The green garlic-headed fellow was named Alem. He was very friendly, telling Son Gohan and Trunks all sorts of stories about Planet Yardrat's history and amusing local tales.
Looking at the dense crowd around them, Trunks asked curiously, "Alem, does Planet Yardrat have a large population?"
"Huh?"
"No, no."
"Sorry, sorry. Actually, I'm the only one here," Alem said, scratching his head awkwardly.
As soon as he finished speaking, all the Yardratians crowding the area vanished.
Only he remained, standing there with a blank, endearingly goofy expression.
"Huh? What's going on? Why did they all suddenly disappear?" Trunks was startled.
Son Gohan frowned as well, watching Alem quietly.
Alem explained, "We Yardratians aren't very strong, and there aren't many of us. To make ourselves look more imposing and keep others from looking down on us, we usually increase our numbers ourselves..."
"Uh..." Trunks stared, dumbfounded. What was that supposed to mean?
Son Gohan said, "So all those people we just saw were your copies? I could actually sense Ki from every one of them. They looked exactly like real people. That's incredible."
"Hehe, yes. I call it the Multiplication Technique," Alem said.
"What an amazing ability." Trunks's eyes sparkled. He had never seen such an interesting technique before.
A technique like this could work wonders in combat.
It could make fakes indistinguishable from the real thing. Even an expert in Ki would struggle to tell them apart if caught off guard.
Son Gohan said, "Alem, Trunks and I came here to learn techniques like these. Could you introduce us to your grand elder?"
"Hehe, of course. Follow me," Alem said with a smile, leading Son Gohan and Trunks up a staircase.
They walked for a while.
Alem brought the two brothers to a bright, spacious house.
"Go on in. The grand elder is inside." Alem opened the door.
The three of them entered.
There weren't many Yardratians in the house.
Alem pointed to an enormous Yardratian and said, "Let me introduce you. This is Lord Pybara, the grand elder of Planet Yardrat."
"He's the one who taught Son Goku Instant Transmission."
Two guards stood beside the enormous Elder Pybara, though there was no telling whether they were real people or his copies.
The blue-skinned Elder Pybara looked at Son Gohan and Trunks and said, "Yes, I taught Son Goku Instant Transmission. Welcome to Planet Yardrat."
As Son Gohan studied Elder Pybara, he immediately thought of Planet Namek's former grand elder.
They were both grand elders, and both were enormous.
But Planet Namek's grand elder had already been in the twilight of his life back then.
Elder Pybara, on the other hand, had smooth skin and looked as round and plump as a blue slime, making it impossible to tell his age.
Still, he was probably quite old.
Son Gohan replied with a smile, "Hello, Elder Pybara. The two of us came all the way from Earth specifically to learn Instant Transmission from you."
Pybara looked Son Gohan over, then said, "You must be Son Goku's son. You look rather alike."
Son Gohan nodded. "Yes, Son Goku is my father."
Elder Pybara smiled. "You call it Instant Transmission, but it's actually just one application of Spirit Control."
"Once you learn Spirit Control, you'll naturally be able to grasp some remarkable abilities."
"Then what is Spirit Control?" Trunks asked.
"Spirit Control... In Earth's terminology, it involves something called Ki."
"Ki..." As Son Gohan listened to Grand Elder Pybara, a strong sense of familiarity washed over him.
Hadn't he said something similar when teaching Videl the Flight Technique?
So ultimately, it was about learning how to control Ki, then using it to produce all sorts of marvelous abilities.
"Yes, Ki."
"For example... Instant Transmission." As Elder Pybara spoke, he vanished with a whoosh and reappeared on the other side of the room.
"The Multiplication Technique..." Figures flickered into existence, filling the room with identical Elder Pybaras.
"Giantification..." Elder Pybara's body suddenly shrank, going from a giant to just over a meter tall in the blink of an eye.
"That's just so cool," Trunks said excitedly.
Son Gohan couldn't help marveling to himself as well. The Yardratians' techniques truly were extraordinary.
Elder Pybara continued, "These abilities are actually very simple. All you need to do is use Spirit Control to move, divide, or expand."
"Any Yardratian can do these things. So once you understand the structure involved in Spirit Control, you'll be able to learn the skills you want."
"Yes, what we call Ki Construction," Elder Pybara added.
Son Gohan had to admit that Planet Yardrat's understanding and use of Ki had reached an incredible level.
All this time, Saiyans and Earthlings had only used Ki to fly or fire energy blasts at their opponents.
Very few people had developed such remarkable abilities.
Mutaito, who had devoted his entire life to martial arts, had developed a Ki technique called the Evil Containment Wave.
That, too, was a remarkable technique that allowed the weak to defeat the strong.
But such techniques were still far too rare.
They had nothing like Planet Yardrat's wide variety of ways to use Ki.
Son Gohan gave Trunks a pat, and together they bowed to Elder Pybara. "Please teach us how to train, Grand Elder Pybara."
"Very well. But a master can only show you the way; the training itself is up to you. How much you learn will depend entirely on your own understanding," Grand Elder Pybara said.
"Yes." Son Gohan and Trunks nodded firmly, then exchanged smiles.
In the days that followed.
Son Gohan and Trunks began a long period of grueling training.
The Yardratians arranged a house for the two brothers to stay in.
Every morning, they went to Elder Pybara to ask him about Ki Construction.
Whenever they encountered something they didn't understand, they asked right away, and Grand Elder Pybara explained it to them in detail.
Just like that, a month slipped quietly by.
Son Gohan and Trunks began to grasp the basics of Ki Construction.
In the second month.
They studied further and consolidated what they had learned.
In the third month.
It was finally during the third month that Son Gohan successfully performed Instant Transmission, though he was still clumsy with it.
In the fourth month, Trunks finally grasped the knack as well and performed Instant Transmission for the first time.
By the fifth month, Son Gohan had become proficient with Instant Transmission, and he began learning another Ki ability: fission!
Forced Spirit Fission.
It was an ability that could forcibly strip away energy gained through fusion or absorption.
This ability could produce unexpectedly remarkable results in certain situations.
In the sixth month.
Trunks began learning how to divide through Spirit Control.
This division was the Multiplication Technique, which could create numerous copies.
And in the seventh month, King Kai brought them some troubling news.
Before you continue