Monster

"9999, 10000."

Reke applied force with his right thumb, springing up instantly from his one-finger push-up position.

Reflecting on the events of the past month, Reke still felt as though he were in a dream.

He had never imagined that it would take him only one month to go from one thousand push-ups with both hands to ten thousand with a single finger.

It was too fast! His progress was simply too rapid!

Although this was without any weighted gear and under the gravity of Planet Vegeta, which was only one-fifth of Earth's.

Every day he made a significant leap over the previous one; he couldn't see a bottleneck at all.

Clenching his hands and feeling power far greater than a month ago, Reke truly saw the hope of challenging those powerhouses in the future.

"Next, let's try this."

Standing in the clearing in front of his dwelling, he raised his right hand toward a large tree fifty meters away.

Blue light gathered in his right palm, growing brighter and brighter as the energy accumulated. Before long, an energy sphere three meters in size had taken shape.

"Hah!" Reke shouted.

The energy sphere was launched at the tree, striking it in less than a second.

"Boom!"

Wood chips sprayed in all directions as a tree thirty meters thick toppled backward.

One could see that the area struck by the energy sphere had been completely obliterated; the entire tree had been severed in the middle, causing it to collapse.

Yet, after firing the energy sphere, Reke felt nothing at all; it was as easy as taking a breath and exhaling.

This was all thanks to the memories he had organized and transferred during this time, though it was a pity he hadn't yet encountered an evenly matched opponent to put the combat techniques in his memory to use.

Without a scouter, Reke had no way of knowing his exact combat power, so he could only compare it to his previous strength.

Conservatively estimated, he had increased by more than two times, meaning his current combat power was over 100.

Based on his previous reconnaissance of the surrounding area, there was no one within a radius of two hundred miles with a higher combat power than him.

This also made him act even more recklessly.

Finishing his physical training for the day, Reke filled his stomach and sat cross-legged in the cave.

He closed his eyes and began to practice his ki.

Reke's daily schedule now consisted of physical training during the day, and at night, he followed the method Gohan taught in the anime to begin sensing his ki.

According to the teachings in the anime, everything in the world had ki, and stones were no exception.

Whether it was because of his hard work over the past month or because his physical strength had increased, Reke felt it today.

It was exactly as described in the anime: the ki within his body.

With his body in a relaxed state and his mind focused, he moved his intent, attempting to control the ki within him bit by bit.

A light breeze stirred around him, and Reke could feel an invisible force gathering at the points where he touched the ground, slowly lifting him upward.

This was different from what he had previously thought about flying, and it was also different from firing energy spheres.

He could feel and control this invisible force, rather than leaving everything to his body as he had before, sensing nothing at all.

Reke stopped his meditation, opened his eyes, pushed aside the stone, and walked out of the cave.

This was the first time he had seen the night on Udrapa Planet since he started living here.

Standing still, he mimicked the stance for the Kamehameha from Kakarot in the anime.

With his feet spread apart, he cupped his hands at his waist, controlling that invisible force—"ki"—within his body, letting it gather in the palms of his hands.

The energy gathered more and more, and Reke compressed it continuously until all the ki in his body had taken shape, then he pushed his hands forward with force.

A surge of energy was launched.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Unlike the previous energy sphere, this energy did not stop after hitting one tree; it knocked down seven or eight trees in a row, leaving the last one completely obliterated and leaving a thirty-meter-wide crater in the ground.

Seeing the power of his own ki blast, Reke was stunned.

He couldn't believe this was his own doing.

The peaceful night was shattered by Reke.

"Roar!"

"Woo!"

A series of beastly roars echoed through the forest.

Reke's actions seemed to have broken the age-old rules of the forest.

The roaring in the forest grew closer and closer, as if every creature in the vicinity had been mobilized, and Reke could clearly feel the ground shaking.

"Not good."

Reke realized something was wrong and hurriedly ran back into the cave, blocking it up and leaving only a small gap for ventilation.

Various creatures of the forest had already arrived at the location of the explosion.

Fortunately, Reke had moved quickly; had he been a step slower, he would have been caught right in the middle of them.

Reke held his breath, peering through a narrow gap to see the dense crowd of various beasts standing outside.

"Damn, what is that?" Reke's eyes widened as he caught sight of a monster over a hundred meters tall.

Even from several kilometers away, Reke could feel waves of menace radiating from the creature's body.

A sense of lethal crisis washed over him, causing Reke's tail to stiffen in alarm, the fur on it standing straight up as if it had exploded.

"Ha!"

As if sensing someone watching, the monster opened its maw and let out a roar toward the heavens.

"Boom!"

A gale erupted with the monster at its center.

Every creature within a five-hundred-meter radius exploded and died instantly.

"Ngh!"

Reke let out a muffled groan, clutching his ears as he collapsed to the ground in agony, biting down hard on his teeth for fear that any sound he made would draw attention.

He dared not look at the monster again, struggling bitterly while sprawled on the ground.

"Damn it all, I've really stepped into it this time!"

"Why is this hellish place so terrifying at night?"

Regret filled Reke's heart; had he known, he would have attempted this during the day.

Outside, the monster roared again and again; Reke's teeth were nearly crushed, his internal organs were shaken and injured, and every cell in his body screamed in resistance.

Reke could no longer feel the passage of time, focusing all his energy on battling the pain racking his body.

He had never experienced such agony before; he wanted to scream to alleviate the suffering, but his survival instinct forbade him from making a sound.

Clenching his teeth tightly, blood trickled from the corners of his mouth, and his hearing failed as two streams of blood flowed from his ears, indicating his eardrums had been ruptured by the shockwave.

He clawed at his hair with both hands, ripping out large clumps along with his scalp.

Reke's mind drifted into a daze, hovering between consciousness and oblivion.

Hold on, I cannot pass out.

Reke's heart was filled with this single thought, forcing him to persist, persist, and persist again.

He did not know if he would ever wake up if he lost consciousness now, and he dared not gamble on it.

Only when the monster outside ceased its roaring did Reke's spirit finally relax, and he slipped into a coma.

Following the monster's roar, the air for a hundred miles around was thick with the scent of blood, and a deathly silence reigned, with not even the sound of an insect to be heard.

Under normal circumstances, the smell of blood would have attracted wave after wave of beasts, but now, no creature dared to approach within a hundred miles.

The pressure left behind by the monster lingered long and did not dissipate.

It was not until dawn that any beast dared to tentatively approach from the outer edges.