Chapter 281: No pain, no gain
Irwin slowly lowered his hammer, staring at the Emerald card that rested on Ambraz's back. Unlike the reforging he'd done over the last few months, he'd let the card be more the deciding factor on what to make, and he'd thoroughly enjoyed the process.
"It has potential," Ambraz said. "Right now, it can allow the wielder to control up to a hundred leaves to harden and move around like tiny daggers, but if we go one step further, it should become almost tenfold that."
Irwin looked at the card, which was the best of the three he'd done. Going over the song it had, the part of him that had been playing the soulstrum guitar summoned his Tablatures book and examined the music sheet that had filled with the card's resonance song.
"Or we change the leaf type to something that is stronger and less prone to being burned," he said.
"Right, we could do that," Ambraz said before humming thoughtfully. "If we do that, we could go one step further."
"Which is?" Irwin cocked his head, curious what Ambraz had in mind.
"We could try and force it slightly and try to give it another type," Ambraz said. "If we change its makeup to be like those Volcano Tree leaves, we could add either your Firesteel type or just plain Fire on it."
Irwin felt a wave of excitement at that. He knew types were hard to add, and if one forced a card too far to make it, they would likely become locked in place and unable to be reforged anymore. However, if they did what Ambraz suggested, there might be enough overlap.
"Great idea, let's try!" he said.
"Alright, kid, what song would you suggest?"
Irwin stared at the music sheet, thinking for a bit before he began humming the song on it. It was slightly chaotic and clear and reminded him of rustling leaves on a clear spring morning. As the mental image became clearer, part of him realized the mental image was something that had started during the hundreds of forced reforgings to power the ship's barrier. He had always gotten images when he played, but never as strong as this.
On a whim, he focused on the mental image, making it clearer and clearer until it felt like he was standing in a soft drizzle, the leaves rustling around while a cool breeze played around him. None of it was real, he knew that, but as he began playing his soulstrum guitar, he began slightly forcing the song, changing the feeling he got from it.