Beerus's Planet
Whis sampled every flavor cup noodles, brick noodles, seafood, braised, spicy, extra spicy, bone broth savoring each with a pleased little hum.
"Gohan, you really are an amusing one," he said, puffing on the steam. "The appointed time hasn't arrived, and you didn't bring me a suitable candidate. So you didn't come just for a friendly visit, did you?"
Gohan bowed his head. "Sir Whis, you see right through me. I'm here to ask how I can reach the divine tier."
"Heh. Then let me ask you what do you think 'god' means?"
"Transcending mortal lifespan. Elevating one's form of life rising to a higher dimension," Gohan answered.
"That's a very rough cut," Whis said.
"I've also heard there used to be 'upper' and 'lower' gods. Below a God of Destruction were so-called lower gods like King Kai or Earth's Guardian. 'Upper' gods split into true gods, great gods, and… attendants." Gohan hesitated.
Whis blinked, then chuckled. "And where did you pick up that museum piece? Times change, the cosmos advances. No one uses that up-and-down taxonomy anymore."
"Huh?" Gohan leaned forward, impatient. He'd only just learned this from the Time King's era and it was already obsolete? Then again, it had been 3.1 billion Royal Calendar years since those days. Compared to Earth's timekeeping, it may as well be forever.
"Your bit about escaping the limits of lifespan also not quite right," Whis went on. "Take Earth's Kami. He bore the title 'god,' but never truly slipped the leash of mortality."
"You're right," Gohan admitted. "Please go on."
Whis began to outline the current landscape.
"Start with planetary guardians Kamis. Only worlds with ancient histories and proven civilizations can even be assigned such a post by a King Kai of that galaxy. Strictly speaking, they're not real gods. They can traverse Yin and Yang, report to the Kais, and supervise a planet. That's it.
"Up from there you have King Yemma, King Kai, Grand Kai the administrators of the living galaxy and the Other World. They're granted near-endless lifespan by a Supreme Kai of their universe, and authority over both sides of the veil. They're beyond normal life and death, but their fighting strength varies wildly bureaucrats, most of them. We call this band nominal gods."
Gohan nodded.
"Next, Supreme Kai," Whis continued. "They create life and worlds, and watch the cosmos yes, with time travel. Every Supreme Kai's foundational authority ultimately goes back to a bestowal in the Time King's era. Their lifeform tier is higher than the nominal gods'. That's why, in your history, Piccolo couldn't even lift a hand against Shin two tiers down. King Kai and King Yemma are beneath Supreme Kai; Supreme Kai sits above.
"Supreme Kais may choose their successors. No need to trouble Zeno or the Grand Minister for re-appointment. This stratum we call the True God Realm."
Gohan drank it in.
"After that comes the God of Destruction," Whis said, voice turning airy. "Their duty is to erase worlds that develop wrongly those that veer off the correct path. To make sure they can do that, they're entrusted with Hakai, the Power of Destruction. But only those strong enough to withstand its corrosion and backlash can wield it. There are no weak Destroyers only stronger ones."
"And their realm?" Gohan asked.
"The Great God Realm," Whis replied. "From here the power bands get granular: Nine Heavens.
"First to Fifth Heaven: early Great God newly appointed Destroyers, or those whose talent has peaked.
"Sixth to Eighth Heaven: the middle band genuine prodigies of a universe. Any of them can flatten a Fifth Heaven Destroyer.
"Ninth Heaven: consummation of the Great God Realm. You've reached the limit of this tier; there's nowhere left to go within it. Some ancient Destroyers resign to attempt a breakthrough beyond. Almost none succeed. I've never seen it."
"And beyond that is… the attendants," Gohan ventured.
Whis cleared his throat. "Ahem. It's enough to know what lies up to the attendants. Reaching their realm is… how do you mortals say… building stairways to the moon."
"Aw, come on," Gohan said, aggrieved. "You can't bait me and stop there. I swear I won't blab. Please?"
"Young people shouldn't aim too high too soon," Whis said primly.
Gohan sighed theatrically. "Shame. I was going to grill some barbecue for you next time…"
"Barbecue?" Whis coughed. His eyes lit. "…Very well but you keep this to yourself."
Gohan grinned. "Deal."
"The so-called attendant realm refers to the Angels, servants to the Gods of Destruction and their supervisors," Whis said. "Because Hakai is absolute power, it can tempt. Angels exist not only to serve but to correct a Destroyer who strays."
"I thought Angels were neutral," Gohan said.
"That's… a long story," Whis answered, gaze drifting. "After Grand Zeno assumed rule…"
In the beginning Angels had no such codified neutrality. But beings with power and authority gods or otherwise are susceptible to desire. Of the eighteen universes that once existed, the six Zeno erased were not all culled for external corruption, as the Old Kai had told him. Some Angels strayed from their duty and plunged their universes into chaos.
So the Grand Minister imposed a law upon the race: Angels may only supervise Destroyers. They may not interfere with a universe's trajectory for good or ill. Break this, and the penalty is erasure.
Whis didn't linger there. The water was too deep. (Gohan remembered: when Merus intervened against Moro, he vanished; when restored, he was mortal, his Angelic power gone.)
Gohan let it drop. "Neutrality" or "taking sides" to supreme beings, these were policy choices, not absolutes.
"Back to attendants," Whis said lightly. "Angels possess high combat power, but more than that: limited time-space operation brief reversals, freezes, accelerations. Never beyond three minutes. And fighting Ultra Instinct integrated into their base state. The body moves, guards, and counters of its own accord. Strength exceeds a Destroyer's by a clean margin. One chop from me and Beerus naps."
"Is there a finer grading among Angels?" Gohan asked.
Whis only smiled. "Let's just say: all who supervise Destroyers have normalized Ultra Instinct. Leave it there."
Gohan thought: there must be stronger and weaker Angels but he didn't press.
"Brat," Whis said, tone suddenly dry, "stop staring up the staircase. I've never heard of a single retired Destroyer climbing from self-forged immortality into the Angel tier. Make the Great God Realm your first real goal."
"Then that's the plan," Gohan said, eyes bright. "Great God Realm first; attendants later."
He did not mention the two currents coiled in his core Primordial Qi and the Eerie Qi a path toward a singular realm even the Grand Minister and Zeno did not have. He wasn't stupid. However genial Whis appeared, temptation toppled titans.
"All right," Whis concluded. "First problem: how to elevate your lifeform into the Nominal God band. Show me what you can do. After that we'll discuss how to become a god."
Gohan nodded. He knew one route to Super Saiyan God five righteous-hearted Saiyans sharing their power but Goten wasn't born yet, and he was impatient. Besides, could he honestly call Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa 'pure-hearted' after their blood-soaked pasts?
In the original timeline, Goku managed it because Vegeta, anchored by family, had softened grown good enough to qualify. Coming to Whis was its own strategy; after all, canon Vegeta had once snuck here to study and awakened God on his own.
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