Hyperbolic Time Chamber

Son Goku stood atop the tallest building in West City, cupped his hands around his mouth, and let out a whistle.

Whoosh—

Within two or three breaths, a bright yellow streak shot over from the horizon. A golden cloud whistled to a stop at his feet, bobbing up and down like a puppy trying to please its owner.

The Flying Nimbus.

Only those with hearts pure to the extreme could stand on it. Son Goku's mind was filled with calculations for the future, but that did not stop him from possessing a pure heart devoted to pursuing the path. The desire for strength itself carried no impurities.

He stepped onto it, and the Flying Nimbus instantly became a streak of golden lightning, tearing through the wind as it sped toward Korin's Sacred Land near the equator.

The high-altitude winds slashed at him like blades, but they were all blocked by the thin layer of ki surrounding Son Goku's body. Sitting on the cloud and watching the mountains and rivers race backward beneath him, he considered what to do next.

The Flying Nimbus was good for traveling, but it was unsuitable for aerial combat. And relying purely on physical bursts of power to remain airborne left too great an opening when the old force had been spent and the new had yet to arise.

The most urgent matter was learning Flight.

"With five hundred thousand power level in my normal state, the ki in my body has long since overflowed. Once I figure out the trick of releasing ki to offset gravity, flying will be as easy as drinking water." Son Goku's eyes shone with certainty.

As his thoughts raced, the ancient stone pillar that pierced the clouds had already come into view.

Korin Tower.

The Flying Nimbus stopped steadily at the edge of the temple, and Son Goku stepped onto the bluestone tiles.

In the middle of the temple, the white cat who had lived for eight hundred years was dozing beside a water vat. Hearing the footsteps, Korin sprang up with a start. Once he saw who had arrived, every hair on his body stood on end like a hedgehog's spines.

"You again? Didn't you just come here half a year ago? Why are you back?" Korin tightened his grip on his wooden staff, his cat eyes full of wariness. Half a year ago, this kid had been a bottomless black hole. Now... now he could not even sense the edge of that black hole.

"Korin, don't be nervous. I didn't come for you this time." Son Goku pulled out the Power Pole from behind his back and weighed it in his hand. "I'm just borrowing the way up. I want to meet the one above."

Korin followed his gaze upward, toward the endless sea of clouds. "Kami's Lookout? Young man, that isn't a place just anyone can go. Without Kami's permission—"

"He's the one who invited me."

Son Goku grinned and walked to the pointed tip at the center of the temple roof. There was an inconspicuous groove there.

He inserted the Power Pole into it and shouted, "Extend, Power Pole!"

Buzz!

The Power Pole gave off a dull vibration. The next second, the red staff shot upward like a crazed dragon, extending at an incomparably savage speed. One end plunged into the thick clouds, reaching straight into the heavens.

Son Goku leaped up and grabbed the rapidly rising staff with both hands. The wind by his ears turned into a piercing whistle, while the air pressure and temperature plummeted off a cliff. Yet under the ceaseless protection of his ki field, these extreme conditions could not affect him at all.

After piercing through who knew how many layers of clouds, the sky above suddenly brightened.

A massive floating island appeared before him, its underside shaped like a hemisphere. Lush trees grew around its edges, and the Power Pole had extended perfectly into the connecting socket beneath the island.

Son Goku released his grip, flipped lightly through the air, and landed soundlessly on the plaza paved with white square tiles.

The air here was thin, yet the temperature was as warm as spring. All kinds of exotic flowers and grasses grew around him, and the silence felt almost unreal.

"Son Goku, you finally came."

An aged yet imposing voice rang out across the empty plaza.

Son Goku looked up. On the stairs ahead stood a green-skinned old man in a white robe, leaning on a wooden staff, his face covered in wrinkles. Beside him stood the dark-skinned Mr. Popo, the whites of his eyes gleaming.

"The current Kami." Son Goku clasped his hands behind his back and examined the old man. "Nice to meet you. Though back under the sea, you must have already sensed me."

Kami's grip around his staff tightened, veins throbbing beneath his green skin.

"You killed that demon on the deserted island. If he had not spat out a demon egg before dying and preserved a trace of his bloodline, this old man would already be dead." Kami suppressed his anger, but his voice was filled with concern.

"You clearly had the strength to suppress him easily. Why did you allow that evil seed to keep growing?"

"Because this planet is too comfortable."

Son Goku slowly walked toward the stairs, the soles of his shoes making faint sounds against the stone slabs. "A flock of sheep without wolves will only degenerate. Leaving that little Demon King alive was to give Earth's martial artists a whetstone. Flowers raised in a greenhouse won't withstand the storms to come."

"What nonsense!" Kami slammed his staff heavily against the ground.

"You're gambling with the fate of all humanity! You have no idea how terrifying demons become once they mature! Besides..."

Kami paused, his clouded eyes fixed tightly on Son Goku. "You're not an Earthling at all, are you? You're one of that warrior race from the distant stars—the Saiyans."

The moment he said that, the air fell silent.

Even Mr. Popo's white eyes flashed with shock.

Son Goku stopped walking, a hint of interest appearing in his eyes. "Oh? You even know that. Looks like the ancient records at Kami's Lookout are indeed worth something. They even have records of a name like Saiyan, a race that is nearly extinct."

"The ancient records make it very clear." Kami sighed, his brow furrowing even more deeply.

"Born for battle, leaving not a blade of grass wherever they pass. You are an alien who drifted here, with a desire for destruction hidden in your bones. You let the Demon King go and stirred up conflict. In this old man's eyes, that is the awakening of your Saiyan's vile nature!"

"Think whatever you want." Son Goku shrugged indifferently.

"Kami, your vision is too narrow. What if I told you that in a little over ten years, cosmic monsters countless times more terrifying than demons will descend upon this planet? Pick any one of them, and they could grind your Lookout into ash with a single finger. Instead of worrying about that newborn little Demon King, you'd be better off thinking about how to handle the messes to come."

Kami's expression changed drastically. He could sense that the youth was not lying. That tone of absolute certainty could not deceive him.

"You eliminated a hidden threat for Earth. I should have welcomed you here and thanked you." Kami took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"But you came here of your own accord, so you certainly didn't come just to hear a few words of thanks. Tell me, what exactly do you want?"

"There is indeed something I need to trouble you with."

Son Goku raised a hand and pointed at the heavy stone door carved with ancient totems at the deepest part of the Lookout.

"The Hyperbolic Time Chamber." Son Goku looked at Kami, his tone calm yet impossible to dispute.

"I need its special environment to train. On all of Earth, only that place can take me to the next level. As for whether you'll let me in... I don't think Kami's Lookout as it is now has the right to refuse me."

"Impossible!" Kami refused flatly, his body trembling.

"That is a forbidden place only deities throughout the ages may enter! The power inside you is too savage. Once you enter such an extreme environment, no one knows what uncontrollable monster you might become!"

Seeing how utterly unwilling to listen Kami was, Son Goku sighed.

These self-righteous guardians always liked to measure everything by their pitiful understanding. Since words would not work, he would reason with his fists.

Boom!

Without any warning, a terrifying aura as heavy as a mountain erupted from Son Goku's body.

The entire Lookout floating high in the sky instantly shook violently as though it had been struck by a massive earthquake. The hard white stone slabs across the plaza cracked under the unbearable strain. Countless fragments of rock were wrenched into the air by the aura, then crushed into powder.

Kami and Mr. Popo bore the brunt of it. Before they could even make a defensive move, the enormous shockwave sent them flying into the stone pillars behind them.

"Kami, it seems you still haven't recognized your place."

Son Goku stood at the center of the aura, his clothes whipping in the wind, his voice piercingly cold.

"The only reason I'm standing here and speaking to you properly is to show you respect. I can crush Piccolo Daimao to death, and I can tear this Lookout apart with a wave of my hand. Whether Earth survives or falls is no more than a thought to me."

His aura abruptly withdrew, and stone dust rained down from the sky. With his hands behind his back, Son Goku walked past the pale-faced Kami, who had collapsed onto the ground, and headed straight for the stone door.

"Open it," he said without looking back.

Kami watched that upright figure, his eyes filled with bitterness and shock. Before such absolute power, the dignity of a god was nothing more than a joke.

"Mr. Popo..." Kami lowered his staff weakly, his voice hoarse. "Go open the door. Take this Saiyan... to his place of trial."