Irwin's Journey 404 (edited) : Preparing for large guests (Patreon)

Author note: For current readers: I've edited this chapter a lot, changing some of the things, and making it so Irwin is leaving room for what will be his next heartcard. If you don't feel like re-reading it, the short of it is that I've weaved in more of the plague bits, while changing some of the card stuff. I have also cut off the last bit, dealing with Greldo's shadow card because by now this chapter is already 6000 words. Also changed the title to more match the vibe of the chapter. For those worried: There will also be a new chapter at the usual time, in the evening.--For future readers! Make sure you came from ch403 and not 399! There were some edits, and if you used the regular patreon interface, it might be you have just skipped chapters 400, 401, 402 and 403. In this case, click this link to get to ch 400 and continue from there. If you are reading from the library mode this issue will not arise.-----CHAPTER 404: Preparing for large guests-----"So… you mean you need to get your third soulcard, or we can't bring more?" Greldo asked.

Irwin nodded, rubbing his head, trying to get rid of the headache. He glanced around the small pocket of calm, a section of the portal gallery that had remained intact within the storm. All of the ships that had been in his soulscape were now blissfully hovering there, most on the Bigbelly and the three other giant merchant vessels that now joined their fleet of close to thirty ships. 

It was almost a year since they had left Suderfuix, and in the last few months, their journey had started slowing down.

I can't believe how easy the first half of the journey was, he thought, looking around the ships. Each was covered or filled with a cloud of tiny soulforce signatures, representing a person.

Irwin was glad he didn't have to be there on ships meant to hold only a tenth of the people now crowding them. No, he was glad that he, Greldo, and Ambraz were alone on The Nocturna, though he felt a little bad for the others. The rest of his crew and friends were keeping the people on the ships in line.

"It's a miracle you can bring all of these people at all," Ambraz rumbled. "I'm starting to wonder just what the central branches have been withholding from us. There's no way they don't know that stacking certain soulforce sensitivity cards atop cards that expand your soulforce will increase a soulscape's stability to this point."

"Yeah, they probably know," Irwin agreed. "It's why all those card types are always unavailable, picked by nobles and rich merchant families to be moved to their central branch worlds. We should thank Brazardian and some of the others who helped us when we see them again."

If we see them again, he thought.

He kept looking around the crowded fleet, still having a hard time believing it was now home to close to ten thousand Yuurindi and almost double that many survivors, most of whom were malnourished messes. He knew he'd have to move them all back into his soulscape soon, and the mere thought of the headache that would bring him made him shudder.

Perhaps I should have left some of them, he thought, knowing full well he wouldn't have. 

Not yet, at least. As long as he could hold them in his soulscape and move them from partially intact section to partially intact section, he would. He wouldn't allow them to die for nothing if he could help it. Just the images of the harbors devoid of life, littered with corpses, and crawling with Addled would haunt him for a long time. Men, women… children.

The images of the tiny bodies especially made him clench his hands, thinking of his own children.

We can't bring any of them with us unless we find a cure or the cause, a stubborn part of him thought.

I know, Irwin thought before realizing he was starting to talk to himself.

"Not a good sign," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He rubbed his head as his mind moved over the last few months.

After that first desolate harbor, they had found many more as they moved deeper into the area between the central branches and the Langost branch's outer leaves. The harbors and worlds became smaller and less populated, even if they ignored the decimation of the plague.

Still, they had begun finding more and more Yuurindi. The hounded, gene-culled people, had spread out away from the center, and although many couldn't, enough, had managed to get up to an Emerald rank.

The other thing they found as they moved further out were ever more worlds decimated by the Soulforce Devouring Plague, or Soulplague, as people had begun calling it. 

Why the plague seemed to have hit harder in the less populated area was something Irwin didn't understand yet, but they had learned some things.

Those that had survived all had, at a minimum, an emerald-rank heartcard. Sadly, those could still carry the disease and merely died slower than the others. Only those with an emerald soulcard or ruby-rank heartcard or above were totally immune.

As soon as they had learned this, Undiri had contacted as many of her offspring as she could, telling them to spread the news. It had tired the elderly woman out immensely, however, and except for the news that the plague was spreading everywhere, she had been unable to stay in contact longer than a few moments. Still, those moments had been enough to learn some other worlds had picked up on it on their own.

It had caused a big change in mentality in those worlds.

As the realization had set in that only high-rank cards kept people alive, many had stopped caring for future growth and began slotting what they could find. Sadly, with barely any cardsmiths still around in these outskirts, even those lucky enough to find a compatible emerald-ranked or above card hadn't been able to find a smith to reforge their handcards to a heartcard.

Sadly, most of the worlds they came across hadn't learned this until it was too late, leaving a few survivors amongst the graves of family and friends. Although some wanted to stay, many begged to be taken away to any place that wasn't the graveyard their harbors had become.

The last thing they had learned was that every affected world's exit portal had closed. Not most. Not a lot. But every. Single. One.

It was too much of a coincidence, but they were unable to unearth why, and Undiri's tiresome attempts to find one of her offspring that new had yet to bear fruit.

Irwin was snapped out of his hazy, headache-induced thoughts when Greldo spoke up.

"We could go scouting for an unopened world and just bring them there?" his friend said. "We can't bring them with us either way, and you are almost at your max. We aren't even back yet, and we will find more if we continue… We barely reached this section-" he waved around them.

Irwin knew that Greldo wasn't just talking about the survivors they had found but also the Yuurindi and he sighed.

"We need to figure out why some worlds aren't infected and others are," he said. "Even if we can find a rank-three world, which I highly doubt, we can't just leave them there."

Greldo took a deep breath, then exhaled explosively. "Still no idea what is causing it?"

Irwin glanced at one of the smaller ships hovering at the back of the group. The soulforce of those on it was odd. It wobbled and resonated, sometimes speeding up as if trying to spin up to an explosion. Only a handful of stable soulforce resonances were on that ship, moving among the few hundred infected people who were slowly getting sicker.

They had brought them along, and the handful of people they had found with knowledge about carded diseases, plagues, and curses were searching for a way to stop it. So far, they had found nothing.

Irwin knew he'd have to head back there soon to reforge ruby-rank heartcards for those who would die otherwise. As he thought of that, he felt his giantself flip through another stack of cards. The sole benefit of moving among the desolate harbors had been that they had started finding large amounts of cards. Bad ones, mostly, with either useless or close to useless abilities, but that didn't matter for most people. Not anymore.

"Irwin?"

Irwin shook his head, recalling the question Greldo had asked.

"No, we didn't learn anything more. It is a carded plague, created by an emerald rank soulcarded or a soulskilled of equal power. Having an emerald-rank heartcard is enough to survive for a lot longer, though most of those are still infected and carry the disease to others," Irwin said, slowly summing up what they knew. "Those that are infected are highly contagious, though the details on how they spread the plague are scarce. The best we have found is that something in their cards seems to be causing the ambient soulforce to propagate the plague to all others within a few dozen feet. Having a ruby-rank heartcard or above makes you immune, just like an emerald-rank soulcard. Hancards, no matter how high, offer no protection."

"Which is why we have been reforging heartcards for the Yuurindi," Ambraz grunted. "The problem is, not all of them can hold even emerald-ranked heartcards."

"And if they are infected and too weak, they die," Greldo grunted. "Because of that dissonance thing you told me about."

"Yeah," Irwin said, slowly feeling his headache abate. "Also, while in my soulscape, the disease seems to be dormant. I can feel it in the people that have it, but there's nothing more that I can do.

Irwin shivered as he recalled the first time he'd brought an infected person into his soulscape. He'd not even realized until they appeared, and he felt something horribly wrong with their soulforce. His first instinct had been to eject them, but then he'd sensed how his own soulforce had wrapped around the infected. It had compressed them, and he'd instinctively known that whatever the plague was, it wasn't nearly powerful enough to harm him- no matter how many infected he brought inside his soulscape. A good thing, as by now, there were hundreds.

Thinking about his soulscape, he focused on it. It was already starting to recover from having moved around dozens of ships and tens of thousands of people. Not that he could move again just yet. It would probably take a day for him to fully recover this time, at which point they could move to another safe pocket that Greldo had scouted.

Irwin closed his eyes and let his full attention slip to his otherself, who was hovering above his soullake, softly playing his soulstrum guitar to soothe himself and his soulscape. 

Five percent more, he thought, looking at his nearly-full soullake. He'd been creating heartcards nonstop, but that still didn't explain the speed at which it was filling. 

He let his minder for a while before nodding.

"I think you are right," he said.

He sensed Ambraz jump into his soulscape, joining him above the lake, and he looked at his bonded friend.

"It's the people in my soulscape. Somehow, having them there is filling my soullake."

"I know," Ambraz said, hovering beside him. "And it's also causing your soulscape to expand. It's as if you are training it, forcing it to grow."

Irwin knew what he meant as he let his focus wander to the distant borders of his soulscape. The barrier there was slowly recovering, cracks healing, the thick fog-like cover returning to block the area beyond. Even now, it was expanding, but only slowly. It was his natural growth, that which he gained due to his titan's heartcard. As soon as the people returned, it would accelerate. 

"The problem, if you can even call it that, is that your soullake is increasing too. This means that your next soulcard will require even more soulforce," the Ganvil said. "Then again, it also means you get more powerful."

Irwin glanced down at the distant edges of his soullake. They were rocky, crumbling, and jagged, with a mass of dry sand in certain areas that sloped down into the lake as if trying to form beaches. The dark sand had begun accruing from both the cracked edges of the lake's edge itself and from being blown in from the enormous volcanic mountain range that dominated one side of his soulscape.

"I wonder what will happen when my soullake is filled," he said before turning and flying to his giant-sized house. It was still on the edge of the lake near the foothills that led into the volcanic mountains. About a mile to the side was the small stone village he and Ambraz had made for the survivors.

Well, I can hardly call it small anymore, he thought, letting his gaze drift over the hundreds of two and three-story buildings. Filled with simple quarters, each had a small room at the bottom that stored rations.

Rations. Another thing they had almost too much of by now. As little food as some worlds had, they had found a few harbors on farming worlds that had not been able to offload their stocks for years. These worlds, by themselves, wouldn't have been able to feed all of the dead they had come across... but it was plenty for those Irwin had brought. He absently scanned the enormous amount of food stocked in the town's central building. Its presence was nothing compared to the ships and the people, so he left it there during these quiet moments.

"Let's go back to work," Ambraz said softly.

Irwin sighed, realizing he was hovering above the town, looking around.

"Yeah," he said, turning around and rushing to his own house.

A short while later, he sat down at his table, staring at the three spread-out sets of cards. 

"So… what do I do?" he muttered, staring at the sets of cards on the table.

It was the question they had been talking about, arguing over for months now, but their thinking time was quickly running out.

"Whatever we do, I need more stability," he said, pointing at one of the stacks. "We could double down on my soulscape size..."

Ambraz didn't answer, and Irwin hummed as he examined the cards, all of which were only around Topaz and needed more work before he could actually use them. There were four, each among the most expensive and rare cards that he had remaining. Two would increase his soulscape's size over time, while two, which, when combined, would allow him to push his soulscape slightly into the real world, creating some sort of aura around him. They meshed well, but there was something about them...

It would leave two more cards, one of which would need to be the core of his fourth heartcard, as none of these four was good enough for that task.

"Or go for more utility and focus," he continued, tapping the second group of cards. Those would give him a combination of three cards to combine steam and Pyroflux together with soulforce, letting him create an ever larger area of steam. If he could find cards that let him condense that steam, he could use it as a control option on the battlefield… and the fact that he'd get Pyroflux in his soulscape would be a happy addition. Many of those in the town had fire-typed cards by now, either those he reforged or those they had managed to barter from others. Having some Pyroflux rivers would allow them something to do. The problem was that choosing his next heartcard based on that just felt... wrong.

"No. Besides, I'd need to find three more cards," he muttered, tapping the group and causing them to disappear.

He focused on the smallest stack, one with only two cards. It was a more recent idea that he had come up with two weeks ago, one focused on defense. One card had the image of a shield, while the other showed six small blades.

"I still think this is a good direction," he said, rubbing his chin. It will give me another summon… a shield to combine with my existing cards so I can grow it while adding more clone-like cards, in this case, to create a large number of shields."

It was an idea born from his thoughts on the upcoming war. He'd been discussing it with Greldo and Ambraz, wondering what he would do if he had to fight. Something he knew was likely because he was one of the strongest warriors they had. What if he wasn't up against a single powerful adversary but an army? Or many ships?"

Ambraz had been quietly listening and now flitted to the table, landing with a solid thud. Irwin knew his friend was as conflicted as he was and didn't fully approve of any of the ideas.

"You could also go for another eyebeam attack and let it be powered by your ridiculous soulforce," he said. "Sometimes offense is the best defense."

Irwin nodded, leaning back in the chair. It wasn't the first time Ambraz had offered the idea.

"Yes, but I already have offense, don't I? My hammer, multiple types of fire and flame, steam, and I can use my soulstrum guitar to blow up large groups of enemies. It's my defense that is lacking. Not my personal defense, but what if I have to help an army? My friends?"

"It's possible you don't have to fight," Ambraz said. "Remember that you can reforge cards for others, creating powerful warriors like that."

Another thing they had discussed before, and Irwin held back a weary sigh. "Yes, but without a way to rapidly fill up their soullakes, they will be limited to a single high-rank heartcard or multiple lower ones," he said. 

"Which is why there's another option," Ambraz said, flying to where a single card lay on the table.

And here we go again, Irwin thought, rubbing his head as he almost glared at the card Ambraz landed next to.

It had been among those he'd gained over the last few months. Initially, it looked like just another useless utility card. That was until Ambraz had examined it and found it had a very interesting ability.

"Use this as the core and create a heartcard to fill the soullakes of others with my own soulforce," he said, knowing what Ambraz was suggesting.

"It's similar to how we create new Ganvils," Ambraz said, sounding excited. "At some point, our own growth takes so long. Using our purified soulforce to create more young Ganvils is a more useful way to spend it. With how fast you generate soulforce, you could fill a regular emerald-ranked soullake in a few weeks, maybe two months."

Irwin sighed, knowing they were going to have another long discussion.

He split his focus back into two parts, one part to continue his discussion with Ambraz and the other to talk to Greldo.

As he looked up, he saw his friend leaning on the railing, staring into the darkness. His eyes were narrowed, his lips thin.

"How many this time?" Irwin asked, unable to keep the sadness from his voice.

Greldo blinked, then grimaced. "Forty. They are fighting with twice as many Oculithar young. They might win, but it will be close…"

Irwin frowned, looking in the direction Greldo was looking. They had come across other Chaos Whales before, most in groups and, in many cases, either being chased or fighting Oculithar. But forty? That was by far the largest group.

"How far from where we are?" he asked.

"I could get us there in a day… but it's not en route."

Irwin crossed his arms. Besides the increase in worlds troubled by the Soulplague, the number of Chaos Whales moving around had been increasing. Could there be a reason behind all of it? The invasion, the plague, the increasing numbers of beings that were almost thought mythical mere years ago, and the great many closed exit portals. Was it all the Guidar's doing? Or something else...

"What do you think?" Greldo asked, looking up.

"Even if we go there, what will we do against close to a hundred Oculithar?" Irwin asked.

"I don't know," Greldo muttered. "But it's such a large group..."

Irwin nodded, wondering what Zan would have said if she were here. She loved the calm and gentle giants more than any of his other children.

Is there really nothing we can do?" he thought, feeling another weight slowly lower itself on his shoulders.

As he searched for a solution while simultaneously talking about his new heartcard with Ambraz, he felt an idea form. It was lingering at the edges of his awareness, not yet crystallized.

"Any Chaos Whale babies?" he asked absently as he tried to focus on the idea that was forming.

Greldo grimaced and shook his head. "Ten, in the middle of the group."

Irwin looked up, pulled from his pondering. "Dammit," he hissed, shaking his head. 

"We could go there and try to assist?" Greldo asked hopefully.

Irwin didn't respond, looking around the surrounding fleet. He and Greldo could set out and try to help the Chaos Whales, using Greldo's ability to move through the shadowrealm and his fire to distract the Oculithar. But he couldn't bring everyone along, which meant leaving them here. What would happen if one of the larger Oculithar showed up? Or if he and Greldo got lost or stuck?

Dammit…

Irwin hated his current situation, having to weigh both his own safety, that of over twenty thousand people on their fleet, and the lives of such a large number of Chaos Whales, including babies.

As his frustration mounted, he clenched his fists, growling deeply. He didn't notice a tiny fluctuation in his heartcard as his fists squeaked from the force of his clench.

When will it ever be enough?

Although he was stronger than he'd ever been and would continue to become stronger, how would he ever be able to deal with situations like these? If he had more power, he could go there and end those Oculithar, bring everyone along without worry. Now? He already knew it was going to be impossible. He'd have to risk going with only Greldo. Besides, what use was it? Even if he could kill the smaller Ocuilthar, then what? Bring the Chaos Whales with them? That would draw larger Oculithar, and he didn't need his ancestral memories telling him what that would result in. They would have to flee, meaning the Chaos Whales would still die.

If only he could-

He froze, staring in the distance without seeing anything as the beginning of the idea he'd felt crystalized in his mind.

That could work!

He focused on Ambraz, and the other part of him told Gredo everything was fine and to wait for a minute.

"-besides, Kid. If your soulscape size increases, it will help our smithing. We will be able to create more powerful cards, and-" Ambraz said.

"You are right, and we should do it now," Irwin said, his giant self standing upright. "We need to fill my lake and slot atleast these two," he continued, pointing at the two best increase cards they had.

"I know I'm… wait, what?" Ambraz spluttered, landing on the table in surprise.

"We both agree that my soullake is filling due to the presence of people, right?" Irwin said, starting to pace through the room as he began taking the ideas they had spent months on and combining them. Finally, things started making sense!

"Yes…?" Ambraz muttered, sounding confused.

"And this is either because they are generating soulforce or because it's forcefully expanding my soulscape and thus causing this?" Irwin said.

"Kid, we just discussed this. Yes, that's the most likely scenario," Ambraz said, sounding annoyed. "What happened, that-"

"Imagine what would happen if I bring a Chaos Whale in here," Irwin said, rubbing his hands as he gazed at the cards and slowly began seeing how they could fit together.

Ambraz was quiet for a bit, then sighed. "There's no way. The amount of soulforce those possess is the same as hundreds of thousands of people. Maybe more! Even if they only generate a fraction of that consistently, it would be-"

"I know, but what about the babies?" Irwin said. "After my heartcard finishes."

“The… well… I…” Ambraz's voice faded as he began humming. "It would depend on how much more stable your soulscape becomes when you form your soulcard and what handcards you take after. But-"

"Coal found a battle between a large pod of Chaos Whales and even more Oculithar. They have ten or so babies," Irwin said. "If we follow our first plan and focus on my soulscape, slotting those two cards, perhaps even the third, we should be able to hold some of them and move them to safety. Besides, as they are in here, my soullake would start filling really fast."

"Yes… or your soulscape explodes," Ambraz muttered. "Ten? That would generate soulforce equal to half of that of an adult… probably. Maybe. I mean… It might work."

"If it's too many, we bring half," Irwin said, waving away Ambraz's uncertainty. "They are going to lose and die, if not now, then when the larger Oculithar find them."

"Aren't you forgetting something? To do as you suggest and use the pressure to fill your soullake, you would need a new heartcard," Ambraz said. "Besides, your soullake might be almost full, but five percent for you is as much as an entire soullake for most others!"

Irwin nodded. "I know, but what if we reforge one of the Yuurindi's a heartcard in here?" he said, ignoring the other part for now.

"Do what? Wait. In here?" Ambraz grunted, flying up and around the room as if mimicking Irwin's passing. "That might help, but one would never be enough. You would still need to do multiple, and how many would depend on the soulforce you gain. Besides, the only heartcard we ever formed here was Brecka's. And I don't think I need to remind you what that caused?"

"That was because her heartcard was broken, and we had to fix it," Irwin said. "In the case of the Yuurindi, besides them being far weaker, we won't need to fill the gaps. There's no way they will become like her!"

Ambraz hesitated before snorting. "Fine. You might be right about that, but that leaves a new heartcard. How do you suppose we solve that?"

Irwin waved him off as he began summoning cards to the table. "I have an idea, but even if we don't manage, the soulforce will merely be wasted, right? We can always move those chaos whales back in."

"Kid, I'm not sure…

Irwin didn't listen as he looked at the stacks and stacks of cards appearing from the library, only to stop. He focused on his otherself, who turned to Greldo.

"I'll be right back!"

Before Greldo could say anything, his smaller self appeared on the bookshelf library within his soulscape, and cards began appearing on the table before him.

"Ambraz, help me find a card that would work as the core of a heartcard," Irwin said, summoning the shield card and the clone one. What if he just merged his first and second ideas? All he'd need would be a core card.

"Irwin, calm down. Creating a heartcard is important. You know this! Dammit, brat, what is going on? Is your heartcard acting up?" Ambraz shouted, a wave of worry rippling through their connection. 

Irwin stopped moving, his hand frozen above the cards at Ambraz's words. A part of him wanted to wave away the Ganvil's worry, but he shoved it away. What was going on? He frowned, focusing on his heartcard, and noticed it was spinning and resonating with incredible intensity.

As soon as he noticed it, it slowed, but with it came a desire to help the chaos whales.

How did I miss this? he thought.

"It is…" he muttered, sitting down and staring at the cards before him. As his emotions calmed, he took some deep, calming breaths with both his bodies. "Dammit."

"It's fine, Kid," Ambraz said. "It's better than the anger attacks."

Irwin didn't react, as with his returned calm, he began pondering what he'd been planning. Was it really such a bad idea? No, the first part was definitely good and about time. He needed to finish his heartcard, and not just to potentially help the Chaos Whales. But creating a new heartcard this fast. Should he…?

He hummed as he gathered the six cards he had planned to use and splayed them out before him. One would have to go because there wasn't a single truly good core card. Not one that he could get to Ammolite… 

"Let's, for a moment, assume we make a heartcard in a single go," he said slowly, waving his hand as he felt Ambraz's worry grow again. "Don't worry, I'm calm. Just think with me. We would take these two cards as the active element," he said, pointing at the shields and cloning cards. "I'm already going to, but as it will fill in a gap I need, and we could potentially use it on my hammer and my guitar. And we add these three-" 

He moved one of the cards that would grow his soulscape over time away, leaving only one of those and the two that would allow him to project part of his soulscape into the real world.

"- and create a heartcard that will focus on defense based on soulforce and projecting my soulscape?"

Ambraz was quiet for a bit, then sniffed. "No. If you want to do this, don't use the two that will let you project your domain. Those would just make the resulting heartcard too complex, especially if we make it right after finishing the current one. Besides, those would be far better than complementing a core card specifically for that goal. Take the other two if you want, but I think… wait a moment."

Irwin waited quietly, both of his selves watching as Ambraz hovered above the table, cards levitating around as stacks were rifled through with the use of the Ganvil's new ability. Finally, four cards appeared before Irwin. 

"Remember the idea we shelved two months ago? I think it would fit with what you are thinking about," Ambraz said while Irwin scrutinized the four images. 

He recalled three of them, as they had discussed them previously. The only new one was the left one. The image showed a metallic gauntlet wreathed in a flame that resonated instantly with his first and second soulcard and his heartcard. The others were a wave or ripple, and he felt some resonance from his second soulcard. The third was one of the growth cards he'd collected, one that would allow a short burst of increased size based on his soulforce. The final, fourth card, an incredibly simple body-improvement card that, from what he could tell and recall, just increased his constitution and strength.

Irwin frowned. Back then, they had planned to weave three of these cards that would increase his size and sound-based movement and attacks. What was Ambraz planning with only three of them, and how did the gauntlets fit in? 

He was about to ask when Ambraz started talking.

"I know you are probably wondering about these cards, but if you want to base your third card around defense, I think this will work very well."

"How?" Irwin asked, becoming curious about what Ambraz was planning. If he had added the shield and doubling card, he could have seen some combination, but that still left one thing. Which one would be the core card?

"Let me explain," Ambraz said, sounding smug. "The shield card will resonate with your hammer and soulstrum guitar. The utility doubling card will resonate with your soul clone. The wave one will resonate with your soundcards as it will allow you to manipulate sound in an area around you. Now, before you ask, that one is mostly because it will help during the formation of the heartcard. I'm not sure we actually want most of that card, except for the boost it will give what you have. Now, about that growth card: before you complain that it only lasts ten minutes and has a long recharge… Yes, this is true. But did you know that it will also increase the size of all your other abilities? For your hammer, that doesn't really matter, but those shields you want? You could make them massive to guard more people.

Irwin whistled, picking up the card in question and nodding. That would be very useful, even if only as a final-resort card in a punch.

"Now, you should remember that silhouette card. It's a body improvement card that will mesh the others together like glue, improving the cohesion of the heartcard."

Irwin nodded along with the Ganvil, his eyes drawn to the gauntlet card as he started understanding the direction Ambraz wanted to go.

"And you want me to craft that up," he said, pointing at the card. "It's so closely affiliated with my existing cards that it's almost a guaranteed hundred percent diamond card."

"Yes, but you need to make it into an Ammolite card," Ambraz said.

Irwin's eyes widened, and he looked at Ambraz. "That's-"

"Impossible? No. Not with this one. We will need to sideways reforge it so the metal becomes Firesteel, then keep it there. After that, I'm going to spend some of my gathered purified soulforce and help you force it to Ammolite. It might not be one hundred percent, but it doesn't have to be. If we add the other five cards at one hundred percent ruby or diamond, we can remove any impurities, and the resulting heartcard will be a masterpiece!"

As he spoke, Ambraz became ever more excited, and Irwin was nodding along.

"Now, this does leave a problem," Ambraz said, his excitement dying down as fast as it had come. "You can try to fill your soullake first, which will take time. Time those Chaos Whales might not have. Worse, if you want to improve your odds, you would need to slot at least some of these cards, even if you don't complete the heartcard. And that means reforging them, which also costs time…"

Irwin grimaced. "And we don't even know if the stability will be enough to let me move the Chaos Whales."

"About that," Ambraz said as one of the cards moved forward. "Of all these cards, I would suggest you definitely slot this one as soon as your next soulcard forms."

Irwin looked at the growth card with the short duration. "Why?"

"You only need to get those Chaos Whales to safety, right? Well, using that will, for the duration, exponentially stabilize your entire soulscape, allowing you a larger increase than any of the other cards would. Is it temporary? Yes. But combine this with your soundwave movement, which should also be far stronger while using that growth ability, and you can just race away."

Irwin felt a grin form on his face. "The ability works for what ten minutes now? If we turn it into a diamond rank card, it should be an hour, and if we-"

"No, no," Ambraz interrupted him. "You don't want that. Focus on the boost, not the duration. You will need every bit of soulforce increase and stability you can get, and that means ignoring the duration and going for the power. Besides, you have plenty of long-duration abilities. It is about time you gain something that will allow you to punch above your weight."

Irwin blinked at the odd phrasing. Perhaps it was a Ganvil thing?

"Besides, the duration will increase when it becomes a heartcard and even more when it becomes a soulcard," Ambraz continued. "This one is a win-win in any case, especially combined with the shield and doubling card."

Irwin whistled, shaking his head. "Focusing only on power during reforging would make it a big increase."

"Exactly. Short duration, massive boost."

Irwin thought about it for a bit, and he began liking the plan more and more- especially as he would be left with three slots, just in case.

"That means we need to try something else first," he said, taking a deep breath.

"Which is?" Ambraz asked, sounding curious.

"Bring all of the people back into my soulscape and ask them to use all their abilities. It will cause them to generate far more dissonance, and if this is what is increasing my soulscape, we will know. It might also speed up the filling of my soullake."

Ambraz fell quiet, then whistled, causing him to sound like a metal flute. 

"It is… a good idea. Though you better be ready to boot them out if they destabilize your soulscape," Ambraz agreed.

"Alright, let's hurry," Irwin said. "If the pressure way fails, I'll need to start reforging heartcards."

Even if not for this group of Chaos Whales, then at least for the next.