"Come now, Lians is that all you got!" A fist buried itself in Lian's stomach as he was sent crashing into the ground. A large dust cloud hid his form as he silently got up. Shell hovered in the sky with his arms crossed as he waited for his student to gather himself.
Making use of the cover he had gained Lians used his telekinesis to send a large chunk of the ground flying to his right. Shell instantly detected the movement within the cloud and charged towards it with a dropkick. He realized within seconds that it was a decoy, but those scant few seconds was all Lians needed to charge an energy beam that was sent crashing into the older Namekian's back. The explosion engulfed him.
Yet once the light died down it showed Shell no worst for wear besides his clothes being tattered.
"Not bad Lians. A brilliant tactic." The man slowly floated back in the air and Lians followed closely. They rushed forwards and met in the middle with their forearms slamming together, the shockwave could be heard from the entire village as the sheer force of their blows shook the trees.
They exchanged a rapid fury of blows but it soon became apparent that Lians was being pushed back. He weathered the storm of attacks as he bid his time waiting for a chance to counter. It came soon enough when Shell had sent a right cross screaming towards his face. Making use of his telekinesis once more, he shifted the angle of the blow ever so slightly and did his best to slow it down as he dodged. Even that marginal degree of change was taxing on his mind, but it served his purpose.
He had managed to get through the older man's guard and sent a knee to their solar plex before flipping backward. He had been training the past few months on incorporating his Dragon Tribe talents with the Warrior Tribe's martial arts and he was proud to see the progress he was making.
His joy was short-lived however as Shell shrugged off the attack and disappeared from his sight. Even trying to sense his Ki or the sound of his movement was futile as by the time he realized where the man was a vicious hammer blow had once again sent him crashing to the ground. His body bounced off the surface multiple times before slamming into a nearby mountain from the sheer force of the impact, leaving craters every time he touched the ground.
He didn't get a chance to pull himself out before a blinding yellow light rushed towards him. It was as if the sun had risen once more and was heading straight for him. The explosion promptly knocked the young warrior in training out as he was sent crashing into a river. Although he was covered in scrapes and bruises he was more or less intact, unfortunately, the mountain he was in couldn't say the same as not even rubbles were left of it.
Shell quickly fished his talented new student out of the river before sending him to the Medical Tent to be healed. His gaze was soft and filled with pride as he looked at his pupil. Every day the child continued to surprise him. He had a drive unlike any other and his quick wits and novel usage of his abilities were most effective. Never before had a member of their tribe attempted to combine the ways of both Dragon and Warrior.
Magic and Martial might. For centuries they had competed to see who was superior before coming to an unsteady treaty within the village, yet could this boy be a sign of the future? Could they come together as one with him leading the path?
Shell had great expectations of the boy whose potential was never before seen within their people.
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"It is only when one has a purity of heart that they can reach their true potential. One must not only focus on their body but also the mind. For no matter how sturdy the body, without an equally strong spirit to guide it, they are naught but a mindless brute."
He and the other children listened attentively to the Elder's lecture while being in a mental hub with his fellow students. They all exchanged notes and ideas are an unbelievable speed. Such was the advantage of such a species he supposes. They could collectively break down ideas and concepts at an incredible pace and with many unique prospects. They could literally transfer their own comprehension of a matter to each other. Even one such as himself who never truly brought to many schools of philosophy and considered them mumbo jumbo had gained a deeper appreciation and understanding of other schools of thought.
With so many perspectives analyzing a subject matter, it was no wonder that they could learn at an incredible pace, and Lians couldn't help but wonder why wasn't the Namekians currently ruling the universe. Their potential seemed frankly ridiculous as a species. Maybe he could change that...? There was no real reason why he had to stick to "Canon" after all, and he really literally couldn't be in a better position to make use of the Dragon Balls. Pulling a Goku Black didn't seem so far fetched now, but the question was if he should even go for it. He was having fun so far with these people, so maybe food for thought for the future.
Currently, the entire class was meditating under the guidance of the Elder. They all sat cross-legged and looked deep within themselves, clearing their head and cleansing it of impure thoughts. By connecting their minds they could help each other in the process, however, Lians was curious about something. If this worked then he would've completed the first step of his goal.
While they were all within a collective mindscape filled with a strange embodiment of thoughts, emotions, and memories they weren't the only thing there. Strange shadowy creatures formed around them. They were the darkness within every one of them and by destroying them they could cleanse their soul of negative energy. It was a pretty standard practice that the class has been undergoing for weeks now, but today Lians separated from the group during the chaos.
He had managed to find a wandering Shadow in the shape of a fanged bird. This time he didn't attack it, nor let it consume him, but reached out with mental feelers. He tapped into its essence. There he could distinctly feel something that was both foreign and familiar. It was a sense of fear. Of falling and plummeting to his death, of reaching for something to stop his descent only to grasp air, of the certainty of death.
It only lasted a moment but he broke out into a cold sweat, yet a wide grin was on his face. He ordered the creature to hove to his right and so it followed.
That was his first experiment with the mind and it was only the first of many. Sessions after sessions he had tested out his abilities, seeking to understand them and earn better control. Although such things would be considered dark or forbidden as he was practically playing with the mind and souls of his fellow students, he decided to go by a quote he had in his last life.
"It's not a crime if you don't get caught"
He was not one for "cleansing" his thoughts. He had noticed with the entire village but almost everyone was sickeningly passive. Even though they lived in such a dangerous place nobody truly had the drive to improve and make something of themselves. Even the warriors only did enough to maintain the status quote. He linked it to the cleansing as it seems to erase all negative feelings and even desire and drive. It blurred the lines between the individual and the collective, and he refused to give up his identity and sense of self.
Why else would a race with such potential still basically be living like primitive savages in shitty tents and huts in fear of wild animals when they could make fucking space ships and learn at a pace even Stephen Hawkins and einstein would balk at?
Perhaps this was why Freezia had such an easy time conquering Namek, or that only Nail had any strength to speak of, which eclipsed his peers by such absurd amounts. Namekians had clipped their own claws and fangs in pursuit of a peaceful life.
He had learned to hide his inner thoughts and better read the mind and character of others, but it wasn't enough. Namekians had the ability to perceive the soul. They could see your inner alignments no matter how well you tried to hide it. He needed something better.
He had spent weeks thinking of a solution before he had found one, albeit one a bit risky. King Piccolo. Kami. The Nameless Namekian. If he could perform something similar, a quasi-fission, than he could deceive the senses of everyone... At least that was the theory.
Like a man possessed he scoured over all the scrolls he could get his hands on, he went around and asked for the advice of all his Elders, though he made sure to keep the nature of his questions vague, and finally after a year he had managed.
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At four years old Lians was about to attempt what would be considered one of the blackest of magic back on Earth. Altering his very soul. By sectioning off a small part of his soul which contained his inner "goodness" he managed to use it to coat his entire soul so that it would appear to be a pure and just one. Because he wasn't truly dividing it or splintering it off, he did not need to worry about a split personality or a radical change in his mind.
Now without fear of being exiled for being tainted of heart or watched closely by the guard squad he would have a lot more freedom. He just needed to avoid any close inspection by the Elders until he could solidify his mastery of the skill and could strengthen the shell. Besides, he didn't think he was particularly "evil", but he was probably morally ambiguous at best.
He went to find Slujj as they were supposed to meet up soon. Slujj would teach him about the various herbs and medicine that could be found in the jungle while he was deemed strong enough to guard him while he went about his task to collect material.
"Lians! Right on time, cmon we have to get going before the stupid Mamuths trample over everything!"
Slujj was wearing a red vest with a white robe and blue pants. Frankly, everyone dressed pretty much the same in his village. He figured it was a way to distinguish between tribes as he had only seen one other Namekian who didn't dress like them and he was from a village in the east.
Mamuths were giant green walking mountains. It was truly the best way he could describe the beasts who were similar to furless mammoths with six legs and two tails that ended in harden bubs as if boulders were attached.
"Right! Let's go!" With a cheer, he followed behind the older boy. They flew deep into the jungle as there were rare plants that only grew in its depth. Thankfully both of them were good at what they did and he had only had to fight off wild animals a handful of times. Although he suffered from wounds every time, Slujj was a decent healer and Lians was enjoying the practice. Healing wasn't his forte honestly, he much preferred and was frankly better at blowing things up, thankfully Namekian regeneration was quite potent that even his halfassed healing magic did wonders.
During one of the fights, he had attempted telepathy on a random bird he had seen and was surprised that it actually worked and they understood each other. Kind of, more like he could sense the thing's mood and brief images of what it had seen that day, but it was a start. He wasn't sure if this was caused by his experiment on his soul, the fact that he wasn't originally a Namekian, or if he was simply a mutant, but he was pleasantly surprised by the discovery.
"So, Lians, why did you want to become a Warrior? Isn't it hard? It's better for Dragon Tribe members like us to focus more on our Mystic arts rather than such... Vulgar methods."
"Thank you for the concern, but while it is indeed difficult I find it a worthwhile endeavor." He also had no intention to hide behind others like a coward or let others dictate his fate, but he didn't voice such thoughts for obvious reasons.
"You're a strange one, you know, but I guess it's fine. You'll see what a waste of time it is eventually. After all, why bother punching and kicking and rolling in the dirt when one can have others do it for them? When you can use true Magic such mundane things are best left for the lower class."
Lians didn't bother to answer that time and Slujj seemed to take it as silent agreement. They soon gathered more herbs while he made note of signs of animals that had passed by. As he casually looked around he saw something that almost made him fall out of the sky. Six deep claw marks on a tree trunk. Although the tree was thicker than four grown men could wrap their arms around the gorges in it were deep and he was sure they sliced through halfway into it. However, that wasn't the strangest part as around the cuts the tree was a sickly purple color and it seemed as if it was eroded or rotten. Looking around the area he spotted other similar marks before he found something that all but confirmed what he feared.
A patch of rough green fur whose toughness and texture made it feel as if they were strands of steel than any organic material. He would have to report it to Shell that a pack of Nimian Lions were dangerously close to the village.
One of the alpha predators of the area, their evolutionary path was a strange one as instead of utilizing KI to external effects they focused it all inwards, strengthening their already sturdy body to frankly ridiculous amounts. This was coming from someone who's species could casually regrown limbs and grow into a giant's size on a whim. They did not need to use energy blasts as with just their body they could easily crush any other creatures of the surrounding under their paws. This also had the side effect of making them incredibly difficult to sense as they do no radiate Ki like most other creatures and instinctively suppressed it. Coupled with their padded paws and silent movement they were truly a nightmare of the jungle.
Did he mention that mother nature apparently decided that wasn't enough and had given them an incredibly potent poison? From their claws to their blood and flesh, it was stupidly hard to kill these things as even when one successfully wounds it they would, in turn, suffer greatly. The body was inedible and the poison couldn't be collected as it degraded rapidly when exposed to oxygen and required the beast's unique Ki to maintain potency.
Frankly, he thought it was more of acid than poison as it could even eat away at anything it touched, but to make a long story short, there was nothing good that came with messing with these assholes, and you couldn't even just avoid them and mind your own business because they killed not for substance, but for sport.
"Slujj, we got to go, now!"
A growing sense of unease grew within him as his finely honed instincts were screaming at him to get the fuck out of Dodge, he was half tempted to simply leave the idiot here as cat bait and run for it. The light buzzing in the back of his head reminding him of the mental hub they were all connected too quickly dissuaded him of that train of thought and he simply sent a telepathic message towards the ignorant kid still taking his sweet ass time gathering flowers.
He had floated on top of a tall tree, surveying his surroundings and hiding amongst the leaves. He prayed that the beasts were not still in the area or else they might not make it out of this alive. He used telekinesis to dampen the movement of the air to reduce the ability of wind to travel as much noise as possible and carry their noise or scent, but the urgency in his voice seemed to fail to convey itself to the other Namekian as he whined out loud.
"What? Why? Give me a few minutes I'm almost done collecting the Sun Lilly's seeds" In his hands, Slujj was holding onto a glowing plant glowing an orange hue reminiscence of a sunset. It was beautiful and he might've admired it some more if not for the fact he was worried about a dozen 30-ton overgrown cats making his skull its chew toy.
Unfortunately, Murphy truly was a bastard, as no sooner had the boy finished his words did Lians' eyes noticed a shift in the background. The green beast had used its coloration to camouflage itself the entire time. Thankfully these hunters liked to play games and it had yet to notice he had seen it from the cover of his eyes. He made a point to avoid looking at it and pretended to be oblivious.
"Shell. Help. Nimian Lion. Sun Lily Field."
He had sent a telepathic S.O.S back to Shell and the other warriors back in the village. He had to make sure the beasts weren't aware of the incoming back up and decided to not inform Slujj in case the beast noticed something was off. He didn't trust Slujj not to panic or run blindly back, and if he provoked the Lion before help arrived then they were both dead.
"Sure, that's fine, take your time."
Lians made a show of relaxing his guard and pretended to rest on the branch. He just needed to distract it for a few minutes. A seemingly easy task, if one didn't consider the fact that a few seconds was all it took for it to kill both of them. He tried not to let his nervousness show and he did a pretty good job if he could say so himself. That or maybe Slujj was just an idiot.
"Yeah, don't worry I'm almost done!"
The Dragon Tribe member was so relaxed it was almost as if he was going for a walk in the park and even started humming. A minute passed by and he let out a sigh of relief as he could now sense the rescue squad flying towards them at lightning speed. Which means they were only a few miles away. A quick calculation of their current speed and distance and he was sure they only needed to last another minute. However, once he completely left his guard down the beast struck.
His acting skills apparently weren't enough to fool the beast as it knew he was guarded against it. He didn't even know what had hit him before he was sent crashing downwards. His body used as a bullet to split the enormous tree right down the middle.
A scream was heard but he wasn't sure if it was his or Slujj. That one blow had almost knocked him out as purple filled his vision from the blood coating his body. That one blow took over half of his energy pool just to survive and it was continuing to rapidly empty itself in a bid to heal his body.
Surprisingly a finishing blow didn't come and once he had gotten up he realized why. The giant cat was lazily grooming itself, licking up his blood off its paw. While he couldn't read it's facial expression he was sure that it was a glint of sadistic glee he could see in its slitted eyes golden.
It was toying with him. He wasn't sure whether to be outraged or relieved. If this thing took him seriously he would've met King Yama in a heartbeat, so in a way, he guesses he should've been thankful that this overgrown hairball had looked down upon him. It was a complicated feeling.
He wonders if that thing drank milk. and wait do Lions even cough up hairballs?
His disorientation and likely concussion soon wore off a yellow glowing light came from Slujj. His mind cleared as his wounds knit themselves shut. While the brat was shaking in fear he could at least admire the fact that he had yet to run away.
"Don't worry, I already contacted the others, they'll be here in a minute"
"...I'm not sure if we'll still be here after a minute"
Lians had a grim look on his face as he heard the other child's reply. He was right, but Lians had to put on a brave front.
"Don't worry, about if we'll make it out of this... I have a plan, but I need you to do something for me."
The beast seemed content to let them finish their plan as it stared at them. A lofty ruler of the Jungle, it knew it could end them at any time and so chose to do so leisurely, after all, it wouldn't be fun if its toy broke too soon.