First Battle

"Should I go or not? That is the question."

It had to be said: Reke was scared.

He was full of doubt about the number on the Scouter and couldn't believe the creature across from him had only 15 points of battle power, 30 points less than his own.

His face turned pale, then green. He stood frozen in the tree, not daring to move.

Although he had fully absorbed the Saiyan fighting techniques, he'd barely ever been in a fight in his previous life. Now he was expected to take on a monster like this right off the bat, and he was filled with hesitation.

If he'd been a normal Saiyan his age, he might've charged in already. The problem was, he wasn't a normal Saiyan.

He'd been the kind of person in his previous life who'd run far away even at the sight of a dog. Now he was supposed to take on this thing. Even though he knew he was far stronger, Reke still couldn't get past that mental hurdle.

"Grrr!"

Before Reke could make up his mind in the tree, his stomach growled.

The four ears of the wolf-like creature across from him twitched. Its four lantern-sized eyes fixed firmly on Reke's position.

Its two forelegs shifted slightly back, ready to spring forward at any moment.

"Grr! Grr!"

Two low growls jolted Reke back to his senses, leaving him no time to think.

He knew he'd drawn the creature's attention, and it had already locked onto him.

"Whoosh!"

The moment Reke looked toward the wolf-like creature, it drove off with all four legs and pounced at him. It crossed the ten meters between them in an instant, its gaping jaws less than half a meter from Reke.

Although the wolf-like creature moved quickly, from Reke's perspective it wasn't fast at all. It was like watching slow motion.

He instantly came up with several ways to respond.

Bending his knees slightly, he jumped straight up with all his strength. The wolf-like creature snapped the branch beneath his feet and landed twenty meters away.

As Reke hit the ground, the wolf-like creature turned its head and locked onto him again.

"Seriously? This wolf-like creature is that slow?" After dodging the attack, Reke's confidence soared.

He hadn't expected the creature to pose no threat at all. He steadied himself, clenched his fists, shifted his right foot back a little, and readied himself to strike.

This time, Reke decided to try attacking.

The wolf-like creature attacked again, pouncing at Reke. The moment it leaped into the air, Reke rushed beneath its belly.

He turned his body slightly and drove a straight right punch into the wolf-like creature's stomach.

"Thud!"

"Grr! Grr!"

To Reke, it felt like punching through a sheet of paper. There was no resistance at all. His punch tore a hole straight through the wolf-like creature's belly, drenching him in blood.

He pulled his fist free. The creature's entrails spilled from the hole, and its two heads let out agonized howls.

"That was it?"

"Was it that weak, or am I that strong?"

Reke ignored the creature on the ground and stared blankly at his hands, unable to believe he had that kind of strength.

He also hadn't expected such a huge gap between them when his battle power was only 30 points higher.

There was no doubt about it: it was an instant kill. He'd killed it in one blow.

Reke walked over to the wolf-like creature and found that it was barely breathing.

Crouching in front of its wolf heads, he stared at those four lantern-sized eyes and said with a look of distaste, "How'd you get killed in one hit? I was only 30 points stronger than you."

The wolf-like creature might've understood Reke's words, or perhaps it saw the disdain in his eyes. Its eyes widened in anger, both heads tilted to one side, and it died.

After the wolf-like creature died, Reke didn't dare linger.

He dragged it into a stream and washed himself off, cleaning the blood from his body as well.

After moving to another spot, Reke roasted the wolf-like creature while thinking things over.

"That doesn't make sense. How could it get killed in one hit?"

"Kakarot and Piccolo could both take down Raditz, who had way more battle power than they did. What was this guy's problem?"

Reke genuinely didn't understand.

He couldn't figure out how Raditz, with 1,500 battle power, had been defeated by two people who each had less than 1,000. Based on what had just happened, Kakarot and Piccolo shouldn't even have been able to touch Raditz.

In every respect—battle power, speed, strength, visual processing, and thought processing—the two sides should've been worlds apart.

And yet Raditz had croaked.

Reke's mind was full of questions. He had no idea how Kakarot and the others had managed it.

Unless he figured that out, he simply wouldn't feel safe.

It wasn't until he smelled something burning that Reke finally understood.

First, Raditz was a lousy fighter, and he loved to mess around.

Second, Gohan had badly injured him, so his battle power after that had to be well below 1,500—probably around 1,000, conservatively speaking.

Third, after powering up, Kakarot and Piccolo had around 800 each, so they weren't that far behind the badly injured Raditz.

In the end, it still took Kakarot trading his life for Raditz's.

Once he'd worked it out, Reke felt much more at ease. He also resolved never to imitate Raditz.

In battle, you had to give it everything. Even if you had some other goal, you had to cripple your opponent first and leave no chance for a comeback.

Reke had eaten several hundred pounds of meat, and he had to admit the Saiyan stomach was incredible. It was downright monstrous.

He didn't even weigh a hundred pounds himself, yet he'd just packed away several times his body weight—and he was only nine-tenths full.

"Damn, if I'd had this stomach in my previous life, I could've made a fortune competing in eating contests," Reke thought as he lay on the ground.

He sprang to his feet and looked toward the mountainside before taking off at a run.

Stopping in front of the mountainside, he clenched his fists and began pounding away at it.

Before long, Reke had smashed out a space of about five square meters. After clearing away the rubble, he found a rock large enough to block the entrance, stepped inside, and sealed the opening.

"That's enough for today. I'll deal with the rest tomorrow." Reke dusted off his hands.

He lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

When Reke woke up and pushed the rock aside, sunlight fell across his face. It was already broad daylight outside.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Reke thought about what he'd accomplished over the past eleven months and let out a helpless sigh.

"Novels really are all lies."

After eleven months of effort, Reke still hadn't learned to control his ki, let alone sense it.

Aside from gaining 15 points of battle power over the past year, the only other thing he'd achieved was learning to keep himself from getting too lost in his thoughts.

None of it had helped him survive.

Steadying himself, he closed his eyes and focused his mind inward, continuing to try to sense ki the way Gohan had taught Videl in the anime from his previous life.

Half an hour passed in a flash, and Reke's stomach growled again.

"Seriously? I ate several hundred pounds yesterday, and I'm hungry again after just a few hours?"

Reke let out a wail inside. Honestly, he didn't want to go out at all.

Even after a whole night, the sight of that 3,000 battle power from yesterday was still burned into his mind.

After the battle yesterday, where the gap had been only 30 points, he had an even deeper sense of what 3,000 battle power meant.