Gero slept for a eighteen hours after returning back home. He was utterly exhausted and was tempted to go back to bed after eating. As he was about to do so when he passed his bedroom's mirror. He stopped and went back a step and then checked the image in it very carefully. The man in the mirror looked good, by most standards. The pyjamas hung on a lean frame, his posture was straight. But it was elsewhere that he held his gaze. He looked carefully at his reflected face.
There were fine lines at the corners of his eyes. When he frowned, he saw a vertical crease appearing between his eyebrows, something he wasn't aware of before. His jaw was still sharp, but the skin wasn't elastic as before. He then stepped closer and leaned in, and saw it there in the black of his hair. It was glinting under the light. He pulled it up, and yes, it was grey. He stared at it for a long moment, the way he might have stared at a micro-fracture in a critical ceramic plate.
Then he searched for more. A first, then a second, then as he separated the hair more ruthlessly, a few more were hidden behind the darker mass. And more he searched and more of white hair he was finding.
He checked the mental ledger where he kept dates and contingencies. He had become Gero when this body was thirty-three years old. He graduated with double PhDs at thirty-four. With weeks and months and years he spent searching, building, improving, and even more building, he reached thirty-nine without even noticing. He was aware than sometimes he believed he stayed in the laboratory for a week, when was there in fact for a few months. He had completely lost the sense of time!
He believed it was weird Kyou was sent to him just after a year to check on his progress and justify the astronomic expanses, but it may have been more than one year. He calculated the date he entered into the laboratory to build Night Dog, and today's… « Holly fuck! »
He surprised himself thinking exactly the same thing as in his previous life.
« From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine… Yet time and time again I keep clinging to my flesh as if it will not decay and fail me… »
Gero sat on his bed absentmindedly, repeating his plans, as he was aware that he was victim of a middle life crisis a second time. Without the infinite power generator the original androids were not much compared to a super sayen, and two stupid brats without fighting power got a power more or less equal to super sayen two after being transformed into androids. He had to follow his plan to the letter or get trapped like a stupid fly with consequences he would not withstand in the future. Before doing anything in the rush, he set up the rule to ask himself: « And after this, would Beerus still be able to one shot me into non-existence? » Now it was time to put a final nail in the plan for supreme financial independence, then use his own knowledge to restore his telomeres and DNA to the pinnacle, then maintain it while farming fighting power.
He dialed Kyou's office number. Surprisingly it was not her who answered but Nicole. The secretary attached to him was in a meeting, so he dictated all his grocery list to the poor woman, and asked for an appointment with a broker, with a good reputation.
The following days truck after truck arrived in order do deliver chemistry and bioengineering equipment, with prepared synthetic materials Night Dog determined to have the same proprieties as the ones he used in his original world. A week ago his super computer even improved significantly the formulas, and the difference of the world's laws had a major impact on it. The trusted sacred machine managed to save him years of testing and soon enough he would be enjoying the fruits of his labor. Meanwhile, the team of brokers he contracted with was steadily purchasing the shares of Capsule Corp. without alarming Brief nor the market, he was already considering that the phase one of his plan was totally finished.
Now he was working in the lab, attentively following the notifications he set up in order to not lose the sense of time again, producing elixir after elixir, as Night Dog was not capable yet of auto production. It was still developing and optimising the necessary technology, so he could instal new components and expand after ingesting devices and materials, jus like Cell did with living beings and androids.
The optimised version of his past cell restoration serum was divided into five separate elixirs, designed to be taken each after the other to get the full value and long term efficiency. They were the Telomere-treatment serum, Antioxidant-hyper solution, Muscle and bone reparation serum, Immune-system booster, and the Nutrient-Ultimate supply serum. They had to be taken in the exactly same order, and Gero would not need to eat anything else beside that. The serums were refined in long lasting digestible bio-capsules, and will progressively dissolve during the digestion to provide during each of its step, a precise and optimise inoculation of the elixirs. He had to take one of each daily, and as holder of shares, stockpiled them into the pre-market made storage capsules.
He stoped after stockpiling enough for twenty years, as after that period of time the effect will disappear as there was a limit for everything.Finally he proceeded to build a device for body training, in the form of a sarcophagus. Inside, his body will be stimulated in order to recreate the most archest and more efficient training without demanding much from him, no need to run everywhere or use any weights. With the addition of the elixirs, the results would be seen even faster without him risking any injuries. The sarcophagus will adapt the intensity after each full body scanner, that would happen every ten seconds, to avoid wasting as much as possible.
After building it and starting using it, every day in Gero life was constant pain with momentarily tiny blast of pleasure, as he was feeling the serums repairing and reorganising his bones and muscles after each ten seconds he passed in his device. Nine months went by like this and after building a fighting power measuring machine, he noticed that he was not passing trough the one hundred twenty seven battle power threshold. This was more or less the supposed fighting power Goku had after reaching the top of the Karin tower. He was just stuck for now, and the scans revealed that indeed he would not be able to progress further. It was time for him to find a master and learn how to train using Ki. He would probably die if he drank the divine water in his actual state.
Using the super computer and passing trough the primitive dark web, he was located successfully multiple people who could reach Tao Pai Pai, the merciless killer from the crane school. And why the crane school? Isn't the turtle school much better? In fact he had no choice. Because the two masters of that school, were brothers, and had no moral limit. All they wanted was money, as they were another example of broke powerful martial artist. Master Shen was even using his giant pig pet to attack villages and make his students pretend to save the day in order to eat. And the only thing besides his brain and reputation he had, an overwhelming amount of money.
He successfully commissioned Tao to kill Dr. Flappe for ten milliard Zeni, now a trivial amount for himself. After attending the marriage of the Briefs, he finally received the good news. The target was dead. Gero offered twenty milliard Zeni for a meeting, so they could talk a potential job worth three hundred milliards, or more. Meanwhile, on the news, the gruesome death of Dr. Flappe and the death of a whole squad of Red Ribbon Army agents was broadcasted on the news, making it's shares to plummet. Of course, Gero told his brokers to short it, and he earned more than eight hundred milliard Zenni the same day. Was it legal? As he ordered the murder and used multiple different accounts to do profit, obviously no. But good luck to the authorities finding about it.
The appointment was accepted. Gero was rushing trough a thick forest and jumping from stone to stone, savouring the advantages of having over one hundred battle power. Finally, he arrived atop the plateau that the mercenary Tao chose for the meeting. Tao Pai Pai was already there, standing in the middle, wearing his iconic pink chang pao with the characters « Kill » on it. It was even more impactful and metal in real life than in the manga or anime. One has to be reminded that it was a grandpa a few centuries old who kept an appearance of a middle-aged man. He was not looking-like a decrepit old relic of the past like Roshi and his older brother, Shen. Seeing his client approaching without any sign of exhaustion, the mercenary clicked his tongue.
« First the money, then we will discuss. »
Gero handed him the case containing the twenty milliard Zeni without blinking, intriguing furthermore the martial artist.
« What do you want to discuss? »
« I want you to train me. »
« You already have some power, and you are old. You think my time is worth pouring into you?Why? »
« Because you sell death. I require power, not the useless martial arts one could find anywhere, I want to learn how to use Ki. » Announced Gero, trying to give the same feeling of motivation like Naruto, when the later was announcing his dream of becoming the Hokage, in a much less annoying way though.
Tao's smile thinned. For most of martial practitioners Ki was just a theoretical concept they didn't understand a thing about. The man in front of him was not simple, he must have learned about Mutaito, or something similar. Tao folded his arms in his iconic way.
« And why? I can just kill you and enjoy the rest of my day. »
« Because I can pay you for your time, I am ready to pay three hundred milliard of Zenni for your instruction if you accept me as your disciple. »
Tao remained pensive for a moment, then his smile came back.
« Three hundred milliard for not only my tutelage, but to become my personal disciple too? » He said rising his brow.
« How much would I need to offer you, Master Tao? » Gero dared.
Visibly it had the expected effect as a discernible glint of greed spark in the eyes of the mercenary.
« Five hundred milliard. » Tao said with amusement, observing Gero's face, checking his disciple-wanna-be reaction.
To his surprise Gero used a capsule to make appear five identical briefcases filled with money. Like Tang San in Douluo Dalu, without waiting, he shamelessly kowtowed three times saying he was greeting his master, and proclaimed: « A master one day, a father forever. » Before Tao could say anything else, he used another hoi-poi capsule to make appear another set of nine briefcases.
« This is my greeting gift master, inside of each case you will find one hundred milliard Zeni. »
What Gero did not say, was that he still was profiting by more than two thousand milliard Zenni after shorting and buying the fluctuating Red Ribbon shares. The mountain was silent, and Tao started laughing and repeating « Good, Good ». Why was he sounding like a Douluo Dalu NPC now? Was that the true power of the Tang Sect? At least the parentless Gero could call some one « daddy » now.
« From today you are my only disciple. You obey me, and this completely. Betrayal means death. The Crane School shows no mercy ! Do you understand? »
« Master! Yes Master! Gero kept rolling with the Douluo stuff, seeing it worked well with Tao. He would smash his head on a rock if he found out his master was in love with his sister though, that would be too much.
« We will go to the Southeast Mountains, the location of our Crane School. It is better to learn in
a place designed for it. »
Gero notifyed Kyou and a private helicopter arrived quickly to fetch and transport them. Tao was pleased, he did not need to carry his new student while riding on a tree trunk for the whole trip. Gero accomplished a major milestone here and additionally, for the years to come the company will know about his whereabouts. And for the research? No need to worry, the Night Dog will do all the work. Praised be the holly spirit machine!