The Road Ahead

"Planet Vegeta has been destroyed..." Roland told them honestly.

Hertz was devastated by the news. His resolute face suddenly fell, his expression turning despondent. The destruction of Planet Vegeta had taken not only the comrades he had fought alongside, but also his wife, Ashita. They were all dead.

The mighty Saiyan race was about to be wiped out.

Seeing Hertz fall silent, Sephiria didn't know what to say. After all, she couldn't understand the depth of his grief.

She gently patted his shoulder. Compared to Hertz, perhaps she was lucky, because she still had Roland, a member of her family. She glanced at their surroundings. Dust filled the dim, yellow sky, and the atmosphere churned rapidly. Some plants grew across the vast land, but the polluted air made it an unpleasant place to be.

"Where are we?" Sephiria asked.

"Najang Planet, the closest planet with life to Planet Vegeta. We were short on time, so I had to pick a planet at random," Roland replied.

"I know this planet," Hertz said. "The living conditions are harsh, so the Frieza Force never included it among the planets for sale. They only use it as a temporary stopover."

Sephiria furrowed her brow. "That means members of the Frieza Force might be stationed here."

"Yes."

Hertz nodded. He was beginning to recover, but a hint of hidden sadness remained in his eyes.

The three of them understood that they couldn't stay on a planet like this for long. Since Frieza intended to wipe out the entire Saiyan race, he would soon send people to hunt down any Saiyans still away from home. So close to Planet Vegeta, this was hardly a safe place. On top of that, the environment was harsh, and even food was scarce.

"Hertz, eat the bean you're holding. It seems to restore your strength in an instant," Sephiria urged him, encouraging him to use the Senzu Bean.

"This is called a Senzu Bean. It's a miraculous item from a certain planet. One bean can keep you from needing to eat for ten days, and, more importantly, it restores your strength instantly. It can heal any injury at once, except for illnesses," Roland explained.

After hearing him out, Hertz held the shriveled Senzu Bean, hardly able to believe what he'd heard. He put it in his mouth and chewed. Soon, a look of shock spread across his face. His strength really had returned.

"Th-there's something this incredible in the universe?"

"You'll come across even more incredible things in the future," Roland said with a mysterious smile.

Sephiria and Hertz were both good Saiyans. With so few Saiyans left in the universe, they needed to stick together until they grew strong enough to protect themselves.

"..."

Sephiria stared at Roland. Seeing his cheerful grin, she couldn't help reaching out and lifting him up. At less than a meter tall, Roland was no match for her. He struggled for quite a while before she finally put him down.

"Alright, let's talk business. The Frieza Force is definitely hunting down any Saiyans who've been left on their own in the universe. We can't stay here for long. We need to think about where to go next."

Failing to plan ahead invited trouble. Until he was strong enough, Roland would never risk a confrontation with Frieza. He didn't have much of a grudge against Frieza, and he wasn't foolish enough to avenge the Saiyans who had died.

Just as Sephiria had said before, the destruction of Planet Vegeta was no different from the destruction of the planets the Saiyans had conquered. In the struggle for survival, the weak were eliminated. They had died because they weren't strong enough.

Even Sephiria saw it that way, so Roland had nothing to add.

At Roland's question, Sephiria and Hertz grew serious. "The Frieza Force's influence stretches across the southern part of the North Galaxy. They haven't formally established a territory, but if we stay here, there's a very high chance we'll run into them," Sephiria said.

"How about heading to the western part of the North Galaxy?" Hertz suggested. "The Frieza Force rarely goes there. And according to legend, that's where our Saiyan ancestors came from."

"Planet Sadala?" Sephiria had heard of their homeworld.

"That was when the Saiyans were at their most glorious. If it hadn't been for the civil war, Planet Sadala would never have been destroyed, and we Saiyans would never have been driven into exile on Planet Vegeta." Hertz sighed. Their former glory was long gone, and there was no point dwelling on it now.

"The western part of the North Galaxy sounds like a good place to go," Sephiria said.

"Then let's go there."

Roland had no objections. Earth would have been an ideal planet, but it was simply too fragile. Since he needed to grow stronger as quickly as possible, he had already ruled it out.

Sephiria looked at Roland. "But we don't have a spaceship. I'm afraid using your ability alone will wear you out."

Roland's Transfer Technique was amazing, but taking two people with him on each jump put a heavy strain on his strength. The last time he'd taken Sephiria and Hertz away from Planet Vegeta, it had nearly killed him.

"Who says we don't have a spaceship?"

Roland gave Sephiria a faint smile. Without beating around the bush, he took a Hoi-Poi Capsule from his pocket and tossed it. A huge cloud of smoke burst out with a "poof," revealing a squat, black, oval-shaped spaceship before them. It was thirty meters long and more than eight meters tall, looking like a small mountain.

It was the Gravity Spaceship, modified by Dr. Brief.

"A genius scientist made some special modifications to this spaceship. Its power system has been completely upgraded, and its performance is every bit as good as the Frieza Force's most advanced ships. Besides the cockpit, the front cabin has four rooms..."

As Roland gave them a general overview of the Gravity Spaceship, Sephiria and Hertz grew curious when they heard it had equipment that could alter gravity and atmospheric pressure.

They went aboard, and Roland let them experience the appeal of the Gravity Training Room firsthand. They soon grew fond of the ship.

The Gravity Chamber was just like a planet with extreme gravity, and it was an excellent way to improve their strength.

"With this training room, my strength will improve by leaps and bounds. How about we hold off on going to the western part of the North Galaxy and find a quiet planet to train in seclusion for a while?" Sephiria's fair cheeks flushed with excitement. To her, growing stronger was the most important thing.

"Agreed. The stronger we are, the safer we'll be." Having just experienced the destruction of his home planet, Hertz nodded emphatically.

Seeing this, Roland nodded slightly. Before he knew it, this five-year-old child had become the center of the group.

They opened the spaceship's database and searched through it together. At last, they settled on a planet far from the Frieza Force's surveillance. It was a mid-level planet with signs of life, but no civilization had developed there yet.