Dragon Ball: Enlisted

– Jyn – 

Nearly three months had passed since the beginning of our training, but it was in the first week that I discovered a flaw in my powers.

My greatest ability was the power to adapt to certain conditions. Heat, Cold, Poison—hell, I could probably survive in the vacuum of space if I just held my breath.

But there was a reason I never tried to exploit that power yet.

Essentially? My status revealed that [Human Adaptability] was a crutch.

o–o

Name: Jyn

Age: 18

Race: Earthling

Title: [F-Class] +50% stat gain if the user is within Galactic Patrol territory.

Battle Power: 83.7

Body: 91 (+2) 93

Mind: NaN

Spirit: 8 (+1) 9

Ki Control: 10%

Abilities: [Human Adaptability], [Vessel of the System]

Major Skills: [--]

Minor Skills: [Lesser Resistance: Poison], [Lesser Resistance: Heat], [Ki Imbuement]

o–o

I had two different numbers for each stat: A base stat, and a modified stat.

The modified stats were just the stat bonuses I gained from all the minor skills added to my base. The base stat was simply my stat unmodified.

Self-explanatory, right?

Well, I quickly realized that my only method to improve my base stat was through training or quests. And the gains from training became less and less as I grew in power.

The problem was that I couldn't turn my stat modifiers off which meant that if I had too many skills, I would be stuck with extremely low base stats.

To put it simply, I needed to build my foundation before I began skill hunting.

At least, for the Body.

I'd spent the entirety of these three months training, studying, and meditating. Not once did my base Spirit increase.

So while my Body began to hit a peak, I began to intensify my meditation. If I could start manipulating ki as a physical force, I could maybe begin to improve my Spirit.

Every day, I remembered the words Gohan had said to Videl and pulled on that feeling with all my might.

But I was not Videl, who had lived her entire life as a martial artist. I was just me, and I had no idea if I was even doing this right.

In that respect, Ki was a double-edged sword.

Mastering it would open up a world of possibilities, a path to strength and freedom I'd never dreamed of before. But it also demanded more of me than anything else in my life ever had. 

Ever since that first day when I accidentally tapped into my ki, I had become painfully aware of that.

The warmth of my ki was always there—a flickering ember in my core. It hummed in the back of my mind, like a whisper I couldn't quite make out.

It was alive within me, like a second heartbeat or a river flowing beneath my skin. The more I trained, the stronger that flow became, and the clearer I could sense its currents.

And right now, it was being stubborn as hell.

In my hands, cradled carefully was a tiny, flickering speck of light. It shimmered faintly, a dull white hue that pulsed in rhythm with my breaths.

Sweat dripped from my forehead, stinging my eyes, but I didn't dare blink. 

"Come on," I growled, my voice raw from strain. "Just… stay alive a little longer…"

The light wavered, shrinking slightly, and it felt like my heart skipped a beat. I focused my will, trying to will it to stay, but it was akin to cupping water in my hands. 

The more I tried to control it, the faster it seemed to slip away.

My arms trembled as my ki flagged, and with one final, pitiful flicker, the light blinked out.

'Damn it.' I groaned and let my arms drop to my side, collapsing onto my back. My breathing was erratic as I stared at the sky, the stars above mocking me with their splendor.

'How do they make this look so easy?'

All of the Z-Fighters were geniuses in that respect, able to use ki blasts without any effort. Unlike him, who had never trained this hard in his life, their ki control must've been far higher than 10%.

He'd thought that with enough training and willpower, he could at least sustain it enough to use it for something other than a fancy candle.

I was, reasonably, getting frustrated. 

But I had to remember that even Videl had failed her first time.

"Perhaps I'm going about this the wrong way," I muttered, clinging to that thought as I brought my trembling hands together again. "I've been trying to force it, but hadn't Gohan said Videl should relax?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I centered myself.

I don't know how long I stayed in that position, simply attempting to feel my own ki. But eventually, it happened.

The ache in my body slowly receded to a dull throb, and the world seemed to fade away.

All that mattered at that moment was the energy within me, the faint warmth that pulsed in my chest. It was there—small, elusive, but undeniably present.

I exhaled slowly, beckoning that power to the surface instead of reaching for it. It responded, flickering like a candle flame, and I gently guided it forward, letting it flow through my arms and into my palms.

My fingers tingled as a faint white glow emerged, a single spark hovering between my hands.

But this time, it didn't sputter or waver. It lingered. Steady.

I held my breath, afraid that even the slightest shift could cause it to vanish.

Slowly, I drew my hands further apart, watching as the faint light stretched, a thin thread of energy connecting my palms. It pulsed with life—soft, warm. But fragile.

'Alright… now compress.'

The thread thickened, gathering at the center as if drawn by some unseen force. Bit by bit, the light compacted, folding inward on itself. The faint shimmer gained substance, swirling softly into a small, spherical shape.

The soft white gradually shifted to a faint blue hue outlining its edges. It crackled faintly, buzzing with a faint heat against my skin.

It was small—no larger than an apple—but it was there.

The ki blast was real.

I could feel it, a thrumming pressure in the pit of my stomach that connected directly to the sphere. It was as if the energy was tethered to me, waiting for direction.

"Alright," I muttered under my breath, trying not to let my excitement overshadow my concentration. "Let's do this."

Carefully, I extended my arm forward, pushing the sphere of light out into the open air.

"Hah!"

The moment I let go, the small ball of ki surged forward like a bullet—

BOOM!

—then exploded violently against the ground in a bright flash of light and smoke.

I sat there, stunned, watching as dust and dirt scattered across the training yard.

The crater it left behind wasn't massive—barely a shallow dent in the earth. But that didn't matter.

A wide grin broke across my face as I collapsed backward onto the grass, the stars seeming dull in comparison to my achievement.

I'd done it.

I couldn't stop the breathless laugh that escaped me, bubbling up until I was outright cackling at the sky like an idiot.

I wiped a hand over my face, chest still heaving from the exertion, but I didn't care. That flicker of light—no matter how fragile—had finally turned into something more.

The manifestation of the raw power swelling within me.

o–o

User has gained sufficient enough understanding to constitute a skill. [Vessel of the System] is reacting…

Minor skill [Ki Manifestation] has manifested!

(+1 Spirit)

o–o

The screen hovered at the edge of my vision, but I barely paid it any attention.

I was too busy grinning at the sky, laughing like a madman.