Chapter 46: Guidance
Since Turles's rebirth, he'd always explored training independently. Though Turles could recreate some training methods from memories and rely on gravity chambers to improve battle power, he still felt unsatisfied.
If Turles had merely transmigrated as an Earthling without those conditions, that would be one thing. But since becoming a Saiyan with conditions to climb peaks—if he couldn't become an eternally immortal powerhouse, he'd never feel satisfied.
In the Dragon Ball world, battle power wasn't the sole criterion. Only living long enough with sufficient status would earn recognition from top-tier gods.
Look—Beerus didn't even regard Goku's Super Saiyan 3 transformation. Old Kai also said Goku's transformations were an incorrect path.
Though Popo's current battle power didn't match Turles's, as an attendant who'd served multiple Kami generations, his sufficient lifespan and ability training generation after generation of Kami demonstrated his extraordinariness.
So Popo's guidance would definitely inspire Turles. This was also one of his purposes visiting Earth.
As a transmigrator, the greatest advantage wasn't merely personal conditions. The greatest advantage was always memory-based understanding of plot and characters.
And Popo was one person meeting his expectations.
Turles slowly restrained his aura, looking at Popo with some anticipation.
Popo's face remained unchanged. Actually, internally he'd already begun panicking.
He'd expected Turles's battle power would be strong. But he hadn't expected strength reaching this degree. Though he'd witnessed many Earth powerhouses, even he felt surprised by Turles's combat power.
This was Earth's tragedy being located at North Galaxy's edge. Though Earth's martial arts surpassed most universal species, Earthling talent was simply too low. They hadn't produced powerhouses strong enough to destroy planets—didn't even know universal battle power systems.
So Popo felt surprised, even horrified by Turles's battle power. Once Dragon Ball's plot officially unfolded and he'd witnessed Goku and others' tremendous leaps, Turles's current battle power probably wouldn't merit attention.
Turles kept staring at Popo, naturally not knowing Popo was internally sweating.
After prolonged silence, Popo finally spoke: "Suppress your aura. Maintain levels matching Popo's. We'll spar once."
Though somewhat puzzled by Popo's request, Turles still followed instructions, skillfully controlling his aura to maintain around 1,000 battle power. Because he couldn't sense Popo's aura, but remembered from canon Popo's battle power was approximately this much.
Turles and Popo faced each other at the Lookout plaza center, mutually observing.
Turles initially wanted to follow his combat habits, seeking Popo's bodily weaknesses. But no matter how Turles observed, he couldn't find openings.
A cold sweat drop appeared on Turles's forehead. He suddenly felt helpless.
Indeed—relying on his 200,000+ battle power, merely releasing aura could easily defeat Popo. But when fighting with 1,000 battle power, he didn't know where to start.
Previously without ki sensing ability, Turles wouldn't feel this powerless. Because then, as long as eyes could see targets, he could still attack.
But now he'd become extremely dependent on sensing opponents through ki for combat. If unable to sense opponent auras, even seeing them with naked eyes felt uncomfortable.
Even using Pseudo-Ultra Instinct, he now lacked confidence. Because his Pseudo-Ultra Instinct only worked with massive data support. Currently, he couldn't collect any data information from Popo.
Both maintained their initial postures. Neither struck first.
Ten minutes quickly passed. Turles suddenly spoke, dejectedly: "I've lost!"
Everyone present was shocked by Turles's words. Even Deru—still unable to precisely sense auras—clearly knew Popo's battle power definitely wasn't high. But he didn't understand why Turles merely stood there briefly before admitting defeat.
Turles looked at expressionless Popo, unable to help asking: "How did you do it?"
Hearing that, Popo counter-questioned: "Can't you also do it?"
"What? When could I..." Turles subconsciously started objecting. But before finishing, Turles froze in place.
Right—perfectly hiding aura, he could also do it. When traveling to Vampa, he'd learned perfect aura control from vast cosmic scenery. Until now, he'd habitually maintained aura suppression normally.
But why, encountering Popo who also perfectly controlled aura, was he unable to strike?
Turles thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out the reason. He directly voiced his confusion to Popo.
After hearing Turles's description, Popo pondered momentarily before saying: "You focus too much on ki sensing. You must learn to rely on bodily instinct in combat. Not everyone has aura you can sense."
Seeing Turles still somewhat confused, Popo began demonstrating while explaining: "Ki sensing is just one combat technique. But combat isn't only about aura. Air temperature, humidity, environmental changes—all these change during battle."
Speaking, Popo lightly waved his hand, stirring a gentle breeze.
"When these things change, your ability to perfectly hide aura by merging with environment is no longer perfect. So you need to use your body's various senses to capture these changes. Your vision, smell, hearing, touch, even taste. Integrate information these senses provide—you can still sense opponents."
"Because as long as something remains alive, exists in this space, it cannot completely eliminate traces of existence. Even if merely breathing air."
"This..."
Hearing Popo's guidance, lightning seemed to tear through darkness in Turles's mind, bringing sudden enlightenment.
Turles hadn't expected Popo to teach him not just relying on ki for combat, but also using bodily five senses to capture opponents. These theories felt like opening another door.
Relying on bodily instinct for combat sounded much like Whis's Ultra Instinct technique. But thinking carefully, this technique actually closely resembled his Pseudo-Ultra Instinct.
His Pseudo-Ultra Instinct collected sufficient data, simulating opponents mentally. Whether opponent attacks or defenses, everything got simulated in his mental world, giving him a preemptive feeling.
Except he'd only simulated static environmental data and opponent ki data—not integrating bodily feedback data.
Following Popo's explanation, he needed to simulate all data his body's five senses—no, six senses—collected during combat. This way, even if opponents could perfectly hide aura like Popo, he could still continuously adjust data, capturing opponent movements and finding weaknesses.
Even in future if bodily instinct grew sufficiently powerful, directly skipping mental world simulation processes—what difference would that have from true Ultra Instinct?
Thinking this, Turles's eyes flashed with heat!
Turles hadn't expected merely Popo's single guidance session to help him so tremendously. Of course, fully realizing Pseudo-Ultra Instinct's advancement required extensive training. But at least it gave Turles clear direction.
Turles wanted to ask Popo more questions. But an uninvited guest interrupted him.
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