Five Days...

"BANG!!!"

A heavy impact rang out. A figure was rapidly "flying" through the air... Betkas plunged into the waters of Mira Liquid Lake once again...

Bardock stood expressionless a thousand meters away, making no move at all.

"That's the twenty-first time today..."

The Green-Haired Youth from before, Salahir, narrowed his eyes, a crescent-moon smile curling at the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

"Still a long way off..."

Bardock muttered softly upon hearing that.

"Ha!"

Betkas surfaced from the lake, swam to the shore, and gasped for breath heavily, his heart full of helplessness.

This is already the fifth day... but man, getting wrecked these past few days has really changed things.

Betkas crawled out of the water. His injuries were completely healed, and even his stamina had been fully restored by the miraculous golden lake water. This amazed Betkas—it was no less impressive than a Senzu Bean.

"Speaking of which... how many times has Bardock knocked me in here today?"

Betkas lay flat on his back, staring up at the blazing sun, carefully recalling his experiences over the past five days.

Ever since he learned that Bardock had this kind of "experience," Betkas had pestered him relentlessly for training. But the training was always one-sided... For example, Bardock could easily dodge Betkas's attacks, while a casual "One Finger Death Touch" from Bardock would send Betkas flying or even gravely injure him.

That was the absolute gap in strength. Even if Bardock's power was far from its peak, crushing a "little guy" like Betkas was as easy as moving a finger.

Perhaps if Bardock went all out now, even Kid Buu might not be a match for him—because someone who could reach Super Saiyan Fifth Form was no joke.

And Bardock always kept Betkas right on the edge of life and death, like playing "baseball." Every time Betkas was about to die, he'd fall into the lake... then come back like a cockroach... wait, getting off track.

Anyway, it was an endless cycle like that. But Betkas was still making clear progress—at least now he could dodge a few of Bardock's moves or withstand a few hits. Of course, that was only when Bardock wasn't going all out; otherwise, Betkas would have been "crippled" long ago.

Over these five days, aside from the first three spent studying techniques on his own, it was all this kind of training. He couldn't afford to stay on this planet too long—if Frieza found out, things wouldn't be fun.

Even though Bardock could handle it, when Betkas had asked him earlier, Bardock just said one sentence that shut him up.

"Kakarot will take care of him. I don't want to do anything unnecessary."

That one short sentence made Betkas wisely shut his mouth. In the original story, Bardock seemed to have a degree of future-sight, having once seen the future confrontation between Son Goku and Frieza. So his words weren't hard to understand.

Thus, Betkas immersed himself in training every day, striving to achieve what Bardock called a "Great Explosion" as soon as possible.

"Speaking of which... why haven't I had a 'Great Explosion' yet? Logically, with my current strength, even if I don't have two hundred thousand, I should at least have a hundred thousand." Betkas shielded his forehead with his right hand, a bit puzzled.

These past few days, Bardock had been beating him half to death. He'd come back from the brink of death countless times, so a surge in power was only natural, with a small part coming from his own hard training.

But he was hung up on Bardock's mention of a "Great Explosion."

Bardock had clearly said, "Any Saiyan with a battle power over ten thousand has a chance for a 'Great Explosion' when they return from the brink of death... If you seize that chance, your power can skyrocket to over a million."

Hearing that, Betkas willingly let himself get beaten, even if he could only last a few moves. Because there was solid evidence for it.

For example, in the original story, Son Goku was severely injured on Namek and then healed. After recovering, his power jumped from a mere hundred thousand or so to three million in one go.

Vegeta, too, went from around a hundred thousand to about two and a half million after Dende healed him. Even Bardock himself, after being gravely wounded by Frieza at a power level of sixty thousand and then healed after traveling back in time, barely reached two million. These three cases clearly demonstrated it—they were all guys who had experienced a "Great Explosion."

In other words, they were luck gods!

So, even for the sake of his own life, Betkas threw caution to the wind. He fought Bardock with everything he had, and as a result, he got to experience "I want to fly higher!" almost every time.

But after two straight days of training, his luck didn't seem to be holding up. The "Great Explosion" opportunity never came to him—he only made small improvements.

Since he didn't know how to control ki and had no scouter, he had no idea what his current power level was. But he figured it couldn't be lower than seventy thousand.

Bardock seemed to know how to control ki, but apparently, he had no intention of teaching Betkas, which frustrated him to no end.

He had originally wanted to learn it so he could better manage his ki, making it easier to face Frieza and the others without worrying about exposing his strength.

But for whatever reason, Bardock simply refused to tell him.

So that "delusion" of his was thoroughly crushed.

"Forget it. Let's keep going. It's still early today. I'll leave soon enough, so I'll get as strong as I can."

Betkas stood up and slowly walked back toward the training spot Bardock had designated.

Bardock stood expressionless at a certain point, his sharp gaze fixed ahead.

"Ah, looks like my friend's in trouble. Mr. Bardock's getting serious."

Salahir smiled as he watched Bardock, muttering softly to himself.

And Betkas had no idea that his most "speechless" moment was about to arrive.