Duran adjusted his gravity limiter to 40× gravity and entered deep meditation.
All along, he had believed the perpetual-energy engine that generated endless ki existed somewhere inside his body.
But during this meditation, he discovered something surprising.
The engine was not inside his body at all.
It was inside his soul.
Its appearance resembled the black holes shown in science documentaries, but unlike a black hole, this engine did not consume anything. Instead, it continuously generated endless ki for Duran.
When Duran finally woke from meditation, more than a year had passed.
Vegeta had already left Earth.
Krillin, Gohan, and Bulma had already departed for Planet Namek.
Duran cursed under his breath.
He quickly grabbed his stored Senzu Beans, rushed to the hospital to find Goku, and decided to board the spaceship heading to Namek.
During the journey, Duran entered meditation again.
But this time he warned Goku to wake him when they arrived.
As for the risk of energy backlash or loss of control?
That didn't matter.
At worst, he could just eat a Senzu Bean.
"Duran, aren't you hungry? You've been sitting there for a long time."
Under 100× gravity, Duran finally felt some pressure. Normally he trained under only 40× gravity.
He shook his head.
"I've reached my limit. I need a battle… a battle to the death."
"So when we land, let's split up."
Goku looked at him and smiled.
"Oh? Good luck."
Duran sensed Frieza's ki and flew toward it.
He knew he needed a chance to break and rebuild himself.
If he wanted to surpass enemies like Cell and Majin Buu in the future, this was his only opportunity.
So he decided to gamble.
Frieza was notorious for being ruthless and merciless.
Fighting Frieza was practically suicide.
And that was exactly what Duran intended.
Darkness surrounded him.
Although he was still on Namek, Duran felt as if he were deep in the universe.
Frieza's Supernova attack struck him.
His body was instantly reduced to dust.
But Duran knew he wasn't dead.
The Dragon Balls could not revive him either.
Because with the help of his perpetual-energy engine, his soul remained perfectly intact.
This had been his plan all along.
Destroy the body and rebuild it from scratch.
Now his task was to reconstruct a new body.
Meanwhile, Goku was locked in a fierce battle with Frieza's third form.
Namek was on the verge of destruction.
Then Krillin was killed.
Goku's rage exploded.
The legendary warrior appeared.
Super Saiyan.
"I'm angry now, Frieza!"
Goku's power level soared beyond one hundred million.
At the same time, Duran continued reconstructing his body.
Piece by piece, he gathered energy.
His new body would be a pure energy body.
Eventually, Namek was destroyed.
Duran's soul lost its anchor and drifted into space.
The universe's energy was chaotic, but he had all the time he needed to slowly gather it.
Five years later…
His body was finally complete.
But he had become lost in space, unable to find Earth.
Fortunately, Frieza's influence once spread across the universe.
Duran found a planet that knew about Frieza, followed the trail, and after another half year—
Finally returned to Earth.
By the time he arrived, the timeline had already passed the Cell Games and was approaching the Majin Buu saga.
Duran located the time machine used by Cell and brought it to Bulma's house.
Using the advanced technology he had obtained from Dr. Norimaki, he asked Bulma to modify the time machine.
Even though Bulma was still young, Duran trusted her far more than Dr. Norimaki.
The things Norimaki built were simply too dangerous.
While Bulma upgraded the machine, Duran returned to Kame House to retrieve the Senzu Beans and seeds he had stored there.
He also gathered supplies and prepared for departure.
Duran didn't know where he would go next.
The time machine had been transformed into a space-time breakthrough device, but no one knew exactly what it would do.
However, with his current strength, Duran no longer feared the unknown.
Carrying everything he had gathered in the Dragon Ball world, Duran waved goodbye to his friends.
"I've backed up all the photos from my past travels onto the computer at Kame House."
"Goodbye everyone. I'm continuing my journey."
"Take care, Duran," they said.
"Come back and visit us sometime."
"Yeah. Goodbye."
Even though he had only spent a short time in this world, Duran had learned countless things:
From Korin and Master Roshi
From Krillin and Son Goku
From Master Mutaito
From Dr. Norimaki
From Bulma
And even from Arale
All of them had shaped his journey.
And so—
Duran left the Dragon Ball world.
His next journey was about to begin.
This time…
His adventure would no longer be human.