Strength Surges

As he approached the planet, the scene before him became increasingly clear.

Due to the consumption by the Fruit of the Tree of Might, the planet had shrunk by a significant margin. The atmosphere above it had grown thin, exposing the geological rock layers beneath.

Kast felt a flicker of doubt as he observed the world. In the original story, he knew the Tree of Might required soil nutrients to grow. While this planet possessed land, it was otherwise filled only with intense radiation and gases permeating the air.

Without an abundance of nutrients, how had this Tree of Might managed to survive on this planet, let alone grow to such a massive size?

Harboring these questions, Kast parked his ship near the canopy of the Tree of Might and stepped out.

Floating in the air, Kast slowly descended toward the tree below.

So that's it!

As he entered the planet's atmosphere, Kast finally understood how the tree had managed to survive here.

Generally, gas giants are quite dense, with extreme temperatures and radiation caused by atmospheric pressure. However, this planet lacked significant radiation, and its temperature was much lower than that of a typical planet.

Kast sensed that the current temperature of the planet was only around 100 degrees. While still beyond what an ordinary human could endure, it was extremely low for a gas giant, which typically exceeded thousands of degrees.

Kast surmised that this temperature variance was linked to the Tree of Might on the surface.

Although the tree usually relied on soil nutrients, it was, after all, a divine tree. Temperature and radiation were also forms of energy; perhaps this tree had mutated, absorbing the radiation and heat as its primary sustenance.

Combined with the presence of land, the tree had managed to grow tenaciously by absorbing energy despite the lack of traditional soil nutrients.

As the tree grew, it purified the atmosphere, causing the dense gases of the planet to dissipate.

This explained why the atmosphere was now thin and transparent.

With the mystery solved, Kast stopped dwelling on the cause and arrived near the canopy at the base of the tree.

Familiar with the original story, Kast knew the fruits were located at the top of the trunk, where a hollow existed; the fruits grew just above it.

He flew along the trunk and soon spotted the hollow.

"This is the place."

Entering the hollow, Kast looked at the dense clusters of red fruit and couldn't help but smile.

He reached out, plucked a fruit, and held it in his palm. Observing it closely, the fruit looked like a spiky melon. Whether it was because it had absorbed radiation and heat, the fruit remained searingly hot to the touch.

Looking at the fruit, Kast thought for a moment before taking a Senzu Bean from his pocket. Since the energy this tree absorbed differed from the original, there might be unforeseen side effects. It was safer to keep a Senzu Bean on hand just in case.

That way, if an accident occurred, he could use the bean to save his life.

As for the fear of potential issues preventing him from eating it, Kast had no such concerns.

Fortune favors the bold. There were few ways to increase his strength, and the Tree of Might was arguably the one with the most potential. Aside from that, there was the Grand Elder on Namek and the Old Kai currently sealed away by the Z Sword in the Supreme Kai World. Both could unlock a person's latent potential, granting them power far beyond their previous limits. However, compared to the tree right in front of him, the Grand Elder and the Old Kai were currently unreachable.

First, he couldn't get to Namek, so he couldn't reach the Grand Elder to unlock his potential. Compared to Namek, he didn't even know where the Supreme Kai World was, and with the Old Kai sealed by the Z Sword, it was even more impossible.

Perhaps Kast would visit Namek later, but he had no such plans at this stage.

Since he had encountered the Tree of Might and held its fruit in his hand, he was definitely going to eat it.

With that thought, Kast didn't hesitate and took a bite of the fruit.

Gulp.

The moment he swallowed the fruit, his muscles surged with power.

Aside from that, there were no other sensations. Even though the energy source was different, the fruit functioned just as he remembered: it increased his strength without any side effects.

"This power!"

Clenching his fists, Kast felt a massive surge of energy filling his body.

"My combat power must be over 500,000 now!"

Just like Turles in the original story, whose strength skyrocketed after eating the fruit, allowing him to defeat Son Goku—who had a base power of 30,000 and was using a 10x Kaioken.

One had to remember that the Kaioken was a technique that multiplied one's strength; Son Goku's 10x Kaioken brought his power to at least 300,000. Yet, even then, he couldn't defeat Turles after he had consumed the fruit.

From this, one could deduce that a single fruit could increase base combat power by at least 300,000 to 500,000. The exact amount depended on the energy limit the tree had absorbed.

Kast smiled slightly and picked up another fruit. He knew from the sensation after the first bite that he hadn't reached his physical limit; he could continue eating.

He could probably consume about 10 more. As it happened, there were exactly 15 fruits left on the tree.

As he ate them one by one, Kast's combat power finally broke through 5 million, and his body reached its limit.

At the same time, Kast felt a bottleneck form within his body. He had a premonition that if he broke through this, he would enter an entirely new realm!

"This must be the bottleneck for the Super Saiyan transformation."

Kast knew that once he broke through this barrier, he would have a high chance of transforming into a Super Saiyan!

A Super Saiyan provided a 50-fold increase to his base combat power.

Now that he possessed a base combat power of 5 million, if he could transform into a Super Saiyan, he would wield a terrifying power of 250 million. That would far exceed Frieza's 100 million.