Namek was only a few days away.
After everything I had done to prepare, the journey itself almost felt too peaceful.
Almost.
Our spaceship had four large simulation rooms, each capable of generating up to two hundred times Earth's gravity and creating opponents with power levels of up to sixty thousand.
It wasn't enough to challenge Goku or Raditz anymore, but it was more than enough for me, Krillin, and Nappa.
Goku was still training with Raditz, pushing each other as hard as they could without completely exhausting themselves. Krillin, Nappa, and I used a separate simulation room.
Piccolo, as usual, preferred meditation.
I couldn't blame him.
Everyone had their own way of preparing for what was coming.
For me, however, there was something else I needed to test.
Kaioken.
I had spent days collecting data from Goku and Raditz's training sessions. The simulation room recorded almost everything—their movements, ki fluctuations, physical responses, and the way Goku's body handled Kaioken.
I had enough data.
Now I needed to see if I could reproduce the principle safely.
Or, more accurately, whether my synthetic puppet could.
There was no way I was going to test Kaioken on my own body.
I had already modified myself enough.
There was a limit to how far I was willing to go just for more power.
So I built something that could take the risk for me.
The first prototype looked like Goku.
Or, more accurately, like what Goku might have looked like if he had been born female.
Unfortunately, the experiment ended almost immediately.
The moment I activated Kaioken, the puppet's body couldn't handle the sudden increase in ki.
It exploded at only twice the normal output.
I stared at the remains scattered across the floor.
"…Well, that didn't go as planned."
Oracle's analysis appeared on the monitor.
Structural failure confirmed.
"I can see that."
I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
The problem wasn't simply the materials.
The puppet's body composition was too different from mine.
Even though I had designed it to imitate a biological body, it wasn't actually my body.
The difference was enough to prevent my ki control from synchronizing with it properly.
"If I'm going to control it remotely, I need something closer to myself."
Oracle agreed with my conclusion.
So I built another one.
This time, I made the puppet resemble me.
Mostly.
Its hair was black and considerably spikier than mine, giving it an obvious distinction from my actual appearance. My own hair had become slightly spikier since my genetic modification, but it still retained its natural color.
The new puppet looked like me if I had been designed specifically for combat.
Its base power level was approximately thirty thousand, the same as mine.
That was possible because my training had accelerated significantly after I stopped having to limit myself for Krillin and Nappa during every sparring session.
My growth was almost exponential compared to my previous standards.
Still, I was nowhere near Goku, Raditz, or even Nappa.
But I was getting stronger.
And for now, that was enough.
I didn't want to become a burden to anyone.
Testing the New Puppet
I stood inside the simulation room and looked at my new creation.
"Oracle, begin combat simulation."
The room changed.
The familiar scenery disappeared, replaced by an empty battlefield.
A simulation of Vegeta appeared in front of us.
"Start at eighteen thousand."
The simulated Vegeta immediately rushed forward.
The puppet moved with him.
I controlled its every movement through the transmitter at my temple, guiding its arms, legs, and ki circulation as though they were extensions of my own body.
For the first few minutes, I only used basic movements.
Punches.
Kicks.
Dodges.
Blocks.
I needed to calibrate myself to the new body.
Once that was finished, I increased the simulation's power level.
"Thirty thousand."
The simulated Vegeta became faster.
The puppet matched him.
So did I.
I carefully monitored the puppet's condition throughout the battle.
Its artificial muscles were far more durable than my own.
That was expected.
But durability wasn't the same as regeneration.
The puppet could withstand considerably more physical stress than a living body, but every injury accumulated.
Its synthetic muscles couldn't heal themselves.
Its artificial tendons couldn't repair their own damage.
Its silicone-based tissue couldn't reproduce the functions of living cells.
The mechanical heart could generate ki.
The mechanical spine could distribute and control that ki.
But neither could turn synthetic material into living tissue.
"Interesting…"
I watched the data scrolling across the monitor.
"It's more resistant than I am, but it doesn't recover like I do."
That was exactly what I needed to know.
I increased the simulation again.
"Sixty thousand."
The simulated Vegeta became vastly stronger.
The puppet was immediately pushed back.
I took a deep breath.
"Let's try Kaioken."
I activated it.
"Kaio—ken!"
The puppet's aura erupted.
Two times.
Its power doubled without immediately destroying its body.
I smiled.
"It worked."
The first prototype had failed at twice the output.
This one survived.
But the sensors immediately began reporting stress.
Synthetic muscle degradation detected.
Tendon elasticity decreasing.
Mechanical spine temperature increasing.
"So that's the price."
The puppet continued fighting.
The simulated Vegeta didn't tire.
Of course it didn't.
It wasn't alive.
That made the test even more brutal.
I could continue pushing the puppet without worrying about exhaustion from the opponent.
But the damage to the puppet kept accumulating.
"Again."
I pushed the output higher.
"Four times."
The puppet's aura intensified.
Its power surged to approximately one hundred and twenty thousand.
For a moment, the difference was absurd.
The simulated Vegeta had a maximum of sixty thousand.
My puppet was twice as strong.
I smiled.
"That's too much of a gap."
I couldn't increase the simulation's power any further.
So instead, I created more opponents.
One Vegeta became two.
Then three.
Then four.
The battlefield suddenly became crowded with simulated Saiyans.
"Let's see how long you can keep going."
The puppet moved.
It tore through the first opponent.
Then the second.
Then the third.
It was overwhelming them.
But the damage was catching up.
The artificial muscles were beginning to tear.
The joints were becoming less responsive.
The synthetic tissue around the arms had begun to deform.
I could feel the puppet's movements becoming sluggish through the neural connection.
"Keep going."
It tried.
The puppet raised its arm.
Nothing happened.
I tried again.
"Move!"
The arm barely twitched.
The puppet's legs refused to respond.
The four-times Kaioken had pushed it far beyond its safe operating limit.
I immediately terminated the simulation.
The battlefield disappeared.
The puppet collapsed onto the floor.
I stared at it for several seconds.
Then I looked at the data.
"So that's the limit."
Not the limit of Kaioken itself.
The limit of what this body could survive.
And that was exactly what I wanted to know.
If I could eventually refine the materials and improve the puppet's ability to withstand the strain, I could potentially push it further.
But for now, four times was enough.
Much more than that would be irresponsible.
I didn't need another exploding puppet.
Another Kind of Puppet
While Oracle analyzed the combat data, I returned to my laboratory.
The next project was already waiting.
Synthetic Namekians.
Rows of unfinished bodies stood inside the laboratory.
They were designed to look like ordinary Namekians.
Their purpose wasn't combat.
They were decoys.
If Frieza's soldiers attacked a village, they would see Namekians.
They would fight Namekians.
They would even find Dragon Balls.
But none of them would be real.
I was doing everything I could to reduce the number of casualties.
I couldn't save everyone.
I knew that.
Some Namekians would stay behind.
Some would choose to defend their homes.
I couldn't stop them from making that choice.
But I could make sure as many civilians as possible survived.
Beside the synthetic Namekians were several artificial Dragon Balls.
Perfect replicas.
If Frieza believed the Dragon Balls were still somewhere on Namek, he wouldn't have a reason to destroy the planet immediately.
That illusion needed to survive.
Because the moment Frieza realized that everything he wanted had already been moved somewhere beyond his reach...
Namek would become expendable.
And Frieza had no problem destroying something simply because he couldn't have it.
I looked at the synthetic Dragon Ball in my hand.
"Everything needs to be perfect."
Oracle confirmed the replica's appearance against the database.
Similarity to original Dragon Ball: 99.8%.
"Good enough."
I placed it down.
But then my thoughts shifted to another problem.
One person in particular.
Captain Ginyu.
My expression hardened.
There was someone I had a personal vendetta against.
Someone who had nearly destroyed everything in my previous timeline.
Someone who had stolen bodies.
Someone who had taken control of people who had no choice in the matter.
And this time...
I had prepared something specifically for him.
I looked toward the synthetic puppet waiting inside another room.
It had been designed for a purpose beyond ordinary combat.
A countermeasure.
A body without a soul.
A body Captain Ginyu couldn't steal.
My hand slowly tightened.
"You won't get the chance this time."
I remembered what happened before.
The confusion.
The danger.
The possibility of losing everything because of one technique.
Not again.
I stared at the puppet.
"If you even try to say those words…"
My expression became cold.
"…I'll end the fight before you can finish them."
This wasn't about power.
It wasn't even about proving that I had become stronger.
This was personal.
I had already watched the future once.
I knew exactly what that man was capable of.
And this time, I wasn't going to let him repeat it.
I took a deep breath and turned back toward my work.
Namek was only a few days away.
There was still so much left to prepare.
And I intended to be ready for all of it.