章 11: A Year

Understanding the weight in Shen's words, Flappe thinks for a bit.

"If the radar functions as you say, then we first need to have one of those Dragon Balls ourselves. We have to first know what kind of signals and wavelengths they emit to make a radar for tracking them down."

The logic is fairly simple. Shen had also thought that an actual Dragon Ball would be necessary to create the radar, but the problem is where and how to get the Dragon Balls?

He slowly walks out of the room, while wandering around in thought, trying to remembering where the Dragon Balls are supposed to be around this time. It is uncertain whether the locations shown in the series will have the Dragon Balls at this time period.

'Bulma had two Dragon Balls before meeting Goku, while Goku himself had one that his grandpa left behind. The Pilaf gang, the Ox King, and the village that Oolong terrorized had one each.'

Lastly, he knew that Roshi also has one, but he didn't want to meet Roshi right now... somehow, he feels annoyed by just the thought of Roshi. Such a thing would never have happened in the past.

'These few months, I have been affected by the residual memories of the old Master Shen. My personality has subtly changed... Still, for some unknown reason, not only are the changes not very severe, somehow my mind is functioning even better than before.'

'At least the blockage that I always felt has disappeared.'

He can feel it... rather than the old Shen's personality taking over, the residual nature, or rather the soul of the previous old Shen, is disappearing into him, like a weak stream of water disappearing into a massive river.

He inherently understands the changes have led to his mind becoming more clear and acute... like an integral part lost to him for a long time has rejoined his soul.

However, coming back to the actual current issue... The fact of the matter is, he has to go see Roshi as it is unknown whether the others have the Dragon Balls right now.

"Hmmm! What do I do? Well, I might as well first check whether those other places really have the balls or not."

He leaves the hideout in search of the Dragon Balls, and luck would have it..., with some effort and mental mapping of the location, he easily finds the balls at the village that the Pig Oolong will terrorize in the future. the place was rather remote with only a single settled village so the ball was easy to get.

All the worry turned out for nothing. Shen gives the Ball to the scientist and tells him to make the Radar. He tells Dr. Flappe to slow down the research on the Skull Robot and work on the Radar as fast as possible.

The Dragon Ball Radar is better made sooner than later. After all, it is very necessary for his future plans, if not the most important of all.

Though be that as it may, right now, there's no point in obsessing about the things that aren't yet available to him. He has to look a little closer.

It is about time he started training his disciples for real. They have perfectly adjusted to the new environment, and their bodies are ready to be put under intense training.

In the open area beside the underground lake, he loudly shouts, "BORA!! NAMU!! GIRAN!! REPORT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

Hearing the old man's call, his disciples; following the origin of the sound, frantically rush to the place. they immediately had to leave whatever they were doing behind.

"Master!!!" All of them kneel with one leg on the floor, at the same time.

"Hmmm!" Shen observes his three disciples for some time.

"The disciple training seems to have worked... Good! The first rule of training is to wholeheartedly follow what is told by the teacher... now it seems you three are ready to start the real training."

"Wow!" The disciples become overjoyed by the news.

"So what will we do, Master?" Bora eagerly asks.

"For now, it will be the same training that my other disciples do at the school..."

"Master Shen, you even have a school?" Giran suddenly interjects.

Looking at his disciples' surprised reactions, it clicks to Shen. "Ooh! I haven't told you about the Crane School, have I?!"

Nod! Nod! Nod! All his disciples nod.

These past six months have been rather busy for him. Every day, he had to supervise all of the renovation work. Because of the non-stop work, he wasn't able to focus on their training.

Still, if nothing else, at least their physique and diet have certainly improved. He has perfectly prepared them enough for the real training to come...

"Well... Our Crane School is known as one of the two great... or if not the greatest schools of martial arts, throughout the world."

The three boys are astonished by the reveal. Turns out their master is even greater than they had initially expected. Their respect for Master Shen has touched a new high.

They then remember hearing something else notable, so this time Namu comes forward to inquire about it.

"Teacher, if I have heard right, you mentioned another school being at the same level as ours... can you tell us which this other school is that is also one of the two greats?"

"There is only one school that can be considered to be our rival, that is the Turtle School run by that old-timer Roshi..."

To fully satiate his disciples' curiosity, he tells them to comfortably sit down on the stone floor...

He then recounts some of the many stories about his past, like when, once upon a time, he and Roshi both were part of the same school, but due to some circumstances, they parted ways. He tells them many such tales.

After all was said and done, the eyes of his disciples are filled with countless sparkling stars. They perk-up with enthusiastically.

"Even with all that, this old so-called Turtle Hermit could never beat our master... with our master in this world, he will always have to remain as the number 2," Giran proudly claims, the other two agreeingly nod.

Shen maniacally laughs at that. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... I see, you three know how to butter up people, eh? Ha ha ha."

The three little brats also laugh with hands on their hips and chests high up in the sky. Giran is the most enthusiastic while the other two are a little awkward.

Their laughter spreads, tearing through the normally silent cavern.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Gradually, the laughter stops, and the place returns to its normal pin-drop silence.

Clearing his throat with a little embarrassment, Shen calmly resumes the conversation. "Ahem! So where were we..."

"Yes! The training, yes!... All of you have to first and foremost; build up strength, speed, and balance to do any further training.. Basics are the most important to build up a solid base... with a solid base, one can keep on improving, forever."

"As you three have some talent, it won't take long to complete this initial phase of training... no more than half a year. The later phases will still take a long while."

Son Goku is a prime example of someone who has proved this fact. His initial training with Gohan made him stronger than most people, and then his basics were further refined with the help of teachers like Roshi, Karin, Popo, and King Kai.

The accumulation of those training in his earlier years is what led to him mastering abilities like Ultra Instinct in the future...

The training starts off with mostly common martial arts exercises done in most martial arts schools in this world, such as horse stance, very long uphill runs, balancing on wooden poles, etc.

The method of training gradually shifts to harder methods as the days and then months go by. In most cases, weights are added to the existing exercises to make them more difficult.

The training isn't mild, but still, the three disciples greedily work hard to progress their strength. They have a clear-minded attitude... Putting all their being: Body, Soul, and Time, everything into the training, the boys continuously approach new heights.

Their single-minded desire and focus to grow stronger is the reason why Shen made them his disciples. The ability to do repetition is what leads to growth.

Similar to how Master Roshi taught his disciples, Shen trains them in all kinds of ways. Of course, it wasn't yet time for them to learn the unique techniques of the school, such as the sky-dance and ki blast, but even so, they have become a lot stronger than they were a year ago.

As of now, after a year since the start of the training, Nam is the weakest, but that is a given as he is also the youngest. Bora is the strongest, with his power reaching the same level of power that Goku reaches after his own training along with Krillin under Master Roshi.