Three hundred nautical miles southeast of West City.
This region had become the center of a red alert issued by the meteorological bureau. A super typhoon known as "Poseidon's Wrath" was raging across the ocean.
Fierce winds hurled waves dozens of meters high. They rose like countless enraged sea monsters, each one racing to devour the sky.
The clouds hung oppressively low. Lightning slithered wildly through them like silver serpents, and every thunderclap exploded with enough force to shatter an ordinary person's eardrums.
Yet right in the heart of this apocalyptic storm existed an eerie pocket of calm.
The eye of the typhoon.
A white beach chair floated steadily ten meters above the sea. Beside it, a small round table held an elegant set of bone china teaware. Gentle steam curled from the spout of the teapot.
Krillin sat cross-legged in the chair, holding a newspaper that was wrapped in a thin protective aura to keep the wind from shredding it. His relaxed expression made it look as if he were enjoying a quiet afternoon in his backyard.
"These daily missions from the system are getting stranger by the day."
Krillin lifted the teacup, blew lightly across the surface, and took a sip.
Ding. Daily mission: Maintain an elegant posture while drinking tea inside a level-12 typhoon for thirty minutes.
Current progress: 29 out of 30 minutes.
At that moment, a cow that had been swept into the sky by the storm flew past the edge of the calm zone, mooing in pure terror. Its black and white body traced a tragic arc through the air.
Krillin did not even raise his eyelids.
He simply lifted a finger and flicked it lightly. A gentle surge of ki caught the unlucky cow and carried it several kilometers away before setting it down safely on land.
"One more minute."
Krillin placed the cup down and closed his eyes.
While his body handled the ridiculous task, his mind was working at terrifying speed.
His brain, enhanced by the Genius Intellect ability, was performing billions of calculations every second.
He was analyzing the Kaioken technique.
In the original story, Kaioken was King Kai's signature technique. It worked by generating an explosive surge of energy within the body, temporarily multiplying the user's strength, speed, and defense.
But the price was severe strain on the body. When Goku pushed the multiplier too high, he often risked rupturing blood vessels or tearing his muscles apart.
"My body uses the Saitama template. In theory it has no upper limit and no risk of collapse."
Deep within Krillin's mind, the Multi-Threaded Thinking ability ran like a supercomputer at maximum power.
Inside his mental world, a golden figure identical to him was training furiously.
Thought thread one: simulate the flow of ki through the meridians. Compress the energy into the dantian, then use the heart like a pump to blast it through the entire body.
Thought thread two: monitor the body's response. In a normal body, the meridians would shatter under the torrent of energy. But with Saitama's physiology, the cells regenerated instantly and forcibly stabilized the violent power.
Thought thread three: optimize output.
Since the body could withstand it, there was no need for the caution Goku needed.
"The traditional Kaioken pushes the body into overload. What I want to create is a permanent overclock."
Within the mental world, the red aura around the golden figure began to change.
The restless, flame-like energy gradually compressed and condensed until it formed a thin dark-red membrane clinging tightly to the skin.
This was not simply a multiplier of power.
It was high-density control over ki itself.
Outside the storm, the final minute passed.
Ding. Mission complete.
Reward: +5 free attribute points, 1 pound of premium Da Hong Pao tea.
Krillin opened his eyes and looked at the reward with mild disappointment.
Five years had passed. Rewards this small had become routine. Attribute points barely interested him anymore. Honestly, the tea leaves were more appealing.
He stood up and stretched lazily.
The walls of wind surrounding the typhoon still roared like towering barriers, but Krillin casually waved his hand.
Boom.
There was no special technique.
Just the pure air pressure created by the movement of his arm.
In an instant, the entire typhoon structure collapsed.
The thick storm clouds were ripped open, leaving a massive gap several kilometers wide. Golden sunlight poured down like a waterfall, illuminating the glittering ocean below.
"Time to go home and cook. Bulma will complain again if the nutrition meals taste bad."
Krillin's body flickered.
The next moment he had vanished completely.
Only the beach chair and teaware remained. Without the support of his aura, they slowly fell into the sea.
…
Capsule Corporation
Outside the Gravity Training Room
Krillin had barely appeared when he saw a small boy with black hair pressing his face against the reinforced glass window. His cheeks were squished flat as he stared intently at the maintenance robots working inside.
"Tarin, what are you looking at?"
Krillin walked over and lifted his son onto his shoulders.
Tarin was now five years old. He was not very tall yet, but the sharp intelligence in his eyes looked exactly like Bulma's.
The firm muscles already forming on his small body were unmistakable proof of Krillin's genetics.
"Dad, you came back just in time!"
"I want to try fifty times gravity, but Mom locked the controls. She says it will stunt my growth."
Tarin pointed at the control panel.
"Your mom is looking out for you."
Krillin pinched his son's cheek.
"And just relying on gravity training isn't enough. Your body is still developing. You should focus on technique right now."
"Technique?"
Tarin frowned.
"But when you fight, Dad, you just end it with one punch. Where's the technique in that?"
Krillin's mouth twitched.
This kid really knew how to bring up the worst examples.
"That's called mastering simplicity," Krillin replied with a completely serious expression.
"When your body reaches my level, you can fight however you want. But before that, you need to learn how to fly."
"Fly? You mean the Flying Technique?"
Tarin's eyes lit up.
"Gohan showed it a little the last time he visited. Though he flew like a drunk duck."
"Don't make fun of Gohan. He just lacks confidence."
Krillin set Tarin down.
"Come on. Let's go to the backyard. Today I'll teach you the Flying Technique. If you can't learn it, no chicken legs for dinner."
"Hah. I'll master it in one look."
Tarin puffed out his chest confidently.
Krillin looked at his son's proud little face and laughed inwardly.
The boy's talent really was frightening.
But he was still only five years old. The Flying Technique required delicate control over ki. It was not something brute strength could solve.
"Watch carefully."
Krillin lifted his feet slowly off the ground. His body floated in midair, defying the laws of physics.
"Feel the ki inside your body. Don't treat it like an explosion of power. Think of it like water, or wind. Let it flow out through the soles of your feet and lift your body…"
Krillin demonstrated while activating Genius Intellect, trying to explain the principle in the simplest terms possible.
But after just a few sentences, he realized Tarin was not listening at all.
The boy had already closed his eyes, frowning in concentration. His small arms flapped awkwardly at his sides like a bird trying to fly.
"Idiot. You're not supposed to flap your arms…"
Krillin stopped mid-sentence.
Tarin's body suddenly wobbled.
Then, to Krillin's surprise, the boy's feet actually lifted off the grass.
The little brat was floating.
Half a meter above the ground.