Irwin's Journey 427: The first 'Am progeny

He'd been with his friend for decades now, no more apart than short stints. The idea that Greldo would be out alone somehow bothered him. Not that he would really be alone. Dahlia had immediately said that if Greldo were leaving, she'd be leaving with him. Going with her would be Juul'rish and, at a minimum, the one healer.

Irwin had no idea who that would be. Jolnir and Sira were still hard at work, removing all of the Oculithar spores, and likely would continue for a few weeks. Besides, they clearly didn't want to be separated…

Having a shadow and blood person would be best, he pondered, raising his hand and summoning a trio of cards he'd selected from his stack. All three were oddities, with one dealing with shadow but somehow allowing it to be used almost like a liquid and the other two being blood and healing-related. If they could find a trustworthy person who would be willing to slot the cards, become a shadow and blood healer, and go with Greldo on a trip that might take years.

Years… 

Irwin sighed again.

"Could you stop that?" Ambraz snapped. "I'm having enough issues with those bratty girls to listen to you sigh all the time!"

Irwin snorted as he looked at his friend, who had been grumbling to himself just as long.

"I'm thinking about what Daubutim said," he said. "How Greldo might be leaving, and that he wants to hurry up with dividing the offspring communication cards."

He didn't add that he'd listened in but not joined the loud conversation between the others about whether they should connect Greeny to the other Central Registrar. The end result was that both Daubutim, Lysbeth, and Bron disagreed, and thus, it would not be done for now.

Ambraz hummed thoughtfully, then flew up and began zipping around Irwin's head.

"I was thinking about that," he said before landing on Irwin's shoulder. "We still have enough energy to duplicate the card one more time. I think we should do that and give one to Dahlia."

"What? Why?" Irwin asked, slightly confused. 

"To Bring to Brazardian," Ambraz said.

Irwin's eyebrows shot up. "Why?"

"Multiple reasons. For one, he might have another template hidden away to duplicate them," Ambraz said. "Second, I've been wondering about something. I get my purified soulforce largely from you, and the resonance of our soulforces is close to identical. So, when I create rank zeros, do those count as your offspring? I mean, I can add more of your soulforce during the process."

Irwin's mouth fell open. 

Was Ambraz seriously suggesting that all those bratty, silver, rank-zero Ganvils who were annoying the hell out of Ambraz, Hou'dor, and Juul'rish were his children? What did that mean?

"Kid, stop looking like someone kicked you in the head," Ambraz snapped. "Focus on the important thing. If it works like this, Brazardian could find one of the rank fives that still has a living smith and make him the main controller of the creation process of the next large batch of rank-zero Ganvils. It would allow that smith to speak with all of those rank-zero Ganvils."

Irwin leaned back in stunned surprise. "Doesn't that mean we could do the same?" he said.

"If it works, we could. But we already discussed this. Your current soulcards are already highly complex, and there's no overlap between those cards and what you have," Ambraz said.

"Why don't we try to do this here?" Irwin asked.

"Because we have too few adult Ganvils here," Ambraz said patiently. "If this works, we would need to spend all my purified soulforce over a decade to create the same amount of rank zero Ganvils that Brazardian could make in a week. Which, now that I think about it, is still insane. The amount of purified soulforce I'm gaining from our work is just ridiculous."

Ambraz's lips quirked up. "Besides this, we only have a very limited number of cards. Experimenting and failing would be a monumental waste. Until we find time to head back for more template cards, if any are even ready, we are limited to how many times we can try this. Brazardian, even if he doesn't have another template card, has far more knowledge and resources to experiment with this. Finally, having Greldo see Brazardian and hand him both a gift and the knowledge that we are doing fine will probably please that old rustbucket. He will hopefully give him more cards to bring to us."

Irwin quietly thought about what Ambraz had said but couldn't stop his thoughts from moving to what Ambraz had just told him. Were all future Ganvils that Ambraz made going to be his children? He'd never thought about it like that.

"Besides this, we should ask Greldo to check on that world with the Jellyfish Islands and see if he can get another template card," Ambraz continued. "If he goes to Granvox first, then there, and returns along Granvox, Brazardian might have succeeded, and he can take some rank zeros with him."

Irwin leaned back, and as the shock faded, an idea began to form.

"Remember what Greldo suggested…? If we find a card to give him the ability to create shadowclones like Coal can, he could potentially use the communication card to talk with them?"

Ambraz hummed softly when he suddenly shot up and away like an angry bee.

"We are being idiots! Who slotted the other cards?"

Irwin blinked. "Elliara slotted one, but she isn't ready to have children yet. Endil…”

His eyes widened as he realized what Ambraz meant.

"Endil!"

"Exactly," Ambraz grunted. "He already has one of the improved versions of Undiri's Fiery Connection, and he is bound to You'gyn. All we have to do is rank up You'gyn so he can select the ability to create new Ganvils. As soon as he does, the rest of us can help feed him purified soulforce as long as we stay within the limits of what he can control."

Irwin got up and began pacing through the room. How had he forgotten about this?

Because I've been too busy, he told himself,

He'd barely had time to talk with Endil over the last few months. The last time had been when they had asked him if he would be willing to slot one of the Undiri's Fiery Connection cards and how he'd want it reforged. That was already months ago.

"Okay, but that would mean we need to fill his soulscape so he can reforge his heartcard," he said, thinking out loud. "The current ability of the card isn't powerful enough for what we have in mind."

"Exactly," Ambraz said. "Which is perfect, as that should give You'gyn enough purified soulforce to rank up to four."

"Wait, didn't you say you were already really early at taking it at rank five?" Irwin asked, trying to recall what he knew about it.

"Yes," Ambraz said, sounding smug. "And because he also needs to focus on the same things I did, soulforce sensitivity and things dealing with music and song, he will have no room to choose anything dealing with combat."

"Will he-"

"Do it?" Ambraz interrupted him. "Definitely. This means that he will have a similar ability to mine to create progeny in the future. Something he will definitely enjoy."

Irwin crossed his arms, staring outside at his soulscape. In the distance, the cloud of tiny rank zeros was flying around Hou'dor. His own giantself stood nearby, though he tried to ignore what was happening.

"Alright, so we need to start this right away," Irwin said. "And to do this, we will need him to come here because the fastest way will be singing with Rachias in my soulscape."

As he spoke, he split his consciousness and moved his other, splitself's body, which had been resting in bed.

The slight, throbbing headache was almost ignorable as that part of him headed downstairs to speak with Greldo.

"I'm going to ask Greldo to get him now," Irwin said. "Do we need anything else?"

"We need all remaining rank fives," Ambraz said.

Irwin nodded, his headache growing slightly as he spoke with Greldo at the same time.

"I can't wait for us to create the next heartcard," he muttered. "This true body clone is hard to use."

"Don't worry, we can probably make it a lot better," Ambraz grunted. "But before that, let's finish this. So, of the four copies you made, two are slotted. One is at the Volcano Academy for another smith. One is with Daubutim, which is likely to go to an Ignitzian, and you have the original. We can still create one more copy. If our test works and Endil can talk with the rank zeroes that he and You'gyn make, that means we need to get one to Brazardian, and it leaves us with the original one."

Irwin nodded along, wondering what Ambraz was getting at. 

"Although I want to give the last one to Greldo for when he gets shadow clones," the Ganvil said. "I think we need to keep the last one. Otherwise, there's no card we have to duplicate if Greldo does return with another template card."

"I agree," Irwin said. "When do you want to create your first two progeny?"

"As soon as Hou'dor and Juul'rish leave with the rank zeroes," Ambraz said. "I need to work on this with absolute focus. Besides, I can't have any interference. They will be entirely made of my purified soulforce, and I can't risk them being contaminated by any other soulforce."

"Say you create rank zeros together with four or five other Ganvils that are bound to smiths and use all of their soulforce… would they all count as the parents?" Irwin asked. "I mean, could they all talk with the same Ganvils if they had the correct cards?"

"No idea," Ambraz said. "That's something we probably need to test."

Irwin was quiet for a moment before he hummed. "Something else I was wondering about. Are we sure the prodigy you are going to make will want to be bound to Zan? Or is it even compatible with her?"

"Yes, and yes," Ambraz said. 

"Zan is still so close to your soulforce resonance that it's even better. She and the Progeny will bind much faster than normal. It will save them time, and by the time she's an adult and a fully-fledged cardsmith, Zannia will probably be one of the few smiths who is on par with you."

"On par?" Irwin said, thumbing his chin as he thought about Zan. Happy and easygoing, she loved music and had a higher soulforce sensitivity than anyone he'd ever seen or heard about. "From all you've told me, I'd expect she would be much better?"

"No, she might be more sensitive, and her bond with her Ganvil will grow faster than normal, but she's unlikely to catch up to the massive lead you already have," Ambraz said before adding in a smug tone." Besides, don't underestimate your own skill or mine."

Irwin laughed, wondering if Ambraz was correct. He didn't know, but did it really matter? He loved smithing, and so did his daughter. 

As he thought about the new Ganvil that would hopefully bind with Zan, his mind inadvertently went to the other thing Ambraz had told him.

"And you are still sure about making one based on Aurorium?"

"Yes," Ambraz said. "It is something that's not been done yet, and my species gains some of the qualities of the metal that makes up our bodies. I'm hoping a Ganvil made from Aurorium will be able to absorb ambient soulforce. If that is possible, they can help their bonded smith without the help of a Chaos Whale."

"What if it goes wrong, and they start draining their bonded smith?"

"A temporary issue. There are plenty of skills they can choose that will make it so they can control it," Ambraz said.

It was quiet for a while as Irwin felt his headache subside. His split-off body was back in bed, and that part of his mind returned to his current self.

"How do Ganvils select or create these skills?" Irwin asked something he'd pondered about before.

"Ancestral memories," Ambraz said. "They tell us how to create patterns of soulforce which we can etch into our being to gain certain skills, abilities, or improvements."

Irwin whistled. "What are the limitations to that?"

"That's pretty complex, kid, but the short of it is that depending on the purity of our physical body, we can add a certain amount of patterns per rank up. Some require more space, and thus, we could only take one or two of those. Some require less space, and thus, we can have more of those. Others require patterns chosen in previous rank-ups. For instance, my current sensitivity increase is something only another Proginy that takes it on each rank-up could reach. It's also way higher than most choose, as their bonded cardsmiths couldn't match it."

Irwin smiled as he listened to Ambraz, who was rapidly getting more excited. 

I really think he would make a good teacher, Irwin thought, wondering how Ambraz would react if he said that.

--

Another two days passed with none of the scouts, including Coal's shadow, coming across any indication of another fleet. By now, Jolnir and Sira had healed over half of the infected. Zeek had found no sign of them anymore, and Irwin agreed as he couldn't sense any lingering dissonant sound. 

A day before, Trimdir and Hou'dor had taken the new rank zeros back. Trimdir had proven incredibly handy at curtailing the Ganvil Girls, as Ambraz was calling them. One order from him got them quiet and obedient to Ambraz and Hou'dor's annoyance.

Currently, Irwin was nearly completely outside of his soulscape, as Ambraz had requested complete focus.

Only Irwin's giant bodies were still there, one mindless as it lay in a bed, the other watching from far away as Ambraz created an intensely complex pattern of purified soulforce. It would take almost two days for Ambraz to create the patterns he'd made mere hours before, and that would be for only a single Progeny.

At the same time, Irwin's small self was sitting across from Endil, who had arrived only a few hours earlier.

You'gyn was sitting beside him, disgruntled and annoyed.

"Come now, Youg," Endil said, eyebrow raised. "I understand you don't like the idea of talking with all the rank zeros you would make, but it's not that bad, is it?"

"No?" You'gyn sniffed. "Well, let me tell you then! I'm a pure Progeny of Gynerigon, the highest rank Ganvil currently alive! If I do what Ambraz did, they will have even more ancestral memories unlocked from the get-go. It will be horrible. Look at the questions those Silvery Fluty girls kept asking?! Any rank zeros I make would probably be worse!"

Irwin was glad Ambraz wasn't around because he knew his friend would likely have something to say about You'gyn's claim. Likely something along the lines of them definitely being worse, but not in the way You'gyn through.

Endil rolled his eyes and turned to Irwin, scratching his shoulder, which was covered in black smudges. He was wearing his smithing apron, an old and worn piece that Irwin knew was one of the few things he'd managed to save from Giard and his father's smithy. It was made from tough, pale leather, darkened by use. His dark hair was longer than usual and an unkempt mess, while smudges sat on his tanned face. His silver eyes sparkled excitedly.

I really haven't seen him enough lately, Irwin thought.

"How have you been?" he asked, deciding they had atleast some time to just chat before he would explain what he'd asked them to come to the Portal Gallery for.

"Really good! I've been wanting to talk to you for weeks, but you were gone! I've practiced with what you taught us nonstop," Endil said, his eyes widening. "I used a few cards to create new ones, and although I can't create as many as you, I did find something."

Irwin was about to ask what when Endil closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The younger smith made a soft whistling sound, and as he did, Irwin saw, heard, and sensed the soulforce that surrounded them start vibrating with a single tone. 

What is he doing? Irwin thought, slightly confused. He'd tried to recreate a seed by resonating his soulforce many times, and he was pretty sure he could put in more force than Endil. 

Endil didn't open his eyes but continued to whistle. For a moment, it seemed like he wasn't doing anything special, but then Irwin noticed how a small barrier of Endil's soulforce surrounded the part that resonated. Endil's face warped in one of absolute concentration, and Irwin could fully understand why. He was resonating two things in a completely different pattern, the one inside a simple, pure single tone. 

He leaned forward, watching how the barrier of soulforce became ever more solid. Then, the barrier began moving away from the central tone, and as it did, the ambient soulforce began slowly wafting away.

Irwin sat upright, his eyes wide. He could move ambient soulforce, but only slowly and with great concentration. If he did anything substantial, it was usually a secondary effect and not something he could control. What Endril was doing was pushing the ambient soulforce away, and inside the barrier, the single bit of his soulforce hovered like a tiny gem, tense from the pure resonance.

No. Not pure, Irwin thought, as he leaned closer, opening his senses as far as he could. 

Instantly, he saw the tiny fluctuations, the inconsistencies. Still, as the barrier moved further away, the single bit that remained continued shrinking, condensing, the tone turning louder every second.

Irwin barely noticed he was holding his breath, and he didn't remember that Ambraz had told him to keep his emotions in line. Instead, he watched and listened as the tone continued to condense, and he felt how Endil began slowly letting more of his soulforce inside, padding the tiny, growing seed. 

It could have been minutes or hours when the tiny seedling began shivering and pulsing, and Irwin saw the built-up inconsistencies cause cracks. It didn't matter. One look at the seedling already told him Endil was on the right track.

A soft crack was followed by a tiny explosion of soulforce that made Irwin grimace at how loud it sounded to him.

Endil slumped down, sweat pouring from his face, eyes fluttering.

"Incredible," Irwin whispered. "What did you do? How did you try that?"

Endil didn't answer immediately, and Irwin waited impatiently for the other to catch his breath. Still, when he finally did, his eyes were gleaming, his lips curved in a happy smile.

"I found that any form of ambient soulforce, even my own within my soulscape, interferes with that single tone. Even You'gyn's help caused interference, both his barrier and his soulforce. So… I decided to see what would happen if I created a barrier myself, then pushed away the ambient soulforce."

"Yeah, because why would you need your bond's help?" You'gyn muttered.

Neither of the smiths paid attention to him.

Irwin tried to recall if he had noticed the same. Had Ambraz's help and the constant ambient soulforce done anything? He had noticed that whatever he tried seemed to work better if he wasn't inside his soulscape, which made little sense to him.

"The problem is, the barrier needs to have a resonance that counters the ambient soulforce but doesn't interfere with the seed you are forming," Endil continued. "At the same time, you need to push in more of your own soulforce slowly, not too much so you turn it unstable, and not too little, or the seedling consumes its supply and implodes. Worse, it has to be a single type."

Irwin whistled as he leaned back in his chair. He wanted to try. Right now.

"Okay, let me try," he said, closing his eyes and focusing on his soulforce.

He completely forgot about everything else as he focused on the ambient soulforce in the room. It was thin, as it always was within the portal gallery, and he wondered if that would help. As he created his own barrier, Endil hummed.

"The closer you can wrap it around the tone, the less soulforce remains between the seedling and the barrier."

Irwin nodded, letting the barrier fizzle out and create another one, as close as he could, with just enough room for another bit of soulforce. Then he focused on his oldest soulcard and on the single tone that was the base of his flamecard. He resonated a tiny bit of his soulforce in the middle with that and instantly felt it start to drain slightly. Moving in a single fluid motion, he put more soulforce into his barrier and moved it away while feeding his seedling. Something went wrong, and the seedling snuffed out.

"Not too fast. If you create too much space too fast, it's like the seedling becomes unstable," Endil, though Irwin heard his awe.

Irwin nodded and tried again, this time slowing the expansion. He got further, the barrier as wide as Endil's when he poured in too much soulforce, and the seedling sniffed out again.

He started again, only to fail again and try again.

Time lost its meaning, as it so often did when he was working his craft or anything that dealt with it.

Initially, Endil kept saying things and trying to help, but soon, he fell quiet as Irwin continued.

--

What is that little brat doing? Ambraz thought, his concentration strained with what he was doing. 

In front of him was a soulforce pattern far more complex than the previous one he'd used for his first rank zeros. It was pulsing with power; over a third of what he had left poured into it. The tiny chunk of Silzerion stood in its center, wrapped in a pattern of purified soulforce. 

It had taken him over a day to form the pattern and another half a day to let the purified soulforce leak into it. His control had almost flagged multiple times, and now that he'd finally finished, Irwin was doing something. At least there wasn't anything bad happening, as his joy was apparent, but it was clear he was fully occupied. The only benefit was that he'd moved his other soul clone mostly into the real world, removing even that tiny bit of dissonance.

Now, if only Ambraz wouldn't have to sense his constant emotional turmoil!

A few more hours, Ambraz thought, allowing the absurd amounts of soulforce that he'd surrounded the pattern with to leak into it. 

Time passed, and soon he was closing in on the end. When barely twenty minutes remained, he sensed a wave of pure wonder, awe, and joy coming from Irwin.

That better mean you are done, you brat, he thought.

Still, as he said it, he wondered what could possibly have caused his bonded smith to be so excited. He had always been an excitable kid, but as he grew up, he'd learned to temper it. Nowadays, only very horrible or amazing things got these reactions.

The mix of emotions eventually slowed, leaving only a lingering joy behind.

That's one way to make me curious, Ambraz thought before focusing on the final stretch of his task.

By now, a tiny shape had started to form from the Silzerion. As the pattern's flow began finishing, the last purified soulforce flowing through, a sense of incredible excitement came to Ambraz.

He'd done everything the ancestral memories with the skill had said. Thinking about Zan, and how she was, about the things he knew about her, and what he felt for her. There had been no explanation why that was required, but he'd done it as best he could.

A swishing sound came as the final part of the pattern completed. It was beautiful, incredibly intricate, and complex, and stuffed to the brim with purified soulforce.

The soulforce pulsed, the pattern jittered, and then a beautiful soulforce song rippled into existence. A flute sound, but not as intensely high as those of the others he'd made. Slightly hazy and filled with joy.

In front of him, the tiny Silzerion Ganvil moved, wings stretching out and spreading while a slightly smaller mouth appeared on the side.

"Thank you for creating me, Progenitor," a crystal clear, beautiful voice said. 

Ambraz's smile widened as he focused on the tiny new life—his first, true offspring.

"Welcome into the world, my eldest and firstborn," he said, recalling what Brazardian had said when he'd been created. "Do you wish for a name, or will you choose one yourself?"

Long ago, he'd answered that he'd pick one himself. Stubborn right from the start, even though he could barely understand all the knowledge and the fact that he'd been born.

He felt a smile creep up on his face as his firstborn answered.

"I'll pick one myself!" she said, a tiny core of steel in her voice.