Be Ruthless with Yourself

"What... what are you trying to do? My meat doesn't taste good at all!"

Sensing the sudden malicious intent, Karin's fur stood completely on end. Hugging his staff and trembling, he shakily asked Rhode.

"Ahem."

Rhode had only meant to scare Karin, but he hadn't expected this guy to be so timid. He had no choice but to put away the thought of joking. "Karin, it's like this. I came here because I wanted to trade with you for some Senzu Beans."

"Senzu Beans?"

Hearing that Rhode wasn't planning to eat him and had merely come for those useless Senzu Beans, Karin let out a heavy sigh of relief. He quickly waved his staff, moving several jars of Senzu Beans in front of Rhode, and generously said,

"They're all here. Take as many as you want."

Take as many as he wanted?

Hearing Karin's words, Rhode swept his gaze over the large jars of Senzu Beans before him and instinctively swallowed.

One Senzu Bean was one life. Looking at those several full jars, there had to be at least ten thousand beans by rough estimate. Ten thousand Senzu Beans meant ten thousand lives—perhaps even more!

"Then thank you, Karin!"

Since Karin was being so generous, Rhode didn't stand on ceremony. Under Karin's dumbfounded gaze, he directly packed up all the jars of Senzu Beans.

Rather than letting Yajirobe waste these jars of Senzu Beans as food, it was better to keep them with himself. At the very least, he wouldn't squander them.

With that thought, Rhode ignored Karin's expression and stored the jars away using Hoi-Poi Capsules.

Of course, since he had called it a trade, he couldn't simply take them for free.

Rhode would never bully a cat. After putting away the Senzu Beans, he took out another Hoi-Poi Capsule.

Bang!

After a burst of smoke, a Solar Refrigerator appeared before the man and cat.

"Karin, this is a household appliance used by people nowadays. It can store food and keep it fresh."

As he explained it to Karin, Rhode found a suitable spot atop Korin Tower to set up the solar panel, then connected the wires.

Bang!

Another Hoi-Poi Capsule opened. The moment it appeared, Karin immediately rushed over with gleaming eyes.

This time, it was a transparent Glass Fish Tank filled with many fish. At that moment, watching the fish swim through the glass, even Karin's normally narrowed eyes opened wide.

Clearly, he was extremely satisfied with this gift.

"Karin, I brought the fish tank, but this place is too high up. I'm afraid the fish will have a hard time surviving!"

Seeing Karin stare fixedly at the fish, Rhode had no choice but to remind him.

After all, this was Korin Tower, reaching deep into the sky where the air was thin. Nothing living here was ordinary, and normal creatures like fish clearly didn't belong in that category.

"I can handle something this trivial!"

In response to Rhode's concern, Karin licked his lips, casually waved a paw, and spoke with complete confidence.

"Then there's no problem."

It was good if Karin could solve the issue. As for how he would solve it, Rhode didn't need to worry about that. It was perfectly normal for an immortal to have a few special methods.

"I didn't expect you to be such a nice guy!"

Rhode had brought a refrigerator and a huge tank of fish. In an instant, Karin no longer feared him and even began to feel favorably toward him.

In Karin's eyes, trading a few jars of useless Senzu Beans for these things was an absolute steal!

"Karin, how is the current Senzu Bean yield?"

Although he had obtained several jars of Senzu Beans, they were still finite and would eventually run out. Only a continuous supply of Senzu Beans could last in the long term.

Faced with Rhode's question, Karin shook his head. "The yield isn't high. Only a few grow each year. Those jars were accumulated over many years."

"Can't you improve the cultivation methods and increase the yield?"

Hearing that only a few were produced each year, Rhode couldn't help frowning. Who would that tiny amount be enough for? Production had to be expanded.

"That would be difficult!"

Karin shook his head, clearly not optimistic about Rhode's suggestion. Then he looked at Rhode in confusion. "These beans can fill your stomach, but they taste bad and aren't very useful. Why do you care so much about them?"

Not very useful?

Hearing Karin's assessment of Senzu Beans, Rhode's mouth twitched.

Perhaps to an aloof hermit like Karin, someone detached from worldly matters and uninterested in fighting, Senzu Beans truly had little use beyond filling one's stomach. But to those who fought often, they were priceless treasures.

Thinking of this, Rhode suddenly realized that while Karin wasn't especially strong, he was still an immortal. With his abilities, getting fish to eat wouldn't be difficult at all.

Yet this guy had always remained atop Korin Tower, never going down and never actively seeking fish.

However, when Rhode brought fish right before him, Karin displayed an incomparable craving for them. Those two behaviors were rather contradictory.

Perhaps that was the realm of an immortal. Mortals had a hard time understanding it.

"Senzu Beans will be very useful in the future. If you can increase their yield, then please do your best, Karin."

Rhode spoke to Karin earnestly and sincerely. But seeing that Karin clearly wasn't taking it too seriously, he thought for a moment before continuing, "How about this? As long as you work hard to increase the Senzu Bean yield, I'll provide you with this many fish every month!"

As he spoke, Rhode held up one finger to Karin.

Seeing Rhode's raised finger, Karin immediately shook his head. "One fish won't do. That's too few. I want ten!"

Ten?

Rhode looked at his finger, then at Karin, who seemed to have made an enormous decision before asking for ten fish. He could no longer bring himself to make his original promise of one hundred fish per month.

He truly didn't understand the world of immortals!

"Alright, it's a deal!"

Shaking his head helplessly, Rhode reached an agreement with Karin. With this, there shouldn't be a future situation where they had to split a single Senzu Bean apart just to eat it, right?

After settling the matter of increasing Senzu Bean production, Rhode began discussing martial arts with Karin.

The Karin before him had lived for over eight hundred years and possessed even richer experience than Master Roshi. After their exchange, Rhode gained quite a lot.

As for the other specialties here, Rhode wasn't particularly interested.

The Flying Nimbus?

Not only was it slower than his own flying speed, Rhode knew himself well enough to admit that he probably couldn't ride it.

As for the Super Holy Water that could unleash one's potential, something containing such potent poison simply wasn't worth the little Potential Unleashed it offered. He was better off not drinking it.

After bidding Karin farewell and returning to the Lookout, Rhode saw Aila receiving Popo's guidance without any issues, which immediately put him at ease.

Afterward, Rhode left the Lookout and found an uninhabited Wasteland. With a Senzu Bean in his mouth, he began gathering an Energy Blast in his hand.

The next moment, he gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and directly aimed the Energy Blast at himself without any protection.

Boom!

The Energy Blast exploded, and the completely unprotected Rhode suffered minor injuries.

Clearly, even after making up his mind to attack himself, he had still held back. The attack wasn't very powerful.

But that was only the first time. After that, he showed himself no mercy.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Energy Blasts exploded across his body one after another. In an instant, Rhode was severely wounded and collapsed to the ground, unable to rise. Even moving became extremely difficult.

Crunch!

Feeling that his current condition meant he would die after only a few more hits, Rhode immediately chewed up the Senzu Bean in his mouth.