Beginner's Gift Pack

"Ding, congratulations, Host. You have successfully checked in. Would you like to open the beginner's gift pack immediately?" The system's voice rang out again, utterly devoid of emotion.

"Is that even a question? Of course I'm opening it!" Tang Yangbing shouted impatiently, excitement flashing in his eyes. "Ding, congratulations, Host. You have obtained the Super Saiyan bloodline and Trunks's tenfold battle power!"

"Ding, congratulations, Host. You have obtained the skills Demon Flash, Flight, Ki Sensing, Afterimage Fist, and Kamehameha!"

As the system notification ended, Tang Yangbing immediately felt an immense power surge from within him, like a warm current sweeping through his entire body in an instant.

His muscles swelled slightly, his bones crackled softly, and his entire body felt as though it had been completely remade.

He clenched his fists and felt unprecedented power flowing through his fingertips.

"Beginning Super Saiyan bloodline fusion!" He took a deep breath, ready to undergo the baptism of this power.

However, in the next instant, a heart-wrenching agony suddenly struck. Tang Yangbing felt as if every cell in his body were being torn apart and reconstructed, as though countless needles were piercing his marrow.

He gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead as sweat instantly soaked through his clothes.

He nearly passed out, unable to stop himself from cursing inwardly. Damn it, don't all those novels say system rewards come without pain? I was actually deceived by some author on Lu!

He could only use curses to distract himself, as though that was the only way to slightly ease the endless pain.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, every second like torment in hell.

He curled up on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably. Sweat mixed with dust, leaving him looking utterly disheveled.

A full hour passed before the intense pain gradually subsided.

Tang Yangbing slowly climbed up from the ground, feeling much lighter, as though he had been reborn.

He took a deep breath, sensing the surging power within him, and a smile finally curled across his lips.

He knew that from this moment on, his fate would be completely changed.

"This is fucking... way too painful!" Tang Yangbing gritted his teeth, fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead, as if every bone in his body had been crushed and reassembled in that instant.

The intense pain crashed against his nerves in wave after wave, leaving him almost unable to breathe. Yet amid that heart-rending agony, a strange power was awakening throughout his limbs and bones.

His consciousness, which had been muddled from crossing over, was thoroughly awakened by the baptism of this excruciating pain. Tang Yangbing slowly opened his eyes, and what greeted him was a desolate wasteland of ruins.

Broken steel rebars jutted savagely from the concrete. Unidentified metal fragments lay scattered across the scorched earth, while several ruined high-rises flickered in and out of view in the twilight distance, like the skeletons of enormous beasts.

He took a deep breath and was surprised to discover a peculiar energy fluctuation permeating the air. This energy was continuously pouring into his body, rushing and circulating through his meridians.

At the same time, countless pieces of knowledge about Super Saiyans surfaced in his mind—how to mobilize the "ki" within his body, how to control bursts of energy, and even fragments of memories containing all kinds of combat techniques.

"Let's test my strength first!" Excitement flashed in Tang Yangbing's eyes.

He slowly raised his right arm, his muscles gleaming with healthy vigor beneath the sunlight.

With a slight shift of his thoughts, a golden aura suddenly erupted from within him, making the surrounding rubble tremble faintly.

He suddenly threw a punch through the air at a distant ruined wall.

As the force of his punch swept past, the air let out a piercing shriek as though it had been torn apart.

Golden waves of ki surged forth like a furious dragon, gouging a deep trench into the ground wherever they passed.

"Boom—!"

Amid a deafening sonic boom, the ruins dozens of meters tall were reduced to dust in an instant.

Dust shot skyward like a sandstorm, glimmering with golden light beneath the afterglow of the setting sun.

As the smoke and dust gradually dispersed, a vast crater stretching several kilometers was revealed in the ground. Its deepest point reached several hundred meters, and wisps of green smoke still rose from the soil along its edges.

"So... so strong!" Tang Yangbing stared at his fist in disbelief, his fingertips still tingling faintly.

The power of that punch far exceeded his expectations. If he had not held back at the final moment, the entire planet might have shattered beneath that strike.

Although his current strength was still insignificant compared to the powerhouses in his memories who could destroy star systems with a casual move, for Tang Yangbing, who had just gained these abilities, it was already power beyond his wildest dreams.

Just as he was immersed in the joy of gaining power, a translucent screen suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Pale blue streams of data flowed across the screen before finally forming a character interface:

text
[Tang Yangbing: Male]

[Age: 17]

[Battle Power: 60 million (Base Battle Power) — 3 billion (Super Saiyan 1, First Stage)]

[Bloodline: Super Saiyan 1]

[Skills: Ki Sensing, Flight, Afterimage Fist, Kamehameha, Demon Flash]

Tang Yangbing carefully read the information on the interface and let out a conflicted sigh.

A base battle power of 60 million might be an astronomical figure in the eyes of ordinary people, but before the truly powerful, it would probably not even be enough for self-preservation.

Moreover, the first form of Super Saiyan 1 meant that his path as a Super Saiyan had only just begun.

He raised his head toward the horizon. The setting sun was as red as blood, dyeing the entire wasteland of ruins with a bleak, tragic hue.

The breeze stirred his golden hair, while the energy within his body continued to flow slowly.

At that moment, Tang Yangbing clearly realized that the power sleeping within this body was still far from its limit.

"Ding—!" A crisp notification sound tore through the silence, as though sending ripples through Tang Yangbing's mind.

He instinctively held his breath. A translucent system interface seemed to appear before his eyes, shimmering with flowing light as lines of text slowly emerged, carrying an unquestionable authority.

"Now issuing the next check-in mission!" "Host, please travel to the world of Dragon Ball Z within one month to check in and claim the corresponding reward!"

"One month?" Tang Yangbing murmured, his voice tinged with disbelief.

He looked around. As far as the eye could see lay the ruins of a devastated city, broken rebar and shattered concrete strewn everywhere. The occasional birdcall from afar only made this place of deathly silence seem even more desolate.

He could not help but curse under his breath. "Back to twenty years ago? Damn it, can this still be played properly?" His thoughts drifted uncontrollably to the tragedy not long ago.

Trunks, the companion who had once fought at his side, now lay in a pool of blood, never to rise again.

And the time machine capable of crossing through time and space had been ruthlessly taken away.

Tang Yangbing's fists clenched unconsciously, his knuckles turning white from the force.

"Now Trunks is dead, and the time machine has been stolen. What am I supposed to do?" he asked himself in a low voice, filled with helplessness and fury.

Without a time machine, how was he supposed to return to that legendary Dragon Ball Z timeline?

Wish upon Shenron?

The thought had barely surfaced before he rejected it.

Unless it was the legendary Super Shenron, even that Namekian lizard dragon could not break through the barriers of time and space.

Yet he did not even know where the Namekians were now, much less how to find that dragon.

The only hope left seemed to be Bulma.

Tang Yangbing took a deep breath and set out to find Bulma.

He crossed barren plains and traversed broken bridges, gravel crunching beneath his feet from time to time.

Sunlight filtered through sparse clouds and fell across his weary face. Sweat slid down from his temples, leaving faint trails behind.

After several days of travel, he finally found Bulma's residence in a secluded valley.

It was a building half-buried underground. It looked ordinary from the outside, but its interior was filled with a sense of advanced technology.

Tang Yangbing pushed open the heavy metal door, and a faint smell of engine oil rushed over him.

Bulma stood before a complex instrument, holding a tool that glowed with blue light.

Though she was already fifty years old, her beauty remained undiminished. The marks of time had instead added a touch of mature charm to her.

Her long hair was casually tied behind her head, with a few strands falling over her forehead, making her look all the more focused and resolute.