Teaching

"What are you doing?" Reke asked in confusion.

"We're terribly sorry for letting you go hungry. We'll get cooking right away."

The group sprang into action, with none of the horseplay from earlier.

"Make plenty. I've got a pretty big appetite," Reke reminded them.

While the Budaso Adventure Team cooked, Reke had nothing to do, so he watched them.

Before long, he noticed that whenever he stared at one of them, their whole body stiffened, and they looked ready to break out in a cold sweat.

Seeing that, Reke realized they were nervous. Someone must have seen the number just now.

It had put far too much mental pressure on them.

Reke knew what that felt like, so he stopped watching them and sat on a stool, playing with his tail.

Half an hour later, the food was ready.

Without a word, Reke buried his face in the meal. The food on the table disappeared at a visible rate.

"Now that hit the spot! I haven't had food this good in ages."

After Reke polished off the meal, he lay on the ground and sighed contentedly.

"You haven't eaten?" Seeing them still holding their eating poses, even Reke, shameless as he was, started feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry, I got carried away."

"It's fine, it's fine."

"Yeah, none of us are hungry yet."

"Are you full? Should we make some more?"

The group waved their hands repeatedly. At the same time, they grumbled inwardly: What kind of starving ghost was this? He'd eaten enough for twenty people all by himself.

Reke hadn't heard the earlier comments, but the last question caught his attention. He sprang to his feet and looked at Fourth, who had asked it, with shining eyes.

"Really? I'm only half full. I can eat some more with you."

Thud!

The whole group fell over, their mouths twitching. Reke had left them speechless, and they couldn't understand how someone so small could fit so much food inside him.

They also realized he wasn't that difficult to get along with. The weight lifted from their hearts, and they all relaxed.

After dinner.

The group sat in a circle. Reke asked curiously, "With combat power that low, why did you go to the grasslands?"

Reke had aimed his blows right at their faces, so he wasn't one to talk—but they couldn't deny he was right.

"Is the combat power you're talking about energy?" Eighth asked curiously.

"Yeah. I compared the two today, and there isn't much difference."

"Oh, right. I'll pay you back for the equipment I broke today."

As a fine young man of the new century who had received nine years of compulsory education, Reke had at least that much decency.

It had nothing to do with his combat power. To him, it was basic morality.

"It's fine, it's fine!" After Four-Eyes assured Reke that he didn't mind about the equipment, he began answering his question.

"Reke, I don't know if you heard that earth-shaking roar more than ten days ago. We wanted to find out what kind of creature had made it, so we ventured deep into the Wild Grasslands."

"Our team had originally planned to record unknown creatures along the edge of the Wild Grasslands. That roar was what made us decide to venture farther in."

"But we never imagined the Wild Grasslands would be so terrifying. If you hadn't shown up, we might all have been wiped out."

"Uh!"

Now it was Reke's turn to be left speechless. Those few little nobodies had gone looking for his Giant Ape form?

That wasn't how you went about trying to get yourself killed!

Reke looked at the group with a strange expression. He couldn't help but say it.

"Not to put you down, but with your level, I'd be impressed if you made it even five thousand li into the grasslands."

"Forget the grasslands for now. You have no idea what kind of being you're looking for."

Reke didn't want to tell them about the Giant Ape. After indulging in a bit of self-admiration, he continued, "It could kill me in an instant."

"Do you want to feel my aura?"

"I can let you experience what it feels like to be on the brink of death."

Seeing the group's grim, resolute expressions,

Reke couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath. He began releasing the enormous ki within him.

He had only released enough to reach around ten thousand in combat power when they rolled their eyes and passed out.

Reke left them alone and quietly waited for them to wake up.

Four-Eyes had the highest combat power among them, so he woke up first. His first reaction was to back away, staring at Reke in terror.

Before long, the others woke up one after another, and they all reacted exactly like Four-Eyes.

They gradually calmed down only after confirming that Reke wasn't about to attack them.

One by one, they hung their heads in silence.

They were utterly dejected.

Reke was still afraid he hadn't discouraged them enough.

"Heh! I was only releasing one-tenth of my power at you just now."

Reke gave a quiet laugh.

The group abruptly raised their heads, staring intently into Reke's eyes as if trying to confirm something.

"Clap, clap! Snap out of it."

"From now on, you'll follow my lead."

"Starting tomorrow, take me to the city and find the best scientists."

They nodded silently. No one objected to Reke.

"Do you have any aircraft? We'll travel by aircraft tomorrow."

"Reke, we do have an aircraft, but it's not here. One of our companions already flew off with it."

Four-Eyes forced himself to answer.

Only then did Reke realize there was a problem.

This place wasn't like Earth, where Hoi-Poi Capsules made it easy to take whatever you needed anywhere.

"Can you fly? Except for her, I mean." Reke rubbed his chin as he asked.

The group all shook their heads.

"Ugh!"

"How can you have this much combat power and still not know how to fly? You're useless."

Now Reke was at a loss.

Do I have to teach them to fly first? Reke wondered.

Damn, this is just my luck.

Reke's words left them feeling utterly ashamed, but they didn't dare argue.

In their country, no one without wings had ever flown. Even the nation's strongest fighter, with a combat power of eight thousand, couldn't fly.

How could they possibly fly?

At that moment, they felt Reke was being unreasonable.

Reke had no idea what they were thinking, and he didn't care.

He simply began teaching them the Flight Technique.

"I'm giving you two days. If you still haven't learned by then, I'll set off with this lady first." Reke pointed at Eighth.

Why had it taken Reke so long to sense ki, and why had he only succeeded when his life was on the line, yet he was giving them just two days?

Reke had figured it out step by step on his own. At most, the anime had pointed him in the right direction.

And when he first sensed ki, his combat power had been terribly low—just over a hundred.

Four-Eyes and the others were different. Even the weakest among them had a combat power above five hundred, and Reke had taught them how.

Although Reke had given them only two days,

it didn't matter if they failed to learn. He would consider his ki-training method payment for their help.

Was the ki-training method valuable? It certainly was, but Reke didn't care.

Just having the method didn't mean they could surpass him.

If it did, Earth's fighters wouldn't have fallen farther and farther behind Kakarot and the other Saiyans.