"Thank you everyone for coming here today to celebrate my son's eighteenth birthday. I thank you for the plethora of gifts you've brought today. I hope everyone enjoys the food and festivities."
"To my son, Valerio."
Maximus raised his glass with pride as he smiled at Valerio, and the crowd followed. Hundreds of thousands of people toasted to Valerio Augutsine's eighteenth birthday.
Valerio smiled as he sipped his favourite liquor, a speciality of Fluxara. It was named Night's Mistress, a liquor brewed from the fruits of the Starry Silver tree.
As Valerio sipped his drink and enjoyed the atmosphere, he saw Lucius approach him out of the corner of his eye. Valerio glanced at the box in Lucius' hand as he raised an eyebrow.
"You didn't have to," said Valerio.
"I know, but I wanted to," Lucius remarked with a smile as he pushed the box towards Valerio's chest.
"Shall I open it now?" Valerio asked as he pinched the end of the black bow that wrapped around the white-grey box. Lucius nodded with vigour, prompting Valerio to pull.
Inside was a small spatial box with an iridescent camera-shaped item.
"What is this?"
"It's a [Soul Camera], you don't have to keep it in the spatial box," he clarified, "I'll send it to your soul."
Valerio couldn't help but be touched by the gift, a [Soul Camera] was an item that was extremely difficult to craft, it was something he'd been wanting to create for years. It allowed the user to take photos and store them in their soul aperture. Lucius had likely gotten it to take pictures on his birthday and for him to reference as he created his own one day."
Valerio pulled the [Soul Camera] out of the spatial box and tossed it towards Lucius. The small, iridescent camera made a large arc through the air; there was just enough time for it to return to its original shape as it landed in Lucius' palm.
He drowned it in Spiritual Lu and flicked it towards his forehead. Valerio couldn't feel anything, but he knew that the soul camera had entered his soul, joining the [Soul Lily Seed] and [Shifter's Lock].
'I'm gonna have a lot to look at once I reach Tier 7, won't I?' He mused.
Valerio took Lucius's left hand with his right and brought him into a hug, patting him on the back a couple of times, "Thank you, man."
"Least I could do," Lucius said as he broke out of the hug.
He chuckled as he broke out of the hug, "I think there's someone else who wants to talk to you." Lucious said as he tilted his head to see behind Valerio.
He winked. "I'll leave you two to it."
Valerio looked behind him to see Aurora walking towards him with an orb floating above her palm. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she drew closer, her seemingly hand-sculpted physique coupled with her caring expression placing Valerio in a daze.
"Valerio?" a sweet voice resounded in Valerio's ears as he awoke from his stupor, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Hm?" Valerio looked down towards the orb hovering above Aurora's palm.
"Dare I ask if that's a birthday gift?"
"What, you thought I wouldn't get you a birthday present?" A teasing smile appeared on Aurora's features as she shook her palm, the orb above wiggling around with a slight delay.
"You know you're very hard to buy for. I mean, seriously, what do you even buy for the heir of Augustine?"
A sigh left her lips, but she quickly recovered her energy. "I managed to get you something anyway, though, so you better like it." Aurora pushed her palm towards Valerio, the sphere lost its floating property and dropped into his hand.
Valerio looked at the sphere on his palm, curious as to what it could be. He raised his head to ask Aurora what it was, but gave up, 'She's going to tell me to open it.'
"How do I open it?"
"Just inject some Lu and it should work."
Valerio followed her instructions, guiding his Lu towards his right hand and injecting his Lu into the sphere. The sphere flashed green lights, and a click followed. The sphere rotated around itself until what sounded like thousands of cogs clicked into place, causing the sphere to split into two halves, each containing an embedded bracelet.
The insides of the semi-spheres were revealed, with thousands of minuscule silver and gold gears and cogs having clicked into place. Valerio couldn't help but note the attention to detail and the level of precision it must have taken to craft such a sphere. Its intricate mechanisms were so tiny that if he had just glanced over it, it would've appeared as if it was just a smooth surface.
Now he was intrigued. What had to be stored in such an elaborate storage?
Each half of the sphere held a delicate bracelet—one black, the other white. At a glance, Valerio could tell these were Lu crafts. The faint yet unmistakable aura of Lu radiated softly from them, a signature trait of such creations.
The black bracelet was surely a masterpiece, shaped like a coiled wyrm, a type of dragon, its serpentine form twisting with an elegance that seemed almost alive. The equally stunning white bracelet took the shape of a white phoenix, its graceful tail feathers wrapping around itself in a display of regal beauty.
The craftsmanship was breathtaking, far beyond anything Valerio had ever encountered. He could appreciate the artistry but couldn't begin to fathom their deeper purposes, nor the actual craftsmanship. His curiosity flared as he admired the intricate details.
Unable to hold back any longer, Valerio finally asked, "What are these for?"
"They're called [Fate Bracelets], they're a treasure mother gave me. We'll be able to sense each other as long as we're in the same galaxy."
"They're supposed to grow alongside you and unlock new features as you cultivate. Mother said we'd be able to talk across the galaxy if they reach the 2nd Plane, so cultivate fast oka–"
Valerio brought Aurora into a hug, a warm feeling travelling across his chest. He felt her tighten her arms around him, a quiet squeal escaping her mouth.
The Lux were the farthest in the galaxy from the Augustine, by a large margin. It was quite easy for all their friends to contact each other, except Valerio and Aurora. They were forced to relay their messages to either the Decimus or Solarion to communicate. With these bracelets, they'd have a private method of communication.
"Thank you."