In the blink of an eye, a year had passed since Reke arrived on Udrapa Planet. The year was now Age 738.
Reke sat upright on a rock by the stream, holding a homemade fishing rod.
Lately, Reke had been feeling more and more at peace.
The reason was that a huge weight had been lifted from his heart.
Over the past year, he'd realized he had gotten the timeline wrong. Planet Vegeta had already been destroyed by Frieza a year earlier.
And after all this time, he still hadn't sensed any spaceships approaching. That meant Frieza hadn't sent anyone to hunt him down.
He'd kept his senses focused on his spaceship, but hadn't detected any ki above 1,000.
Most of the time, he kept his own ki suppressed at around 20.
Even when he went hunting, he relied entirely on his physical strength and never used his ki.
He was afraid someone might detect it from outer space.
After a year, Reke had made impressive progress.
First, there was his physical strength. His battle power from physical strength alone was already close to 10,000.
His ki was around 15,000, and he'd also learned how to power up.
That meant his battle power in his normal state had reached 25,000. Powering up could double it again, bringing his total battle power to 50,000.
Then there was his ki training.
He could now fire a ki blast with a battle power of 70,000, despite having only 50,000 himself.
That might not seem like much.
But he'd worked it out step by step, and his control had improved tremendously lately.
He'd also nearly reached his limit for the time being. His battle power had been growing more and more slowly.
He could feel a bottleneck.
It was just like when he'd broken through the 10,000 battle power bottleneck six months ago.
Back then, he'd used all kinds of methods to strengthen his body, and that was how he'd broken through. It had allowed his battle power to skyrocket by 40,000 over the following six months.
Otherwise, he'd still be stuck at 10,000.
It wasn't that he didn't want to break through the bottleneck. There were two reasons: first, he didn't have the conditions for it right now; second, he was still too young, only four years old.
He didn't think it was a good idea to push his battle power too high too soon.
So, aside from his regular physical training, he spent the rest of his time fishing and improving his control over his ki.
There wasn't a soul to talk to out here. If he hadn't talked to himself every day, he might have nearly forgotten how to speak.
"Plop!"
Ripples spread across the water. Reke's concentration faltered, and a wave of his aura burst out.
A wild animal that had been about to reach the stream was startled by Reke's aura. It tucked its tail between its legs and ran off.
Reke glanced in its direction and shook his head with a wry smile, then instantly suppressed his aura.
He packed up his fishing rod and headed back to his shelter.
His home had changed a lot by now. It was no longer just an empty cave.
Over this period, he'd not only enlarged the cave but also made chairs, bowls, chopsticks, and a bed. All he was missing was a kitchen and a toilet.
"500, 800, 3,000, 200."
As usual, Reke extended his senses. The ki within a radius of ten thousand li appeared in his awareness.
Nothing had changed. They were all familiar ki signatures, and the strongest had a battle power of about 15,000.
Reke ignored them. These nobodies weren't a threat to him anymore, and he couldn't be bothered to fight them.
He was no longer the loser who'd been scared off by someone with a battle power of 3,000 and nearly died from a roar.
It wasn't that Reke had no plans to venture out.
But for now, unless he could master what Mr. Popo had called "as tranquil as the sky" and reach the state of nothingness,
he wouldn't leave this place.
Over the past year, he'd completely shaken off the bad habits he'd brought from his previous life.
He didn't feel bored or restless living alone here. On the contrary, he enjoyed it.
Whenever he had nothing to do, he'd recall the Dragon Ball storylines. (Including, but not limited to, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, AF, and New Age.)
In fact, he couldn't remember most of the details. He could only recall a few main characters and important figures.
This was a real world, and he didn't know which timeline he was in, so all he could do was speculate.
"Kakarot should've reached Earth by now. I wonder when I'll get to meet them!" Reke said with a wry smile.
He put it out of his mind, finished his meal, and went to bed early.
One day, by a stream in the woods, a creature resembling a velociraptor was crouched at the water's edge, drinking.
It hadn't noticed the boy sitting right beside it. He looked about ten, with long hair spiking straight up and a single cowlick sticking up from his bangs. He held a fishing rod in his right hand.
"Whoosh!"
The fishing line twitched. The boy gave it a gentle tug, and a three-meter-long fish flew out of the water.
The creature beside him, which looked like a velociraptor, jumped in fright. When it saw the fish land beside it, it tilted its head in confusion.
It had never had such luck before. Food had fallen from the sky and landed right next to it.
How could it resist?
Without a second thought, it opened its jaws and lunged for the fish.
It even praised itself for being quick-witted.
"Little dino, this isn't your food," the boy said.
As he spoke, he patted the creature that looked like a velociraptor on the head.
"Gah?!"
The dinosaur-like creature staggered backward in terror, its cry cracking.
Its cry was full of both fear and confusion.
When it realized it was just a little runt, its mood soured.
It had actually been scared off by something like that. If it didn't take him out, how could it expect to rule this area?
With that thought, it opened its jaws wide and charged at the boy, its body radiating a desperate, all-or-nothing ferocity.
When the boy saw it wouldn't stop and was still trying to eat him,
the corners of his mouth lifted in a mischievous smile.
He glared at it, and an invisible force struck its head. Its eyes rolled back, and it collapsed in front of him.
"Ah! This is what happens when you won't listen to your elders—you suffer for it. I was going to let you go, but you came right to me. You brought this on yourself. Now you're my dinner." The boy stood up. He was about 1.2 meters tall and looked completely unremarkable.
If it weren't for the enormous creature lying in front of him, no one would have thought this boy was much of a threat.
But next to the dinosaur-like creature, it was clear just how much power his small body contained.
"Can't believe I'm eight already! I'll pack up and set out tomorrow to see if there are any intelligent life-forms or civilizations on this planet." The boy spoke with an air of world-weariness.
"I didn't expect the state of nothingness to be so difficult!" After a brief sigh, he began preparing his meal.
And who was he? Who else but Reke?
Another four years had passed, and recently, he'd managed to brush against the state of nothingness.
Unfortunately, he still hadn't fully entered it. But there was no need to stay here anymore.
He'd already taken half a step into it. The rest was only a matter of time.
His battle power hadn't grown all that much over these four years. It had only doubled, and now it was around 100,000 when powered up.
But most of his effort had gone into training his control over his ki.
His ki blasts could now reach a battle power of 250,000.
Compared to before, he was still quite satisfied.
He couldn't compare with the transmigrators in the webnovels he'd read in his previous life, but he understood that stuff was obviously fake. Those wish-fulfillment stories took things to ridiculous extremes.
Even Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan, couldn't become a Super Saiyan at three, beat Beerus at five, and beat an Angel at eight.
So what made those transmigrators think they could?
Well, there was no limit to a person's imagination.
Before you continue