Irwin looked at the ruby card, then back at the page that Ambraz had filled with its details.

Card: Kinetic Firestarter

Type: Kinetic, Fire, Ruby, Reforged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: -

The owner of this card gains the ability to generate large gouts of fire from merely moving.

Passive: Increased constitution and strength

Passive: Moving around will generate kinetic energy, which is stored within the user

Active: Turns kinetic energy into fire that surrounds the wielder

"Slotting this wouldn't be bad in any situation," Ambraz grunted. "It says kinetic energy, not just the energy generated by this card. That means together with your soulcard, you will be able to generate insane amounts of fire- even faster than you already could. Better, your soulcard will make it so your body has zero negative effects from it."

Irwin nodded, his eyes drifting to the passive, which increased his constitution and strength.

As he stared at the words, his cursed titan card hummed with joy, and he blinked in surprise. Why was the card reacting? And how? With all that was going on, he was getting a bit worried every time the cursed card acted up. He stared at the two attributes and wondered what was happening when another thought came to him.

He'd never really investigated the fact that almost all of his cards increased those two attributes in some form. Would that cause any problems? His cursed card seemed content, which wasn't very reassuring.

Irwin's frown deepened as he tried to recall what he had learned at the academy about how attributes were added together. Something about multiplication? He tried recalling the lesson, but it had been a long time ago and was merely a tiny part of a larger lesson.

"How do all those passives that increase strength stack?" he asked.

"I… What?" Ambraz asked, sounding confused.

"I'm mostly getting strength and constitution from my cards…" Irwin said, staring at the card. "I remember teacher Christal saying that it wasn't a bad thing, but I don't recall what she said. Something about multiplication?"

"Multiplicative," Ambraz snapped before snorting. "Not sure why you only now thought about this, but fine. It just means that if you get more strength, you get stronger, which you have noticed. The thing is that it's all based on your natural strength, though I guess to you, that doesn't matter much. It also isn't truly multiplicative, but additive scaling with multiplicative steps."

Irwin tried to follow Ambraz, but he felt lost, especially by the last step.

"Ugh, don't look that confused! Just think of it like this: each time you get an increase in strength, it gets added to your base strength- which, in your case, is high. It's fine getting more, though I guess it's not a bad idea to get some more agility or movement speed."

Irwin shook his head as he recalled his original scrawny, weak self.

"That makes no sense," he said, looking at his arm and wondering why he'd never thought about this before. "I was the weakest person I've ever known!"

"Yes, well, that was when you were just human, wasn't it?" Ambraz said.

"I- what?" Irwin asked.

"You do know you aren't entirely human anymore… right?" Ambraz asked. "Your first soulcard said it imbued you with the power of a Firesteel Elemental. Those things are known for their physical strength."

"I know that," Irwin asked as he recalled the moment. "Is that why I became so much more powerful when I got that soulcard?"

"Yes, it changed how the cards influenced you. It also means that you get a bigger improvement from strength and constitution increases compared to someone like Greldo. Now, how come you are thinking about this now?" Ambraz asked, sounding curious. "We were just busy with something pretty important… Your next card? Remember?"

Irwin looked at the card, then at the details.

"That cursed card seems to… approve when I look at the increase in strength," he said, looking at it again and sensing the same odd resonance.

"That shouldn't happen," Ambraz said as he flew from his shoulder. "Let me sit on it!"

Irwin blinked, then held up his hand, letting Ambraz sit on the back, right atop the card.

"Okay, look at that line again."

Irwin did as asked, and when Ambraz didn't react, he looked away and back a few times.

As a minute passed, he stopped.

"Ambraz?"

"Yes, yes. I'm trying to figure out how this is working… It's as if the card detects the patterns your mind creates when reading those lines and resonates with them. It's really weird. Almost as if… Wait! Why didn't I think of this before?! Try and think of something that deals with strength, like lifting a boulder or something."

Irwin wanted to ask Ambraz what he thought, then decided he'd tell him in a few moments. Closing his eyes, he pictured himself lifting a massive boulder the size of his house, and immediately, a sense of joy came from the cursed card.

Ambraz sighed.

"I know what the hidden type is. Well, the general type, not which variant," he said, sounding amused. "I also know why this thing is acting up like a little brat."

"What is it?"

"It's one of the Emotive subtypes, which I guess I should have realized before. It's just that, like every other little thing you seem to be picking up, it's rare to the point of barely ever showing up. It's also largely related to cursed cards."

"Emotive types," Irwin muttered. "Let me guess, those are among the rare types I would have learned in later years?"

"Exactly. I'm not exactly sure which one this is, but I'd say it's either Wrathful, Vengeful, or Passionate, but let's hope it's the latter."

"Why? What do those other two do?" Irwin asked.

"Wrathful will feed on angry, hateful emotions and also influence you to be more prone to them. Vengeful acts are almost the same, but they will make you prone to wanting vengeance. If you have no target for your vengeance? Well, you might go and search for something."

Irwin felt his hair stand up as he recalled his recent bouts of fury and anger, to the point of losing himself.

"And the other one?" he asked, praying for some good news.

"Passionate will amplify the most basic of emotions, anger, sadness, and joy," Ambraz said. "Try this: imagine having to lift a mountain because Zan is below it and needs help. Don't add any other people. Just have her locked below debris or something. Then you picture yourself running to her help and lifting the boulders, saving her."

Irwin did as asked, closing his eyes and picturing Zan being crushed by boulders. As soon as he did that, he felt a burning rage start building. He quickly imagined himself breaking through the entire mountain to get to her, ripping the boulders away, and a sense of intense strength flooded him.

Irwin's eyes shot open, and he found himself breathing hard, feeling powerful, and wishing he could do something.

"Okay… well, that doesn't help a lot," Ambraz muttered. "It just added Courageous and Hero Complex."

Irwin shook his head to clear away the odd feeling, noticing the slowly diminishing feeling from the titan card.

"Hero Complex?" he asked.

"A dangerous one," Ambraz said, sighing. "People who get that get stronger when acting all heroic, but they are also prone to searching for situations that allow them to be a hero to the point of suicidal actions."

Irwin frowned, thinking about what he'd just sensed, and he shook his head.

"It wasn't that," he said. "I felt… angry when I pictured Zan, then there was a massive burst of power as I rushed to free her."

"Anger? Strange…" Ambraz hummed. "Well, we will find out which subtype it is with time. Just be very careful with your emotions. If it's passionate or heroic, it's fine. You might become slightly more prone to excessive acts, but it's only until the card becomes part of your next soulcard."

"Wait, so it's temporary?" Irwin asked, feeling relieved.

"Not completely, but as soon as the card joins your other soulcards, its influence on you will weaken. Just be careful for the foreseeable future," Ambraz said.

Irwin nodded as he stared at the card. He was glad they had found out one of the hidden features it had, and perhaps now he didn't have to worry that the card was sentient.

"Alright, let's continue," he said, raising the card.

"Wait, before you do, try and imagine the card making you stronger, better," Ambraz said. "Maybe we can influence that titan card."

Irwin stared at the card, picturing how it would allow him to create a burning fire, large enough to burn through anything in his path. Immediately, a sense of joy came from the cursed card, and he shook his head.

"Let's see what happens," he said.

When he put the card over the empty cardslot, there was no immediate difference. It took a moment before it was yanked inside, stopping halfway. However, right after it stopped, Irwin felt a massive difference. The resonance of his first soulcard linked with the Kinetic Firestarter card, first on the fire type and then the kinetic type. He expected it to end there, but as if there was something else in the cards that resonated, his soulcard continued to join and even alter the smaller card.

It happened so fast that when the cursed card reacted, trying to force the card out -albeit not as forcefully- it was useless. It's pushing felt like a gentle wind, and with a shock, the card sank entirely into Irwin's hand.

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Irwin felt something expand within him, and for a moment, he worried something had gone wrong. Then, what had happened became clear as he sensed the card's active ability. It had somehow connected with his passive ability to generate kinetic energy, feeding on each other.

"Kid? How is it?"

"It looks alright, but there's still something happening."

Irwin raised his hand, watching the lines of the first card wriggle and expand. They curled and looped as they slowly wrapped around the rest of the second cardslot before continuing on to the third.

Damnit, Irwin thought. He'd really hoped things would turn to normal after he slotted a card in the second slot.

Annoyed, he looked at the curling lines continuing. They only stopped when they had wrapped halfway around the third cardslot. As soon as they did, he sensed a resonance that conveyed a begrudging acceptance resonated from the cursed card. Then it resonated, reaching out for its neighboring card, trying to do something.

It was ruthlessly stopped by the resonance from Irwin's soulcard.

Irwin sighed, staring at the third card slot and knowing he was going to have the same trouble again.

"Well, I guess we know what this means," Ambraz grunted. "You are going to need to get at least one more card that has a strong resonance with your two soulcards or something the cursed card will accept."

"That means we can't slot the Chaos Whale heartcard that increases control," Irwin said.

"It's fine. There's no way it can move over to your right hand," Ambraz said. "We will just have to find a card that allows you to shrink and place the control card beside it. Then, when we create the heartcard… we…"

Irwin looked up as Ambraz's voice trailed off.

"Ambraz?"

Ambraz didn't react, and instead, he began flying circles around Irwin, muttering softly to himself.

Irwin sighed and moved to a dry corner of the hull, sitting down with his back against the wood. He knew there would be no use in asking his friend until he was done mulling over whatever he had just realized. Instead, he reviewed what happened while he was reforging.

Greldo had awoken and started chatting with Niszis. His otherself had listened for a while before going outside to practice with Klatzi. Her new card allowed her to generate large amounts of fire by converting her own soulforce, even allowing her to hold a massive amount within her own body. Looking at her, writhing in flames, made Irwin remember the times when his first card's weakness to cold had been a large issue for him. If he'd had this card back then, he would have had such an easier time.

Make Nisziz's first card, which has to be one that allows her to withstand the cold, Irwin thought, pondering about his next steps. It would have to wait till the damage from forcefully filling her soullake had healed. Thinking about that, he wondered if he could use this on Tang. Perhaps, instead of breaking his cards and reforging them, which he wasn't sure he could even do with someone with multiple cards, he could just make him more powerful than he was?

He continued thinking when a sudden snort snapped him out of it.

"Fine! If you want to make it difficult!"

Irwin blinked as he looked up at Ambraz. "What?"

"The solution, kid, keep up!"

"The solution… to what?"

"To the problem of creating your next heartcard!"

Irwin had guessed it was something like that, but he was having a hard time keeping up with Ambraz. Exactly, what problem did Ambraz refer to?

"And this problem is…?" he asked.

Ambraz flew to his knee, landing on it with a thud.

"When we reforge it, your first soulcard won't be able to help like it did this time," Ambraz said. "So, we would have to find a way to merge all those cards, but what do you think that cursed card will do?"

Irwin needed only a moment to catch up this time, and he grimaced. "It won't want to be cut up for just the parts I want."

"Exactly. Nor would it allow another card to be the base from which we make the heartcard," Ambraz said. "The best thing we can hope for is that being with the other cards for a while will cause it to resonate with them and not cause us a headache when we form the card."

Irwin glared at his first card again.

"How do other people deal with cursed cards?" he asked.

"I don't know a lot, but I do know they are either destroyed if they have no redeeming features," Ambraz said. "Or, if they are powerful like this one, they go to powerful families or branches of the Merchant and Smith's guilds. I guess those would have cards that could offset the curse?"

Irwin nodded, leaning back. "Dismarintsia is big, right?"

Ambraz burst out in soft laughter. "Big is an understatement. It's one of the two largest cities in the Langost branch."

"So, that means there will be some of those families and groups you spoke about…"

"Yes, very likely," Ambraz said. "You are thinking about searching for shrinking cards?"

"Yes, or… perhaps we can find one that gives me the resize ability, both shrink and grow," Irwin said. "Because that would probably resonate better with this one." He tapped on the cursed card, resulting in a short resonant ripple.

"They won't sell or trade one of those unless it's for something very good," Ambraz said.

Irwin pulled out the fire tree card he'd made. "Exactly… so perhaps we should go and find some Viridians and show them this one? Perhaps we can find one of Driseog's Greenbark Mission Centers?"

"Oh! That would definitely work," Ambraz agreed excitedly.

Irwin nodded, inspecting the card, which seemed to have had no negative effects from being partially slotted.

"Perhaps we should try and reforge it to diamond," he pondered.

"No. It's a hundred percent ruby card now. If we make it anything lower than a hundred percent, it will be worth less than it is now," Ambraz said. "Even if we don't find what we need in Dismarintsia, we could go to Suiderfuix. It's not too far away, and that's where Driseog and his family are from. I'm sure they would have a diamond-rank smith."

They continued chatting until Greldo asked his otherself to be sent out.

Irwin looked up as his friend appeared beside him.

"So! How good is it?" Greldo asked, his eyes locking onto Irwin's left hand.

Irwin blinked. Because of all the things they had been discussing, he'd actually forgotten about that part. Pushing himself up. He looked down at his friend for a moment and remembered when they had been small, wandering Malorin. He shook his head, laughing softly.

"What?" Greldo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just thought how weird life is," Irwin said. "When we were in Malorin, I wanted nothing but to become bigger so I wouldn't be the smallest and be constantly bullied and looked down on. Now? Now I am searching for a card to stop me from growing any bigger."

Greldo looked at him and grimaced. "Don't worry. We will find a way to keep you fitting in houses," he said.

Irwin snorted as he walked to a blocked exit and shoved the debris aside. He had to duck to get through the opening,

The storm was still raging around the small section of the Portal Gallery, lightning rippling through the dark clouds, while the raging soulforce looked like pockets and streams of bright light in Irwin's enhanced vision.

"So, what does it do?" Greldo asked.

"Go into the shadowrealm," Irwin said. "And let's find out."

Greldo vanished, and Irwin focused on his new card. As soon as he did, he felt a desire to be unleashed from his cursed card, which he ignored. Due to how his Soulcard's kinetic energy worked, he already had a lot of stored energy, and curiously, he fed it into his new card.

An aura of fire roared to life around him, feeding on the kinetic energy as if it were some burnable substance, changing it to…

Irwin's eyes snapped open as he looked around at the swirling flames. They were regular flames, unlike his first soulcard's devouring flame, but there was more. Thin swirls of fiery soulforce danced and flickered throughout the sea of flames that was already threatening to burn the wreckage.

"Ambraz," Irwin shouted as he fed more kinetic energy into his new card and watched as more fiery soulforce-infused flames roared around the wreckage. "I'm generating soulforce!"

Feeling a sudden desire to experiment grow, Irwin began jumping and running around, swinging his arms as he started fully focusing on generating more kinetic energy. His new card seemed to amplify the effect of his first soulcard, the Firesteel Elemental Vaelite Heart, which was constantly generating kinetic energy with each heartbeat and movement. Within moments, his entire body thrummed with kinetic energy, filled to the brim and leaking out into the active ability, causing the fire to roar as it spread outward.

Within moments, fire filled the entire section of the Portal Gallery, hungry flames licking against the inside of the barrier, surging up to the high ceiling. The wood of the ship wreckage began cracking and hissing as the wood dried and then ignited.

Irwin barely noticed any of it, nor the sense of weariness that was coming from his new card. He looked around at the swirling mass of fiery soulforce that was now filling the section of the corridor. Everywhere it touched the barriers, the previously blue barriers began gleaming and glowing with a yellowish light. The fiery soulforce nearby was sucked up, and very slowly, the barrier began expanding outward like a balloon.

With a painful snap, Irwin felt his new card's active ability stop. He was momentarily confused, then realized he'd forgotten just how little a handcard could truly do. Only able to use the soulforce it held inside and not that of his soulscape, it was a miracle it had managed as much as it had.

He looked around, staring at the fire-filled corridor section. The nearby wreckage was burning like wood inside a furnace, with tiny explosions happening as some of the remaining liquid was superheated and exploded into steam. The fiery soulforce was slowly drifting to the barriers, which were still expanding outward very slowly.

"Kid…"

Irwin looked at Ambraz, realizing the Ganvil had been talking to him, but between the crackling, roaring fire, and his own shock, he'd not heard it.

"We can generate fiery soulforce," Irwin said, pointing at a pocket nearby.

"Yes, but that's not the only thing… Didn't you sense what you were doing?"

Irwin shivered at the worry that suffused Ambraz's voice.

"No. What happened?" he said, looking around, then at his hand. He didn't notice anything wrong.

"Using that card caused you to grow…"

Irwin froze mid-turn, looking around for something to measure himself by.

"It's not a lot, maybe another few inches," Ambraz said. "But as soon as you started using that other card, you seemed to become oblivious to anything else while growing constantly."

"Dammit," Irwin snapped, stomping his foot on the ground and ignoring the kinetic energy that surged into him.

"How big am I now?" he asked.

"You are a quarter bigger compared to when the kids left," Ambraz said. "You are now as big as the larger and older Viridians, Onyxians, and Loydin… Not as big as Tang yet, but very close."

Irwin took a deep breath, then exhaled. "So, I can't use any of my new cards without risking growing out of control."

"Well, it's not all bad," Ambraz said. "Your soulscape grew another bit, meaning you are stronger than you were before. Also, it's unlikely that anyone will recognize you like this…"

Irwin sighed, staring at the surrounding fiery soulforce, no longer as happy as he was moments before.

"What about the soulforce?" he asked.

"It's not unheard of," Ambraz said. "Most vegetation and nature-based cards are able to do this, and normally, I'd say it's not very useful. The soulforce is partially ambient and partially chaotic, with a tiny bit of your own resonance left in it… But perhaps in the future, you could use it to fill some Aurorium and attempt to create your own cards."

Although Irwin knew Ambraz was just saying it to make him feel better, it actually worked. Pondering the future, where he might be able to unleash the full might of the titan card without having to worry about growing to a giant and using the increased power to generate massive amounts of soulforce, he sighed and nodded.

"Well, let's make sure we find some card that allows me to shrink back down," he said. "I'm not sure how Scintilla would react if I returned as tall as a tower."

"We have plenty of time before then," Ambraz said.

Irwin felt a tiny stab at that, recalling how long it might be before he could return to see his family and loved ones. Shoving the sensation away, he walked to the edge of the rocky floor of the Portal Gallery section. There was a gap of almost ten feet between it and the side, and it was still slowly growing.

"Did you know the corridor could grow like this?" he asked.

"I didn't know it worked like this, but it's common knowledge that the portal gallery section can grow. Usually, it happens when powerful portals are opened," Ambraz said.

Irwin looked around. "Then why do we sometimes find areas without portals that are really huge?" he muttered, thinking about the mountain range they had left and the area around Eluathar.

"No idea, and I don't think anybody does either," Ambraz said. "Maybe there were very powerful portal worlds there back in the ancient times of the Galadin?"

Irwin shrugged. "Might be. Well, I'm going to ask if Nisziz and Kratzi want to come out now that it's still hot. After that, we will need to continue our trip."

"Might want to hurry because there's probably going to be little air left here soon," Ambraz said.

Irwin let out a weary sigh as he realized that might be a problem.

A few hours later, the fire went out as Irwin alone stood in the center, holding his breath, Greldo popped beside him, pulling him into the Shadowrealm. As soon as he appeared in the shadowrealm, Irwin sensed his need to breathe vanish, something he'd never really noticed or thought about before.

The shadowy world swirled past as Greldo shot out of the Portal Gallery section, now burned barren and with no air left.

I hope nobody goes there and suffocates, Irwin thought before turning his attention back in the direction they were heading.

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