2.1 The Training of Infancy
The first year of Alexander Nova's life was, in a cosmic sense, both the easiest and the most agonizing. Being a baby was tedious. Being a baby with the fully integrated combat experience of a universally feared warrior was maddening.
[HOST STATUS: 6 MONTHS OLD. POWER LEVEL: 7]
The system interface, visible only to Alex's consciousness, was his constant companion and tormentor. His adopted parents, Sarah and Thomas Nova, were loving, normal, and blissfully unaware that their gurgling son was attempting to suppress a natural Saiyan rage at the mere fact of being unable to walk.
Crawl. Gotta crawl, Alex thought, his tiny fists bunching the crib sheet. The Saiyan Bloodline, currently at 0.2% activation, was a constant, low-level burn, demanding exertion.
"Just try the Ki sense, Alex," his inner voice, sounding suspiciously like Goku's gentle but firm instruction, urged him. "Feel the life energy. It's like reaching out with your heart."
Alex focused. In his previous life, he'd only understood Ki conceptually. Now, with the integrated knowledge, the method was simple: relax, breathe, and extend his awareness beyond his physical senses.
Suddenly, the world didn't just look clear; it felt clear. He sensed the strong, steady Ki of his mother humming downstairs, the slightly weaker, more erratic Ki of his father working in the adjacent room, and the tiny, frantic Ki of a mouse scurrying in the wall.
[SKILL UNLOCKED: KI SENSE (RANK E)]
[KI SENSE (E): Allows the host to perceive life energy signatures within a 10-meter radius. Ki signatures are currently visualized as simple colored auras.]
He focused deeper, trying to perform the simplest Ki control exercise: gathering a tiny amount of energy into his palm. He wanted a visible spark, a puff of smoke—anything to validate the incredible reality of his situation.
The best he managed was a slight tingling in his right hand before his infantile body completely gave out, demanding a nap.
Stupid baby body, Alex raged internally, his eyes welling up with very real, very frustrating baby tears. I know how to punch a hole through a planet, but I can't even hold a teacup of Ki!
This was the core challenge: the knowledge was absolute, but the body was starting from zero. The system was a cruel but effective taskmaster.
[MISSION: INITIAL KI CONTROL – Successfully maintain a small, focused ball of Ki for 3 seconds.]
[TIME REMAINING: 1,500 HOURS]
[REWARD: KI CONTROL (RANK D), +10 ENDURANCE, PARTIAL ACCESS TO THE GATE OF BABYLON (1 RANDOM NOBLE PHANTASM)]
That last reward was the carrot on the stick. The Gate of Babylon. The sheer potential of having any conceptual artifact from any fictional universe was a power that easily rivaled the Saiyan bloodline in terms of versatility. He just needed to grow fast enough to grab it.
2.2 First Birthday and the Tail's Manifestation
The next few months were a blur of crawling, demanding food (Saiyan appetite was apparently genetic), and relentless, silent training. Alex learned to modulate his breathing to channel Ki, improving his meager Power Level one point at a time.
He also learned to analyze his environment. They lived in an unremarkable city, in an unremarkable neighborhood. But the constant, faint hum of cosmic and metahuman energy told him he was definitely on Earth-0, the primary reality. He'd occasionally sense colossal bursts of energy miles away—brief, violent spikes of God-level Ki that made his baby body tremble and his nascent Saiyan instincts scream Danger!
Probably the Flash fighting Reverse-Flash, or maybe some Green Lantern scuffle, Alex mused, trying to keep his composure while chewing on a rubber dinosaur. Good. Let the big boys fight. I need to get to Super Saiyan 1 before I start looking for trouble.
The big day arrived with a party hat and a cake: his first birthday.
[HOST STATUS: 1 YEAR OLD. POWER LEVEL: 12]
As his parents sang, Alex felt a sudden, intense pressure radiating from his lower back, followed by a fierce, prickly pain that made him cry out—not in frustration, but in biological distress.
"Oh, poor baby, did the candle scare you?" Sarah cooed, trying to comfort him.
Alex, however, wasn't crying about the candle. He felt the pain peak, and the system delivered a notification:
[MISSION: FIRST STEPS - REACH FIRST BIRTHDAY. COMPLETE.]
[REWARD: +5 STRENGTH, +5 ENDURANCE. SAIYAN TAIL MANIFESTATION CHANCE (LOW) - SUCCESS!]
[NEW FEATURE: SAIYAN TAIL MANIFESTATION! THE TAIL IS CURRENTLY VULNERABLE TO DAMAGE AND IS A CRITICAL WEAKNESS.]
Underneath his diaper, a thick, brown, prehensile tail had sprung forth.
Alex instantly felt a connection to it, a vital part of his central nervous system. He also instantly registered its horrifying vulnerability—a simple, sharp yank could paralyze him.
I have a tail! I'm an actual, honest-to-god Saiyan! The sheer, childish joy of the realization overwhelmed the pain.
But how to hide it?
The system, as always, provided a brutal path forward.
[NEW URGENT MISSION: TAIL CONTROL AND CONCEALMENT - Immediately learn to fully wrap and conceal the Saiyan Tail before Parental Discovery (3-day timer).]
[FAILURE PENALTY: PERMANENT WEAKNESS TO TAIL GRABBING (SEVERITY: MEDIUM)]
[SUCCESS REWARD: TAIL REGENERATION (RANK F), BASIC METAMORPHOSIS SKILL (TAIL INTEGRATION).]
Alex had two immediate problems: 1) His mom was about to change his diaper, and 2) the tail was currently slapping against his back like an excited animal.
"I'll be right back, honey, let me grab a clean diaper!" Sarah said, setting him down in the crib and momentarily turning her back.
Now!
Driven by sheer terror of his secret being discovered, Alex funneled his paltry Ki into his tail, drawing on the integrated knowledge of how Nappa and Vegeta had learned to control theirs. The tail stiffened, became rigid, and with a grunt of effort, he maneuvered it under his legs and pressed it flat against his bottom, just as his mother turned back around.
She lifted him, changed him, and put the diaper on—snugly pinning the newly grown tail against his body.
Phew. Close call.
The system chimed, acknowledging the temporary concealment.
2.3 The First Gate
Two months later, his Ki Control had progressed through sheer, grinding effort, performed mostly during naps and late-night 'quiet time.' He had spent hundreds of silent hours building a tiny, pea-sized ball of shimmering yellow Ki in the palm of his hand, maintaining it for just a fraction of a second, only to have it dissolve.
[HOST STATUS: 1 YEAR 2 MONTHS OLD. POWER LEVEL: 15]
He was sitting in his high chair, his parents distracted by a news report detailing a strange green light over Metropolis, probably a certain Lantern doing his job. Alex took the opportunity. He focused, channeling his frustration and years of latent fanboy ambition into a single point.
His tiny hand trembled. A faint, visible, golden spark—no bigger than a grain of rice—flickered into existence in the center of his palm.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
[MISSION: INITIAL KI CONTROL - COMPLETE.]
[REWARD: KI CONTROL (RANK D), +10 ENDURANCE.]
[SPECIAL REWARD: PARTIAL ACCESS TO THE GATE OF BABYLON (1 RANDOM NOBLE PHANTASM) GRANTED.]
A new panel flashed across his vision, distinct from the blue-green System interface. This one was gold, ancient, and majestic.
[GATE OF BABYLON: FIRST PHANTASM ACCESS GRANTED!]
Alex, his heart pounding in his chest, silently chose to retrieve his reward. He instinctively knew he couldn't actually manifest the Gate yet, only pull the item into his immediate vicinity.
A shimmering gold circle, like a perfect ripple in reality, appeared silently an inch above his high-chair tray. From the center of the ring, an object slowly descended, coming to rest beside his spoon.
It wasn't a sword, a shield, or a great piece of armor. It was a simple, sturdy wooden staff, about three feet long, with metal rings at either end. It looked entirely unremarkable, but Alex's integrated knowledge instantly recognized it, and the system confirmed its identity with a golden flash.
[NOBLE PHANTASM ACQUIRED: THE POWER POLE (NYOI-BŌ)]
[RANK: C++ (ANTI-UNIT)]
[ABILITIES: COMMAND MANIPULATION: At the wielder's command, the staff can instantly extend or contract to an immense, unspecified length. Wielder must know the exact required length.]
Alex stared at the staff, his wide baby eyes reflecting the golden light. Of all the legendary artifacts he could have pulled—Excalibur, Mjolnir, a Green Lantern ring—he got The Power Pole.
A wave of unexpected warmth and nostalgia washed over him. The simplest, most iconic weapon of his childhood hero.
It's perfect. Simple, effective, and easily explainable to his parents as a "very fancy toy."
A massive, world-breaking power was now sitting on a plastic high-chair tray.
"Mommy! Pole!" he gurgled, grabbing it with both hands.
"Aww, look, Thomas, he likes the new toy!" his mother exclaimed, completely missing the fact that the toy had just materialized out of thin air.
Toy, huh? Alex thought, tightening his grip. Watch me hit the moon with it later.
The challenges of the DC Multiverse were fast approaching, but Alexander Nova, the Saiyan infant with a golden arsenal, was finally equipped for the fight.
[NEW CORE MISSION AVAILABLE: THE ROAD TO SUPER SAIYAN 1]