Chapter 74: Spirit Tree and Instant Transmission
Turles looked at the Spirit Tree seed in his hand but didn't immediately plant it. Instead, he fell into contemplation.
"What's wrong, Turles?"
After settling the two youngsters, Bulma walked over. Seeing Turles staring at the seed in his hand without knowing what he was thinking, she felt puzzled.
Putting away the seed, Turles looked up at Bulma and asked, "The two youngsters are alright?"
"Mm." Bulma took Turles's hand and replied, "They're fine. Just exhausted. They'll be okay after some rest. But what about you? Do you have something on your mind?"
Bulma watched Turles with some concern.
Caressing Bulma's soft hand, Turles voiced his worry. "It's nothing. I'm just feeling anxious. I don't know if this will succeed."
As soon as he finished speaking, Turles saw Bulma looking at him strangely. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I remember what you once said—that no matter what, the Spirit Tree is just an external thing. In the end, you still need to rely on yourself. Even without Spirit Tree fruit, you can still reach the pinnacle of this world. Why are you feeling anxious now?"
Hearing this, Turles's heart shook as if piercing through thick fog. His mind also became clear.
That's right. Since when had he become so concerned about Spirit Tree fruit? In the end, Spirit Tree fruit was just a type of divine food.
Becoming a powerhouse in this world couldn't be achieved by eating one type of food.
Having understood this, Turles no longer felt conflicted. He casually tossed the Spirit Tree seed backward, reached out to embrace Bulma, and—in Bulma's startled gaze—kissed her crimson lips.
Bulma was shocked by Turles's action. She just blinked her large eyes, staring at Turles's eyes.
Not until she was somewhat breathless did Bulma recover from Turles's long kiss. She somewhat frantically pushed Turles away, her pretty face turning completely red. She glared fiercely at Turles before using her still-unpracticed Flight technique to flee the scene.
Turles stood in place, watching Bulma's retreating figure. He smacked his lips, savoring the wonderful sensation from moments ago, his mood greatly improved.
After savoring the moment briefly, Turles remembered the Spirit Tree seed he'd thrown. He turned to look behind him.
The seed that had just landed was already taking root. Thin roots like tentacles continuously burrowed into the soil. As the roots absorbed nutrients, the seed also began expanding.
Seeing this, Turles's heart jumped. He immediately formed an energy sphere in his hand, nervously watching the already-sprouted seed. If anything seemed wrong, he'd strike immediately.
Fortunately, things weren't so bad. As time passed, after the Spirit Tree seed's roots reached a certain quantity, they stopped dividing. After the seed grew into a half-meter tall sapling, its growth rate also began slowing. Unless carefully observed, changes were barely noticeable.
Seeing this, Turles breathed a sigh of relief. He observed for another half hour. After confirming the Spirit Tree had been suppressed as the Grand Elder described, Turles completely relaxed.
From the looks of it, the Spirit Tree would need at least a year before bearing fruit. Though the time was indeed quite long, being able to avoid harming Red Stone Planet already counted as the greatest success.
After finally encircling the Spirit Tree sapling and placing several monitoring devices, Turles dusted off his hands and flew in the direction Bulma had departed.
Returning to the base, after arranging for Karl to constantly monitor the Spirit Tree's condition, Turles threw himself back into training.
Bulma's words had awakened Turles. Everything could be achieved through his own diligent training. There were no shortcuts to becoming stronger.
Thus life seemed to fall into tranquility. Aside from occasionally encountering Tights and being watched with knife-like eyes, Turles was quite satisfied with his current life.
Turles's strength was also steadily increasing. By his estimate, his battle power had now risen to approximately 2 million in base form.
In two months' time, Turles's battle power had increased from 1.5 million to 2 million. Compared to Goku on Namek rising from 180,000 to Super Saiyan level in a short time, this improvement rate naturally wasn't worth mentioning.
But Turles remained quite satisfied with his current battle power. His current 2 million already made him a top-tier fighter in the universe. Add the Great Ape Power transformation's 10x multiplier, and that was 20 million battle power.
Dragon Ball hadn't yet reached the later story stages. Things like Cell and Majin Buu hadn't emerged yet. So this level of strength counted as first-tier in the current era.
Of course, Turles also knew the original story only revolved around protagonist Goku's tale. He now lived in a real world—who knew where some major god might pop up? So maintaining a low profile remained wise.
But soon enough, once he reached 3 million battle power, he could attempt Super Saiyan transformation. With that 50x multiplier, he'd have genuine confidence.
This day, Turles rarely trained under the gravity reorganizer. Instead, he discussed Instant Transmission training with Bulma in the laboratory.
After such extended training, with Bulma's help, Turles finally showed signs of mastering Instant Transmission.
"Turles, are you ready?"
Bulma held up a small pot-lid-like device, looking at Turles with serious eyes for confirmation.
Currently, Turles wore thick experimental clothing covered densely with wires. He raised his hands somewhat helplessly. "Bulma, is all this really necessary?"
"Of course! You're about to perform spatial teleportation. No amount of preparation is excessive. Besides, I need to observe data. Without these, how can I observe?"
After their passionate kiss, the two had completely established their relationship. Afterward, Bulma no longer treated Turles as an outsider. Whenever experiments were involved, she showed him absolutely no mercy.
At this moment, Turles really wanted to shout at Bulma: "I'm not a lab rat!"
But in the end, he didn't voice this suicidal statement. He could only let Bulma manipulate him as she pleased.
Bulma adjusted the instruments once more before taking a deep breath and telling Turles, "Alright, everything's ready. Prepare for the first Instant Transmission spatial jump."
Hearing this, Turles's expression also turned serious. He extended his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together against his forehead, and slowly closed his eyes.
Following Porunga's instructions for Instant Transmission, Turles sensed energy signatures across Red Stone Planet. Immediately, all life energy signatures on Red Stone Planet appeared in his mind.
After identifying one particular signature, Turles captured the spatial nodes around it.
Suddenly, Turles's eyes snapped open. His figure began blurring. With a "whoosh" sound, Turles's form completely vanished from before Bulma.
"Turles? Turles?"
Bulma tried calling Turles's name. Receiving no response, she immediately turned toward the instruments behind her, continuously tapping keys while carefully observing the data appearing on screen.
Meanwhile, Raditz was holding Bela's small hand, strolling by a lakeside.
"Bela, how have you been lately?"
Hard to imagine—Raditz the Saiyan would one day act like an Earthling, showing such concern for another Saiyan.
Still dressed like a tomboy, Bela looked at Raditz with disdain after hearing his words. "Raditz, please. I went training. What could happen? And can you stop being like this? Can't you just say what you want directly?"
Raditz's expression froze. His face grew somewhat unnatural. He gritted his teeth, about to say something when he heard a "whoosh" sound nearby.
"Who's there?" Raditz's expression changed. He immediately pulled Bela behind him, shouting loudly at the newcomer.
Initially somewhat blurred, the newcomer's figure quickly clarified—it was Turles who'd teleported over.
"Boss?" Seeing Turles appear suddenly, Raditz cried out in shock.
Watching Bela protected behind Raditz, Turles's gaze held a peculiar quality.
Being caught by Turles, Raditz's old face flushed red as he stammered, "B-b-boss, you... what are you..."
"It's nothing. Just doing an experiment. Carry on!"
Without waiting for Raditz to react, Turles's figure vanished once more before them.
"Wow! What move was that, Boss? Such incredible speed! I couldn't even see how he appeared and disappeared!"
While Raditz remained stunned, Bela was already staring at where Turles had vanished, her eyes shining as she exclaimed loudly.
"That was Instant Transmission!" Raditz answered reflexively.
"Instant Transmission? That's so cool! Raditz, can you do this move? Can you teach me?"
Hearing Raditz knew this technique, Bela immediately grabbed his hand, looking at him with anticipation.
Raditz fell silent. After a long while, he finally forced out, "I... I don't know how!"
"Tch! Useless! Fine, I need to go train. Instructor Broly gave me assignments today that aren't finished yet."
With that, regardless of Raditz's response, Bela took flight and headed toward the base.
Watching Bela's retreating figure, Raditz felt somewhat bitter inside. After a moment, he said through gritted teeth, "Tights, you liar..."
Setting aside Raditz's emotional entanglements, Turles had already reappeared before Bulma.
Removing the various electronic components from his body, Turles walked behind Bulma. Watching her excitedly observe screen data, he gently embraced her slender waist from behind.
Resting his head on Bulma's shoulder, Turles breathed lightly in her ear. "So? Did you observe anything?"
Bulma felt somewhat uncomfortable from Turles's intimate gesture. Especially the warm breath from his words made her face flush.
She weakly pushed at Turles's body. Seeing it had no effect, Bulma simply leaned into his chest, her tone somewhat lazy. "Can't tell much from the data. After all, it's only one test. With several more observations, there will definitely be results."
Hearing Bulma say this, Turles's movements stopped. He somewhat stiffly changed the subject. "You know what I just saw?"
"What?" Bulma felt somewhat drowsy at this moment, leaning in Turles's embrace without energy as she asked.
"I saw Raditz and Bela. You have no idea..."
Turles's eyes gleamed with gossip. Just as he was about to share something with Bulma, he looked down and discovered Bulma's attention wasn't there at all.
Bulma in his arms had unfocused eyes, her face completely flushed. Her entire body lacked any strength, relying completely on Turles for support.
Seeing this, how could Turles still have any mind to discuss Raditz? He scooped Bulma up in a princess carry and headed toward the rest area.
The "battle" lasted all night.
The next day, after finishing his workout, Turles carried breakfast into the bedroom.
Looking at the still-sleeping Bulma, he set down the breakfast, walked to the bedside, and gently pinched Bulma's nose, speaking tenderly. "Time to get up. Eat some breakfast first!"
A scream!
Being woken by Turles, Bulma was still somewhat confused. But the next second, she let out a piercing shriek!
Subjected to this close-range sonic attack, Turles couldn't help rubbing his ears and joking with Bulma. "Do you want everyone to know?"
The screaming immediately stopped.
Blinking her large eyes, Bulma looked at Turles innocently.
Turles was amused by this adorable display. He couldn't resist kissing her. Feeling something foreign in her mouth, Bulma finally came to her senses. Her pretty face reddened as she pushed Turles away directly and shyly burrowed under the covers.
Turles tugged at the covers. Finding them immovable, he could only speak. "Alright, time to eat!"
"Get out!"
After quite some time, Bulma's muffled voice emerged from under the covers.
Knowing Bulma was embarrassed, Turles stopped teasing her. He acknowledged this and turned to leave.
Hearing the door close, Bulma slowly pulled down the covers, revealing only her eyes to check around. Seeing Turles had truly left, she suddenly threw off the covers and gasped for air.
Meanwhile, the moment Turles stepped out of the room, his pupils contracted sharply. His muscles immediately tensed. But the next second, he relaxed again.
"Teacher Merus, you've arrived?"
Walking up to Merus, Turles bowed slightly in greeting.
"Mm." Merus responded with a low voice, looking somewhat unhappy.
Turles glanced at him questioningly before shifting his gaze to another person.
That's right—Merus hadn't come alone. Another person accompanied him. And this person looked very similar to Merus.
"Hello. I'm Merus's brother. You can call me Whis." Seeing Turles look his way, Whis smiled and introduced himself.
Turles didn't dare show any disrespect. He quickly responded, "Hello, Mr. Whis!"
"Oh ho ho!" Seeing Turles's nervous display, Whis placed his right hand lightly over his lips and laughed with his mouth covered. "Mr. Turles, no need to be so formal. I'm just here to take a look. After all, as Merus's brother, I need to understand what kind of disciple caught his eye. Don't you think?"
Hearing Whis's magical laughter, Turles's mouth twitched as he nodded repeatedly. "Of course! Of course!"
"Alright, Brother Whis. You've seen Turles now. Can you leave?" Merus couldn't take it anymore. He interrupted them both and issued Whis an eviction notice.
"Wah wah wah! Merus seems to hate his brother now. I just arrived and he already wants to chase his brother away."
As he spoke, Whis even wiped at his eyes as if about to cry the next second.
This made even Merus unable to maintain composure. He shouted in exasperation, "Whis!"
"Oh ho ho!"
Seeing Merus completely lose his temper, not only did Whis show no remorse—he grew even happier.
Turles truly couldn't understand Whis's peculiar sense of humor. He could only serve as background scenery, quietly watching their performance.
Fortunately, Whis hadn't forgotten the main business. After teasing Merus a while longer, Whis looked at Turles. He put away the smile on his face and asked with a serious expression:
"Mr. Turles, are you interested in becoming a Destroyer God candidate?"
"Brother Whis, you—" Hearing this, Merus immediately grew anxious. Just as he was about to speak, Whis stopped him with a look.
Turles was also greatly shocked, looking at Whis with surprise. "Me?"
Whis nodded at him.
Seeing Whis wasn't joking, Turles's mind grew somewhat chaotic.
A Destroyer God candidate! That meant the next Destroyer God—one of the most powerful and prestigious beings in a universe!
Though becoming a Destroyer God required life-linking with Supreme Kai Shin, that most unreliable Supreme Kai, even so, many would still flock to the opportunity. Setting aside other considerations, just the Destroyer God's long lifespan was the greatest attraction for many powerhouses.
Heroes grow old, beauties gray. Before the passage of time, whether kings and generals or common beggars, all were equal. As long as you hadn't broken through life's limitations, the final result was always a handful of yellow earth.
So hearing Whis wanted him to serve as Destroyer God candidate, Turles was shocked.
"Why me?"
Turles directly asked Whis his confusion.
"Oh?" Whis seemed somewhat surprised. "You know what a Destroyer God candidate is?"
Turles's heart jumped. Only then did he remember he shouldn't know about Destroyer Gods.
"Really? I don't know where I heard about it." Turles found a random excuse.
Whis looked at Turles meaningfully. He'd already watched Turles's entire history.
Turles didn't know Whis had already examined all his experiences. Just being watched by Whis's gaze made him feel somewhat uneasy.
Fortunately, Whis didn't pursue this deeply. He simply asked Turles a question. "Mr. Turles, do you know what conditions are required to become a Destroyer God or Supreme Kai?"
This question was somewhat beyond the scope.
Though Turles knew about some of the major gods in the Dragon Ball world, he truly didn't know the answer to Whis's question.
Seeing Turles's expression, Whis knew Turles wasn't clear on these details. This made Whis unconsciously breathe a sigh of relief.