As soon as Guru placed his large hand over my head, random images began flicking through my brain, faster than I could even follow them. Getting my mind read felt strangely intrusive, wrong.
I could tell that he wasn't exactly ripping the thoughts out of my head, though. If I really wanted to, I could block him from continuing with a thought, and there were a couple of times that I actually came close to doing that instinctively, but I managed to stop myself just in time, allowing him to continue reading my memories at his own pace.
It took Guru longer to read my mind than it'd shown in the anime, but that made sense. There was a lot of information about potential futures for him to go through. Every once in a while, his brow would furrow and he'd make a noise, but neither of us spoke while he was reading. The information that I was currently sharing was simply too important for small talk.
Finally, after about ten minutes of silence, Guru let out a deep sigh, and unlocked my potential without another word. Immediately, my aura surged, seemingly without limits. It felt like I'd just drunk a literal ton of coffee on steroids. It was an exhilarating, addictive feeling. In an instant, my power level had surged from somewhere upwards of 25,000 to something far and away higher than anything I'd ever felt before. I didn't even have a reference for it anymore.
I really needed to let the Doctor analyze the inner workings of my scouter so that I could get a better reading on my resting power level.
I knew that my base strength was now far beyond 100,000, but it was still around where my power spiked to when I attempted the Ikari state, so I didn't think that I'd quite managed to break 300,000 yet. Maybe not even 200,000, but still, my Ikari state strength was now definitely beyond a million.
"As you know, my method of unlocking latent potential does break bottlenecks, but it also stalls future progress until you build your foundations to make up for the increase in power. Normally, I would refrain from doing it, but your latent abilities as a Saiyan should more than make up the difference."
"Thank you, Grand Elder."
"Enough of that, young Tarble. The information that you just brought me will be invaluable in the future. I should be groveling to you right now, but you'll have to excuse my limited mobility." Guru replied, waving his hand, "It seems that you have a long journey ahead of you, filled with numerous, incalculably strong enemies. I have no problems with the likes of you using our Dragon Balls for your aims. Do not worry about downsides. A wish or two is fine." Guru explained.
"So, the whole 'negative energy' thing…?" I was extremely worried about that. According to Dragon Ball GT lore, each wish granted with the Dragon Balls generated energy based on its impact on the universe in general, and when that energy got too dense, it'd create monsters stronger than anything faced in that corner of the universe in recent history.
GT was basically just one giant plot hole, but Dragon Ball was filled with those kinds of logical fallacies, so I was extremely wary of there being some kernel of truth to the weird plot lines.
But Guru simply waved his hand. "Each wish granted with the Dragon Balls does generate karmic energy based on the outcome of the wish, that much is true, but the balls themselves do not normally store that energy. The dragon itself acts as a conduit, channeling the dark energy into the planet's core for purification." He explained, "So long as Planet Namek itself is not destroyed, the Dragon Balls can theoretically make as many positive wishes as necessary with zero backlash."
I bit my lip, thinking that through.
In other words, when the Dragon Balls' home planet stays destroyed for a certain amount of time, the energy is forced to flow back into the balls, and only then can they theoretically overload.
But it also meant that the Black Star Dragon Balls that blew up their home planet after use, due to their creators being less than pure of heart, was a theoretical possibility, if the dragon didn't purify the karmic energy right.
GT was still just a massive plot hole, though, and that still scared the pants off of me.
As I worried myself stupid mentally, Guru pressed a button on his throne, and a pedestal arose in the center of the room. On top of it, cushioned by a purple pillow, was a pile of six dragon balls, with the one star ball resting atop the ancient namekian's throne.
"Call Nail in, young Saiyan, and tell him to bring your friends. After their potential is unlocked, I will have him grant your wish."
"Thank you, Mr. Guru."
I went outside to call my team, and Nail, in, but immediately upon opening the door, I was accosted.
"Whoa! Tarble, you got strong! What happened?! You're so incredibly strong now! How'd you do it? Is whatever just happened in there why we came here in the first place?!" Pepper latched onto my arm, snaked her tail around my waist, and immediately began peppering me with question after question regarding my massive boost in power.
As much as I couldn't blame her for being curious, I used my own tail to unhook hers. "Guys, the Grand Elder will explain everything. Come on, he wants to talk to everyone."