Irwin put his sleeve over his nose to stop breathing in the massive amounts of dust. All around him, others were coughing and sneezing as they moved through the large, multistory building.
Stepping up the narrow, round staircase, he reached a small hallway with three doors. Pushing one open revealed a windowless room with a bed, a large table, a chest, and so closets. Irwin frowned, stepping back and looking into the other rooms. He found what he was looking for when he pushed open the third room. Two wide windows gave a view of the level beyond, and because he was at the highest level, he could even see part of the trees and even the edge of the lake.
"My room," he muttered as he stepped inside and closed the door.
The shutters of the room were open, and although there was so dust inside, it was way less than what he'd seen in the rest of the building. He threw his bag into the corner beside the door, then walked to the windows and gazed outside. The level-ceiling was barely two feet higher, and moss and shadow vines grew across it, creating a nesting place for birds, most of whom were sleeping quietly. As he watched them, he also saw large numbers of insects, so the size of his hand, crawling about, eating the moss. A few birds moved about, sotis diving up to eat one of the smaller insects.
The soft chittering and singing made him grin as he gazed out across the lower houses before him. As deep as they were in the grove, a thin layer of dust was visible on so of the roofs, and he wondered if that ca from the Firespark storms or sothing else.
As he gazed out at the sliver of the massive lake that he could see, he took a deep breath and felt a tension that had been there for many months now dissipate. At the sa ti, a heavy weight seed to lift from his shoulders.
No more rushing. Finally, so ti to live and plan, he thought.
The image of his mother and brother flitted through his mind, and he imagined them standing still in ti, hopefully in a safe place.
"I'll only go out when I'm strong enough to, at a minimum, get them and the others out," he said, feeling his mind ease up even more, knowing that he had ti. "If there's no other way, I'll bring them to Fiverio and pay for them to be citizens if I can."
"Such low ambitions," Ambraz' voice snorted from his pocket as the Anvil began struggling out.
It flitted out, then around his head, before landing on his shoulder. Irwin ignored him and turned around to inspect the room. It was larger than any he'd had before, with enough space for more furniture. Still, even without it, he liked what he saw.
"A bit sparse, but the view isn't too bad," Ambraz said before snorting as he flew around.
Irwin looked at Ambraz, and as he saw it flit about the room, even going below the bed, he frowned. Having ti ant he'd have to get so answers from the Anvil.
But not yet, he decided after a few monts.
It took him a few monts to locate a small closet with a broom that looked like it was older than the city. Still, it was enough to clean out most of the dust. As he busied himself cleaning up the room, listening to the others stomp around, Yogog's booming voice rippling through the house, he couldn't help but feel content.
After he finished putting the thin pale bed linen over the windowsill, he emptied his bag, putting his tiny amount of belongings around the room before moving outside.
When he reached the central room, its ceiling so low he could touch it, he saw Balarn sitting at a table, leafing through a thick stack of papers. The room had been cleaned, though a few piles of dust and cobwebs still lay in a corner.
"If you are done with your room, you can just sit there," Balarn said, seemingly preoccupied.
Irwin nodded and took a spot. Soon the others began trickling in. Greldo was one of the latest ones, sitting down beside Irwin.
"I got the room directly below you," he whispered. "Coals is there now, happy to finally be out and about. I checked the ones beside the room you picked, but they didn't have any windows."
"Exactly why I took this one," Irwin replied with a knowing grin.
Yogog was the final one to enter, having arrived from outside with an annoyed face and another stack of papers. He walked to the far side of the wall and began putting them up there with small pins that he easily shoved into the wood of the wall.
"Seriously annoying," he muttered as he jabbed two pins in the top ones before stepping back.
"All yours," he snorted as he gestured to Balarn.
The bearded Smith looked up, and Irwin saw his eyes narrow as he looked over the wall.
"Two at Erald?" Balarn grunted as he got up and moved to read what was on the paper. After a few monts, he sighed.
"Well, whatever. At least there's no ti limit on either. Still… two? We will need to work through a year of orders before we do what we need for those."
"So, this is what you told us about? The reforging we have to do?" Monyque asked.
Balarn nodded as he moved back to the table, leaning on the edge as he gazed around. His gaze landed on Greldo, remaining there for a mont before he shrugged. The other guards hadn't shown up, and from the shuffle above, it seed they were still deciding on rooms or cleaning them. Four smiths sitting on the other side of the room were looking at Balarn. Yogog was leafing through the papers that Balarn had previously been looking at, snorting at tis.
Although they were all Topaz-ranked smiths, it was clear that Balarn and Yogog were the seniors, as they had been here before. Monyque was leaning back, relaxed, while the other two sat quietly, staring at Balarn. Although quiet and withdrawn, Irwin had found out they were actually cousins, nearly the sa age, called Nimdal and Syndal. They ca from the As Noiral family of smiths and were seen as the family's first hope at producing Erald Rank smiths.
"Yes. So, I've already told you much of what we are going to do here on the trip, but let's get everything cleared up just in case. From now till we leave here, we are Tensor's outpost here. Besides the fact that the ti-dilation here is incredible, we are mainly here to take back rare tals and cards. As I told you, there are a lot of fire and tal beasts, elentals and demons here. They co from deep below Scour's surface, welling up from inside the volcanoes in waves that surge out across the desert, fighting each other and anything they find."
Balarn spoke calmly, and although he was repeating sothing he'd told them before, the others listened.
"Lots of rcenary bands and powerful heart-carded roam the desert, collecting cards, while people from the miners guild dig inside the mountains to unearth the veins of steel. Normally, most of these riches are not allowed to be taken off-world but are to be used to increase the wealth of the Urdwellan family. However, due to the large numbers of people, there are not enough smiths. Which is where we co in. Gebladir Urdwellan has given spots to different nearby Smith's charters to send off-world smiths here. If we handle enough of the missions he hands out, we are allowed to take so of the things we acquire with us, while the charters that perform the best are even given rewards."
Irwin frowned. He'd heard this before, and after having talked with Greldo about it, they had both wondered about sothing.
"If they need more smiths, why not just allow all smiths to co here and work? And why limit it to topaz-rank?" he asked.
Yogog snorted, then laughed. "Always forget you're from a farming world, kid!'
Balarn ignored Yogog and focused on Irwin.
"If too many off-worlders stay in a world, it becos unstable. Although it's not as fast as with portals, it still requires a lot of effort to stabilize. This is why when Gebladir Urdwellann took over the word, he didn't bring many heart-carded, but mostly hand-carded Viridians with little chance to ever grow beyond that. You see. When soone is born in a world, they are seen as from that world and don't add to the instability. By now, most, if not all, of those initial Viridians, have died," he explained. "Now, if Gebladir would allow everyone who wants to simply co here, it would cost him insane amounts of effort to keep Scour stable."
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Irwin shared a look of surprise and worry with Greldo. Didn't this an that all those people that had co to their world had worsened the instability?
"This is also why we have to make sure to work hard. There are barely any worlds that are as suited to increasing our craft that have so few higher rank smiths as Scour. That's also why nobody complains too hard about Gebladir's steep rates to stay here. Understand?"
Balarn raised his eyebrows, and Irwin nodded that he'd understood.
"Alright, now let's get to the heart of the matter," Balarn said as he turned and waved at the wall. "There are twenty-four missions there that we need to do before we can leave. They are divided in ranks matching the smithing ranks, from Quartz to Erald," he said as he waved at the pieces of parchnt that were divided into groups on the walls. "The lower ones are Quartz, and those two at the top are Erald. Now. If we leave before we finish them, all will need to sign a declaration that we will return to work here for twenty years without paynt…"
Irwin gasped, then shook his head. Nobody had told him about that until now!
"But don't worry, there is no reason to assu we can't finish the missions, even if there are two Erald assignnts this ti."
"Do we have to reforge two cards up to Erald?" Monique hissed.
"Yes, but only to sixty percent," Balarn said. "Both and Yogog have already managed this before. It will just take a lot of work. Which ans that we will be starting this as soon as we have gone through the Quartz ranked missions. Only after we finish them are we allowed to take other assignnts at quartz rank to start earning the resources needed to do the higher ranks. Last ti Yogog and I were here, it took us a year to get enough resources to even begin the Athyst rank and another four to reach Erald."
"After which we bloody spent ten more years before we finally managed to finish that," Yogog said.
"Nine… but yes. It took a long ti, most of which was spent gathering cards and tals to attempt the Erald reforging," Balarn said. "Which is why, as soon as we finish the quartz missions, you four will begin taking as many missions and tasks as you can at that rank to gather resources. Rember, as long as our success rate is one in five. We don't have to pay for this first batch's resources!"
"Fewer fails is better," Yogog said, before grunting. "We get to keep the resources we don't need, which is what we will need to start out with."
Irwin swallowed. Balarn had told him this on the wagon ride here, and he still had a hard ti believing he could just get cards for nothing. Then he thought about what the lead smith just said, and he frowned.
I reached topaz rank in a reasonably short ti… why did they not manage to reach Erald yet if they were here fourteen years?"
"Don't give that look," Yogog said as he moved to stand before Irwin. "Do you even know what it takes to go from Topaz to Erald? At Topaz, all you need to worry about is removing the card's impurities and hamring ho the potential. At Erald, you-"
"Hogwash," Ambraz snapped, his voice muted from Irwin's pocket. He struggled out and flitted into the air, his lips pursed together. "How do you ever expect to create one hundred percent Topaz rank cards with that mindset? You bloody well need to align the entire card's potential by harmonizing your own cards and their vibration with the card you are working on. Furthermore-"
Irwin leaned back as Ambraz began talking about reforging cards. He'd heard it all before, but he was interested to see that both Balarn and Yogog had fallen quiet, staring at Ambraz with surprise. A few tis, it looked like one of the two was going to say sothing, but slowly they leaned back and listened with glittering eyes.
When Ambraz finally stopped with a snort, he landed on Irwin's shoulder.
"Now, do you understand? Don't underestimate the low ranks, or your basis of progression will be crooked," he said.
There was a silence, and as Irwin looked around, he saw a burning hunger in Monique's eyes while Nimdal and Syndal were nodding.
"Thank you, Anvil of the Gods," Balarn said as he stared at Ambraz intently.
Ambraz snorted, but the smile on his tal side widened.
Balarn waited for a mont before focusing back on the others.
"Now. Everyone take a look at the quartz rank missions, then choose one. Yogog and I will go get the resources we need after that while you familiarize yourselves with the area here."
Irwin pushed himself up, walking to the wall before the others. By now, he was more than a little curious, and as he gazed at the first mission, his eyebrows rose.
Reforge twelve tal utility cards to Athyst to seventy percent or higher. Follow the standards and requirents below.
A long list of requirents for various crafting utensils followed, and he licked his lips before moving to the next.
Reforge four fire-based quartz pseudo-weapon cards to seventy percent or higher weapon cards. Follow the standards and requirents below.
Another list of requirents followed, and a quick glance showed most of the weapons were ax-types. Below that one was one that made his eyebrows jump up.
Purify one hundred bars of raw Firesteel to a ninety-five percent purity or above.
"One hundred bars?" he muttered. He could hardly believe soone even had that much Firesteel! Back ho, they could have made a hundred swords with those!
"Yeah, those are always annoying," Yogog said as he looked at the paper. "Luckily, we only have a handful this ti. The previous ti over half of our missions dealt with purifying ore."
Irwin quickly read through the other missions and found that all of them were roughly the sa. It seed that weapon cards were deed harder, as they were always four. A look-up showed that the missions deed Athyst rank ant reforging Quartz cards to ninety percent or higher or Athyst cards to Topaz at seventy percent. He also saw that there were far more stringent demands on exactly which cards and what parts of the cards needed to be enhanced.
After deliberating for a bit, he finally decided to take one of the utility missions. Having twelve cards to practice with would be far better for him.
A few monts later, every Smith had a mission paper, and Balarn nodded.
"Alright, follow !"
He headed out of the room, and everyone followed. As the last one out of the room, Irwin noticed that Yogog remained bent over the table, staring at the paper stack.
"Go go, this isn't sothing you need to worry about yet," he muttered. Then he blinked and looked up with a grin. "Though, in your case, you will be helping with these starting in a few months from now."
Unsure what Yogog ant, Irwin nodded and quickly followed the others who were outside and moving into the small smithy to the side. There were four anvils in the back with two forges behind them and one to each side, creating four small, semi-separated areas. Mobile bellows hung to the sides, as did a half-dozen dusty aprons. Near the entrance stood two heavy wooden work desks with a variety of hamrs, tongs, and other items. A large slab of gray crystal was embedded in one of them.
"Alright, as we don't have enough workspaces, we are going to have to share them for now. Perhaps in a few years, we can afford a better place, but for now, this will have to do," Balarn said as they turned back.
"Irwin, could you light the forges for us?"
Irwin nodded, walking forward as he summoned his fla. As it roared to life above his hand, he shoved it into the large mass of dark coals. It took a few minutes, but eventually, the heat of his fla caused the forge to burst alive, and a short while later, the others followed.
"Alright," Balarn said. "Thanks, Irwin, that saved us a good chunk of ti!"
"I really should get a fla like that," Nimdal, the taller of the two cousins, muttered.
"You will have plenty of ti to search for cards to complete your hand," Balarn said. "I would also suggest, for those who have room, to take it slow and not make any rushed decisions. Although it's possible to remove so cards and start again, we all know that will make it a lot harder when you are combining your cards into your first heart card!"
Irwin stared at Balarn, suddenly thinking of Daubutim. His friend had removed all of his cards, not just one! What did that an for him when he had to combine them?
"Now! I'll be heading out to get the resources. Nimdal, follow . The rest of you, please clean this place up so we can get started right away. We have enough soulshards for a few weeks of food, but it'd be best if we start right away!"
There was a disgruntled round of agreents, and a short while later, Irwin was handling a broom again, wondering if his mother would approve. Probably. She was one for cleanliness.
They had long since finished when Balarn and Nimdal returned. Balarn was carrying a massive wooden box, grunting as he did, sweat pouring from his head. He seed relieved as he slamd it down onto one of the worktables. Nimdal had a smaller box but seed even worse for wear.
They should have asked to co, Irwin thought, deciding to keep that thought to himself. He'd carried a lot of tal in his short life, and doing with less would be fine for him.
"Alright," Balarn said as he pulled off his thin, drenched shirt revealing a chiseled body. He took two large stacks of cards from his pockets and put them on the other table.
"Now, all of you, get the cards or tal you need. If you want to check if you succeeded in the percentage, just use the grading crystal here," he said.
Irwin saw him point at the gray crystal, and he guessed it was similar to the one Ichela had used.
"I'll make myself useful and clean the rest of the rooms," Greldo said as he looked at the forges in distaste. "It's way too hot here. After I'm done, I'll walk around to figure out where things are."
Irwin nodded, but Balarn stepped forward before Greldo could leave.
"Greldo, make sure you don't cause any trouble. Although smiths are seen as useful here, and people won't make much trouble for us, there are a lot of rcenaries on these floors, and not all of them like off-worlders."
"Thanks for the warning," Greldo said as he looked around the buildings behind the smithy.
"I'll be back soon," he said before walking away, quickly disappearing between the buildings.
"Wasn't he going to clean the house?" Monique asked.
Irwin grinned widely as he stepped up next to her and began leafing through the cards to find those he needed.
"Greldo never was one for cleaning," he said.
"Then why did he say he would?" she asked, now sounding utterly confused.
Irwin just shrugged, quickly gathering the twelve cards he needed. As he looked around, he decided to put Ambraz next to the tables, away from the other four spaces. He didn't need the forge right now, and this way, they would have enough room.
As he put the first card on the Anvil, he smiled happily.
Finally, I'm a real cardsmith!
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