Time flew by, and years slipped past like arrows.
In the blink of an eye, nearly another full year had passed.
During this time, Son Goku and his group still had not returned to Earth. Vegeta, on the other hand, was either training or consolidating the remnants of Frieza's forces, King Cold's forces, and Cooler's forces.
One thing truly worth mentioning was Bulma's ability to rule and manage.
Even as the scale of their power expanded to this extent, she handled everything with remarkable ease.
Of course, this was not Bulma's achievement alone.
Dr. Brief and his wife, as well as Tights, all played major roles.
Dr. Brief aside, compared to Bikini, his intelligence was better suited to research than management. Even Vegeta had not expected that Bulma and Tights' mother, who outwardly looked like someone who only knew how to enjoy life, would turn out, once serious, to be a formidable business powerhouse.
And not just Bikini. Tights herself was even more impressive when it came to managing people, arguably surpassing Bulma in that regard.
As for Tights' abilities, they became evident after she returned to Earth and began making some unusual moves.
At first, she acted as an outsider, offering only suggestions.
Later, however, she deliberately found ways to get close to Vegeta, asking questions from every possible angle until she finally annoyed him.
Only then did Vegeta learn the truth.
She wanted to use him as the prototype for a new cosmic adventure novel.
After understanding the details, and with Bulma's encouragement, Vegeta agreed.
However, writing a good novel could not rely solely on his account. It required perspectives from others, as well as interconnected stories.
So if she was going to write it, she might as well write the truth.
As a result, Vegeta sent her to Planet Vegeta Number 79.
There, she could talk to Nappa, who knew Vegeta best, along with many leaders familiar with Vegeta's past.
After arriving, Tights gradually displayed astonishing talent, writing while simultaneously helping Bulma and Vegeta manage affairs.
By today, nearly all consolidation work had been completed.
Naturally, there were still those who pretended to submit.
But the times had changed.
Whether they accepted it or not, they had no choice.
In a world ruled by strength, the weak have no right to choose.
Once this structure stabilized, it would take only a few years for Vegeta's regime to become deeply rooted, completely replacing the influence of Frieza's race.
At present, the number of planets under Vegeta's banner had grown staggering.
Over one hundred base planets.
More than one thousand inhabited planets across the four major galaxies.
Over twenty thousand uninhabited resource planets, according to Hela's statistics.
An absurd number, yet Vegeta was not shocked.
As a transmigrator, he knew how vast this world truly was.
Even fully controlling a universe was not all that impressive.
Perspective defined how far one could see.
Vegeta never intended to stop here, nor did he feel excitement over it.
In truth, had it not been to give Bulma access to greater resources, to let her control the universe's wealth and break her own limits, Vegeta would not have bothered consolidating scattered forces at all.
Because in the Dragon Ball world, absolute strength was the only true foundation.
March 15, Age 764
Looking back, last year's May 20 felt like yesterday.
Outside the research facility in Bulma's backyard, a brand new multipassenger time machine stood tall.
Vegeta was fully prepared, ready to embark on a journey through time itself.
This was no longer space travel.
This was temporal traversal.
Bulma originally wanted to go with him, but after careful thought, and Vegeta's insistence, she stayed behind to wait for his return.
"Are you sure everything is ready? You did not forget anything, right?"
Bulma adjusted Vegeta's clothes and luggage, asking yet again.
Vegeta smiled and nodded.
"Do not worry. We have tested the time machine thoroughly. This time I am just checking the future and running a few experiments. Once I am done, I will come back."
Bulma nodded seriously. Even after hearing this countless times, she could not help worrying.
Time travel was far riskier than piloting a spaceship.
Understanding her concern, Vegeta pulled her into his arms. After a long moment, he let go and said,
"While I am gone, I will leave everything to you. It might feel long for me, but not for you. After all, you are the one who set the return time."
As long as the departure and return points were close enough, he would be back almost instantly from their perspective.
After Bulma nodded, Vegeta looked at Dr. Brief, Bikini, Tights, Nappa, Hela, and the others.
He especially communicated with Nappa mentally, instructing him to protect everyone during his absence.
Nappa was no longer the man he once was.
His battle power had reached one point two five million, and his temperament had matured. Though still simple minded at times, he was no longer bloodthirsty.
Most importantly, his loyalty was absolute.
No one was more suitable to guard Vegeta's family.
With ample supplies prepared, and one hundred Senzu Beans obtained from Korin, Vegeta boarded the cockpit atop the time machine.
As for the Senzu Beans, over the past year each harvest had been replanted as seeds. Though the stock had not yet reached early series levels, taking out one hundred beans was no problem.
With Yajirobe gone and Korin focused on cultivation, the supply would soon return to its former abundance.
Currently, excluding seeds, over one hundred and fifty Senzu Beans were stored.
Korin now used two cultivation methods.
Rapid growth, harvesting every one to two months, but with smaller yields.
The four harvest annual method, where each harvest yielded more than double the planted amount.
Soon enough,
Senzu Beans would once again be counted by the barrel.
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