Training with King Kai was nothing like training on Earth.
On Earth, when you collapsed from exhaustion, you can relaxed on the floor.
On King Kai's planet, gravity kicked you while you were down and asked why you were being so dramatic.
The first few weeks were a bloody hell.
Ten times gravity crushed every movement, every breath, every thought. Running felt like wading through invisible mud. Jumping was a joke. Flying? Forget it. The planet itself seemed personally offended every time I tried to lift off.
King Kai, meanwhile, stood on the sidelines with his sunglasses on, sipping juice and shouting encouragements like:
"Don't pass out yet! You're doing great, by afterlife standards anyways!"
I hated his jokes.
Respectfully.
Kaio-ken came first.
King Kai explained it carefully, repeatedly stressing that it was dangerous, reckless, and absolutely not meant to be spammed like an idiot.
Naturally, I ignored the last part.
The technique wasn't about raw power, it was about control. Forcing your body to output more energy than it was meant to, multiplying strength, speed, and reflexes at the cost of tearing yourself apart if you messed up.
The first time I activated it, my entire body screamed.
Muscles felt like they were being wrung out. Bones vibrated. My vision went red.
I collapsed immediately.
King Kai sighed. "Yep. That's about right."
It took weeks before I could hold Kaio-ken x2 or the normal Kaio-ken, without falling over. Weeks more before I could move while using it. By the end of the month, I could push it to x3, barely, and only for a few seconds.
But I learned something important about Kaio-ken form King Kai.
Kaio-ken had limit to it, being ×20.
It you tried pushing past than, you poped like balloon.
Then came the Spirit Bomb.
King Kai explained that it wasn't fueled by passion, or effort, or even skill.
It was fueled by trust.
"You don't take energy," he said. "You ask for it."
The first time I tried, nothing happened.
The second time, a bug landed on my head.
The third time, a small glowing ball formed… then fizzled out like a dying firefly.
King Kai laughed so hard he fell over.
"Don't worry!" he said. "Goku was terrible at this too!"
That did not help.
Eventually, I stopped trying to force it. I stood still. I listened. I let go.
And slowly… the energy came.
It wasn't violent. It was gentle. Warm. Like the universe itself was cautiously placing trust in my hands.
The sphere formed properly for the first time.
I nearly cried, NEARLY, i ain't no woss.
About afew hours into training, the planet's peaceful routine was interrupted.
I felt them before I saw them.
Familiar energies.
Yamcha.
Tien.
Chiaotzu.
And Piccolo.
They appeared one by one, each looking… different. Quieter. More serious. Less alive, if that was possible.
"…you guys too, huh?" I asked softly.
Yamcha rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. Turns out Saiyans don't mess around."
Tien nodded. "We held out as long as we could."
Piccolo said nothing. He just crossed his arms and facing his back at me, aura farming like normal.
I didn't need to ask.
They were fighting a pissed off Vegeta.
Earth was still standing, and so it's all good.
King Kai clapped his hands. "Well! Looks like my planet is getting crowded!"
And just like that, we fell into a strange rhythm.
Training. Resting. Watching Earth from afar. Waiting. As they learned Kaio-ken and the spirit bomb, with me, except piccolo, who trained himself.
I trained like a madman.
Kaio-ken. Spirit Bomb. Gravity drills like hugging a monkey. Mental focus.
Death had removed one very important limiter: fear of death, as i can push Kaio-ken to limit all the time, with the downside being the pain.
I pushed myself to the edge constantly, as I completely destroyed myself many times, and after a day i am back to full health, i see why goku learned Super Saiyan 3 here.
By the end of the second month, something clicked.
Kaio-ken stopped hurting as much.
Spirit Bomb formed faster.
My energy felt… cleaner...?!?!.
King Kai watched me quietly one day, arms folded.
"…you done it kid," he said. "You mastered Kaio-ken and spirit-bomb."
That word stuck with me.
'Now what do i...do.....?'
A week later, during normal training, the idea hit me.
And it might work.
"…King Kai," I said casually, "can I go to Heaven?"
He blinked. "You're already supposed to go there eventually."
"Then that means i can go there right now," i said.
He squinted at me. "What are you planning?"
"I want to find Yardrats."
Silence.
Then King Kai laughed.
"Ohhh, you're ambitious."
I nodded. "I need more, NO I WANT MORE POWER."
He thought about it for a moment.
"…yeah. Sure. I don't see why not."
He pointed off into the distance. "There's a group over that way."
I bowed deeply. "Thank you."
"Try not to break Heaven," he added.
"You can do that..?"
Heaven was… nice.
Annoyingly nice.
Soft grass. Warm air. Endless sky.
And sitting in the distance a way i saw...
A group of Yardrats.
Short. Colorful. Wrapped in robes. Sitting on a blanket with baskets of food, laughing quietly.
I walked up slowly and sat down a respectful distance away.
"…hello," I said.
They turned to me, surprised but not alarmed.
"Well hello," one of them said politely.
"I'm Ben," I said. "And I'd like to ask if you could teach me Spirit Control."
They exchanged glances.
"Why?" another asked. "You are already dead."
I smiled softly.
"It won't be forever," I said. "And when I return, I want to protect my world."
They looked at each other.
"Are you sure," one said.
Ben: >:)
"than we will teach you." the more round one said.
Yardrat training was nothing like King Kai's.
Just patience, always patience, anda little more patience on top, in short the worest training i ever had.
I am more of, no pain, no gain, type of guy.
They taught me that power was meaningless without direction. That wasting energy was the same as lacking it. That techniques like Instant Transmission, Healing, Cloning, and Gigantification weren't separate abilities, they were expressions of control.
At first, I failed constantly horribly.
Teleporting inches instead of miles.
Healing paper cuts but exhausting myself.
Clones collapsing immediately.
But slowly… I improved.
Months passed.
Energy stopped spilling out of me.
Every movement became deliberate.
Precise.
Balanced.
One day, I teleported cleanly for the first time.
Another day, I healed myself without strain.
The Yardrats nodded approvingly.
"You are ready," the round green one said.
I bowed deeply.
I returned to King Kai's planet stronger than I had ever been.
Not just in power.
But in understanding.
I wonder how strong i am.
Ben power level: 24,521