Darc slowly opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of the spaceship meeting his gaze. It was all white. It looked like he was in the little infirmary of the ship. So he at least didn't die. Thinking about it, it was likely for him dying after the dumb action he did.
Trying to lean himself up he immediately was greeted with severe pain from his body and fell back to the bed. Groaning a little he looked at himself and saw a lot of bandages and stuff on his body.
´Did Arkis do that? One of these days I gotta let her improve her healing ability. Seems like she still can't fix more than superficial wounds. Well, I will be lying here for a while then. I can feel my magic is dry and my head hurts so trying it myself now won't do any good either.´ , thought Darc.
"Hey, Alice. Are you listening?", he said and waited for an answer. But no response came back which made Darc frown. "Alice?", he repeated once again.
+Yes, Darc?+
Darc sighed after hearing the artificial voice. "Why didn't you answer sooner just now?", he asked her again for ignoring him just now.
+I was assuming you were still talking in your fever at first. You did do that for quite some time.+
"I see. How long have I been out? And where is Arkis?"
+You have been unconscious for a week and fever driven for about 3 days. Welcome back, Darc. Arkis is already on her way here. I already informed her that you woke up.+
Right after those words, the mechanical door opened and Arkis walked inside the room. She came over to him and looked him in the eyes and stayed silent.
Darc looked back since he couldn't do much more than that right now.
"You know. Just standing there and staring at me should not be the way to greet someone, right?", he said with a smile on his face.
Arkis only moved her hand and pinched him on his body. That sends some pain to Darc and he groaned from it.
"Hey!", he rebuked against this.
"Doing stupid things and letting yourself get beaten up like that. Didn't you say yourself to not do such a thing?", she said after doing her action and watched him again.
Darc only sighed. "I know...That's also why I said to be prepared because it would become dangerous. Anyway, could you heal me up?", he asked her.
Arkis shook her head "I am not good enough. You should know that.", she gave back as an answer.
"Oh, yeah. You don't know yet. Can you go into my room and bring me a brown little bag that is in my cupboard? You will know why I ask that shortly.", he said to her.
Arkis looked at him with confusion and did as he asked her. A little short while later she came back with the pouch.
"Is this it?", she asked and held the pouch in front of him.
"Yes. Now, take one of those beans out and place it on my mouth....", he answered and instructed her next move. He sadly couldn't even move his arms so he had to give her such weird instruction.
She nodded and grabbed one of the beans inside and placed it on his lips.
Darc at least guided that bean inside his mouth himself, crushed it with his teeth and then swallowed it.
Shortly after. "Good! I feel much better now!" , he proclaimed and stood up from his bed. He stretched himself because his whole body felt stiff from all that lying around.
Arkis widened her eyes and then looked back at the pouch with those beans inside.
"I haven't told you yet. Those are special. They are called Senzu Beans. If one eats them, then you would heal up from any wounds. Even missing limbs and such can heal up. The only requirement is that you are still alive when taking them. They can't revive the dead after all. Even though their power is pretty much on that level if used wisely. So I only use them in emergency cases mostly.", he explained her after seeing how she had a curious look at the Senzu.
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"If you told me sooner, I could have healed you up better.", she contemplated that fact.
"You know I need to swallow those, right? Did you intend to push them right up my throat while I was unconscious?" Then he smirked. "Or would you have used CPR as an excuse to kiss me?", he added.
Arkis frowned her brows at those words and slightly blushed. She knew he was teasing her and didn't answer him. He was right after all.
"Alright, since I am back, everything is good, no?", he asked her and then focused on the AI
"Alice, are we already on our way back to the outpost?", he asked it.
+Affirmative. Arkis has already given the order to return after she got done with the rest of the enemy on, and around the planet.+
Darc arched his brows up. "Did you go on a rampage or something?", he looked at Arkis curiously.
"I didn't. I just cleaned up just like you taught me. I also kept the innocent alive. Don't need to worry so much. Why does it seem that you always watch my actions especially in those areas?", she told and asked him back.
"That's good. No, I am just curious, that's all.", he said with a nod.
´I wonder what really happened at that time. And I am just trying to keep you away from a dumb decision.´, he thought inwardly at the same time. But the AI didn't really talk about a massacre or something so it should be fine.
"Let's go train. My body feels stiff and needs some exercise.", he said to Arkis and moved on to get himself a training suit. Come to think of it. Arkis probably already saw him naked because he later saw various bandages around his thighs and waist while changing clothes.
Darc only smiled at that thought and knew she wasn't really in a state of mind at that time to think about stuff like that when he was hurt. Or was she? He looked back at her while she was still following him into the training chamber after he came out of the changing cabin.
"What is it?", she asked him after noticing his gaze.
"Oh, nothing really. Just thought about the good bandaging you did on me", he said with a snicker. The bandaging actually was pretty amateurish.
At that moment it was like a lever was activated in Arkis her mind. "You..." was the only thing she said after blushing again. "Why are you always trying to tease me like that?"
"I just have fun doing so. Do not mind me.", he said with a smirk and innocently held up his hands in the air, "Now, let's concentrate back on the training", he added after being back inside the training room and looking at her.
How was she supposed to concentrate on the training after his words? Damn him.
----
While doing his training, Darc noticed a change to his body. Besides him being now way stronger than he was before, he actually felt somehow different.
Even looking at Arkis and sensing her godly ki didn't pressure him as it did before.
So he experimented a little with his ki and let it circulate around.
Observing the energy flow inside his body it didn't take long for him to notice that the feeble godly ki that was inside him, somehow had now increased in presence and strength.
He placed both his hands in front of himself and looked at his palms. Then he concentrated and formed two floating balls of ki.
The one on his right was colored in a warm yellow and was pretty round in shape. Normally it would be white like his aura, but since it is compressed and the air is around it, it gives off a yellow tinge. So it was the normal ki he used on this hand.
Whereas the energy on the left hand was black in color. But not entirely pitch black. It was a little bit ghostly translucent and had white tiny spots mixed in it that floated in and around it, sparkling like fireflies in the darkness. Its shape was also not round and constant but fluctuated like a burning flame.
Arkis also saw him experimenting and stopped her own exercise. She was curious what that dark energy in his left hand was.
"Godly Ki?", she asked him and came closer.
"Seems like it. But it's still not enough to use in battle.", he answered.
"It's beautiful.", commented Arkis and her eyes sparkled seeing this unique energy. "It also feels so calm when one watches it."
"Hmm, it does feel like that." Staring inside that energy it was like watching a flame performing its beautiful dance with the air and while doing so hypnotize its audience. It also had a stark contrast to his normal ki.
Coming back to his senses he looked back to Arkis. "But you should have this kind of energy inside you as well. Still no progress in finding it?", he asked her and also extinguishing both ki on his hands.
She shook her head. "No, I don't seem to find any trace of it. Its weird since the only thing my body emits is godly ki in itself, right?"
"Pretty much. Not even a scouter can scan you. But then again, I am not an expert on this matter. Maybe it is half sealed and you need to awaken it first. Maybe you need to become a god of a law or something. Anyway, let's continue. Thinking about it right now will not help", he told her and started exercising again.
She nodded and started her training as well.
Actually, Darc still had some thoughts about utilizing that energy on his mind. So he wrecked his brain while he trained. He found out that he always could clear his mind the most when doing some training and execute his forms.
Maybe it just calmed him to move his body. Not even in meditation was his mind so clear to such a degree. But maybe it was also because he concentrated on cultivating and restoring his stamina while doing his meditation. Resulting in him not relaxing enough for deep thoughts.
What he thought about now was to find a solution to increase the amount of that ki. He did think about it once already but put it to the side. But it was now about time that he confronted that problem. Always pushing it to the side wouldn't help him in any way.
And while he was at it he also should think about how to get Arkis to tap into that power of hers as well. He was after all pretty sure that especially a Kaioshin should have a god-form.