Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

'The Langost branch, therefore, has been deemed a waste of effort by most of the important merchant and explorer groups. Thus, until a level four or above hub-world is found, it is unlikely that any but the smallest groups continue exploring from its fringes. To those who read this, my advice would be to relocate to the Casadir branch, which is located a mere three-month journey away!

I hope you enjoyed reading about one of the few useless endeavors of our Casadir Merchant group. Sometimes, it's good to remember that even those who are nearly perfect still make mistakes!

-Demnir Uldis Casadir’

Irwin stared at the last page as he closed the book, shaking his head in disgust.

"Seriously… nearly perfect?" he muttered as he tossed the book to the end of his bed and glared at it.

"The Casadir group is mostly comprised of Da'xi, just like our good captain," Daubutim said. "This is just the way they are."

He was sitting on his own bed, staring at the cards sprawled before him. They were the only two in the room, the merchants and Greldo, enjoying the temperature up the deck for as long as it lasted. They had just passed another portal world harbor, and for a few hours, the temperature would remain enjoyable. After that, everyone but Irwin and Greldo would be relegated back to their cabins due to the cold. Daubutim and Irwin had seen it as the perfect time to check Irwin's cards for some that Daubutim would want and discuss the books Irwin had read.

"That makes sense," Irwin muttered as he thought about his few conversations with Captain Xi'kroak. "It didn't say what a level four hub-world is… do you know?"

Daubutim nodded as he reorganized a few of the cards. He began explaining without even looking up.

"Each secondary world connecting to a hubworld makes it more profitable. A world with two or more is deemed a hubworld at level one. Five secondary worlds make it a level two world, and then ten is a level three world. To become level four, the world needs to be connected to twenty or more secondary worlds. Usually, level four worlds are large cities with powerful soul-carded families. Fiverio used to be a level four world, but a few of the secondary worlds that are connected to it have shattered. This caused its rank to drop back down to three. This happens a lot with rank four worlds."

Irwin hummed as he stared at the book. Those worlds had probably shattered because they were used as farming or mining worlds. Harvested for all their resources and then cut off from the hubworld so its shattering doesn't cause problems.

"Does that mean that there are not many older high-level worlds?" he asked, leaning back.

"Four isn't high. High-level worlds are five and beyond," Daubutim said. "Those are the worlds that have hundreds of worlds connected to them. There aren't that many of them, and when they are found, they are handled differently than the others. Instead of drawing out all of the resources of the secondary worlds connected to them and thus causing those to grow unstable, the worlds are kept stable. They do this by closing the portals that connect them and only opening them for a few weeks every few years. Then afterward, they clear out all the chaotic portals that spawned, thus stabilizing the world. This way, large families create networks of worlds that operate as buffers for their power."

Irwin stared at Daubutim, noticing that his friend fell quiet, frowning and poking a card.

"So… what if we had just closed the exit portal and all other portals? Could that have stabilized and saved Giard?" he asked.

Daubutim didn't answer, and Irwin felt his mood dampen.

"Kid, that wouldn't work anymore," Ambraz said as he flitted across the room and landed on the book with a tiny thud. "It only works if the world is kept stable from the start. As soon as too many portals appear, it spins out of control. Giard had long since passed that point before you were born."

"He is correct," Daubutim said as he began stacking some of the cards, leaving a single one there.

Yeah... but that means those people on Fiverion could have done this, Irwin thought. What if their actions were what caused whoever was hunting the remnants of the Galadin empire to find them?

He felt his annoyance slowly bubble up, and it took him a moment to calm down. There was no use to it now.

He sat up, and focused on the card that Daubutim had singled out. It was Topaz rank and depicted a few floating crystals.

"You want that one?" he asked, trying to recall what the card did. "I'll have to reforge it to Emerald first."

Daubutim nodded. "Yes. Besides having a reasonable amount of body enhancement passives, its active ability is very good for battles against single, powerful adversaries."

Irwin turned to Ambraz. "Can you create a paper with its description for me? I can't recall everything you said like Daubutim can."

Ambraz snorted and began glowing a dim purple. The book below him shook and shivered, and after a few moments, it stopped.

"What did you do?" Irwin asked as he stared at the book about this area of the Portal Gallery.

"You already read it, so it's useless. I cleared one of the pages and did as you asked," Ambraz said as he flew up.

Irwin curiously picked up the book and opened it on the first page. The densely scribbled lines were gone, replaced by a familiar sight.

Card: Crystalline Leg-lock

Type: Topaz

Owner: -

The wielder gains the ability to create tiny crystals inside parts of the muscles of a target's legs and control them to slow down their target's movements. The card passively does the same to the wielder's own legs but without any negative consequences.

Passive: Increases leg density, stability, and power

Active: Slow down a target's legs

"Interesting," Irwin muttered as he looked at the card. He had seen crystalline cards before; they weren't all that rare, but he couldn't recall seeing one that allowed the user to target someone else's body.

After a few moments, he turned to Ambraz. "If we reforge this to Emerald rank, will it become a full-body ability?"

Ambraz snorted. "That's the likely one, though we could also increase the power on just the legs."

"Full-body," Daubutim said before Irwin could even ask. It didn't surprise him at all, and he nodded.

"Alright. That leaves us with one problem. When do I reforge it? If anyone sees me doing that…"

"We can do it after we arrive on the outskirts and begin exploring," Daubutim said. "I can wait till then."

Irwin nodded as he looked at the stack, noting the few Emerald cards. "You are sure you don't want any of the others?"

"Yes, I'm sure. As you said, I need one spot for a card to fix my issues. That leaves one more, and I don't know what I want yet, but there wasn't any there that was useful. I don't need more weapons, and I'm not interested in another summon."

Ambraz began flitting through the room, humming and muttering. Irwin watched him move, wondering why he acted so weird while Daubutim kept inspecting the card he'd picked.

"Alright," Ambraz said as he flitted before Daubutim and remained hovering there. "Based on everything you have and knowing you will get one Ruby card, I'd aim for a heartcard that gives a crystalized full body armor with an aura. So, I'd pick something that either gives or expands on an aura ability."

"Aura?" Irwin asked, cocking his head.

"It's something that constantly influences everything around you," Daubutim said as he slowly nodded. "I see. That way, I could have a constant slowing effect around me."

"Exactly, and you could focus it on one target," Ambraz said.

Irwin was about to ask why he'd never heard about aura abilities when a deafening shout came from above.

"Raiders!"

Irwin blinked, then shot up and to the door. His abrupt motion caused the bed to creak dangerously, but he didn't even care as he sprinted through the hallway. As he reached the staircase leading up, he saw people come down. One of them, a merchant he'd seen before, had a pale, panicky look on his face.

"Out of the way," Irwin snapped as he jumped up the narrow staircase, three steps at a time.

He barely noticed he was using his kinetic energy, but the man yelped as he pressed himself against the wall to get out of the way. Irwin moved past him, shoving another two out of the way before bursting out onto the deck. Dozens of people stood around the door, ready to go down.

"Let us in," one of them shouted, running around him and down only to be shoved back up by Daubutim.

"Irwin, over here!"

Irwin saw Greldo wave at him from the prow, and he shoved his way through the mass of people, ignoring their startled and worried shouts.

Captain Xi'kroak was standing a few steps away, shouting at his crewmen. Irwin saw them crawl across the sail, carrying crystals and rubbing them across the sail, which caused the bluish glow to turn purple. As more appeared, Irwin felt the ship's speed noticeably increase.

"Over there," Greldo said, pointing at a distant spot that was approaching from the side. "It shot up out of the forest a minute ago and is heading straight for us. It must have been waiting in ambush for whoever appeared."

Irwin focused on the distant thing, barely able to make out another ship.

Okay, I miss my Eyes of Blaze now, he thought as he realized he couldn't zoom in to see how many people were on the ship.

"Galub raiders," he heard the captain hiss. "Try and get us more speed. Perhaps we can outrun them!"

Galubs? Irwin thought as he shared a surprised look with Greldo.

"What are those things doing here?" Greldo muttered.

"After their world shattered, many Galubs spread out across this region and took to raiding and pillaging smaller worlds," Daubutim said.

"Any idea how many horns?" Irwin asked.

"There are rumors of four-horns," Xi'kroak said as he walked up to them. "At least we are lucky that they aren't Nyzir or something worse."

Nyzir are here as well? Why are the same demons that came to Giard here? Irwin thought as he looked at Daubutim.

Daubutim didn't react but kept looking at the incoming ship.

Great, at least we know how to deal with Galubs, Irwin thought as he stared at the ship. Now, they only needed to know how many horns these things had.

He didn't have to wait too long to find out, as within a minute, the tiny ship had closed in enough for them to make out individual figures. A group of three-horned Galubs stood on the deck of a ship, with three four-horned ones standing behind them. The ship around them looked ready to fall apart at any moment, but the Galubs were just grinning viciously, not seeming to care. The sail above them was glowing a bright red while the mast shuddered and shook.

"They are overloading their sail," Xi'kroak said, sounding disgusted. "There's no way for us to get away without doing the same, and that's a death sentence in itself... Get ready for a fight!"

The crewmen began dropping from the sail, and as they did, their speed lowered.

Irwin stood at the back of the ship now, counting the first rows and trying to discern the ripples of heat behind them. "Twenty-one or twenty-two Galubs," he hissed, turning to Xi'kroak.

The captain and four of his crewmen stood beside them. Each of them had their hands raised with marble-sized balls of light on their palms.

"What is the plan?" Daubutim asked.

Irwin saw he had summoned his carded armor, now covered in dark plate chest armor and holding his massive two-handed sword.

"We will try and blast their sails apart," Xi'kroak said. "If we succeed, we can get away, if we fail, they will board us. If that happens, prepare for a bad fight. They won't give us any ground because their sail will be broken beyond repair within a few minutes."

Irwin gritted his teeth as he looked around. None of the other passengers were anywhere to be seen, leaving only him, Greldo, Daubutim, Xi'kroak, and seven crewmen.

"We should get the others out here to fight," he said.

"I can get them," Greldo growled as he turned.

"No!" Xi'kroak shouted. "They will only get in the way! I've checked them over the last few days, and their cards are all useless in a battle."

Irwin wanted to say that he didn't believe they were completely useless. There were some heartcarded amongst them, and he had been able to fight even without a full hand! Before he could, Xi'kroak turned and raised his hands.

"Fire at their sails," he shouted as he began waving his hands around. The tiny, marble-sized balls of energy shot towards the incoming ship.

For a few moments, Irwin thought the balls would rip the sail apart. Then, a loud laughter echoed from the incoming ship.

Irwin's skin crawled as he saw a massive figure with five horns step forward. It must have been hiding behind the others because as it rose to its full height, it towered over the others. An orange bubble burst out from it, covering the incoming ship like a transparent shield. The energy balls slammed into it, bouncing and skidding off harmlessly.

"Your ship looks great, you ugly Da'xi!" the Galub roared. "It will be the perfect replacement for this piece of crap we took last week!"

The rows of three and four-horned began hooting as more energy balls harmlessly struck the barrier uselessly.

"We are doomed," Xi'kroak said as he stepped back. "They have a five-horn… and it looks ready to evolve at any moment! Why is that thing even here?"

Irwin tried to remember what he could about when he'd battled the Galubs back when he and Daubutim had been in the shard world filled with them. Most of those had been one and two-horns, with a few being three-horns. Back then, he could fight the two-horns, although only barely. Still, he didn't doubt he'd be able to easily take care of them now. He didn't really think the four-horns would be a massive problem, somehow feeling sure that he could stop them, which left the five-horn.

As he looked at it, he saw that the five-horned Galub grinning back at him. Its wide mouth was filled with sharp teeth, and tiny images of daggers or swords were swirling across its skin.

"They will be on us in one minute," Daubutim said.

"Daubutim, ideas?" Irwin asked as he flexed his arms before starting to jump, building up his kinetic energy.

"Greldo, Xi'kroak, and I take care of the four-horns. Someone goes down and gets those merchants, so they and the crew hold back the three-horns."

Captain Xi'kroak muttered something, but he didn't complain this time.

Irwin grimaced, looking at his friend. "And let me guess. I take care of that five-horn?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic. Any idea what it can do?"

Daubutim merely shook his head while Xi'kroak moved closer. Irwin saw a tiny sliver of hope in the captain's eyes.

"Do you think you can seriously take on a five-horned Galub? They are stronger than heartcarded, and some can fight soulcarded!"

"We will have to see," Irwin said.

He suddenly realized that he'd forgotten to bring his sword.

Whatever, I'll just have to use my hammer, he decided.

"Go and get the merchants. If they complain, tell them that without them holding back the three-horns, we are dead," Irwin snapped.

He flexed his shoulders, feeling his kinetic energy roiling through his muscles, rapidly building up.

Xi'kroak hesitated, and Irwin turned to him while drawing on his flame to increase his kinetic energy.

"Move!" he grunted, a deep rumble echoing out from his chest.

The Da'xi captain took two steps back, gritted his teeth, and spun to one of his crewmates. "Do it. Get all of them up here and tell them what to do!"

Irwin turned to Greldo, noting the shadowy tendrils rippling around him.

"Think you can grab some of those four-horns and dump them over the edge?" he asked.

Greldo grinned. "I can try."

"Wait till they are aboard," Daubutim said as he took a few steps aside to give himself space.

The Galubs shouting and laughing were drowning out any other noise, and Irwin saw their ship was almost upon them. There was a massive rip in the side, almost like something had slammed into it. As he saw it, he suddenly had an idea.

With a nasty grin, Irwin stepped forward and made a throwing motion. At the last possible moment, he summoned a massive hammer, shaping it in such a way that it looked like a warhammer and not a smith's hammer as he usually did. A dull boom sounded out as he added his kinetic energy, causing his hand to snap back while the enormous hammer was shot forward.

There were startled yelps from the Galubs, but they were only forty feet away and had no time to react as the door-sized hammer slammed into their front line. Irwin had aimed for one of the four-horns, deciding the five-horn would likely hardly care. The four-horn he'd aimed for screeched, and the sound of snapping bones echoed out, followed by a sickening crack.

Blood sprayed from a torn arm, and for a few moments, everyone was staring in stupid disbelief at the carnage.

Then the five-horned Galub stepped forward and let out an angry, ear-rattling roar as it glared at Irwin. The ship slammed into theirs a moment later, causing everything to jolt and sway.

Irwin stepped back, his massive weight making it easy to remain standing. Beside him, Daubutim, Greldo, and Xi'kroak stumbled and nearly fell.

On the other deck, the Galubs were gathering themselves. They screamed, no longer laughing, and jumped across the railing onto the deck before Irwin. Around him, the others spread out to give each other space.

One of the four-horned ones stayed a bit back and raised its arms. A cloud of silvery motes rippled out and across the other Galubs. At the same time, the five-horned Galub jumped forward, landing a few feet before Irwin and causing the ship to rock and sway.

"Kill them! I'll take care of this one!"

As Irwin heard the Galub growl its challenge, any worry he might have had faded to be replaced by a sudden desire to measure his new strength against the thing! He hadn't had any real fight ever since becoming a heartcarded. He readied both his flame and sweltering steam but didn't use them yet.

Let's see how strong you are, Irwin thought as he stepped forward.

He summoned a smaller hammer, one with edges that stood out and looked like a tool of destruction instead of crafting.

The Galub's demonic mouth widened in a grin as it jumped at him. From this close, Irwin saw that his initial observation was correct. The Galub's entire skin was covered in tiny images of daggers that swirled around.

Irwin jumped forward, and his kinetic energy blasted out of his feet with such force that he felt the entire boat rock below him. The Galub's eyes widened in surprise just as Irwin's hammer arrived before his face.

Got y-

A swirling cloud of screaming metal surrounded Irwin, and he felt his fingers flung apart as his hammer, handle, and all exploded. He somehow managed to close his eyes just as the swirling cloud surrounded him, and he felt scrapes and scratches all across his face.

"Foolish human! What use are all your tricks if you can't use your weapons or see me?"

Something slammed into Irwin's chest, causing him to take a step back, and then another strike hit him across the face. As hard as the attacks were, they barely hurt him. Still, the swirling cloud continued to scratch all across him, preventing him from seeing them coming.

By the Flames of Aghost, Irwin cursed as he flailed around. It felt like he was in a cloud of metal mosquitos, and he almost blasted out his fire and steam. He barely held back, recalling that he wasn't alone on the ship just as the Galub struck him in the side of the head again. The hit was hard but barely enough to cause him to lose his balance. Instead, he felt his kinetic energy surge up, causing his muscles to twitch in anticipation of releasing the power.

He isn't that strong, Irwin thought as he took a step back.

He focused, and as soon as he was struck on the side of the head again, he stepped forward, grasping for his assailant. His fingers thudded against something, and he scrambled to grab the Galub.

"Let go of me, you wea-"

Irwin yanked the Galub forward and embraced him. The screeching sound increased to a deafening noise, and he felt it scratch across his chest, face, and neck. Although it didn't hurt, it was uncomfortable, almost as if someone was scratching him. Something tried pushing him away, but Irwin clenched harder until he reached around the thing's chest. He could feel he had one arm pinned, and the Galub continued uselessly hitting him with the other.

Sure, why don't you just keep giving me more power, Irwin thought as he felt his Kinetic energy overflowing. Without knowing if it would work, he used it while he flexed his arms, trying to squeeze the Galub to paste.

A panicky and pained scream blasted straight in his face, even overcoming the still ongoing screeching of metal on metal. The strikes against his head came faster and harder but also less coordinated, and all they did was allow him to increase the pressure he was clenching with.

At some point, he felt something gnash on his face, but it lasted for only a few moments. Then, the metal cloud disappeared, and the cacophony of noise faded. Though his ears were still ringing, a dull groaning replaced the thunderous screeching.

Carefully, Irwin opened one eye slightly, staring into the five-horned Galub's face. Its eyes were bulging out, and its mouth wide in a silent scream. He could see a triangular tongue and rows of teeth.

"Don't let it go!"

Irwin blinked as he heard Greldo's frightened scream, and he suddenly recalled he wasn't just here to try and see what his new heartcard could do! At the same time, he suddenly realized battle sounds were coming from behind him, accompanied by shouts of anger and pain.

Gritting his teeth, he began clenching his arms together in a burst of power, using all of his kinetic energy in a single massive squeeze. There was a cracking sound, then an odd, high-pitched scream as both of the Galub's eyes exploded.

Ignoring the wet muck that splattered onto him, Irwin knew that his arms had clenched far more than the thing's body should allow.

Either it's dead, or nearly!

He released his arms and stepped back. The Galub thudded unto the ground, its upper body at an odd angle, ribs piercing through its skin.

Knowing it was dead, Irwin spun around, vaguely noting that he felt cool air across his chest and stomach.

Behind him, Greldo was standing almost back to back with him, using a long shadow sword to keep two four-horn Galubs at bay. His entire body was covered in thick shadowy tendrils, almost like an armor of dark hairs.

Daubutim was further away, almost on the other side of the deck. He was standing shoulder to shoulder with Captain Xi'kroak and his crew, battling the remaining three-horned galubs. Many unmoving shapes lay on the deck.

Besides that, Irwin noticed that the wood of the ship had been scratched and flayed, and splinters and curls of wood lay everywhere.

The merchants were nowhere to be seen, but Irwin had no time to worry about that now. He jumped forward, summoning another hammer. He ran for the nearest four-horn that Greldo was fighting and used as much of his kinetic power as he dared without risking destroying the wooden deck more than it was.

"No, don-"

Irwin ignored the Galub's panicked scream and struck it so hard the Galub was flung sideways, across the ship, into and then over the railing. It flailed once, then disappeared with a scream. He turned to the other one, only to see Greldo appear behind it and stab the shadowy sword straight through his chest.

"Clear the others," Greldo shouted as he vanished from where he stood.

He reappeared amid the battle, and immediately a three-horned Galub fell to the ground, missing its head.

Irwin ran forward, unsummoning his hammer and slamming bodily into two of the Galubs. They shouted and struggled as he grabbed them and hurled them away.

The rest of the battle lasted only a few moments as Irwin and Greldo took care of the remaining Galubs as if they were swatting flies.

As he flung the last of the Galubs as far from the ship as he could, Irwin let out a relieved sigh.

Feeling the cool wind blow across his chest, he looked down. The front of his jacket and shirt were gone, long ribbons hanging from the sides. Every part of exposed skin looked like an angry cat had scratched it, and now that he saw it, he realized his chest was sore and painful. His pants were in a slightly better state but still covered in long slices and holes.

Well great… Now I need new clothes.