After three days of frustrations and failures, Irwin angrily glared at the table before him as he ticked with his fingers against the edge. Two mission papers were lying there, each with a few Purple Bordered cards on them. Both were finished, but it hadn't been as easy as he had initially thought.

In the end, he'd almost failed the first one. Only with Ambraz's assistance had he managed to succeed on the very last card. The second mission had been an equally close call, and when the third card had failed, he almost believed he'd need Ambraz's help again. Luckily, his fourth attempt had been a success, albeit only barely.

That was a few minutes ago, after which he'd slumped on the chair, where he was still sitting.

From what he sensed, he would need dozens of cards to practice this new technique to get any sense of surety of success. He had two more missions with cards that potentially had some use to Greldo, but he wasn't willing to risk that just yet.

Perhaps I should just have Ambraz help with those so Greldo doesn't have to wait, he thought. He knew it meant Ambraz would be out of energy for over a day and would need to consume cards from the missions, making it even more dangerous. The problem was that if he hoped to reforge a card himself, it might take weeks, perhaps longer.

"Isn't there a way to practice this without using cards?" he asked.

"No," Ambraz grunted. "Unless you can get a Ruby or higher rank smith to help you, the only thing you can do is keep trying."

Irwin blinked, wondering why Tensor hadn't taught him anything about this. Perhaps he could ask Balarn and Yogog? They might know more.

"Don't get your hopes up," Ambraz said as if he had read his mind. "Why do you think these missions have five attempts? Even then, only very few smiths are able to consistently reforge cards beyond their predisposed paths. The fact that you managed one, on your own, in such a short time is…"

The Anvil let out a soft, weary laugh.

"Well, I guess it's only right for the smith I chose to keep showing off!"

The outburst seemed to cost him what little energy he had remaining, as his mouth turned vague and his wings hung down. The way his tiny form was almost draped across the table, it was obvious how much the last few days had cost him. Especially the previous day, when he had helped Irwin reforge the card that had drained him.

Eating those exploding cards didn't help either, Irwin thought as he leaned back.

"Then I think I need to see if I can find easier missions to stock up on more cards," he said as he thought of the stacks of leftover cards Balarn had taken. Perhaps he should ask for some back?

"You said that some paths are easier than others?"

"Yes, and some are even harder than the ones you've done. That first one was above average in difficulty," Ambraz said.

"You should have told me so I could have started with another," Irwin muttered.

Thinking about the previous days, he felt his annoyance rise. If Ambraz knew he'd fail, why had he let him try?

"What? And you would have believed me?" Ambraz snorted, showing a little bit more energy. "Besides, you've had it way too easy. It's good for you to feel how hard this actually is!"

Irwin snorted. Of course, I would have listened, he thought before grimacing. Well… he might have.

"What if I just reforge a card up to Topaz and sell it? Maybe I can get a lot of quartz cards to practice with?" he said.

"Sure, because I know the potential paths for all cards," Ambraz snapped. "Kid, there's a reason they hand out these specific cards. It's because they know they actually have potential paths. If you just take any random card and try to find a path without knowing the start, there's a larger chance that you find an Ammolite card on your next kill!"

Ammolite again, Irwin thought.

"What's Ammolite anyway?" he asked.

"A legend," a familiar voice said from the door.

Irwin jumped and spun around. The door of his room was open, and Balarn stood there with a half-smirk.

"Sorry, but I was coming up and couldn't help but overhear what you said about selling Topaz cards. It's illegal to sell those except to the mission centers, card shops, or from auction houses."

"I understand that you want to earn more soulshards and cards, but if it was that easy don't you think Yogog and I would have done so by now?" he said.

"I guess," Irwin said as he rubbed his head.

"Mind if I come in?"

Looking up, Irwin nodded. "Of course."

Balarn moved into the room, taking a look around before sitting opposite him. Irwin saw his gaze drawn to the mission papers.

"You've finished two?" Balarn muttered before shaking his head with a wry smile. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore."

"It wasn't easy," Irwin said honestly. "I would have failed without Ambraz."

"Yes, well, you are a Topaz rank smith," Balarn said as if that explained everything. "Either way, that's not what I'm here for. Yogog returned yesterday, and he had something for you."

Irwin's eyebrows rose as Balarn pulled two white-bordered cards from his pocket, sliding them across the table.

"Those aren't half bad," Ambraz muttered, rising from his position and moving to intercept them. As he landed atop them, he began muttering to himself.

Irwin felt his interest being piqued. He had no idea what cards these were, but Ambraz wasn't easy with his praise.

"I'll go thank him after we are done," he said.

Balarn shook his head. "You will have to wait another week. He just left for another mission, taking Ignalia and Hotzli with him."

It's like he doesn't want to stay here and do any smithing, Irwin thought. The combative smith seemed to take every opportunity to set out.

Then another thing Balarn said made him frown.

"Wasn't there some rule that Smiths needed to have a guard present at all times?" he asked.

"Yes, which brings me to the following. Scintilla has been hanging around here, trying to get your attention for two days now," Balarn said calmly.

Right! The Ignitzion, he thought, realizing he'd completely forgotten about her. And with him smithing in his own room, only coming out if he had to…

He rubbed his head, giving Balarn a weary grin. "I totally forgot about that."

"That much was obvious," Balarn said as he nodded. "Before they left, Ignalia and Hotzli both sparred with her a few times and said she is more than up to the task of guarding you. With everything that could happen here, it would be best if you accept her offer."

Irwin cocked his head. "Why me? If Hotzli isn't here, shouldn't you take her?"

Balarn's eyes flickered as he shook his head. "No, because I am going to take a few missions, and I'm going to bring Greldo along."

"You what?" Irwin said as he gazed at Balarn in surprise.

"If the two of you are to go out on missions later, your friend needs practice. Besides this, all the waiting and doing nothing is making him agitated. He is waiting for you, but I don't think either of you realize how long that might take."

Irwin grimaced as he realized he'd not spoken to his friend in three days. Even during eating, all he had been thinking about was how to keep his resonance. He vaguely remembered Greldo asking him how it was going. Had he even answered?

Balarn continued talking, and he quickly focused back on the burly smith.

"-has already joined a mercenary charter here and is allowed to take simple missions. I don't think he will be able to hold himself back much longer. Normally I would remain here to complete the initial missions to provide us with the income needed to remain, but you have that covered. That means, for the first time in over three years, I have the luxury of taking a short break, and earlier than I had imagined."

Irwin blinked, then looked out of the window at the distant behemoth trees. As he imagined Greldo setting out, together with Balarn, he felt a strong desire to join them grow.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Neither of us has a good heat resistance card, so we will be taking missions in the grove, and-" Balarn continued before falling quiet.

Irwin looked up to see the smith staring at him, before cocking his head, a faint smile appeared.

"There will be time for you to take a mission soon and go with your friend to explore. But for now, you need to work on the cards you promised. We also really need this first batch of missions finished, as it will give us the capital to remain here for over a year. So, don't worry about your friend. I'll take him on two or three missions, which should keep us busy for a week or two. In the meantime, you work on those cards."

Irwin nodded slowly. "What about the others?" he asked.

"Don't worry. I divided the leftover cards among them. They will reforge them as training and perhaps into something that we can auction off," Balarn said as he rose from the table.

"Now, take your time. I'll hand in these mission cards."

Irwin nodded again, watching Balarn take the cards and leave. When the door closed, he watched it for a few moments.

"Stop zoning out," Ambraz snapped. "Take a look at the top card! It's the perfect base for Greldo's next card!"

Irwin sighed, then grinned as he turned back to the card.

--

Days rushed by, and with each one, Irwin became a little better at making his cards resonate. Slowly, his new stack of leftover cards was growing. He had decided to use those for practicing after this entire batch was done. One of the things he wanted to attempt was to find a path without getting it pointed out by Ambraz.

A day after Balarn and Greldo had left, he accepted Scintilla as his guard, and she took residence in one of the empty rooms. The energetic mercenary was slightly peeved when he told her he needed at least a few more weeks before even thinking about setting out, but in the end, she just took up wandering around the city. Irwin barely noticed due to his complete focus on reforging.

Finally, three weeks after they had arrived in Cinder Grove, Irwin finished the final card of the final mission. Staring at it, he began passing through his room with a scowl.

"What's with that look?" Ambraz snorted, changing into his small form in a blinding flash, before flitting around Irwin like an angry wasp.

"I still couldn't get this mission done without wasting three cards," Irwin said as he stomped around.

Ambraz laughed as he flitted around his head before sitting down atop it.

"Kid, as monstrous as your talent seems to be, it should take even you a year before you can do these with any degree of certainty," he said, sounding smug.

Irwin sniffed before walking to his small cupboard and taking two cards from a drawer.

"Great… So that means the only way I'll be sure I can reforge this for Greldo is with your help?"

"Yes, and you better get used to it! This is just quartz rank. You have no idea how difficult this is at higher ranks," Ambraz said.

Irwin sniffed and removed some cards from a stack in the drawer. He sighed sadly at them before shrugging.

"Fine. Let's see how far I can get," he muttered.

A few moments later, Ambraz was back to his large form, a wide grin on his mouth as he chewed on the card Irwin had tossed his way.

"Don't look so sad," he said. "It's for a good cause!"

Yeah, your bottomless stomach, Irwin thought.

Then he took a deep breath and put a card atop Ambraz taking a quick look at it with his Eyes of the Blaze.

Card: Shared Strength

Type: Quartz, Minion Coupling

Owner: -

A rare card that can connect to a summon card, creating a passive boost to the wielder's strength.

Passive: Increase strength based on the minion's strength

"So, you're sure you know the way to reforge this to give Greldo a part of Coal's heat resistance?"

"Yes, and if you manage to do it without help, I can try to add a little benefit," Ambraz said.

Benefit? Irwin thought. It was the first time Ambraz had mentioned it.

"What benefit?"

"You will see if you manage to do it without help," Ambraz said.

Probably just trying to motivate me, Irwin thought as he summoned his hammer.

He glanced at it, wondering when he should take the time and pain to reforge it up to Topaz. Pushing it out of his mind for now, he took a few breaths, then struck the Shared Strength card.

A strong resonance pulsed out, and he waited for Ambraz to figure out the path to take.

"Alright, got it," Ambraz muttered. Then he hummed a tune, and when he ended, Irwin glared at him.

"Ten notes?"

"Yes. Stop getting distracted, and begin!"

Irwin gritted his teeth. The hardest one he'd had to do so far had been eight notes, and he'd failed that one spectacularly. He'd also noticed something odd happening after the seventh hit. Sadly, having to toss a nearly exploding card into Ambraz's mouth had distracted him from it, and afterward, he couldn't remember much about it.

That one had a harder tune, though, he thought as he hummed the notes a dozen times until he had them memorized perfectly. They weren't very fast, and had nice long pauses. Pushing all distractions away, he struck the card, forcing his own to resonate with the first note.

Perhaps it was the slow speed of the notes or something about their resonance, but as he struck his second blow, he sensed the card barely resisted his attempt to force it along another path.

Perhaps Ambraz is helping?

Only when he reached the sixth strike did the card begin vibrating on the Anvil's surface. By now, Irwin was completely absorbed in the sense of his own cards and the hammering, and as he struck the seventh, he suddenly noticed something that seemed almost like a background melody. It was as if someone or something was humming along. Not enough to distract him, he felt joy as his eighth-strike rang true. By now, the card's image was less muddled, and the image of the two chained rings became clearer.

The background sound became louder as he hit again, and he felt a sense of joy erupt from his first card.

Knowing he was going to succeed, Irwin smiled broadly as he struck the final blow, and as he did, something strange happened. Without any effort on his part, his cards began to resonate at the correct frequency, and the background melody became so loud that he could hear it. At the same time, the card in front of him was vibrating, its surface barely even touching Ambraz.

"Fantastic," Ambraz shouted.

The joy in his voice was so obvious that it surprised Irwin. Then Ambraz began to shake and vibrate, and Irwin jumped back as he felt the floorboards below his feet in shock. Surprised shouts came from outside, followed by running feet.

"Keep them out," Ambraz snapped, his voice massively strained.

Not sure what the hell was going on, Irwin jumped towards the door, putting his back against it. He was just in time, as he felt someone pushing against it.

"Irwin? What's going on?" Monyque shouted.

"It's all okay," Irwin shouted over the increasingly loud rumbling. "I'll explain in a bit, just stay there and keep the rest out!"

He couldn't hear the response, and he didn't care because, at that moment, a purple rune appeared above Ambraz's mouth, glowing so bright it hurt Irwin's eyes. It resembled a crown with three sharp spikes, and the glow continued to increase. For the first time since he could recall, he had to close his eyes, and he was only just in time. A bright burst of light was followed by the sound of a deep gong.

The silence that was left in its wake startled him, and Irwin opened his eyes to see the brilliant purple rune slowly fade. Below it, Ambraz had a grin so wide the corners of his metallic lips seemed to be attempting to touch the top of his anvil body.

"By Gelwin's beard, what was that?" Irwin hissed.

"I finally, finally, ranked up," Ambraz whispered with a sigh.

Before Irwin could even respond, Ambraz flashed and returned to his tiny form. The now purple-bordered card ticked on the ground as he sped through the room and landed on Irwin's shoulder.

"Don't describe the rune to anyone," Ambraz whispered so softly that Irwin barely heard it. "If someone asks, tell them you saw two overlapping squares! Now, I need to rest. Don't bother me for a few days."

"What happened?" Irwin hissed, hearing a soft whispering from behind the door.

"Later," Ambraz said as he crawled inside Irwin's pocket.

"Irwin! Are you alright?" Monyque shouted, her voice overly loud with just the door in between.

Gritting his teeth and wondering what the hell was going on, Irwin gazed at the card, forgotten on the ground.

"Yes, one moment!" he said as he jumped forward and snatched the card up, shoving it in his pocket. As he did, he noticed that the two chain-connected rings had barely changed.

Did we fail? he thought, turning just as the door was shoved open.

Monyque stepped into the room, looking around as if she expected to find a giant monster somewhere.

"What happened? The whole building was about to collapse!" she said. Nimdal and Syndal stood behind her, their hammers forgotten in their hands.

Irwin shrugged, not sure what to say when the other's eyes widened so much he feared Monyque's would roll out of her head. They were all staring at something behind him.

Now what, Irwin thought as he slowly turned to the window.

A powerfully built Viridian with a bare chest covered with almost metallic, gleaming bark was hovering before the window. He was staring at Irwin with two completely green eyes, which contrasted with the beautiful ruby crystal which was embedded in his forehead, bark seemingly growing around its edges to hold it in place.

"My apologies for intruding upon your privacy," the man said, his voice sounding like wood being bent close to breaking. Although his leafhair was still mostly dark green, with only some orange highlights, his voice seemed ancient.

"It has just been so long since I witnessed someone rank up their Anvil of the Gods that I had to see who was causing such a massive disturbance."

Irwin swallowed as the man stepped into the room. His head brushed the ceiling, and a silvery anvil whisked in after him. It was far larger than Ambraz, but as soon as he saw it, Irwin knew it for what it was.

“Stop being so cordial, Gebladir! Just because some tiny pup stepped up the ladder a bit? It doesn't behoove the leader of the world to come here personally! I told you, you should have just had someone bring him to you!"

Irwin gaped at the silvery Anvil as it shrank and landed on the man's shoulder. Of all the things he had expected, this wasn't one of them. Suddenly realizing that he was ignoring the leader of an entire world, he quickly looked at the man, noting a tiny gleam in the dark green eyes.

"Lord Urdwellan," he said, trying to keep the shake out of his voice, bowing slightly.

"At least the pup knows how to act," the silver anvil crooned. "Now! Where's the pipsqueak that just interrupted my nap?"

Irwin looked from the Anvil to Lord Urdwellan and back, unsure what to say. He didn't sense any movement from Ambraz, and he wasn't sure what to say.

"Young one, just ignore Yuustis. He has a tendency to act out of line," Lord Urdwellan said. "Instead, could you tell me what rank your Anvil became?"

"His Anvil? His Anvil? We aren't property, you rugged-skinned-"

There was a flash of green light, followed by the rustling of leaves, then the silver Anvil blurred through the window. There was a distant shout of annoyance before that faded into the distance.

Irwin's eyes widened. He hadn't seen the man move, and he was still staring at him, smiling.

His mouth dry, Irwin managed a crooked grin before shrugging. "I'm not sure," he said, scrambling for something to say. Then he recalled Ambraz's words. "When he stopped rumbling, two overlapping squares appeared on him, and he suddenly had to rest."

Irwin watched Lord Urdwellan, wondering if this was enough. Ambraz had just said he'd ranked up, not from what to what!

"Ahhh, a young one then," Lord Urdwellan said. "Fitting for such a young smith! I see you are working diligently on our craft," he continued, motioning to the stacks of mission papers with the finished purple-bordered cards. "Well. I'll leave you to find out the benefits of your Anvil's new rank. Perhaps we will see each other again sometime in the future!"

Not knowing what to say, Irwin nodded dumbly and watched the tall Viridian walk back to the window. As the man stepped out, seemingly in empty air, he smiled back.

"Remember to work on your personal power as much as your craft," he said as he gazed at Irwin's right hand. "There have been rumors of some of our brethren and sisters disappearing!"

What?

Before Irwin could even think of asking questions, Lord Urdwellan stepped out of the window. He fell down, then there was a rustle of leaves followed by silence.

"Can someone tell me what just happened?" Nimdal muttered.

Irwin swallowed as he ran to the window, looking down. There was no sight of Lord Urdwellan, not that he had expected it, but there weren't any leaves either.

"Irwin… what, by Desteroyd's Forge, is happening!" Monyque asked, her voice rising in pitch.

Irwin turned, watching her drop on the chair he'd just been sitting on.

"I have no idea," he said.