The Nature of Energy

On the seventh day of running with stones on his back, Goten increased the number from seven to twelve.

Thick calluses had formed on his shoulders and back, and the muscles in his legs had become more defined.

But the changes weren't only on the outside—his Origin Energy flowed through his body almost three times faster than it had seven days ago.

On the evening of the seventh day, as he finished his final run, Patriarch Bodhi was waiting for him at the top of the mountain. The setting sun turned the old man's white hair golden.

"You don't have to run tomorrow."

Goten panted, bent over with his hands braced on his knees. "I—passed?"

"You've passed the first stage," Patriarch Bodhi replied calmly. "Tomorrow—you'll learn real Immortal Art."

Goten straightened up, his eyes shining brilliantly in the sunset.

He'd waited seven days—at last, he'd heard those words.

But Patriarch Bodhi's next words didn't let him get excited just yet. "Before you learn Immortal Art, there's something you must understand first."

"What is it?"

Patriarch Bodhi extended his right hand, palm open. A silvery-white ball of Origin Energy gathered there, like a soft moonlight. "Do you know what this is?"

"Origin Energy."

"What is Origin Energy?"

Goten thought it over—but realized he couldn't answer.

He knew what Origin Energy could do and could feel it flowing through his body. But if he had to explain what it was, he couldn't.

Patriarch Bodhi withdrew the Origin Energy and asked a different question. "Then—what is 'ki' from your old world?"

Goten fell silent again.

He'd used ki for more than ten years—to sense his enemies, strengthen his attacks, and unleash the Kamehameha—but he'd never considered what ki actually was.

"Can't think of an answer?"

Goten honestly shook his head.

"Then sit down. I'll tell you."

Patriarch Bodhi sat on a rock at the mountaintop. Goten sat opposite him.

The sunset sank slowly between them, stretching their shadows long across the ground.

"'Ki' in your old world is life energy. Every living thing has it inside. Its essence is the will to survive. When you want to stay alive, ki is produced within you. The stronger the living being, the stronger its ki." Goten nodded. He could understand that.

"But the 'Origin Energy' in this world is the energy of heaven and earth. It doesn't come from living beings—it exists in heaven and earth themselves. Its essence isn't will—it's existence itself."

Patriarch Bodhi held out his palm again, and silvery-white Origin Energy appeared once more. "A tree doesn't have to make an effort to possess Origin Energy, because it exists. Even a stone has Origin Energy, because it's there."

Patriarch Bodhi curled his fingers, and the Origin Energy vanished.

"The two forces inside you now—one is the power that wants to survive, and the other is the power that already exists here. They aren't enemies—they complement each other. Your Saiyan ki tells you how to survive. Origin Energy tells you what this world was like to begin with. Combine them, and you'll be able to see what others can't."

Goten was silent for a long time.

Then he said something—not a question, but his understanding. "So—I'm not using Origin Energy to replace Saiyan ki. I'm making them work together. Saiyan ki tells me where the enemy is—Origin Energy tells me where the path is."

Patriarch Bodhi didn't nod or praise him.

He simply stood up, turned his back to Goten, and watched the sunset sink behind the distant mountains. "Tomorrow, I'll teach you the first real Immortal Art."

Early the next morning, when Goten arrived at the training ground, he saw a massive rock in the clearing.

It was as tall as a person and weighed at least several thousand pounds. Its surface was covered in moss, as if it had just been brought over from somewhere at the foot of the mountain.

Patriarch Bodhi stood beside the rock. When he saw Goten arrive, he said just one thing: "Lift it."

Goten walked over, wrapped both arms around the rock, and heaved—but it didn't budge.

He frowned and gathered all his strength, bracing his feet against the ground and driving upward with his hips. The rock shifted slightly, but it rose less than an inch before dropping back down. He let go and caught his breath.

"Use your Saiyan ki," Patriarch Bodhi reminded him.

Goten took a deep breath, and golden ki flared around him. He grabbed the rock again. This time, he lifted it to his knees—but couldn't raise it any higher. After struggling for several breaths, he had to set it down.

"Use Origin Energy."

Goten switched to Origin Energy. Silvery-white light wrapped around the rock, which shifted and then slowly floated a few inches off the ground. But Goten's face paled, and the veins in his forehead bulged. He lasted fewer than five breaths before the rock crashed back down.

Using Saiyan ki, he couldn't lift it.

Using Origin Energy, he couldn't lift it either.

"Want to know how you can lift it?"

Goten wiped away his sweat. "I do."

"Use what I just told you. Make them work together."

Goten froze for a moment.

Then he closed his eyes.

First, he sensed the Saiyan ki inside him—golden, fiery, and brimming with the power of will.

Then he sensed the Origin Energy—silvery-white and gentle, flowing through him like water. He didn't combine the two forces. He let them run in parallel. Golden ki burned across the surface of his body, while silvery-white Origin Energy flowed through his meridians.

He opened his eyes and wrapped both arms around the rock. He felt its weight, then used Saiyan ki to strengthen his muscles and Origin Energy to envelop the rock, reducing its pull toward the earth.

The rock slowly rose.

It wasn't brute strength alone, nor was it floating through Origin Energy alone—it was the two working together.

Saiyan ki provided the upward force, while Origin Energy reduced the rock's resistance. It rose less than a yard, but that was enough.

He lifted the rock over his head, held it steady for three breaths, then slowly lowered it.

He stood beside the rock, breathing heavily—but his eyes were shining. "I did it."

Patriarch Bodhi looked at the old locust tree. A leaf had just fallen from its crown and been carried by the wind into the pond.

He murmured something—not to Goten, but to the wind. "He learns faster than that monkey surnamed Sun."