Ki!

The Earth Dragon had been thoroughly enraged. Its dozen-meter-tall body raised its ferocious head, and its massive form rose above the forest canopy. Roaring, it opened its blood-soaked maw at Chaya, baring dozens of sharp fangs.

"Courting death!" A cold glint flashed through Chaya's eyes. Blue light flickered in his hand as a fist-sized sphere of energy condensed within it.

"Let me, let me!" Just as Chaya was about to strike, Selyne impatiently leaped in front of the Earth Dragon. Her tiny body stood in stark contrast to the Earth Dragon's enormous frame.

Seeing Selyne rubbing her fists eagerly, Chaya nodded and dispersed the energy sphere in his hand. He stepped aside with interest and said, "Then I'll leave it to you. Make it quick."

"Got it!" Selyne happily raised her head. Looking at the Earth Dragon, which was countless times larger than herself, a bloodthirsty smile appeared on her little face. "Hehe, be a good little meal for me."

A chilling coldness seeped from her childish voice.

The moment her words fell, countless dazzling energy blasts descended amid Selyne's wild laughter, raining down madly upon the Earth Dragon.

"Rumble—"

The instant the energy blasts struck the Earth Dragon, deafening explosions erupted. Miserable howls and violent tremors shook the ground as smoke from the explosions swallowed everything from view. When the thick smoke finally cleared, several hundred square meters of land had been blasted beyond recognition, filled with cracked fissures, overturned dirt, and scattered stones.

Having endured Selyne's direct attack, the pitiful Earth Dragon now lay sprawled on the ground, covered in wounds and emitting green smoke. Its split-open injuries had been half-cooked by the intense heat.

"I only told you to kill the Earth Dragon. Why did you have to make such a huge mess? Look at how you ruined the meat."

Chaya grabbed Selyne by the head and gave her a harsh scolding. His tone held nothing but concern over the meat she had ruined, without the slightest sympathy for the Earth Dragon's death.

This was the Saiyans' instinctive law of the strong devouring the weak. Even with memories of his previous life, Chaya had been influenced by the Saiyans to a certain extent.

Selyne wriggled free with a whimper and said carelessly, "All right, all right. Chaya, hurry up and deal with the food."

"You little glutton!" Chaya rapped her hard on the head, earning an angry glare from Selyne before he focused on processing the Earth Dragon's corpse.

"Shhk—"

Several blade-thin energy slashes swept down, cutting the Earth Dragon's body into several pieces. Chaya picked up the sliced Earth Dragon meat and examined it, selecting several especially good cuts to bring back to the canyon where their temporary shelter was located.

He washed the meat in the pool, then built a fire and secured the cuts over it with tree branches to roast them. The blood-red meat gradually turned golden brown under the flames, while clear grease dripped along the wooden rack. Soon, the entire canyon was filled with the rich aroma of roasted meat.

Selyne stared blankly at the roast, swallowing from time to time. Her pretty little eyes kept darting toward Chaya, her face full of longing like a kitten begging for food.

"All right, it's ready!" Chaya rolled his eyes and waved helplessly.

The instant Chaya gave the order, Selyne had already become a black blur that darted to the roast. She grabbed a piece larger than her own body and began gnawing on it furiously.

"Mmm, delicious, delicious! It's been so long since I had food this good." Selyne's face was covered in grease as she stuffed her mouth full of meat and cried out indistinctly.

Before long, several pieces of roasted meat had entered their stomachs. It had to be said that Saiyans possessed astonishing digestive abilities; food was digested almost as soon as it entered their bodies.

After the meal, Selyne lay on the grass with her little belly bulging, her face full of satisfaction. At that moment, she did not want to move at all.

Chaya smiled and shook his head. He walked over, picked Selyne up, and carried her to the pool nearby. Then he took off her battle suit, intending to give her a bath.

But brats were brats, even Saiyan brats. While Chaya washed her, Selyne was constantly mischievous and troublesome. A simple bath ended up taking a full hour.

Chaya could not help sighing over how he was supposed to get through the days ahead.

Later, the sky gradually darkened. Chaya and Selyne lay on dry grass inside the cave, and before long, the soft breathing of a little girl reached his ears. Looking down, he found Selyne clutching his arm, her tiny nose rising and falling as she slept soundly.

Seeing Selyne's satisfied expression, Chaya chuckled to himself.

This little foodie is pretty easy to raise. She's already this cute as a child—what will she be like when she grows up? Hmm, does this count as raising a loli?

The night passed without incident.

The next day, the light of dawn slowly drew back the curtain on another brilliant and colorful morning.

Since Planet Selma was located in a system with two stars, its night lasted only three short hours. That was clearly insufficient rest for living creatures, especially children, whose sleep had to be ensured.

Thus, it was only five hours after the sun rose that Chaya finally led the bleary-eyed Selyne to the pool and began the day's activities.

After a simple breakfast, Chaya sealed the entrance to the cave and activated the Scouter. In an instant, countless energy sources flashed before his eyes.

After searching for a target, Chaya turned to Selyne and said, "We'll start by hunting targets with lower battle power. During combat, try to stay away from energy sources with high battle power."

"Chaya, there's an energy source with a battle power of 243 moving more than a hundred kilometers to the northwest. There are no other energy sources around it."

"Then we'll pick that one."

Chaya had detected the target as well. "When we fight later, don't rush to kill it, and try not to use the Scouter to observe it."

"Why?" Selyne asked in confusion.

"There are many life-forms in the universe that possess all sorts of strange abilities. Some of those abilities cannot be detected by a Scouter."

"If they hide their battle power, the Scouter won't be able to detect it at all. So I want to use this opportunity to train our combat skills and our ability to sense energy. It'll be very useful when we enter the universe in the future."

"Huh?"

Selyne tilted her head, still looking as though she did not understand.

After all, she was only a little over four years old. What Chaya was talking about was still too complicated for her.

"You just need to listen." Chaya spoke with a serious expression, his sharp eyes gazing deeply into the distance.

To him, Selma was a rare training ground. There were countless powerful prey here, yet none of them surpassed him by too much. It was the ideal place for cultivation.

He was deliberately honing both his and Selyne's combat skills. After all, the battles here were genuine fights to the death, battles that drew blood, not the carefully protected training sessions in Planet Vegeta's training camps.

At the same time, he needed to improve his ability to sense energy. Although he could not learn the Earthlings' keen perception of Ki, he could at least lay some foundation.

At this time, Chaya hoped his energy growth would slow down a little, so he could gradually comprehend the essence of Ki.

But that was clearly unlikely, because both Chaya and Selyne were Mid-Class Warriors. Once they reached adulthood, their battle power would reach between 2,000 and 3,000.

This was completely different from the Earthlings' situation.

On Earth, martial artists like Master Roshi had to cultivate tirelessly for fifty or sixty years before they could develop Ki techniques. Precisely because the Ki within them was scarce and generated slowly, their understanding of Ki was instead far more detailed.

They studied every trace of Ki with utmost thoroughness.

What was lost in one place was gained in another.

Saiyans, and indeed most aliens in the universe, were born with immense power that grew at an extremely rapid rate. As a result, they overlooked many essential things and merely treated Ki as a form of energy to be used.

Their offensive methods and applications were exceedingly crude.

What Chaya needed to do now was lay a solid foundation while he still could, so that he could better learn how to use Ki in the future.