Changes in the Stone Fragment

The morning after the rain, traces of last night's rainfall still lingered in the yard. The water in the low-lying areas was slowly receding, and the exposed mud at the edges was darker than the surrounding sand, like an underlying shade soaked by water was gradually revealing itself. Lin Chen stood in the yard and sensed that the humidity in the air had dropped. It was much drier than it had been last night.

He entered the tool shed, took the stone fragment from his pocket, and placed it on the windowsill. Sunlight slanted in through the high window and fell across its surface. The light after the rain was cleaner than usual, as if it had been washed. The stone fragment was slightly warmer than usual—not the faint warmth transferred from his body, but heat coming from within. When he touched it, his fingertips could feel a steady, even warmth.

[ Ding! Unknown item analysis progress: 10%. ]

The progress bar on the system panel had advanced another notch since yesterday. Standing before the windowsill, he held his palm flat above the stone fragment and felt the heat rising from its surface. It was like a very thin layer of warmth, constant and stable, as though something were slowly generating heat. He did not pick it up, simply leaving it on the windowsill under the light.

When he left the tool shed, Krillin was in the yard using a long bamboo pole to clear the remaining water beneath the eaves. The pole swayed lightly in his hands as he moved it along the ridges of the tiles, knocking droplets hanging from the roof corners onto the ground. They flashed briefly in the sunlight before scattering. Without looking up, he asked, "Has the stone fragment changed?"

"It's a little warmer than yesterday."

Krillin nodded and did not ask further. He continued clearing the water beneath the eaves and the loose roof tiles. Droplets fell to the ground, spreading into rings of dark dampness before slowly shrinking beneath the sun.

The morning run went on as usual. Some parts of the road were still slick, especially the dirt path beneath the trees, where a thin layer of mud covered the surface and made it slightly slippery underfoot. Lin Chen slowed down when he reached that stretch, adjusting where he placed his feet and trying to step on exposed roots or stones above the water. Krillin maintained the same pace ahead of him.

After the run came swimming. The seawater was a little colder than it had been in previous days, as if the surface water stirred up by rain and wind had not fully warmed again. Swimming to White Reef and back, Lin Chen felt his strokes becoming smoother on the return trip—perhaps he had adapted to the shifts in water temperature during the humid weather, allowing his arms to find the direction of the current more quickly after entering the water. He kept his breathing steady, kicking alternately beneath the water. As he neared the shore, he slowed down and let his body drift naturally into the shallows.

By the time he returned to Kame House, the sun had risen much higher, and the ground in the yard was gradually drying. Master Roshi sat beneath the porch, wiping water stains from an old wooden staff with a dry cloth. Several obvious watermarks still remained on it. He glanced at Lin Chen. "As for the stone fragment, wait until it gets a little hotter. Some things naturally become more useful when the time comes for them to be useful."

After the afternoon's Gravity Room training, Lin Chen entered the tool shed again. The stone fragment was still on the windowsill, and it was a little warmer than it had been that morning. The difference from room temperature was now obvious to the touch. He picked it up and turned it over to examine the back. The patterns there appeared clearer in the light, as if the heat had brought out deeper details. Near the indentation, the direction of the patterns had shifted slightly, as though they curved around at a certain point.

[ Ding! Unknown item analysis progress: 11%. ]

He felt warmth spread from his fingertips into his palm, as though the system had detected a change. Standing by the window, he put the stone fragment back on the sill and looked again at the spot where the pattern had shifted on the back. It had indeed changed. The lines made a distinct turn there. Though the change was subtle, it was undeniably different from before.

When he left the tool shed, Krillin was clearing moss from the base of the courtyard wall. Using a short-handled scraper, he shaved along the roots of the moss, removing the damp layer and exposing the blue-gray bricks beneath. "The water was two degrees colder today than yesterday," Lin Chen said.

Krillin paused. "It should be warmer tomorrow." He continued scraping away the moss, the scraper making a faint grinding sound against the wall, like lightly scraping rust. The sunlight in the yard began to slant westward, leaving increasingly long shadows in the corners. The crown of the old coconut tree swayed gently in the evening wind, and the edges of its leaves gleamed with a damp sheen, as though the droplets had not yet fully dried.

Lin Chen stood beneath the porch for a while, feeling the stone fragment in his pocket still giving off a faint, continuous warmth, as though something were slowly awakening within it. The sunlight on the tool shed's windowsill was gradually shrinking, leaving a patch of brightness on the ground that steadily shortened. Its edges were growing hazy, yet the stone fragment's warmth remained stable, not diminishing as the light faded.