"Serfs are like slaves?" Greldo asked.

Irwin could hear the annoyance in the other's voice as he stared at Dautubim. He was lying on his bed, back against the wall, while Ambraz sat on his chest. The Anvil had a wide smile as he listened to the two bickering.

"No. That's not what I said. Slaves are born in servitude, as are their children. Serfs have lost their freedom because they are unable to pay something, usually a debt. In our case, I think it's because we are not expected to be able to pay for our presence in this city."

"And so we are seen as his property?" Greldo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Irwin flinched. "You are not my property. You are my friends!" he said.

"I know that," Greldo said, shaking his head. "But apparently, from these people's points of view, we are."

Daubutim shrugged. "It would seem that way."

"Well, then you had better work hard," Greldo said as he leaned back, grinning at Irwin.

Irwin raised his eyebrow but wasn't able to hold back his own grin.

"Usually, serfs are expected to work for their master so they at least earn some money," Daubutim said.

"Sure," Greldo said, his grin widening. "But he just said it, right? We aren't his serfs but his friends."

"Ugh. Why do I feel like I got the worse end of the deal here," Irwin grunted before laughing.

He and Greldo bantered for a little while longer before he stopped.

"So we need to figure out what to do now," he said, staring at his hands. "We will have to talk with Tensor first and see what he expects of me."

"What are you going to tell him if he asks you why we are here?" Greldo asked.

Irwin frowned, but before he could come up with something, Daubutim spoke up.

"Tell him the truth."

Irwin looked up, curious.

"Tell him you are here because you want to learn card-smithing and save our world from shattering," Daubutim said. "There is no reason to lie, and unless these people are a lot more idiotic than they seem, it should be a logical reason for them."

Irwin nodded, staring at the pale stone wall as he thought.

Telling the truth was one of the options. That, or saying he was only here to learn card smithing. But if he went with the truth, he might get information on how to accomplish that. The problem was-

"What if he laughs in our face?" Greldo asked.

"Then we search for a way to move our people to another world," Daubutim said.

Irwin imagined their entire world-shattering. Which parts would remain, if any? What would happen to the people that survived?

"There's another thing we need to figure out," he said. "Apparently, it's expensive to live here, and Tensor might expect me to work non-stop. That means I might not have the time to find out what's going on with our world."

"Which is fine, as that's what we will be doing then," Greldo said with a grin.

Irwin was about to respond when Ambraz flew up and hovered before him.

"He will definitely expect you to work, but he will also check how much potential you have," the Anvil said before he began darting around the room. "You better hope he thinks you have a great deal. Otherwise, you won't be allowed into this charter's time-dilation training world. Well... If they even have one here!"

"Why would Irwin want to go in there?" Greldo asked.

"You were paying attention to what Balarn and those others were talking about, right?" Ambraz snorted. "You got that your world is a farming world, but did you also recognize that it's been abandoned? That means they have pulled back all their people and will let it shatter."

Irwin had come to the same conclusion as Ambraz, which meant their worst-case scenario had become real.

"So?" Greldo asked.

"So? So, unless you are fine with letting your entire world shatter and most people die in the process, Irwin needs to become far more powerful, and he has barely any time to do that," Ambraz said. "Kids," he snorted.

Irwin saw Greldo frown, seemingly ready to respond.

"Greldo, even if I can find one, why would anyone who is able to stabilize our world do that just because I ask them? They might consider it if I can do something for them, perhaps because I'm a higher rank smith or very powerful. If that fails, we will need a way to move as many people to a safe world."

"Yes, yes, I get that!" Greldo snapped as he lay down, letting out an annoyed grunt. "I'm not stupid! You are going to some time-dilation world to train and become stronger. But can't we just bring people here and take them outside this city?"

"There is no outside this city," Ambraz said.

"Hub worlds are considered small, and almost every piece of land is claimed, even if it's empty. If you want to bring your people away, you will have to find a world with room for them, which is harder than you might think. Remember how your people reacted when other beings came from the portals into your world? If you go to a populated world, prepare for a lot of war. That is if you can even find a soul-carded teleporter specialist to create a portal large and stable enough to move them there."

Soul-carded again, Irwin thought as he leaned forward and put his head on his hands.

"What ways are there to earn money, and what kind of money do they use here?" Daubutim suddenly asked.

"Soulshards," Ambraz said.

"What are those?" Greldo asked.

"Ugh, I feel like some school teacher," Ambraz muttered. "Unlike the weaklings you have encountered, when actually powerful soul-skilled beings die, their soul skills shatter into thousands of small parts. These parts are what are required by heart-carded and even needed for certain high-level card reforging. Depending on the rank of the soul skill that shattered, there are different types, with quartz soul shards being the least valuable and most commonly used. "

"Alright, and how do we earn those?" Daubutim said as he nodded slowly.

"The quickest but also most dangerous way is to go into world-shards and kill demons and dangerous monsters," Ambraz. "Slower but safer is going to mining worlds, ancient dead worlds, and digging up shards from the things that once lived there. Except for that, card smiths can earn soulshards by reforging cards, or if they have the skill and manage to reach that rank, reforging heart-cards."

"Wait, I can reforge heartcards?" Irwin asked, trying to recall if he'd heard that before.

"You? In ten years, maybe," Ambraz said. "But yes, eventually you can. Though, from what I've seen, there isn't a single one here that can teach you. Besides having to be a heart-carded, you also need to be able to reforge up to diamond cards."

"Diamond?" Irwin whispered, trying to imagine being able to reforge from common all the way up to legendary.

Quartz to diamond, he corrected himself.

"Let's not talk about that for now," Ambraz said as he flew in front of Daubutim. "Your idea isn't too bad. If you can earn a lot of soulshards, you might be able to pay a powerful family, guild, or federation to stabilize your world or relocate the people."

A few loud knocks on the door caused Irwin to bolt upright while Greldo's hand sat on his dagger.

"Probably Balarn," Irwin said as he slowly moved to the door, pulling it open.

Balarn stood there carrying a bag which he handed to Irwin while moving into the room.

"There's some simple food in there," he said. "Take a quick bite. Tensor wants to talk to you."

Irwin blinked, then the smell of bread reached his nose while he felt a bit of warmth emanating from the bag. Pulling it open, he saw a large steaming loaf of bread covered in nuts and seeds. His stomach rumbled loudly, and he took out the bread.

"Stop looking at it like that and share it around! I'm hungry!" Greldo said as he jumped from the bed.

A few moments later, they were all munching on the bread while Balarn stood at the door. He was looking at Greldo and Daubutim for a bit, then shrugged. "You guys are going to have to wait here while I take Irwin and Ambraz to see Tensor."

"No problem, I wanted to take a look around anyway," Greldo said with a mouth full of bread.

There was no response, and Irwin looked up from his bread just in time to see Balarn open his mouth as if to say more, hesitate, and close it again as he frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Irwin asked as he swallowed his final mouthful of bread.

Balarn looked at him with a start, and Irwin felt unnerved by the other's silvery eyes as he looked at him.

"It would be best if your serfs stay inside the room until I get the time to explain some things to you," Balarn said.

Irwin saw Greldo stop eating as his head snapped up while Daubutim frowned.

Stolen story; please report.

Balarn seemed to notice, and he let out a weary sigh. "I was afraid of this... Your farming world didn't have serfs?"

"I don't know, but they are my friends," Irwin said.

Balarn looked back at him, and a grimace flashed across his face.

"Yeah... I'll have to talk to you about this later, but I guess I better give you a short warning now before you make a serious mistake. In Fiverio you are either a serf, a citizen, or a noble. There is a large gap between what each is allowed to do. If you can earn your keep in the city and pay for housing, you are considered a citizen. If you can't, you are a serf. Serfs are-"

Balarn stopped and rubbed his chin before continuing slowly.

"If a citizen and a serf come into a conflict, the guards won't even ask what happened. The serf will either be thrown into jail until their owner comes to pay a fine or, if the perceived insult is worse, be sent to one of the mining or farming worlds to work off their debt."

"They won't check who was in the wrong?" Irwin asked, not even that surprised. He'd dealt with nobles before, and those worked mostly along the same lines.

"No."

There was a moment of quiet, then Greldo laughed softly.

"I guess we will need to find a way to earn our own keep then," he said as he looked at Daubutim. "Must suck to go from being the son of a noble to being a serf."

Daubutim didn't respond, and Irwin noticed a smirk pass over Balarn's face. It lasted for a fraction of a second, but a raised eyebrow from Greldo showed him that his friend had noticed it too.

Perhaps they don't like nobles a lot here, either? Irwin thought.

"So, can you tell me a few ways to ways to earn soulshards?" he asked, deciding to check if there were any that Ambraz might not have known about.

"We can talk about that later," Balarn said. "For now, it's better to go and speak with Tensor. Irwin, you should attach your guild token to your hair. Tensor is a stickler for these things."

Irwin took the metal plate from his pocket, pulling his far-too-long hair over his cheek, wondering how he should do that.

"Here, this will help for now," Balarn said as he handed him a simple-looking hair band with a clip at the end. A quick look showed there was a slot for his guild token. He inserted the token and quickly tied his hair back with the hair band, feeling the clip resting heavily against the back of his head.

"You will need to let your hair grow out and add it like Ichela until you can grow a beard," Balarn said, looking at it with obvious distaste.

Irwin nodded.

There was a soft snort, and when he looked up, he saw Greldo grin.

"What?"

"Nothing," his friend said, his grin widening. "Just go. We will look after Lamia," he said as he lay back on his bed, arms behind his head.

Daubutim nodded.

"Alright," Irwin said as he walked to the door, following Balarn.

As the door closed, he saw Daubutim take up a position behind the door's opening side.

Balarn led him back down the stairs into the main hall. Ichela was standing behind her counter, talking to a group of muscular, bearded men with white metal caps on their beards.

"Those are some of the unaffiliated smiths, handing in their work for inspection," Balarn said. "Most were part of our charter before, but when their progress stagnated, they eventually were let go by Tensor."

In other words, if I don't cut it, I'll be let go too, Irwin thought.

He watched as one of the men, his beard more gray than black, handed a stack of cards to Ichela. She took them and put them on a thick green plate that reminded him of the soulgem he'd seen before, but smaller. There was a soft whisper that he couldn't hear, but Ichela nodded appreciatively before taking the cards away.

"Tensor's Smiths charter accepts the cards handed in by Trekkor," she said, loud enough for Irwin to hear her clearly. Then she took out a small bag and handed it to the gray-bearded smith.

"Good job, yah old geezer!"

"Well done, brother!"

"That's three out of three, Trek!"

The gathered smiths clapped Trekkor on the back before the next one stepped forward with a stack of cards.

"Let's go," Balarn said.

Irwin nodded and followed him to one of the doors next to the stairs. As they walked through and into a corridor with openings on all sides, he stopped in surprise at the loud hammering and whooshing that suddenly surrounded him.

"Welcome to the Amethyst rank smithing room," Balarn said as he continued ahead.

Irwin followed him and looked through the first wide opening as they passed it.

Three smiths stood around a massive anvil, one hammering on a card while another was working the bellows, and a third seemed to be inspecting the image of the card. It represented a tiny sapling, and unlike the images Irwin had seen before, this one was crisp and clear in the center, with just a fuzziness around the edges. The border of the card was yellow.

They are reforging a rare card, he thought, his eyes widening as he leaned forward, completely absorbed.

There were only a few black splotches on the card, and as he watched, the smith slammed his hammer down on one, causing it to shudder and shrink while the edges around the image became clearer. The smith was humming and singing softly.

He is singing along with the resonating cards, Irwin thought as he watched the smith strike down again.

Between the humming, the hitting, and the bellows, a beautiful song was created, and Irwin listened and watched almost breathlessly.

When the card suddenly flashed as the black splotch vanished, the smith lowered his hammer, and Irwin jerked awake.

That was beautiful, he thought, as the desire to try and create his own hymn grew.

Someone cleared his throat, causing him to blink and look back. A burly man with a braided black beard that ended in a beautiful ruby-red square metal cap and brightly glowing silver eyes stood beside Balarn, looking at him.

"Enjoyed that?" he asked in a surprisingly smooth and oddly accented voice.

Balarn rubbed his nose, and Irwin saw the warning in the others' eyes.

Tensor!

Irwin struggled for a moment with what to say, then nodded.

"Yes, it was incredible," he said.

"Elaborate," the smith said as his eyes gleamed a bit brighter.

"It was like a beautiful song, where the banging of the hammer and the wind from the bellows created the instrumentation, and that smith's singing was the melody," Irwin said. As he stopped talking, he felt his face heat up.

When Tensor didn't reply, he hoped he hadn't just made a fool of himself.

"I could almost hear how his cards were resonating," he added quickly.

The smith looked at him for a few more moments before turning to Balarn.

"Go and make sure that brother of yours doesn't destroy any more cards," he said. "He messed up yesterday. Now leave. I want to have a word with our new member."

Balarn started, and a look of surprised anger crossed his face.

"Yes, Tensor," he said. As he turned to move away, Irwin saw he was frowning worriedly.

"Follow me," Tensor said as he turned around and continued down the hallway.

Not sure what to think of the other, Irwin followed him, taking a look at the different rooms he passed. Roughly half had the same three-smith setup as the first room, while the others were empty.

I wonder why three, Irwin thought.

Tensor walked through the entrance at the back of the corridor into a room that was a part forge and part living room. Heavily padded, dark leather couches stood to the left, surrounding a lower table with boxes, papers, and maps on them. A desk was shoved in the corner, likewise covered with paper and books, some weighed down by chunks of raw metal. The right side of the room had a few anvils while a large, brightly glowing forge sat on the wall.

"So, finally found the punk?" a gritty voice asked.

A large, pitch-black anvil with black wings flew from behind one of the anvils and hovered before them before landing atop Tensor's shoulder.

Another Anvil of the gods! Irwin thought as he stared at the other Anvil.

"Well, well! A rank one Ganvil! I haven't seen one of you since I left Granvox," the new Anvil said, disbelief evident in his voice. "What's your name, weakling, and how, by Colwin's shiny slapper, did you get here?"

Irwin expected Ambraz to snap back loudly, but to his surprise, there was just a soft snort before Ambraz replied in a calm tone.

"I was captured in shard-world during a raid, elder brother."

Having been around Ambraz for a long time, Irwin barely picked up the hint of pent-up anger in the other's voice.

"Don't you elder brother me, you punk," the other Anvil shouted. "Call me grandfather, or I'll smack you around to show you where you-"

"Kyder, calm down," Tensor said as he jerked his head aside, causing his metal-tipped beard to smack the Anvil from his shoulder. "I told you not to behave like that in my smithy!"

"Fine, fine. I was just surprised by this fool's presence," Kyder said as he hovered before Irwin.

Irwin saw that there were thin runes engraved in the larger Anvil's sides while tiny scales covered his wings.

"Hmmm… at least you seem to have found a good prospect. What's your name, brat?"

Irwin frowned, then held back his annoyance. If Ambraz didn't snap back, that probably meant it was a good thing if he kept calm too.

"Irwin," he replied.

"Short, to the point. I like it," Kyder said before seemingly focusing on Ambraz. "And you, punk?"

There was a sound of metal grinding across metal before Ambraz answered him.

"Ambraz, grandfather," he said, and this time everyone present could hear the thick anger in Ambraz's voice.

"Good, good," Kyder shouted as he flew back to Tensor's shoulder.

"Alright, Irwin," Tensor said after a momentary glare at Kyder. "Tell me how someone from a farming world managed to find and bind a Granvoxian Anvil."

There was a soft grunt from Ambraz while Kyder's smile vanished.

"Granvoxian?" Irwin muttered.

He saw Tensor's eyes narrow, and he quickly scraped his throat.

"Ambraz was captured by one of the most powerful people in my world and locked away in a training portal," he said. "I found him and took him out, and Ambraz promised to teach me card reforging in return."

"Hahaha, locked inside a training world?" Kyder said, letting out another burst of fake, mocking laughter.

Tensor ignored him, instead looking at Irwin.

"And why did you leave your world?"

Irwin grimaced. "To increase my power and become a master Cardsmith so I can prevent my world from shattering," he said.

There was a moment of silence, then Kyder fell backward from Tensor's shoulder, his piercing laughter grating Irwin's ears.

"Quiet," Tensor said as he kicked the laughing Anvil across the smithy. Then he turned to Irwin and sighed wearily.

"Kid, you might want to reconsider your end goal. With a Granvox Anvil on your side, becoming an Emerald rank Cardsmith should be doable, but to request the Grinwron Trade Federation to stabilize that farming world of yours? Perhaps if you managed to become a Heart-rank Cardsmith, they would do so... and that probably still meant you would have to work for them for the rest of your life. But as you are now?" Tensor shook his head. "You would have more chances of becoming a legendary seven Soul-carded."

Irwin took a deep breath, then nodded. It was like they had imagined. Saving their world was going to be a major hassle. That didn't mean he was just going to give up.

"Is there a time-dilated training world this Branch uses?" he asked carefully.

This time Tensor's eyes widened while Kyder began laughing again.

"Yes, but if you want to use that, you will need to become a Topaz rank Cardsmith first…" Tensor said.

"This brat wants to try and get powerful enough to have an entire farming world be stabilized within a few months?" Kyder shouted.

Irwin's eyes narrowed. "A few months?"

Tensor gazed at him before he slowly sighed.

"Listen, Irwin. I thought that farming-world three-five-eight, which is what we called yours, had already shattered weeks ago. If it hasn't, that's a miracle in itself, but you wanting to save it?"

Irwin clenched his teeth but kept his head straight. He was not going to just give up! No matter what, at a minimum, he would save his mother and brother and as many people as he could. He kept staring at Tensor quietly. If the smith couldn't help him, he would have to find another way.

Tensor stared at him for a long time, then finally snorted.

"Stubborn... Fine. You know what? I'll cut you a deal. In sixteen days, a portal will be opened to Scour, a ruby-ranked Smith's guild training world. The time-dilation on it is almost three thousand to one, so at a minimum, you will have time to calm down. I have six slots for smiths and only four topaz-rank Smiths willing to go. If you can rank up to topaz rank before then, I will give you one of the slots," Tensor said.

Irwin licked his lips, staring at him as he felt his hope flare up. He had already reforged cards from quartz to amethyst and, with Ambraz's help, had even reforged cards to topaz, though the last two barely counted as he'd been mostly unconscious from the pain.

The first one was… very hard, he thought as he recalled how much effort it had cost together with Ambraz. Back then, he'd wondered how long it would take. Could he get that far in just over two weeks? Ambraz had eluded that he had talent… but this much?

"However…" Tensor said, interrupting his thought process. "In return, you will accept a ten-year contract with my smithy. Even if you fail to reach topaz rank."

Irwin swallowed. Ten years? He wasn't even sixteen years old yet. Ten years sounded like... forever! He gazed at the ground. What if he failed and had to stay here? He wouldn't even be able to try and save his mother!

"What are you hesitating for," Ambraz hissed from his shoulder. "If you work hard, there's a chance you can do this, and it's the only one you have!"

Kyder snorted as he flew back over, his black lips curved up in a humorous smile. "Sure… going from quartz rank to topaz rank in sixteen days. That's totally doable!"

Irwin ignored Kyder's thick sarcasm as his mind spun. He was probably an amethyst rank smith already, so... one step should be doable. Right?

He took a deep breath, then looked at Tensor.

"If I fail, can I return to get my family?"

Tensor flinched, then shook his head. "I wouldn't mind, but they won't let you or anyone back through that portal. The only reason you weren't forced to become a serf was because of him," he said, pointing at Ambraz.

Irwin took another deep breath and squared his jaw. "Alright, I accept."

Tensor watched him for a few moments, then merely nodded as he turned around.

"Then, seeing as you won't have much time, follow me, and we will get our deal registered in the Central Registry so you can start working. Follow me."