Wilds Training

Roland's figure entered the lion's line of sight, instantly enraging the beast. It raised its head and let out a thunderous roar, proclaiming its dominance. To Roland, however, the whole display was utterly ridiculous.

"Roar—"

The lion roared again, opening its enormous jaws to reveal a set of cruel, pointed fangs. Its savage eyes glared viciously at the intruder. It stamped a hoof into the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand, then leaned back and sprang forward with startling speed, charging straight at Roland.

"What a vicious beast."

Roland watched the lion's attack with an amused smile. A hint of playfulness appeared in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth turned up. Calm and composed, he flashed aside to dodge, then clenched his fist and slammed it into the beast's back.

With a yelp, the lion staggered and let out a piteous cry. When it looked at Roland again, its eyes were full of fear. It roared as it backed away, its body trembling.

"Just a beast, after all. It doesn't have a shred of intelligence. But I'm hungry right now, so unfortunately for you, you're going to be my meal."

As soon as he finished speaking, Roland curled a finger at the lion.

A small energy sphere hovered at his fingertip. With a whoosh, the brilliant sphere flickered in place a few times, then suddenly accelerated. A blinding beam shot from his finger and pierced the lion's head. Blood sprayed everywhere like rain as the energy beam entered through one side of its skull and burst out the other.

With a mournful whimper, the lion's massive body crashed to the ground, kicking up a vast cloud of dust.

The lion had 120 units of energy inside it, but it was all brute strength, with no idea how to unleash it. Meeting Roland had been its misfortune.

The strong prey on the weak. That was an unchanging rule, and Roland would have to learn to accept it now that he was a Saiyan.

He carried the lion's carcass back to his temporary shelter, then tossed out an energy blast to light a campfire. After skinning the beast and removing its entrails, he rinsed the meat in clean water, skewered it on wooden sticks, and set it over the fire. Before long, the inviting aroma of roasted meat wafted from its golden-brown surface.

Roland stared fixedly at the meat, swallowing now and then. When it was roasted to a crisp golden brown, he lunged at it.

Saiyans had incredibly powerful digestive systems. They practically digested their food as they ate, and in the blink of an eye, the meat of a lion more than twenty meters long had vanished into Roland's stomach.

After devouring the whole thing, Roland rubbed his bulging belly and let out a happy cry.

Once he was full and had taken a short nap, Roland was back in peak condition. It was time to think about what to do next.

Planet Mapa was only a waystation on his journey through the Dragon Ball world. He would have to leave sooner or later. Earth was a pretty good choice; at least, before the Saiyans attacked, it was completely safe. Besides, Earth had plenty of resources Roland valued highly.

Senzu Beans, Dragon Balls, advanced technology, and methods for cultivating Ki—those treasures on Earth all made Roland's mouth water.

He definitely couldn't use the spacecraft from Planet Vegeta. He wasn't sure whether it had a surveillance system installed, just like the Scouter.

Fortunately, Planet Mapa was a technological world, so they should have the technology to build spaceships.

As for Earth's coordinates, they were already in Roland's spacecraft. Earth was hardly a secret planet. Frieza was in the business of selling planets, and his forces had long since investigated the place. But Earth had no special mineral resources beyond its water and natural environment, so Frieza's forces had always classified it as a remote, "resource-poor" planet and saw no reason to conquer it.

In the original story, if Goku's father, Bardock, hadn't wanted to save his son's life, he wouldn't have "exiled" the child there.

Resource-poor, my ass.

Roland grumbled to himself.

Any one of Earth's real treasures could cause a sensation across the entire universe.

"Earth's coordinates aren't a secret, and getting a spaceship should be easy... Yeah, that settles it." A smile spread across his face as Roland congratulated himself on his plan.

The intelligent inhabitants of Planet Mapa were called the Mapa People. Their individual combat power was low, but their technology was impressive. They supposedly weren't even native to Planet Mapa, but had migrated there from another planet long ago. If Roland wanted to steal one of their ships, he would first need enough strength.

"Then I'll start getting stronger."

He struck his hands together, a glint of determination in his dark eyes. Next, he would temper his body using the training methods from Planet Vegeta.

He found a heavy turtle shell and some rocks, then tied them to his body, imitating the way Master Roshi trained Goku and the others.

Even without that woman Sephiria there to push him, Roland dutifully threw punches and kicks. Before long, clear beads of sweat trickled down his young cheeks.

Punches and kicks were the basics. Many warriors in the universe preferred to bombard their opponents with energy blasts in battle. Those fights were certainly exhilarating, but they were really just contests of how much energy each fighter had, with little technique involved. Saiyans might have been rough around the edges, but they also loved close-quarters combat, where every blow landed with a satisfying thud.

That was because this style of fighting gave them more enjoyment.

After practicing his punches and kicks, Roland began training his energy attacks.

"Hah!"

A deep blue energy wave surged from within him. Roland abruptly raised both arms, sending it hurtling into the sky. It exploded high above with a thunderous boom, scattering the thick clouds completely.

Roland nodded in satisfaction at the destruction he had caused. The only thing that bothered him was that he still didn't know how energy waves were released, how they formed inside the body, or how to control them more effectively.

He knew what happened, but not why. His understanding was still superficial.

Ki was an advanced form of energy.

On Earth, martial artists like Master Roshi had to train tirelessly for decades before they could produce Ki. Since they had so little Ki within them, and generated it so slowly, they had actually developed a more detailed understanding of it than the people of the universe.

Roland wanted to master it.

Training with a specific goal in mind would naturally make his practice more effective.