Saying he was "flying" would not be entirely accurate. Ethan was only barely off the ground, and even with his eyes closed and fully focused, he could only maintain that posture. If he wanted to move freely through the air, he still had to work harder.
He also discovered that the Flying Technique consumed a great deal of ki. No wonder that even after learning it in the early stages, they still mostly fought on the ground. Goku also mainly used the Flying Nimbus for travel, largely to reduce the consumption of his strength.
After landing back on the ground, Ethan opened his eyes and greeted Krillin.
"You finally made it up. Take a rest first."
"What are you guys training?"
"The Flying Technique. Just like you saw, it lets you fly."
Krillin's mouth fell open. He had no idea such an amazing martial art existed.
"There's a martial art like that?"
He turned his head to look around the top of Korin Tower and found that besides the people he knew, there was only a white cat holding a wooden staff.
"Is this Korin?"
"Yes."
"Hello, young man."
Although Krillin was surprised that the legendary Korin was actually a cat, he quickly composed himself and respectfully greeted him.
After exchanging greetings, Krillin, just like Ethan and the others when they first arrived, received one-on-one instruction from Korin.
Ethan and the others had already received theoretical guidance on ki and the Flying Technique. Now they mainly practiced how to control the ki within their bodies. They could ask Korin about anything they did not understand, and Korin would also correct them whenever they made mistakes in training.
Two months after Krillin climbed Korin Tower, everyone had completed the initial training for the Flying Technique. Even Krillin, who had arrived the latest, had finished learning it. From then on, they only needed to practice diligently to fully master the technique.
At this point, Ethan had completed the plan he had set for himself. After thanking Korin, he prepared to return to West City and carry out the training he had planned.
Before leaving, he even made a special trip to help Korin restock the refrigerator.
After coming down from Korin Tower and saying goodbye to Bora and Upa, the group discussed their next plans.
Krillin wanted to return to Master Roshi's place, while Goku wanted to travel the world to gain experience and train along the way. Yamcha decided to return to Bulma's place in West City with Ethan.
"Then let's meet again at the next World Martial Arts Tournament!"
Goku suddenly turned to look at Ethan.
"Ethan will participate next time, right?"
Back then, Ethan had just been an ordinary person. Goku had never expected him to become so strong in just a few years. While sparring on Korin Tower, Goku had found that Ethan's strength was not much different from his own. He was looking forward to having a good match with him at the tournament.
"Maybe."
Ethan was not very interested in the World Martial Arts Tournament, but participating once and becoming champion did seem pretty interesting.
"He's definitely participating!"
Before Ethan could speak, Yoruichi had already made the decision for him.
"With how much he likes showing off, there's no way he'll be able to resist when the time comes!"
He knew his strength had not been enough for the last tournament, and going would have been meaningless, which was why he had not signed up.
If he trained for three years according to his plan, he definitely would not be able to resist showing off at the tournament.
"Haha, alright then, it's settled. See you at the next tournament!"
Goku waved his hand. Over the next few years, he had decided not to rely on the Flying Nimbus, but to travel everywhere using his own power, which would also help him train the Flying Technique.
Ethan and the others had wanted to take Krillin back to Master Roshi's place by plane, but Krillin also wanted to train himself and decided to return using his own power.
After watching Krillin fly away, Yamcha glanced at Ethan. "Are we also going back to West City using our own power?"
"That would waste too much time. It's faster to take a plane."
"..."
Yamcha took out the universal capsule containing the plane. He also felt that running all the way back to West City would take too much time. He had thought Ethan was a training maniac like Goku. Otherwise, how could he have come up with so many strange training methods and increased his strength so much in just a few years?
Looking at it now, Ethan and Goku were actually quite different.
"If I ran back to West City, the time wasted on the road would be enough for me to raise my battle power by dozens of points."
"?"
Not understanding what Ethan meant, Yamcha did not pay much attention to it. After making sure everyone was seated, he started the plane and flew toward West City.
They did not waste any time on the way and arrived back in West City just as Bulma's family was about to have dinner. Seeing Yamcha, Ethan, and the others return, Bulma complained unhappily.
"You were gone for so long and only just came back. You must have had a lot of fun, right? I was so bored."
"You were the one who said you wanted to stay home."
"You said you were going to Korin Tower to learn martial arts. What was I supposed to go there for?"
Bulma remembered that Goku had also come to her house once to get a new Dragon Radar. When she brought this up, Ethan took the opportunity to tell her about meeting Goku, and only then did she understand why they had been gone for so long.
"What? You destroyed the Red Ribbon Army?"
That was the notorious Red Ribbon Army, an evil organization that countless people did not dare provoke. It had actually been destroyed by these few people plus Goku? Was this Red Ribbon Army fake? Was it really that weak?
"Hahaha, what do you think? You didn't expect us to become this strong, did you?"
Yamcha was very proud of what they had accomplished. Back when he was a desert bandit, he had never imagined that one day he would become this powerful.
Moreover, the people he used to rob in the desert were just poor travelers. Being a bandit for a few years had not earned him as much as defeating the Red Ribbon Army once. Ethan had already divided the wealth taken from the Red Ribbon Army equally among everyone. Even Goku had a good amount of money on him. Although Goku had learned how to use money when buying seafood with Ethan, Ethan did not know whether he would end up getting cheated out of it.
Listening to Ethan, Yamcha, and Puar describe everything, Bulma felt as if she were hearing a fantasy story. Still, she also felt that they would not be so bored that they would make up lies just to fool her.
"Are you sure what you're saying is true?"
"Of course."
"You became this strong after going to Korin Tower? And Goku, did he go to Korin Tower too?"
"Yes, and Krillin too. After defeating the Red Ribbon Army and helping Upa revive his father, we stayed on Korin Tower for another two months and learned a new powerful technique."
"What powerful technique?"
Yamcha chuckled, then slowly lifted himself off the ground and floated in midair.
Bulma's eyes widened dramatically. She felt that the scene in front of her was completely unscientific.
"Learning martial arts... can actually make people fly?"
"This technique uses too much energy, and I still can't fly for long periods."
Yamcha felt that humans still could not fly freely. The Flying Technique was only useful at critical moments.
But Ethan directly rejected that judgment.
"Compared to before, your strength has already increased a lot. As long as you keep training like this and continue getting stronger, the energy consumed by the Flying Technique will not be a big problem anymore."
Once the consumption became negligible, flying as much as you wanted would naturally no longer be an issue.
Yamcha froze for a moment, and because he was distracted by surprise, he dropped straight back to the ground.
"Can we really reach that level?"
"Maybe it won't even take that long."
Once your battle power reached three or four hundred, the consumption during flight would already be within an acceptable range. If it exceeded one thousand, long-duration, high-speed flight would no longer be a problem.
There were still more than two years left. As long as they trained according to Ethan's plan, they could definitely raise their battle power above one thousand. At that point, they would be on the same level as Raditz when he came to Earth to find Goku in the future. On Earth at that time, that would make them invincible.
"How do we do that?"
"It's simple, train hard."
Ethan's "train hard" was not just empty talk, nor was it as simple as Yamcha had imagined. After putting on one hundred kilograms of weights, he performed massive amounts of extreme exercise every day.
Although Ethan's training schedule included one day of appropriate relaxation each week, meaning the volume was reduced rather than stopped completely, it still made Yamcha want to die from the pain when they first started.
"Do... we... really... have to train this hard?"
"Yes, we do."
Ethan was in pain too, but no matter how painful it was, he had to endure it. Although he did not know what level of training in this world would count as completing the task, he felt that with the nature of this trial, he could not possibly be weaker than Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form, right?
In other words, their current strength was not even at the starting line. They were still only at the stage of just waking up.
What was more, the enemies that would appear later would become stronger and stronger. If they were not powerful enough, the enemy could wipe out all life on Earth with a casual move, and they would not even have a chance to escape. Even if his relationship with Goku and the others was good, and they would definitely use the Dragon Balls to revive him, that would be far too humiliating.
On top of that, Ethan's situation was very special. He was not sure whether the Dragon Balls could truly revive him. Or whether this so-called trial would even allow him to continue after death. It was entirely possible that if he died, it would be game over immediately.
"To survive, we have to become stronger."
"We... shouldn't die that easily now, right?"
Yamcha leaned on his knees and panted heavily, still fairly optimistic. He felt that with their current strength, he and Ethan would not be killed that easily.
"Where are we right now? When you face a true powerhouse, you will not even be able to block a single finger."
"Hahaha, that's way too exaggerated."
Yamcha did not believe such terrifying powerhouses existed, but he saw that Ethan's expression was completely serious.
"What you're saying... it can't actually be true, right?"
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)