Under the guidance of the Old Supreme Kai, it didn't take long for the group to arrive at a flat grassy field.
At the Old Supreme Kai's instruction, Talot stood in the center of the grassland, and then the Old Supreme Kai signaled East Supreme Kai and Kibito to stay off to the side and not approach.
Finally, he began the bizarre and ridiculous pre-unlocking ritual seen in the original work.
To put it simply, it involved dancing and flailing like a witch performing a ritual, while circling around Talot.
If it weren't for the fact that this was how it happened in the original work, Talot would have been thoroughly embarrassed.
He used to feel secondhand embarrassment just watching the anime. Now that it was happening to him, he truly felt socially dead.
Fortunately, it was just the few of them present here.
"Can I ask how long this ritual is going to take?" Talot asked curiously.
According to the original work, the ritual seemed to last several hours, followed by sitting completely still for an entire day.
Even Son Gohan, who had a famously good temper in the story, exploded in anger because of it.
"The ritual takes about five hours or so, and then unlocking your potential will take anywhere from one to twenty-four hours. It depends on how much potential you actually have," the Old Supreme Kai answered while continuing his movements.
Hearing this, the corner of Talot's mouth twitched slightly.
As expected, it wasn't that the Old Supreme Kai was dragging it out on purpose in the original work. It really did take that long.
Talot had once speculated whether the Old Supreme Kai had deliberately delayed things to provoke Son Gohan and trigger his potential that way.
Of course, that possibility seemed slim.
Now he clearly understood. His Unlock Potential truly required all these steps and procedures.
...
In the blink of an eye, five hours passed.
The exhausted Old Supreme Kai, without any rest, suddenly ended the ritual and plopped down on the grass field while East Supreme Kai and Kibito looked on worriedly.
The ritual was over!
East Supreme Kai and Kibito stepped forward with concern and inquired about Old Supreme Kai's condition.
After receiving assurance that he was fine, they quietly stepped back again and didn't say another word.
And Talot?
At this moment, he was in a state of deep comprehension.
Because the five hours was such a long period, and Talot knew he wouldn't feel anything during the unlocking process, he took the initiative to use his own ki-based meditation technique to train.
He hoped to find a breakthrough, or perhaps to enhance the effect by harmonizing with the ritual.
"You really are a warrior who has reached this level of power. You're even more mature than I imagined, actually harmonizing with my ritual to train on your own. However, the ability I'm using is a type of divine skill. Even though you've refined your pure power to this level, you can't grasp the power of the gods," the Old Supreme Kai's voice rang out, bringing Talot out of his meditation.
Immediately afterward, without needing to be told, Talot naturally sat down.
The Old Supreme Kai smiled and raised both hands: "Then let's officially begin. According to my calculations, this will take at least another five hours, so you can continue training using your own method."
After speaking, the Old Supreme Kai focused his mind.
Although Talot didn't feel much, he did notice something slightly different about the Old Supreme Kai.
[I was too overconfident in myself. In the original work, Son Gohan's potential unlocking took twenty hours, and yet mine only took five…] He was somewhat shocked inside.
After all, the Old Supreme Kai had initially said the unlocking process could take anywhere from one to twenty-four hours, which meant that Son Gohan's twenty hours was nearly the upper limit. In contrast, his five hours didn't even qualify as average.
He worked hard to calm his unwillingness and dispel his resentment. Eventually, Talot regained his composure.
Sure enough, in doing anything, one must be grounded and steady. While talent and potential determine how smooth the path of training is, becoming powerful without hardship doesn't count as true strength.
To put it more clearly, if he couldn't cheat, then he'd just get stronger step by step through real effort.
All in all, he couldn't compare with someone who could cheat.
Perhaps, there will also be those who were even worse off than him.
Like Raditz and Salari, maybe they would be even more hopeless than him.
After stabilizing his mindset, Talot experienced a breakthrough in his mental state.
Returning to his original philosophy, why bother comparing himself to others?
The only one he needed to compare with… was his past self.
As for his future self, how far he could go would depend entirely on the effort he put in now.
Closing his eyes, Talot resumed his meditation training.
But just as he was about to start channeling his Ki, the Old Supreme Kai suddenly transmitted a mental message into his mind.
It was a complete training method, seemingly one that trained the spirit and soul.
Before Talot could even react with surprise, the Old Supreme Kai said: "Your method is good, but if you want to advance further in spirit energy, it will be extremely difficult. If you train using the mental refinement technique I gave you, perhaps even your entire life level will rise to the next level."
"Thank you."
He wanted to say more to express his gratitude, but in the end, only those two words came out of his mouth.
To him, this was truly an unexpected blessing.
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