Bruce

The motorcycle sped across the wilderness, trailing a long plume of thick smoke.

After a long ride, Xilian finally found the ruins of a building sheltered from the wind before nightfall.

As usual, Xilian expertly built a campfire, fed it Soul Marrow, and sat quietly beside the flames to await nightfall.

The big white dog sat opposite Xilian, his face solemn and intent.

"First, I can say with certainty that I'm human."

The big white dog analyzed the matter with care.

"I have a basic moral sense and understanding, as well as a highly developed mind. And the image I identify with is unmistakably human."

Xilian chewed on a tough strip of jerky and nodded silently.

"But strangely, I can't remember who I am. My memories begin this morning, when I dug my way out of the sand and met you."

The big white dog tilted his head. It was hard to imagine a dog's face could show such vivid confusion.

"As for those bizarre anomalies you said happened last night, I don't remember them either. But judging by all the clues, they must be connected to my arrival... I came from the Spirit Realm into reality."

Xilian kept listening quietly. After finishing his jerky, he took a drink of water to soothe his dry throat.

Most people would have been terrified to discover a strange living creature had arrived from the Spirit Realm, but Xilian was growing used to such things.

Technically, Xilian had also come from the Spirit Realm. He had been inside a mysterious iron coffin, which Nuen had later opened.

"And you said there are signs of brain surgery on my head?"

Xilian glanced at the big white dog's bald head and finally spoke.

"That's right. It looks like someone opened up your entire skull. Judging by how much the wound has healed, the surgery was only a few days ago."

Seeing the big white dog sink into thought, Xilian asked, "Any ideas?"

This time, the big white dog was silent for nearly ten full minutes. Then he slowly raised his head and stared at Xilian.

"I think I know what happened."

"Go on."

The big white dog took a deep breath and offered his theory.

"I was originally human. But for some terrible reason, someone removed my brain and transplanted it into this big white dog's body."

Xilian followed his reasoning. "But a dog's skull obviously doesn't have room for an entire human brain."

"So whoever operated on me also cut away part of my brain tissue to make the transplant fit. And because they removed that tissue, I lost my memories of the past."

After laying it all out, the big white dog let loose a string of curses.

"Fuck! Who did this? It's humiliating as hell!"

Having vented, the big white dog seemed much more relaxed. He moved beside Xilian and gnawed on some jerky, making contented little sounds in his throat.

"You're remarkably optimistic."

Watching the big white dog happily chew his jerky, Xilian remarked, "Wouldn't most people go mad if this happened to them?"

"Mad? Why would I?"

The big white dog answered in earnest.

"A person is the sum of their experiences and social ties. But all of that is a blank to me now. You could say I'm an entirely new life."

"All I need to do now is find a way to survive, then gradually uncover my past."

"What do you think?" the big white dog asked.

Xilian shifted aside, putting some distance between them.

"I think you're a mountain of trouble."

Who knew who the big white dog had once been, or why he had suffered such a fate? Whatever the answers were, Xilian clearly wasn't equipped to deal with them yet.

"Haha. I think so too."

The big white dog gave a dry laugh and slumped onto the ground.

His optimism had been forced. Deep down, he identified as human, and being trapped in an animal's body was a silent torment every second of the day.

Xilian asked curiously, "How can a dog use Source Energy?"

"Oh, that? It surprised me too."

The big white dog perked up and launched into an explanation. "To set foot on a Transcendent's Fated Path, we need to awaken from the Soul Dream and maintain a strong sense of self in the Origin Sea, so our souls can separate from that vast ocean."

"So here's the question: where in our bodies does the soul actually reside?"

Xilian considered it. "The brain."

"Exactly! The brain!"

The big white dog grew excited. "Perhaps the soul is, at its core, our powerful sense of self. And that sense of self is the key to controlling Source Energy."

"So even if your brain is transplanted into an animal's body, you can still use Source Energy."

Xilian asked another question. "Do you know what rank you are?"

The big white dog shook his head. "No. Maybe it's because part of my brain was removed, but I use Source Energy more by instinct than understanding."

Xilian dropped a hint. "But that alone tells you quite a lot, doesn't it?"

"Hmm..."

The big white dog stood and paced around the campfire.

"I can extract metal from my surroundings. I'm extremely familiar with mechanical structures, and I can even modify them to a degree... Clearly, I follow the Machinery and Bone Fated Path. I'm a Spirit Artisan from the Court of a Thousand Mechanisms."

Spirit Artisan was the general term for Transcendents on the Machinery and Bone Fated Path. At that path's end stood the Heavenly Craftsman Iron Father, one of the Three Sages, who had rebuilt industry and the city-states.

"But I don't know which Foundry Court I came from," the big white dog muttered. "Maybe I ended up like this because I made a mistake there and became a test subject for some new technique."

"And your rank can't have been very high," Xilian added. "You were probably a low-ranked Transcendent, like me."

"Probably. If I were a high-ranked Transcendent, using only my head for a transplant experiment would be a terrible waste." The big white dog nodded. "Usually, the heads of high-ranked Transcendents are turned into Wetware and installed in mobile fortresses."

Xilian wondered if he had heard correctly.

"How interesting. I can't recall a single scrap of my past, but conversation brings back things I used to know..."

The big white dog tied himself in knots thinking about it. When no answer came, he simply rolled around on the ground in frustration.

Xilian silently picked up his notebook and recorded last night's anomalies and this peculiar big white dog.

He first described the dog's appearance, then tried to piece together details of who he had been as a human from the various clues.

"Spirit Artisan, not a high rank, optimistic..."

A hazy picture grew clearer in Xilian's notes. But when he tried to fill in more detail, he hit a snag.

"Hey, big guy. Stop rolling around for a moment."

"Big guy?"

The big white dog turned to look at Xilian. "Are you talking to me? That sounds like something you'd call a dog."

"Aren't you a dog now?"

"I'm human! Human!"

The big white dog lunged for Xilian's thigh, but Xilian kicked him away with perfect aim.

"Sorry, sorry. Don't get worked up."

As Xilian apologized, he wrote in his notebook, "Strong sense of personal dignity."

"Then I won't call you big—"

Xilian was about to say "big guy," but the big white dog bared his teeth, forcing him to swallow the words.

"So what should I call you?"

"I can't remember." The big white dog wilted. "I don't have a name."

"Want me to give you one?"

The big white dog bared his teeth again. "I swear, if you call me Big Guy, I'll bite you."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Let me think..."

As Xilian thought, he quietly tightened his grip on his sword sheath. If the big white dog dared pounce, he could knock him over with one blow.

After a moment's thought, Xilian gave the big white dog a name.

"How about Bruce?"

The big white dog considered it. "It's nothing special, but it'll do."

"Nice to meet you, Bruce."

Xilian reached out and shook Bruce's paw. "You can call me Xilian."

"Now, Bruce, I have another question for you."

Xilian chose his words carefully. "What gender do you identify as?"

Bruce answered without hesitation. "Male, of course!"

"That's what I thought."

The more Xilian talked with Bruce, the more familiar he felt. Bruce's cheerful, unreliable manner reminded Xilian of his brother Tim.

That familiar yet distant feeling left Xilian a little heartsick.

Bruce didn't notice the change in Xilian's expression. He spun in circles chasing his tail and said gleefully,

"At least this body's male too... Wait!"

Bruce fell silent. He stared at his lower half, his body gradually starting to tremble.

Xilian followed his gaze. In an instant, his sadness vanished. In fact, it took all his self-control not to laugh.

"Well... that's normal enough."

Holding back his laughter, Xilian tried to comfort him. "You're an experimental dog, after all. Neutering must be standard procedure."

Bruce glanced at the empty space between his legs and hurled himself at Xilian with a howl.

A blow from the sword sheath sent him right back.

Bruce lay on the ground and let out a long, mournful wail.

At the sight, the corners of Xilian's stiff mouth curved upward for the first time in ages.

This absurd experience eased some of the grief in Xilian's heart, drawing his attention away from that recurring tragedy and toward the first friend he had made since leaving White Cliff Town.

Even if that friend was a dog.

At daybreak, Xilian mounted his motorcycle and headed farther into the wilderness. This time, a big white dog wearing goggles and a cloth wrapped around his head rode behind him.

Bruce shouted into the wind, "Where are you headed?"

"Confluence City Hel. Have you heard of it?"

"No. Is it a big city-state?"

Xilian shouted back, "I don't know, but there should be people from the Court of a Thousand Mechanisms there. Maybe you'll find clues about your past."

"What about you, Xilian? Why are you going there?"

"Me?"

Xilian looked out over the endless wilderness ahead and answered.

"Revenge."