The autopilot robot piloted the ship, and it took just two days to reach the base of Karin Tower. Wearing the weighted gear, Alaric looked up at the towering structure piercing the sky. He spat twice into his palm, gripped the tower, and pushed off, sprinting upward.
Honestly, climbing the tower was exhausting. Alaric wasn't used to such long physical exertion, his hunts back home were fast and boosted by ki. But after only half a day, he was already panting heavily.
To be safe, he tied himself to the tower with a rope; he didn't want to fall. Even though his body generated plenty of ki, he hadn't learned to control it well yet, and a fall from this height would be fatal.
Once secured, he pulled out some food. At this pace, it would take him at least a month and a half to reach the top. He sighed and closed his eyes to rest.
He knew Karin Tower was tall, but once he started climbing, he cursed whoever built it so high. Luckily, after days of climbing, his body began to adjust.
That day, the weather was heavy and gloomy. Dark clouds covered the sky, and distant thunder rumbled.
Alaric frowned; he'd seen rain before, but this storm felt stronger, there might be lightning coming. Thunderstorms swept in fast, and deafening thunder cracked around the tower.
His scalp tingled with the electricity in the air. He wasn't sure whether to wait out the storm or keep going. Before all this, he was just an ordinary guy.
Though he seemed like a machine that never stopped moving, Alaric still struggled to make split-second decisions to dodge danger. Lightning struck so close it shook his eardrums, but he chose to keep climbing. Distracting himself helped him push past the fear.
The wind howled fiercely, cutting his speed in half, but he pushed himself harder, his effort quadrupled. Gritting his teeth, he refused to slow down. Focusing like that eased his fear of the lightning, and before long, his pace returned to normal despite the wind and rain.
A new day came, and though his clothes were worn thin, the weighted gear he carried still provided some coverage. After the storm passed, his climbing speed improved a lot.
Of course, as he climbed higher, his energy drained faster; he figured the thinner air made physical exertion tougher. Still, his limbs kept moving tirelessly. By now, he could climb for over ten hours straight.
Five days after the storm, after a quick breakfast, he climbed for several hours when suddenly the sky grew dark again. Shaking off the unease, he checked his watch.
"It's still early, no rain coming."
The strange weather reminded him of one thing: Goku had lost, and King Piccolo had summoned the Dragon, Shenlong.
"Already this fast?" Alaric felt a pang of embarrassment.
After almost a month of painful climbing, he still hadn't reached the top. "What if Yajirobe catches up? That'd be humiliating."
Before he could finish the thought, a black figure shot up rapidly from below, it was Yajirobe, carrying a badly injured Goku on his back. Moving faster than a monkey, Yajirobe reached Alaric in no time.
Alaric forced a crooked smile. "Hey, fancy meeting you here."
Yajirobe looked just as surprised to see someone on the towering Karin Tower.
"Yeah, what a coincidence."
Seeing Alaric's worn clothes and tired appearance, Yajirobe immediately realized he'd been climbing for a while. Normally, Yajirobe would have teased him, but with Goku unconscious on his back, there was no time for jokes.
"Your friend's hurt? Heading up for treatment? Go on, then," Alaric said, feigning concern as he watched Yajirobe climb higher.
Once Yajirobe disappeared above, Alaric grinned and resumed climbing. This time, he cut back on meals and rest, pushing himself to climb nonstop for sixteen hours a day.
Yajirobe's stamina amazed him, in the original story, Yajirobe was just a side character, but seeing him upclose, his physical strength was unreal. Finally, eight days after meeting Yajirobe, Alaric reached the top and came face to face with the legendary Master Karin.
This world didn't exactly follow the rules of science. Goku had already drunk the Ultra Divine Water and headed off to face King Piccolo, while Alaric was still eyeing his very first Senzu Bean with curiosity.
"I wonder what this tastes like," he mused.
"Don't want it? Give it here," Yajirobe said, always the glutton and not picky about food.
But Alaric wasn't about to just hand over the Senzu Bean; he knew how valuable it was. Carefully, he hid it away and then pulled out the food he had prepared.
"You came well-prepared," Master Karin remarked, trying not to stare too much at the impressive spread Alaric had unpacked.
"I've got plenty here. You two want some?"
Alaric knew this world had plenty of big eaters, and his own appetite had definitely grown since transmigrating. Seeing the mountain of food, Karin and Yajirobe didn't hesitate. The three of them dug in and feasted heartily.
After they finished, Karin wiped his face with his paw and said, "Alright, young man, tell me why you're here."
Alaric, who had reverted to his teenage self after transmigrating, a nice bonus, took a deep breath. "I came to learn about ki from you, Master Karin."
"Oh?" Karin said, surprised. He hadn't seen anyone come just to ask about ki before. "How much do you know about it?"
Alaric explained what he had learned from the manga.
"Ki is a form of energy everyone has inside. With training, you can increase both the amount and quality of your ki. When you focus and guide it, you can even project it outside your body."
Karin nodded thoughtfully. "That's not wrong. Since you understand the basics, you should be able to use ki. So why come to me?"
Alaric felt a bit embarrassed. He knew that Goku, Krillin, and Tien had all created their own techniques after learning about ki, Krillin's Destructo Disc, Yamcha's Spirit Ball, Goku's curve Kamehameha.
"Master Karin, I can use ki in simple ways, but I feel like there's much more potential I'm not tapping into. I'm stuck, and that's why I came here."
Karin licked his paw, studying Alaric carefully. "How exactly do you use ki?"
Alaric stepped to the center of the hall, extended his hands forward, and struck a pose straight out of an old martial arts drama, channeling energy to heal. He adjusted his breathing, feeling the flow of ki inside him as he guided it to his palms.
A soft glow appeared before his hands. With a shout, he commanded, "Buddha's Palm!"
A burst of ki shot out from his hand, shaped like a giant palm. He wasn't trying to show off, it was just that he had poor control over his energy.