I woke up in a strange, dark area. In a mere moment, I knew I was no longer in my room as I saw no ceiling above my head, but instead what seemed like an endless void. I slowly turned my head to the side to witness the same exact, never-ending darkness.
I slowly pushed myself up, only to realize that below me was nothing as well, but at the same time, I was standing on something solid. Despite the surreal event, I felt calm. It felt strangely neutral, almost as if I was at home. And then, as I once again scanned around me, only to find nothing at all, a voice came. It came from no direction, but at the same time, it echoed from every possible direction.
"A vivid enjoyer has finally been selected. A fortunate player, who already knows how the events would normally play out. I wonder how you would alter everything with your presents."
I tried to speak up, but although my mouth opened, I could produce no sound at all.
"Let's see how the Watchers select the player's race and time of arrival. Interesting, votes are coming in, and most seem to be leaning towards quite the favorite race."
After the second coming of the voice, something unexpected happened: a system panel from those novels and comics I have read appeared right before my eyes.
"Your race was chosen. 75% Saiyan, 25% unknown!"
" Starting power level adjusted: 15,000"
"
Skill unlocked: Thought acceleration.
A skill capable of stopping time, allowing the user to think. Once activated, the user can only think and will be unable to move!
"
The panels vanished one after another; under normal circumstances, I would have been confused, maybe even scared, but for some unknown reason, I still felt calm, as if it was nothing more than just a morning walk.
"Let us hope that a player will provide sufficient entertainment and twists. Remember, Watchers from the Beyond, you can always spice things up a bit!"
The moment the last echoes of the voice had died down, I found myself lying on the ground outside. The transition happened so fast that I didn't even notice I was lying; I still thought I was standing.
There was still something that I just noticed after a few moments. I had three strange bars in the top right corner of my vision, and no matter where I looked, they stayed there perfectly. The first one was red, the second one was blue, and finally the last one was green.
Everything happened so fast and seemed so surreal, yet I knew it was real; however, finally, as the previously transpired events slowly seeped into me, new questions began to swell up within me.
Saiyan, that only occurred in the Dragon Ball series. In that 15,000, my power level would be so negligible when I last read the manga, even fodders had more power than that.
I slowly sat up and looked around. Much to my surprise, I saw characters I recognised, and even the situation seemed quite familiar. On my right, Vegeta sat on a rock wearing his good old Saiyan armour. In front of us were some of the other Z-fighters. Krilin Piccolo, Tien, and even Kid Gohan. The moment I noticed Gohan, I could instantly see where and when I was, at least to some degree.
"Notice, Vegeta has been strengthened by the Watchers."
A new message popped up just as I finally realized that I was somewhere in the middle of the Vegeta saga, and we were most likely waiting for the return of Goku. As soon as I read the message, I quickly looked at Vegeta, and I noticed a number appear above him shortly after that. The text stated 20,000. I have read the manga and watched the anime multiple times, but his power level should be 18,000.
But then it clicked. It was what that strange voice stated; whoever was watching us had already spiced it up for me. Although based on my situation, I was just quite formidable warrior under Vegeta, he was still stronger than me, not even taking combat experience into account. No matter how I look at things, I need to go against him, as he might be able to kill Goku.
Keeping the main cast alive, or at least making sure that they can be revived, was the most important task I had before him. Especially if they decided to strengthen Frieza as well. Although Vegeta being stronger could be beneficial later, it is still quite a headache now.
Since I didn't know how much time had gone by since the wait began, I decided to keep resting and tried looking into the system I had. It was strangely well integrated, or connected to me, as with a single thought, I could open it.
"
Name: Artich
BP: 15,000
Potential: 7
Aptitude: 0.0256
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Spirit: 1
"
With a single glance, strangely, I understood everything. Strength increased my raw power. Dexterity increased my stamina, which was most likely the green bar in the top left corner of my vision. Constitution represented my health, which was most likely the red line. And finally, Spirit was responsible for my Ki, which could only be the blue indicator.