Noah watched the spaceship parked in the station, his mouth agape.
After completing every necessary check, he proceeded to board the ship with hundreds of others.
The security check in the station was arduous, and he was tired after completing it. But when he saw the spaceship, all his exhaustion vanished like a tide.
The ship was a behemoth, a gleaming example of scientific technology that dwarfed everything he had ever seen.
He traced the sleek, round lines on its top, supported by a round platform with rooms like beehives. The spaceship looked like half of a planet placed above a round platform.
He boarded the bus to the ship, his heart drumming as he neared it.
After checking his ticket, the air hostess led him to the second floor of the ship. Entering the ship, he felt his world shift.
Dim blue lights and holographic screens, which he failed to decipher, surrounded him. He was taken to a luxury suite, with a small bed, table, chair, and an attached bathroom.
He thanked the beautiful air hostess, who merely smiled in response.
"If you want anything, you can just tap that bell," she said, pointing at a small button near his bed.
"Annnyyy thinggg is available~." Blinking at him with the same professional smile, she left, leaving Noah blushing alone in his suite.
'What did she mean by 'anything', he wondered, rolling his eyes as he jumped onto the soft bed.
The journey to the Shooting Star would take seven days, and until then, he had nothing to do.
He watched the ship leave the atmosphere with awe. He wondered how such a behemoth was powered to fly in space.
Mana is wonderful…
Modrich had said that if one went back to the beginning of the universe that would be mana, the present was mana and their future would be also mana.
Even if everything in this world disappeared, mana would remain. Because it was the end, and it was the beginning.
For two days, Noah explored the ship, but he quickly grew bored. There was nothing he could do. Of course, the air hostesses offered him their special services, which he forced to reject because of his age.
Ftom third day onwards he started to read about the Shooting Star he was going to. It was better to learn a little about the place he would live in for a long time.
The Shooting Star he was going to was numbered 00987 and was named Zenith. It was under the jurisdiction of Adam Zenith, a Tier 50 Rift Walker who had challenged the last Ascension before failing.
Noah had no idea about ascension and ascension challenges; even Modrich hadn't written much about it.
But he knew that an ascension challenge was a hundred times more dangerous than a Rift run.
There were ten challenges that repeated every five tiers until a Runner reached Tier 50.
Each success in an ascension challenge would be marked by the Star Network.
Once a Runner was marked ten times, they would be qualified to ascend to Solaris.
The mortality rate in a ascension challenge was 80%, which was greater than any Rift run's.
However, the dangers came with a prize. Those who survived the ascension challenges became more powerful than ordinary Rift Walkers.
They were called Ascendants, and every Ascendant was a commendable figure who had shaped this dimension with their achievements.
Noah had a long way to go before even dreaming of becoming an Ascendant.
First, he had to run a dungeon, then multiple dungeons before reaching Tier 3.
After that, he had to challenge a Rift and become a Rift Walker. Only then could he start planning for his first ascension at Tier 5. Noah was looking forward to it.
On the fourth day, he read about the types of classes he would have to join in Zenith.
The classes were divided into two sections: physical and theoretical. Noah remembered Aunt Mira warning him never to skip theory classes.
There must be a good reason for that, he thought, and decided to follow her advice.
He was among the first batch of Runners on Zenith, as it began its journey toward Solaris from near his planet.
There would be many Runners joining along the way as Zenith neared their planets. That would take at least six months, and before then, he was determined to reach Tier 3.
It was possible because of the unlimited dungeons he could run for free.
The fifth and sixth days passed without anything special, except for some space pirates trying to attack their ship.
But they were no match for the ship's firepower. Noah wondered if it could even destroy a planet.
Today was the seventh day. Noah stood on the deck of the ship, watching the shining star zoom in with excitement.
Zenith was made of diamonds. The empire had to pay a lot to make it a livable planet. It had many natural dungeons of varying tiers, as well as man-made ones.
The path it was moving along was filled with Rifts, so there was no lack of Rifts to run.
The spaceship made a screeching sound as it crossed into Zenith's atmosphere. Noah watched the islands floating in the air with wonder.
Those islands were called safe zones, while the areas below were filled with dungeons and filled with dungeon breaks.
The airship took them to a bigger island, almost a hundred times larger than the city he had lived in.
The procedures at the space station were simple; he just had to show his ticket. The registration lady looked at him closely before signing it.
"A sponsored Runner? Boy, all the best."
"Thank you," Noah smiled at her. Exhaling the pure air, he walked toward the exit with an uncertain expression.
However, when he saw an old man standing at the exit with his name on a placard, his face brightened.
"Hello."
"Oh, you're Noah? Haha, I thought you were a girl… What a pity."
Noah had a slightly embarrassed look on his face.
It was the first time he had heard someone think his name was feminine.
Sensing his slightly annoyed look, the old man laughed.
"Haha, I'm joking. Who in their right mind would name their child Noah?"
Noah coughed, his face bright red.
This old man seemed to bad at words.