[35]. Second Phase of Training

"Huh?"

As Mr. Popo walked toward them, Kaso and Ausbi'er stared blankly — they were already moving on to the second phase?

Mr. Popo ignored their stunned expressions and calmly handed them two black clothes. "Put these over your eyes," he instructed. "Your next task is to steal the bell from me while blindfolded."

Kaso broke into a cold sweat.

After a week of training under Mr. Popo, he already knew this mysterious man wasn't what he seemed. Playing a game of cat and mouse with him... could he even do it?

Kaso let out a helpless sigh.

"Kaso-nii, what's wrong?" Ausbi'er asked curiously as she took the cloth from Mr. Popo and noticed Kaso's unusually serious expression.

He hadn't looked like this in a long time.

"N–nothing," Kaso replied as he took the cloth and tied it around his eyes.

"Then let's begin," Mr. Popo's voice echoed across the Lookout.

At his signal, Ausbi'er snapped into action. Kaso, meanwhile, pushed aside his doubts and began to tune in to the world around him, calming his mind to detect even the faintest sounds — especially the jingling of the bell.

Suddenly, he heard it behind him.

Kaso spun around, launching himself toward the sound. Ausbi'er, having the same idea, leapt at the same time.

Bang!

"Oww! That hurt!" Ausbi'er cried, cradling her head and retreating.

"Hiss—" Kaso sucked in a sharp breath as he clutched his forehead.

He'd been so focused on tracking the bell, he hadn't even noticed Ausbi'er charging in — until they collided. That was careless of him.

Compared to the jingle of the bell, Ausbi'er's footsteps were so soft, he didn't even register them.

So this second phase… really wasn't going to be easy.

Kaso stood still, deep in thought. He knew blindly chasing after the bell was pointless — it would only wear him out without actually helping him grasp the essence of "ki."

He could control his body well enough now to keep the bell from ringing — that was phase one. But this phase... was supposed to be about moving faster than lightning?

Wait.

That was it.

Suddenly, everything clicked.

The first phase was about internal stillness — learning to move with complete control, without unnecessary motion. That's how you kept the bell silent.

The second phase must be the inverse: focusing outward, sensing movement in the environment — detecting external ki. It wasn't about literal speed, but about acting without waste, being so in tune with your surroundings that you moved at the exact right moment, like lightning.

Kaso's eyes lit up (not that anyone could see, since he was still blindfolded). He realized it: he had entered the realm of ki sensing.

Meanwhile, Ausbi'er was still darting around, trying to catch the bell. Each time she got close, it slipped away again.

She pounced once more, Mr. Popo casually dodged, then glanced at Kaso.

"He figured it out already? Impressive," he thought, a faint smile playing on his lips.

At that moment, Kaso suddenly moved.

A dark blur streaked across the Lookout as he shot toward the sound of the bell. His movement was sharp, decisive — but just as he reached out, the bell chimed from a new direction.

"Tch... not that easy after all," Kaso muttered to himself.

Ausbi'er scrambled over to where he was, and Kaso instinctively sidestepped — he could even feel her presence now.

"Wait, Ausbi'er," he said suddenly, grabbing her hand. "Think. What are we actually training here?"

"Eh?" She blinked, confused — but then began to understand.

Our little Ausbi'er might act like an airhead, but she wasn't dumb!

Mr. Popo looked over, watching the two kids crouch on the ground, deep in discussion.

He said nothing.

A moment later, they stood up.

"Mr. Popo, we're ready," Kaso declared.

"Mr. Popo, we're ready!" Ausbi'er chirped, mimicking him.

And once again, two small silhouettes raced across the Lookout.

Two weeks later.

On the Lookout, four figures stood: Kami and Mr. Popo on one side, Kaso and Ausbi'er on the other.

The two kids pulled off their blindfolds.

"Kaso-nii, we did it!" Ausbi'er beamed, jumping up with joy.

"Yeah." Kaso couldn't help smiling too, watching her leap up so high. He felt a rush of pride.

Over the past two weeks, under Kaso's guidance, Ausbi'er had made incredible progress. They'd stopped flailing around like headless chickens chasing bells — they were starting to feel ki.

Just now, they had completed the second phase of training.

Kaso, however, was suspicious. Even though they could now sense ki, he was pretty sure there was no way either of them could have caught Mr. Popo's bell in a fair match.

Conclusion: Mr. Popo went easy on them.

He glanced over — and sure enough, Mr. Popo was already looking back at him.

The two locked eyes briefly.

"Congratulations, children," Kami said kindly. "You've done well."

Kami had long since stopped being shocked. These two kids were far beyond any level of genius he'd ever seen in his centuries of life. Especially Kaso — his perception and insight were almost unnaturally sharp.

Most prodigies took at least six months to grasp ki control.

Kaso? Less than one.

Suddenly, Mr. Popo spoke up: "There's a third phase… the realm of No-Mind."

He paused. "But at your current level, it's impossible for you to comprehend."

And with that, he went silent again, returning to his spot next to Kami.

Kami seemed to recall something, but didn't comment.

Kaso nodded thoughtfully. He remembered this from the anime — Goku had trained in this realm too. What happened next, though, he wasn't sure.

"You can remove your weighted clothing now," Kami said.

His gaze was a little strange. He knew exactly what this kind of training did.

For a whole month, Kaso and Ausbi'er had trained with massive weights, suppressing their full power and relying solely on physical strength. Now, with ki control added to the mix… what kind of transformation awaited them?

Even Kami was a little excited to see.

"Oh right! I almost forgot!" Kaso laughed, patting his chest.

He had been so focused on ki and training, he'd nearly forgotten he was still wearing the 25x gravity weighted clothes.

Looking back now, it was all clear — the reason he struggled with Instant Transmission earlier was because his ki sense was awful. That had been the bottleneck all along.

He thought of Goku during the Saiyan saga. When Raditz first came to Earth, Goku and Piccolo had worn weighted gear. The moment they took it off, their power shot up.

But his own weights were far heavier than Goku's had ever been — 25 times gravity!

And Goku had almost been flattened the first time he trained under 10x gravity on King Kai's planet.

Kaso looked at Ausbi'er. They shared a glance and a nod.

Time to see what they were really made of.

Kaso stepped forward to go first.

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