Cosmic Battle Royale!

Ding!

A flash of light streaked across the universe, followed by one burst after another. The spaceships swarming in like locusts, scrambling to be first, vanished from the cosmos forever.

"Whew..." Li Ming instinctively took a deep breath, only to nearly suffocate. He hurriedly turned and walked into the ship, cursing loudly, "Those trash bastards turn into scared dogs the moment Frieza is mentioned, so why the hell are they so damn eager to chase me!?"

He truly couldn't understand it. Ever since leaving Namek, he had lost track of how many waves of aliens had chased after him. The number who had died was probably enough to make up half a planet's population, yet there were still people unwilling to give up!

It was even escalating—the number of people coming to die increased with every wave.

Stet handed him a towel and shuddered. "M-my lord, we've entered the orbit of Namek."

"Hmm? Are you cold?" Li Ming merely swept him with his gaze, only to see Stet shiver violently. He found it a little strange.

"N-no... It's just, your gaze..."

"My gaze?"

Stet couldn't explain it for a long while, so Li Ming found a mirror in confusion. What he saw was that, without realizing it, his eyes had become filled with an indescribable viciousness. A chilling murderous aura radiated from him.

Killing intent!

It was something left behind by too much slaughter. Li Ming frowned, unable to think of a good solution for the moment.

If he activated Berserk in this state, it would be easy for him to lose control. He had to find a way to get rid of it as soon as possible. It seemed he could only ask Shenron for help.

That basically settled three wishes: first, find Yardrat; then, obtain the Fruit of the Tree of Might; and finally, resolve the problem of his murderous aura. Perfect!

The reason he had chosen to deal with this batch of pursuers before landing on Namek was to prevent any accidents. The fewer people who knew about something like Shenron, the better.

After landing safely on Namek, Li Ming went straight to the Grand Elder and requested the Dragon Balls. The Grand Elder agreed readily enough.

Having reached the Grand Elder's level, he no longer cared much about power or life and death. Having seen through everything, he chose to follow the laws of the universe and undergo the natural cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death. In a sense, he had transcended worldly matters.

After obtaining the Dragon Balls, Li Ming found a Namekian elder to help make the wishes.

"God of Dreams, come forth!"

"State your wish!"

The majestic dragon head lowered itself. Li Ming frowned. This Shenron did not understand the "dialect," so he could only use Namekian.

Looking at the elder beside him, Li Ming said, "Please tell him that I want to learn Instant Transmission."

Li Ming had thought of it on the spot. What he valued most was Instant Transmission. There might be other things worth learning as well, but they apparently took a long time to master, so why not just wish for it directly?

I'm fucking brilliant! He silently gave himself a thumbs-up for his quick wit.

The elder nodded, followed by another exchange in Namekian that Li Ming could not understand at all. Shenron paused for a moment before saying, "This wish is very simple."

Bzzz!

The energy within his body surged out unconsciously. Li Ming frowned. He was only mastering a skill; logically, the impact on his body should not have been too great. After all, Goku had not shown any abnormalities in the original story.

Li Ming had originally intended to wish to master all of Yardrat's secret techniques, but after thinking it over, he realized that was wrong. He had no idea how many of those techniques had side effects. What if there was some forbidden technique that killed him the instant he learned it? That would be quite the joke.

To be safe, Li Ming chose to learn Instant Transmission first. At the very least, it was practical and carried no apparent risk.

After a while, Li Ming felt as though it had become an instinct. He had mastered Instant Transmission, and his ability to sense energy had expanded farther and become even sharper.

It was not merely that the range of his energy sensing had increased—it had become clearer.

If his previous perception had only told him that a living aura was present somewhere, it was like trying to look while blindfolded. He could only see a hazy mass of light and could not make out subtle changes.

But after mastering Instant Transmission, it was like opening his eyes and seeing directly, with the clarity cranked all the way up!

He tried using energy as a guide. In the next instant, Li Ming flashed behind Stet, who was guarding the spaceship, then immediately used Instant Transmission again to return before Shenron.

Sensing movement behind him, Stet turned around while repairing the spaceship, only to find nothing at all.

"Huh?" He scratched his head, paid it no mind, and continued inspecting the ship.

"Second wish: erase the killing intent from my body."

"This wish cannot be granted." Porunga's answer greatly surprised Li Ming. Logically, such a wish should have been easy.

He asked in confusion, "Why?"

Porunga said, "It is an embodiment of your own will. I cannot directly affect it. Only the power of hell can wash it away."

"Then change it. Let me master Ultra Instinct."

"This wish cannot be granted."

"Let me transform into a Super Saiyan."

"This wish cannot—"

"Alright, I get it. Give me ten thousand ripe Fruit of the Tree of Might."

Porunga said, "..."

He hesitated for a while, seemingly calculating how much energy ten thousand Fruit of the Tree of Might would require. Then large beads of sweat actually began rolling down Porunga's face, showing just how heavy a burden this wish was for him.

Even the elder beside him grew anxious. It was also his first time seeing Porunga make such an expression.

"This wish... can be granted."

Buzz!

Along with an eerie red glow, a huge pile of Fruit of the Tree of Might appeared before Li Ming—by rough estimate, there were ten thousand of them.

Li Ming nodded in satisfaction. It was good enough that this wish could be fulfilled; after all, this was equivalent to the total life energy of an entire planet, no small amount.

Restoring an exploded planet was not difficult. All he had to do was gather its life energy. The difficult part was finding enough life energy out of thin air to create Fruit of the Tree of Might.

Li Ming looked at Porunga again and said, "Porunga, for my final wish, send Stet and me back to Earth."

This time, the wait was exceptionally long. After a while, Porunga still had not spoken, so Li Ming looked doubtfully at the Namekian elder beside him.

The elder asked again in Namekian, then said, "Porunga says he no longer has enough power, so..."

"Not enough?"

Li Ming looked up and saw that Porunga's face had turned green. His burly body seemed to have shrunk by a size, while beads of sweat the size of beans continuously rolled down. Clearly, the wish for the Fruit of the Tree of Might had depleted far too much of his power.

"Then forget it." Li Ming waved a hand. Porunga seemed to sigh in relief and was just about to put on an act before slipping away when Li Ming said, "Tell me a way to raise my 'rank.'"

"Rank is a privilege of gods. There is no direct way to increase it."

Seeing that, Li Ming lost interest in making things difficult for him and waved his hand. "Fine. Just tell me where Slug is."

Porunga nodded and gave Li Ming a set of coordinates. Then he stopped pretending and turned into golden light as he vanished. The Dragon Balls also turned to stone, with a cooldown period of roughly one hundred and thirty days.

"Please pass a message to the Grand Elder for me. I'll be leaving first. Thank you very much for your help. If Namek ever needs assistance, you may contact me."

The elder smiled and waved his hand. "We Namekians are a peace-loving race. So long as Shenron is not used to make harmful wishes, these are merely small matters."

Without saying anything further, Li Ming nodded and turned to leave. Even the combat-type Namekians generally did not have much desire to fight, so calling them a peace-loving race was not wrong at all.

The spaceship departed once more. This time, Li Ming did not intend to return directly to Earth. Now that he had mastered Instant Transmission, his safety was greatly assured.

As long as he seized the right moment, Frieza could no longer pose a threat to him!

The reason he was going to find Slug was naturally to become a Super Saiyan. His combat power had already approached the minimum threshold for transforming into a Super Saiyan, so the next step was naturally to attempt the transformation.

Going straight to Frieza still carried risks. Slug was undoubtedly the best choice, and he could settle the score from last time while he was at it.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Goku was hunting with Gohan on Mount Paozu. This place could be considered a land of plenty, capable of feeding two Saiyans.

Splash!

A massive spray of water erupted from beneath the waterfall. Immediately afterward, a huge shadow burst from the water and leaped into the air—it was a giant fish over three meters long, followed closely by a figure.

Bang!

Goku's combat power was no joke, and naturally this fish could not withstand a punch from him. He shouted toward Gohan, who was fishing by the shore with his tail, "Gohan! Catch!"

"Huh? Aah!"

Startled, he took several steps back, only to be pinned beneath the giant fish. Gohan's young body and heart both suffered a blow.

Goku, wearing only a pair of briefs, dropped down from the air. He grabbed the giant fish with one hand and held Gohan in the other, laughing heartily. "Hahaha! Gohan, are you okay?"

"Waaah!"

Gohan's little face crumpled, and he burst into tears. This left Goku at a loss. He could only drag the giant fish along while comforting Gohan as they headed home.

The result was predictable—Chi-Chi launched into another round of complaints.

"Goku!"

"C-Chi-Chi, don't be angry. Gohan's fine."

"Waaah!"

Under the night sky, the family's commotion shattered the silence of Mount Paozu. The few years after Gohan's birth were the most peaceful days of Goku's life.