The Price of "Defeating Merus"?

"Did you follow my instructions and try absorbing life energy when you got back?"

After spending some time training in magic under Moro, he suddenly asked Zuke this question.

He had previously mentioned that Zuke's control over magic was already proficient enough for him to attempt using it to manipulate and devour others' life energy.

Though he couldn't yet devour planetary energy like Moro, he was still capable of absorbing the life energy of living beings.

Considering Zuke had promised to release him from prison, Moro was doing his best to think for Zuke's benefit—the more satisfied Zuke was, the higher the chances of him keeping his promise.

Moro had noticed Zuke's intense desire to improve his combat strength, so he didn't mind guiding him on how to rapidly enhance his power using magic.

If Zuke could devour planetary energy like him, that would be ideal, and the speed of his improvement would be unimaginable.

But even if he settled for less, absorbing life energy was still a good alternative, and the progress would be much faster than that of ordinary people.

"No."

Zuke shook his head. He had just returned from the JoJo world and had forgotten that Moro had mentioned his ability to absorb life energy.

Had he remembered earlier, he could've tried it before taking down Diavolo. After all, the life energy of a Stand user should be quite abundant—probably?

"I knew it."

Moro chuckled coldly, as if he had already anticipated this outcome.

Then, Zuke saw Moro reach under his large cloak and slowly take something out, placing it in front of him.

Moro's cloak was very spacious, and combined with his massive frame, it naturally allowed him to hide many things inside.

When Zuke saw what Moro had placed before him, he realized it was actually a live rabbit.

But calling it a rabbit wasn't entirely accurate, as this rabbit had four eyes—thinking about it carefully, this wasn't Earth, so it was probably some rabbit-like creature from another planet.

"Here, devour this rabbit's life energy."

Moro sneered, looking at the rabbit, which had no idea what was about to happen, and spoke to Zuke.

"Although this little creature's life energy is insignificant, it's perfect for a beginner like you—start by absorbing weaker energies, and once you're proficient, you can move on to stronger ones."

"Where did you get this rabbit from?"

Zuke was a bit surprised. Moro had been locked up in prison with no chance to step outside, let alone find a rabbit.

"Though the Galactic Patrol doesn't allow me to leave prison, after over ten million years, they've relaxed their vigilance and permitted others to visit."

Moro's expression seemed to mock the Galactic Patrol—after all, if nothing unexpected happened, in a few decades, a visiting prisoner would tell him about the Dragon Balls.

"I got this rabbit from another inmate. They don't care about little things like this; it's not considered contraband. Go ahead and try."

Indeed, if this were a regular human prison, an inmate possessing a rabbit would certainly alert the guards.

But this was Galactic Prison. While the Galactic Patrol officers weren't as strong as adult Saiyans, they weren't weak enough to classify a rabbit with a combat power under 1 as contraband.

They might even see it as a way to cultivate compassion among inmates with fixed sentences—maybe love for small animals could lead them to reform.

"What's wrong? Getting soft?"

Seeing Zuke hesitate, Moro squinted his eyes and asked in a somewhat puzzled tone.

"I can sense that you're learning magic from me to quickly enhance your power… Hesitating at a time like this isn't good."

Moro suspected that Zuke's hesitation stemmed from his close relationship with Merus, the Galactic Patrol officer, making it hard for him to harm even a small animal.

But that wasn't the reason at all. If Zuke truly wanted to act, he wouldn't blink an eye at killing someone, let alone a rabbit—he'd probably eaten plenty before. There was no way he'd hesitate over this.

The real reason he wasn't moving was that he suspected Moro might've tampered with the rabbit, so he secretly used Blackbird Requiem's ability.

He fixed the outcome: "Moro hasn't tampered with this rabbit."

The result was smooth—Zuke didn't even feel like he had paid any price for it, meaning Moro truly hadn't done anything to the rabbit.

"This guy is really putting in the effort to teach me how to strengthen myself?"

After confirming that Moro hadn't done anything to the rabbit, Zuke finally reached out, grabbed the rabbit, and used magic to extract its life energy.

The rabbit, caught by its ears, seemed to sense something and kicked its legs in a sudden struggle, but soon it stopped moving.

Its life energy had been extracted and absorbed into Zuke's body.

The sensation was like Zuke using magic as a rope, binding the energy within the rabbit's body and pulling it out. It went smoothly without any resistance.

Interestingly, although the rabbit's combat power was probably under 1, after absorbing its life energy, Zuke felt that his combat strength had increased by more than just 1 point.

This meant that fully absorbing a creature's life energy provided a boost greater than its raw combat power.

No wonder Moro's power grew so rapidly—high-quality energy could even unleash strength surpassing one's original combat capabilities.

"Good. Keep absorbing life energy, and once you get used to it, you'll be able to absorb stronger energies."

Moro laughed as he watched this scene.

This made Zuke wonder—could this guy be hoping that he'd turn into someone who recklessly absorbs others' life energy and eventually gets caught by the Galactic Patrol to keep him company?

...

Of course, Zuke wouldn't be captured by the Galactic Patrol. As long as Merus, the apprentice angel, vouched for him, he wouldn't get into trouble unless he went too far.

In fact, after he dealt with Frieza, the Galactic Patrol might even give him an award—they had been helpless against the Frieza Force for quite a while.

"Mr. Zuke, you've worked hard."

Merus smiled as he greeted Zuke, who was walking out of Moro's prison.

"Will you continue training today?"

Merus definitely knew what Zuke had done in Moro's prison, but he didn't react at all—clearly, absorbing the life energy of a rabbit wasn't something he cared about.

Life and death were natural occurrences. As long as things didn't go beyond what was necessary, Merus wouldn't intervene.

"No, there's not much time left today."

Zuke shook his head. His training with Moro had already used up the remaining four hours, and his playtime was about to run out.

"In that case, I encourage you to do more meditation training."

Merus nodded in understanding but still gave Zuke a reminder.

"I can sense that Mr. Zuke's power has increased again… but with such rapid improvement, you'll need to meditate to better control this new strength."

Zuke nodded, indicating that he understood.

But as he looked at Merus, a strange idea suddenly crossed his mind.

If he used Blackbird Requiem to fix the outcome of "defeating Merus"… how much would it cost?

With that thought, Zuke almost instinctively activated Blackbird Requiem's ability, wanting to give it a try—after all, there was no harm in testing it.

To be continued…

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