Raden barely slept that night. Adrenaline still raced through his blood, keeping him awake while staring at the hologram floating in the air. He tried to touch it, but his hand passed right through. Only he could see it.
When the morning sun began to seep through the ventilation slits, Raden was already up and dressed.
"Mas, why are you up so early?" Nila yawned, rubbing her eyes while sitting on their thin mattress.
Raden smiled, a smile that felt lighter, more real this time. "Want to try my luck earlier, dear. Who knows, fortune might peck early in the morning."
He didn't tell her what happened last night. Too crazy. Nila might think he was severely stressed and starting to hallucinate. Raden had to prove it to himself first.
After a breakfast of last night's leftover rice fried with a little shallot and soy sauce, Raden said goodbye. He didn't go straight to his stall in Jatinegara. Instead, he pushed his cart towards Pak Haji Dulloh's flea workshop, where he usually bought cannibalized spare parts.
The workshop was still quiet. Pak Haji Dulloh was wiping his oil-covered hands with a rag.
"Unusual, Den. You're too early," greeted Pak Haji with his thick Betawi accent.
"Want to find a capacitor, Pak Haji. And 0.5 mm copper wire," Raden answered firmly.
Pak Haji frowned. "Unusual for you to be specific. Usually, you just ask for 'whatever works'."
Raden just smiled mysteriously. His eyes swept over the pile of broken electronics in the workshop. And that was where the magic worked again.
Transparent texts appeared above every object.
[14-inch Tube TV. Status: Heavily Damaged. Flyback leaking. Not worth repairing.]
[Yong Ma Magic Com. Status: Lightly Damaged. Thermofuse blown. Repair potential: High.]
Raden's eyes sparkled. He felt like a kid entering a toy store for the first time with a wallet full of money.
He focused on a pile of small components in a biscuit tin. His eyes scanned rapidly, looking for what he needed for his fan.
[1.5uF Capacitor. Status: Good. Remaining life: 85%.]
"This one, Pak Haji," Raden took it.
[Copper Wire Coil. Quality: Medium. Enough for a small dynamo.]
"And this too."
Pak Haji looked at him suspiciously. "Are you sure that capacitor is still alive? I haven't tested it, you know."
"Sure, Pak Haji. My feeling is strong today," answered Raden while handing over a ten thousand rupiah bill.
Arriving at the stall, Raden didn't immediately lay out his wares. He sat on his small bench, taking out his makeshift tools: a flathead-phillips screwdriver with a broken handle, dull cutting pliers, and a cheap soldering iron with unstable heat.
Usually, repairing a fan dynamo was hit-or-miss work for him. Often he just connected it haphazardly, hoping the thing would spin briefly when tested by a buyer.
But today was different.
When he opened the fan motor casing, he didn't see a confusing tangle of wires. He saw... a map.
[Repair Guide Active: Maspion Fan 1998]
Remove stator, clean rust on rotor with number 400 fine sandpaper.
Connect broken main winding at point A3 (marked with dim red light).
Replace starter capacitor. Optimal value: 1.5uF.
Lubricate front and rear bushings. Do not overdo it.
Raden followed the instructions like a robot. His hands moved with a precision he had never possessed before. When he looked at the very fine copper windings, his eyes seemed to automatically zoom-in, revealing break points that might even escape experienced repairmen's eyes.
Thirty minutes later, he finished reassembling it.
His heart pounded as he plugged the plug into the socket on the nearby utility pole. He pressed speed button 1.
Whoosh...
The metal blades spun. Smoothly. Without the noisy "clack-clack" sound usually heard from his serviced fans. The wind produced was strong and stable.
[Repair Complete. Quality: Perfect.]
[You gained 10 Technique Experience Points (XP).]
[Small Echo detected on object. Absorb?]
Raden jumped. "Absorb?"
He touched the spinning fan. A very small, warm sensation flowed from the fan into his hand.
[Absorbing Echo...]
[Echo acquired: "Memory of Afternoon Breeze on Old House Terrace".]
[Echo Energy +1]
A brief image flashed in his mind: An old grandfather sitting in a rocking chair, enjoying the breeze from this fan while reading the afternoon newspaper, accompanied by a cup of tubruk coffee. A feeling of peace and comfort.
Raden was stunned. He just... felt the memory of this fan's old owner?
"How much for the fan, Mas?"
A voice shattered his daydream. A mother in a house dress, carrying a shopping basket, looked at the fan with interest.
Raden quickly recomposed himself. "Eh, yes, Bu. The fan is... um... seventy-five thousand."
Usually, he only dared to set a price of forty thousand for serviced fans.
The mother frowned. "So expensive! Fifty lah, it's second-hand goods."
"Wow, sorry Bu. This item is special. Original machine, fast spin, not noisy. You try listening, Bu, very smooth sound right? This will last, Bu, can be used for another five years." Raden spoke with a conviction that surprised himself. He knew this fan was good now.
The mother brought her ear closer to the fan. "Yeah, it is... really smooth. Alright then, sixty okay? Just make it even."
Raden grinned widely. "Wrap it up, Bu!"
Sixty thousand. That was his biggest profit from a single item this week.
That day, Raden was like a man possessed. He fixed three other items he previously considered junk: an electric iron (broken wire inside, very easy to detect), a blender (carbon brushes worn out, he had replacements from other junk), and that transistor radio insulted yesterday (turned out it just needed re-soldering at two cracked points).
Everything sold. In total that day he pocketed two hundred and fifty thousand rupiah. A fantastic amount for him.
As the sun began to set, Raden packed up his stall with soaring feelings. He couldn't wait to go home, buy Nila her favourite sweet martabak, and give her extra grocery money.
However, as he pushed his cart out of the market area, his eyes caught something.
At Pak Junaedi's stall, a "big shot" antique dealer in that market, there was an object that attracted his new system's attention.
It was an old keris full of rust, lying just like that in a tub filled with unsold brass items.
[Object Detected: 7-Luk Keris, Carubuk Style.]
[Status: Sealed by Rust and Neglect.]
[Echo Potential: VERY HIGH.]
[Warning: Echo contains negative aura/grudge.]
Raden's steps stopped. "Very High?"
So far, he had only seen "Very Low" or "Low" on electronic items. This was the first time he saw "Very High".
And that warning... "Negative aura"?
Curiosity warred with caution inside him. But the need for money—and the strange urge from the "Ancestral Smith blood" inside him—won.
He approached Pak Junaedi's stall. "Pak Jun, closing up already?"
Pak Junaedi, a portly man with agate rings on almost all his fingers, turned lazily. "Yo, Den. Unusual for you to stop by. Looking for what junk again?"
Raden ignored the condescending tone. He pointed at the brass tub. "That... how much for the whole lot, Pak?"
He deliberately didn't point at the keris specifically. It was an old trader trick.
"Huh? That's all trash, Den. Broken door handles, broken hinges. You want it for scrap weight?"
"Yeah, just to add to the scales, Pak Jun."
"Alright, take it all for a hundred (thousand)."
Raden held his breath. One hundred thousand. Almost half his earnings today. But his new instinct screamed that this was a golden opportunity.
"Seventy-five then, Pak Jun. I'll take it now, no need to pick and choose."
Pak Junaedi snorted. "Typical scavenger. Alright go ahead, take it. Just cluttering my stall."
Raden paid, then quickly moved the contents of the tub into a sack. His hand touched the rusty keris.
ZING!
A cold sting, like touching dry ice, shot from his fingertips straight to his heart. Raden gasped, almost dropping it.
[Echo Resonance Initiated...]
[Warning: User soul not strong enough to absorb this Echo directly.]
[Suggestion: Clean physical seal (rust) first to reduce negative aura intensity.]
Raden hurriedly stuffed the keris to the bottom of the sack, his heart pounding. He felt an unnatural cold emitting from that sack.
What had he just bought? Was this a treasure... or a curse?