By the time Chi-Chi, Krillin, and the others arrived, the battle was already over.
Raditz and his space pod had been sealed inside a reinforced capsule storage unit, safely contained.
No one was seriously injured.
No one was dead.
That alone felt like a victory.
Krillin looked around nervously.
"Uh… Bulma? Where's Goku?"
I explained everything—about King Kai, about Kami's intervention, and about the training Goku would receive.
They listened in silence.
After a while, Tien nodded.
"Then we'll go to Kami too."
Yamcha crossed his arms. "If Goku's getting special training, we can't fall behind."
I turned to Krillin.
"The equipment I gave you can go up to fifty times Earth's gravity now. Just give it a verbal command."
He blinked. "F-Fifty?! Isn't that dangerous?!"
"It is," I replied flatly. "So don't be stupid."
He winced.
"Temper your body first. Pushing past your limits recklessly will only break you. You know better than that."
"…Yeah," he muttered. "I do."
With that, they departed for Kami's Lookout.
One by one, everyone returned to their own paths.
And I returned to mine.
Back at Capsule Corporation, I activated the stasis chamber.
Raditz lay motionless inside, suspended in artificial preservation.
Alive.
Unconscious.
Untouched by time.
"Good thing I didn't let you die," I murmured. "Dead tissue is useless for research."
I extracted blood samples, tissue data, and cellular scans.
For days, I barely slept.
I analyzed, compared, simulated.
Human DNA.
Saiyan DNA.
Compatibility thresholds.
Mutation risks.
Rejection rates.
Every model ended in failure.
Too unstable.
Too aggressive.
Too lethal.
On the fifth day, I finally found it.
A balance point.
A ratio that wouldn't collapse my genetic structure.
"One-fourth Saiyan…" I whispered.
Any more than that would destroy me.
Cellular breakdown.
Organ failure.
Total genetic rejection.
This was the limit.
And even this was dangerous.
It took another two days to synthesize the serum.
Clear.
Colorless.
Harmless-looking.
Deadly, if I was wrong.
I stared at it for a long time.
"This is insane," I muttered.
Then I sighed.
"…And necessary."
I injected it.
Pain.
That was the only word for it.
It wasn't sharp.
It wasn't sudden.
It was everywhere.
My bones burned.
My muscles twisted.
My nerves screamed.
It felt like every cell in my body was being torn apart and rebuilt at the same time.
"G-Gah…!"
I collapsed to my knees.
My vision blurred.
My heart pounded wildly.
I tried to stay conscious.
Tried to monitor the process.
Tried to breathe.
Halfway through—
Darkness took me.
When I woke up, sunlight was filtering through the laboratory windows.
My body felt… strange.
Heavier.
Denser.
Stronger.
I slowly stood and looked at my reflection.
My posture was straighter.
My muscles were more defined.
My frame was slightly taller.
Not dramatic.
Not monstrous.
But different.
"…Huh."
I clenched my fist.
Power flowed more smoothly through my body.
Not explosively.
Not overwhelmingly.
Just… sturdier.
More resilient.
"This won't make me a Saiyan," I murmured. "Not even close."
Nappa and Vegeta were still far beyond me.
My armor was still my real weapon.
But this…
This was support.
Infrastructure.
A stronger foundation.
And that mattered.
"I'll take every advantage I can get," I said quietly.
Later that night, I soaked in a hot bath, letting the tension drain from my muscles.
The pain was gone.
The exhaustion remained.
But so did the resolve.
I leaned back and closed my eyes.
"I'm not doing this to be strong," I whispered to myself.
"I'm doing this… so I won't be helpless."
When I finally went to bed, I forced my mind to clear.
Tomorrow would bring new problems.
New calculations.
New risks.
But for tonight—
I let myself rest.