He came back to himself because something cold was being pressed against his forehead.
Xu Hao opened one eye. A large hand held a damp cloth above him, and beyond it Da Bao was trying to whisper.
Da Bao's whispers were impressive. They could probably have been heard in Hibiscus Town.
"Is he awake?"
"I'm awake," Xu Hao murmured.
"Little brother!"
"Now I may be deaf."
Da Bao dropped to one knee beside him. "You went white. You stopped answering. Er Bao said I wasn't allowed to shake you."
"Good advice."
"I wanted to make certain you were still there."
"So did I."
Er Bao came into view carrying a cup of water. He looked as tired as Xu Hao felt.
"How long?" Xu Hao asked.
"Most of the night. Your breathing stayed steady. The dogs didn't seem hurt, but all three reacted when the light changed."
"What did they do?"
"Sia stood up so quickly she knocked over the water bowl. Grey growled at nothing I could see. Little One bit Da Bao's sleeve."
"She didn't mean to," Da Bao said.
"Of course not," Er Bao replied. "The sleeve apparently offended her."
Xu Hao tried sitting. The effort made him dizzy enough that he lay down again without being told.
"Don't move yet," Er Bao said.
"I wasn't planning to."
Da Bao looked at the damp cloth in his hand. "Can I do anything?"
"Find me some breakfast. And don't put too much salt in it."
"There isn't enough salt to put too much in anything."
"Another advantage of poverty."
Da Bao left to find food. Xu Hao closed his eyes and waited for the pounding beneath his ribs to settle. He was less afraid of the exhaustion than he had been the first time, but familiarity did not make the sensation harmless. He had chosen to use the ability; he could not claim it had surprised him. Whether it had been worth the risk was a separate question.
* * *
When he could concentrate, he entered the dark hall again.
His two specks of Dust Realm cultivation still floated near the brush. Neither had changed. The deck had one fewer blank: ninety-seven remained. Sia's card hung beside them, complete and unmistakable.
Xu Hao let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
He drew the card closer and read.
Name: Sia.
Card Type: Beast — Wind Husky.
Rank: Dust Realm, Fourth Layer.
Rarity: Unique.
Loyalty: 100. Bravery: 100.
The attribute numbers had risen. Strength had become eighteen, agility twenty, stamina nineteen, defence fifteen, intelligence twenty-two, perception twenty-one. Wind affinity had climbed to twenty-eight percent.
He read the rank again.
Fourth layer.
Sia had been at the first when he'd made her. One Superimpose had advanced her by three layers, without giving him a single additional speck of Spirit.
"That's not fair," he whispered.
It was only half a complaint. The other half was delight.
Then he found a new line beneath Guardian's Instinct.
Scent Track — Passive. Can follow a scent trail up to one day old.
He sat very still.
On Earth, Sia had been a remarkably good dog at finding food, shoes and whichever cushion Xu Hao least wanted her to chew. She had never been asked to follow a trail through a dangerous forest. He wondered whether she would understand how to use the new skill without instruction.
Another line had appeared.
Growth Cap: Firefly Realm — one major realm above owner.
He checked it twice. The wording suggested a limit far beyond Sia's current cultivation, but it didn't promise she could reach it without further help.
And Superimpose now read:
0/1 — unlocks at owner's next breakthrough.
Xu Hao's excitement cooled. He couldn't strengthen her again merely because he had blank cards to spare. He would first need to advance his own cultivation. The ability might accelerate Sia's growth, but it did not allow him to abandon his own.
He took stock of what he'd actually learned. One blank consumed, an exhausting process lasting much of the night, three new layers for Sia, a new ability, and an increase in her attributes. Two copies linked to the original, with their own limits still to be verified.
Not a miracle he could repeat at will. A dangerous process with an unusually generous result.
He opened his eyes to find Sia standing over him.
* * *
For a moment, he didn't recognise her size.
She had always been larger here than the husky he'd known on Earth. Now her shoulders seemed broader, her legs more heavily muscled, and the thick fur around her neck made her look nearly as imposing as the wolves shown in old expedition paintings. The white blaze down her face was unchanged. So were the crooked ear and mismatched eyes.
She leaned forward and licked his chin.
"Still you," he said.
Her tail swept the blanket off his legs.
"Much more of you."
He reached up to feel her fur. The warmth under his palm was real, as was the familiar way she pressed her head against his hand. Whatever the process had done, she still responded to him with the eager affection that had first persuaded him to take her home.
Da Bao arrived carrying porridge and stopped in the entrance to the shelter.
He stared at Sia.
Then he dropped the spoon.
"ER BAO!"
Xu Hao winced. "If you could express amazement at a more moderate volume—"
"LOOK AT HER!"
Er Bao came running with his sword half drawn. He took one glance at Sia and lowered the weapon.
"Well," he said quietly.
Da Bao pointed at her paws. "She's nearly as big as the hunting wolves from Father's stories!"
"She's still a husky," Xu Hao said.
"That is becoming difficult to believe."
"I had trouble believing it myself before breakfast."
Er Bao knelt and examined her carefully, feeling her shoulders, checking her breathing, then asking Xu Hao whether the connection through the card felt different.
"Stronger," Xu Hao admitted. "But not unpleasant. I can still sense her the same way."
"Can you dismiss her?"
"I haven't tried."
"Don't, then. First make sure she can move without pain."
They took her into the open clearing. Xu Hao asked her to walk, sit, turn and lie down. She obeyed, though her enlarged body meant she occasionally misjudged the space around her. When she attempted to curl up in her former sleeping place, half of her remained outside it.
Da Bao laughed until Sia looked offended.
* * *
The copies were changing too.
Grey stood up beside Er Bao, and Xu Hao saw at once that she'd become taller through the shoulder. Little One emerged from beneath Da Bao's blanket, took three steps and appeared surprised that the ground was farther away than usual.
Da Bao crouched to inspect her. "Little One? You've grown!"
Little One knocked him backwards with a joyful leap.
Xu Hao checked the copies with both brothers. Their cards now showed the third layer of the Dust Realm, one layer below Sia, exactly as promised. Their attributes had improved as well, though neither matched the original. Both still possessed Wind Step and Guardian's Instinct, and the new tracking ability had appeared on their cards too.
They did not attempt to test it immediately. Grey and Little One moved uncertainly at first, learning the reach of their new legs. Er Bao walked Grey slowly along the path and checked her old strain. Da Bao made Little One sit, stay, turn and return from a short distance. She obeyed most of the commands, though her new enthusiasm made stopping an especially difficult task.
Er Bao looked towards Xu Hao. "One change in your cultivation affected all three."
"One card and a very unpleasant night," Xu Hao replied. "The cost is mine, but the benefit is shared."
"That's extraordinary," Da Bao said.
"Extraordinary things tend to attract extraordinary trouble," Er Bao reminded him.
They watched the three dogs resting in the sunlight. There was no evidence that the change had hurt them, but Er Bao insisted on continuing the observation for several days. Xu Hao agreed. He had nearly lost consciousness to improve his companion; he wasn't about to squander the result by sending her into another fight before she had learned the size of her own paws.
At noon, he tried walking to the practice target and discovered his legs still felt weak. Da Bao took the bow away before he could make an argument.
"You're resting."
"I was only going to look at it."
"You look at things until you decide to test them. Er Bao has told me."
Xu Hao surrendered the bow. His brother had become intolerably perceptive.
There was another lesson hidden in the result, one Xu Hao almost missed while checking the numbers. His own two specks had not grown. He still struggled with the bow and still needed help walking when he overexerted himself. He could not borrow Sia's new agility merely because their cards were connected.
He asked Er Bao whether that was normal for beast tamers. The giant said some could share senses or strength with bonded creatures, but there was no reason to assume Card Drawing followed their rules. Xu Hao found the answer disappointing and reassuring in equal measure. He would have to keep practising on his own. At least the system had not quietly made him a better fighter without teaching him how to fight.
That evening, Sia brought him a piece of damp cloth from the drying line, dropped it into his lap and waited for praise. The gesture was so familiar that he laughed aloud. On Earth she'd done much the same with socks, though she had usually demanded a biscuit before returning them.
He rubbed her ears until she closed her eyes.
"Three layers," he whispered. "And you still steal laundry."
The promise on the card was tempting. More strength, new abilities, a higher realm waiting somewhere ahead.
Xu Hao looked towards his two specks of cultivation, felt the ache left by the night's experiment and made himself remember the other line: unlocks at owner's next breakthrough.
For once, he was glad the cards wouldn't let him hurry.