We passed guards defending the palace. They looked very different from the ones guarding the mountain entrance. These guards were more fierce, and their eyes carried a deep emotion many Saiyans had, but much stronger.
When we entered the grand hall of the palace, there were two thrones—one for King Vegeta II and one for his Queen, Nila. Vegeta looked similar to Vegeta III, but with a much larger beard that reached his chest. The Queen had long black hair that reached her lower back and soft features rarely seen among Saiyans.
I kneeled and said, "Long live the King and Planet Vegeta."
He looked at me and analyzed me for ten seconds before telling me to stand up. He then told Burla and Sakor they could leave. As soon as they did, he looked at me again and asked,
"Did you meet your brother?"
I answered, "No, my King. I didn't want to meet him before he proves himself."
I wanted to hide my bond with Bardock from everyone because he could be used to threaten me in the future.
The King nodded and said, "Makes sense. Your kind of talent being born from low-class Saiyans is only seen once every hundred years."
I replied, "Thank you, my King."
At that moment, one of the elite guards entered and gave the King some information. The King frowned slightly and told the guard to follow him. They left, leaving only me and the Queen in the throne room.
The Queen looked at me and said, "Vaske."
"Yes, my Queen," I replied.
"You will be given a room in the capital of Planet Vegeta, Sadala. It will be small until you prove yourself."
"I understand, my Queen," I said. "When does the elite training camp start?"
"It starts fourteen days after you leave your pod," she said. "The training lasts three years. When you turn six years old, you will be sent to conquer a planet. You may choose to bring others with you, though only the strongest are allowed to go alone. Even then, it is rare, because unexpected things can always happen."
"Yes, my Queen," I said. "But I have a question."
"Ask," she replied.
I asked about the planet my brother was sent to conquer.
She answered, "It is a low-threat planet for someone with a power level of 220 like Bardock. The planet is called Herta. The highest power level there only reaches around 350."
I thanked her.
"It's fine," she said. "You are free to go now. Someone will take you to your residence in the city. Once you join the camp, you will receive a room there and may only leave when you prove yourself or on special days."
As I left, a guy called Magart approached. He was very buff and had normal Saiyan hair. "Follow me, kid," he said, and I did just that.
We left the palace, then the mountain, and entered the city. The city was just under the mountain, and it was huge. There were a lot of Saiyans. I don't know exactly how many, but this city was definitely not small and could hold at least one million people if they were crowded together.
Still, it looked bland. There was no design—everything looked the same, without any colorful life. The food was probably bland too because Beerus once said Saiyan food was just average—and that was before he tried food from Planet Earth.
It would be hard to adapt, but I had a chance to become very powerful. When I became stronger, I could always travel to Earth just to eat. It was a long way ahead, though. For now, I just followed Magart.
We reached the outer part of the city, and there was one house. It was kind of run-down, but it had a big open space outside. I was happy with it. If I mastered meditation, I wouldn't even have to sleep inside. It's better to have a big space outside than a good house.
Magart said, "Kiddo, here is the key to your house," waved his hand, and left. He seemed like a chill guy, which was pretty rare for Saiyans. I always thought they only cared about slaughtering, but it seems not everything is black and white. Still, I wouldn't lower my guard because of one Saiyan, and maybe even he was just acting.
I unlocked the door to my house and went in. It was clean and looked better inside than outside. It was made out of stone, but on Planet Vegeta, it was never cold, and the day lasted almost seventeen hours without much change throughout the year.
Then I went to see what my house had. It had one sleeping room, a bathroom, and a kitchen with some weird stoves that seemed to respond to ki.
When I went into the bathroom, I saw a mirror. The reflection was of one unknown face. It still had baby fat, but the chin, jaw, nose, brows—everything was very symmetrical. You couldn't say he was handsome, but definitely cute. When I grow up, I would probably be good-looking, I thought.
But then it hit me. It didn't matter. I was good-looking in my last life too, and I still got betrayed and used like some kind of dog.
So let's just continue with training.
And just as I said that, I heard, "grlllll." It was my stomach, which hadn't had food in three whole years.
I went to the kitchen, and there were bars. They didn't have any packaging—it was just a bar. They didn't have any memorable taste either. After I ate three, I felt very full, and I thought: Saiyans really need food, or else they wouldn't have to eat anything. Only Saiyans who were warriors sometimes, even then, wouldn't have to buy real food.
Thank God I would have the best food in the elite camp, but I had knowledge of food and nutrients, so I should find a way to use it.
But for now, let's start training. I dropped to the ground and started with push-ups, but I found out they were too easy. So I suppressed my power as much as I could—about twelve percent of my full power. I started doing push-ups with one hand, and gravity really helped. I did them to failure—ten sets on both hands—which took me three hours.
Then I found one bar and started doing pull-ups. They were much harder than push-ups, and I couldn't do one-armed pull-ups without any training, so it took me longer to reach failure. Still, I managed twenty sets of pull-ups.
While I rested, I ate more bars and started meditating. I tried controlling my ki, and it seemed easier, probably because I was not in water and I started using my body. I still couldn't do many of the tricks I wanted, but it was still satisfying.
The more I trained, the more rage returned—but meditation helped me control it, so I had to balance it, or I could make some stupid action in the future.
The next day, Magart returned with a bag. He said, "Yo, kiddo," and waved. I just nodded. He said enthusiastically, "Do you know what's in the bag?"
I asked, "What?"—kinda expectant.
He said, "Food bars, which you'll eat until the start of camp. And you may get enough of these bars, but before you, some fatass Saiyans couldn't get them out of their mouths and ate them all in two days. So elites will only have unlimited food bars, and others will have to use them efficiently."
I just looked at him, dumbfounded. There were more than 220 bars in his fridge, and he only needed around three for his meal. How could someone eat 220 bars in one sitting?
I asked, "Sir, what are these bars, and what are they made of?"
He said, "Ohh, curious, huh? They are made using technology. They extract everything valuable from a dinosaur called Xarer. They kill it, the meat goes to shops, and these bars are made out of its bones. This animal is a mutant and can grow up to 35 meters. They were brought to Vegeta by the previous King, Vegeta I. And according to aliens, these bars are full of some micro-something which is good for growth—but not as good as the meat of Xarer itself."
After that, we spoke a little, and he asked if I had started training because I was all covered in sweat. I just nodded. He said nothing, just waved his hand, "See ya, kiddo, tomorrow." I nodded back.
And then thirteen days passed, eating a ton of bars and training.