NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: Orion
Kyle got up from bed as soon as the sunlight pierced into his room.
"What a long day it was yesterday," he said, to no one in particular. After stretching, he quickly did some push-ups, took a bath and left the room for breakfast.
"Where's Ma'am?" Kyle asked Riya, who sat on the couch with a bowl of chips.
"She's gone. Seems like you overslept?" Riya replied, taking a chip from the bowl.
"Did I?" Kyle asked rhetorically as he looked at the wall clock which hung on the wall, "11 O'clock?!"
"Yup. You can go have your breakfast, it's in the kitchen."
"It isn't breakfast anymore," Kyle corrected. "Thanks," he quickly said as he ran to the kitchen; he was really hungry.
After Kyle was done eating, Riya came up to him. "I'll show you around the town," she offered.
"I'd love that!"
~
"This here is the forgery," Riya said to Kyle, she has been doing this for the past 2 hours. All in all it didn't seem like an exciting place.
"…here, Jack, an advanced mage creates magic equipment."
"Magic equipments??"
"Yup, there made with a mana core or something..." Riya explained but was immediately cut off by a voice inside the store.
"What are you saying, dummy?" An olive-skinned boy, 159cm, with emerald green eyes said.
"A magic equipment isn't something simple. It's made by transferring the pro-per-ties of a mana core into an equipment through many mediums; including but not limited to a mana core," the boy adjusted his glasses after speaking.
"Who's this one?" Kyle whispered to Riya.
"Just an annoying shorty," Riya said with a wide smile.
"My name is Orion, and I am by no means short; as a 15-year-old one would be considered short at 158cm. I'm hundred and fifty-nine centimeters," he said with a proud smile.
*sigh*
Kyle couldn't help but facepalm.
"Who's this clueless clod?" Orion asked, eyes fixed on Kyle.
"I'm Kyle Lin."
Orion looked at him, from his head to his toes before asking, "Lin, from?"
Lin thought on what to reply, 'I don't know any town here, what would I say?'
"Taige, he's from Taige," Riya said, quickly coming to his rescue. "He's the son of my mum's friend who passed away."
"Hmm, I hope you enjoy your stay, it's painful when life withers," Orion said. "I'd love to know more about you though," he added with a smile that gave Kyle the creeps.
"Orion, where's Uncle Jack?" Riya asked changing the conversation.
"He got some important business in the city. Why do you ask?"
"I wanted to take a look at some magic equipment," Riya replied with hesitation.
"Scrap that, I'll show you something better," Orion said with an exciting smile. "Follow me."
They were graced with light as they walked through the lab, the luster of the equipment spoke a lot of its quality.
Kyle's eyes were fixated on a katana, enclosed in a glass case which did poorly to hide its majesty. Its design was exquisite, he had never seen something like this.
Slowly, he walked towards its position like he was being enchanted. On getting to touch the case, his hands received a heavy smack off its path.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Kyle cried in pain.
"How dare you try to touch a rare magic equipment, you dimwit?!" Orion screamed angrily, "I wonder why there wasn't a 'sane's only' sign at the door."
Not knowing what to say Kyle apologised, "Sorry, but I just wanted to look at it."
"It's not your fault, take a good look from afar because you'll never see something like this ever in your life again," Orion replied with a serious expression.
"… Your dad made it?" Kyle asked, not knowing what to say.
"No, you made it, didn't you?" Orion replied, not bothering to hide the sarcasm on his face.
Growl!
Turning his head, Kyle saw a flame cat stuck in a cage.
"What the hell is that doing in your lab?!" He asked Orion with surprise.
"He's my lab rat, err… my pet," Orion said with a grin.
"Growl!" the beast roared out, trying to expose the vile human.
"I'm working on a project; a mana sensor. Tiger here is helping me on that," Orion said before heading to a book, he wrote:
Experiment #216— X-ray. He took an X-ray tube and directed 11 simultaneous waves of X-ray on the poor beast.
Looking at the beast which was already on the ground in pain, he sighed, "Next time, I'll do a fluoroscopy."
"Kyle just looked on with fear, "Can't you use a mana core or something?"
"Of course, I've tried that, except I can get my hands on a tier 5 mana core; I'll be using my pet."
'Poor guy,' Kyle said inwardly, glancing at the beast that lay down.
As they walked through the lab, Kyle saw a massive pod, huge enough to contain a human.
"What's that," he asked, pointing at the pod.
"This baby? It's my best work yet. It can manifest the spiritual energies of lightening and metal, giving a rich cultivation environment. It is powered by a tier 4 mana core. It's going to be pivotal in making sure I awaken the lightning and metal elements," Orion explained, rubbing his hand on the pod.
"Can I use it?" Kyle asked expectantly.
"Of course not!" Orion replied with a laugh, he was amazed at the stupid question.
They were shown other inventions, but another which caught Kyle's eyes was a. Treadmill?!
"What's that?" Kyle asked.
"It's a treadmill, another of my inventions, though not original. What about it?" Orion replied he was starting to get annoyed.
"What is it used for," Kyle asked, playing clueless. He knew what a treadmill was, he normally used it at Yurigur.
Orion's eyes had a sudden glint as he beckoned to Kyle, "You can try it!"
"O...kay," Kyle said as he got up on it.
Orion adjusted the speed to 20 km/hr. Kyle began running as the treadmill began. After 2 minutes he was thoroughly exhausted, "Orion, I think I'd run enough. Can you put it off now?"
"Can I? Of course I can, but, will I?" Orion rubbed his hands and cackled.
Riya had already put off the machine, making Orion stop his laugh.
"How did you find it?" Orion asked Kyle with a smile.
"Though it was challenging, I kinda liked it. Can I use it next time?" Kyle asked.
Orion, furious said, "It was nice getting along with you guys. I have some stuff to take care of, so goodbye."
Kyle and Riya, already overstayed decided to head home. "Expect me!" Kyle screamed just before he left the door.
"My mum must be back already," Riya said as they approached the house.
"I'll say she's not," Kyle guessed.
On getting home, Kyle and Riya prepared dinner, as Grace wasn't back yet. Soon, she came back, they had their meals and went to sleep.