"Are you dying? Perfect, I want you half-dead. How about it, don't you feel more invigorated than ever before?" Karnel laughed mockingly at Vegeta, who had just recovered.
Vegeta had eaten the Senzu Bean and carefully examined his body. He found little change at first, his fighting power didn't seem to have increased much at all.
"Raditz, scan my current combat power," he commanded.
Raditz, standing nervously to the side, activated his combat power detector and scanned Vegeta. His face lit up with surprised excitement. "Vegeta, your combat power has actually increased! It's now 21,000. I remember it was only 20,000 before, right?"
"Is it really effective?" Vegeta's eyes flickered with dangerous hope. "It seems that as long as I get injured a few hundred more times, I'll soon be able to defeat Frieza."
However, Karnel frowned in contemplation. Only a thousand-point increase after being critically injured once? That's pathetically unscientific.
"Saiyan, since you have shared the method by which we can rapidly increase our strength, I, Prince Vegeta, will remember you. Tell me your name!" After his strength increased, Vegeta's true arrogant nature was fully exposed as he demanded imperiously.
Karnel supported his face with one hand and said with weary amusement, "It's a miracle you've lived this long with such arrogance. I even forgot my own name back on Planet Vegeta. You can call me Karnel."
"Karnel, right? Strange name. Let's get started, come and attack me quickly. I can't wait!" Vegeta spoke with an arrogant expression, as if he were ordering a subordinate to perform a task.
Raditz watched enviously as Vegeta's combat power increased by 1,000 in such a short time. But Prince Vegeta's authority had been drilled into his heart since childhood, so he asked nervously, "Vegeta, can I try it too?"
Hmph! You, a weakling with barely over 1,000 combat power, want to use this method? There aren't many of these magical Senzu Beans that can instantly restore all injuries and strength. I won't let a worthless piece of trash like you waste them.
This thought flashed through Vegeta's mind before he snorted coldly, "Raditz, if you want to try it, go ahead and hurt yourself. But these Senzu Beans are precious, there are only dozens of them. Don't even think about getting one. I'm still waiting to use these beans to improve my strength and then seek revenge on Frieza."
Although unwilling, Raditz, a Saiyan with barely over 1,000 combat power, didn't dare resist Vegeta, who now possessed 21,000. He didn't dare say another word, walking to the side and stretching out his palm, considering whether to injure himself.
A flash of murderous intent crossed Karnel's face as he sneered, "I've never seen someone so eager to die, speaking to me in that tone."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Time and time again, Vegeta seemed unable to learn restraint. Every time he was critically injured and brought to the brink of death, he nearly lost consciousness, relying on the Senzu Beans to recover completely. But the improvement made Karnel laugh so hard that tears came to his eyes.
The strength increased by only 1,000 to 2,000 each time, with the highest not exceeding 3,000, truly pitiful. It wasn't proportional at all. In the original timeline, Kakarot was seriously injured once and recovered, but his strength directly reached 3 million. That span was simply terrifying.
After so many experiments, Karnel had guessed the reason. Every time the Senzu Beans restored a person's injuries and strength, they consumed the potential within that person's body.
If Vegeta recovered slowly each time he was seriously injured, the potential in his body would be triggered and his strength would improve dramatically. But using Senzu Beans was counterproductive. Most of the potential that was drawn out was directly consumed by the beans to restore his injuries. Only a trace remained to be truly converted into combat power.
"This explains why Vegeta is enjoying himself without realizing the truth. How pathetic. If it weren't for Saiyans' potential being like a bottomless pit, his vitality would have been drained long ago." Karnel stared at Vegeta, who was enjoying himself so much, with a gloating expression.
"Raditz is really determined. He knew that Vegeta wouldn't use Senzu Beans to heal his injuries, but he still didn't hesitate to hurt himself. His courage is commendable! It's just a pity... he's destined to remain useless." Seeing Raditz lying on the ground spitting blood, Karnel felt a flash of grudging admiration.
After more than a dozen life-and-death struggles, feeling that his strength was now more than twice as strong as before, Vegeta could be said to be full of heroic confidence, exuding power from head to toe.
"Nappa, scan my fighting power now," Vegeta commanded as he approached the half-dead warrior.
"53,000!" Nappa, despite his injuries, managed to scan Vegeta with his reconnaissance device and answered through gritted teeth.
The injury to Nappa's spine wasn't actually insurmountable. Although he couldn't move now, he could recover as long as he returned to their ship and used the healing tank.
"53,000! Hahaha! I, Vegeta, will come for my revenge soon, Frieza!" Vegeta muttered to himself with murderous intent, then carefully opened the small bag and counted the remaining Senzu Beans.
35!
"I can do this 35 more times, and my strength will increase by about 2,000 each time, which could increase my combat power by about 60,000. Still not enough." Vegeta grew anxious.
Although he didn't know exactly how strong Frieza was, he knew that the captain of the Ginyu Force, Ginyu, had a combat power of 120,000. Even if Vegeta used up all the Senzu Beans, his combat power would only reach about 110,000. He might not be able to beat even the five members of the Ginyu Force, let alone Frieza.
"Never mind, let's use up these beans first!" Vegeta gritted his teeth and decided internally.
Vegeta stepped forward again and continued asking Karnel to attack him, no matter how brutal.
Someone begged to be his punching bag, and Karnel naturally didn't refuse. He happily beat Vegeta again and again.
Soon, Vegeta's miserable howls echoed frequently at the edge of the great jungle, sounds so pitiful they would make anyone weep.
"120,000!" Vegeta was ecstatic and jumped into the sky to demonstrate his ultimate technique.
"Garlic gun!"
A thick purple beam of light streaked toward a mountain peak a thousand meters away.
BOOM!
The mountain exploded in a shower of rock and dust, completely obliterated by the devastating attack. Vegeta floated in the air, breathing heavily but grinning with savage satisfaction at his newfound power.