Axis and Leman Russ sat cross-legged atop a massive snowy mountain. They breathed steadily, placed their hands on their knees, and closed their eyes. Axis tried to guide Leman Russ into sensing the "qi" within his body.
"Qi is the most fundamental energy in a living being. It exists in every cell. Through cultivation or training, you can gradually sense and control it. Focus carefully, and you should be able to feel it," Axis said slowly.
His bargain-bin dad had a combat power of 1,700. With just a little guidance, he should be able to master the power of qi with ease.
"Fine. What exactly should I do?" Leman Russ nodded.
"First, calm your mind. Sense the flow inside your body and find the source of that energy. Then try to get it moving through you," Axis explained.
Leman Russ furrowed his brow and did his best to follow Axis's instructions. He closed his eyes, focused, and tried to sense the changes within his body.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sense the "qi" Axis had described. It was as if there was nothing like that inside him at all.
How strange. Why couldn't he feel it?
Leman Russ tried once more, unwilling to accept defeat, but still felt nothing. The qi Axis had spoken of seemed not to exist.
"My little Wolf Cub, I can't feel this qi you mentioned. To me, it's as intangible as air. I can't sense any of its power at all," Leman Russ said, opening his eyes.
Axis opened his eyes and looked at Leman Russ helplessly. It made no sense!
During their earlier fight, Axis had realized that his bargain-bin dad was clearly a superhuman combat prodigy.
No matter what moves Axis used, Leman Russ could counter them with perfect technique. That wasn't something he could accomplish through combat experience alone, since there didn't seem to be anyone else on this planet who could spar with him.
His bargain-bin dad wasn't just a combat-power mutant—he was also a genius warrior.
A combat prodigy like that should have been able to master qi with just a little guidance.
Vegeta was also a genius warrior. After fighting the Dragon Ball Z Warriors on Earth just once, he had managed to grasp the power of qi.
Leman Russ had Axis teaching him. There was no reason he shouldn't be able to grasp it!
"Forget it, my little Wolf Cub. There's no need to rush. This thing called qi probably can't be mastered overnight.
"I'll train with you from now on. You can keep teaching me this special power, and I'll learn it little by little," Wolf King Leman Russ said as he stood up.
Leman Russ had plenty of confidence in both his combat talent and his brainpower.
If this power could really be learned, then by training alongside his bargain-bin son, he would surely master it eventually.
"All right. There's no rush! We'll keep practicing. If we keep fighting, you'll learn it sooner or later," Axis said with a nod.
In the days that followed, aside from eating and sleeping, Axis spent his time heading out into the wilderness to spar with Leman Russ.
After their combat training, the two would climb to the mountaintop, where Axis would teach Leman Russ how to sense qi.
Leman Russ had no idea how to use qi. He couldn't even sense that it existed.
Axis said that every living being possessed this power, but it didn't seem that way to Leman Russ. It was as if this power belonged to Axis alone—a power that was his and his alone.
Axis grew anxious. He even channeled his own qi into Leman Russ's body to guide him and help him grasp how to sense it.
Strangely, though, Axis's qi could remain in Leman Russ's body for a little while, but it was like water without a source and couldn't last. Within a mere ten or so seconds, the qi Axis had infused into Leman Russ would vanish without a trace.
Leman Russ could clearly sense this power, but he simply couldn't control it. His body seemed to instinctively reject it.
How could this be? Could the people on this planet really be unable to learn qi?
But that couldn't be right! According to the rules of the Dragon Ball world, every living being should have qi, shouldn't they?
Unwilling to give up, Axis conducted another experiment. He selected tribal warriors with combat power above 10 and taught them how to use qi. He even used his own qi to guide them.
The tribal warriors studied earnestly and worked very hard. But just like Leman Russ, they couldn't grasp the power of qi.
For a full six months, Axis taught them as best he could, while Leman Russ and the tribal warriors did their utmost to learn. Yet they still couldn't master qi.
In the end, everyone gave up on learning to use it.
"Give up, my little Wolf Cub. It seems this power belongs to you alone. No one else can learn it," Leman Russ said, patting Axis on the shoulder.
By now, he was certain that this power called qi belonged to the little Wolf Cub. No one else could learn it. It was as if it were a power he had been born with.
"This is so strange! Qi should belong to every living being," Axis said, rubbing his chin.
"Looks like I can't control this power. Still, it wasn't all for nothing. At least your combat power has improved quite a bit," Leman Russ said.
Over the past six months or so, Axis's combat power had shot up by 350 points, bringing his total to 500.
Since he had practiced using qi so often, Axis had developed the Flight Technique and grown much more adept at controlling it.
"Looks like you won't be able to master this power anytime soon. Russ, I think there's something wrong with this planet itself," Axis said.
Axis had spent a year and a half on this planet, and by now he had learned much more about it. It was an extremely strange place.
Everywhere bore signs of colonization. After learning the Flight Technique, Axis had flown through the sky and—
Once, he had discovered the obvious wreckage of some kind of machine. It looked like it had been abandoned for many years, yet it was remarkably advanced—clearly a relic of an interstellar civilization.
What's more, one year on this frozen planet was equivalent to more than three years on Earth. It lasted a full 40 months.
Yet they reckoned time using 365 days per year, with each month set at 30 days. That was how people calculated their ages, too.
They didn't count their ages according to the years of this planet. Instead, they treated every 365 days as one year. It was exactly the same as Earth's calendar.
There was far too much of Earth about this planet, Fenris.
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