The two weeks following the start of training were a blend of crushing pressure, strategic exploitation, and increasing domestic tension.
The backyard of Capsule Corp was dominated by the single, shimmering silver gravity chamber. The training schedule was rigorous: Kaito entered first, setting the chamber to 500x gravity for several brutal hours. After he finished, Goku and Piccolo would enter, resetting the dial to 20x gravity to endure their own grueling session. Gohan would arrive with Goku and be trained by Kaito while his father and Piccolo were inside the chamber.
Kaito didn't need to check on the others; he could feel their ki signatures through the chamber walls, and he saw them daily. His focus, outside of training, was on his internal System balance.
He had 900 Tokens, but he needed more to purchase the powerful techniques required for later arcs. Since he was living inside Capsule Corp, he had to execute fast, near-instantaneous missions in the dead of night.
His token missions were executed with ruthless efficiency, usually performed in the few hours when everyone else was asleep.
Mission 1: Geothermal Stabilization (Reward: 500 Tokens) The objective was to prevent a minor volcanic eruption in the Pacific, scheduled to disrupt communications in three months. Kaito paused his training, flew at top speed across the globe, and used his ki to pinpoint the exact pressure fault line deep within the Earth's crust. With a precise, controlled burst of ki, he stabilized the magma chamber. The entire round trip took less than five minutes.
[...MISSION COMPLETE: GEOTHERMAL STABILIZATION. REWARD: 500 SYSTEM TOKENS. CURRENT BALANCE: 1,400.]
Mission 2: Dragon Ball Recovery (Reward: 700 Tokens) The System demanded he retrieve one specific Dragon Ball lost in the deep South Atlantic Trench. Kaito flew there, plunged into the trench, and retrieved the Ball. The intense deep-sea pressure was irrelevant against a body conditioned by 500x gravity. The challenge was successfully locating the faint magical signature and returning without disturbing the water column.
[...MISSION COMPLETE: DRAGON BALL RECOVERY. REWARD: 700 SYSTEM TOKENS. CURRENT BALANCE: 2,100.]
Mission 3: Eradicate Rogue Spirit (Reward: 720 Tokens) A high-level, malevolent spirit was haunting a remote temple in the Himalayas. Kaito flew there, used a quick, focused burst of pure ki to purge the spirit, and returned.
[...MISSION COMPLETE: ERADICATE ROGUE SPIRIT. REWARD: 720 SYSTEM TOKENS. CURRENT BALANCE: 2,820.]
Kaito checked his ledger: 2,820 Tokens. 'That's almost there. Enough for now,' he thought. He returned inside Capsule Corp to his room, resting before the next day's training began.
When Kaito wasn't training or running missions, he was interacting with Bulma, who spent every waking hour in her lab analyzing the remnants of Raditz's ship and scouter, purely driven by scientific curiosity.
"It's frustrating," Bulma sighed one evening, running a hand through her blue hair. "The materials are so dense, and the power source is unlike anything I can reverse-engineer. It's a dead end."
Kaito, looking effortlessly composed after his session, took a seat beside her. "It's not a dead end. The power source is just highly compressed Ki. You're trying to solve a mystical problem with pure mechanics."
"Right, Ki," Bulma scoffed. "Your magical energy that makes people fly and blow up moons. I need numbers, Kaito, not philosophy."
"And you'll get them," Kaito promised, leaning his elbow on the table. "You've got a genius mind, Bulma. The smartest on this planet. You just need to accept that sometimes, the simple solution is the correct one. That Saiyan tech is primitive, designed to handle immense, unrefined power. That's its only complexity."
Bulma looked from the schematics to Kaito's perfectly calm face, a blush beginning to creep up her neck. "You're infuriatingly confident. And you think I'm the smartest person on Earth?"
"I know you are," Kaito confirmed easily. He held her gaze, warm and steady. "Having you here, having a connection to true innovation, makes this whole mission feel worthwhile."
Bulma smiled, clearly pleased by the compliment. "Well, if you're going to keep throwing around compliments like that, you can stay as long as you want."
"I plan to," Kaito replied, his playful grin returning. "Now, show me the failure points in the drive core. Let's see if we can trick your genius into finding the right solution."
Kaito spent the next few hours guiding her work subtly, giving her just enough information to make major breakthroughs on her own.