[45]. Bulma Senses Her Ki

At the exact moment Ausbi'er disappeared from view, Kaso picked up on the subtle energy shift behind him—it was the same trick as that Namekian, Nail, used back on Namek.

The ki blast flew straight for his face.

But Kaso moved like lightning, vanishing from his original spot and reappearing far to the side. His speed was so fast that a ghostly afterimage still lingered where he had been.

BOOM!!

The ki blast tore through the afterimage and smashed into the earth below.

An earth-shattering explosion erupted, tearing apart the already cratered landscape as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.

Smoke and debris billowed into the sky.

"Don't get distracted!"

Ausbi'er spun around, only to hear a familiar voice from right behind her.

"Crap!" she hissed, biting her lip.

She reacted too late.

Just as she thought she was about to take a hit, Kaso simply reached out and gently touched her hand.

"Silly girl," he said with a soft smile. "How could your big brother bear to hurt you?"

From their brief exchange, Kaso had a clear sense of her current strength—around 9,000 power level.

Half a month ago, when she'd removed her weighted training clothes in the Heavenly Realm, she had only been at 6,000. Now, her power had surged another 3,000 in just fifteen days.

That kind of growth was terrifying.

Among Saiyans, power levels were categorized as low-class, mid-class, elite, and above that were the true prodigies. In general, only elite warriors or some rare upper-class Saiyans could surpass 10,000 after reaching adulthood.

If she returned to Planet Sadala now, Bardock and the others would be floored by her growth.

Of course, her rapid improvement was also thanks to senzu beans. Kaso had quietly given her several hundred when he'd gotten his stash.

"Kaso-gege, am I weak?" Ausbi'er mumbled, curling into a ball and clinging to Kaso's chest.

She had been training so hard. Inside the gravity chamber, there were many times she was on the verge of collapsing. If not for the senzu beans, she wouldn't have made it through.

But no matter how hard she trained, she couldn't catch up to Kaso.

Even now, when she tried to sense his strength using ki-sensing techniques, she couldn't get a read on him at all.

"How could you be weak?" Kaso said, brushing her hair.

"But… I still can't beat you…" she mumbled, holding him tighter.

"Why do you need to beat me?"

"Because I want to protect you, Kaso-gege!"

She didn't even hesitate.

Back on Planet Vegeta, it had always been Kaso who protected her—from Nappa, from others—and she had never forgotten that. Now, she just wanted to be strong enough to stand beside him.

But the more she trained, the more unfathomable Kaso became. Even his ki felt like an endless abyss.

Kaso chuckled gently. "As long as I'm around, you'll always be safe."

She didn't answer, only tightening her grip on him.

The two slowly flew back toward Bulma's house.

Meanwhile, atop the Lookout—

Kami and Korin stared silently at the massive battlefield below.

The once-flat terrain now looked like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Deep craters, shattered rock, scorched earth…

The sheer destructive power on display had left the two of them utterly speechless.

The air was so quiet, they could hear each other's heartbeats.

They had been completely, utterly shocked.

Two weeks later.

In the Capsule Corporation courtyard, Bulma sat cross-legged on a small blanket, her eyes shut in deep concentration.

Over the past few days, she had begun to feel a faint, warm energy flowing through her body—trickling through her limbs and settling at the core of her chest. The sensation was cozy, almost like a hot bath on a cold winter's day.

She opened her eyes—and found Kaso staring intently at her.

"Wh-what?" she blinked.

Before she could ask, Kaso blurted, "Did you feel a warm sensation flowing through your body?"

Bulma's jaw dropped. "How did you know?!"

Kaso's eyes widened. "Whoa. You've actually started to sense your ki?!"

He was stunned.

He had just barely detected a faint spark of energy inside her—so small, it was like the thread of a hair. But it was there.

"What's that mean?" she asked, puzzled. "Wait—can I fly now?!"

Kaso deadpanned. "You wish!"

Bulma: "…"

Well, that escalated quickly.

She really thought she was about to unlock flight.

Kaso rolled his eyes. "You think any Earthling can just start flying with a little practice?"

Even in Dragon Ball, only a handful of Earthlings had ever mastered flight—and they all trained from childhood and had freakishly good talent.

Still… the fact that Bulma had even begun to sense her own ki was beyond Kaso's expectations. This girl, a pampered genius with no combat experience, had somehow managed to touch the threshold of martial cultivation.

But flying?

No way. Not yet.

She'd need to build up her ki reserves first, and that meant more physical training. Kaso estimated she'd need to reach a battle power of at least 80 before she could try flying.

"Pfft," Bulma scoffed. "What's with the dramatic reaction, then?"

She was right—his surprise had been way over the top. Anyone would've thought she was about to soar into the sky!

Kaso didn't reply. Instead, he gazed at her with rare seriousness.

"You've done well," he said. "Now that you've developed a ki sense, keep training like this, and one day, you'll be able to fly."

Bulma turned to him slowly.

Was he… leaving?

"I'm heading out," Kaso said quietly. "From now on, you'll have to train on your own."

He added one last warning: "And without me here, don't push yourself too hard. Especially since you don't have any senzu beans left—"

Bulma frowned. "I'm not stupid, you know."

Right. She was Bulma, the genius inventor of the Dragon Ball world.

Kaso scratched his cheek, sheepish. "Fair enough."

And with that, he vanished on the spot.

The courtyard was empty.

Bulma stood in silence, strangely hollow.

For the past month, Kaso had put her through hellish training—but always kept an eye on her afterward, offering half-hearted excuses like "checking the view" just to stick around.

She knew. Of course she knew.

"He's not so bad, I guess," she muttered to herself.

Then her eyes fell on a small cloth pouch on the table.

Opening it, she found ten senzu beans.

Bulma: "…"

What a tsundere.

She couldn't help but smile.

It had been two full months since Kaso arrived on Earth.

He had:

Learned the full use of ki,

Collected all seven Dragon Balls,

Wished for two hundred gravity chambers for Planet Sadala,

And returned the petrified Dragon Balls to their original locations.

All his goals were complete.

He turned one last time to look at Earth… then, along with Ausbi'er, disappeared into the stars.

Planet Sadala – One month earlier

Roughly a month ago, 200 mysterious metal structures had suddenly appeared across the planet's northern plains near the senzu fields.

Bardock didn't know what they were or how they got there.

But thinking about Kaso—who'd been off-world for two months now—he had a sneaking suspicion…

That brat definitely had something to do with it.

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