The Mystery of the Stone Fragment

The black stone fragment sat on a shelf in the tool room for three days. Every afternoon after training, Lin Chen went in to examine it, picking it up and turning it over, running his thumb along its edges before putting it back in its original place. Its temperature and feel had not changed noticeably; it still felt faintly cool, and the curve of its edges remained the same under different angles of light. The analysis progress on the system panel slowly increased from 1% to 3%, the progress bar advancing a little each day as though it were operating on its own.

On the fourth morning, after finishing his run and returning to the courtyard, Lin Chen did not head inside. Instead, he turned into the tool room. He took the stone fragment off the shelf and walked to the window, letting the sunlight shine directly onto its surface. Under direct light, it looked darker than it did indoors. A dense layer of fine patterns covered its surface, resembling some kind of natural mineral structure. He turned it over and held the back to the light as well, spotting an extremely shallow indentation with smooth edges, as if it had formed from being held for a long time.

He returned the fragment to the shelf, the faintly cool sensation lingering on his fingertips. As he walked out of the tool room, Krillin was crouched beside the water vat in the courtyard, washing his face. Droplets fell from his chin and struck the water by the vat's rim. After washing up, he stood and shook his hands. "Did you find anything about that stone?"

"There's a layer of patterns on the surface and an indentation on the back. No writing or markings."

Krillin nodded and turned to head inside. Lin Chen stood in the courtyard, feeling the muscles in his shoulders relax after completing the full set of movements. When he moved his joints, that slight resistance no longer appeared.

After training that afternoon, he went into the tool room again, took out the stone fragment, and held it in his hand for a while. As he held it, it gradually adapted to his body temperature. Its surface was slightly warmer than the air, though not by much. He turned it over and noticed the difference between the patterns on its back and front—the patterns on the front were denser, like a weathered layer formed from exposure to a particular environment; those on the back were sparser, with a subtle difference in color near the indentation.

[Ding! Unknown item analysis progress: 4%.]

He felt that warmth spread from his fingertips into his palm, lasting slightly longer than before, as though the system's analysis was gradually delving deeper. He set the fragment down, returned it to the shelf, and placed it alongside the other items.

At dinner, Master Roshi came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of stir-fried greens. "If you really want to figure out what that stone does, you could find someone who knows old artifacts and have them take a look. There are people in West City who work in that trade."

Lin Chen picked up a mouthful of vegetables. "West City?"

"There's an antique market there. It's not very big, but a few people specialize in collecting old things." Master Roshi placed the plate in the center of the table. "Though it doesn't matter whether you go or not. That stone isn't going anywhere sitting there."

The next morning, Lin Chen did not go to West City. After completing his daily training, he entered the tool room again, took out the stone fragment, and set it on the windowsill. Sunlight fell across its surface, making those fine patterns clearer, like a miniature topographical map. He lowered his head and studied them for a while, then reached out to touch them. His thumb moved along the flow of the patterns, and he sensed that their directions converged near the center of the fragment, as though they were arranged around a shared central point.

[Ding! Unknown item analysis progress: 5%.]

He set down the fragment and compared its position with the old map on the table. The curves in the fragment's patterns resembled the bends in the faded thin line on the map, as if they had been drawn using the same technique.

After looking for a moment, he returned the fragment to the shelf, then made slight adjustments to the placement of the map and the stone so they faced the same direction. The primary flow of the patterns on the fragment connected with the end of the faded thin line on the map, as though the line that had been faded from the map continued through the fragment's patterns. He made no further adjustments, closed the tool room door, and headed to the beach. A wind blew over the sea, carrying the scent of moisture. The waves were higher than they had been that morning, and the sound of them striking the shore was louder as well. He stood by the water for a while, bent down to pick up a pebble polished smooth by the sea, weighed it in his hand, then placed it back on a pile of sand by the water. After he left, moisture quickly seeped into the sand, leaving behind a small patch of damp shadow.