Fragments Woven into Daily Life

By the time they returned to Kame House, the light in the yard had deepened into a darker shade of orange. Krillin was rinsing his shorts beneath the eaves of the tool shed. Water ran down the dark fabric and gathered into a shallow puddle on the concrete, reflecting the wooden edge of the porch. After wringing out the shorts and shaking them twice, he draped them over the clothesline by the wall. The other end of the line was tied to an old coconut tree, and it had grown a little slack from being out in the sun for too long.

Lin Chen wrung out the martial arts uniform top draped over his shoulder and hung it on the clothesline as well, leaving about an arm's length between it and Krillin's shorts. When he let go, the garment hung there, its hem covering a short section of the line.

Kame House was much quieter in the evening than during the day. Master Roshi sat in a bamboo chair on the porch without a teacup in hand, reading a heavily worn book. Its cover had fallen off, exposing yellowed spine lines and traces of glue beneath. He turned the pages slowly, as though reading with great care. The wind outside had died down, leaving only a faint chill drifting through the corridor and stirring the edges of the clothes on the line. The fabric made soft flapping sounds in the breeze.

Lin Chen sat on the steps, feeling the muscles in his shoulders and arms slowly relax. The slight swelling in his muscles after swimming was fading. His stamina had not noticeably declined; instead, he felt more alert than before he had gone swimming. He summoned the interface in his mind, and it naturally appeared in his field of vision. The data was stable.

[Host: Lin Chen]

[Battle Power: 216]

[Basic Attributes: Strength 58｜Constitution 70｜Speed 55｜Spirit 68]

[Bloodline Slot: (Empty)]

[Martial Arts Library: Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat (Mastery), Basic Footwork (Proficient), Skirmishing Footwork (Fragmented Manual, Comprehension 32%), Afterimage Fist (Proficient)]

[Skill Library: Cooking (5%), Mechanical Repair (1%), Swimming (1%)]

[Talent Traits: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Pickup Range: 1 meter]

He noticed that the swimming entry now had a proficiency value. He moved the shoulder joints he had used while swimming, confirming that their range of motion was fine. Then he closed the panel.

After dinner, Krillin sharpened the blade of an old kitchen knife in the yard with a whetstone. A clear groove had already formed on the stone's surface. Lin Chen watched for a while. Krillin's movements were slightly crooked, as if one hand shifted by a tiny angle whenever the other exerted force, leaving the angle at which the blade met the whetstone slightly inconsistent.

Krillin noticed him watching. "Want to try? This knife is dull. We'll need it to cut vegetables tomorrow morning."

Lin Chen walked over, sat on a low stool opposite Krillin, and took the knife and whetstone. He tried several times. His rhythm was steady, though the angle at which he held the knife shifted slightly with the path of the whetstone.

"Keep the point where the blade meets the stone consistent. Don't keep adjusting it back and forth," Krillin said. "Maintain the same angle until a burr forms along the edge, then turn it over and sharpen the other side."

Lin Chen adjusted his grip as instructed. After several passes this time, he could feel that the blade had indeed changed somewhat, becoming sharper and brighter. His movements did not stop.

[Ding! Picked up Life Skill Fragment ×1. Current knife-sharpening proficiency: 2%.]

"You picked that up pretty quickly," Krillin said. "The first time I sharpened a knife, it took me a whole week before I could produce a consistent edge."

Lin Chen turned the blade over and made several more passes, lightly scraping the side of the blade with the pad of his thumb. "It's rare to get an edge on the first try."

"I've sharpened some tools before. The principle is about the same."

Krillin did not comment further. He stood and placed the whetstone back in the corner by the wall. "Finish sharpening that knife before tomorrow morning's run. Master is used to using a sharpened knife to cut vegetables."

The next morning, Lin Chen woke even earlier than the day before. The sky outside had not fully brightened, and the sea was covered by a dim gray-blue glow, as if the ashes of the night had not yet burned out completely. After getting dressed, he first went to the kitchen and finished sharpening the knife. Then he rinsed the whetstone clean and returned it to its place. He also checked the stove's seals and the dust gathered in the joints around its corners. Only after confirming that no debris remained did he head outside to the platform to wait.

Krillin came out soon afterward. Without a word, he headed north along the beach. Lin Chen followed behind him, and their footsteps formed two interwoven trails along the morning shoreline. The moisture on the sand had not yet dispersed, making it softer than in the afternoon and muting their steps, as though each foot sank slightly before being pulled free. After running for a while, Krillin slowed down and veered toward the sea. Lin Chen followed him into the water, waist-deep, and began swimming. The seawater was cooler than yesterday, but after several dozen meters, his body adapted to the temperature. His shoulders and arms began to heat steadily with every stroke.

After swimming for a while and returning to shore, Krillin stood up and shook the water from his hair. "Go back and change, then we'll move rocks."

Just as yesterday, he wasted no words and jogged straight back toward Kame House. Lin Chen rolled his shoulders in the shallows, then stepped back onto the beach. Another trail of footprints appeared in the sand, stretching along the coastline toward Kame House.

The morning sun was gradually rising higher, and the moisture on the beach was shrinking away inch by inch, revealing the lighter-colored layer of dry sand beneath. The sea had returned to its usual blue-green, while the warmth of dawn slowly spread along the coast. On the way back from the shore to Kame House, the light constantly shifted at the boundary between beach and sea, the water changing from deep blue to pale turquoise as though some force were slowly pushing it apart.

When his feet stepped onto the sand, the sensation beneath them felt more familiar than it had a few days ago. The depth of every footprint was nearly the same.