New Century 1305, Week 51, Day 3, Boundary Curtain District, Joint Council City on Gouchen Star, the hotel where Tai Yu was staying.
During Tai Yu's "cultivation," on one of his rare returns, Yi Ya handed something over to him at the hotel.
"That historian, Qing Wu—the one who made the bet—said he was fulfilling the wager and sent this over... Seems like it's from his collection."
"Oh, right. There was that."
The item came in a wooden box. It was small, only the size of an ordinary person's palm, made of metal and square in shape, with several tiny mechanisms inside. He could not immediately tell what it was.
Watching Tai Yu turn it over and over in his hands, Yi Ya smiled.
"It's a Square-Circle Instrument, isn't it? It was something Creation School students used back then to improve their dexterity. It really does look like an antique. You're a mechanic, yet you don't even recognize it?"
"Even if I'm a mechanic, I belong to the Fantasy School..."
Tai Yu said this with complete confidence. And with Yi Ya's prompt, he suddenly understood how to play with the thing.
He merely rubbed it in his palm with one hand, and the components on the square metal block shifted positions and forms, turning from a square into a circle, then from a circle back into a square.
At first, its movement was a little stiff, accompanied by faint grinding noises. Later, it gradually became silent, save for the low hum of electromagnetic components in operation. It moved very smoothly.
Something like Mo Fang from the Central Star Zone?
"Interesting."
For a Great Monarch, this little toy posed no difficulty. But for a beginner, achieving that silky smooth feel would still take quite a bit of effort.
Moreover, the thing