Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Daubutim stared calmly at the building ahead of him. Dozens of young people were milling about, most not reaching his shoulder. He gazed across and ignored the apprehensive glares as he slowly moved toward the entrance pushing them out of the way like his father's hounds.

A tall, clean-shaven man with silver eyes stood on the large staircase leading up to the ornate door. He was looking around, then seemed to decide it was time.

"Alright, settle down," he shouted in a dry voice.

In mere moments the milling mass complied, eager and gleaming eyes focusing on him, and he nodded.

"You are all here to take the entrance exam to become librarian assistants. That means that from now on, I expect you all to be quiet, listen well, and follow my orders to the letter. My name is Purntou Lesseron, and I'm a third-rank librarian. You may address me as Purntou, though for now, I ask you to remain quiet."

Even the minuscule rustling vanished, the only sound that of the bustling city outside of the quiet Library district. A tiny smile came to Purntou's face as he nodded.

Daubutim was impressed by the powerful presence of the man. Purntou reminded him of some of the Lords he had met, though he also knew, in this case, it wasn't based on any martial prowess. Still, even he felt the desire to comply nonetheless.

"Your first exam is the memorization one, and it will weed out over ninety percent of you," Purntou said, ignoring the shocked looks his statement garnered. "Those who fail will not be allowed to attempt again until next year. "

There was a brief frown that crossed his face, then he sighed.

"Now, normally, we don't specify the following, however, after last year's problems, we have decided to."

His gaze sharpened as it passed over the crowd of young men and women before him.

"If you fail three times, you will be disallowed from participating in the apprentice exam ever again! To those amongst you who have already failed three times, I would advise you to leave now. Otherwise, if you enter, you will be detected and forcefully expelled by the Library's crystalized soul remnant. Don't think you have some trick to evade it! Last year we had two casualties…."

Crystalized soul remnant? Daubutim thought.

His mind quickly provided the reason for it sounding so familiar. Irwin had mentioned it in passing as something that Ambraz had said. Sadly he had added no details besides knowing that it had to do with the images on cards.

After a few moments, there was a movement in the crowd, causing a hushed murmur to arise. Daubutim saw two young men move away through the masses, pale-faced and shivering.

Librarian Purntou said nothing, calmly waiting until they were gone before continuing.

"Good. Now, those who succeed will be required to remain in a room designated to them until the entire exam is finished. Sustenance will be provided," the man said as he turned to the two wide, intricately carved doors. With a slight push, they swung open, and he strode inside, followed by the youths.

As Daubutim followed with the throng, he noticed the guards inside stare at him curiously. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded at them. The guards didn't react but, after a few moments, began looking around the crowd again.

Hundreds of tables filled a large room with towering white walls covered in intricate carvings. Each table had a crystal tablet and a stack of books three feet high on them.

"Move to a table and wait for further instructions," Purntou said, his voice a hollow echo in the chamber that seemed to reach every inch of it.

With bustle, the throng of youths spread out, rapidly claiming tables. Daubutim was amongst them, choosing a table at the back. Taking a quick look at the books, he noticed their covers shimmered oddly, the markings on them moving oddly.

Books created by cardskills? he wondered before focusing back on Librarian Purntou.

By now, each youth stood before a table.

"The gong will sound in a moment, and as soon as it does, you have eleven hours to read these books. After that, you will have an hour to answer all the questions on the library tablet. If you are finished reading sooner, you may begin answering the questions, but you will still only have one hour to answer the questions. Let me remind you that you may only have three mistakes. Any more and you will fail this first round and thus the exam," Purntou said.

There was a soft murmur, but Daubutim ignored it all. Instead, he looked at the stack of books curiously.

When the deep gong sounded out, he calmly picked up the first one, put it before him, and opened the page. It was a book on the history of Fiverion from the moment it was discovered with overly long names like those of the noble families back home.

He drew a slow deep breath, then gazed at the first page. A moment later, he flipped it, looked at the next, and flipped that. As he continued to flip through the pages, the knowledge of the pages slowly accumulated inside of him like water running into a dry river bed. The sensation was one he could never get enough of, but that only came from new knowledge. It had been a long time since he last felt it, as he had long since read all the books his father had. He smiled calmly, a sense of intense joy that he had the chance again.

Calm and quiet, he continued flipping through the pages, his concentration absolute, his speed increasing as his focus intensified. He no longer had any notion of what was happening around him, nor did he see Purntou staring at him.

--

What a curious young man, Purntou thought as he stared at the tall warrior.

At first glance, he looked like another of those boorish martial types, but as he saw the gleaming eyes, the hand flicking the pages, and the happy smile, he nodded. For an untrained potential, likely with no relevant cards, he was reading at a decent speed. From his estimate, roughly equal to that of a first-year apprentice. It wasn't as incredible as a few of the third or fourth-generation librarians that took the private screening, but surprising nonetheless.

Besides, those prodigies will be divided amongst the second-rank librarians again, he thought.

It took him a moment to recall the name of the man, then he pressed his hand on the portable crystal slab he wore on his hip.

"If the initiate Daubutim succeeds, I will take him as one of my apprentices," he said softly. It was the benefit of having to oversee this testing—the chance to pick three apprentices before any others.

There was an affirmative chime, and he nodded, focusing on the others to see if more good seedlings could be found.

--

The last pages of the book passed through Daubutims fingers, and he felt sad as he gazed at the massive stack. Sad that he was done reading and sad about what he had read.

He had never imagined that merely taking this test would already benefit him so greatly. The knowledge of the planet, the dozens of species and races that inhabited it, as well as its most prominent and powerful families and factions, was bubbling through his mind. With it, a realization was setting in. Giard, his world, was tiny and inconsequential to these people. They truly saw it as no more than their property, a place to be harvested and pilfered for resources.

Even if Irwin becomes a Ruby rank Smith, he will likely not be able to move those with the ability to save Giard, he thought as he gazed dumbly at the stack of books. Sensing his mind start to clog as it attempted to find a solution, he forcefully pushed the thoughts away.

First, finish the exam, he told himself.

With a deep breath, he focused on the crystal tablet, putting his finger on the glowing center. There was a flash from the stack of books, and he saw the oddly flickering letters had vanished from them. The text appeared on the tablet's surface.

> During the second century, after the Grinwron Trade Federation found Fiverion, who was the true ruler, and who was his or her proxy? Answer the question, then add the book this knowledge can be found in, including the page number.

Daubutim's eyebrows rose as he read the question, and he took a look around. Was his mental issue something common in this world, or did they have some special cards to memorize these things? Seeing everyone still reading, he shrugged and looked at the tablet.

He used his finger to write the answer on the empty area of the tablet. As soon as he removed his finger, there was a tiny hourglass on the bottom, which emptied rapidly. When it finished, there was a dim green glow from the surface, and the next question appeared.

So, after you answer the question, you have a few moments to change your answer, Daubutim thought, staring curiously at the tablet.

He read the next question, answered it easily, and slowly lost himself in the questions.

--

You had me worried for a moment there, Purntou thought as he watched with mixed feelings as the warrior continued answering the question. The warrior's confused look had made him believe he'd made a mistake picking him as an apprentice so fast. The others had warned him so many times not to be so quick to judge, and he'd almost fallen for it again!

Still, as he watched the thick finger write answers in rapid succession, the tablet almost awash with a constant glow of green, he couldn't stop his eyebrows from raising. Reading fast wasn't uncommon, but being able to get the information from that which was learned at such a speed?

As time passed by, Purntou stopped looking at any of the other prospects, staring dumbly at the towering warrior to answer questions at a speed he knew he could only barely duplicate. Slowly, a sense of elation grew in him as he realized he might finally have found a way to progress again.

If he manages to finish this at this speed and without fault, he might rival those three, he thought.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

--

Finishing the last question, Daubutim let out a sigh of relief. His mind was spinning, and a slight headache had begun to grow. He couldn't recall ever having to push himself this far. Not even his father had ever asked this many questions about tiny minutia.

As the hourglass ran out, the tablet suddenly burst out with a bright green glow, and this time it didn't fade. The sound of running feet made him look up to find Purntou rushing his way, smiling broadly.

"Daubutim Coulwater," he said, his voice shockingly loud in the silent room. "Good, good. Very good! These are some impressive results. Please follow the guard to the next room and wait for me there. As soon as this round is finished, I'll come to speak with you."

Daubutim nodded, keeping his tongue as he saw hundreds of bloodshot eyes glaring at him. As he followed the guard that beckoned him, he kept his head up, keeping a calm and stoic look on his face.

Only when he walked out of the massive hallway into a much smaller room did he smile. The small desks, stacked with even larger piles of books, made him happy, though he knew he would need to rest before he continued on.

"Please choose a table and sit down," the guard said, a deep respect in his tone. With a final look at Daubutim, he turned and left, leaving Daubutim to look around. When he saw the lines of books on the shelves at the far side, he almost stepped forward.

There are probably still eyes on me, he thought, knowing there was no way they would leave someone unknown alone in the building.

After staring at the books with longing, he picked a desk and sat down. Glancing at the stack of books, he leaned back and closed his eyes. This had only been the first test, and he needed to be sure to succeed in the other one.

Father would be angry with me, he thought as he recalled the commotion just now. I should have kept a lower profile.

--

Irwin sat down on the rickety chair in his room, glancing out of the windows. Then he looked at Ambraz, who was licking his lips from his spot on the table beside the stack of cards.

"So… how about you explain to me what I'm supposed to do," Irwin said as he put the mission paper on the table. "It says I need to add a specific type of ability to these cards, either fog or steam, and preferably body improvements."

Ambraz pouted at the cards, then flitted up, hovering above the table on eye height with Irwin.

"Alright… fine. I guess it's time for some tutoring," he muttered. "So far, all the card reforging you have done has been in line with the card's predisposed path. In most circumstances, this is the correct way, as it's the only way for someone at your level to reforge cards."

"The predisposed path?" Irwin asked curiously.

"Yes, yes. Look at that top card," Ambraz said.

Irwin picked it up, activating his Eyes of the Blaze to read the card.

Card: Hot Breath

Type: Quartz

Owner: -

A common skill useful for warming cold hands.

Active: Draws in a tiny fraction of ambient heat while breathing then expels it in a single blow.

"That's really useless," Irwin muttered. "I think even people in Malorin might have laughed at it."

"Yes, well, that just shows how stupid the people there are and how little you know," Ambraz responded. "You can't determine a card's true potential just by looking at what it does now. You have to look at what its possibilities are!"

Irwin looked at the card, trying to imagine what a card like that could possibly turn into.

"How? By reforging it and choosing its direction?" he finally asked, remembering how Ambraz was able to pick the path for some of his cards.

Perhaps he means it's like how he told me to choose between Coperion Body or Dense Coperion Fists?

"No. That only works for cards that have predisposed paths that are of roughly equal likelihood," Ambraz said. "Every card has an origin based on the creature that grew the initial soul skill. This origin, although limited as soon as it is crystalized, has more options than just the likely paths. You can force it along one that is less likely, and thus add a rare type, ability, or passive to the card."

Irwin shook his head, not sure he understood. "So any card can be forced to become anything?"

"What? No, of course not! Fine, fine! Let me try like this," Ambraz snapped. "Imagine a dangerous, dark forest filled with demons and beasts. Most creatures here will have plant, darkness, or live-type soul skills. Now, forget the creature for now and picture just the card the soul skill might result in. Imagine a plant card standing before this forest. It needs to get to the other side. There will always be one or more paths through the forest, which are those most walked through. As the card passes along these paths, it encounters things that will change it, and when it arrives on the other side, it will be similar to any other card of its kind that reaches the other side. Following me so far?"

Irwin nodded slowly, as he felt slightly odd at picturing a card with legs standing before the Gloomforest back home. "So, you are saying that the soul skills of creatures change as they walk through the forest and the cards we get from them… remember this and somehow want to continue on this path?"

"Exactly! As you know, forests don't just have these well-trodden and easy paths. There are smaller, more dangerous paths one could take. Those might be dead ends, or they might pass through a dangerous area, but some are bound to allow you to reach the other side of the forest. Creatures with soul skills are like those, and thus cards have these options too. As a cardsmith, you can attempt to force a card along one of these paths. However… Once you start reforging a card like that, there is no going back. Either you succeed, or the card is destroyed. Also, the paths are not clear, and you won't know if you can actually find the end. You might start reforging a card, trying to go another route, only to find a dead end, causing the card to shatter!"

Irwin whistled as he thought back to the cards he had reforged and how he had always tried to harmonize with the card as he worked on it. Perhaps that was what Ambraz meant? Trying to somehow change the harmony? Then another thought crossed his mind.

"So, what happens when you reach the end of the forest?"

"That's when the card reaches its highest possible tier," Ambraz said, sounding like he had thought that much was obvious. "Most cards can reach Ruby, but it depends on those black patches of potential. If a card has many of those, and if you can close those pin holes that leak the card's power with one or two reforges, the card can reach Diamond."

Irwin leaned forward, eyes wide. "So it's possible that I never find a card that can become Diamond ranked?"

"What? Of course you can find them! You even have two already," Ambraz snorted.

Irwin gazed at the stacks of cards.

"Not those, you brat! Your first card, Fire-sensitive Body, could have become a Diamond rank, and why did you think I was so happy when you found that Derlin card? Your Firesteel hammer of purification can become Diamond rank."

Irwin stared dumbly at his left hand.

"So I could have increased it to Legendary," he muttered sadly.

"Yeah, with great risk," Ambraz snorted. "That one is special, meaning it's one of those cards that went way off the beaten path. If you had attempted to reforge it, there would have been a large chance of it blowing up."

Irwin stared at his hand, trying to wrap his head around what Ambraz had said. He wondered what would have happened if he had tried to reforge it while it was in his hand and failed. Would his hand have blown up? Then he cocked his head.

"What happens if I remove a card from my hand… like Daubutim did, and then reforge it?" he asked, suddenly hopeful he could prevent future pain.

"Nice try, but if you do that, the card's future potential will be gutted," Ambraz said with a snort. "Each time you permanently remove a card, some of its potential vanishes. Even the best of cards would be incapable of becoming diamond rank if they were removed from someone's hand."

Irwin sighed, deciding that meant he was going to wait a good long while before he was going to reforge his fourth card.

"Alright, so I think I understand," he began slowly. "To get a specific ability, you have to force the card along another path through the forest so it comes across something that will unlock the desired skill?"

"Yes," Ambraz said. "Which brings us to one of the reasons the Smiths guild is so influential. They hold knowledge of many cards and their potential abilities. Smiths across the Portal Gallery have experimented on a near infinite amount of cards to determine the viable paths."

Irwin's eyes brightened as he imagined a smith finding a new way to reforge a card to unlock an especially powerful or useful ability.

"So, where do I go to learn about the options for these cards," he said as he pointed at the stack.

"Either one of the larger smith's charters or from a high-rank smith," Ambraz said, his gray metallic lips curving up.

None of which are something I can do right now, Irwin thought as he imagined asking the lord of this planet for something.

Still, he wasn't worried, simply waiting for Ambraz to continue. He'd been around the anvil long enough to know there was more coming.

As the seconds ticked by, Ambraz's smile slowly turned to a pursed line.

"You can just tell me," Irwin finally said, afraid Ambraz might just blow up.

"Fine. Spoil my fun, will you? Yes. I know paths for these common cards," Ambraz snapped.

All of them? Irwin wondered but held back from asking. He'd wait for Ambraz's mood to settle a bit.

Instead, he waved the Hot Breath card around.

"So. With you knowing the path, how do I reforge this card to match up to the specifications?"

Ambraz flicked to the middle of the room, turning into his working shape, which caused a boom in the room and startled shouts from below.

"Normally, when you reforge a card, you match the resonance that you feel when you hit the card. However, to force it down another path, you first have to push it in that direction," Ambraz said. "You need to hit it once for me to be able to determine the exact nature of this card and tell you how it works."

Irwin got up, summoning his hammer as he did, before placing the card on Ambraz's surface.

"Just a normal strike?"

"Yes. Just be ready to throw it in my mouth when I tell you to."

Irwin focused on the card, then struck it once, causing the now familiar resonance to start as the image of two lips with a plume of hot air hovered before him. The image was faint, distorted, and constantly moving, while a dozen or so black smudges covered parts of it. Roughly as many bright spots dotted it.

"Interesting… this card has more potential than I would have thought," Ambraz muttered. "Not enough to be of use for you… but it's not bad! Alright, I've found the directions. Now, the main direction this card wants to go is towards a scalding air burst, where the air turns hotter and the distance greater. There are a few obvious sidepaths, but none of those will get us what we want. I do know of one that will. However, it is a difficult one."

"Difficult, how?" Irwin asked. He still had no idea about the exact mechanics of what he was supposed to do.

"We are going to force the initial resonance into a very specific direction. This means the next strike and those after have to be extremely precise. Also, you need to make your cards resonate at a specific frequency. Now, there are lots of ways to do this, but as you have started humming and singing, we will use that for now," Ambraz said.

Still wondering what he was supposed to do, Irwin blinked as Ambraz cleared his throat and began humming a very odd tune of six notes that followed a very interesting rhythm.

"Try and hum that," Ambraz said.

Irwin complied, but it took a few tries before he got it exactly right.

"Alright, now try to have your cards resonate along with your humming," Ambraz said.

Irwin focused on his cards, their presence popping into his mind easily. All the reforging of the last few months had made him an expert in it, but as he tried to force them to resonate along with the tune, he found it was a lot more difficult than just humming it.

A dozen attempts later, he finally managed a very rough version. It felt like the cards were both too rigid and too quick to move to his prodding, making the tones ring out either too fast or too high or low.

"Ugh… alright, you might need to practice this more than a few times," Ambraz grunted. "Don't expect any cards above seventy percent if you do it this poorly. But for now, let's continue. When you strike the next time, the card's resonance will be pulled towards the predisposed path, and I want you to ignore it. Instead, force your cards to resonate like the first note you just did, then hit it again and do the second one. If you succeed, you will sense the card's final resonance should be in line with yours. After that, continue reforging as normal. Just… be aware that the card might jitter around. It will be far more difficult than normal."

Irwin took a few deep breaths, resonating his cards a few more times along the hum Ambraz had taught him before raising his hammer. As he struck the card, he sensed the resonance it emitted and felt his cards wanting to hum along. Instead, he forced them to resonate with the first tone. There was a disturbing dissonance that instantly began, and he felt a strain from the card.

"Don't stop! Continue in the tempo of the humm!" Ambraz snapped.

Irwin quickly struck again, forcing his cards to resonate with the second note. The dissonance grew stronger, and he saw the card tremble. Humming, he hit again and again. When he reached the sixth hammer blow and note, he knew he'd made a few major mistakes, and the card was trembling violently, a sense of imminent destruction coming from it.

"Quick, toss it in my mouth," Ambraz snapped.

Irwin wasn't surprised, grabbing the card and flinging it in the wide-open maw. The lips barely closed when a dull boom came from Ambraz, followed by a soft, annoyed moan as he began chewing. A thin trickle of mist came from between his lips, accompanied by the scent of burning metal.

"Don't feel too bad, kid. You actually managed to keep it in one piece until the last hit," Ambraz said. "I'd expected it to blow up by the third strike!"

Irwin frowned as he picked up the next card, staring at it. He had a bad premonition.

"So… Do I use the same tune again?" he asked.

Ambraz let out a nasty laugh, and Irwin knew that if he had eyes, there would be an evil glint in them.

"You wish. Each card has its own path, and you better hope I know the ones we need for all of them!"

Irwin sighed, then, with a mock smile, put the next card on Ambraz's surface.

Let's see how long it takes before I succeed, he thought.