Training (4)

'That's kind of spooky'

I floated in the air far away from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, deep within the vast expanse of the area, staring down my clone who held a massive energy sphere above his head.

The sphere was absolutely massive, rivalling a moon in radius, completely illuminating the white tiles of the chamber.

"Catch!" my clone shouted competitively. 

The moment the massive energy ball drifted towards me, a spark of apprehension flickered within my chest.

'I need to harness that emotion'

I tried to weaponize my anxiety, letting it soak into the Ki that radiated around my body.

'Hmph!'

I applied my concentration, firing a dense pink energy bolt at the impending sphere, the energy crackling wickedly around it's surface.

The energy bomb was then transmogrified into a bubble of the same size.

The bubble floated in the air for a moment before popping, no trace of the energy sphere left.

'So this is the true power of hax'

My celebration was cut short as I immediately sensed my clone flying towards me, my brows narrowing as he teleported.

I teleported in tandem, appearing just in the nick of time to smack his hand away from the flag that was planted a few feet away on the ground.

"I know I'm far more capable than that"

My clone snickered, using Kai Kai again to create some distance, entering a charge stance.

He grunted loudly, a thick pillar of dark pink energy shooting out from his body, his hair flashing pink briefly before turning back to black.

'His Power Level is rising'

There were several advantages of using Ki clones.

The first was that a large quantity of information could be gathered in a relatively short time frame. Key insights, like how to manually increase my Power Level via infusing my body with Ki, obtainable in only a matter of hours.

Moreover, I was able to gain proficiency in multiple fields at the same time, the concept of opportunity cost completely erased.

My eyes quickly zeroed in on a massive Ki fist that emerged from my clone's aura, the projectile, the first of many that surged towards me.

'Let me be fancy'

The Time Skip technique was a very funny ability that only made sense to me when I actually used it myself. The central idea was to create a relatively small parallel pocket dimension that overlapped with the immediate atmosphere.

Although the user could slip into the pocket dimension, a Ki projection of the user was still maintained in the spot they activated the technique in, used to confuse opponents. A special property of the created pocket dimension was that it occupied the same space in mainstream reality, allowing the user to travel to a desired location and even launch attacks on a target before slipping back to their original spot in mainstream reality.

'The energy cost is a lot lower than I expected'

Perhaps it was because the Might Tree and Ensenji fruits had increased the potency of my Ki or maybe it was because my body was adapted to use the technique, the emerging fact was that I could use Time Skip freely, the technique eating a fraction of my reserves.

'Although to be fair, I don't spend that long in my pocket dimension'

My clone frowned, my figure seemingly in the same spot yet all the projectile fists that flew towards me mysteriously exploded, shockwaves wracking through the air.

My eyes immediately saw the build-up of Ki in his feet, my mind urging my body to charge my own Ki. 

'He really does think like me'

My clone rushed towards me, trying to fake me out as it teleported a few meters backward, stunning me long enough to get close with a rapid punch.

Although my mind was slow, my body responded quickly, my neck spinning. 

I then traded blows with my clone, our evenly matched strength causing shockwaves to reverberate through the air, the ground beneath our feat quaking and cracking as our fists clashed.

'The feeling of fighting is pretty meh'

It felt exactly like playing a sport, no bloodlust or battle rush afflicting my consciousness. In all fairness though, the stress of competing was also taking away, although I was exerting myself, the pressure only lasted for a second, my body constantly feeling as fresh as if I just emerged from a nap.

In terms of technique, I learned that it was just about letting my body do it's thing. I found that the more I obsessed of correcting punching form and the right way to move, the worse my performance became.

'Isn't this kind of like Ultra Instinct?'

I weaved another blow from my clone, using Kai Kai again to fake him out, punching him square in the face. He didn't actually move, his face retracting comically into his head before it popped back out, an angry expression on his face.

"Aren't our Power Levels the same? How come you're doing better than me?" my clone complained.

"Because you're not as relaxed as I am, the more you tryhard, the worse your technique, you have to learn to trust your intuition," I explained.

With a body this overpowered, fighting really wasn't that difficult, any awkward sensations or pains completely non-existent, every motion and strike smooth and fluid.

My clone grumbled, exhaling softly before rushing at me again, this time with a more balanced disposition.

'Fighting him is already harder'

My thoughts were verified in real time as the margin which I evaded my clones strikes became narrower and narrower, quickly reaching the point where I was forced to block or teleport.

My clone exploited my greater concentration, teleporting back and forth in sequence before blowing hard in my direction. To my surprise, a white mist emerged from his lips, quickly taking the shape of a dragon, the expression on it's face furious.

I erased the dragon with a mere swipe but my clone had already teleported, claiming the flag that was behind me, completing the training drill.

"I didn't know we could do that," I said, genuinely surprised.

"To be honest, I just freestyled, I guess the technique was already built-in," my clone said sheepishly.

'Is there any technique that wasn't in that bean?'

I yawned softly, high-fiving my clone, causing his figure to explode with bright pink light, some Ki lost as he merged back into me.

'I'm actually getting tired?'

It had only been a day since I entered the Time Chamber, not long passing at all.

'I guess you can only cheat biology so much'

The number of clones I spawned bordered a hundred, each one assigned a unique and distinct task like getting familiar with a particular room on my ship or training a certain thing.

It seemed that compiling all the information and adapting my body for every advancement used up a lot of energy, a strong sleepiness afflicting me.

My attention landed on the Planet Cruiser which was over a hundred kilometers away, my heart wavering as I thought about how far away my bed was.

"Pffft! What a silly thought"

I chuckled, using the Kai Kai to instantly appear inside my room, diving straight onto my king sized bed.

---

(Several naps later)

'It seems like gravity is having no affect at all'

My training experience was really weird.

After a few sessions of any exercise, my body would ache badly before instantly adapting. This meant that all the dumbbells, machines and weights in the Training Room quickly felt like toys even under a thousand times gravity.

The only thing that felt like exercise was the treadmill but even the max setting eventually felt like walking after long enough.

'I guess I'm ready?'

I could confidently say that I had learned how to let my body take the wheel and provide minimum guidance in order to exploit my muscle memory, it was just that I had mentally expected the training process to be a lot more grievous than it actually was.

'Then again, I can probably unlock a new form if I keep going'

My body naturally adjusted my Power Level based on a given threat but when a threat or feat exceeded a certain threshold, I would transform.

As far as I was aware, I only had one transformation which I had dubbed Super Majin.

It was my pink-haired form and it seemed to be a mixture of Full Power Super Saiyan, Golden and maybe even Beast, the power boost from what looked like an ordinary Super Saiyan granting me what felt like a 10,000 times boost.

'That number always sounds wrong'

It was what my instincts pointed to and was definitely plausible, given the biological concoction I was.

'I really want to unlock Ultra Instinct'

My whole situation in terms of martial arts was extremely compatible with Ultra Instinct and I felt oh so very close, one or two epiphanies all that was necessary to break through.

'I should probably be patient'

I exhaled softly, a small smile finding my face.

I had to remind myself that any training I did from this point onward was just extra, my current state more than enough to overwhelm basically all the threats in Dragon Ball and even if I couldn't, I could at least survive the encounter.

'It's still better to be prepared, this isn't the canon'

I resolved to stay in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber until I unlocked something new, with my advanced biology it was only a matter of time and the longer the journey was, the more accustomed my mind would get to my body anyway, every outcome being a win.