More than half a year had passed in a flash.
The Assassin's League had officially moved its headquarters from William Castle to a brand-new base in the suburbs of New York. The entire construction process cost ten times the money and ran 24/7 non-stop — and thanks to the speed of Eastern contractors, the base was finished in record time.
When it was finally done, the whole League was stunned. No one had expected it to be completed this fast — no one except Smith Dole. He had foreseen it all.
During this period, sales of the Combat Power Scanner were excellent — 13,253 units sold, raking in a total of $3,975,900,000 — nearly 4 billion USD.
Most of those orders came from the military, CIA, FBI, and S.H.I.E.L.D., with the rest purchased by private institutions and ultra-wealthy individuals.
Looking into the order sources, in addition to military companies hoping to reverse-engineer the device, several major security firms, medical groups, and even telecom giants joined the race to crack the technology.
Unfortunately for them, Bulma had installed a self-destruct anti-tamper mechanism, and anyone trying to disassemble it paid a heavy price. But the lure of the tech was too strong — they kept trying, just more carefully.
Ironically, it was civilians who found the most creative ways to use the scanner. Some athletes tracked their combat power changes down to the 0.1, adjusting their training, diet, and sleep patterns whenever the number dipped — all in pursuit of peak performance.
After all, the scanner measured bio-energy. If the number went up, you were stronger. If it dropped, something was wrong.
One particularly wild story came from a thrill-seeking trust fund baby. Caught in a desert storm and completely lost — with zero signal on any device — he managed to use the scanner's internal emergency comms system to contact rescuers. After he posted the story online, the scanner's off-grid communication ability went viral again. Suddenly, the ultra-rich started snapping them up for emergency preparedness.
Of course, influencers had their moment too — scanning strangers in public, livestreaming reactions. A few times, they even stumbled upon people with combat power over 8.0 — but those folks quickly vanished from the public eye.
As for Fury's Skrull "allies"? They disappeared even deeper into the shadows. No matter how perfect their disguises, they didn't dare appear in front of someone wearing the scanner. Getting exposed would make them targets for every major power on Earth.
At this point, anyone with a combat power above 6.0 was considered elite, high-value talent.
According to intel Natasha passed along, S.H.I.E.L.D. had gained quite a bit from using the scanner. For instance, they managed to capture the villain known as Purple Man after detecting his unusually high reading. The cost was steep, though — a few female agents fell under his control mid-operation. Eventually, S.H.I.E.L.D. subdued him and took him in.
What happened after that? Where he was held? How they dealt with him? Natasha had no clue.
Aside from Purple Man, S.H.I.E.L.D. also used the scanner to locate and recruit several superhumans: Daredevil, Stick, Jessica Jones…
Other agencies made their own finds too, but S.H.I.E.L.D. — leveraging its "official authority over superpowered individuals" — basically poached talent left and right. That sparked a lot of tension and finger-pointing between departments, some of which reached the UN Security Council.
Meanwhile, progress was also made on excavating the dragon bone. When further digging was blocked by a strange energy field, Smith Dole went underground himself and stored the dragon bone inside his system space — adding it to the Assassin's League's growing foundation of power.
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Inside the Gravity Chamber.
Smith Dole had finally gotten the one thing he'd been longing for — a fully functional gravity chamber.
For the past six months, without gravity training, his combat growth had slowed down significantly. In desperation, he'd been sparring with Aleksei while wearing weighted gear and suppressing his own energy just to push his limits.
Now, his combat power had reached 220 — still not even close to the strength of an old Piccolo.
Aleksei, on the other hand, had reached 50. He'd shed his belly fat and packed on muscle, now looking more like Captain America — tall, strong, and shredded. Total glow-up.
At that moment, Bulma stood in front of the console and explained,
"The hypergravity field is calibrated. It can currently simulate up to 10 times Earth's gravity, with a minimum of 1.5 times."
Smith frowned slightly.
Only 10x? It sounded impressive, but with Saiyan physiology, he'd adapt quickly. It wouldn't challenge him for long.
John Wick stepped forward.
"Boss… mind if I train in there too?"
Not just Wick — many League members had recently hit the ceiling of normal human limits. Wick himself was stuck at 7.9, unable to break through.
Seeing all the expectant eyes on him, Smith chuckled.
"Of course."
"Everyone's welcome to use it. Just make sure you don't hog it, and only train during free time. Start with 1.5x gravity — don't overdo it."
"If it gets too intense, exit immediately or call for the staff to shut it down."
Everyone broke into smiles.
Smith had once told his core team: If you break the human limit, I'll teach you how to control "Qi."
Having seen how powerful Qi was firsthand, they were all eager to learn. It had become their shared dream.
Smith stepped into the gravity field.
The room was currently set to 1.5x gravity. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck — felt fine.
Then he called out,
"Bulma, turn it up."
"Set it to 2x."
After a few moments, he said again,
"Skip ahead — jump to 5x."
Bulma didn't hesitate. She knew how strong Smith was and activated 5x gravity immediately.
The pressure hit him instantly — noticeable, but manageable. He could feel his body adjusting. After all, Saiyans were born on Planet Vegeta, which had 10x Earth's gravity.
Within seconds, Smith had already adapted to 5x.
"Bulma," he said calmly, "raise it by 1x every 10 seconds — bring it up to 10x."
Smith knew that Goku started training under 20x gravity when his combat power hit 8000. He even pushed himself up to 100x, nearly dying in the process.
But 10x? That was just simulating home turf for a Saiyan. No big deal — unless you weren't ready.
Following his command, Bulma gradually raised the gravity.
As the numbers climbed, everyone watched in awe as Smith began training — his body straining but not faltering.
At 10x gravity, the true challenge finally arrived. Smith could feel the burden now — every movement met resistance, every breath was heavier.
But he welcomed it.
This… this was real training.