Chapter 7 - Reincarnated Souls Are Your Best Friends (Part 1)
I have never run so much until now. Sharp bends keep appearing, demanding every ounce of my focus lest I fall off through the golden clouds and land on a random planet's Hell. Some paths have been so full of them they look like sound waves in 2D if viewed from above. Another curve, another turn, another illusion that I'm getting somewhere. My legs burn like they're boiling from the inside out, and every time my foot hits the path, it's like my muscles have heard my silent complaints and teamed up with me to argue with the ground to stop being so rigid.
I hunch forward, gasping for air. Sweat pours down my face and slicks the back of my neck like I just got caught in the rain. Though surprisingly, I don't smell anything horrible. No signs of any body odor anywhere.
Still, my shirt's completely soaked. Every inch of it sticks to me like a used gym towel, the fabric slapping cold and wet against my skin with every motion. It's disgusting even without the nauseating smell. Heavy with so much bodily liquid soaking my whole body. Like I'm dragging a pail of mud around with me as it keeps spilling over. My chest hammers—no, jackhammers—and I can practically hear it echoing inside my skull.
A minute passes. My lungs still ache in protest, asking me why I insist on keeping it when I'm just gonna keep abusing it. Gasping for air, I decide to just stop running for now.
Come to think of it, does Other World even have oxygen? Maybe it does. It must. How else would my physical body be able to operate, heart pumping blood, lungs screaming, and all?
Bending one of my knees, I clamp on the side of Snake Way and let my legs dangle off the side as I sit. I'm supposed to enjoy the scenery around me if it weren't for the fact these golden clouds are starting to bore me out of my mind. I miss my Netlix account, or even the weekly duels hosted by our sect master I sometimes watch from my previous cultivation world.
Yep, this is exactly the toughest exercise ever. I can't exactly meditate my way through this, can I? I'm not a cultivator anymore, and whether I like it or not, I still need to train just like Goku does. Hate how I let my fantasies get to my head without actually thinking them through.
This... Maybe this wouldn't be a problem if I were still in my soul form. No sweat, no ache, no heartbeat thundering like a war drum. Just gliding through the air, light and untethered. I never realized how convenient that was, how easy. But here I am, stupid body and all with all the aches and sores, and this path might as well stretch into forever.
King Yemma comes to mind, and so does his smug look. The way his lips would curl up like he knew. "I told you so," I can almost hear him saying while sporting that sadistic grin of his. And the worst part? He's not even wrong. Well, he could just flay me now and send me to Hell for all I care.
Producing one last big, dramatic exhale, I look to my left. The giant snake head is nowhere to be seen, hidden by the sprawling length of Snake Way's abnormally long body. Good thing to know I've run this far—whatever "far" even means.
How long was I running? An hour? Nah, the more I endure things, the more time seems to stretch. Maybe thirty minutes? The way I ran though, is it just me or has my body gotten faster? On Papaya island, I wasn't able to run even half the speed of that car at full throttle. Maybe a third? Probably. But now? I might not be sedan-level fast yet, but I'm definitely near half as fast now.
Calculating with those assumptions in mind, I could reach King Kai after two and half years of constant running—if I never stop to rest and never get any faster along the way, that is. Just great. At least I can still go there in less than five years...
Not!
Sure, ideally, that would be great. But geez, my physical body isn't exactly designed to last infinitely like an Android. I'm just a huge meat sack waiting to be cooked, simmered, and served as dinner up to the gnawing teeth of reality.
Not that I want to be an Android, though. If I were to become stronger, it will be with this body I have now. End of story.
Besides, if I really, really think about it... how the hell is my body capable of boasting such a level of performance?Running at full speed for five minutes and then maintaining 75% of that for the next twenty-five? That's some serious endurance. Damn.
Was this a gift from King Yemma? Nah, if I hadn't been caught by the blast on Papaya Island, I would still have a lot of fuel left to run more. This is certainly my body's peak physical condition, backed by my mind's ability to tap into Ki. It makes sense. I could only run like an average human before I was able to tap into my body's Ki. Deep down, my body probably still has a lot of energy in its reserves, and it would take my subconscious a long time to actually tap into them all.
Perhaps the reason I was on Papaya Island was because I was one of the fighters on the prelims. The shape of this body tells me the previous owner wasn't slacking off. Peeking under my soaked shirt, I can't help but smile like an idiot.
Who knew I'd finally get abs in my third life?
It's like all the effort I put into starving myself on a treadmill in my original world was completely pointless. I couldn't get rid of that damn stubborn belly fat no matter how hard I tried, so naturally, I just starved myself even more.
Did the same in my second world as well. Fully secluded myself in cultivation without eating for months, believing the payoff to be worth it when I could finally expel all my impurities, including the ones in my paunch belly, once I reach Foundation Building.
Extreme? Yeah. Understandable? Questionable. But not exactly unheard of, right?
Now that I'm gonna be running through Snake Way for years without food and water? This must be even crazier.
While my body isn't something to show off to in front of monsters like Goku and Piccolo, knowing I still have this kind of headstart still comforts me, at least.
I sigh, gazing at the golden clouds that look more pleasing now.
Getting back on track, if I revise my calculations by being realistic, capping it at 75% of my current speed, I would take 3 years and around 5 months. That's still assuming I run non-stop, which, spoiler alert, my body doesn't allow!
If I do stop every 30 minutes just to keep my body from collapsing, I would need to do around 59,259 individual runs just to get through the whole thing.
Isn't that just… amazing?
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more Hell starts sounding like a five-star vacation. I can practically see myself now, hugging those big ogres with "HELL" printed on their white tank tops, begging them to just reincarnate me already.
Of course, these are just my thoughts, and thoughts stay in the head only. Always. My ego won't let me just call it a day!
My stomach grumbles, snapping me out of my whiplash of musings. The path ahead stretches in miles of flavorless, food-less monotony. Now that I've thought about it, my throat is as dry as the joke I've subjected myself into. How does anyone even stand going through this trial with a physical body? How did Goku—someone who for the life of me needs to eat a small town's worth of food—even stomach all this?
The grumbling continues. If there's a biological off switch to this annoyance, I'd really appreciate it, thank you very much. I stand up and start hopping from side to side, distracting my body with the motion.
Against my body's protest, I jog forward before running at 75%. Including this round, I have 59,258 more runs to go! Go, me!
It takes a shorter time for sweat in my body to accumulate again, for my chest to ache, and for my knees to buckle again.
"Damn it all!" The words echo through the expanse of clouds as I flop onto the stone path, nearly giving myself a concussion if not for my tough nut of a head. Yet another advantage of being empowered by Ki. Still... screw this.
Who cares at this point?
How long did I last this time?
Only twenty five minutes? The last time, it took me around thirty. And I wasn't even sprinting at full speed! At this rate, those decrements are going to pile up, and soon all I'll have to brag about are these pathetic one-minute bursts before I collapse.
Waiting for my breath to slow down, I have my arms under my head as the pillow. The deep purple hue of the sky above me fills me with a sense of dread. My thoughts would also need slowing down. I need to stop these raging thoughts.
I can't really afford having thirty-minute breaks every time I finish a run. But I can't just run myself dry either. So much for having a plan.
I already told King Yemma I have one, did I?
Well, I've got more going on than just aimlessly running through Snake Way every time I get a little energy back. This body's got more Ki reserves than I can tap into, thanks to years of physical training. Every time I intend to use my Ki, there is still a well of energy deeper within that I can't control yet. My body is already well conditioned by years of training (I mean, look at me!), but my mind is still adjusting to gain deeper control of the body.
In the cultivation world, I could summon my Qi from the marrow outward, each current gliding through my meridians with practiced ease. But in this new body in Dragon Ball, many of my deeper meridian pathways remain dormant or unresponsive, sealed off like ancient roads long forgotten. Only the surface channels answer my call, leaving the vast potential buried within my marrow and other areas frustratingly out of reach.
This shall be phase one of my plan—drawing more Ki out from my reserves.
I settle into a lotus position, closing my eyes and focusing inward. I try to draw out more of my Ki, slowly, patiently, like coaxing a shy animal out of hiding.
What's interesting is all my Ki particles no longer have this trace of death within them, pulsating with the warmth of life instead. It's clear Ki can have different properties depending on the vessel it inhabits. In souls, it hums with the quiet finality of death; in bodies, it thrums with the vibration of life.
Around thirty minutes pass, and little by little, I begin to feel more of my Ki within the deeper parts of my meridian system. The currents of energy deeper within start responding, faint but present, flowing a bit more freely than before. It's not much, but it's progress. And for now, that's enough. During my meditation, the Ki circulating in my meridians was also easing my breath, returning me back to my optimal state.
It's about time to move again.
Power Levels:
Carson - 10