Fragments Blend into Daily Life, Part 2

After the morning rock-carrying training ended, Lin Chen and Krillin gathered the small scattered pieces of gravel from the edge of the beach and piled them neatly in the corner by the wall. Their surfaces shone a dry pale gray under the sunlight. As Lin Chen bent down to lift the last rock, he felt that after several consecutive days of hauling, his shoulders and arms had become steadier than before. He had also found a more convenient angle for bracing the rock between his shoulder hollow and collarbone, and his body automatically found the position that distributed the weight evenly during transport. When he set the rock down, its base rested atop the pile in the corner, aligned with the edges of the rocks already there.

Krillin had already put away the tools and was squatting beside the water vat, scooping water with a dipper to rinse the dust from his hands. He set the dipper back on the rim and shook the water from his hands. "Swimming training is as usual this afternoon. Today, we'll swim to the farther white reef." He stood up. "It's about three hundred meters farther than the black one, and the current is a bit more complicated."

Lin Chen also walked over to wash his hands. The water in the vat had been warmed by the sun, neither cool nor hot, carrying a faint warmth as it poured over his hands. He rubbed away the grains of sand lingering between his fingers, then wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

At lunchtime, Goku ran back from behind the house with another log over his shoulder, about the same size as yesterday's, with a partially untrimmed branch still sticking out from one end. "Where should I put this?" he asked.

Master Roshi sat at the table with a bowl in hand and pointed toward the corner with his chopsticks. "Stack it against the wall. Put it beside yesterday's."

Goku carried the log to the corner and set it down beside the one from yesterday. The gap between the two logs was less than a palm's width. He stood up, patted the bits of bark from his hands, then sat down at the table and served himself a bowl of rice. "What time are we getting in the water this afternoon?"

"Two-thirty," Krillin said. "You coming too?"

"Yep." Goku picked up some vegetables with his chopsticks and put them into his bowl. "I'll swim farther than yesterday."

The afternoon sun was fiercer than it had been in the morning, and the light over the sea was so white it was almost glaring, reflecting broad patches of brilliance off the water. The three of them met on the beach around two twenty-five. Krillin walked in front, Goku followed in the middle, and Lin Chen brought up the rear. The white reef was farther away than the black reef, faintly visible on the surface of the sea. Less of it protruded above the water, like a pale gray fist floating on the waves.

Krillin stopped in the shallows and let the seawater rise past his waist. "Today's route passes through an area where the current changes speed. The current will accelerate as we get close to the white reef. If you feel it pushing you off course, adjust the angle of your strokes. Don't try to force your way against it. That'll only make it easier for the current to pull you off course."

After saying that, he leaned forward and began swimming. Goku jumped into the water after him. His swimming form was not as smooth as Krillin's, and his rhythm was slightly weaker, but his strokes were faster, so he was not slow. Lin Chen entered the water several seconds after Goku. The seawater was a little warmer than yesterday, as though the sun had heated the surface through, though half a meter below, it was still somewhat cool.

After swimming about three hundred meters, he truly felt the change in the current. The flow beneath the surface had shifted. It was no longer a steady current toward the shore; there was now a sideways push and a faint downward pull, as if something on the seabed were slowly dragging at him. He adjusted the angle of his strokes, exerting force sideways to counter the lateral push while maintaining his forward progress. After several adjustments, his direction stabilized again.

He kept swimming forward, and his shoulder and arm movements gradually settled into a fixed rhythm. Once he passed through it, the boundary between the current zone and the normal waters became distinct, as if he had crossed a thin membrane of a different temperature. He could feel the area around his shoulder blades maintaining a suitable warmth, and his body did not need to exert extra effort to preserve the efficiency of his strokes.

[Ding! Swimming skill proficiency increased. Current swimming skill proficiency: 5%.]

[Ding! Picked up Strength Light Orbs ×3. Strength +9.]

His arms felt a brief warmth as he stroked through the water, spreading from his shoulders to his upper arms. It faded after a few seconds, as if carried away by the current. He adjusted his breathing rhythm and continued swimming forward.

The white reef drew closer and closer. The portion above the surface was smaller than that of the black reef, and its shape was flatter. The growths on its surface were pale in color, as if it had been exposed to sunlight longer. Krillin had already arrived and was floating beside the reef with one hand gripping its edge. He turned to check Goku's position, then looked in Lin Chen's direction. Goku was about ten meters from the reef, accelerating toward it with faster strokes. The frequency of his movements had clearly increased, and he was kicking up more spray than before.

When Lin Chen was about five meters from the reef, he slowed down. He could feel the current weakening in this stretch, as though the reef itself was blocking it. He swam to the reef and reached out to touch its surface—the stone was smoother than the black reef, with little attached growth. A thin layer of algae covered it, slick to the touch, as though it had formed after years of being washed by the current.

The three of them paused briefly beside the reef. Krillin released his grip on it. "The current will change direction on the way back. Watch your breathing rhythm."

After saying that, he turned and began swimming back. Goku followed shortly after. Lin Chen remained beside the reef for about another ten seconds, confirming his direction and breathing rhythm before turning and entering the water as well.

The direction of the current on the return trip had indeed changed. Unlike on the way out, it seemed to have turned as a whole toward a new angle after passing through a stretch of water. He adjusted the angle of his strokes and the frequency of his breaths, maintaining a steady breathing rhythm as he passed through the current zone. Krillin's reminder meant he no longer had to stop to correct his direction, and his speed remained stable on the way back.

As he neared the shoreline by Kame House, he gradually felt sand beneath his feet. He stood up, and seawater slid down from his shoulders to his waist. The droplets on his body glittered once in the sunlight before sinking into the sun-warmed sand. By the time he walked back to shore, Krillin was already standing on the beach. Goku also emerged from the sea, shaking the water from his hair.

Krillin glanced at Lin Chen. "Your speed was steadier than yesterday."

"Swimming in rhythm with you guys takes less effort."

The white reef in the distance lay beneath the afternoon sun in a pale gray outline, like a watchtower slowly sinking beneath the sea. On the sand, three trails of wet footprints stretched from the edge of the water toward Kame House. They were gradually fading under the sunlight, their edges drawing inward as the moisture evaporated, like a slowly receding tide.