Chapter 53: Resonance
Irwin stared quietly at the beautiful patterns and lights, colors mingling to create pallettes he had never seen before.
"What is that black stuff?" he asked, curious but also slightly disgusted.
"It's the potential of the card," Ambraz said. "The more of it there is, the better you can make the card. This one only has a little, so beyond what you call Legendary is impossible for it, but it should be reforge-able up to that. But before you even think about it, you need to start at the beginning!"
Irwin nodded, wondering how something that looked like black goop could be the potential. Then pointed at one of the stars. "And those?"
"Believe it or not, those are holes," Ambraz said. "Apprentices always believe the shiny spots are the good stuff, but what you really have to do is plug them so the card's energy doesn't drain away. It's why cards left unattended eventually degrade over the years."
If they are holes, what is the light coming out of them? Irwin wondered. It looked more like something was leaking out from the other side instead of the cards' energy draining away.
"Don't worry about them too much. You are far from being able to plug them. But, if they were plugged the card would upgrade from rare to very rare," Ambraz said
Irwin thought that the Anvil seemed more than a little happy talking about these things.
"Now! Before you get all riled up about dark potential and siphoning holes, let's focus on what you can try. Look at the lines and the colors. Do you see how they are all fuzzy and smeared out in some places?"
"Yes?" Irwin asked, curious to learn more. The image looked nice, even with the smears and holes.
"Alright, now, gently strike the card again," Ambraz said.
Irwin took a deep breath, then hit the card. The image remained, but the shapes and lines wobbled and shifted slightly. It vaguely reminded him of the surface of a puddle of water just before something hit it, causing ripples. There was also a slight… resonation with his card. They almost seemed to vibrate, but it felt unharmonized. Almost painfully so.