Shenron: I can't do that!

"Hmm? Are you sure you can really grant any wish? What if you can't make it come true?" Lin Chuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

He'd argue with Shenron a little and see if he could get anything out of it.

Of course, it didn't matter if he got nothing.

Hearing such a challenge, Shenron immediately took offense. "As long as it doesn't violate the rule laid down by my creator that a wish cannot be granted more than once, any wish can be fulfilled."

"You sound pretty confident. Then my wish is: give me three more wishes!"

At Lin Chuan's loud declaration of his wish,

the next second, not only Shenron but also Bulma beside him was dumbfounded.

Their minds were both full of question marks.

What the hell? You could make a wish like that???

What did he take Shenron for???

As Shenron, he knew everything and could do anything. Yet at that moment, his mind seemed to have stopped working.

The wish had been made, and he really couldn't grant such an outrageous one.

Now that he thought back to the bold claims he'd made earlier, he fell silent.

From the day he was born until now, he had never met anyone so shameless!!!

What about Bulma?

Seeing Shenron stay silent, she looked expectant.

If that really worked, then all the wishes they'd made after summoning Shenron in the past had been wasted.

After all those wishes and all those years, she was a genius, so how had she never thought of this loophole?

After a long silence, Shenron sighed and answered, "I'm truly sorry, but I can't grant this wish... I did indeed boast just now..."

At his answer, Bulma couldn't hide her disappointment.

Lin Chuan had more or less expected it.

If it had really worked, it would have been absurdly powerful.

"Looks like Shenron isn't omnipotent after all. Can you tell me why? Of course, I'm not wishing for an explanation." Lin Chuan smiled and continued teasing him. "Since you can't grant the wish, you must give me an accurate reason why you can't."

Hearing this, Shenron's expression turned serious. He suddenly realized he might have been tricked, but there was nothing he could do except answer. "I can grant one wish because of the original rules. To turn one wish into many, I would have to break those rules and create entirely new ones..."

"That, I can't do!"

After a pause, Shenron changed his tone. "Greedy human, is one wish not enough for you?! You should know that what goes around comes around. Excessive greed will eventually lead you to ruin."

"Really? I thought you said any wish could come true. Isn't that why I made this wish? Why are you calling me greedy now?" Lin Chuan didn't hold back.

Was Shenron trying to save face?

Lin Chuan wasn't buying it, and he wouldn't let Shenron use him to make himself seem important.

The atmosphere grew awkward, and Lin Chuan and Shenron remained locked in a standoff.

"Um, Lin Chuan, you should hurry up and make a wish. Shenron may be omnipotent, but your last wish really was a bit outrageous."

"If you keep wasting time and make Shenron leave, you'll have nothing to show for it."

Bulma stepped in to ease the tension.

"I was only joking. Since you can't grant my last wish, then give me Instant Transmission that lets me travel freely to and from any planet," Lin Chuan said.

At this, Bulma looked at Lin Chuan in surprise again.

Could he really get that kind of ability?

At least it was much more reasonable than the previous wish.

They both waited for Shenron's answer.

After a moment, Shenron spoke again, sounding thoroughly disgruntled. "That ability is already beyond the realm I can influence."

"Please... choose another wish."

Shenron's answer surprised Bulma again and left Lin Chuan speechless.

If the previous wish had been a joke, this one wasn't all that outrageous.

He hadn't expected Earth's Shenron to be so limited.

"Why can't you grant this wish, then?" Bulma demanded.

"His wish involves the realm of the gods. I'm afraid I can't answer."

After being stumped twice in a row, Shenron was losing face and wanted to flee.

He was afraid that if it happened again, he wouldn't be able to call himself an all-powerful dragon. He might as well stop claiming he could grant any wish.

"The realm of the gods? So there are actually a lot of wishes you can't grant, Shenron?" Bulma's understanding of the world had just expanded, and she asked.

Shenron didn't answer. Since it wasn't a wish, he didn't have to respond.

He continued staring at Lin Chuan and urged him, "All right, tell me your other wishes. If you still haven't decided, then I'll take my leave."

He hadn't even granted the wish yet, and he was already thinking of leaving.

It was as though he didn't care how hard people had worked to find the Dragon Balls.

What about Lin Chuan?

A trace of displeasure had appeared in his eyes, but he didn't show it.

To be honest, his previous wish had been to gain an ability like Supreme Kai's Instant Transmission.

Even if that wasn't possible, Shenron should at least have been able to give him the Instant Transmission used by the Yardrats.

Yet Shenron hadn't mentioned it at all. That was enough to confirm that Earth's Shenron really was quite limited.

Otherwise, he would surely have offered a fuller explanation instead of simply saying that the wish involved the realm of the gods and that he couldn't grant it.

If even that wish couldn't be granted, what else could he wish for?

Should he wish to go straight to Planet Namek?

Then use Namek's Shenron, Porunga, to make a wish?

The moment the thought came to him, Lin Chuan dismissed it.

Using this wish to go directly to Planet Namek would be a terrible waste.

For one thing, it wasn't clear whether Earth's Shenron could even grant it.

Besides, once the spaceship was repaired, he could go to Planet Namek himself.

And if Bulma later built a new model of spaceship, the trip to Planet Namek would take only six days!

So why waste a wish when he could get there another way?

"Do you have no more wishes?" Shenron asked again when Lin Chuan remained silent.

Just as Shenron was about to take his leave, Lin Chuan suddenly looked up and said, "My wish is to be able to survive in any harsh environment—for example, in Cosmic Space."

"You couldn't grant the first two wishes, but you should be able to grant this one, right?"

Lin Chuan spoke with complete conviction.

This time, Shenron answered directly. "As you wish. I grant you the ability to survive in any environment, with particular emphasis on surviving in Cosmic Space."

As Shenron spoke, a chilling light flashed in his crimson eyes.

A vast, mysterious power surged outward from Shenron...