Chapter 55: Big Sister is an Old Driver (Patreon)

Over the next few days, Bulma and Lunch kept quietly searching for the Dragon Balls.

As for Oryon and Tights, the two of them were like two people steeped in a jar of honey.

Tights, however, didn't keep quite the same schedule as normal people.

Every night she wrote like a woman possessed, typing away deep into the night before finally sleeping.

In her own words, the day's dates gave her so much inspiration that if she didn't rush to get it down on paper, she was afraid she'd forget it.

Besides, writing every single day was the only way to keep her hand in.

By the time Tights woke up each day, it was already almost noon.

By the time she'd washed up and finished that meal that was neither quite breakfast nor quite lunch, it was already time for her date with Oryon.

To keep his reward rate with her up, Oryon came up with a different kind of date every day.

Riding the Ferris wheel at an amusement park, swimming at the beach, hiking up a mountain, watching a movie, soaking in a hot spring…

Pretty much anywhere a couple could go, Oryon made sure to take her and let her experience it.

Tights felt as if decades of emptiness inside her had been filled up by Oryon.

Her original plan had been to have one grand, passionate fling with Oryon, then break it off and go back to her interstellar adventures and her novel-writing.

But these past few days had left her so content she never wanted it to end, and she'd tasted just how wonderful being in love could be.

She'd already grown attached to it, and now she was afraid of ever losing this kind of life.

After all, Oryon was Bulma's boyfriend — the two of them had long since agreed they'd marry and have children someday.

As the older sister here, she couldn't bring herself to hurt Bulma.

Oryon, though, understood how she felt, and told her: "Whenever you want, you can go straight back to Earth. I'll be there with you every step of the way — this love between us will never end!"

Touched all over again, Tights triggered another reward for Oryon.

In the days that followed, Tights threw herself even more fully into her dates with Oryon.

The way she looped her arm through his grew more practiced by the day, and leaning against his shoulder came more naturally each time.

Naturally, their intimate moments grew bolder too — sometimes she'd even dare to kiss him right there on the street.

Reflecting on everything he'd gained these past few days, Oryon felt like he was dreaming.

After dealing with Tarble, his power level had climbed to somewhere around eighty or ninety thousand.

And after about a week of dating his "big sister," with several rewards popping off every single day,

though as the novelty of being with Tights gradually wore off, the number of days each reward granted him had started to shrink,

the total sum was still nothing to scoff at.

Oryon figured his power level had reached at least a hundred and twenty thousand by now.

If the Grand Elder could unlock his potential again right now, Oryon couldn't even imagine how far his power level might swell.

Meanwhile.

At Kami's Lookout, an entirely different scene was playing out.

The Gravity Chamber's gravity was set to ten times normal, and the four of them spent all day inside it, sweating buckets as they trained.

"One hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three…"

Krillin, stripped to the waist, was doing push-ups on the ground, every muscle taut, sweat dripping steadily off him, refusing to stop and rest.

Tien Shinhan and Yamcha were training just as desperately.

The Gravity Chamber belonged to Oryon, and he'd said that once the Saiyans were dealt with, he'd be taking it back.

So everyone cherished this training opportunity all the more.

The weakest of them was Chiaotzu, and he also trained the least.

But besides physical conditioning, he also had to practice his psychic powers — telekinesis, binding techniques.

On the whole, he had it barely easier than the others.

Watching everyone make steady progress, Kami borrowed a Scouter from Oryon.

Oryon's strength had already exceeded the Scouter's upper limit, so he had no more use for the thing, relying entirely on his own mastery of ki-sensing to gauge power.

So he'd happily lent it to Kami.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed training in the Gravity Chamber.

Krillin's power level had already surpassed Raditz's original reading, reaching 2,000, while Tien Shinhan had done even better, hitting around 3,000.

Yamcha and Chiaotzu were both relatively weaker, but Yamcha had still reached around 1,000, and Chiaotzu, surprisingly, had reached roughly 500.

Looking at everyone's numbers, Krillin let out a sigh of admiration.

Any one of them now could have thrashed last year's Raditz without breaking a sweat.

This year of training had been brutal, but the results spoke for themselves.

With the day of the Saiyans' arrival drawing ever closer, no one let up, and they kept sweating it out in the Gravity Chamber.

King Kai's Planet.

Goku had by now grown thoroughly comfortable with both the Kaio-ken and the Spirit Bomb.

King Kai said, "Goku, there's something about Earth I think I can tell you now."

Goku scratched his head. "What is it?"

"About half a month ago, a Saiyan named Tarble went to Earth!"

"Tarble? Is he strong?"

King Kai nodded. "Very strong. Frighteningly strong.

In my opinion, he was every bit as strong as the Saiyans who are coming."

[Author's Note: Please give some flowers/votes!]

Goku was stunned. "What? Why are you only telling me now?"

"How's Earth? Is everyone all right?"

Goku assumed King Kai had kept it from him because he figured Goku couldn't help even if he went back, and the thought filled him with anxiety.

King Kai laughed. "Relax, Earth's perfectly fine. Oryon beat Tarble."

"What?"

Goku's face went slack with shock. "Oryon defeated an invading Saiyan?"

"Mm. I suspected from the start that kid had some kind of secret — his strength was far too great, enough for him to surpass the invader. And sure enough, that very day he told everyone the secret behind how he'd gotten so strong."

Goku asked, his face lighting up with excitement, "What secret?"

King Kai smiled faintly. "Actually, it's similar to your own training — using gravity."

"Training with gravity?"

King Kai nodded. "That's right. That Earthling, Bulma, built a training room that can control gravity.

From what I hear, that Gravity Chamber can adjust from twice normal gravity all the way up to ten times — and at its highest setting, it can even go up to three hundred times gravity."

Goku gasped. "What — it goes up to three hundred times gravity? Wouldn't that make it even more brutal than King Kai's Planet?" He sucked in a sharp, cold breath.

King Kai said instructively, "Training isn't just about adapting to higher and higher multiples of gravity.

Insight into technique, and cultivating the heart of martial arts — all of that is essential too.

Still, in my view, the reason Oryon grew so fast is precisely because he trained in there and got this strong.

Now Oryon's lent the Gravity Chamber to Kami's Lookout, and Krillin and the others are training in it."

"Really? Oryon lent the Gravity Chamber to everyone? Isn't he going to keep training himself?"

King Kai laughed. "He's probably hit a wall.

A person's training can't stay wound tight forever — sometimes the right amount of rest makes it easier to break through your limits!"

"I see, I get it now. Master Roshi used to say the same thing — train well, study well, eat well, and rest well."

King Kai smiled faintly. "You really did have a fine teacher."

Goku clenched his fists.

"I never expected that even after all my hard work, Oryon would end up stronger than me. I need to push even harder.

Otherwise, by the time I finish training, I might not even get to take part in the fight against the Saiyans — now wouldn't that be a shame!"

With that, Goku launched back into his warm-up exercises.