young Master, you and your friends won\'t be leaving the void shuttle." He said it apologetically.
Orion frowned as he heard him.
"Why is that?" He asked.
Mike sighed and explained the reason.
"It\'s because of the Hades Reapers." As he mentioned this, his face became solemn. "We don\'t know the reason behind their assassination attempt on Young Master, but what we do know is that once an assassin from the Hades Reapers takes action, they won\'t stop until they finally kill their targets."
"And now they are targeting you, Young Master," he said, pointing at Orion. "Even though I will be by your side forever in the Starforge, I can\'t guarantee that I will be able to protect you from those assassins. Last time, we were lucky because the Sword Sage was with us but this time we won\'t be. So, I have decided to keep you and your friends here. Especially you, Young Master."
Orion\'s frown deepened upon hearing Mike\'s reason. He understood Mike\'s point, but he didn\'t want to miss this opportunity either. Who knew when they would return here, or if they ever would?
He closed his eyes for a moment as he pondered deeply about this before he turned to Mike.
"Alright," he nodded, agreeing with what Mike had decided. "I won\'t go outside but take my friends and Lisa with you."
Mike felt that was doable and nodded at him in agreement.
"I again apologise for doing this, Young Master."
He bowed down to Orion, respectively.
"It\'s alright," Orion said dismissively. "But give me some gold coins for compensation."
Mike felt strange as to why Orion wanted the gold coins but he thought that if this could make Orion stay here without any complaints, then there was no harm in giving them.
"Here." He quickly took out a hundred gold coins and placed them on the table.
A smile appeared on Orion\'s face, seeing Mike agree with him so easily.
"Alright, you guys can go now," he said, standing up and walking towards the coins. He gathered them all and placed them into his space bracelet. "I will have another nap in the meantime."
After collecting the coins, he walked back towards the passageway leading to the living quarters and disappeared from Mike and the others\' sight.
Seeing that Orion didn\'t cause any trouble and listened to his advice, Mike sighed in relief.
"Maria, Alex, prepare the shuttle to land," he ordered. "Also, if they ask for any taxes, show them this."
He placed a square-shaped emblem on the table. It was golden in colour, but at the centre of it was a symbol of dark wood. That was the Darkwood Family emblem.
Alex nodded, took the emblem, and went towards the pilot room with Maria.
"You kids should also get ready to go," Mike said to Orion\'s friends. He stood up and walked towards the pilot room.
***
Some time later, Orion\'s void shuttle landed among countless others that were continuously arriving and departing from the designated landing area.
The landing location at the Starforge was designated on a half-disc-like structure that continuously revolved around the tower.
There were continuous movements of void shuttles coming and going through the location, making this area quite populated.
After their void shuttle landed, the door to it opened, and Mike and the other kids walked outside of it.
Famir and Ryfin\'s eyes turned into stars as they gazed at the miraculous space station before their eyes.
Ron and Lisa were also excitedly looking around, taking in the sights and marvelling at the magical place bustling with all kinds of people.
"Enough sightseeing," Mike interrupted them. "Maria, Alex, keep a close eye on them."
Maria and Alex, who were walking at the very back of the group, nodded at Mike.
"Let\'s go and get the mana essence and leave this place quickly," Mike said, walking in a certain direction.
Everyone else followed behind him. They walked the path leading to the tower before they arrived at a huge entrance.
Without wasting anytime, Mike entered the entrance, followed by others.