Four girls sat cross-legged on the wooden courtyard deck, their eyes closed tight.
"Remember what I told you..." Merun said, pacing slowly in front of them with his hands tucked behind his back. "Ki isn't magic or some esoteric effect, and it isn't something you pull out of thin air. It's an energy source that already exists inside your body... think of it as your ultimate life force."
Silence settled over the courtyard again as all four sat motionlessly.
"Be completely still, breathe slowly, and focus on the sensation of warmth throughout your body."
Underneath their closed eyelids, all four faces creased into visible expressions of deep confusion.
For young martial artists, focusing on something that was "already there" was far harder than it sounded. Having only been Martial Squires for a few years, their entire training revolved around tangible physical mechanics—kinetic alignment, muscular contraction, bone density, and breath control among many other physical things.
Asking them to sense an abstract source of energy without a physical reference point was like asking someone who's color-blind to see a color they couldn't see.
Merun stopped pacing and looked toward the engawa, where Budo sat quietly with a steaming mug of tea.
"Father, are you sure you don't want to join in?" Merun asked with a light grin.
Budo let out a heavy sigh, taking a slow sip. "I'm still processing everything you told us last night, son... Maybe I'm just getting old, but this Ki business sounds a bit too complicated for these old bones. For now, I'll just watch."
"No problem, Father. We've got plenty of time."
"Shhh!" Mikan hissed from the floor, her brows furrowed in intense concentration. "Can't you see I'm trying to find my inner spark, little brother?!"
Merun chuckled, miming zipping his mouth shut as he stepped back.
It was extremely early in the morning following Merun's life-altering confession. After spending half the night answering their endless questions about alien planets, high-gravity worlds, and the secrets of his tail, his family had quickly moved on onto the most practical takeaway:
Ki could be learned.
They were martial artists to their very core. The moment they heard about Ki, its properties, its limitless potential, and the fact that humans could harness it just as well through proper training, their eyes had practically lit up. They immediately demanded he teach them.
The existence of Bankei and the Oni Clan's "Shadow Dragon Energy" was proof enough that Ki already existed in Gaia—it just hadn't been systematically categorized or trained by martial artists.
There was only one problem: Merun had no idea how to actually teach it.
He didn't want to disappoint them, but his own knowledge came from fighting by instinct and remembering the anime.
Taking a quiet breath, Merun crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and retreated directly into his mind palace.
His mental awareness zoomed past the familiar scenery of his constructed village, coming to a stop before his old apartment door. He opened it, greeted the tiny, fuzzy form of Mimi, and placed her gently on top of his head as he pulled open a drawer full of familiar manga volumes.
He flipped through the pages frantically. "Come on... how did Gohan explain it again?"
He paused at the chapter where Gohan trained Videl. He scanned the panel, only to feel a imaginary vein pop on his temple.
"Damn it, Toriyama off-screened the entire fundamental part!"
The manga literally skipped from Videl sitting confusedly to her floating in the air a few panels later. It gave zero practical instruction on how an ordinary human actually felt their Ki for the very first time.
Opening his eyes back in the real world, Merun sighed quietly. "Well, that was useless."
Snapping his eyes open back in the real world, Merun looked at the four girls sitting silently in front of him.
If standard meditation takes weeks of blind searching... is there a faster way? he pondered.
How did Bankei do it? How do you force a body to recognize its own energy?
Wait... external stimulation! A lightbulb went off in Merun's head.
"Alright, change of plans," Merun announced, standing up. "I just thought of a faster way."
All of them opened their eyes—except Ichigo, who stayed locked in her quiet meditative state, determined to find it naturally.
"What is it?" Ringo asked, rubbing her stiff neck.
Merun walked over to Ringo and extended his hand. "Give me your palm."
Ringo offered her hand without hesitation. Merun reached out with his other hand and gently pricked the tip of her index finger with a quick flick of his fingernail, drawing a tiny droplet of blood.
Ringo raised an eyebrow. "What's this for?"
"Close your eyes," Merun instructed softly. "And focus every ounce of your attention directly on the wound."
Ringo grumbled slightly but complied, shutting her eyes tightly.
Merun hovered his hand a millimeter over her palm. Focusing his Ki, he released a tiny, controlled stream of warm, restorative energy directly into her cut.
WHOOSH...
Ringo's breath hitched. Her body twitched slightly.
Huh...? That warm feeling...
Before she could fully grasp it, the sensation vanished.
She opened her eyes, looking up in disappointment. "Hey! Why'd you stop?"
Merun grinned, wiping away the tiny smear of blood. "Because the cut is already healed, big sister. That was Ki restoration. It's not magic—it simply primes and accelerates your body's natural cell regeneration. When I use it, it looks instantaneous because of my Saiyan metabolism, but the energy itself comes from the exact same source."
Ringo stared at her completely unblemished finger, her eyes widening as the realization hit her.
"Okay, okay, fine!" Ringo snapped, shoving her hand right back into his face. "Do it again! One more time, I was so close!"
Before Merun could even reach out to prick her again, Ringo dug her sharp fingernails directly into her own palm, dragging a deep, bloody scratch across her skin without even flinching.
Merun's jaw dropped. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"I needed more time!" Ringo gritted out with a fierce, excited grin. "Quick, do it again before it stops stinging!"
Merun facepalmed, but quickly hovered his hand over her bloody palm, channeling a steady, controlled stream of warm Ki directly into the open cut.
Ringo closed her eyes instantly. This time, with a deeper injury, the flow of Ki was unmistakable.
She felt the compression of that warm, pulsing energy—it felt alive, humming like a tiny, vibrating current. After a few seconds, she realized the feeling didn't just exist on the wound. She traced the energy as it naturally echoed back through her body's nerve pathways. She felt it travel up her wrist, pulse through her inner elbow, glide past her shoulder, and resonate directly within her heart.
Her breath smoothed out completely. The moment her cut sealed, she released Merun's wrist, staying cross-legged with a serene, glowing expression, entirely locked into tracing that internal rhythm.
She actually caught the trail, Merun thought, genuinely impressed by her raw instinct.
Feeling proud of his breakthrough method, Merun turned around to check on the others, only to freeze dead in his tracks.
Both Mikan and Inyen were holding out their right hands toward him—palms slashed wide open and dripping blood onto the courtyard.
Mikan grinned mischievously. "I made an extra deep cut! I'm going to need way more time than Ringo to study it, hehe!"
Inyen nodded deadpan, her voice completely serious. "My cut is deeper than hers. Heal me next."
"The heck?! Don't just go slashing yourselves!" Merun yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Crazy!"
Despite his complaints, Merun immediately stepped forward, placing his hands over their palms as the soothing golden light of his Ki erupted once more, guiding his family into their very first steps toward mastering the power of the Saiyans.