Sweat poured from Irwin's head as he continued striking the metal. His shoulders and arms were cramped, the muscles building while his back was burning. As hard as it was, at the same time, he felt better than he had in his entire, short life. The pile of purified metal beside the anvil was rapidly growing, and at some point, he realized he was forcing himself on.

He wanted to get through the pile of raw ore!

As the raw ore dwindled and the purified metal grew, he couldn't stop himself from smiling. To him, only months had passed since he left Malorin, but he had changed so massively.

Three lumps of ore.

Two.

Then he grabbed the final one and, with a grin of victory, struck it flat and pure. As he tossed it on the pile, a soft clapping came from behind him.

"Very good," Trimdir said, crossing his arms while staring at him.

He was alone, with no guards along, and Irwin felt the tiny bit of worry that had built deep inside vanish. Then he blinked and looked around in surprise. There were no others left, and from the dullness of the other forges, he knew it must be late. Perhaps evening?

"I got a bit carried away," he muttered, putting his hammer on the anvil.

Rubbing his hands, he grimaced at the soreness in his palms. No blisters, though. Coperion Body probably took care of those.

A dull rumbling came from his stomach, and he blinked stupidly. He hadn't eaten since he got here! He vaguely remembered Lamia bringing him water a few times, which was probably why his lips weren't chipped.

"Don't worry, "Trimdir said. "I brought enough food, even for you."

Irwin nodded as he followed Trimdir to his office. A minute later, he was munching on a massive chunk of dark bread, dipping it into the hot stew.

"Where did you get fresh bread?" Irwin muttered in between bites.

"Lamia," Trimdir said with a shrug, focused on his own food.

When Irwin finally wiped the last grease from his plate, he saw Trimdir staring at him with a glint and a grin.

"I'm still growing," Irwin muttered.

"It's fine, boy," Trimdir said, sounding like he meant it. "I was young once."

Then he leaned back, eyes on something else, and Irwin realized there was a tiny box standing on the table.

"Your friend was out with Basil, but he should be here soon," Trimdir said, gaining Irwin's undivided attention.

"Did they go after the Frozir?" he asked.

"No, they had to close a portal that had appeared nearby," Trimdir said. "Do you want to wait for your friend, or…" he stared pointedly at the box.

Irwin hesitated, then reached out and grabbed the box. Ambraz knew to be quiet and fake, reforging a card while Irwin struck the common. He wasn't going to use his own skill, at least not yet, and not when anybody could see. That would have to wait for when he was good enough.

So heavy, he thought as he opened the lid. As he did, he couldn't help but be impressed by the quality of the craftsmanship. The tiny box looked better made than almost anything he'd ever handled. Then he stared at the stack of cards inside, and any thoughts about if Trimdir had made it vanished.

"How... how many did you get?" he asked as he looked up in disbelief. There had to be twenty or more here!

"Some people still owed me," Trimdir said smugly. "I told them I was going to attempt an experiment that might result in an uncommon combat card but that I needed common cards. They weren't impressed until I told them I'd dismiss what they owed me to the first to hand me the largest amount of common combat cards. You should have seen those bloody merchants. They almost scrambled over themselves to rush to their hidden stashes!"

A dangerous look crossed Trimdir's face as he glared at the tiny box. "I always knew they were hiding cards… but I'd never thought this many. And I'm pretty sure they have even more. A dozen merchants, each with over a dozen cards in hand. If it wasn't for the bloody merchant guild-" he hissed angrily.

Irwin nodded dumbly, the idea of having twenty common combat cards in his hands surreal.

"And they didn't ask what the experiment was?" he asked.

"They did," Trimdir said. "I told them it had to do something with one of my cards that I finally fully mastered."

Irwin's head snapped up. "But they might-" he began.

"Try and do something to me?" Trimdir asked as a sharp glint came to his eyes. "Let them try. The four strongest people in this keep would be on my side, and all the others combined can't take on even half of those."

"Like Bron?" Irwin whispered.

Trimdir nodded. "But he isn't the strongest. Not by far."

He really trusts Bron that much? Irwin thought.

Then he thought about what Trimdir had told him, that he and Bron and the others had gone through rifts when they were young. If what they had gone through had been anything like what he had experienced?

And I trust Daubutim and Greldo.

Somehow that made him feel even better about trusting Trimdir, at least as far as he had. Someone who could trust others like that and seemed sure the others would trust him likewise had to be a trustworthy person.

"I can try one," he muttered as he took out the stack and began spreading them out. Almost all of the cards were body improvement cards ranging from grip strength to leg power. What surprised him was the trio of curved blades with hilts on both sides. He'd seen those before, and they were meant for tanning. The tanning knives, though obviously not meant for combat, looked sharp enough to cut things apart.

"They look almost the same," he muttered, putting them side by side.

"It's one of the things I've always wondered about," Trimdir grunted as he leaned forward and took one of the gray-bordered cards. "Where do these things come from? How are they made."

Irwin only just stopped answering. If he answered that, he'd have to explain how he knew, and he wasn't ready yet to share Ambraz's existence. At least, not yet. To hide it, he pushed himself up and away from the table, taking one of the dagger cards. One was as good as another, and if the uncommon dagger card proved incredible, they had two more to use.

"Let's reforge a card," he said with a grin.

Trimdir jumped up, nodding, more excited than Irwin had seen him.

Back in the smithy, Irwin moved to a spot not too far from his own forging area. Feeling slightly odd, he took out Ambraz from his pocket. The anvil didn't make a sound or movement, looking like nothing but an elaborate prop. Just for theatrics, Irwin initiated Eyes of Blaze's card reading before gently throwing Ambraz forward. With a flash, the tiny anvil turned into a massive one. He was surprised to find no sign of lips, not even a thin line.

"By Yilda," Trimdir hissed, and Irwin saw him take a step back. "Could have warned me!"

"Sorry," Irwin said, feeling a little childish glee. Then he stepped towards Ambraz and put the dagger card atop.

He counted to ten, enabled Coperion Body, and slowly brought his fist down on the card. The image flashed into being, and he continued slowly striking it. In reality, he wasn't doing anything as Ambraz was superseding his strikes.

"Incredible… it looks like the image, but all… warped," Trimdir muttered, moving closer and staring in rapture at the floating image.

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Irwin kept striking for a few minutes, then hit it harder for a final time. The card flashed brightly, and the image shifted before vanishing. A purple-bordered card lay on the anvil, depicting a longer, more intricate tanning knife.

"It worked," Trimdir gasped, stepping forward. He hesitated, then gently picked up the card. "This-" he looked at Ambraz, shaking his head. "If we could get more cards like yours…" his voice trailed off as he continued shaking his head.

Irwin wished it was that easy. If only someone could learn reforging cards without-

Wait, do we need Ambraz? Or can we learn how to do this without him?

He stared stupidly at the anvil. The anvil had said he'd teach him how to reforge. Didn't that imply he might be able to do this without Ambraz? At least at some point? He couldn't wait to ask Ambraz!

They both remained quiet, staring at the card, lost in their own thoughts.

"I've put a bed in the small storehouse," Trimdir said just as the door opened and Daubutim walked in. He took a single glance around, focusing on Ambraz, then on Trimdir before pulling the door closed and heading inside.

"You should not stay here tomorrow evening. It will be too easy for people to figure out what is going on," he said out of the blue.

Irwin wondered if he had heard as he opened the door or been listening in. He nodded, quickly examining Daubutim. There were no signs of wounds. Even his armor seemed undamaged.

"Also, Basil told me to let you know he will find you after the Frozir have been beaten back. Until then, he expects you to help guard the walls in the afternoon."

Irwin blinked, then nodded. He'd hoped he could stay here, working in the smithy, but with how Basil had reacted to him, he guessed that was too much to hope for.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I heard there was another portal?"

"I'm fine," Daubutim said. "It was a common portal and easily closed. We found two more, which is why it took so long."

"Good to hear we had an easy day for once," Trimdir said. "I'm going to finish up here."

Irwin watched him leave, the new uncommon card clutched in his hand. After he closed the door, Daubutim moved closer, lowering his voice.

"How did he react?"

Irwin grimaced. He wanted to share what Trimdir had told him, but he had promised to keep it to himself. If he broke that promise already, how could he expect Trimdir to keep quiet?

"Good. He was startled by the appearance of… the anvil," Irwin said, quickly catching him from calling Ambraz by his name. “Trimdir managed to-”

He slowly regaled all Trimdir had done and said, leaving out only those parts he couldn't talk about. As he did, he felt annoyed. He realized he didn't like all these secrets. When he finished, Daubutim just nodded before taking something from his pocket.

"I found a merchant with two common fire cards. He wasn't very interested in the bug card, but in the end, took the deal," Daubutim said as he held out two common cards.

Irwin's eyes widened, and he carefully accepted them. Between the others they had, Ambraz could feed and upgrade another card for him!

If one helps with my weakness, he corrected himself. And after I combine my first hand…

Annoyed at all the things he had to do, he examined the top card. It showed a rain of red sparks floating in the air. He couldn't make out any other details, meaning it was probably a utility card. With a frown he activated his Eyes of Blaze.

Card: Rain of sparks

Type: Common

Utility card that allows the wielder to condense the ambient heat.

Active: Draw in pre-existing ambient heat to create a rain of sparks.

"It's not… bad," Irwin muttered. The problem was that compared to what he was used to, it wasn't very good either. Though, honestly, it was better than what he had thought his first original card had been.

Hoping the other one was better, he focused on the second card.

It showed two hands pressed against each other with a glow between them.

Card: Warm hands

Type: Common

Utility card that allows the wielder to heat their hands by rubbing them together.

Active: Rubbing hands together causes enough frictional heat to warm them.

Irwin's first response was to groan. Then he stopped and stared at the card. Didn't Coperion Body begin with only the hands? Would this card turn into Warm Body? And what would that mean? Would he be able to rub himself to get warm?

After staring at the card for a while, he looked up to see Daubutim staring at him.

"The second one… might have promise," Irwin said softly. "I'll have to reforge it to find out for sure."

"If it's not good, I can try and find more."

Irwin nodded, staring at the card, wishing he could have Ambraz reforge it right away. Sadly, he'd have to wait to slake his curiosity till the next evening.

Daubutim decided to remain, and so after talking for a bit more, they found more bedding and went in for the night.

I hope Basil can stop the Frozir, Irwin thought just before falling into a deep sleep.

The next day went by rapidly, starting with purifying metal and ending with a boring and cold afternoon on the southern wall. Besides a few birds, there had been nothing but snow as far as the eye could see. The only thing of note was the common card Trimdir had passed him before leaving. It was a body improvement card focusing on arm strength and the one he wanted Irwin to reforge that evening.

When Irwin finally reached his and Daubutim's room, the first thing he did was summon his flame and heat up the room until he could see the occasional heat shimmers. Then he put the common cards Daubutim had handed him on the table next to the one Trimdir had given him.

"Ambraz?"

A struggle came from his pocket, followed by a disgruntled snort.

"Bah! I can't wait for you to have two full hands and the strength to protect yourself," the anvil snapped. "Being cooped up in your pocket, unable to interact with anything, is stifling!'

Irwin grinned. "Well, then we need to reforge one of my cards to rare, so I can begin with my first hand!"

Ambraz snorted. "I will need to eat another card first and refine it."

Irwin took the top card of the stack, one of the more useless common cards, and held it up. A happy grunt and a flash later, Ambraz stood in his large form, munching on the card.

"Before we do that, can you reforge these two cards?" Irwin asked as he pushed both the arm strength one from Trimdir and the Warm Hands one forward.

"Shouldn't you do this so you can practice?"

"I will try one of the less important ones after," Irwin said. "I can't risk failing on these two."

Ambraz's lips were pursed. "Fine. Let me see them then."

Irwin put the arm strength one on first, and a minute later, he picked up the new uncommon card. He glimpsed at it, then stuffed it in his pocket. A year ago, he would have cried for happiness if he'd gotten one like that. Now the simple physical strength it granted seemed somewhat lackluster compared to his cards.

As he put Warm Hands on the anvil's surface, Ambraz sniffed. "Ah! A friction energy card. That is actually not bad for you, though we will have to see what kind of effects it gets after reforging."

"You can't see before?" Irwin asked.

"No. You either have to know or try. As many cards as I've seen, it barely scratches the surface of what is possible," Ambraz said, his voice becoming filled with enthusiasm." Friction cards have a great number of different possible effects. Some change to add ranged energy attacks, others change to become touch-based, while yet more gain passive bonuses to the wielder's physique. As I reforge them, I can influence the direction, but only slightly. Now, I presume you want a full-body version and not a blast?"

"Yes! Something that could help me resist the cold better," Irwin said, not interested in more ranged. He had his eyes for that, and he had an inkling those might improve greatly when the card became rare.

"Fine. Feed me another common, and let's see!"

Irwin blanked, then stared at the anvil. "Another?"

"Yes… how do you expect me to reforge multiple cards otherwise?" Ambraz snorted.

"Right," Irwin muttered, looking at his dwindling stack and picking the least useful one. After his own training and feeding Ambraz, he only had thirteen cards left, and he still needed to practice that evening. If he didn't want to get rid of or at least limit his horrendous problem with cold, he wouldn't have experimented like this.

He tossed the card at Ambraz's mouth and watched the anvil crunch it to bits. A few moments later, the card began glowing and shaking. It lasted longer than the previous times, but eventually, the card flashed once, and a new uncommon lay on the smooth metal surface.

The hands had changed into a figure that was rubbing his hands. The entire figure glowed dimly while the hands seemed almost aflame.

"Not bad! Ambraz said.

Irwin didn't listen, but he activated his Eyes of Blaze to look at the card.

Card: Burning hands

Type: Uncommon

Utility card that allows the wielder to heat their body by rubbing their hands together.

Active: Rubbing hands together causes frictional heat to spread from the hands throughout the body.

"No passive," he muttered, more than a little disappointed.

"What? Of course not! I've told you before that your other cards were pretty good. Especially Eyes of Blaze. But this is still a good card, at least for you. If you use it as your first card on your other hand, it will synergize with a part of the combination of your other hand and also with the next card."

Irwin nodded. What Ambraz said made sense, but he had really hoped it would have gotten a passive warming effect. Well, he didn't have to use it right away. He still hadn't combined his first hand.

The rest of the evening was spent practicing his own reforging, and when he finally quit, he had managed to reforge two cards, only breaking a single one.

"Your progress is… very good," Ambraz muttered as Irwin stared happily at the new uncommon card.

It wasn't useful to him, but he hoped both would allow Daubutim to trade for more cards dealing with heat. As he absently looked at the card, he suddenly remembered a question he'd meant to ask Ambraz.

"Say… can people learn to reforge cards without the use of a godly anvil?" he asked.

"What? Are you trying to get rid of me?" Ambraz snorted. Before Irwin could respond, he laughed. "No matter! Eventually, you should be able to reforge up to rare with even a regular anvil, but by that point, you will not care much for it. What use is that when you can use me to create legendary cards?"

Irwin stared at the anvil as his mind began skipping along.

"How long would it take for me to teach someone like… Trimdir, to reforge from common to uncommon without you?" he asked, imagining smiths all over the peninsula reforging useless commons into more powerful uncommons. How much easier would it be to resist the surges like that?

"Interesting… Normally I would say he is too old to learn, but… I have seen how he purifies metal, and he is close to the master level. But without me? Between two and three years, probably."

Irwin felt his hopes of having Trimdir and other smiths help reforge cards shatter.

After talking with Ambraz about different cards some more, he went to bed.

--

A scream snapped Irwin out of a dream about swimming through lava, and he bolted upright, looking around. Shouts, screams, and explosions rang from outside, and the covers in front of his windows shuddered. There was only darkness beyond, marred by the occasional flash of bright light.

"What-" he blurted as a dull roar came from the square below his window.

Feet rang through the hallway beyond his door, and he heard muffled shouting. Then the feet reached his room, and the door was kicked open. A scared-looking guard stepped inside.

"Wake up, we are under attack!" he shouted. "Assemble in the mess!" he shouted, seeing Irwin awake. Then he turned and ran to the next room.