"Is that Frieza? Why does he look like that? And his ki is so powerful!"
Then He Lingxuan saw Son Goku, transformed into a Super Saiyan, get brutally slaughtered by Frieza!
And Goku couldn't fight back at all!
The difference in strength between them was simply too great!
He Lingxuan couldn't believe what he was seeing. How could Goku, after transforming into a Super Saiyan, lose to Frieza?
As someone who had watched Dragon Ball since childhood, he couldn't accept it. After all, when he'd seen Son Goku transform into a Super Saiyan and fight Frieza before, Goku had seemed so relaxed and in control. What he was seeing now was nothing like that.
But despite his shock, He Lingxuan quickly noticed that something was wrong with Frieza.
The strange black aura rising from his entire body, along with his nearly mindless attacks, made it obvious that he was completely different from the original story. Even an idiot who'd watched Dragon Ball could tell something was wrong with Frieza.
Frieza's power soon increased dramatically, and he stamped the transformed Super Saiyan Son Goku beneath his foot, revealing a black Four-Star Dragon Ball on his chest!
He wore an evil grin and laughed loudly.
"Is that a Dark Dragon Ball?"
Then He Lingxuan realized that the strange Frieza seemed to have spotted him. Frieza turned his sinister gaze in He Lingxuan's direction, a massive orb of energy appearing in his hand.
"Yoo-hoo-hoo! Die, you stinking monkey!"
Watching the energy blast—one that could easily destroy him—speed toward him, He Lingxuan couldn't react to its incredible speed at all.
Rumble!
He Lingxuan suddenly sat up in bed, bringing a hand to his forehead.
"It was just a dream," he murmured.
At the same time, thunder rumbled outside his window!
Rumble!
A torrential downpour followed. The pounding rain, accompanied by the occasional rumble of thunder and flash of lightning, made it feel as though the world was about to end.
"Why would I suddenly dream about something like that? Am I really just exhausted? Anyway, what time is it?"
He Lingxuan looked at the clock hanging on his bedroom wall and saw that it was around four in the morning.
He'd gone to bed at seven or eight, he thought. He'd slept for seven or eight hours, and if not for the thunder and nightmare, he might have slept until noon tomorrow.
He Lingxuan no longer felt sleepy. It wasn't the storm outside that had kept him awake; it was the nightmare, which had left him with a lingering sense of dread.
It was as if something ominous was going to happen in the future...
"I should go test my strength in the ocean! I don't think I'll be able to sleep now, and I can gather some upgrade points while I'm there."
Remembering Frieza wearing a Dark Dragon Ball on his chest in the dream, He Lingxuan felt that he was nowhere near strong enough.
It was time to quickly increase his combat power. At the very least, his base combat power should reach the level of Son Goku in Super Saiyan 3. If he transformed, Super Saiyan 4 combined with God Ki should just about be enough to break through his limits.
And if he could go further and defeat a God of Destruction, even better.
With hopes for the future filling his heart, He Lingxuan flew out the window, wrapping himself in ki so the rain wouldn't soak him.
"Woo-hoo! Wu!"
He flew freely through the sky, unleashing his ki, and felt more exhilarated and relaxed than ever before.
After all, flight had been humanity's dream since ancient times, and flying through one's own power was all the more incredible.
The frustration he'd felt these past few days seemed to vanish as he flew wildly at high speed.
He cheered again and again in the sky, then withdrew the ki protecting his body from the rain.
The rain pelted He Lingxuan's face as he whooped again and again. Flying at such incredible speed, the clothes he'd bought from the Chat Group were drenched and clung to the muscles he'd gained from his increased combat power, as if he were wearing a sexy uniform.
Watching the scenery continually change beneath him as the sound of breaking the air rang out, He Lingxuan realized he'd already reached supersonic speed.
In just a few minutes, he gradually slowed down and saw the coastline.
He landed on the beach. The tide washed against the shore, and farther out, even bigger waves seemed to be rolling in.
He Lingxuan walked step by step into the ocean. The water gradually covered his feet, then his knees, thighs, and chest, until it finally went over his head...
He Lingxuan swam into the ocean. After reaching a depth of just a few dozen meters, he saw countless schools of fish swimming in different directions.
He raised his hand and fired a Ki Blast. Rumble!
The fish were instantly blasted to ash, but the system didn't announce that he'd received any upgrade points.
"Ding! The quantity of fish killed by the host does not meet the standard for the first tier. Please do not be concerned; the system's assessment is absolutely correct."
He Lingxuan smiled at the system's explanation.
"These fish don't meet the standard, huh? Then the deep-sea creatures should, right?"
After all, the ocean in the Dragon Ball World surely wasn't short of powerful creatures. They had to be stronger than the creatures on land—unless one counted martial artists and other freaks, of course.
Without another word, He Lingxuan plunged toward the deep sea, descending to 100 meters, 200 meters, 500 meters, and then 1,000 meters...
At that depth, the pressure exerted on a person had reached 101 atmospheres.
That was 100 atmospheres more than on land, equivalent to a pressure of 100 kilograms of force on every square centimeter of the human body!
And as the depth increased, the pressure exerted by the seawater would grow greater and greater.
For every ten meters he descended, the pressure on his body increased by one atmosphere.
But with his ki protecting his body, and the overpowered Forbidden Ruins ability known as Immortality, He Lingxuan wasn't worried about his safety at all. In fact, he even thought the deep sea made a pretty good place to train.
He Lingxuan didn't stop. He continued descending until he reached a depth of five thousand meters, where almost no light remained.
But perhaps because of the world's unusual nature, many enormous creatures lived on the seafloor. Without a doubt, they all met the first-tier standard, so He Lingxuan decided to start training and farming upgrade points.
He Lingxuan floated in the sea and withdrew some of his ki protection, exposing himself to greater pressure so he could get some training in.
He Lingxuan spent some time adjusting to the deep sea, where the pressure was equivalent to more than ten times the gravity on land.
After sensing the life forces around him, He Lingxuan decided to try something new.
For instance, the new skill he'd just acquired from the God Slayer World: [Omni-Vibration]!
With a thought, all the sea creatures within range of his psychic perception were instantly shaken into bloody pulp by the incredibly high-frequency vibrations that suddenly surged through them!
Immediately after that single attack, countless kill notifications and announcements that he'd received upgrade points rang out in rapid succession.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have slain 3,550 first-tier creatures. You have received 35,500 upgrade points, and the following talents: Underwater Breathing *300, Electric Discharge *30, Limb Regeneration *15, Skin Defense *50, Poison Resistance *20..."
"Ding! A large number of identical talents have been detected. Would you like to combine them into higher-level skills, or convert the excess skills into upgrade points?"
He Lingxuan looked at the dark seafloor and smiled with satisfaction.
"This haul's pretty good. I didn't expect that my mere 1,000 points of mental strength combined with Omni-Vibration would be so convenient for clearing out weak mobs."
He felt that using his mental strength had cost him almost nothing, and he was extremely satisfied.
"System, combine identical talents into higher-level ones and use them. Convert all the rest into upgrade points."
After replying to the system with a thought, He Lingxuan waited for his body to change and the upgrade points to arrive.
"Ding! Understood. Beginning combination and conversion... Please wait patiently, Host."
"Interconnected talents that can be combined have been detected. Would you like to combine them all into a single unified ability?"
"Combine them!"
"Ding! Combination complete! Congratulations, Host. You have acquired Top-Tier Physique. The remaining talents have been successfully converted into 70,000 upgrade points."
When he heard the system's response, He Lingxuan saw that he'd obtained Top-Tier Physique and a full 70,000 upgrade points. He looked delighted. It seemed that each ordinary low-level talent could be converted into 100 upgrade points.
He'd gotten extremely lucky this time and gained a full 1,000 talents. Although many were duplicates, after combining them, 700 remained to be converted into upgrade points, giving him a full 70,000. That was a pretty good conversion rate, considering they'd all been low-level talents.
"System, open the panel."
[Infinite Upgrade System] [Host: He Lingxuan] [Age: 19] [World: Dragon Ball World (???)] [Combat Power: 100,800 (Can be increased with points; currently increasing slowly due to environmental factors)] [Mental Strength: 1,000 (Can be increased with points)] [Talents: Advanced Saiyan Bloodline (Cannot be increased with points), Top-Tier Physique Talent (Can be increased with points; all physique-related costs reduced by 300%, defense increased by 1,000%, recovery increased by 1,000%, possesses the ability to regenerate severed limbs, energy storage increased by 100%, poison resistance increased by 1,000%...), Humanoid Great Ape Transformation (Cannot be increased with points; can increase combat power tenfold)] [Martial Arts: Beginner (Can only use around 65% of own strength; can be increased with points)] [Skills: Immortality (Can be increased with points), Yuan-Devouring Scabbard +1 (Can be increased with points), Omni-Vibration +1 (Can be increased with points), Ki Blast +3 (Can be increased with points), Ki Wave +3 (Can be increased with points), Flight Technique +3 (Can be increased with points), Kaioken (Can be increased with points), Intermediate Psychokinesis (Can be increased with points), Ability Theft (Cannot be increased with points)] [Upgrade Points: 106,010] [Items: None]
Looking at the dazzling array of entries on the panel, He Lingxuan felt satisfied. But what he really struggled with was how to spend his points.
After all, everything except the Humanoid Great Ape Form could now be upgraded. For example, upgrading Kaioken would surely reduce its energy consumption and raise its upper limit.
And if he upgraded Immortality, perhaps it would give him the ability to quickly adapt and function normally in any environment. It might also improve Immortality's defensive power and expand the range of its effects.
Martial arts and mental strength were also good choices for upgrades. Martial arts would improve his control over his ki and strength, while mental strength could increase his perception range, reaction speed, and so on.
After thinking it over for a long time, He Lingxuan decided to upgrade Immortality, mental strength, and martial arts first. After all, the ability to adapt to different environments was quite important for a Saiyan.
There was no need to say more about mental strength and martial arts. Besides, couldn't he just go somewhere else and farm more upgrade points later?
Having made up his mind, He Lingxuan silently instructed the system.
"System, upgrade Immortality. Increase martial arts to 100%, leave ten points, and put all the rest into mental strength!"
"Ding! Understood. Beginning upgrades..."
It only took a short while for He Lingxuan to feel an enormous change in his body, his senses, and everything else!
His perception range rapidly expanded until it covered several thousand nautical miles, and it was still growing.
He also had the sense that he could act normally in any environment he wanted, without being affected.
Finally, He Lingxuan felt that his control over himself had greatly improved. He could now easily destroy a planet, or appear to exert all his strength while actually using less force than an ordinary person. He could also perform extraordinarily precise movements.
When He Lingxuan saw the updated martial arts entry on the system panel, he understood what this control over strength was called: Micro-Control. As the name suggested, it meant having meticulous control over one's own strength, allowing one to unleash the body's full power perfectly. Jiren, for instance, who would appear in the future Tournament of Power, had remained at the level of Micro-Control for years.
He could even use a single portion of strength as if it were several, or even dozens, of portions. By comparison, after transforming into Super Saiyan Blue, Son Goku and Vegeta's ki became incredibly volatile.
They couldn't control even 100% of their own strength—perhaps not even 50%—which was why they couldn't beat Jiren despite their strength being comparable in essence.
That was what Vegeta himself had said. There was basically no difference between their strength; the real difference was in how well they controlled it.
So martial arts really were extremely important. With the system, no matter what form He Lingxuan transformed into or how volatile his ki became, he could use whatever level of control and power his martial arts rating on the system panel allowed.
In some ways, this was even like the legendary experts' state of attaining enlightenment once and retaining it forever.
Before you continue