Chapter 15: Gambling and... Bareth? (11.2)
Game
Thoughts
"Talking"
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Who?"
"Asuna."
Ok, this game has to be trolling me. There's no way that Asuna is the Asuna I know, right? But why the fuck would any sane Saiyan name their daughter Asuna?
Gray mainly stuck with mainstream shows, with Dragon Ball being his favorite, but even he'd seen SAO.
It was literally everywhere for a good couple of years.
"She's a recently graduated recruit. This is her first mission as Raditz's vice-captain, and she was assigned that position because of the way she graduated." Celia continued.
Gray pushed his thoughts out of his brain, deciding that she had to just be a Saiyan conveniently also named Asuna, "The way she graduated?"
"Her family is… odd, for Saiyans. I like them, actually. They use their brains. Her father has ties to an elite in the Frieza Force, and he got her to graduate as an A-Class. Father took her as one of his troops as payback and put her with Raditz so she'd die on Earth." Celia explained.
"So, should I assume she's pretty weak?" Gray asked the green-haired girl.
"She's very weak compared to most vice-captains. She's even weak compared to most A-Class trainees. She's probably a bit stronger than Kolra was." Celia answered.
"That's not great to hear," Gray sighed, "We're being sent to a planet where even the Frieza Force is being defeated, and all we have as reliable backup is Raditz."
"Don't act so hopeless, it's weird on you. The rest of the squad isn't weak by any means, and you'll have me and Saeko as well, though I'm hoping you'll do the heavy lifting." Celia said with a soft smile.
"Oh, yeah. I've never actually seen your full power, since you're always hiding it. How strong are you?" Gray asked, smiling back at her.
She has a nice smile, but it's weird seeing it when her face is always so blank.
"Luckily, I brought a scouter with me. I was going to use it to get a more accurate read on some of the soldiers who'll be on the mission with us, but you can use it for now." Celia said, her face going blank again as she stood up, pulling a scouter out from her back pocket and handing it to him.
Gray put on the scouter to keep up appearances, then used [Observe] on the girl.
[Survivalist] Celia:
[Sayian Princess]
Age: 16
PL: 22,980,550
HP: 45,000/45,000
TKI: 862,000/862,000
Reputation: 620/1000 (Liked)
[Survivalist] Modifier - Individuals with this modifier will do whatever it takes to survive.
So, she's a bit of a glass cannon? A high power level, and an insane amount of Ki, but not much HP. More importantly…
"You're this strong, and you didn't help with Kolra? Hell, you could've taken him by yourself when he first showed up!" Gray asked, staring at her incredulously.
"Actually, I wasn't this strong," Celia said, staring down at her hand, clenching and unclenching it slowly, "I still don't understand why, but I became much stronger on Vargon. When Kolra first appeared, I was close to you in strength. As I cleaned up the remaining small and large-kind on Vargon, I noticed my Ki increasing rapidly. Even during your last battle with Kolra, I felt stronger just by watching your Ki's clash."
Is this because of the party system? Assuming she gained a shit ton of xp from killing all the remaining inhabitants of Vargon while I was getting my sword and fighting Kolra, she probably leveled up a few times, which would explain why she got so much stronger. I should check Asia and Tamari and see if they got stronger too.
"Ah, I'm not sure why either," Gray lied, scratching the back of his neck, "but whatever, I guess it's fine that you didn't help with Kolra if you explain it like that. You can make up for that by actually fighting on Earth, you're strong enough to be a good support with Ki attacks."
"Yes, I'll do my best to support you," Celia said, her lips twitching into a smile again.
+80 Reputation with Celia (For wanting her support) [4x from [Ladies Man], [A Humble Master]]
"Good. Now, anyone else I should know about coming with us to Earth, or just a bunch of cannon fodder?" Gray asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Cannon fodder isn't the right word, at least for some of them." Celia started, "The entire squad will be 50 members, excluding you, me, and Saeko. While Raditz may be the weakest squad leader, and Asuna a very weak vice-captain, they are still one of Father's elite squads. I'd estimate that around 20 members, excluding Raditz, are above your power level. The majority of the other 30 are around your level of strength."
"Wait, really?" Gray asked in surprise, "Since this is a suicide mission, I thought we'd be going with a bunch of useless guys."
Also, that means that the vice-captain is weaker than most of the squad members, right? With how much of an ego most Saiyans have, I imagine that'll become an issue.
"Remember where we're heading," Celia reminded him, "Earth is dangerous. Frieza sent entire Frieza Force squads there, and they can't even maintain a stronghold. Squads that were strong to the point that even their weakest members outclassed Raditz. Our squad is certainly 'a bunch of useless guys.'"
"Oh, right."
Don't get too cocky. Still, I won't complain about having some strong companions.
"But," Celia said, reaching out and laying her hand on Gray's chest, "With how fast you've been growing stronger, I'll be relying on you to keep us safe. This mission should be impossible, but you'll make it possible, right?"
"Of course," Gray responded with a toothy grin, "It'll probably be tougher than Vargon was, but I'll make sure we come back alive."
"Good," Celia responded, reaching up and pulling the scouter from Gray's face, then turning around and walking to the door, "I'll go get some more accurate numbers on our squad members for you. I'll make a list of all of them."
She paused as she grabbed the handle, turning back towards Gray and tossing the scouter at him, "On second thought, you can keep this."
"Huh? What am I gonna use this for?" Gray asked, staring at the green scouter in his hand.
"Besides it being all-around useful for seeing everyone's power level," Celia explained, "It also works as a transmitter, remember? I'll get one for Asia, Tamari, and Saeko as well. It'll be useful for the mission, and you can keep in contact with Asia and Tamari while you're gone."
"Oh, right!" Gray grinned down at the scouter, which doubled as an intergalactic cell phone, "Why didn't we use these on Vargon? I feel like it would've come in handy."
"We," Celia stressed the word as she deadpanned at Gray, "Did use them. As in, me, Asia, and Tamari used them to communicate when we got split up."
"You," Celia said, narrowing her eyes at Gray, "Had yours in your pocket when you transformed into an Ozaru, and destroyed it."
"Oh," Gray said, looking away innocently.
This Saiyan body is definitely fucking me up. I wasn't a super-genius or anything in my past life, but I wasn't dumb either. I'm totally becoming dumb.
"Don't lose it this time, and get some sleep. You look tired." Celia finished as she turned back to the door.
"Don't need to tell me twice," Gray said as he fell back into his bed. He watched as Celia opened the door and walked out, his eyes lingering on her ass in the tight Saiyan under armor for a little too long.
Gray stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, before sighing and pushing himself up, "I'll just head to sleep early tonight. I got shit to do today."
Mainly, finding Bareth and Ren.
Gray walked over to his door, pulling it open and having to pause as he nearly bumped into the person standing outside.
A small girl was staring up at him, her hand raised as if she was about to knock on the door. She blushed and looked down, staring at her feet.
"Ah, um, uh, hi!" The short girl had chestnut-colored hair, and a cute, soft face. She was dressed in the standard Saiyan under armor, which practically everyone wore outside of training, which showed off her thin body. Similar to Asia, she did not look like a Saiyan in the slightest. While Gray had seen some beautiful Saiyan women, most of them still had a level of hardness. Toned muscles, a stern face, or sharp eyes. This girl fit into the short list of Saiyans that could pass as normal human girls. Said list only consisted of her, Asia, and Shizuka.
And maybe that Librarian.
"Hi?" Gray responded, raising an eyebrow at the short girl. He used [Observe] on her.
[Emotional] Asuna:
[Vice-Captain of the Raditz Squad]
Age: 17
PL: 18,560,400
HP: 30,200/30,200
TKI: 62,000/62,000
Reputation: 50/1000 (Positively Viewed)
[Emotional] Modifier - Individuals with this modifier will highly value their emotions, doing whatever it takes to follow them.
I thought so. This is the same Asuna I saw in my past life. Why the fuck is she here? I am in the DBZ universe, right?
"Um, I'm Asuna! Nice to meet you!" The blushing girl said, jutting her hand out quickly to offer Gray a handshake.
Gray grabbed her smaller hand, shaking it lightly, "Nice to meet cha, I'm Gray."
The thin girl blushed again, staring at their intertwined hand. She continued to stare, not saying a word, until the silence became awkward for Gray.
"So…" Gray stretched the word, "Why were you standing outside of my room?"
"Um, ah, right!" Asuna said, ripping her hand away from his, "I'll be the Raditz's squad's new vice-captain, so I was going around introducing myself to everyone before the mission!"
"How's that been going for you?" Gray asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.
"Not great." Asuna huffed, her cheeks puffing out cutely, "A bunch of them don't believe me for some reason!"
Yeah, I can't see why those giant, meat-head Saiyans would doubt that their new vice-captain is a small girl.
"I'm sure they're just surprised at having a new vice-captain. I wouldn't worry about it." Gray lied, grinning reassuringly at the pouting girl.
"Yeah, that's gotta be it!" Asuna said, nodding to herself. She looked back up at Gray, blushing again as she turned her head to the side, staring down the empty hallway, "Um, well, anyways, I gotta go finish with my introductions. I look forward to working with you!"
+40 Reputation with Asuna (For being handsome) [4x from [Ladies Man], [A Humble Master]]
"Same here," Gray said, his grin shifting to a friendly smile as the girl turned away, walking down the hallway.
She's even cuter in person. She's fully cute too, unlike Asia's 'adorable face with a fat ass' type of cute.
Asia really didn't play fair. It was one thing to be short and adorable, but to also have a big bubbly ass? There was a good chance she ended up as best girl.
Just thinking about it is making me pissed at Dareth for the shit he tried. Bareth, you better be extra nice to me, because I'm in a bad mood now.
Gray stepped out the door, heading down the hallway in the opposite direction Asuna had gone. He started walking towards the one place he knew both Bareth and Ren would have to go to eventually: The cafeteria.
Gray picked up his pace a bit, walking with long strides towards the cafeteria, hoping he hadn't slept in too long and missed them.
If they both already had breakfast, I might have to wait the whole day.
Gray might've still felt mentally and physically tired, but he had slept in more than usual. The sun had already risen, which meant he'd woken up a few hours later than he had to for morning training.
"I still think it's odd that we have a couple day break," Gray said to himself as he walked down the empty hallway, his words echoing around the tunnel-like walls.
I'm not complaining, it's nice to have a break. I just didn't think that Saiyan training would allow for breaks.
Gray walked up to the cafeteria, still officially called the 'Eating Zone,' and walked through the doors. He glanced around the cafeteria, hoping he'd spot either Bareth or Ren amongst the sizeable amount of trainees eating breakfast. The huge cafeteria was rather full, with seemingly a couple hundred D-Class recruits either sitting at tables or walking around. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Bareth was easy to find even with the hundreds of trainees milling about.
"Didn't I tell you I want some better shit next time, you useless bitch?!" Gray easily spotted Bareth, as he looked like a nearly identical version of Dareth, with just a few differences. He was short with a rounded face, and a relatively lean body, but with a mop of black hair on his head instead of the blonde hair Dareth had.
[Arrogant] Bareth:
[Saiyan D-Class Recruit]
Age: 17
PL: 12,820,400
HP: 56,350/56,350
TKI: 55,950/55,950
Reputation: -150/1000 (Disliked)
[Arrogant] Modifier - Individuals with this modifier will be naturally arrogant, believing they are better than others.
He's a lot stronger than the D-Class's we fought on Vargon. Hell, he's even stronger than the C-Class guys. I guess what Celia said makes sense: If the majority of each class was wiped out from the exam, only the ones on the stronger side would survive. The average trainee is stronger than before, and Bareth was already probably one of the stronger trainees in Class-D.
Unfortunately, Gray hadn't just spotted Bareth due to his close resemblance to Dareth. He'd spotted him because of his loud screaming. He was positioned in the corner of the cafeteria, sitting at a table with what seemed to be roughly 10 other D-Class trainees, the majority of them being boys. The exceptions were two girls, one of which was sitting next to him as she stared down at her hands. The other was the one Bareth was shouting out, shaking slightly as she held a tray of food in her hands.
"I-I can't raise my rank while w-we're on break…" The girl spoke up, only to be met with the back of Bareth's hand as it slammed into her face. She slumped over onto the ground, the pile of food spilling all over her.
"Heh? So what? If you wanna leech off me in Class-C, then you gotta be useful for something! This shit food won't cut it!" He yelled down at the girl from his seat, spitting toward her downed body, "Get me some good shit tomorrow or you and your friend will be paying with your bod- GUH"
His words were cut off as a hand gripped the back of his head, slamming him through the table in front of him.
Sorry, Celia. I don't think I can even pretend to play nice with this asshole.
Gray stared down at Bareth's body as he lay in the pile of rubble that was once a table, shadows covering his eyes as he glared down.
How much trouble would I get in if I just killed him now?
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gray Tanaki:
[Saiyan D-Class Recruit]
Age: 15
Wallet: 46,150 Coins
Lvl: 10 (33,000/75,000 XP)
PL: 31,972,700
Available Points: 300
HP: 42,500/91,450
TKI: 171,925/171,925
STR: 315
AGI: 350
END: 290
INT: 435
CHA: 145
LUK: 455
KI: 395
HREG: 196
EREG: 196
Skills: [Observe LVL 4], [Running LVL 6], [Determination LVL 4], [Ki Control LVL 9], [Ki Gun LVL 5]. [Ki Enhancement LVL 4], [KI Suppression LVL 5], [Ki Sense LVL 2], [Pushup LVL 4], [Punch LVL 4], [Kick LVL 4], [Jump LVL 4], [Flight LVL 4], [Prediction LVL 2], [Zenkai Boost LVL 1], [Cognitive Acceleration LVL 1], [Ah! Lord Freiza! LVL 1]
Perks: [Gamer's Mind], [Gamer's Body], [Double-edged Sword], [Legendary Super Sayian], [Perfect Ozaru], [A Cute Pawn], [A Humble Master], [Ladies Man]
Fighting Styles: [Boxing Style: Kolra LVL 1]
Party: [Empty]
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for reading! As always, you can read the next chapter right now at Patreon.com/Koyon! This story is officially caught up - it'll be updated on Wednesday and Saturday throughout September, and then once a week after that!