Two days after he and Greldo had returned, Irwin was staring at the card that lay on top of Ambraz. The image of a curved sword that was glowing within its yellow borders exuded a complex, winding web of soulforce that matched the multi-layered resonating song that was softly reverberating through the room.

"This is the best I can do," Irwin said, feeling annoyed.

"Do I hear some displeasure in your voice?" Ambraz snorted. "You do know that this is a hundred percent topaz weapon card that was sideways reforged far beyond anything most smiths will ever be able to do? Its complexity is immense."

"Yes," Irwin said, nodding his head. "And because of that, it's not going to be able to be reforged beyond its current Topaz rank."

"Which was the point, remember? The reason it's not better, which many Smiths would faint if you said that, is because it doesn't match your own cards. If it had been a fire card, I'm sure it would impress even diamond-tiered smiths."

Irwin snorted, wondering about that as he grabbed the card and walked to the large, stone-carved table at the back of his smithy. The flickering light of the burning forge illuminated the piles of raw ore. All were low-grade metals found by the Blademaidens during their searches.

I really need to get Mouzin a better stoneshaping card, he thought absently as he kicked a chunk to the side.

Any idea about metal forging and creating more utility items left his mind as he sat down at the table. The template card, blank and thrumming with soulforce, lay in the center.

"It feels like a waste," Irwin said as he put down the Topaz card, keeping it far from the template card. "Even though I know it's the best way to figure out the amount of charges."

"Then stop waiting and try," Ambraz said. "There's no way to know how many charges this template card has, and if we have a dud, we will destroy the important cards. We tried a common card, and it didn't tell us anything besides that it works."

Irwin sighed, thinking about the day before when they had put a card in it. There had been a short pull of ambient soulforce, a flash of something building too fast for him to follow, and then there was a duplicate card. The template card looked the same as it had before, which, in hindsight, made sense as even the worst could duplicate dozens of commons.

He looked at the sword, which matched the request of multiple Blademaidens. He only had a single sword card left, and although it wasn't sentient, it was everything an Ignitzian could want.

If what they want is a topaz rank card, he thought, shaking his head.

"Fine," he said, taking the Topaz card and putting it on the template card.

He was fully focused on the template card and the surrounding soulforce, and even then, he couldn't keep track of how fast it was siphoned into the template card, mixed with whatever was in the card, and a pattern began forming in the soulforce. A resonance echoed out so fast he couldn't even keep track of the individual components, and he hoped his Tablatures could. The common had only left nothing but a blip on the page, but he felt it was marginally slower this time.

The template card flashed, and Irwin pulled back the other card to find an identical card on the surface of the template card.

He felt a sense of awe, which he pushed back as he focused on Ambraz. The corners of the Ganvil's mouth were pulled down, and he sighed.

"That bad?"

"You can do another nine at this rank, and it will be empty," Ambraz said. "This isn't the weakest template card I've heard about, but it's not that far off. You could do a few emeralds, but…"

"But that wouldn't be enough," Irwin muttered in agreement. "Well, we only need six cards, and if they are Topaz, it just means I'll have to reforge them to Ruby myself."

He tried to see the bright side of it, as he did enjoy reforging. It would just mean that he might not be able to make all six cards equal in quality, and then he'd have to decide who got what. A small part of him wondered if he should take it as a signal to give them all slightly different versions.

"Which is going to be great practice," Ambraz said, disturbing his thoughts.

Irwin knew Ambraz was trying to make him feel better, as they had both hoped to focus on one near-perfect card.

"It will be fine," he said. "So, how many of the current cards can we duplicate if we want enough power left to create eight one-hundred-percent topaz copies?"

"I'd say close to fifty, but if you do forty, we will be on the safe side," Ambraz said, not commenting on the extra two cards that meant they had.

Irwin nodded as he pulled out the purple-bordered card. It showed a very faint outline of a person that, from the pose, looked to be dancing. Humming to himself, he pulled a small book from his soulscape and flipped it open on the relevant page.

Name: Harmony of Motion

Type: Amethyst, Growth, [Smooth Motion - hidden ability]

A simple Amethyst card that allows the wielder to move with a fluidity that is near the peak of what their species is capable of while listening to music.

Passive: Increased agility, speed, and balance

Although the card looked simple, the complexity he sensed within it placed it at the top of all Amethyst cards he currently had. He knew it was likely due to its growth and hidden typing, just like his first card had so long ago.

Glad we can see those hidden abilities now, he thought, remembering his and Ambraz's surprise at finding this card among their stacks.

Ambraz's rank-ups gave him far more insight to the point that he could even find the hidden abilities in some cards. In this case, Smooth Motion. According to Ambraz, it was one of the rarer hidden abilities and one that was very much desired by warriors who preferred agility over brawn.

"Alright, let's copy it one time and see if what you remember about Smooth Motion is correct," Irwin said, putting the card atop the template card.

A few moments later, he held two identical cards and got back up. He glanced at the two blade cards, knowing he was going to hand those out later tonight to some likely very happy Blademaidens.

"Alright, let's see what we can make of this," Irwin said. "Let's just go full force on the first one and see what it can handle in sideways reforging, as we only have a single upward reforge and it needs to be able to be reforged up to diamond."

Ambraz grunted and flew to the small indented area in the smithy, changing to his working shape. As Irwin put the purple card atop, he felt the familiar excitement at the prospect of reforging something special bubble below the surface.

He took a deep breath, then began singing a simple song about a powerful swordsman, while his otherself began playing on his Soulstrum Guitar. The words of the song were merely there so he could more easily recognize it, but Irwin knew that if his children heard it, they would be belting it along.

"Step by step, this song will guide,

Feet like whispers, swift and light.

Always steady, both day and night,

Your arm is strong, your aim just right."

"Move with grace, and never fall,

The dance of blades guides through all.

Speed to dodge, and strength to bend,

The dance of blades will never end."

As Irwin softly sang while working on the easy part of the card, his mind drifted off to three of his children. Ti, Glow, and, to a lesser extent, Zan had shown an interest in his reforging. They had sneaked into his smithy a few times, taking some of what he called 'dispensible cards' and striking the anvils while play-acting how they were reforging cards. Ti and Glow enjoyed imagining they were cardsmiths, humming mindlessly, but, to Irwin's surprise, Zan had actually been singing very closely to the resonance of the cards.

She had missed a lot of nuances and had clearly not been able to hear the complexity, but the fact she could even hear anything without a single card…

A clear chime caused his full focus to return to the card, and he watched contently as the sideways reforge settled into the card's resonance.

One done, three to go, he thought.

Time flowed further as he continued striking, soon losing the ability to do anything but focus fully on the card as he tried to find the least forceful ways to make it into what he needed.

When he finally finished, he was glad his throat couldn't go dry and hoarse.

"So, how did we do?" he asked as he pulled out his book and put it beside the card.

Ambraz hummed thoughtfully as his large form glowed for a moment. Irwin grabbed the book, flipping it to the last entry.

Name: Strength through Motion

Type: Amethyst, Growth, [Smooth Motion - hidden ability]

A complex Amethyst card that allows the wielder to move with grace and strength while listening to music.

Passive: Slightly increased agility, speed, and balance

Passive: Minute increase in strength and constitution

"Almost a complete success," he said, grinning weakly. "Not bad for a first attempt."

"It's going to be hard to add the final bit without causing too much strain," Ambraz said. "Are you sure you want to try?"

Irwin stared at the card, then nodded. "Yes. We just need to decrease the first passive to minute. Then, we will have room for the third passive. After that, reforging it up will increase their power."

"Resistances are very difficult, and even if you get it in, it will probably remain at a minor increase at best," Ambraz said.

Irwin grinned as he cracked his neck, wondering if he should try one more time today.

"That's at Ruby rank," he said. "But if they can grow it to Ammolite, it will definitely become the baseline resistance."

"Well, I'm not complaining," Ambraz said with a snort. "It's probably the best practice you can do right now. Besides, if you succeed, you can show one of those cards to the Smiths guild and instantly be elevated to an official diamond-tier-one smith."

Irwin grinned and decided to try one more time. He knew he'd probably need a few dozen tries, so it was best to do at least two attempts per day.

--

A week later, Irwin glared at the card entry, shaking his head.

Name: Strength through Motion

Type: Amethyst, Growth, [Smooth Motion - hidden ability]

A complex Amethyst card that allows the wielder to move with grace and strength while listening to music.

Passive: Increased agility, speed, and balance

Passive: Minute resistance to physical damage

"And this time, we get the baseline increase to the first passive and a minute resistance but no strength and constitution," he said, tossing the card on the stack of a dozen others.

"At least you can sell those cards for a ton of soulshards," Ambraz said.

Irwin sighed, walked to the table, and sat down, glaring at the template card. It wasn't that he didn't have enough attempts left or that it wasn't possible. He knew it was possible. But for some reason, each time he tried to get the third passive to stick, the card would either be too strained or explode outright.

"It's not impossible to add two passives to an amethyst card, right?" he asked.

"Not that I know… but I didn't read anything about people actually doing it either," Ambraz said.

Irwin raised his hands, clenched them, and cracked his neck as he tried to relax.

"Well, I'm slowly running out of ideas… do you have anything? If not, we can see what happens if we reforge it to topaz and try to reforge it sideways at that rank."

"Don't bother," Ambraz said, flying around his head before landing on the table. "It will just become more difficult, and the increase in soulforce power will make it more likely that it's going to become limited in its potential."

Irwin sighed, then started when a soft voice came from behind him.

"Why don't you let the Chaos Whales help?"

Irwin turned around to see Zan lean over one of the anvils where she had been hiding. He knew Ambraz would have known she was there and apparently didn't bother to tell him. It was hard for him to detect them as their resonance was still so similar to his own that it was easy to miss.

"When did you get here?" he asked, smiling at his daughter and making a come here gesture.

"This morning, when you started," she said, running through the smithy and climbing on his knee.

After hugging her, Irwin hummed as he thought about what she'd said.

"I'm not sure the Chaos Whales can help, sweety," he said. "They will just increase the strength of the resonance. Besides, I don't even know where they are right now."

Zan grinned sheepishly, her eyes gleaming with a mischief Irwin only saw when there was nobody else around.

"I know where they are," she said. "They are searching for something up north, but they aren't that far. They usually come when I start singing to them."

Irwin cocked his head. "Where do you sing to them?" he asked, trying to recall if he'd heard her do that and failing. He had been busy, but not so much that he'd missed the Chaos Whales flying around above the forest.

Zan looked at her hands, suddenly looking slightly worried. "Well…" she muttered.

"Zan?" Irwin asked softly, knowing that of all his children, Zan was the one who needed the softest touch. "I promise I won't be mad, but tell me where you sang to them?"

"I… well, there's a way to climb across the roofs of Nisziz's house and reach the wall if you jump and then climb down on the other side," she said.

"You are singing to them from inside the northern forest?" Irwin asked, having a hard time not to sound accusing.

Seeing Zan shrink into herself slightly, he knew he'd failed somewhat.

"Zan, we've talked about this," he said. "You can't always be afraid, and just because you think I'm upset doesn't mean you need to worry so much."

Zan nodded, then visibly tried to steel herself.

"You aren't angry?" she whispered.

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"Did you go alone?" Irwin asked.

"Ti and Glow sometimes come," Zan said before her eyes widened. "But don't tell them I said so, or they will get angry."

Irwin held back a weary sigh as he hugged her again to hide his annoyance from her. When he managed to push it away, he looked at her.

"I'm not angry, but why didn't you ask your mother or me to come with you?" he asked.

Zan shrugged, fidgeting slightly. "The Chaos Whales sing louder if there are more people around."

Irwin blinked, and it took him a few moments to understand what she meant. "You like it better if they sing soft?" he asked.

Zan nodded so hard that her fiery hair flung around.

"They are really good at singing, and they even-"

She stopped talking, her face turning bright golden as she blushed.

"Zan?" Irwin asked softly, curious about what else she had been hiding.

His fearful daughter fidgeted again before slowly taking something from her pocket.

Irwin's eyebrows rose as he saw the outline of a card.

"Where did you get that?" he asked, as his eyes widened when he recognized it. It was one of the few utility instrument cards he'd brought, a very simple flute.

"You had left a few cards on your desk, and we were playing with them," Zan said, her face still golden. "I wanted to put it back, but… I wanted to play with it some more."

Irwin rubbed his chin. "You are not supposed to take things without asking," he said, this time unable to keep his tone from becoming a bit harder. To his surprise, Zan didn't shrink in but nodded.

"I know! I would have brought it back, I promise, but… then it changed, and I got worried."

"Changed?" Irwin held out his hand, and Zan reluctantly handed him the card.

Irwin scanned it, sensing the simple resonance of the quartz card.

"Ambraz?"

The Ganvil, who had been quietly sitting on his shoulder, hummed.

"It's hard to tell, but I think she is right. The card is a bit… better than I think it should be. Not anything special, but almost as if someone intended to reforge it, but stopped after half a hit."

Irwin turned his full attention to Zan, who looked both excited and worried.

"Zan?"

"We were singing, and I was holding the card, and I felt it resonate," she said. "When I went back, I could tell something was different."

Irwin gaped at her before looking at Ambraz.

"Don't look at me like that," the Ganvil snapped. "I've been having the same feeling ever since I met you!"

"Did she change the card without having any cards of her own?" Irwin asked carefully.

"I'd have to see what she did," Ambraz said. "But I'd say the Chaos Whales did it while singing along with her."

Irwin wasn't sure what to say and instead rose, keeping Zan in his arms. He handed her the card.

"Alright, let's go and see the Chaos Whales," he said.

He ran through the smithy, then up the stairs, feeling his excitement grow. If Zan was able to sense soulforce already, didn't that mean she could become a great cardsmith?

"Irwin, where-"

Irwin waved at Boohm as he sprinted through town with Zan clutching his neck.

"I'll be right back, just checking something real quick!"

"Don't be late for dinner!"

Irwin didn't react as he built up his kinetic energy, cradled Zan, then kicked off from the ground and shot up and over the wall. There was a surprised shout from one of the Blademaidens, but he just waved and shouted it was all right. As he slammed into the ground, he quickly checked Zan, suddenly remembering she didn't have any card yet.

"Zan?"

"That was really exciting," Zan crooned, eyes glittering.

"Good," Irwin said. "Now, where do I go?"

Zan pointed ahead, and Irwin began running into the forest. They continued for longer than he was happy with, and when they finally stopped, he knew they were at least a twenty-minute walk for the kids away from the wall. They were in a clearing hidden from view by the dense undergrowth and a slight hill that naturally curved around it.

"How did you even find this?" Irwin asked.

"Greldo took Soot and Mia out hunting a few months ago, and they found this," Zan said. "He told them that they could come and play here, but…"

Irwin felt a slight anger grow, and he opened his mouth. Before he could say something, he shook his head. There was no way that Greldo would risk something like this. Having a suspicion about what was going on, he began looking around, fully focused on his soulforce sight. It took him a few moments until he found what he was looking for. A dense soulforce resonance that, as soon as he looked at it, turned into one of Coal's shadowclones.

Greldo, you could have told me, he thought as he shook his head and looked around to see three more of them appear around the clearing. He was pretty sure that if he'd looked closer on the way here, he'd have seen them follow him.

"But?" he asked, realizing Zan hadn't finished her sentence.

"You look really angry," Zan whispered. "Greldo said we couldn't go without telling someone… so it's really our fault. Please don't be angry with him."

Irwin blinked, realizing that, even with Coal's Shadowclones here, he was angry. Greldo should have told one of them so they could-

Wait… who says he didn't? Irwin thought as he narrowed his eyes. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"Does anyone else know of this place?" he asked.

"Zender and Earila sometimes come to play with us," Zan said, nodding her head.

Irwin sighed as he slowly began to understand what was going on. He'd have to talk with Earila later, but he was pretty sure that she had her Fearit follow the children if they left, warning Zender to follow them. As strong as the scaled monkeys were, Zender could protect the children from multiple easily, and Earila could teleport in to help him if needed.

It still would have been nice if they had told me, Irwin thought.

"I'm not angry, just upset," he said, realizing Zan was still looking at him worriedly. "Zan… I don't want you to go here alone again, alright? I'll warn the others later, but it's too far from the town."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"It's alright," Irwin said. "Nothing happened, and if we had been on Igniz or Eluathar, exploring would have been fine. "

As he said that, he thought about his own adventures back on Giard. There was one big difference, though.

They need their first cards.

"Bring one of the adults next time you want to come here," he said, slightly absentminded.

"Okay," Zan said before frowning. "But not Boohm. The Chaos Whales always start singing really loud if he is nearby!"

I bet, Irwin thought as he put Zan on a fallen log.

"So, now what?"

Zan looked up and closed her eyes before starting to sing in a very high-pitched tone. There were no words, and it sounded almost like a flute as she continued higher and higher.

Irwin listened, somewhat stunned by the performance and even more so when he noticed that the surrounding soulforce began swirling slightly.

She is actually causing a reaction within the ambient soulforce…

A distant croon came, soft and more soulforce resonance than sound, and Irwin quietly waited until a large shape appeared in the air, lowering itself to hover just above the ground. Zan smiled, but she kept singing with her eyes closed, and a few minutes later, a second, and then a third Chaos Whale came.

Irwin stared at them, realizing they had grown and changed. After a few minutes, Zan stopped singing and sighed.

"I haven't seen all four in a long time," she said sadly, walking to the Chaos Whales and petting them.

Irwin's mouth opened to warn her, then closed it with a snap when nothing happened.

"They say that he's gone up to the gas giant again and should be back soon," she said, turning to Irwin.

"Alright," Irwin said, walking forward. He looked at one of the baby Chaos Whales, now roughly the size of two large wagons, and carefully stretched out his hand to stroke it. The thick skin was coarse and cool, but he barely noticed as a sense of happy curiosity touched his mind. It felt oddly similar to his own cards or how he could feel Ambraz's presence, and with the touch came feelings of joy and fragments of memories that showed him singing with them.

"They want to know if you are going to sing with them again," Zan asked.

"Maybe later," Irwin said as he stepped back. "How about you show me what you did with your card first?"

"My card?" Zan asked, her eyes brightening. "So I can keep it?"

Irwin nodded. "Yes, but you can't slot it yet. It's not strong enough."

Zan shook her head rapidly. "I won't! Nisziz would be really angry if I didn't get a body improvement card or sword card first. Also… I really want to see the card you are making for us."

She seemed to almost be jumping in excitement, and seeing the usually fearful girl so happy, Irwin couldn't help but feel just as happy and a little proud.

Zan held the card between her two hands and seemed to listen before she began singing in her high voice. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the three Chaos Whale babies began humming along with her, and everything changed.

Ambraz let out a startled hiss while Irwin felt his jaw go slack as the ambient soulforce began vibrating excitedly and congregating around the Chaos Whales. Within moments, the soulforce from as far as Irwin could see began rushing towards them, while the Chaos Whales seemed to resonate in tune with Zan's song. The card within her hands began resonating, and as it did, Zan changed her song slightly.

"She's almost as much of a monster as you were," Ambraz whispered in Irwin's ear.

Irwin just shook his head as his mind began thrumming with ideas.

If they do the same thing when I'm reforging, perhaps Zan will be right! They could smooth over the final little bit I'm lacking!

Zan continued singing for a good ten minutes before her voice became weaker, and she stopped, yawning widely.

"Now I'm tired," she muttered, though with a happy smile. "Usually, I don't go this long, but I was having so much fun."

Irwin slowly walked to his small daughter, kneeling down to her level. "You did amazing! Can I see the card?"

Zan smiled happily and handed the card over.

"Ambraz?"

"It's definitely changed a bit more," Ambraz said. "There's not enough concentrated purified soulforce to really do enough, but its finesse is on a whole different level. This could work…"

Irwin looked up. The sun was still hidden behind the outer layer of the gas giant, and they should have atleast a few more hours of daylight.

"Zan, do you think they are okay with singing some more?"

Zan bobbed her head up and down before yawning again. "Yes. They are always sad when I stop because they still want to continue going."

"Then, why don't you sit here and pay close attention," Irwin said as he picked one of the amethyst copies of Harmony of Motion that he still had. Ambraz was already moving, landing on the open area in his working form, and Irwin put the card atop.

"Make sure not to sing too loud," Zan said. "Or they will try to match!"

Irwin hesitated. He had reforged with Chaos Whales being present before, but he usually went loud… was that a problem?

"I will try," he said, then he focused on the card and struck the first blow.

As he sang, Zan softly sang along with him, and within the first line, the deep hum of the Chaos Whale babies joined him.

Trying to keep both the soulstrum guitar and his own resonances softer, Irwin felt the card very slowly change. He also felt, within ten hits, that the changes were very subtly different. If it was the loudness or the addition of the Chaos Whales, he didn't know, but he excitedly continued. The soulforce that began pulling around him rapidly increased in quantity, and as it did, a familiar bubbling sensation came from his soulscape.

His otherself, hanging in his favorite spot above his soullake, looked at his heartcard hovering above the lake and saw soulforce ooze down from it, creating a small waterfall.

That's… How is this possible?

Irwin's mainself focused on his surroundings, trying to detect what was going on, but the only thing different was the immense amount of ambient soulforce that was pooling in the open area. It was almost as much as what he'd managed on his own during their travels through the storm, with the barrier preventing leakage! So what was preventing it now? And why was his soullake filling at what had to be a thousand times his normal speed?

When he reached the final crescendo and struck the last blow, he was utterly dumbfounded but couldn't stop the massive grin on his face.

As the card shuddered on Ambraz's back, he quickly put his book beside it. It flashed, but from Ambraz's growing smile, Irwin already knew what he'd see.

Name: Dance of Perfection

Type: Amethyst, Growth, [Smooth Motion - hidden ability]

The pinnacle of complexity for an Amethyst card, allowing the wielder to move with slightly increased grace and strength while bolstering their natural resilience by a tiny bit. Increased effect while listening to music.

Passive: Minute increases to agility, speed, and balance

Passive two: Minute increases to strength and constitution

Passive three: Minute resistance to physical damage

"Insane…" Ambraz muttered.

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