Did it start with Ultra Instinct, then change?

Reiz's shoulder was as hard as an iron plate, and the recoil caused his finger bones to ache intensely.

Almost simultaneously, Reiz's body reacted on instinct.

"Snap!"

Reiz backhanded a slap across, sending Raditz flying into the air on the spot, where he spun three hundred and sixty degrees before crashing heavily onto the arena floor.

"Thud!"

Raditz slammed into the floor with a dull sound, his entire being left dazed.

"Uh..." Reiz hurriedly tore the cloth strip from his eyes and looked at Raditz with some embarrassment.

"Ah... it hurts! It hurts..." Raditz grimaced in pain, wailing as he lay on the ground, feeling like his whole body was falling apart.

He clutched his slapped cheek while rubbing his knuckles, which throbbed as if they were fractured, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Sorry about that, Raditz." Reiz stepped forward to help Raditz up, smiling, "That was just a conditioned reflex. Are you alright?"

Raditz: "..."

Raditz felt like crying but had no tears.

I punched you, and my bones felt like they were about to shatter.

I could endure that!

The problem is, you backhanded me with a slap!

That hurts, you know?

He looked at Reiz with resentment, his eyes filled with grievance.

"Here is your bonus." Reiz said, handing the blue coin to Raditz.

Seeing the blue coin, Raditz wiped away his painful tears and accepted it with great joy.

He clutched the coin in his palm, feeling its cold texture, and the pain on his face seemed to diminish slightly.

"Not bad, not bad. I'll study this some more, let's continue in a bit!" Reiz smiled slightly and turned to leave the Training Room.

He needed to digest the combat experience he had just gained.

Reiz knew very well that he still needed to continue training.

Facing an assault from five people, none of whom had particularly high combat power, and still getting hit!

Reiz knew he was far from enough.

Of course, this was because Reiz hadn't used any ordinary energy and had kept his eyes covered with a cloth strip.

If Reiz were to unleash all his energy, no matter how hard Raditz and the others tried, they wouldn't be able to land a hit on him.

But doing that wouldn't achieve the desired training effect, so it wasn't necessary.

Right now, what Reiz needed to do was to master Ultra Instinct as quickly as possible.

Reiz was very curious: what kind of effect would Ultra Instinct have once he achieved entry-level mastery?

Walking through the narrow corridors of the spaceship, Reiz returned to his room.

The cabin door slid open silently, and the soft light from within spilled out.

Linoshi was still sitting on the small bed, but she was holding a scepter in her hands, staring blankly at the crystal ball atop it.

The scepter was pure white with a slender shaft, and the crystal ball at its tip seemed to contain swirling galaxies, emitting a faint glow.

Linoshi looked at the crystal ball with focus, her blue eyes reflecting the flowing light and shadows, her expression earnest and gentle.

Hearing the sound of the cabin door opening, Linoshi shuddered.

Seeing Reiz return, Linoshi hurriedly put the scepter away in a panic.

"Swish!"

The scepter turned into specks of starlight and vanished into the air instantly.

Her movements were as quick as a child caught doing something wrong; obvious panic rose on her face, and her fingers began to subconsciously rub the hem of her battle suit.

"You... you're back..." Linoshi said softly, her blue eyes cast downward, not daring to look at Reiz.

"What were you looking at? You were so lost in thought." Reiz asked with a smile, his gaze landing on Linoshi.

She sat on the narrow bed, her posture as well-behaved as a butterfly with its wings folded.

"N-nothing..." Linoshi shook her head, answering hurriedly with a flushed face, her blue eyes darting downward in a panic.

Reiz didn't speak, just looked at her with a smile.

His gaze wasn't sharp; it even carried a hint of gentleness, but just being watched like that made Linoshi feel like a dewdrop illuminated by the sun, with nowhere to hide.

Linoshi's head drooped even lower, almost burying itself in her chest.

"O-okay, I'll tell you!" Linoshi, feeling flustered under Reiz's stare, quickly replied in a low voice, her tone as faint as a mosquito's hum, "I... I was watching you fight with Prince Vegeta!"

After saying this, she secretly lifted her eyelids to glance at Reiz, then quickly lowered them again.

Reiz was actually a little surprised.

This little Angel actually cares about me!

She was actually watching my battle with Vegeta!

"Do you have any good advice?" Reiz asked with a smile, sitting down on the edge of the bed while maintaining a perfectly appropriate distance from her.

"It was quite good. To have grasped Ultra Instinct to this degree in such a short amount of time is already truly remarkable." Linoshi bit her lower lip and looked up at Reiz with an expression of admiration.

However, Linoshi still didn't dare to meet Reiz's gaze directly; after one glance, she hurriedly lowered her head, her fingers subconsciously beginning to rub the hem of her battle suit again.

"But I still got hit while under the siege of Raditz and the others." Reiz felt a little annoyed and scratched his head.

"That is because..." Linoshi paused, organizing her words, "at the beginning, you were using Ultra Instinct, but later on, when you saw so many strikes coming your way, you couldn't help but abandon Ultra Instinct and instead used your own senses to dodge the attacks!"

She hit the nail on the head, her blue eyes shimmering with a serious light.

Hearing Linoshi put it that way, Reiz carefully recalled the scene of the battle just now and suddenly had a realization.

Linoshi was indeed right!

When he first started fighting Raditz and the others, he had indeed been using Ultra Instinct, his body as light as a feather, weaving freely through the gaps between their fists and kicks.

However, later on, there were simply too many strikes coming from all directions, making his head spin.

Reiz had subconsciously abandoned Ultra Instinct, choosing instead to rely on his ears to discern the incoming attacks.

That was why he had unfortunately been struck.

"It seems I still need to continue training hard." Reiz rubbed his chin and sighed softly.

"You are already doing very well... to have made such great progress is truly amazing!" Linoshi praised, her voice soft but filled with sincere affirmation.

"Thanks for the compliment! To repay you, shall I continue massaging your feet?" Reiz said with a smile, his gaze falling upon the pair of jade-like feet tucked away at the edge of the bed.

"Ah? Still... still massaging?" Linoshi's pretty face flushed red, and she lowered her head once more, her hands unconsciously gripping her battle suit tight.

"If you don't want to, then forget it." Reiz said earnestly, his eyes devoid of any teasing, filled only with respect.

Linoshi's hands began rubbing her battle suit again, and she appeared to be very nervous.

The cabin fell silent for a few seconds, with only the sound of their light breathing and the low hum of the spaceship's engines audible.

They remained in silence for several long seconds.

"I... I would like that." Linoshi's voice was like that of a mosquito, so quiet it was almost impossible to hear, and after she finished speaking, her entire face turned bright red.