"Hey, Akira! Whatcha doin'?" Erika stepped into the backyard, smiling brightly and waving at him.
Akira looked at her with a smile and spread his arms dramatically. "Heh-heh-heh… I am creating my Grand Army!" He pointed at the table.
"Army?" Erika blinked, caught off guard.
She stepped closer and finally noticed the massive Gundam model kits spread out with tools, screws, and wires scattered all around. Her lips curved into a smile. "Ohhh, so you're just building those Gundam sets you won yesterday!"
But then her eyes narrowed. Amidst the plastic frames and instruction manuals were three strange crystals, each one faintly glowing with an inner light: white, black, and purple. They didn't look like anything from the Gundam boxes. Erika crouched down, her curiosity piqued.
"...Wait, Akira. What are these?" she asked, pointing at the crystals.
Akira grinned, picking up one of the crystals between his fingers and holding it up to the light. "Oh, these, they're called Cosmic Crystals. According to my mother, only our family has access to them in this world."
Erika tilted her head, eyes glimmering with curiosity. "Cosmic Crystals…?"
He nodded and gestured at each one on the table.
"The black one is called Nocturnite. Its special trait is Mana-Responsive Fortification. The more magic you pour into it, the stronger it becomes. There's no limit, as long as you feed it enough mana, it can even become something almost indestructible. They are mostly used to make weapons and armor."
Erika's eyes widened slightly. "That… seems powerful."
Akira smirked, then lifted the white, glowing shard.
"This white one is Lunite. Its special trait is Perfect Mana Conduction. Any magic channeled through it flows with almost zero loss. In other words, it's perfect for making circuit boards in some magic artifacts."
Erika tilted her head at that in confusion, "Yeah, I don't get it".
Akira looked at her and remembered she was just seven years old, so it was understandable she didn't know what that meant.
So he moved on, and finally, he carefully picked up the purple crystal. It's a beautiful-looking crystal that looks like it contains the sea of stars, the same color as his own eyes.
"And this is Astrite. My mother said it's the rarest of them all. It can act as a power core, it can store a lot of energy, it can be used as a battery," he explained.
But deep down, Akira knew there was more to it. His mother had hinted at a greater purpose, something important, something she promised to reveal only when the time was right.
Erika tilted her head. "So… what exactly are you doing with all these stones?"
Akira grinned, eyes glinting like a mischievous inventor. "Enchanting and modifying my Gunplas, of course! With these, I'm going to turn them into little magic robots. Doesn't that sound fun?"
He held up an almost-finished Strike Gundam model, its frame laced with faintly glowing runes.
He placed it on the ground and held out his hand. Soon, a magic circle formed, and the miniature mecha lifted into the air, hovering before circling around Erika in smooth, puppet-like movements.
"It's not complete yet, so I can only control it directly with magic, like a remote-control toy," Akira admitted, but the sparkle in his eyes betrayed how much he was enjoying himself.
"For now, they can only move manually," he admitted, "But soon, I'll make them into actual robots. Ones that can fly, fight, and follow my commands. With enough of them…" His eyes gleamed with boyish excitement. "I'll build my own army of Gunplas."
When he decided to grow stronger by building artifacts, he went to his mother to ask for the materials required to make them.
In response, she entrusted him with a few of these precious shards to practice with.
These Gunplas were far more than toys, they were his training pieces and experiments, each one sharpening his skills. And in the end, the fact that they were mecha only made the process all the more enjoyable.
In fact, these crystals were extremely rare materials. His family usually reserved them for forging powerful artifacts and almost never sold them to outsiders.
On the rare occasion when they were sold, the price was so high they were practically priceless. Anyone who truly understood their value would probably faint from envy if they saw Akira using them to make toys.
"Akira is amazing!" Erika said with a bright smile. She had always known Akira was a skilled magician, but she hadn't expected him to create robots. She thought it was incredible.
"What about you? Have you learned any magic? Like the techniques your brother used?" Akira asked, curious about Erika's progress, knowing she was part vampire and might have learned some vampire techniques.
But after hearing his question, Erika fell silent, her expression turning downcast.