Loading the Dragon Ball Goku Template

"Too damn loud! Who the hell is setting off firecrackers this early in the morning? I—beep beep beep beep!"

Hawking, who had been sleeping soundly, was suddenly jolted awake by a thunderous noise. He roared in irritation as he opened his eyes.

As a 996 wage slave, he finally had a day off to sleep in. The resentment of someone woken by noise was truly terrifying.

After unleashing a string of profanity, he suddenly froze.

"Where is this?"

Hawking was bewildered after glancing around the room.

This large, retro European-style room, which looked somewhat lavish, clearly did not match his cheap, shabby little rental apartment.

Rubbing his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things, he could not help but try to throw off the covers and get down to inspect the place.

But when he saw his hands and body, he let out a disbelieving cry:

"What happened to my body?!"

He discovered that his body had somehow shrunk considerably. It seemed that he had become a child.

He tumbled out of bed and rushed to the standing mirror in the room. Looking at the boy of around eleven or twelve reflected inside, Hawking could not help muttering:

"Could it be... could I have been reborn into my childhood?"

The boy in the mirror looked exactly like Hawking had when he was eleven or twelve. It was undoubtedly him.

"But I never lived in a house like this when I was a child!"

After carefully going through his memories, he recalled that at that age, he had always lived at a boarding school.

Boom!

Just as he was puzzled, a tremendous explosion suddenly sounded outside.

"Who bought firecrackers that loud?"

Setting aside his doubts for the moment, Hawking walked to the window, intending to examine the surroundings outside and figure out where exactly he was.

He reached out and yanked open the curtains. The moment he saw the scene outside, his pupils constricted. His stomach churned, and he nearly vomited.

What had he seen?

Shattered buildings, bloodstained ground, fallen corpses. Planes circled overhead while artillery fire raged below.

Clearly, what he had heard earlier had not been firecrackers, but actual shells exploding. There were even missiles bombarding the area. A brutal war was taking place here.

Danger. Extreme danger!

Run. Run now!

That was Hawking's first reaction, but the moment his body moved, he forced himself to calm down.

Because he realized that there was nowhere he could run.

In a war this dangerous, would leaving this house really make him safe?

With bad luck, he might get riddled with bullets the moment he stepped outside. It might actually be safer to stay in this room.

But looking at the buildings that had been blown apart outside, staying in this room also seemed like a gamble. If a missile struck here, he would be blown to pieces along with the house.

"Maybe I should find somewhere like an air-raid shelter to hide, but... I don't even know where the hell I am!"

At that moment, Hawking fell into a dilemma.

He was just an ordinary person, and now he had even become a child. Safely finding an air-raid shelter in this unfamiliar place was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Click!

Just as Hawking was at a loss, a virtual panel suddenly appeared before his eyes. Then, a line of text appeared on it:

Protagonist Template random draw device activated. You have one free draw available. Would you like to draw?

Looking at the unbelievable scene before him, Hawking barely hesitated before immediately pressing the draw button displayed on the panel.

Now was not the time to dwell on why he had woken up in a war-torn city, why he had turned into a child, or why such a strange virtual panel had appeared.

What he needed to do was survive first.

As soon as he pressed confirm, the virtual panel immediately began flashing rapidly like a bar's disco ball.

A moment later, the panel returned to normal, and another line of text appeared:

Draw complete. The Protagonist Template drawn this time is thirteen-year-old Sun Goku from the Dragon Ball World. Load it?

"There's hope!"

Seeing that the randomly drawn Protagonist Template was Goku from the Dragon Ball World, Hawking's spirits immediately rose. Without hesitation, he clicked confirm again.

If he remembered correctly, thirteen-year-old Goku had already trained under Turtle Hermit and participated in one World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament. Ordinary firearms would have a hard time hurting him now.

Thirteen-year-old Sun Goku Template loading. Duration: one hour. Cooldown: twenty-four hours.

Upon loading, you will automatically gain the same bloodline as the template's protagonist.

As the new prompt flashed across the panel, Hawking immediately felt a strange change come over his body. It was as if his original body had been an ant, while it was now an elephant.

At the same time, a chain of memories surfaced in his mind—every memory Sun Goku had from birth to the age of thirteen.

When he turned to look in the mirror again, his height and facial features had not changed at all. He still looked like his eleven- or twelve-year-old self.

However, his original short buzz cut had become upright black hair, identical to Sun Goku's hairstyle in Dragon Ball.

His pajamas had also been replaced by a Turtle School Martial Arts Uniform bearing the character for "Turtle," and a red staff was strapped to his back.

"I only have one hour. I need to find somewhere safe to hide first!"

According to the panel's description, he could only maintain this state for an hour. After that, he would revert to his original form.

So this was not the time to show off by going out and trying to stop the war in the city. He needed to find somewhere safe to hide first, then wait for the war to end or for the loaded Protagonist Template to finish cooling down.

Having made his decision, he immediately dashed out of the room at a speed beyond normal human limits.

"No one's here."

After taking a quick look and finding the house completely empty, he did not linger and swiftly made his way outside onto the street.

Picking a direction with relatively less artillery fire, Hawking began sprinting at full speed.

He felt that with his current body, an hour should be enough to rush out of the city. There was no need to waste time looking for some so-called air-raid shelter.

However, before he had run very far, he suddenly saw two burly soldiers in differently colored uniforms up ahead. Their rifles were out of ammunition, and they were engaged in close-quarters combat in the middle of the street.

Under normal circumstances, with his personality, he would have run as far away as possible upon seeing something like this.

In a situation as dangerous as this, let alone watching two soldiers fight hand-to-hand, even if he saw soldiers shooting civilians, he would not stop to save them.

He did not mind lending a hand when his own safety was assured, but the Protagonist Template could only stay loaded for an hour at most. He had to prioritize his own safety.

Yet for some reason, seeing the two of them fighting so fiercely made his blood boil. His body actually turned and charged toward them of its own accord.

"Are you two competing in martial arts? Count me in!"

Five seconds later, Hawking stared speechlessly at the two burly soldiers he had knocked unconscious.

"This... is it kind of like a Maoshan priest inviting a god to possess him?

Not only did I get the protagonist's strength, but did I also get a bit of his personality?"

Please bookmark and invest in the new book!

(Goku could not count, so he thought fourteen came after eleven. Only after becoming Turtle Hermit's disciple did he learn that twelve came after eleven. When he first participated in the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, he wrote down his age as twelve.)