Anomaly

The moment he returned to the spaceship, Turles called everyone together and explained his situation in detail.

After hearing Turles's account, Carl and the others immediately turned serious and began preparing the examination equipment.

But Paragus and Raditz's reactions caught Turles's attention. Once Carl and the others had gone below, Turles called the two of them over. One had seemed completely unconcerned, while the other had looked thoughtful.

"Paragus, Raditz, do you two know something?" Turles asked, voicing his suspicions directly.

Raditz first glanced cautiously at Paragus. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, Raditz explained, "Turles, I remember that when my dad was young, he seemed to have a problem like yours. But nothing ever came of it afterward. And aren't Saiyans always like this when it comes to fighting?"

As he spoke, Raditz glanced nervously at Turles again and muttered, "Your situation is so similar to my dad's, and you even have the same face. And you still say you're not Kakarot?"

Turles couldn't help glaring at him. Raditz shrank back in fright and immediately hid behind Paragus.

Turles had thought Raditz might have something useful to say, but the guy was still thinking about making him his big brother. What nerve. It looked like Raditz needed extra training.

But Bardock having a similar problem was something to think about. Turles couldn't help recalling what made Bardock unusual in his memories.

He remembered a standalone movie about Bardock. It seemed that, at the moment Planet Vegeta was destroyed, Bardock had traveled through time to ancient Planet Vegeta. There, he met the planet's native inhabitants—the Tuffles—and was rescued by them. Later, when Frieza's ancestor invaded, Bardock witnessed his friend's death and transformed into a Golden Warrior—a Super Saiyan—driving off Frieza's ancestor. From then on, the legend of the Super Saiyan lived on within the Frieza Clan.

Could I really be related to Bardock? Turles couldn't help wondering.

"Don't bother thinking about it. This is just a normal Saiyan phenomenon. It has nothing to do with Bardock!" Paragus suddenly said.

"???" Turles and Raditz looked at Paragus.

"Before the age of fifteen, most Saiyans keep a youthful appearance. During that period, their height and looks don't change, but their cells continue developing and become unusually active. This makes them more aggressive, and when they fight, their emotions become exceptionally heightened."

"Some Saiyans with the potential to become Elite Warriors learn to control this excitement, but most Saiyans can't. This is especially true of Low-Class Warriors, and it's also the period when Low-Class Saiyans have the highest mortality rate. You have to understand, when young Saiyans who can't control their excitement start fighting, they don't care how strong their enemies are."

"After they turn fifteen, however, Saiyans grow rapidly over the next three years, and their cells gradually become less active. As they reach sexual maturity, that excited state slowly fades as well. But the aggressiveness they built up during their youth stays with them for life. That's why Saiyans are known as a warrior race."

"Still, a small number of Saiyans develop later. They're affected by the same factors during their youth, but their temperaments are milder. Their cells don't become active until after they turn eighteen.

"But by the time they reach adolescence, their personalities have already matured quickly, so they can better control the emotional excitement caused by their active cells. If they experience plenty of suitable battles at that stage, their fighting power can increase dramatically.

"I remember Bardock was like that. Otherwise, why do you think he was the only Low-Class Warrior to keep breaking through his limits, when there were so many others?"

"I can't believe you've developed the same condition as Bardock. Looks like you'll be the next Bardock. No—you'll be even stronger!"

By the end, Paragus couldn't hide the envy on his face.

"How come I've never heard any of this?" Raditz asked, looking confused. This was the first time he'd heard such secrets.

Paragus shot Raditz a disdainful glance, then continued, "As for you looking like Bardock, there's nothing strange about that. You're both Low-Class Warriors, after all, and Low-Class Saiyans share a lot of genetic traits. It's not at all unusual for one or two of them to look alike."

Turles nodded when he finished listening, but then asked, "If that's the case, then those Elite Warriors shouldn't be weaker than Bardock. You said some of them can control that excitement, so if they made good use of this period, their fighting power shouldn't be bad at all!"

At Turles's question, Paragus gave a smile that might have been mocking or envious. "Elite Warriors? Hah! How could those people compare to Bardock? They're Saiyan nobility, after all!"

Then, without waiting for Turles to ask anything else, he left.

Turles pondered his words.

"Turles, what did that old guy mean? Was he looking down on us?" Raditz came back to himself and grumbled to Turles, sounding displeased.

Turles glanced at Raditz, who still didn't get it. "He wasn't looking down on us. He was just looking down on you."

"What? What gives him the right to look down on me? He's only a little stronger than I am, and he's old, too. Who knows how long he'll live? Doesn't he know that fortunes change, and you shouldn't look down on a poor young man?" Raditz protested angrily.

Hearing Raditz repeat a popular saying from his past life, Turles felt a few black lines appear on his forehead. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he clenched his fist, but in the end he just explained, "You didn't know? Paragus took part in biological research back on Planet Vegeta. And how do you think he spent those eighteen years on Planet Vampa?"

Turles patted Raditz on the shoulder and headed straight for the examination room, leaving Raditz standing there, looking confused and shocked.

Examination Room.

Turles lay bare-chested on the examination table, electrodes of various kinds stuck all over his body and connected to different electronic instruments.

"Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep!"

The instruments kept beeping as Carl and several members of the Kabru Race watched the data closely.

"Everything looks normal!"

"Yeah, but his cells are unusually active, and his heart rate is a little too fast!"

"What about the brain waves?"

"Normal!"

After discussing it for a long time, they still couldn't find the source of the problem. Carl and the others exchanged helpless glances.

"Sir, you can get up now!" Carl went over to Turles, helping remove the electrodes and then helping him sit up.

"How did it go? Did you find anything?" Turles asked as he got dressed.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but aside from his unusually active cells, all the other readings are normal," Carl said apologetically.

"Is that so?" Turles pondered.

It seemed to match what Paragus had described, but Turles still felt that something was off.

This abnormal, uncontrollable excitement in Saiyans was far too similar to the Great Ape Transformation. The only difference was that this excited state existed only during their youth and gradually disappeared when they reached maturity, while the Great Ape Transformation was a form Saiyans could use throughout their lives.

The two also seemed to differ in their effects. This excited state seemed to affect Saiyan development, with almost no increase in strength, while the Great Ape Transformation could multiply a Saiyan's fighting power tenfold.

However, after transforming into a Great Ape, ordinary Saiyans couldn't suppress their violent urge to destroy and became mindless beasts. Some Elite Warriors, though, could tame that urge and keep their senses, like Vegeta. That overlapped somewhat with what Paragus had said, and Turles didn't believe it was merely a coincidence.

At that thought, Turles couldn't help swishing his tail at his waist.

Come to think of it, ever since he'd transmigrated into a Saiyan's body, he'd always tended to overlook the tail. After all, he hadn't had such a thick, hard thing sticking out behind him in his previous life.

And Turles still hadn't encountered a full moon, so he'd never undergone the Great Ape Transformation. He had no idea whether he would lose his reason after transforming.

According to Paragus, he could now suppress the excitement he felt during battle. Based on that, he might be able to stay rational while transformed into a Great Ape. On top of that, all those mental simulation exercises had strengthened his mind, too.

If that was true, then with his current fighting power of over eighty thousand, the tenfold increase from the Great Ape Transformation could bring it to over eight hundred thousand.

Over eight hundred thousand! Even Turles, who had always been levelheaded, couldn't help feeling an urge to test it out right away.

Turles struggled to suppress the impulse.

He could test it on the planet Bels had promised him. There were too many people on Obsidian Planet, and if anyone noticed, it might bring some hidden powerhouse out of the woodwork.

Besides, he'd only fought once today. He couldn't tell whether this was an isolated case or whether things really were as Paragus had described.

"So, I need to fight. Fight without stopping!"

Turles looked toward the arena and murmured softly.