Chapter 2: The Double-Edged Sword
Day 4: Combat Power 16
The mountain air was crisp, but Kaito barely felt the chill. He was sitting cross-legged on a flat shelf of rock overlooking a jagged ravine. According to his internal clock, it had been exactly seventy-two hours since he'd left Satan City.
[Current Combat Power: 16]
[Status: Human Peak]
At 16, he was already twice as strong as the most elite Olympic athlete. His movements were no longer clumsy; they were dangerously efficient. When he reached for his water canteen, his hand moved with a blur of speed that his brain was only just beginning to track.
He stood up, testing his weight. He didn't feel heavy anymore—he felt like he was made of coiled steel. He looked at a nearby pine tree, its trunk about six inches thick. In his past life, kicking that tree would have resulted in a broken toe. Now, he felt a strange, magnetic pull in his shin.
He snapped a low kick out.
Crack.
The wood splintered instantly. The tree didn't fall, but a deep, jagged indentation remained where his foot had connected. Kaito stared at it, his breath hitching. He hadn't even used a "technique." He'd just moved.
"I'm stronger than a world-class heavyweight champion," he muttered. "And by tomorrow, I'll be a 32. That's... that's getting into the territory of the red ribbon army soldiers."
But the "leak" was getting worse. His skin felt like it was humming with high-voltage electricity. Because his body hadn't hit the 100 CP milestone yet, his Ki was constantly venting. Small pebbles near his feet would jitter and vibrate whenever he got frustrated or excited. He was a 16, but he was a noisy 16.
A low growl interrupted his thoughts.
From the shadows of the treeline, a mountain bear emerged. It was a massive, scarred beast, likely the apex predator of this ridge. It didn't see a "friend of the Z-fighters." It saw an intruder in its territory.
Kaito froze. His first instinct was to run. His second instinct—the one fueled by the 16 points of raw power coursing through his veins—was to stand his ground.
The bear charged, a literal ton of muscle and fur barreling toward him. In the past, Kaito would have been dead in seconds. Now, the world seemed to slow down. He could see the individual drops of saliva flying from the bear's jaws.
He stepped to the left. It wasn't a panicked dive; it was a controlled slide. The bear thundered past him, its claws missing his chest by a hair's breadth. Kaito realized with a start that the bear was slow.
"I don't want to hurt you," Kaito said, his voice steady.
The bear skidded to a halt and turned, roaring in fury. It lunged again, swiping a massive paw. Kaito caught the limb.
The impact should have shattered his arm. Instead, there was a dull thud. Kaito's feet pushed into the dirt, burying themselves up to the ankles, but his upper body didn't budge. He was holding a bear's paw in his bare hand.
"Easy," Kaito urged. He gave a gentle push—or what he thought was a gentle push.
The bear was sent tumbling back five feet, rolling across the dirt before scrambling up and looking at Kaito with genuine confusion. It let out a whimper, tucked its tail, and bolted into the brush.
Kaito looked at his palm. It was red, but it didn't hurt.
"I'm a 16," he whispered. "And I'm already too much for nature."
The Milestone: Day 7
Combat Power: 128
Midnight arrived like a physical blow. Kaito was huddled in a small cave, trying to stay still. The vibrations from his leaking Ki had reached a fever pitch; the very walls of the cave were starting to flake off dust from the resonance.
Then, the clock hit zero.
[Midnight Reached. Combat Power: 64 -> 128]
[Milestone Reached: 100 CP]
[Reward Issued: Ability - Iron Internalization]
Suddenly, the "noise" stopped.
The frantic, jagged heat in his veins cooled into a smooth, flowing river. The electric hum in the air vanished. Kaito took a deep breath, and for the first time in a week, he didn't feel like he was about to explode.
He looked at his hands. The glow—the faint, hazy aura he hadn't even realized he was emitting—was gone. He looked completely normal. He felt his own pulse; it was slow, rhythmic, and incredibly powerful.
He stood up and walked to the mouth of the cave. He tapped the stone wall.
Nothing happened. No cracks. No dust.
He focused, imagining his power as a dial. He turned it up just a fraction. A tiny spark of blue light flickered at his fingertip, perfectly contained.
"I have control," he said, a grin finally spreading across his face.
He looked toward the horizon, where the sun was beginning to rise. In the distance, he could see the faint outline of the world he used to belong to.
"128," he mused. "I'm officially stronger than Master Roshi was when he blew up the moon. And I've still got 83 days to go."
He sat down and began to meditate. He didn't need to hide anymore. He needed to prepare. Because in twenty-four hours, he'd be a 256. In forty-eight, he'd be a 512. The "Human" era was over. The "God" era had begun.