Chapter 3

The next day, I made my way down to the Courtyard to begin my training. Rows of Warrior Monks were lined up going over forms, as masters and senior brothers moved about the rows correcting stances and giving advice. Oftentimes, this would be done with a stick. A swatch of the local bamboo analog that had been mystically enhanced to sting no matter how sturdy the person being swatted with it was. If your stance was too wide or not wide enough? An elder brother would forcibly correct it with swats to the legs. If your arms were out of position? They were swatted back into proper form. If your posture was wrong? You could expect swattings to correct it in short order.

I swiftly found out that my half-baked recollections of Wing Chun from my previous life weren't up to par by the standards of any of the Elder Brothers, let alone the Masters. For those first two weeks of forms practice, I was swatted a grand total of one-hundred-twenty-eight times. I couldn't deny the effectiveness of the method, however. My form was forcibly tightened up, and I found my technique noticeably improved from the experience. By the dawn of the third week, I was already advancing to a more advanced set of forms, partly thanks to my previous recollections of the basic forms having been corrected and partly because as a Saiyan, I was capable of just picking these things up easily.

Of course, forms were far from the only training along the Path of the Warrior I did. There was also the Physical Training as well. On that front, I had long since skipped the basics, and had moved on to the more advanced techniques. The Zenkais I'd gained in the jungle helped a lot there. Mostly, it was a lot of heavy labor. The Temple had many weights that were mystically enhanced to be useful for people of my level and I spent much of my physical training for the first month and a half just lifting those weights.

That wasn't the only physical training available, however. The Mountain Dwellers lived high up in the mountains and the local villages around the Temple often made use of terrace farms to feed themselves and the Monks. In exchange for produce, the Temple sent Brothers down to the local villages to deal with Bandits, Dangerous Wildlife, or just do plain physical labor. The first time I had been sent down the Mountain was to give the local villages the last type of aid in the third month of my stay.

Apparently, my bottomless pit of a Saiyan Stomach had necessitated the digging out and construction of a new terrace farm for the nearest village, a place called Shon'draka Village. The name apparently translated to Field Snake Village. Supposedly, the terrace farms occasionally got infested with a type of fifteen-foot-long, predatory, venomous, snake every few years, which gave the Village its name and also gave the Brothers of the Temple another job to perform. Regardless, it seemed that while Shon'draka Village could indeed feed me and the temple, it was eating into the surplus they would normally take to Ak'lhosa Town to trade for the ores their local blacksmith needed to keep their various tools and such in good repair. Since I was the cause of the problem, I was sent to rectify it.

Regardless, digging out such a terrace farm from the mountainside was hard work, even for me, especially as I had to do it by hand. Then there was the necessity of flooding the terrace for the production of the local variety of rice, which needed me to use boulders and a dug channel in order to divert a mountain stream for the purpose. The job took three days for me to complete, and that was largely based on me having to fight one of those Field Serpents that had made its lair near the stream I was trying to divert. It managed to bite me before I crushed its skull with a descending elbow strike, which meant that I was laid up for a day thanks to the venom. Apparently, it would have killed a normal person but resulted in me being incapacitated for a day. I couldn't help but think there were echoes of the Ultra-Divine Water from Canon in the whole ordeal.

Regardless, I got it done, and on my return, when I told the story, the Elder Brothers were impressed I had serviced. Apparently, surviving a bite from a mature Field Serpent at my level of power was rare, though not unheard of. The Elder Brothers of the Temple began dubbing me Kali'kala or the Deathless One thanks to the incident. It was partly a bit of good-natured ribbing, but there was also a bit of grudging respect there too. Of course, the Masters officially frowned on such nicknames, but unofficially some of them began calling me that too, even Abbot Sri'kayal, which sort of put paid to any official condemnation.

At the same time, however, I also studied the Path of the Sage. Just initiating into it took three months of meditation and lectures. It turned out that the Path of the Warrior was by far the easier path, and the reason that walking both paths was rare was that those who tread one path tended to learn differently than those who tread the other. Most Warriors learned best by doing, while most Sages learned best by seeing things done. One lent itself more to action, while the other lent itself more to book learning and watching demonstrations. Thankfully, my Saiyan Biology let me pick things up both ways using the principle of Monkey See, Monkey Do.

The thing is that the Path of the Sage wasn't solely all Mystical Spellcasting and the like. A lot of it was learning the history of the Great Kha'zro, his exploits, his teachings, and how to apply the lessons of such things to your own life. The first three months were spent entirely on that and meditation, to initiate you into the Path of the Sage. Honestly, I didn't mind. The Great Kha'zro's life was fascinating in a lot of ways.

The story, as it was relayed to me, went something like this. . .

XXXX

During the Great Kha'zro's life, Suirpalam was divided into eight distinct kingdoms. Three belonged to the Mountain Dwellers, with the most powerful being the Empire of Kha'mo, based around the Eponymous City. Three belonged to the Jungle Dwellers, with the most powerful being the Kingdom of Bh'ooj, which was ruled by the Tyrant Ki'gala, one of the villains of the story. Lastly, the Savanna Dwellers had two, relatively-equal-in-power, Kingdoms, Khi'koram and Samar'tai.

The Great Khaz'ro had been born the fourth son of the Emperor of Kha'mo. As a fourth son, he was so far down the line of succession that he would likely never inherit anything and it was decided that he would be given tutoring in the Martial Arts and in the Sagely Arts so that when he came of age, he could decide whether to go into the army or go into the priesthood to make his fortune. As it turned out, Kha'zro was a damned prodigy at both, not only soaking up the lessons of his tutors but innovating on them. He crafted a number of Ki Techniques and Mystic Spells of his own while mastering all he was taught, all before he reached the age of Majority.

This, it turned out, frightened his older brothers something awful, as they feared that should Kha'zro wish it, he could try to seize the throne using the techniques he had learned and created, and would likely stand a decent chance of succeeding. That was why, when Kha'zro reached the age of thirteen, which was the age of majority in those days, he was not allowed to enter either of the careers that he had been trained for. Instead, he was banished south to the borderlands with the Kingdom of Bh'ooj and told that if he wished to move from the mountain peak he had been banished to, he would only be allowed to move south into Bh'ooj.

His father had hoped that in forcing Kha'zro to do such a thing, he would start a war with Bh'ooj, which would already be weakened by subduing Kha'zro, and allow Kha'mo to win a glorious victory over Bh'ooj. The Tyrant Ki'gala of Bh'ooj was also hoping to cause such a war, though he had no plans to fight Kha'zro, instead simply using his movement into Bh'ooj as a pretext for the invasion of Kha'mo. As it happened, neither ruler got their wish, as the Tailless Ones surged out of the mountains the lay waste to the Royal Palace of Kha'mo, where Kha'zro's father and brothers lived, and which was outside the walls of the city.

The Tailless ones were gigantic, almost twice as tall as the tallest Mountain Dweller, and much more bulky as well. They spoke their own language, their mouths full of fangs making normal speech difficult. They were strong too, much stronger than even the strongest soldiers of the Army of Kha'mo, and there were hundreds of them boiling out of the mountains. It was said, that on the day the Tailless Ones attacked the Royal Palace, the Night Serpent, a figure that was functionally the devil in Suirpalam Mythology, swallowed the sun to further advantage the Tailless Ones, who were used to the dark of their mountain caverns.

The Army attempted to defend the Royal Family, but it was all they could do to evacuate the Capital of Kha'mo. The Royal Palace and City had been seized, Kha'zro's brothers and father slain, and the Army decimated by the attack of the Tailless Ones. It was a complete massacre. The Tailless Ones sacked Kha'mo City and more or less had free reign over the countryside.

Fortunately, Kha'zro had been told of the attack beforehand, thanks to a visitation from the God Tchin'gal, who was one of a number of Gods the Peoples of Suirpalam had that acted as a Guardian God. Tchin'gal was also known as the Granter of the Martial Art known as Wan'chak, or the Staccatto Fist, to the Mountain People, effectively making him one of the Patron Gods of Martial Arts. Tchin'gal spoke to Kha'zro and told him that he had to return to Kha'mo to defend his people against the tailless ones.

So that is what he did, gathering twelve disciples along the way to impart his knowledge on to. These disciples would become known as the Twelve Thunders, and along with Kha'zro, managed to rally the remnants of the army and bring the Tailless Ones to battle at a place called San'shin, or Singing Vale. The Battle of Singing Vale was an unqualified success for Kha'zro, who slew the Tailless One's King, a twelve-foot-tall monster of a being who could level mountains with a blast of his breath, in the fighting. The defeat was so bad, that the Tailless Ones were not seen again for a hundred years afterward.

Of course, such devastation had not gone unnoticed in Bh'ooj. The Tyrant King Ki'gala had waited for the Tailless Ones to be driven off before moving into the southern sections of Kha'mo with his army to seize the border territories for himself. He captured several fertile valleys along with the Villages and towns they held and prepared to strike further into Kha'mo, making his camp on this very spot, on Wine-Fruit Mountain. When Kha'zro heard this, he knew he had to drive off Ki'gala, but he also knew that if he simply marched his army south, his neighbors to the West and East would take that opportunity to strike at Kha'mo as well in his absence. After having been weakened by the marauding Tailless Ones, Kha'zro knew his Empire would simply be gobbled up piecemeal if he took the Army south.

Instead, he left the Army under the command of the Twelve Thunders to ward off other threats, while he made his way to Wine-Fruit Mountain alone to face Ki'gala. Ki'gala was not large or powerfully built like the Tailless Ones, but he was no less strong. Indeed, it would take an entirely new technique to defeat him, but Kha'zro knew that once he had, Ki'gala's army would be easily swept aside. As he pondered how to do such a thing, the sunrise appeared, causing Kha'zro to squint. That was when he knew what to do. He developed the Nyi'ma'chak, or Blinding Sun Fist, Ki Technique.

That would give him an opening, but he also needed to ensure the opening was final. He meditated on that problem over the night and received an epiphany granted to him by An'sati, the Suirpalamese Goddes of Mystical Combat. That was when he developed the Mystic Spell of the Prismatic Bands of Finality, a spell that would bind the target in shimmering bands of color, which would tighten on the target proportional to the amount of struggling the target did.

When he arrived at Wine-Fruit Mountain, he challenged the Tyrant Ki'gala to single combat, with the stakes being that should Ki'gala lose, he would command his army to withdraw back across the border never to cross it again, and should Kha'zro lose, then Ki'gala would be given half of the Empire of Kha'mo as spoils. Ki'gala, being of low character, never had any intention of honoring those terms, intending to simply order his forces to attack Kha'zro should he lose.

The duel between Ki'gala and Kha'zro wound up altering the landscape of Wine-Fruit Mountain, with blows of such power that they bored deep into the mountain and caused the hot springs to bubble up to the surface, creating the baths the Temple still used to this day. Despite a fierce effort, however, the duel ended up going Kha'zro's way, as the Blinding Sun Fist rendered Ki'gala Blind, and the Prismatic Bands of Finality wrapped around Ki'gala and immobilized him. Ki'gala, incensed at his public loss, ordered his forces to attack anyway. That was when Kha'zro unleashed a Ki Technique he called the Breath of Kha'zro, a modification of the technique that the King of the Tailless Ones had used against him. Roaring out a coherent beam of Ki, Kha'zro killed entire battalions of Ki'gala's Army at a time. The Tyrant was forced to order a withdrawal, where his rivals of the Republic of Bha'gro took advantage of the weakened army to conquer Bh'ooj and slay Ki'gala.

Kha'zro returned to Kha'mo to find that his fears of his own rivals attacking had been proven true and that the Kingdom of Ang'kham and Principality of Qo'lam had both attempted to seize territory, however, his disciples of the Twelve Thunders used Kha'zro's teachings to defeat the invasions and even wound up taking territory off of Qo'lam and Ang'kham in the enforced peace. Kha'zro ruled for another eighty years, before returning to Wine-Fruit Mountain as his death drew near, where he ascended to the Heavens to become the Patron God of Ki-based Combat. His descendants had to fend off one more incursion from the Tailless Ones twenty years after his death, but they also prevailed, largely thanks to the Great Kha'zro spreading his teachings.

Eventually, those descendants unified the Mountain Dwellers into a single Kingdom, which remains the Mountain Dweller's State to this day. The Temple was built upon Wine-Fruit Mountain, and the Order still teaches the Great Kha'zro's techniques, alongside his philosophy. The four tenets of which are as follows.

Number One: The Strong have a duty to defend the Weak, for the Strong were Weak once and those who do not do this have forgotten the face of their fathers.

Number Two: Do not simply rest on your laurels. Grow and innovate, for you never know when those laurels will rot beneath your weight.

Number Three: The Path to Greatness is a lonely one. Should you find those willing to walk it alongside you, do not hoard your wisdom like a miser, but teach your companions, lest you find yourself alone once more.

Number Four: Your Word of Honor can be as precious as life itself. Do not betray it once given, for you may find your doom shortly afterward.

So says the teachings of the Great Kha'zro. . .

XXXX

Regardless, it was an interesting story, and I couldn't say I disagreed with the tenets at all. Even if I would have preferred the initiation to be shorter than three months. The next few months of Sage Training were largely spent in meditation, building up my reserves of mystic energy. Likewise, the next few months of Warrior Training focused on the final sets of Martial Arts Forms and more mystical training, as well as sparring, where I swiftly learned how to avoid my tail being grabbed to end a fight. For the rest of the year, that was what happened, until I was finally awarded a Bronze Amulet studded with orange Citrines, a sign that I had become a Novice and was no longer an initiate.

More advanced training began for the next year, as I learned the theory behind moving Ki and Mystic Energy, practiced some mystic cantrips and small, generic Ki Techniques, and generally kept up with my meditation, forms, and physical training. Mystic Cantrips were small things, how to boil water or light candles with magic, how to mend broken objects with magic, spells to create a small light or illusory noise, a spell for cleaning surfaces, a spell for preserving foods, and other such minor things. Generic Ki Techniques were similar, Ki Balls, Ki Beams, Ki Blasts, and Ki Waves, none of which were potent enough on their own to warrant themselves being a true technique, as well as how to sense Ki.

I was also sent with a small group of Novices under the direction of an Elder Brother named Ra'tiyak to help dig miners out of a cave-in at the Emerald Mine near Ik'anak Village. Apparently, the miners had been instructed by their foreman to dig at a more rapid pace, because one of the Starfarers had offered a larger-than-normal shipment of medical liquid in exchange for a certain quota of emeralds. The faster pace had allowed for carelessness, which caused a cave-in.

The digging was hard work, we were doing it for ten hours at a time, for three days straight all by hand, but we eventually managed to dig out the Miners trapped down in the depths of the emerald mine. It was a good workout, and I felt myself growing stronger every day. Of course, we also extended our stay in Ik'anak village to help fill the required quota. That ensured that some of the excess healing fluid was gifted to the Temple once the Starfarer, a Merchant from Planet Nuts named Stachio, received his payment. That in turn, of course, saw us lugging crates back up the mountain to the temple. I didn't mind, however, unlike some of the other Novices, since it was even more physical training.

By the end of that year, I received the Iron Amulet studded with Red Garnets of a Disciple and was finally able to begin working on some of the actual Ki Techniques and Mystic Spells. No more initiate or novice stuff for me. It was here that I learned some of the Lesser Binding Spells, such as the Three-Fold Shimmering Manacles which would bind an opponent's legs and arms together, or the Spell of Slumber. I also learned the Spell of Flame Bolt, which was a basic, if decently powerful, attack spell. Flame Bolt also varied with the amount of power you put into it. If you put enough into it, you could melt steel with it.

I also learned the Ki Technique of the Flashing Bolt, a double-handed Ki Beam that used the principles of Ki Compression to create a powerful, charged, beam of Ki. It looked like a yellow version of the Galick Gun or Kamehameha if I was being honest. Acted like it too, judging from the destructive potential. Aside from that, I also learned the trick to lowering and raising my Ki presence, something that the Elder Brothers called the Jungle Demon's Trick, which was a reference to those acidic-spittle-using giant centipedes that I'd fought one of before. Lastly, I learned the Light Javelin, a Ki Attack that used the Principles of Ki Shaping and Ki Folding to form a throwable Javelin of Ki that could punch through most defenses and even cause opposing Ki Techniques to detonate prematurely.

By the end of that year, I finally received my Steel Amulet with Amethyst Studs and was granted the rank of Elder Brother. The Next Year saw me training in more advanced mystic spells, the Fivefold Adamant Rope, the Spell of Access, which unlocked any door or chest not mystically protected, the Eightfold Mystic Imbuement, which allowed me to infuse Mystical Power into items to effectively temporarily enchant them, and even the Lightning Net, which was another attack spell that cast a net of electricity at the opponent and could once again vary in power depending on how much you put into it. Ki wise, I finally was taught the Blinding Sun Fist and the Breath of Kaz'ro. That happened just before I was sent on my test of Mastery at the End of the Year.

That test was simple. I had to create a Technique and Spell of my own to add to the repertoire of the Temple. Apparently, this was the traditional test of Mastery for those walking both the Warrior's and Sage's Path. The former was simple, as the Temple didn't have a flight technique. Between my Saiyan Instincts and the lectures on Ki Mechanics, plus the fact that I already knew it could be done, I was easily able to cobble together a flight technique, which I called the Sawtooth Ascension Mandala, after the large, three-legged, Archeopteryx-like creatures of the Foothills to the South.

The latter was only marginally more difficult, as I settled on another traversal spell, this one allowing the caster to stick to sheer surfaces like walls and ceilings. Figuring out the mystical formulae to get the spell to work was a bit harder than the Ki Technique, but I managed. The Spell was one I called the Jungle Demon's Crawling Hands, once again after the Centipede-like Thing I had fought in the Jungle.

By the end of the year, I was given my Silver and Lapis Lazuli Medallion, officially welcoming me into the ranks of Masters of the Temple as of my fifth year of residence. Over this fifth year, however, a few things happened aside from my keeping up my training. The first was that I hit my growth spurt. Saiyan Biology was odd in that a Saiyan looked like a child up until they hit their growth spurt, at which point they began to fill out drastically. That growth spurt could happen anywhere between eight and thirteen years old. I was, apparently, an early bloomer. I rapidly gained muscle mass and height, until I stood at two galactic standard meters in height, or roughly six feet, six inches. and weighed in at roughly one-hundred-two galactic standard kilograms, our roughly two-hundred-twenty-five pounds of lean muscle. My hair had grown as well, requiring me to pull it up into a topknot to avoid the shaggy black stuff from falling into my eyes.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that happened in my fifth year. I also heard that something was happening on Planet Nuts from the villagers of Jan'rao Village while I had been sent to deal with a group of Bandits that had been making a nuisance of themselves in the area. The Villagers had themselves heard it from a Starfarer Merchant From Planet Nuts named Peekun. Apparently, part of the Army of Planet Nuts had mutinied against the government under the command of General Amond at the instigation of the Khunds, who had recently suffered a major defeat in their war with the Reach near a Planet named Perressen that wound up shattering the nearby world. The Khunds were trying to make up for lost forces by getting Planet Nuts to join the war on their side using General Amond's Forces as a proxy.

Apparently, General Amond was pretty bloodthirsty, which made him likable to the Khunds, but not so much to anyone else. Accordingly, a bunch of people from Planet Nuts were heading off-world to flee the civil war, especially after the latest massacre at a place called Leguuma City, where General Amond massacred the survivors of the besieged city after he had forced their surrender out of sheer spite for having resisted his capture. Apparently, the government of Planet Nuts had recently sent a plea to the Green Lantern Corps to step in and arrest General Amond, since their forces were unable to capture him thanks to his Khund Bodyguards.

It sounded like if the Green Lanterns did so, the Khunds would be on the backfoot for the rest of the War, and if I knew anything about the Khunds, they'd sue for peace and swallow the lost territory if it meant gaining time to rebuild their forces and hit back harder down the line. It seemed like the war might be coming to an end soon, which would be bad for me since it also meant that Frieza would have the time from the slowdown in the used planet market to look into potential loose ends from before the war, a category which included myself. I would have to leave Suirpalam by the time the ink was dry on any peace agreement, just in case.

Regardless, the Bandits were what I was here to deal with. I managed to track them back to their lair, a small fort that had been abandoned for decades and that they'd taken over to use as a headquarters. Unfortunately, it was as I prepared to raid the fort that the final big thing of my fifth year on Suirpalam happened. Suirpalam's unique lunar cycle meant that it achieved a full moon only once every five years, as I made my way over to the gates of the bandit fort that night, the full moon was, unfortunately, ready to make a reappearance.

It started just as the bandits spotted me strolling up to their fort. A horn blew in the mountains to raise the alarm and I threw my head back to laugh, as none of them would be able to scratch me, even altogether. That proved to be a mistake, as just as I let off a laugh, the cloud cover cleared and the full moon shined down on the mountain plateau the Bandit Fort was situated on. I tried to shut my eyes when I realized what was happening, but it was too late, the Blutz waves had already bathed me in their glow and suddenly, a sensation of electricity went down my spine, freezing me in place as I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

Then my vision flashed red, and I knew nothing but rage. . .

XXXX

When I came to, the sun was just cresting the mountains. A large section of the plateau had caved in, I was naked, and there were dead bodies everywhere. Thankfully, none of them were villagers or innocents, but I couldn't count on that being the case all the time. It was unfortunate, but it could have been much worse. At least I had only slaughtered bandits.

"Ugh, this can't happen again. This time it was only bandits, but I can't take the chance that this could happen again in the middle of random people." I growled to myself.

"I could not agree more." Came an aged voice.

I turned to see Abbot Sri'kayal sitting on a crumbled pile of stones not far away. The Old Man seemed to have a leather backpack sitting next to his impromptu seat. I could only hope he had fresh clothes in there for me, because as proud as I ought to be about my dick size being larger than average this time around, this wasn't the time or place for bragging about that.

"Abbot? How long have you been sitting there?" I questioned.

"Long enough. I sensed a sudden spike in power last evening, though I was locked in debate with the Elders and Masters about the possible nature of such a spike. I unfortunately arrived just in time to watch you fall asleep and de-transform." Answered Abbot Sri'kayal.

"Fantastic." I muttered.

"Do you have a way to stop yourself from such a monstrous transformation?" Queried Abbot Sri'kayal.

"Yeah, there are two ways to keep a Saiyan from Transforming into an Oozaru. The first is to blow up the moon since it's the full moon that stimulates the Oozaru Transformation." I nodded.

"We are not doing that. What is the other way?" Asked Abbot Sri'kayal.

"Surgically removing my tail." I responded.

"I am loathe to perform such an elective surgery when it sounds like the moon is the cause. Could you not simply stay indoors on the night of the full moon? Surely that is a better solution." Frowned Abbot Sri'kayal.

"It's not foolproof. There was supposedly a way to maintain control over yourself while in the Oozaru Form, but only the Elite Class Saiyans knew about it." I explained.

"And they are all dead." Intoned Abbot Sri'kayal.

"Exactly. Much as I hate to say it, surgery on the tail is the only way. No tail means there's nothing for the Full Moon to stimulate in order to force a transformation." I admitted.

"It is a curious thing this transformation, to hinge on such an odd pairing of conditions." Mused Abbot Sri'kayal.

"I don't know how it works, unfortunately. Something to do with Blutz Waves put out by the full moon reacting with enzymes in the tissue of a Saiyan's tail. I'm not a scientist, though." I shrugged.

"Come with me back to the temple. We can perform the procedure there. First, however, you may want to put these on. My people have fur to keep us warm in these mountains, but you have no such luxury." Chuckled Abbot Sri'kayal before reaching into his pack and tossing me the robes he pulled out.

As soon as I was dressed, we headed back and Abbot Sri'kayal fed me some sort of mystic tea that knocked me unconscious. When I awoke, the procedure had been performed and I was without a tail. A small amount of healing liquid had been applied to heal the cuts made to chop my tail off and my waist had been bandaged. I sat upright and spotted Abbot Sri'kayal sitting in a nearby chair. He nodded at me but had a sad look on his face as he did so.

"Welcome back to the waking world, Kali'kala. Unfortunately, I have bad news. The Elders and Masters have voted. Even with this surgery, they feel it is too risky to keep you at the Temple. They feel your journey here is at an end." Informed Abbot Sri'kayal.

"I see." I frowned.

"It is not a black mark on you. You understand this, yes?" Questioned Abbot Sri'kayal.

"I do, and I had been thinking about moving on. It's just. . ." I sighed.

"That this Temple was where you spent the majority of your life?" Queried Abbot Sri'kayal.

"Yeah. It's felt like home these past five years." I nodded.

"It is not just that you transformed into this Oozaru State and destroyed a plateau in your pursuit of the bandits. We rectified that with the operation. You have simply outgrown the temple." Admitted Abbot Sri'kayal.

"I don't believe that." I scoffed.

"No? Then perhaps seeing with your own eyes will help. Do you recall the machine that you arrived with? The Scouter?" Asked Abbot Sri'kayal.

"I do, but what does that have to do with anything?" I questioned.

"We measured your maximum Non-Oozaru power with it. Would you be interested to know what it is?" Queried Abbot Sri'kayal.

"Sure. I suppose I'm interested." I agreed.

"Two-hundred-thirty. Now, here, measure mine." Intoned Abbot Sri'kayal, reaching into a bag tied at his waist and pulling out the Scouter. He handed it to me and I attached it to my face, pressing the buttons to measure the Abbot's Power. As the numbers flashed in front of my face, I felt the Abbot surge his power internally, powering up to his maximum. A few moments later, the scouter beeped and showed a Maximum Power Level of one-hundred-ninety-five.

"Oh." I remarked.

"Indeed. I am widely considered the strongest person on the planet by those in the know. If you are stronger than me, then the Temple can only teach you a little more and it would be building you wide instead of tall. To truly flourish, you would need to leave our world." Nodded Abbot Sri'kayal.

"I see. When must I leave?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning. For now, enjoy dinner with your brothers one final time and know that so long as you carry the Great Kha'zro's teachings with you, you will always be considered a brother." Intoned Abbot Sri'kayal.

And with that, there really was nothing more to say. Dinner that evening was more of a feast than usual, with the cooks having made a wide variety of hearty dishes, with several of my favorites thrown in, such as Five Spice Sprouts and Noodles, Savvana Beast Barbecue which was essentially a local version of Mongolian Korkhog, Sawtooth Noodle Soup which was a type of Chicken Soup, and Mountain Fried Yal'ak, which was essentially a local version of Beef Fried Rice. I ate and drank my fill, all the while reminiscing with the Monks about my time here.

Ultimately, I went to bed with a sense of wistfulness that night. When I awoke, I was given a leather satchel with a change of robes, some local money, and a week's worth of food and sent on my way. My goal was to head to the City of Kha'mo, where there was a small, crude, spaceport for trade with the Starfarers, and hopefully gain passage on a ship to somewhere else. It would be a week-long journey for a normal person, but for me, it took just two days.

When I arrived at the spaceport, I would find out that the Green Lanterns had indeed stepped in to arrest General Amond on Planet Nuts. They were holding him there in a cell that they had constructed with their Power Rings. It seemed as if the Khunds could look to sue for peace at any time, as one of their fleets recently took a pasting at a battle out near Sector Seven-Hundred. It looked as if I had gotten kicked out of the Temple at the right time.

And that serendipity, at least, was good enough to turn my melancholy around for the time being. . .

XXXX

AN: Good news, my fever broke. Unfortunately, my stomach is still all fucked up, but I'm at least over the hump. I should be back to my regular posting schedule in a day or two, which is good since I only have like two more of these pre-written.

So here we have a bit of a time-skippy chapter detailing things like a general overview of Rugulo's Techniques and Spells, his time at the Temple, a bit of background on the morals they instilled in him, along with his growth spurt hitting, and his first and hopefully last, Oozaru Transformation. Just in time too, since it looks like the fast pace of operations that the PTO has been undergoing to keep up with the demand for planets is about to wind down, now that it looks like the Reach and Khunds are about to start peace talks.

Planet Nuts and Amond, you guys might recall as being part of the Tree of Might Movie. Amond was a war criminal from Planet Nuts who got caught and put in prison for a few years only for Turles to bust him out when he planted the Tree of Might on Planet Nuts. Here I have that tied into the Khund-Reach War that's been going on and have the Green Lantern Corps as the ones who caught Amond since the Galactic Patrol effectively can't exist in a setting where the Green Lanterns fill the space cop niche.

At any rate, the next chapter will have Rugulo leaving Suirpalam for somewhere less close to the action and less likely to be checked in on by the Planet Trade Organization now that they'll have time to look in on loose ends.

Stay tuned. . .