Training

"Big Sister, can you tell me what year it is, and also, can you take me away from Planet Vegeta?" Roland hugged Sephiria's beautiful, long legs.

Sephiria's jewel-like eyes glanced at Roland, and she pressed her scouter to test him. After a series of "beep-beep-beep" electronic sounds, Sephiria saw Roland's combat power clearly.

A combat power of 210; for his age, this was quite excellent for an intermediate-level warrior. Reaching 3,000 combat power after adulthood would be no problem.

After comparing him to other warriors in her mind, the way Sephiria looked at Roland became much more agreeable.

"With your strength, you could actually take on some simple missions."

"Exactly."

"Don't get cocky!" Sephiria shot a glance at Roland. "You don't even have an identity record right now, so you can't take any missions at all. We need to re-register your identity first... By the way, where have you been these days? Why was your identity cancelled?"

Roland said gloomily, "I was seriously injured during training, and after they failed to save me, I was just thrown out to be buried. Honestly, I think I could have been saved..."

Most of what Roland said was the truth, with only a tiny bit omitted.

"Slap." After hearing Roland's account, the cold aura radiating from Sephiria grew even stronger. "From now on, you will live at my place. I will handle the identity issue for you; we'll register you as my younger brother."

Sephiria and her parents had left Planet Vegeta five years ago to carry out a large-scale mission. Roland's new identity would be the younger brother Sephiria had given birth to while away. They could even keep the same name; it wasn't unheard of for Saiyans to share names.

Actually, I think it's best not to register at all.

All I need is a spaceship.

Roland muttered to himself, still unable to stop thinking about leaving Planet Vegeta.

Sephiria's home was located in a large settlement near the Royal Capital, one of the more developed areas for the Saiyan population. In the following days, Sephiria arranged a new identity for Roland and also obtained a brand-new energy scouter for him from the Saiyan administrative department.

Playing with the energy scouter in his hand, he pointed it at the surrounding Saiyans, letting it beep wildly. When he aimed it at himself, Roland saw the data: 210. He couldn't help but feel a bit proud.

This was equivalent to the strength of the elderly King Piccolo.

It seemed that his strength had indeed increased significantly after being on the verge of death. Of course, it was also the result of his hundred-plus days of grueling exercise.

He aimed it at Sephiria.

"4254!"

This figure blinded Roland. High-level warriors were truly impressive; to be this strong at seventeen, she would probably be over 5,000 in a few years. She was much stronger than other high-level warriors.

Following lazily behind Sephiria, Roland considered his next steps.

Because of the time spent together over the past few days, Roland had come to understand Sephiria's personality: cold, aloof, and a training fanatic. This fit the Saiyan temperament well. No wonder she possessed such combat power at a young age; it was all the result of her daily efforts.

What surprised Roland even more was that he had managed to gather news about Vegeta. This was actually easy to find out; with the birth of a genius like Vegeta, King Vegeta would naturally want to publicize it extensively.

"Vegeta is the same age as me; he'll be four in a few months. That means there's only a little over a year left until the destruction of Planet Vegeta."

The time of Planet Vegeta's destruction could be easily calculated. When Goku landed on Earth in his spaceship, Bulma was just five years old, and Vegeta was one year older than her. Subtracting the time Goku spent traveling to Earth, Vegeta would be about five when Planet Vegeta was destroyed.

There was only a little over a year left.

Time was tight. A brilliant light shone in Roland's eyes as he secretly told himself he had to escape Planet Vegeta as soon as possible.

"Roland, I've applied for a relatively entry-level mission for you. It's not very difficult, and I think you can handle it with your strength." Coming out of the mission planning office, Sephiria handed the mission sheet to Roland, along with a spacecraft that wasn't particularly advanced.

Roland gripped the mission sheet tightly, his heart blooming with joy.

"That's great."

"However, I think it's best if you wait until you're four to go. There are still a few months left, and I need to strengthen your abilities." She was very dissatisfied with Roland's current strength, so Sephiria decided to train him.

"Really? Then thank you so much."

A Saiyan with a combat power of over 4,000 was willing to train him; Roland naturally couldn't ask for more. But he didn't know that he would soon regret this thought, because Sephiria's drills couldn't be called training—it was pure torture.

In the wilderness.

Roland fell to the ground, bruised and battered, with hardly a patch of skin left intact. Considering that Roland was still very young—if he were in his previous life, he would still be in kindergarten—yet here, he was subjected to inhuman torture every single day. And the culprit behind it all was a woman named "Sephiria."

Sephiria was his cousin.

He really regretted trusting her before, thinking she would be gentle. The facts proved that the woman was just a lunatic with a penchant for abusing others.

"That crazy woman, I'll be tortured to death by her sooner or later."

"It hurts!"

Roland touched his swollen chin; even speaking was agonizing.

This wasn't training; it was just getting beaten up. That woman Sephiria didn't know the meaning of holding back. No matter what, she would start with a brutal thrashing without offering any targeted guidance. In her words, the first step of Saiyan combat was learning how to take a beating. Since Roland's innate nutritional status couldn't compare to other Saiyans, he had to work harder to forge a tough, thick-skinned body.

Tough and thick-skinned, my foot! Could he even be seen in public after being trained like that?

The image of Nappa's ghastly appearance flashed through his mind—that shiny, bald head. Roland couldn't help but shudder. Going bald didn't necessarily mean getting stronger; he didn't want to end up like that.

He couldn't go on like this.

"Get up!" With a blunt reprimand, Sephiria looked at him coldly, a daunting blue ball of light coalescing in her hand.

You think I'll listen just because of that?

Fine!

"Oh." Roland drooped his eyelids and gave her a cautious look. He sighed silently. In front of her, he was as weak and insignificant as an ant. To avoid getting beaten, he'd better just be obedient.

This isn't cowardice!

His combat power hadn't risen much during this time, but his ability to withstand blows had improved significantly.

"Although you haven't soaked in enough nutrient fluid, your current physical fitness is no worse than any other child's. Next, you will learn Saiyan combat techniques. When you carry out missions, the computer will transmit them directly into your brain."

Sephiria looked at Roland; this was the reason she only trained his physique and did not teach him combat techniques.

Roland looked at Sephiria's cold face, his own expression collapsing instantly.

From this, one could see that Saiyans did not place much importance on combat techniques. The strong honed their claws and fangs, while the weak relied on wit. Only in a "low-martial" environment like Earth would hand-to-hand combat be prioritized. For those aliens born with the ability to release energy waves, the amount of energy directly determined the final outcome.

Hand-to-hand combat, what a load of crap!

This view was biased, but it accurately reflected a common concept in the universe.

However, Roland knew that when techniques and ki manipulation reached a high level, they were far more effective than a simple contest of energy.

Therefore, during training, Roland would strap hundreds of pounds of weights to his hands and feet. Sephiria watched nonchalantly, saying nothing, only offering a faint smile before flicking an energy wave his way.

Finally, months of grueling training were over. At nearly four years old, Roland had reached a height of nearly one meter. Due to the nature of Saiyan physiology, his height would not change much for many years to come.

However, the long-term "meat shield" training, while improving Roland's ability to withstand blows, was also slowly enhancing his physique and strength.

At this moment, Roland's strength had reached a combat power of 300. It is worth noting that this was already the level Goku had attained when he defeated the second-generation King Piccolo at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament in the original story, yet four-year-old Roland had already achieved it.

This was thanks to his mid-level warrior aptitude, though it was, of course, inseparable from Sephiria's training and his own hard work.

On this day, a grumbling Roland finally finished his training. After dressing neatly and donning a brand-new combat suit, he lay down inside the milky-white spherical spacecraft.

His destination was Planet Mapa, a remote planet located in the southern region of the North Galaxy.

He was finally leaving this godforsaken Planet Vegeta.