So Many Senzu Beans

"There are so many!" When Chaya saw the five huge jars of Senzu Beans Korin had brought out, his eyes lit up. At that moment, he was like a destitute pauper who had suddenly found a room full of gold, his gaze burning with desire.

There had to be seventy or eighty thousand Senzu Beans in those five jars at the very least!

Senzu Beans had not seemed especially valuable in the early days of the Dragon Balls. They were lavishly used as food to stave off hunger. But later on, they were genuine life-saving treasures. Not only could they rapidly restore stamina, they could instantly heal all kinds of injuries.

Just think of the later days, when Son Goku and the others had wanted to split one bean in half so two people could share it. What a miserable life that had been! So when Chaya saw so many Senzu Beans before him, he wanted nothing more than to sweep them all away, lest they be wasted by that fat Yajirobe in the future.

"Catch!"

Korin grabbed a Senzu Bean from a clay jar and tossed it over.

Chaya caught it, popped it into his mouth, and chewed it up. With a crisp "crunch," it tasted somewhat like roasted beans and had little flavor. But as the Senzu Bean broke apart, a miraculous surge of vitality spread through his mouth, followed by warmth flowing throughout his body.

The hunger in his stomach magically vanished, and his mental exhaustion was swept away as well. His whole body felt revitalized, brimming with strength.

He flexed a little and found himself in peak condition!

"This effect... Senzu Beans really are something miraculous!"

After personally experiencing the wonder of Senzu Beans, Chaya wanted them even more. As he stared at the jars of beans, his eyes burned with desire.

"I wonder if Karin could give me some of these Senzu Beans?"

"Oh, of course!"

Korin waved a hand carelessly and directly tossed the jars of Senzu Beans in his paws toward him.

This left Chaya stunned. He had only meant to ask Korin for a few Senzu Beans; a few thousand would have been enough.

He had never expected Korin to be so generous as to give him all five huge jars. There were probably seventy or eighty thousand beans in total!

Looks like this thing and I were meant to be! Chaya was delighted and immediately put the Senzu Beans away.

With a swipe of his finger through the air, the smooth space before him was sliced open like a thin sheet of paper, revealing a dark-red rift. Chaya carefully placed the five huge jars of Senzu Beans into Dimensional Space.

This was a new technique he had developed while training at the Sacred Temple. It had no offensive power, but it was perfect for storing things.

Korin looked at the space rift floating in midair in surprise, then suddenly laughed. "Oh? You have quite a few tricks up your sleeve. Used properly, that technique could be a terrifying weapon!"

"Haha, it's just a minor trick! Still, thank you. These Senzu Beans will help me immensely." Chaya laughed heartily, looking thoroughly pleased.

Getting so many Senzu Beans at once was an unexpected windfall. With them, he had far more capital for training. It was like a veteran street racer on Mount Akina buying himself several hefty insurance policies in a row—many training methods he had not dared to try before were now worth attempting.

Korin waved it off indifferently. "These Senzu Beans were originally meant to restore the stamina and satisfy the hunger of challengers who climbed Korin Tower. But no one has climbed up here in all these years, so they were useless just sitting around. I might as well give them all to you."

So you were wasting a priceless treasure, Chaya thought with a smile. Then he asked curiously, "How is the yield of these Senzu Beans?"

Even after obtaining so many Senzu Beans, Chaya had already begun coveting more.

Korin seemed to have guessed his thoughts and shook his head. "Senzu Beans need Sacred Water to grow. I cultivated a small patch of land on Korin Tower, but it only produces around a hundred beans a year. The yield has been getting lower and lower in recent years. The ones in your hands are what I had left after accumulating them for several hundred years."

"I see..."

Chaya nodded regretfully, but when he thought of the tens of thousands of Senzu Beans already stored in his Dimensional Space, his mood immediately brightened.

After thinking it over, he offered a well-meaning reminder. "Karin, Senzu Beans are truly good things. Their use is not limited to satisfying hunger and restoring stamina. I think their healing effects are the most important of all. I suggest expanding the cultivation area a little. They may prove extremely useful someday!"

Korin stroked his whiskers and nodded. Chaya's words had indeed reminded him of something. Earth had not faced powerful enemies in the past, so the importance of Senzu Beans had never stood out. But just because they had not been needed before did not mean they would not be needed in the future—especially once Earth was exposed to the universe, where it could attract the covetous eyes of countless powerful beings at any time.

As sacred medicine for healing injuries, Senzu Beans were indeed indispensable.

"Mm, I understand. I'll try expanding the Senzu Bean fields. But they need Sacred Water for irrigation, and condensing Sacred Water is not easy. No one can say how much the yield can actually be improved."

"We can try planting more first!"

Chaya flashed a brilliant smile, his expression almost coaxing.

As long as Korin was willing to expand the Senzu Bean fields, production would rise one way or another. And once Korin understood their importance, even if Yajirobe wanted to eat them in the future, Korin presumably would not hand them over for him to squander as he had in the original story.

The reason Chaya had managed to obtain so many Senzu Beans this time was, in truth, because Korin did not know how valuable they were. If everyone knew something was a treasure, how could they possibly give it away so casually?

After bidding Korin farewell, Chaya left Korin Tower and returned to the Sacred Temple.

Once back at the Sacred Temple, Chaya suddenly slapped his forehead. He had just remembered that he seemed to have forgotten to ask Korin about Ultra Divine Water.

That was something capable of unlocking potential. Wouldn't it be a terrible waste to miss out on it?

Then he shook his head again. Forget it. Ultra Divine Water did not seem particularly safe.

To ordinary people, Ultra Divine Water was poison!

The way it unlocked potential was simply too overbearing.

In the original story, Son Goku had barely survived it, relying on his Saiyan bloodline to endure. Chaya even suspected that drinking Ultra Divine Water, combined with repeatedly using Kaioken under tremendous strain later on, had caused Son Goku's heart muscle to deteriorate prematurely and led to his viral heart disease.

Seriously, how could the heart—the power core of a Saiyan, a warrior race—simply develop problems? For individuals with extremely high combat power, ordinary foreign pathogens could not cause much harm at all. Their immune systems were extraordinarily powerful! The moment germs entered their bodies, immune cells in their bodily fluids would devour them.

Yet Son Goku had developed viral heart disease. Most likely, some cause had created a weak point in his body.

Though it was only speculation, Chaya felt it was better to be careful. It would be bad if seeking momentary convenience left behind hidden dangers for the future.

"There is more than one way to unlock potential in the universe. Maybe someday, when I go to Namek, I can ask the Grand Elder there to unlock mine? That has absolutely no side effects."

"Could Ultra Divine Water be the very Sacred Water Korin uses to irrigate the Senzu Beans?" Chaya remained at the Sacred Temple, lost in wild thoughts alone.