"It was incredible! Though it did become a bit loud at the end," Zan said, sitting on Irwin's arm as she waved her arms around.

Irwin hummed, having a hard time keeping his attention on his daughter and not on his otherself, who was hovering with Ambraz above his soullake. Zan had been gushing over the singing of him and Chaos Whales from the moment they headed back.

"Dad, is the card done now? That one you have been trying to make for me and the others?"

Irwin pulled his focus back from what was happening in his soulscape and smiled at Zan.

"Not yet, but I now have the basis of what I'll be using for your cards."

Zan's face turned a bit sour, and Irwin laughed.

"Don't worry, it won't take as long as it did to get this far," Irwin said before ruffling her fire-colored, smokey hair. "And it's thanks to your idea!"

Zan immediately smiled widely, and she bobbed her head up and down. As they moved past what Irwin knew was the halfway marker, Irwin stared ahead, wondering about something. He'd planned to give his kids the exact same card ever since he'd heard about the template card, but with the next option not done in a few years, he would have to do most of it himself. Technically, that wasn't a problem, as he knew he could. However, he also knew that every step needed experimenting, with a chance that he wouldn't have enough cards to get six or more as perfect as he'd wanted.

But did he have to?

My cards weren't perfect, but I still have an Ammolite soulcard and another coming up, he thought.

Instead of going for the best card he could make, perhaps he should use the Dance of Perfection as the basis to make a card that fitted each of his children.

If I need to do them myself, I can just as well do this, he thought.

He thought about it for a bit while Zan hummed contentedly, looking around. When Irwin began hearing the sounds of their small town, he had made up his mind.

"Zan, what would you like to do in the future?" he asked, wondering if it wasn't too complex a question for such a young girl.

Zan perked up. "I want to make a lot of music and maybe sing and make cards like you do!"

Irwin smiled, realizing he should have expected that. He knew Zan didn't like fighting or anything too adventurous, but he decided to poke a bit more.

"That's good," he said, smiling at her. "But what else? Do you want to explore the Portal Gallery later? Or see the other main branches…" he fell quiet as Zan shook her head, a slight fear on her face.

"No! I want to go to your world, where it's safe, and see Grandma and your brother," Zan said, her voice soft. "Then I want to go to the smithing school you told me about and have a big house!"

Irwin was surprised at the rapid deluge of words, and he nodded. He knew Zan might change her mind later, but he somehow doubted she'd ever want to go explore like Mia and the boys would likely want.

Not aggressive enough to be an attacker, so she needs to be a defender, he thought as Zan continued talking about how she wanted her house to be near a forest and a volcano so that it would be really hot, and how she wanted an underground river network of Pyroflux.

As Irwin listened to her, slowly, an idea began to form for a card that would suit her best, and it did, and he realized he was enjoying it a lot.

I wonder if this is what other smiths do, part of him pondered as he walked into the open and toward the gate. Reforge specific cards for specific people instead.

The rest of the day passed without incident, though the other kids were somewhat annoyed that their secret had been discovered and that they weren't allowed to go there without letting Irwin, Scintilla, or one of the adults know.

When Irwin lay in his bed that evening, Scintilla was already deep asleep, and barely any of his attention was on the real world. Instead, his otherself stood with Ambraz, still staring at the soullake.

"Okay, from what I can tell, if you do that another ten times, it's about a percentage," Ambraz said.

Irwin frowned as he glanced at the soullake, recalling the small waterfall of soulforce that had fallen in at the height of the song. "It felt like way more," he muttered, looking out across his soullake, wondering if it wasn't too big. If all that had only a tenth of a percent…

"Kid! Listen to what I'm saying," Ambraz shouted, flying around him. "If this is what you get every time you reforge with those Chaos Whales, you have enough cards and time to fill your soullake, make another heartcard, and fill that up to at least twenty percent. Do you have any idea how absurd that is? Most nobles with diamond-rank soulcards need years to fill up their soullakes, and that is with the full backing of their family! If you absorb a regular card that is the maximum compatibility you can have, it gives way, way less soulforce."

As he spoke, Ambraz seemed to become even more excited, and he shot across the lake like a blur before zipping back. Irwin almost joined him, as the idea of finishing his second soulcard and starting his third made him incredibly giddy.

"Even better, I gained nearly as much from the reforging as you did! If that keeps I-" Ambraz fell quiet, hovering before Irwin, his smile gone and replaced by a thin line.

"Ambraz?" Irwin asked.

"I… I just realized that if you do that, I'll get rank four," Ambraz said softly. "I'll have caught up with the others of my generation, and at this speed, I need to reassess my future plans."

It took Irwin a few moments to understand what Ambraz meant before he felt a slight worry.

"You mean, when you reach rank six and can't leave the world you are on anymore?" he said softly.

"Rank seven is when I'm completely unable," Ambraz said. "Rank six is doable, and I fully intend to remain skipping about the Portal Gallery for that."

Irwin heard the steel in his voice and nodded as he crossed his arms.

"So, say we do get the same increase each time we reforge like that," he said, thinking out loud. "We could reforge through the cards we have left, get stronger, head to Dismarintisa and figure out who's behind the smith abductions, stop them, buy as many cards as we can, return here, and continue."

Irwin frowned. The idea of having to stay here for many years was not something he really wanted to do.

"Each rank up takes far more time," Ambraz said. "Just like each of your next soulcards will take more time because of your tendency to grow your soullake. But… let's say it doubles each time. We would need two thousand cards for the next, then four, eight, then sixteen thousand…" Ambraz let out a crazed laugh. "If, and this is a big if, we can buy all the cards we need, we gain the same increase each time. I could become a rank eight Ganvil if you reforge another sixteen thousand cards."

Irwin snorted. Even if all that was true, he couldn't reforge a lot of cards as he did today, each day. Perhaps three now and more as he grew stronger… but even then. That would mean he'd need to stay here for tens of years, reforging with the Chaos Whales.

The two of them were quiet for a bit as a potential plan unfolded before them. Then Irwin snorted and shook his head.

"Too many ifs. Let's go and see what happens if we do it again tomorrow and if the Chaos Whales can even help us with that many cards!"

Ambraz nodded, but he seemed absent-minded.

"Ambraz?"

"What? Oh, right… I was just thinking that you need to figure out what your next card is going to be," Ambraz said. "If you want a resize-card to test your conjectures, we need to see if there's any card we have that can be forced in that direction."

"You mean one that we temporarily slot just to see if it works," Irwin said, humming thoughtfully.

"Exactly. If growing larger doesn't assist your reforging and doesn't significantly increase your strength, it's not worth the effort," Ambraz said. "Although the typing would match one of the passive effects of your first soulcard, it might be better to focus on something else. Though, if you get something like a fire-giant or metal variant typing… Too bad those are nearly as rare as the soulforce cards Brazardian gave us."

Irwin let his mind wander, thinking about the options he had. He had multiple pages in his booklet dedicated to what his new heartcard could be, but it had mostly been a hypothesis as he'd not expected it to be something he could do any time soon. He shook his head to clear it before he could start thinking about what he could get again, knowing he needed to figure out what the Chaos Whales could really do. Besides, he had his kids' cards to make first.

"What will you get during your next rank-up?" he asked. "You will be five, right?"

Ambraz hummed thoughtfully. "Just like you, my maximum soulpower will increase, but it's not as much what I'll get as what I'll choose, which is going to be interesting."

"How does that work anyway?" Irwin asked.

"It's a bit like how we reforge cards, but instead, I'll reforge myself," Ambraz said. "What we call rank-ups is mostly the moment where our internal purified soulforce gets so strong that it needs to be formed into something. Here…"

Ambraz glowed for a moment, and then an image like a crown with four spikes appeared above Ambraz's mouth, right where Irwin pictured his face would be if he weren't an anvil. As he watched, the image became clearer, and leaning forward, Irwin realized the image was actually made up of minuscule symbols.

"Each point is like a visual representation of the skill I gained during that rank-up," Ambraz said. "When my soulforce grows, the crown grows with it until there is room for another point."

Irwin nodded, inspecting the symbol until Ambraz hid it again.

"We usually don't show our symbols to anyone but our bonded smiths," Ambraz said. "Part of this is because other Ganvils can see details about the skills we have, but also because the shape has meaning."

"So, you having a crown…?"

"Shows I'm one of the Prodigies of a Proginator," Ambraz said. "The symbol of a Collective One depends on the generation they were made in."

"So, what are you going to choose?" Irwin asked.

Ambraz was quiet, then sighed. "The ability to create new Ganvils," he said softly.

Irwin blinked, then leaned forward. "You can do that?"

"Yes. Usually, Ganvils only choose it if they are stuck on their rank and have no more chance of growing."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Then why?" Irwin asked.

"Like with your soulcards, the abilities I get, will become stronger the earlier I choose them because they will be affected by what comes after," Ambraz said. "I had expected it would take hundreds of years to become rank seven… but perhaps I'm wrong. If I can get there much faster, it wouldn't be a waste to take it earlier."

"Will it allow you to make new Ganvils right away?" Irwin asked.

"No, I wouldn't have the needed purified soulforce capacity, and it's one of the things Ganvils can only do together," Ambraz said hesitantly. "That's why no Ganvil with any intelligence takes it till their sixth or seventh rank-up."

"But…?" Irwin asked, feeling a but coming.

"But nothing," Ambraz snorted. "You were right. Let's check tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe today was just a fluke!"

Irwin raised his eyebrows, but Ambraz shot toward the house.

"I'll go and search for a card we could brute force into becoming a size-altering type," he said. "You go and sleep!"

Irwin snorted, then yawned.

He's up to something again, he thought as he split his awareness between both his selves.

Both parts of him lay down in their respective beds, but while his otherself slept within moments, Irwin's real-world self lay pondering for a long time after.

--

Irwin sang softly, trying to keep himself from increasing the volume to match the joy he felt. The card before him flashed twice before the topaz border changed into a beautiful emerald green.

"It worked," Ambraz said softly, hovering above his soullake.

Irwin's otherself just nodded as he stared at the last of the soulforce dripping down from the heartcard and into the soullake.

"So, now the question is, how many can we do per day," he said.

"Did it work, Dad?"

Irwin looked up to see all of his children huddled around Scintilla, staring at him. Zan was the one who asked from her seat on Scintilla's lap, while Flux, sitting on Scintilla's shoulders, was playing with her hair absently.

"It did," Irwin said as he looked up at the three Chaos Whale babies. They had come rapidly enough when he started singing, though, like the day before, the fourth one was absent. It bothered him slightly, and he decided to ask Greldo to come with him to see if they could find it when his friend returned.

"Is that the start of one of our cards?" Glow asked, running to Ambraz with Soot and Mia in tow. The three of them stared at the card with strong desire.

"Perhaps," Irwin said, rubbing his chin.

"Don't tease them," Scintilla said, shaking her head with a grin. "You remember how it is to have no card better than most!"

Irwin snorted, then smiled at his children.

"Because she helped me figure out how to finish the last step, I'll be making Zan's card first," he said.

"Awwwww," Glow said, raising his hands in defeat. "But she's just going to sing and dance!"

Mia struck him on the shoulder and gave him a glare. "So? You heard Dad! She helped. Besides, Flux and I are older, so we would be the first ones otherwise. Right?"

Irwin smiled as she stared at him, obviously wanting him to agree with her.

"I'm going to make Zan's first. After that, I'll chat with each of you during our first smithing lesson tomorrow."

"Our what?!"

"That's great!"

"Right in the morning?

It took Irwin a lot of effort to calm them down, and in the end, he asked Scintilla to take them back to town so he could finish smithing.

After four cards, the Chaos Whales crooned in such a way that it almost sounded like a yawn and began drifting away.

Irwin watched them go, nodding to himself. Working on the edge of what he could do was tiresome, and although he could have gone a bit longer, it wasn't a bad outcome. Besides, not every reforging had given the exact same amount of soulforce, according to Ambraz, and the last one was the least.

Diminishing returns? Irwin pondered as he looked at the four cards.

One was the emerald he'd created that morning, while the others were all yellow. He had used the template card to create a few dozen of the plain Harmony of Motion amethyst cards and was reforging up, trying to mimic what he did the day before. Each was slightly different, and only one was close to the one he'd done yesterday. Still, he was going to reforge them all up while experimenting with what he could do.

Looking around the open area, he wondered if he should continue now, then decided against it. He only had a limited number of cards, template-copied ones or otherwise, and he wanted to use as many with the Chaos Whales as he could.

That evening, his kids were more unruly than usual, seeming incredibly curious about their first smithing training. When they finally fell asleep, Scintilla and Irwin were sitting in the living room. The soft, distant clatter of weapons showed that many of the Blademaidens were still practicing.

"Do you think they can become cardsmiths?" Scintilla asked, sipping from her strong, spicy drink.

"There is no doubt that Zan can," Irwin said. "Her sensitivity without cards is higher than any I have ever heard about. Beyond that, we will have to see. Their own soulforce resonance, though still weak, is rapidly diverging to their own unique form. At this moment, they could still work with Ambraz, but in a few months to a year, they will need to do it all themselves."

"Flux and Soot don't seem very interested," Scintilla said, smirking at him. "They both take to the blade better than many Blademaidens I've seen, and I wonder if we need another term for them."

Irwin snorted, knowing that his three sons had already shown a bit of annoyance at being the only male Ignitzians. Soot had even stated that he wasn't ever going to Igniz, as he didn't want to have to deal with the young Blademaidens in their Heat Time.

How he'd even learned about that was something Irwin hadn't managed to figure out, though he had the feeling Boohm had something to do with that.

"Bladeboys sounds fun," Scintilla said before letting out a burst of cackling laughter.

"And you tell me not to tease them," Irwin said with a snort. "Just call them Bladewardens. I think it was a term used for swordfighters back on Giard before the first portals appeared."

"Bladewardens… I like it," Scintilla said with a nod. "Though, I wonder how long they will be the only ones."

Irwin sipped his own drink, feeling the burning hot liquid gently stream down his throat and settle in his stomach like a burning coal.

"Zender?" he asked.

"Yes. From what I can tell, he and Ihrana want to try what you did.".

"It still surprises me that not more have over the years," Irwin said.

"Oh, pretty eyes, as much as you have learned about Ignitzians, so little you truly know," Scintilla said with a wide grin and downing the remainder of her drink. The gleam in her eyes told Irwin all he needed, and he quickly finished his own while Scintilla rose. "Why don't you join me in the steam room, and I'll teach you some more."

Irwin grinned as he felt his body react, and he followed her down into the cellar.

--

"Alright," Irwin said as he looked at his six children.

They were assembled in the forge area of the smithy, and six roughly made anvils of their size stood before them.

"Now, I know you all want to start off with reforging cards, but sadly, we need to do something else first," he said, raising a lump of raw ore. He didn't have a lot left after making the small anvils and hammers, even if the anvils were hollow and filled with stone dust. Still, it should be plenty until Libriz and Mouzin manage to find more.

"Oh no! Purifying?" Soot shouted, raising his hands in horror.

"Indeed," Irwin said, grinning at his son. "It's good to see you paid attention."

Soot groaned, and Irwin saw Mia and Flux sigh sadly. The others seemed to take it more in stride, with Glow actually staring at the ore curiously.

"For the coming few days, you are going to practice clearing out the large impurities in this metal. Now, normally, you would have a card and use its resonance to guide you, but you will need to start without," Irwin said, tapping Ambraz.

"Exactly!" Ambraz said, sounding far more serious than he usually did with the children. "It's a great way to find out how sensitive you already are. Now, pick up your hammer and move to your anvil."

The children quickly spread out before looking at the ore with various looks of interest and distaste.

"Alright, now pick up the tongs that are beside the anvil and hold the ore," Ambraz instructed while Irwin walked around to help where needed.

When all had their ore clamped securely, Ambraz continued.

"For now, we are just going to teach you how to flatten the ore and get used to hammering," Ambraz said, sounding incredibly happy. "You can begin!"

A loud thud came as Soot struck down on his ore, and as he did, his eyes gleamed brightly.

"Oh, this is fun!"

Within moments, the sound of hammers on ore rang through the smithy.

Irwin walked around, occasionally helping one of his children who had lost their grip on the ore and mostly enjoying the fun they seemed to be having.

I wonder how long till they get bored, he thought, his grin widening.

--

Days passed slowly, with Irwin quickly finding that the Chaos Whale babies could do, on average, three cards before getting tired and drifting off. He also found that it was hard to force a card in a direction while keeping it stable enough to be able to grow into Ammolite eventually.

Four days after he started, he finally stepped back from Ambraz with a sense of accomplishment. He quickly put the book on top of Ambraz and, a few moments later, looked at the card's specifics.

Name: Fluid Dance of Perfection

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

A unique card crafted with love and dedication that allows the wielder to move with increased grace and strength while bolstering their natural resilience by a tiny bit. Increased effect while listening to music.

Passive: Increased agility, speed, and balance

Passive: Minor increases to strength and constitution

Passive: Minor resistance to physical damage

"There's something this doesn't say," Ambraz said, turning back to his small shape.

Irwin had the feeling he was right, though he couldn't put his finger on it.

"The musical part of it, which doesn't show, feels like it's reaching a tipping point," Ambraz said, landing on his shoulder and glancing at the Topaz card. "One more reforge, and it will either get an active or passive effect… or…"

Irwin investigated the card, and although he could sense most of what it could do and match it to the card, he was still surprised that Ambraz was so much better at detecting card details. He did notice that, unlike what Ambraz had thought, the resistance to physical damage had turned minor when it went from Topaz to Emerald.

"Or…?" he finally said.

"It might combine two passives into a superior one," Ambraz said with a smirk.

Irwin's eyebrows shot up. He knew about superior abilities, both passive and active. He had some of those, first and foremost, the flame part on his first card. Any passive or active that gave control over an element or one of the other aspects, like a shadow, with shadow walking as the prime example. That said, a passive ability like the first one on the card with three increases was already seen as close to that.

"Any idea what it will gain if that happens?" Irwin asked.

"It might roll up the increases to agility, speed, balance, strength, and constitution," Ambraz said. "Though, if that happens, it will likely have a negative impact. Perhaps it only raises it to the regular increase, but higher with music."

Irwin hummed as he looked at the card, but any idea of trying was shoved from his mind. Except that he only had two redos, he knew the card was already very good.

"Alright, let's see if we can get it to the final stage," he said, cracking his neck.

The Chaos Whale babies seemed to sense he was going to continue, and they crooned happily.

They look a bit bigger than before, Irwin thought as he glanced at them before focusing fully on the card.

Irwin looked at the card as he closed his eyes, changing the song slightly based on the new things he felt from the card. He'd written it specifically for Zan, and as his otherself began playing the Soulstrum guitar, he struck down, singing softly. As he did, he pictured Zan and all her small quirks, trying to convey what she was into the song and the card.

Knowing he wouldn't do more cards after, Irwin held nothing back, and within a few hits, he was lost in the song, the resonance, and the hammering. At some point, he knew his voice was growing louder, as were those of the Chaos Whales, but he knew it was alright.

He only woke with the final strike, and he realized he was still singing softly for his own standards. Something about the card, its resonance, and the image of the demure and soft Zan seemed to resonate with the card.

Letting the song slowly peter off, Irwin watched the Emerald border of the card darken to an almost black before pulsing with a bright red.

"Kid…"

Irwin blinked, shaking his head.

"What? It's good, right?" he asked, checking the card for any mistakes and finding none.

"It's… it's… whatever. Just put the book down and look at it."

Irwin did as asked, and he quickly grabbed the book after it flashed.

Name: Zan's Dance

Type: Ruby, Unique, Growth, [Smooth Motion - hidden ability]

Zan's card was crafted with love and dedication, and it allows her to do as she likes: dancing, singing, and living. It will allow her to weather any storm, be it blade or wind. Increased effect while listening to music.

Passive: Greatly increased agility, speed, and balance

Passive Increased strength, constitution, and resistance to physical damage

Active: Dance of defense

Irwin stared at the card, reading it a few times before looking at Ambraz.

"Did you change the text?" he asked.

"No. Kid… you made a Unique typed card."

Irwin stared at the card, swallowing as he recalled the few remarks the teachers had said about that.

"Isn't it a legend?" he said, knowing how stupid that was as the card was on Ambraz's back.

"I guess not anymore," Ambraz muttered.

Irwin nodded, picking up the card as a thought hit him.

How am I going to make something like this for each of them?

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