Irwin hummed thoughtfully as he looked around, examining the other smiths, all hard at work and completely focused.

  Roughly twenty minutes had passed since they began, and he'd calmly reforged two of his cards from quartz to amethyst, each at a hundred percent. He'd made sure not to move too fast, as he didn't want to disturb the other smiths. Even then, he'd already finished with two cards while a quick look showed that most of the others around him were still slowly working on their first card. Only five other smiths, three Viridians, the old human that had walked behind him when they arrived, and Tindria had done the same, and all five were already slowly hammering on their third card.

  Irwin scanned their cards, noticing only a few tiny inconsistencies, but nothing that would prevent the cards from reaching a hundred percent. Around them, many others were working on their second card, some doing fine, others clearly struggling.

  A lot of people are here for either their initial quartz rank or for amethyst, he thought before focusing back on his own anvil. His third card lay on it, and he frowned as he looked at it.

  Something about the card felt strange. It was almost as if the card's resonance had been… prepared? Just looking at it made it clear where it needed to go. That said, something about the initial direction was… off… It would be fine like this if he just wanted to reforge it to Topaz or even Emerald, but if he were to continue on this trajectory and head to Ruby? At that point, trouble would start brewing… he wished he could discuss it with Ambraz, as he'd never encountered anything like it.

  Perhaps it's another step in the testing? He thought. The preset path of the card was definitely the easiest, and it would likely help most smiths get it to ruby. Still, if he had to guess, he wouldn't be able to reach perfection, likely getting stuck at the low ninety percent range.

  Holding up his hammer, he hesitated for a few moments. Should he follow what was evidently prepared, or…

  Let's just see it as another test, he decided, slamming his hammer down and staring at the simple image of two feet. The card had barely any black smudges or tiny holes, far less than he'd have expected.

  As he focused on the card, he began humming a song that he knew would likely allow him to reach a hundred percent at ruby rank, as long as he didn't make any mistakes.

  --

  What is he doing? Guildmaster Joulihn thought, slightly annoyed.

  She tried to keep an eye on Irwin without it being too obvious, but even with half her focus, she could see the resonance flames wreathing around the card he was reforging. What was he doing?! She'd personally prepared the card's path, forging it in her flame so it would be inclined along an easy path to at least ruby. With just a bit of skill, it should have been able to get it to a high eighty-percent diamond card. It wouldn't reach a hundred percent, but the paths that might lead there were ten times more difficult, and this foolish smith…

  A soft chuckle from her side made her glare at Parka. The Onyxian teacher met her glare, and the corners of her lips twitched.

  I should have known she would see through that, Joulihn thought, her annoyance fading as fast as it had come.

  Part of her was almost happy that Smith Irwin had ignored the easy way and gone for perfection. The only problem now was that he might fail, and if he did, how was she going to allow him to leave with her blessing? She prided herself on following the rules, and if he failed, she'd have to stop him from leaving, which would definitely cause issues later.

  "Looks like he wasn't interested in your easy way out, Headmistress," Parka said.

  Joulihn realized she'd been staring at Parka, lost in her thoughts. It was one of the many issues of becoming as old as she had, the passage of time meaning far less than it had long ago. Parka's smile had faded, and she seemed nervous now.

  If I drift off, I need to remember to look at something else first, Joulihn admonished herself.

  "Yes," she said, letting an easy smile come to her face. She knew Parka would know it was fake, but perhaps it would take the edge off. It seemed to work as the tension left the Onyxian teacher's face.

  "I still don't understand why you even tried," Parka said, turning to look around as if she was truly paying attention to any of the other smiths at work. "Why even allow him to leave? It is dangerous outside, and he is by far the most gifted cardsmith I've seen in decades. We shouldn't allow such a promising young smith to head into danger, no matter what his own misguided feelings of overconfidence tell him."

  Overconfidence? I wonder… Joulihn thought as she saw Irwin easily finish the card. She didn't even need to see the symbol on his crystal necklace to know it was a hundred percent.

  --

  "Why does he keep waiting and looking around?" Dagger asked as she turned to Rindri.

  "He is holding back," Rindiri replied absently. Her gaze drifted over the square, watching the hardworking cardsmiths, and she couldn't help but feel sad. Like always, there were none of her people here. No Yuurindi prospects to become cardsmiths.

  Things will be better soon, she thought to herself, recalling the adjacent world Irwin had promised her for her people. She knew it was an absurd gift, something unheard of that would shock anyone she might have told, which was why she'd never mentioned it to any of the other Yuurindi.

  "Holding back?" Dagger muttered, shaking her head. "Why would he do that?"

  "Because he is probably waiting to see what will happen as he continues," a rough voice said from the side.

  Rindiri glanced at Greldo, glad to see the hairy man. He'd changed since she had last seen him. Part of the boiling anger and deep sadness that she had always seen in his eyes was gone, and she wondered if it was because of the years that had passed by for him or due to his girlfriend.

  She continued watching the smiths who were still reforging their cards. Seeing so many different techniques was something she'd never seen before, though an occasional glance around showed that most people around them weren't paying that much attention. Apparently, they had seen it so many times that they weren't interested in the first round.

  As time passed, Rindiri was surprised to see that two cardsmiths actually failed the first round, blowing up all three of their cards. Both were quickly led away as soon as it happened, and a short while later, the first round finished.

  "Congratulations to all of you who have taken your first step," Mazzareth said, her voice echoing across the square. "If you only have one card left now, you may step back or try your hand at the next round."

  "Why would anyone not try?" Dagger grunted.

  Rindiri didn't bother answering, not at all surprised as four of the youngest children moved away. This included the small girl who had been working beside The Captain. She watched as she ran toward Irwin, talking to the much taller figure with a wide grin before waving at him and running after the others.

  It took only a few minutes for them to reach the group of teachers, and Rindiri had expected that to be the end of it, but one of them stepped forward.

  "Little ones, you did very well! Congratulations on your first step on the journey to becoming a grandmaster cardsmith! Keep your crystal with you for now. Your teacher will be reviewing your work tomorrow and providing feedback. For now, go and celebrate with your family!"

  A loud cheering erupted from the nearly filled stadium, and Rindiri smiled as she saw the four young ones wave before leaving.

  "Alright," Mazzareth shouted, drawing the attention back to her. "The next round will be starting! Good luck to you all!"

  "I wonder how many managed to get a hundred percent on all three cards," Dagger said, leaning on the railing and staring down.

  "A lot," Greldo said from behind her. "I stopped counting after twenty."

  Rindiri wasn't surprised, but Dagger's eyes widened. "Really? But I thought cards at a hundred percent were super rare, even if they were only amethyst."

  "In the outer leaves? Yes," Greldo replied. "But this is one of the two largest cities in the entire Langost branch. The cardsmiths with the most prospects have been going here for thousands of years, ever since the branch was first discovered."

  "Dimarintsia wasn't like this," Dagger hummed. "I guess it's because of the Smiths guild."

  Nobody responded to that as everyone watched the smiths resume their reforging.

  The second round wasn't very different from the first, though instead of only four, dozens of smiths failed almost right at the start. Within a few minutes, Smiths began slowly leaving, and as time ticked by, more followed them. As those who had three cards from the first round began failing their third attempt, Rindiri noticed that some seemed fine while others looked devastated.

  Where the first round had taken only a bit over thirty minutes, the second round took an hour, and when it finished, only three-quarters of the smiths that had started remained. Of those that did, many had failed at least once, but Rindiri saw dozens of smiths grinning at people in the ground, arms raised, while cheers came in response, names called in triumph.

  "Only twelve had a hundred percent this time," Greldo muttered.

  Dagger whistled. "You have sharp eyes!"

  Rindiri ignored their banter, looking at The Captain. He looked like one of the few calm beacons among the cardsmiths, and she only saw a few who matched his apparent relaxed demeanor.

  "So, how far do you think the captain will get?" Dagger asked.

  "Irwin will be the last one that remains," Ambraz rumbled, the pride clearly evident in his voice, before adding in a lower rumble, "Even though he won't be able to do as well without me by his side."

  Their chatter was silenced as Mazzareth began shouting again, congratulating everyone and asking if anyone wanted to drop out at this point. None took her up on her offer, which made Rindiri wonder if the children had been told to do so beforehand.

  A few minutes later, the smithing resumed, but it was immediately clear that this round was different from the others. For one, the crowd on the stands had stopped chattering, and many people were staring intently at one or more of the smiths. Besides that, a palpable sense of tension was oozing from both the smiths below and the people in the stands.

  Is this so much different from the previous rounds? Rindiri wondered, sharing a confused look with Youritz.

  "This is a cut-off point," Ambraz rumbled, seeming to sense their confusion. "To become a quartz rank smith, one only needs to learn purification and be able to apply it to a card. It is both the easiest and hardest step because to even take it, someone needs to begin either very young or have tremendous talent. Amethyst is almost the same, though the difficulty increases exponentially. Still, in essence, a smith still merely removes imperfections and uses his soulforce and control to push the card to the topaz rank."

  As the Ganvil spoke, smiths began failing and leaving in droves. In a mere ten minutes, over half of the smiths that had remained were gone, and many were down to their last card.

  Irwin stood like a calm rock in the anxious mass, slowly finishing his second card before looking around.

  Rindiri could almost imagine his surprise at how few smiths remained.

  "Another hundred percent," Greldo said.

  Ambraz let out a soft laugh. "Reforging Topaz cards up to Emerald is far more difficult than the previous steps. In addition to another massive increase in difficulty, the cardsmith must also use the resonance of his own cards to start guiding the cards toward the correct path. By this point, they need to start removing the holes through which soulforce leaks, and if they haven't used all the card's potential, it will limit its future growth."

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Rindire saw that most of their group and even a few surrounding people were looking at Ambraz. She wondered if what he was talking about was common knowledge or not. She knew most of it already from her time with Irwin, and she guessed little of what had been told would be new to Greldo- but the others? She saw confusion and surprise in many eyes.

  She focused back on Irwin, who had started his final card.

  "Will he keep reforging a hundred percent cards?" she asked.

  "What? No," Ambraz said, letting out a soft laugh. "Topaz will be fine, but without my help, he will not be able to reforge all three to perfect emerald cards. One of them has no resonance with his own cards, meaning it will be ten times as difficult as the others."

  "Does that mean a smith that has cards resonating with everything could reforge everything?" Dagger asked.

  Ambraz let out a low-barked laughter. "There's no way for that to happen. Irwin already has more types than most smiths, and each one he would add now will increase the difficulty of reforging his next heartcard. No, the best cardsmiths have two or three of the basic types and six other types. They would be able to reforge many cards with little additional strain, but even the best cardsmiths cannot reforge all types of diamond cards perfectly."

  Before anyone could react, a whispered voice echoed around them, startling everyone.

  "You have a lot of knowledge that I didn't think was common in this branch. As much as I like teaching others, would you mind being quiet now? We are closing in on the interesting part."

  Rindiri felt her skin crawl as she looked around for whoever spoke, but all she saw were other startled and frightened looks. All but Greldo. She saw him stare hard at something in the smithing area, and she followed his gaze to see the Onyxian teacher look up at them. She had an eyebrow raised, arms crossed below her bosom, and fingers that were tapping her biceps.

  "I'll keep quiet," Ambraz grumbled.

  "Thank you."

  From that point, nobody around them spoke again, and Rindiri wondered if they had angered the teacher. She'd not sounded angry, just… annoyed.

  Time continued, with Irwin finishing first, each of his cards still a hundred percent. Dozens of smiths were still working, but from their worried looks and clenched jaws, it became clear they were having a hard time.

  It took over two hours for the final smiths to finish, and when they did, only ten remained.

  As soon as the final smith finished her card, Mazzareth stepped up again.

  "Congratulations! I had expected only four of you to succeed, but seeing over double that number join the ranks of Topaz Smiths pleases me greatly! Now, there will be a thirty-minute break before we continue. To everyone watching, you may leave, but when we continue, the doors will be closed, and everyone is to remain quiet so as not to disturb the smiths that remain."

  Her voice barely finished when the people in the stands began pouring out to either find food, relieve themselves, or just stretch their legs after the almost six-hour-long session.

  Rindiri remained where she was, watching Irwin and the nine other smiths, who were still there, walk towards Mazzareth. She had begun talking to them, but this time, her voice wasn't audible to all.

  Rindiri glanced at Greldo, who was staring closely at Mazzareth and the smiths.

  "She is telling them that they will all be designated a teacher who will observe their progress as they reforge Emerald cards," Greldo said without looking up. "She's also asking if any of them have any questions or would like some final guidance."

  Greldo continued slowly telling them what was going on, finishing with - "they are going to get some food now."

  He looked at the others, raising an eyebrow. "I'm going to get some food too. Anyone here want anything?"

  Rindiri nodded. "Can you bring me some mushroom-filled bread buns and some water?"

  "Sure," Greldo said before taking the orders of the others and vanishing.

  As soon as he was gone, Dagger turned to her.

  "How good of a cardsmith is the Captain?"

  Rindiri was glad to hear Dagger call Irwin the Captain, but she refrained from commenting on it. Instead, she tapped her chin thoughtfully.

  "It is hard to say, but I'm pretty sure he is better than any of the others testing," she said.

  "Really? But he seems so young!" Dagger said, shaking her head as she scanned. The cardsmiths had moved to a distant wall where a table laden with food had been placed for them.

  "He is young," Rindiri agreed, remembering when she'd first met the Captain. Back then, he'd been barely out of his teens. "But don't ever underestimate him."

  Dagger nodded, but Rindiri could see she was still not completely convinced. Having an inkling of what was happening soon, she doubted it would last much longer. She glanced at Kes'dor, who had been quietly perched on her shoulder ever since they had arrived.

  "Are you alright?" she whispered.

  "No," the Ganvil said in a soft grunt that she knew only she could hear. "But I will be. This just reminds me of when I was younger."

  Rindiri wished she could offer to let him rest in her soulscape, but she knew she could only keep him there for fifteen minutes at best. Her soulscape just wasn't able to remain stable with such a powerful interference.

  "I'm sure Greldo would let you rest in his shadow pocket," she whispered.

  "No need," Kes'dor grunted.

  Rindiri looked at him for a while then sighed as she focused back on the distant cardsmiths.

  --

  "What rank are you even here to test for?" Tindria asked softly.

  Irwin swallowed another mouthful of spicy carrot. He looked around, but none of the other smiths was paying them any attention. Most were excitedly talking among each other, with only the older human sitting on his own, seemingly focused on his drink. He'd refrained from eating and seemed incredibly nervous.

  "I am not sure how high I'll reach," Irwin said honestly. "But at a minimum, I'll be trying for my diamond rank."

  Tindria let out a soft hiss before leaning forward with gleaming eyes. "You wouldn't happen to have a little brother, would you? Or perhaps a younger cousin that's just like you?"

  Irwin held back a snort before shaking his head. "No, but if you wait another twenty years, my sons will be grown up." He'd meant it as a joke, but Tindria's suddenly stunned look made him worried he'd made a mistake.

  "You said you were partnered with an Ignitzian, didn't you?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

  "Yes," Irwin said, already realizing what was wrong and letting out a sigh. Perhaps he should just say he had other children from earlier?

  "Did you have children from another relationship?" Tindria asked as if she had read his mind.

  "No," Irwin said, smirking at his own bad look.

  "Oh… oh!" Tindria whispered, her eyes turning round like plates.

  Irwin's smirk faded as he looked at the sudden glistening in her eyes. She wasn't seriously going to try something, was she? His frown deepened as he glowered at her, equally as annoyed at his own mistake.

  "Oh, don't give me that look," Tindria said, rolling her eyes. "I could find a reverse time dilation world and spend a few hours in there. That would remove the age gap."

  Irwin stared at her, his annoyance warring with a sudden stunned surprise.

  "A what?" he asked after a few moments.

  "One of those worlds where time moves slower than outside," she said, focusing on him in equal confusion. "You've never been in a world before?"

  "I have," Irwin said. "But time always flows faster on them, right?"

  "Most of them do," she said. "But there are worlds that are the other way around."

  Irwin looked at her, wondering if she was lying. He'd been in the Portal Gallery for a long time now, but he'd never heard of worlds where time flowed more slowly. "I've never heard of those…"

  "I guess you haven't been in this part of the branch before," Tindria said. "How about you tell me where your sons are, and I'll tell you more about-"

  Irwin shook his head, grabbed some more food, and decided he was done with Tindria and her heat.

  "Come on, don't be like that," Tindria hissed, but Irwin ignored her. "Male Ignitzians are a legend! You have no idea what I'd do to meet one!"

  Irwin had a pretty good idea.

  Guess I'll have to make sure she doesn't try to somehow tag along, he thought. Then he wondered what Scintilla would do if someone like Tindria tried anything with Flux, Soot, or Glow.

  As he did, a tiny, rebellious part of him wondered if he shouldn't bring her along for his sons. He quickly pushed it away, shuddering at the thought.

  The rest of their break continued easily, though Tindria kept nagging him. When it was done, he quickly got up and followed the others back to the smithing area, looking up to see the people in the stand returning. As he scanned the stands, he suddenly saw Greldo leaning with his arms on the railing. Even from this distance, he could see his friend's grin, and he groaned.

  "You heard that?" he whispered.

  Greldo spread his hands, his grin widening, and the light glistening on his sharp white teeth.

  "Great…"

  "Who are you talking to?"

  Irwin looked to the side where Tindria was standing, and he sighed.

  "A troublemaker," he grunted. "Good luck."

  Tindria's smile melted away, and she turned slightly pale as her gaze moved to her workstation.

  "Thanks… I'll need it. I only managed to retain two cards, and one is only eighty percent," she muttered.

  "Remain calm," Irwin said, pushing his annoyance at her behavior away in favor of giving her a hint.

  He'd observed her reforging part of her second and all of her third card and had noticed a few things. Although he knew barely anything about the fire way of smithing, he'd noticed that she had a tendency to make the high notes too high. From his observations, those seemed to match the whitest parts of the flame she'd wrapped the card in, and he presumed she was making those too hot.

  "You have the tendency to push too hard on the hottest parts of your reforging," he said. "Try to pay more attention to those."

  Tindria's shoulders slumped, and she nodded. "I know. My teacher always tells me I let my enthusiasm get the better of me, but it's so hard to sense the differences at the hottest end of the spectrum.

  "Everyone, prepare!"

  Mazzareth's voice snapped out, and Tindria whispered a thanks before rushing to her own workstation. Irwin looked up to see the tall, pointy-eared metal elemental stare at him.

  "Ahum."

  Irwin blinked, then looked to the side to see the Onyxian teacher, Parka, look at him with a raised eyebrow.

  "Didn't you say you were going to find me for a drink?"

  "You invited me," Irwin replied, unable to prevent a tiny smirk from creeping up his lips. "I didn't say I'd have time for it."

  "Bah, you youngsters, always so busy," Teacher Parka snorted. "Well, fine. Let's get ready before Mazzareth's head explodes."

  Irwin turned to see the not-a-vice-guildmaster glare at him and Parka equally before glowering at the other smiths that had been watching.

  "Alright! For those who reached this far, you did really well. I would suggest you don't be too hard on yourself if you fail at this stage, as it's almost as big a step as the previous one was. Calm your nerves and try your best! Begin!"

  Irwin turned to the anvil, ignoring the presence hovering beside him. He had plenty of experience forging with people watching him.

  He took out the three cards from his pocket, quickly picking out the one he would start with. He'd thought about what to do next during their rest, so he didn't need to think as he held the sticky card, putting the others away. It had gone from a card that only allowed someone to walk on vertical surfaces to allowing someone to walk upside down or use their hands instead of their feet. From what he could tell, it would likely work for every part of someone's body after this. He didn't really need it, but he knew anyone who wanted a life aboard ships would need one.

  It was also still the card he felt the least affinity with, even after he'd pushed it away from the path it had been pushed onto.

  He placed the emerald-bordered card on the anvil and closed his eyes for a moment as he released his lock on his senses, focusing all of them on the card. Without Ambraz here, getting a card like this to a hundred percent should be possible, though it was close to the limit of his skill, which was why he wanted to get it to a hundred. It was the first real challenge so far, and he'd long since learned that he thrived during challenges.

  With a flick of his hand, he summoned his hammer and, in a single motion, struck it down. He opened his eyes halfway through the strike. As the hammer struck down, a complex resonance rang out.

  So far, he'd managed to get away with reforging without using his otherself and his soulstrum, but he knew that for this, especially getting it to a hundred percent, he couldn't do without. A tiny part of him wondered if he should use his giant self, and then he dismissed it. He didn't have enough practice with it, and besides, he'd need to get a massive anvil for that.

  Perhaps when we get to diamond rank, he pondered as he began slowly playing a soft song on his soulstrum guitar. As soon as he felt the melody settle in, he noticed the oddity in the card, likely the types he'd never worked with before, and he began singing a wordless song to compensate.

  I'm going to let Ambraz examine this thing after, he thought.

  --

  Parka watched quietly as the towering Fiz'rin struck the card. The sharp, uneven thudding of the strikes felt like a heavy beat to accompany the remarkable instrument sound that was softly humming from him. She had no idea how he was doing that or where the sound came from, but he definitely wasn't making it with his mouth.

  Such a beautiful voice, she thought, closing her eyes for a moment to let herself enjoy the deep bass that reminded her of the guttural singers of her hometown. She'd not realized how much she'd missed it, and as she opened her eyes to keep an eye on Irwin's reforging, she decided. After the storm was gone, she'd resign and head back home. It had been too long, and with few to no smiths remaining on her homeworld, she could do more good there than here.

  Such tight control, she thought as she watched the translucent glass-like soulforce that surrounded the card slowly reshape itself from its initial simple, roughly Onyxian shape into something with far more detail. Fast, too.

  As the strikes kept falling, and the simple figure gained more clarity, even its rough facial features becoming clearer, she had to refrain from taking a step forward. The pressure of the soulforce that was wafting away from Irwin was becoming far more than any average Emerald to Ruby card-reforging that she knew.

  Resonating her own soulcards, she began strengthening the barrier she'd put around them. She'd stopped paying attention to what was happening around her, focusing fully on the rapid progression of perfection in front of her. It wasn't just the precision or the speed either… as she watched the now sweating giant strike the anvil, his eyes intense pools of silvery brilliance. He exuded such joy that without wanting to, she began smiling widely.

  As the card's final surging resistances were brushed away, she took an involuntary step forward. Her gaze was locked on the card, which began glowing brightly before the emerald border flashed three times before turning into a brilliant red.

  A hundred percent… he just reforged it to a hundred percent, she thought, looking up at Irwin to see him grin at the card. If this guy is just a ruby-rank smith, I'm a Coalirin!

  Common = Quartz, Uncommon = Amethyst, Rare = Topaz, Very Rare = Emerald, Epic = Ruby, Legendary = Diamond, Mythical = Ammolite