A Saiyan's Journey

"Honestly, such a hassle."

Shoving Monaito into his spherical spaceship, Zuke set it to automatically head to the nearest inhabited planet, giving the ship's door a final kick to shut it closed.

Although it had taken some twists and turns, his wish for "instant transmission" had ultimately been granted by the dragon without any real cost.

As he mastered the instant transmission technique, Zuke felt something flowing within him—undoubtedly "ki," the source of fighting power in Dragon Ball.

While others with scouters would still see Zuke's power level as 4000, his control over ki clearly allowed him to unleash strength well above that level.

Now, Zuke could even do something that no other Saiyan could—specifically, what Vegeta described on Namek as "controlling power level at will."

At this moment, he had lowered his power level to the bare minimum. If someone scanned him with a scouter, it would only pick up a single-digit value, likely mistaking him for some wild animal.

"This wrapped up faster than I expected."

Having set the spherical spaceship to launch in five minutes, Zuke looked up at the sky. The once-dim night had turned pitch black, and the full moon that had previously hung in the sky was now gone.

This was the desperate effort of the Cerealians. After realizing that the Great Ape transformation relied on the full moon, they had put all their strength into destroying it.

Yet, even without the full moon, with the Saiyans reverted to human form, the Cerealians still couldn't match the Saiyans' power, and they continued to fall under the Saiyan invasion.

Barring any surprises, the civilization on Planet Cereal would soon be wiped out. As for Granolah, the lone survivor in the original story, Zuke had no idea whether he'd make it this time.

After all, Granolah survived because Monaito had protected him in the original timeline, but now that Monaito was in the spaceship, he likely had no chance to protect Granolah.

As Zuke stood guard beside the spaceship, waiting for it to launch, a notification sound suddenly echoed in his mind, with a window popping up in his vision.

[Anti-addiction System Reminder: Respected Zuke, you've been playing for 8 hours.]

[From now on, your gameplay rewards will be zero. Please wait until the next day to refresh your playtime.]

"???"

Seeing this alert, Zuke was stunned. He had thought of many ways to end today's dream, but an anti-addiction notice? That was one he hadn't anticipated.

Technically, Zuke's physical age was still underage, but this notice was a bit too much of a buzzkill.

Laughing to himself, Zuke looked at his display panel, noticing a new button had appeared at the bottom with the anti-addiction prompt.

[Exit Game]

"They really went all out with this."

Smacking his lips, Zuke was at a loss for words with this system. Despite possessing the ability to sync powers into reality, it still tirelessly maintained that it was just a game.

But whether it's a game or not doesn't matter—he's the only player in this world.

[Player Zuke's Power Sync Rate: 0%]

Before logging out, Zuke glanced at his power sync rate, which remained depressingly low at 0%.

During this trip to Planet Cereal, he had only managed to obtain "instant transmission" and ki control. Although he wasn't sure if "effort to grow stronger" counted as progressing the main storyline, this slight improvement was clearly just a drop in the bucket.

But Zuke wasn't discouraged. He already had a path in mind, and with instant transmission in hand, many future actions would be much easier.

While he was deep in thought, the five minutes quickly passed. The spherical spaceship shook a few times and then, under Zuke's watchful eye, slowly lifted off and zoomed out of sight.

"With that done, now…"

Standing up, Zuke prepared to exit the game and return to reality.

Now he knew that the game's anti-addiction time was 8 hours, which conveniently aligned with sleep time. In the future, he wouldn't need to sleep early—just use his normal sleep time.

However, as soon as he stood, a sense of danger surged through him. Without thinking, Zuke concentrated ki into his arm and swung forcefully behind him.

Bang!

A laser beam struck his forearm, blocked by his ki. Zuke turned to see that the shot had come from a man holding a laser gun.

"Hey, Saiyan, why are you alone out here?"

On a nearby cliff stood a man with blue skin and dreadlocks. His laser gun's barrel was still faintly hot.

Zuke looked at the man. Although the man didn't know him, Zuke knew exactly who this guy was.

Elec, the leader of the Heeters, the mastermind behind the Frieza Force's invasion of Planet Cereal—a cunning merchant, though his strength was rather poor, the weakest of his clan.

"What? You're trying to control a Saiyan now?"

Zuke looked at Elec, surprised that he had managed to find him. Still, it wasn't much of a problem. Zuke's scouter showed Elec's power level at just above 1,000—not very impressive.

He had been so focused on the anti-addiction notice that he hadn't noticed someone approaching. It seemed he'd need to be more vigilant in the future.

Previously, before arriving on Planet Cereal, Zuke might have had the raw power of 4000 but lacked the skill to take down Elec.

Now, with ki control at his fingertips, defeating Elec, with a power level of 1,000, would be a cinch.

"After all, Frieza and I are partners. If his subordinates don't behave, it's only right I help manage them."

Elec seemed blissfully unaware of his lack of power, maintaining an air of superiority even with Frieza, who merely treated him as a puppet in the original story.

"Is that so?"

Zuke shifted his footing slightly. Since Elec had seen him, he couldn't afford to let Elec go, or else his "disappearance" plan would be ruined.

If Elec mentioned him, the Frieza Force would learn that a Saiyan was hiding on Planet Cereal. Zuke couldn't be sure they wouldn't find him in a search.

Several of his upcoming plans depended on avoiding the Frieza Force's attention, and he couldn't let Elec disrupt them—especially when Elec, with his average strength, would make for excellent practice.

To be continued…