Chapter 2: Chapter 02: Survival

I should be able to catch a damn fish, I thought as I made my way towards the river. I walked slowly before I started jogging and then turned it into a full sprint. After 6ish minutes, I reached the river. I had walked the distance in 30 minutes just the day before.

After checking the distance of the two waypoints of my new home that is the cave and the river, I saw that the distance measured about 3 kilometers. So, 3 kilometers in 6 to 7 minutes is about… 30 km/h, which makes me fast for a human…

Well, if I were on earth with the lower gravity, I would probably be ten times faster. My running speed then would amount to 300 km/h, which is ludicrous to think about. I was as fast as a sports car.

Hmm, I remember Kakarot having a decent sprinting speed before he trained with Roshi. I think he ran 100 meters in about 8 or 9 seconds, which marks his speed at about… 40 to 45 km/h. 

What was his power level at that point again? Was it 40ish or was that in fanfiction? I know that he started with 10, almost twice as that god farmer, which would fit the power scaling. I am almost 10 times his power level and am almost 10 times as fast as he was…

I am still stuck on that 300 km/h, wasn’t I already a damn monster?

I couldn’t help but grin at the thought that I could easily beat any human that has ever lived in a race. I would leave Usain Bolt in the dust. In fact, I could sweep up any world record in any other physical competition as well. 

Man, Saiyan’s are cheats, and I won’t complain, even if it makes me sad that with all my training in my past, I would be beaten up by a 15-year-old teen that looks like a 10-year-old…

Yeah, I probably shouldn’t be happy being able to beat normal humans even if they represented the peak of what humanity had to offer. I should aim higher than that, a lot higher. The gods of destruction and the angels, that was something I should be aiming for.

I am getting giddy just thinking about the possibilities. There is so much to do, so much to achieve, galaxies to explore, and enemies to crush, and here I was wondering if I can catch a goddamn fish.

I concentrated on the task at hand. I took off my arm cannon, so it wouldn’t get in the way. Also took off my knee-high combat boots and stepped into the ice-cold river. I shivered slightly at the cold wet feeling but quickly ignored it as I made my way into the middle of the river.

I saw multiple fishes swimming around me, clearly cautious of the creature that suddenly intruded their domain. I knew that I had to wait and let them calm down.

Let them get closer until it was too late. Let the fish think you are just an immobile object in the river, nothing to be concerned about.

Closer.

Closer.

I punched into the water as fast as I could, aiming for a fish that thought swimming between my legs was a good idea. The water exploded into my face as my fist touched the surface of the river. As the water rose to my face, I instinctively closed my eyes.

I wiped my eyes before opening them again. I investigated the clear river water under me and then behind me, but I didn’t find a carcass.

Am I stupid? I slowly realized that I obviously wouldn’t be able to hunt a damn fish by punching it. The fuck is wrong with me? Besides, I didn’t want to turn my food into mush. 

Minimize the area of impact on the water to reduce the splash that would hinder my sight. So, spear hand and then grab it or pierce it with my hands… yeah right pierce a slippery fish with my hand.

Alright, let’s just do it Ippo style, but instead of catching leaves, I grab fish, no difference, right? Okay, spear hand into the water then you only have to close your hand just as you reach the damn fish. You can do this Shallot, Nathan, Shallot? Nathan?

Focus!

Let’s do this! The opportunity came quickly again, I had been standing still as I was thinking. A fish came close and just as I have imagined it a second ago. My hand entered the barely splashing water. This time I could see what was going on as my hand reached around the fish before closing it.

I quickly closed it with enough strength and quickly pulled it out. It struggled in my hand as I was holding it up in the air. A sense of accomplishment filled me. Second try in what 10 min? 

Seems like I am a goddamn fishing god. I quickly went to the riverside and slammed its head on a stone a couple of times killing it and just like that a fish with a power level of 10 became my food.

Seriously, a 30cm fish was twice as strong as the average human, well according to an anime. I will have to check that when I arrive on earth.

Before I can eat it, I will have to gut it, but I didn’t have a knife to do it with. Actually, just a sharp edge would be enough as well. I looked around and decided to just take a random rock and smashed it on another to break it. It took me a while until it broke into a piece that I could use.

Should I make myself some stone spears as well? Naw, my hands will be enough, and it would be better to not rely on weapons since Saiyans rarely rely on weapons. I am probably a disgrace to my ancestors for thinking of using my arm cannon.

I really think about mundane stuff, well it’s better than to think about the smell of my meal… Fortunately, mom showed me how to gut a fish, even if our fish on planet Vegeta were vastly bigger. The insides were a bit different as well, but I think the same rules of gutting applied here.

First, clean it, cut it up on the belly, separate the tongue and then remove the tongue with guts and gills. Removing the blood and the skin of the fish and then I was done with it. I did cut away a lot but that will improve with time, I told myself. 

I could probably eat the guts as well, with a Saiyan stomach and all that, but didn’t mean it made it any more appealing.

I searched for some sticks, and dry leaves and moved the stones into a circle to build myself a mini campfire next to the river. After failing to ignite a flame with just sticks I used my arm cannon to ignite the whole thing while blowing a hole into the ground. Maybe it was better to learn it by hand first in case my arm cannon broke but now I was too hungry to care.

I quickly stabbed the stick holding my fish into the ground and angled it just slightly above the flames before I went back inside the river to grab myself another fish. I doubt one would be enough to satisfy my now enormous hunger.

After my success, the following catches were just as easy. I was pulling fish out of the river like nobody’s business. In the end, I had over 20 fish that I quickly gutted too before I cooked them like the first one that was already done by then.

I took a bite out of the fish and it- it was heavenly. I almost cried, it tasted so good, even though my human memory supplied that it tasted rather bland. I finished it in a heartbeat and had to come to the disappointing realization that I had to wait for the other fish to finish cooking.

As I was waiting for my meal to finish cooking, I decided I could look at the information on my pencil transforming holoscreen tablet. I should think about giving it a better name. How about holopen? Good enough, I guess.

I put that in the back of my mind as I looked through the information that was given to me by my parents. After all, it could make the difference between life and death.

I first wanted to look up the information about how to survive in the different biomes that could be found anywhere. They also gave detailed information about the more extreme planets such as frozen worlds.

After reading through the survival tips for jungles I put it away to gather my now-done fish on a giant leave that I plucked from nearby. I didn’t want to get my fish sandy even if my Saiyan stomach wouldn’t mind it. 

Heck, as a human he had heard some rumors to not wash off the dirt if it was from an organic garden out of your backyard. Something about exposing the body to a more diverse variety of bacteria. 

Generally, not cleaning everything with bleach, spending more time outside, and not being afraid to eat some dirt on vegetables for a different source of bacteria, were rumored to be beneficial.

I wasn’t quite sure if the knowledge that I acquired as a human about health and training could be applied to my now Saiyan physique. But if it was healthy for a weak human, it should do some good for Saiyans, especially since Saiyans were famous for their food intake. Still, I won’t dirty my fish intentionally.

After putting my fish into grabbing range, I continued to read through the survival standards of the soon-to-be-called Frieza Force. The jungle section talked about how to find food, shelter, and how to avoid predators. 

It seemed that there were some common behaviors between low intellect predators with only some deviations, which was something that I expected. This won’t be the holy guide on how to survive on any planet ever, but at least it will give me some ideas in case of emergencies.

After reading through the jungle section of the guide, I determined that I did at least some things right, like finding a moving water source or shelter against the forces of nature. 

Of course, I shouldn’t have gone inside a cave without observing if it was already home to some predator. I also should have bolted the moment I saw a splatter of blood.

Who knew that blood would be an indicator of danger in the nearby surroundings? Huh, that’s news to me.

I had finished the jungle section rather quickly since there wasn’t much information all considered. It was rather basic, but I should have expected that as it had to be general enough to be applied across planets.

So, there wasn’t much I could add to my active repertoire, especially the information that required a team, but better than nothing, I thought. 

I ignored the other biomes for now as I went to the training manual, which was just instructions on how to handle the arm cannon and what squad formation to use, and when.

It didn’t really help me as I was determined to not rely on the arm cannon at all. Maybe as a last resort kind of deal but if I become strong enough to beat anyone on this planet, I won’t be needing it at all afterward. Maybe as a lighter to make fire, no I could do that with ki as well.

Ahhh, right. Ki. Saiyans should know how to use it instinctually, but it won’t hurt to meditate on it. Meditation did work wonders for Piccolo, whose main training method was meditation. There was also image training used by Goku and Gohan as well, which underlines the idea of meditational training. 

Image training also uses the Saiyan's talent for telepathic abilities. Kakarot did read minds and communicate with others telepathically. Vegeta showed some telepathic abilities in the series later, so it had to be something that Saiyans could at least learn over time.

Now. Can I learn it considering that this story wasn’t a mere story anymore? Only time and effort will tell, at least meditation has undeniable benefits. 

It was borderline miraculous for the common human back in my normal world. One could increase strength and muscle mass just by thinking about doing an exercise.

Of course, it had a lesser effect than actually doing the exercise and it needed the same amount of time as it would have to exercise for real, but that wasn’t even the end of the benefits regular meditation had on the body and mind. 

Going so far as to use the brain's plasticity and responsiveness for training to have noticeable, tangible effects on the cognitive capacity. 

All of it was meticulously studied and written down and it baffled me that some would only slave away for hours in the gym every day but wouldn’t consider doing the same for their mind.

If I used the training that I benefitted from as a human now, there was no telling how far it will take me in a world full of bizarre phenomena and supernatural abilities.

I always fantasized about it. In a normal world, everyone had to struggle for any substantial benefit, even talented people had to put consistent effort into something to see any result, only to have a single mistake in form of an injury ruin all your progress.

Every step of the way was a crawling success and therefore it had been optimized to the extreme. If the same training were used in a world in which any martial artists, albeit talented ones, that had done some farming with their hands could blow up mountains as if it were nothing special, there was no telling how far specialized workouts would take one.

Obviously, the fighters here would be more experienced in the way of ki, but that wouldn’t necessarily make them better fighters than those in my past world. Dragonball had thematized this exact thing itself.

After all, it was the humans that were able to sense ki and create all kinds of techniques that let them punch above their weight with the little ki they possessed. They had to be efficient about it and couldn’t waste it as the Saiyans have. Saiyan would just brute force their way through a problem instead of countering it with wits.

This is all guesswork that I am doing as it was obvious that the Saiyans of this world were somewhat different at least culturally from the ones in entertainment I knew of. 

The differences between my two knowledge sources weren’t the only thing I needed to think about. I must come up with a training routine that will push me as far as this world can. 

The gravity is similar to planet Vegeta’s and combined with a workout routine and constant combat, it should be a given to reach the low thousands.

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The highest power level is a thousand, so that should be my first goal. Defeat the strongest creature on this planet.

My subgoals are to raise my power level and come up with attacks and support techniques. Specifically, I should train my flying since it gives me another axis to move in during a fight. It will also help me escape and scout areas more easily.

I already have shelter and a food and water source, so I won’t have to worry about that.

“Yosh! Let’s get going then. Question is, should I train first or directly head in battle and let my instincts take over?” I muttered to myself as I finished my fish and stood up. 

I know how to hunt as my father showed me how to, but those animals were usually a lot weaker than we were. Hmm, I should probably first see how I fair up in raw ability.

I already know how fast I am in sprinting, but what about dexterity, strength, or any other specs? I started to warm up my body with dynamic stretching and some exercises to get my blood pumping. I put my scouter down and set it up, so it records my movements. Man, I love this scouter.

I started with shadowboxing, and it was a bit wonky at first since this body only knew how to brawl. I didn’t know how to throw a precise jab using the entire body, but it didn’t take long until I was moving a lot more proficiently. The Saiyan race isn’t called a warrior race for no reason.

I already anticipated that the talent of this body combined with my experience would show quick results, but I could feel my movements getting faster and less wasteful. It felt like I could just keep shadowboxing and I would become the greatest boxer that has ever lived.

I was getting a high out of this. My body adapted to my intentions and my pace increased. After a while, I was already moving like a well-oiled machine. In the end, it was because I was exhausted that I had to stop.

I completely forgot that I only wanted to record my movements to see how fast I was combat-wise, and it ended with me, training. I started the video that the scouter had recorded of me and all I could think about was that I was fast!

Not only the time it took me to pick up the intricacies of the technique from boxing but the sheer attack speed I had in the end. This wasn’t something to be taken for granted. Even if you knew the movement it didn’t mean you could perform it.

It was like watching a tutorial on a backflip, even though you know each step of the movement and have the physical capacity, it doesn’t mean you can just do it first try. 

On the other hand, I have memories of fighting, so maybe it was more like relearning something that I once knew, without the help of dormant muscle memory of course.

Especially complex movements for things like the jab, it isn’t just a punch moved by your arm, or even your shoulder and chest. For maximum effect, you needed your legs and hips in tandem. It was also a must to relax and tense the correct muscles. 

Like a whip, the force you wanted to generate had to move through your body effortlessly until it reached your fist and you transferred it to the object you were throwing your hands against.

It was a complex movement that wasn’t mastered in mere minutes or hours for that matter, at least for a human. That the Saiyan me in the video was already faster and stronger than my human self was exhilarating. 

The technique was barely lacking but if I had that kind of speed when I used to be ganged up in prison, they would have never attained the thought to attack me ever again.

It took me a moment to calm down again as I fantasized about whooping everyone’s ass. I had to be clear that boxing would only take me so far. I have to learn how to fly and fight quickly because that is where the fights will happen in the future.

It won’t mean much if I am the greatest boxer if they just outmaneuver me in the air. In the end, I planned to relearn how to fly first and then decide where to go from there. I knew that I had flown in the past but that was as a Saiyan. 

I am more of a human than a Saiyan… I think. Just like before just because I knew how to box didn’t mean my body knew how to, though my body this time knew how to fly, and I have the corresponding memories of how I did it.

Anyway, can’t be harmful to take it slow. Hey, maybe I will learn something that I missed because I did it almost instinctually as a Saiyan. So, how did Gohan describe it again? I asked myself as I sat down cross-legged next to the smoldering campfire. I have to be calm and relax my muscles and pull that energy out of my center or something.

So, maybe I just meditate and look for energy that wasn’t there when I was human? Seems easy enough. I held my hands close to each other as if I were holding up a ball in my hands. I didn’t close my eyes as I wanted to see for myself if I was succeeding.

I don’t know if it was because this energy was instinctively usable by Saiyans or because of the glaring difference between not having ki as a human of a normal world and then having almost 20 times the amount of an average human, but I immediately recognized the energy and could easily summon it to my hands.

A golden shining ball of ki as large as a marble formed easily hovering between my hands. I then moved one hand under the ball with the intent of holding it with only one.

I don’t know how to describe it but holding it felt like my mind reached out to the flying ki ball. It was a bit different but comparable to focusing on my arms or legs. It was there and I could sense it if I focused on it like it was part of me, but I couldn’t move it without moving the entire thing.

Hence, I could move the entire ball, but I couldn’t shape it as I wanted, at least not as easily. Not to say that moving the entire ball was easy. It required a lot of focus and it still barely showed results.

I could also somewhat flatten the ball and elongate it, but I don’t think shaping it into any figurines will come anytime soon or even have a normal ki ball rotate around my body. Maybe that will come with a better ki control.

Either way, with the ball in hand I stood up again and pointed it angled into the air as I pumped some energy into it intending to fire it away from me.

It worked like a charm as I traced the ki ball as it flew into the air without being noticeably affected by the gravity of the planet. It fizzled out in the air without a grand explosion like expected. Maybe I have to form it with the intention for it to explode?

Just as the idea formed, I created another ki ball and I could instantly feel the difference between the ki ball. The inner structure was somewhat different and as a result was more difficult to hold onto. The only visual difference from the ki ball before was the light, which made it look more white than golden.

After a second or two it also looked like it had some small spikes coming out of it, but I knew the reason was that I couldn’t keep it in its form anymore and it was threatening to explode in my hand. I quickly pointed it at one of the giant trees and fired it as I did with the other ball.

The ki ball flew towards the tree and a meter before it touched it a small explosion followed as it blew the part near it into splinters.

Even with a chunk the size slightly larger than my own body missing from the tree, the tree was too large for it to be felled from this.

My Saiyan memories supplied that I had already seen my dad do something a lot more impressive than this but now with a human mind, this wasn’t merely impressive. I was, by all means, a living weapon. 

If I were placed on earth, I would be faster than most sports cars, probably durable enough to withstand bullets, casually able to blow up my surroundings with ki blasts, while also having the ability to fly…

Right, flying that was why I summoned my ki in the first place. Man, with so much to find out and train, it’s too easy to get sidetracked.

Alright, back on track now. Should I push my ki out of my feet and create a lift from there? Although I don’t know the name, I know that there is some kind of technique that the Z-fighters used to fly. I don’t think I will be able to recreate a technique that was created by some master human martial artist.

I guess reverse engineering is a good method to learn new things as well. Without warning I slowly lifted into the air, slightly hovering in place without recklessly moving about. Although it was somewhat straining to fly, I did my best to sense what I was doing instinctually, and I could grasp it somewhat.

It’s hard to put it into words, but in a nutshell, I just used my energy to lift myself into the air…

You don’t know how to fly? Just lift yourself into the air! 

Yeah, that sounds stupid, even though that was what I was doing. It’s like describing how to walk. Just put one foot in front of the other! It describes the process, even though that wasn’t how a person walks.

The process of contracting your muscles and bending your knee, while balancing your body so you don’t fall over, wasn’t something one needed to explain, you can just do it. 

A baby would probably tell you that you are a terrible teacher as he couldn’t just do it and would need to learn it for themselves. Though, with the baby it is probably more because of underdeveloped muscles, but…

Anyway, I feel the energy just on my skin as it holds me in the air. Like a forcefield holding my body up, though without pulling me like I was inside something. It just felt like moving my arm, it wasn’t like I felt a pulling sensation for my bones.

With intention, I can choose a direction to fly towards and with an increase of ki input I can increase the speed, I am moving like the difference between walking and running. 

Though I wasn’t blitzing through the air like most characters in dragon ball since it was rather difficult with the gravity on this planet, I wasn’t much worse than Videl in the early series.

I don’t know why that makes me feel bad to be comparable to the slowest person capable of flying, but at least I could fly. Honestly, as I was soaring through the air above the river was quite liberating. I can’t recall feeling this degree of freedom at any moment in my human life.

Overcome by the feeling, I flew up above the trees by a lot giving me a fantastic sight over the jungle I was in. It seemed nearly endless as the trees filled almost every part of the ground even on the mountains in the distance.

Suddenly, I saw a dot in the far distance, and I immediately dropped into the cover of the jungle again. A dot in the distance is almost always a gigantic monster too far away to be recognized and I had no plans of confronting it.

I still had some tests to go through and I was getting hungry, so my stupid Saiyan body agreed to prefer a meal over a fight right now.

My stomach started rumbling just as I was landing from my flying lesson. I headed directly into the river and caught myself some fish again as I thought about what I learned today.

I knew how to create exploding ki blasts and can fly with my ki. My maneuver in the air is somewhat amateurish, but enough for me to get around and fly away from danger on the ground. 

My body rapidly learns how to efficiently fight if I know how to, and I can probably rely on my instincts to fight some of the beasts on this planet and if I can’t fight them head-on, I can still go into the air and blow up my opponent from the distant.

I also got enough information on my holopen to survive most environmental challenges. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Saiyan martial art on the holopen, but I take what I can get.

Earth’s martial art is probably more advanced anyway, at least those on the ground. I will have to see how much Roshi knows about aerial fights, but there is Kami as well if Roshi doesn’t know.

There is also the issue with instinctual flying. It was exactly what I wanted to relearn, to see if I found out something about the process, but for now, this will have to do. It will probably come to me easier with more ki control.

After finishing up my meal I headed back toward my cave. On the way, I remembered how Vegeta summoned his and Nappa’s attack ball with the scouter, so I told it to head to my cave. 

It was fascinating how much I could recall from memories that I thought I forgot long ago. Thinking about it, shouldn’t I have forgotten my personal knowledge?

Usually, the reincarnated person for some reason only retains the memories of the series and other shows. I could only shake my head at that thought.

I arrived to find my attack ball hovering in front of the cave’s entrance. The holopen was also kindly supplying some other information about the attack ball that I have yet to read, but I could read it before I go to sleep.

I chuckled lightly as it reminded me of the days before prison when I always brought my phone with me when I went to sleep-

“Eh-?” My train of thought was interrupted as I heard the birds in the distance flying away and the ground rumbling as if something big was coming.

“Thi- this isn’t good at all!” I panicked as the rumbling seems to get closer.

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