If it were me from before, I might have dodged it… Yamiru thought to himself.
The Dragon God casually said, "Actually, if you want, I can grant you the power of the number one in the universe right now."
"That's possible?" Yamiru was surprised by what the Dragon God said.
The Dragon God looked quite serious: "Of course it's possible! Who am I? I am the Lord of the Dragon Realm, the Dragon God! Don't just take my word for it, even if I were to throw the Super Dragon Balls across the entire universe, I could wish for you to surpass any universe emperor, any destroyer god, and you'd be the number one in the universe."
Yamiru wiped some sweat off: "That sounds great."
The Dragon God carefully looked at him for a few moments, then smiled: "Not bad, you little brat. Hearing me say that, you didn't even waver in the slightest."
Yamiru thought: The future number one in the universe is my good buddy. What would I need the power of the universe's number one for? Just to wander around showing off? What's the point of that... After years of training on Dragon Ball Earth, Yamiru's heart was now unshakable. Martial arts, to him, was about finding a way to coexist with this world. A true strong person is one who can conquer their own self.
"I wouldn't say 'I don't want it because it's not my own power'," Yamiru grinned. "But I do want to measure the possibilities of the future with my own two feet."
The Dragon God nodded with satisfaction: "It's exactly because of this attitude that I think you're quite interesting."
Yamiru blinked and teased: "I haven't seen many sights yet. If I just became number one in the universe, that would be too boring, wouldn't it? What would I do afterward?"
The Dragon God laughed heartily, then snapped his fingers casually.
Yamiru saw the air around him suddenly ripple with light, forming a human shape. This body contained an energy so overwhelming that Yamiru was stunned. Even the full-power Super Saiyan Bardock would be nothing compared to it — like a tiny grain of rice next to the full moon, as insignificant as a drop in the ocean!
And this terrifyingly powerful body, the Dragon God had created with a mere snap of his fingers.
Snap, snap, snap, snap.
The Dragon God snapped his fingers four more times, and with each snap, a new, more powerful body formed.
Yamiru could even see the nearly perfect faces on these five bodies, so lifelike it seemed like they could open their eyes at any moment.
If the Dragon God could create bodies with energy, could he also inject them with life and consciousness? Yamiru had no doubt that he could.
"I've seen far too many talented young people in the universe, and once they fall into the trap of chasing power, they can never escape," the Dragon God said.
Snap— the Dragon God's final snap of his fingers.
These five bodies, if they had consciousness, would probably rival the Gods of destruction of the universe. But in the end, they turned to ash and scattered with just the Dragon God's snap.
"There's only a little bit of something insignificant in front of us," the Dragon God sighed softly.
Yamiru was deeply shaken, and he couldn't help but recall the doubts he had when leaving the Korin Tower all those years ago.
In the comics, when Son Goku was at full power as a Super Saiyan, and when he became a Super Saiyan 3, King Kai and the Lord of the Underworld seemed to easily create bodies for the souls of the dead. Why was it so easy? To think, Goku's battle power at that level far exceeded King Kai's and the Lord of the Underworld's. In fact, even when Goku sacrificed himself, his battle power was still higher than Kami, yet Kami could easily recreate Goku's body after death.
According to Kami's explanation back then, the principle of the Senzu Bean was to gather the aura of the underworld to rebuild the body, leaving behind what the eater needed, and returning the unnecessary parts to the underworld. This same method must have been used by the Lord of the Underworld to create the bodies of strong warriors like Goku after their deaths.
These "gods" created "empty vessels" far beyond their battle power, not because of their abilities, but because of their authority.
The Underworld is a small part of the Celestial Realm, one could say it's a "small Celestial Realm".
The Celestial Realm, the world created by the Celestial God.
Looking at the projection of the Celestial Realm from the Spirit World, the Celestial Realm appeared like a cosmic World Tree, with fruits growing on the branches at its top. Perhaps these were the "core beings" of the universe, like the Kais?
Divine power comes from the World Tree, from the Celestial Realm, from the Celestial God Bartender.
The King of the Underworld, the King Kai, and gods like them, after entering the system created by the Celestial God, were granted authority, which allowed them to shape empty, shell-like bodies using the aura of the Celestial Realm. These empty bodies, infused with healthy consciousness transferred from across the universe, were essentially living beings. However, individuals like Son Goku, in terms of identity, were "dead" across the universe, marked by a "golden halo" on their heads for distinction. They could be called "living dead..."
Here, this was likely the Dragon Realm. As the Dragon God, using the world's aura to shape human bodies was not difficult, much like how the Celestial God shaped bodies in their realm.
The "living dead" created in the Underworld could enter the entire universe. Just as Son Goku could show off his Super Saiyan 3 form in front of Fat Buu, these terrifying life forms casually created by the Dragon God could also enter the universe. It seemed that, just as the Dragon God said, those in the universe who only had the pursuit of stronger power as their goal, were the "insignificant things right in front of us..."
Yamiru couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Old man, aren't you worried about hurting my pride?"
After witnessing the Dragon God's display, it was hard not to feel a bit disheartened.
"Did I hurt you?" The Dragon God asked curiously, and with another snap of his fingers, countless energy bodies appeared around him, similar to the ones before, but now they were too numerous to count. "How about this? How about this?" The Dragon God continued to snap his fingers playfully, and with each snap, those terrifying life forms—any one of which could destroy the galaxy, or even obliterate an entire universe—were born and vanished with each of his snaps.
Yamiru smiled and said, "It's alright, it did hit my pride a bit, but I can digest it and keep walking my own path."
The Dragon God laughed heartily, clapping his hands. He then waved, sending Yamiru on his way.
"Then go on and continue. I'm looking forward to your future..."
...
Yamiru opened his eyes once more as the grand and ethereal voice faded away. Time in the outside world seemed to have not passed, and he was still bathed in the golden lightning pillar.
However, as he woke up, the pillar of lightning slowly contracted. It finally turned into a thin streak of lightning, which circled around his wrist and transformed into a mark resembling a small, delicate dragon, quietly wrapping itself around his wrist.
"Yamiru, are you alright?"
As the lightning faded, Son Goku, who was standing on the giant Kinto'un, rushed over with concern.