Chapter 21 - A Tale of the Past

…

"Superman Comic was a smashing success?" Yamcha read the article and chuckled cheerfully. He would have been surprised if the comics hadn't been a success. However, he couldn't help but feel happy to see Puar living his dream as a famous storyteller.

Unlike most people in this world, Yamcha already knew people would have liked Superman Comics because they were also liked in his last world.

At least everyone would like them until real aliens came around. Because by then, the immersion might break. Superman would seem quite underwhelming if there were people around who could blow up planets. Or maybe that might make the stories even more popular? Yamcha didn't know for sure.

Such thoughts didn't last in his mind for long as he had more important things to do. Like his pokemo- *cough* skill evolving.

[Wolf Fang Fist is ready for Evolution!]

[Possible Evolutions:]

[Exploding Wolf Fang Fist]

[Your technique will have the power to create wolves.]

[Hungry Wolf Fang Fist Wave]

[Shoot a Wolf Fang Fist Ki Wave]

'The descriptions really need to say something more. I'm just choosing these by their names at this point.' Yamcha judged.

He would use these Evolved Skills to fight against opponents in the future. Making a life-or-death decision based on so few clues was stressful. But Yamcha already had the Kamehameha Wave if he wanted a beam attack, and having another one wouldn't be that useful. So he chose the Exploding Wolf Fang Fist.

[Exploding Wolf Fang Fist - Lvl 1/50]

[Can create corporal projections with Ki and give it semi-intelligence to follow basic orders with Magic Power. The higher the level, the less Magic Power and Ki will take to create the wolves.]

Yamcha immediately used the Skill, formed a life-like wolf with Ki, and used Magic Power to connect it. He could sense that he needed merely one thought to give orders to the wolf.

The created beast looked like any normal wolf and was about the same size too. But its eyes were shining blue like he was the Avatar, master of all four elements.

'A good technique,' Yamcha noted while looking at his depleting Ki and MP. 'But it takes too much Ki and MP to create even one of those beasts. At least until I become stronger.'

But he couldn't keep the smile off his face. At this point, evolving any skill was fun for Yamcha. He would have done this a lot more if he wasn't worried about the future.

His perfect life would be to study Ki Techniques and Evolving Skills all day long, with a loving wife who would cook for him.

What was left for him to do was now just train until the 22nd Tenkaichi Bodukai came around. Keep in contact with Bulma as she will build his Gravity Machine and get ready for space.

'I also need to find the attack pod Goku came in. Kami's ship isn't the best transportation vehicle for someone who doesn't know the Namekian Language.'

Suddenly Yamcha got an idea. He might not be able to get to Kami. The Namekian might not even decide to teach him. But he didn't need him to.

Taking out the dragon radar from his inventory, Yamcha powered up and flew off.

…

It took surprisingly very little time for him to reach Korin's Tower. Though what was surprising was that not only Goku but Roshi and Krillin were all there. What was Krillin doing here? Yamcha had many questions but decided that they weren't too important right now.

"Goku!" Yamcha called out and landed on the tower. He then glanced at the cat-like creature. "Sup, Korin, got any Senzu Beans?"

Korin tilted its head and didn't say anything. Yamcha continued and approached his Saiyan friend. "So, Goku, can you lend me your dragon ball?"

Though Yamcha was asking, he didn't know if Goku would be willing to depart with what he thought was his grandfather's soul so easily. Especially since now, he might not even meet grandpa Gohan in Baba's Tournament. Yamcha was willing to use some underhanded means to get the-

"Sure," the Saiyan smiled so innocently that Yamcha felt an arrow of guilt stab through his heart.

'If Goku were a little more devious, I wouldn't feel so guilty about even thinking of going behind his back and taking the dragon ball.' He had planned to replace the original four-star dragon ball with one Bulma would have made for him.

In his last life, Yamcha had worked in a cut-throat corporate environment. He was good at it and climbed high on the ladder of power before dying. He was still in his twenties at the time and had been in positions those double his age would envy.

But that kind of work wasn't good for the soul. No matter how much someone uses the 'out of sight and out of mind' method of doing things, those situations are eventually bound to catch up with you.

Yamcha stared at the four-star dragon ball Goku had given him, then looked at his friend's innocent smile. Though he had the strength many times that of a human and could lift boulders weighing tons. Yamcha felt the four-star dragon ball was heavier than one might think of its size. Or maybe it wasn't the dragon ball itself that was heavy.

The world around him disappeared. He no longer cared about the suspicious look Korin was sending him or the whispers between Krillin and Roshi he could barely hear despite his high Perception stat.

For the first time in both lives, Yamcha hesitated to decide between the right thing and the most efficient one.

It always came to that analogy: If you could, would you cheat in a basketball game where you would get ten thousand dollars if you won?

The answer was always obvious to Yamcha. Having already lived a life beyond their twenties and well into adulthood, he wasn't a kid anymore. There wasn't change he could experience at that age. Old habits die hard, and he wasn't going to change now; at least, that was how Yamcha saw things.

He had been willing to take a whole other guy's identity over despite not being him or having any of the loser's memories.

The honest working man is always a sucker; that's what his father always said in his last life.

A drunk man whose wife cheated and left him, a man broken by life. That was his lesson when you play chess against someone who doesn't follow the rules. Even if you're the best, you will always lose.

Yamcha… No, Liam always hated his father. He had tried working honestly. But life is a funny thing, and when he was dishonest, Liam always had it easiest in life during those times. Even girlfriends seemed to love him more when he cheated behind their backs.

He stared at the four-star dragon ball, looking at it with such intensity as if it had killed his family. In the end, Yamcha smiled and threw the dragon ball back into Goku's hands. "Hold onto that for us. We might need it at a later date."

With that, Yamcha flew off the tower and immediately shot up like a rocket toward Kami's Tower.

Was this the right decision? Maybe, no one knew if their decision was right or wrong until they saw the results of it. It was like that Chinese farmer story.

Yamcha wasn't stupid, and he knew the easiest decision would have been to have the dragon balls wish him to learn Namekian, which wouldn't have wasted time, and it would've been useful both to pilot Kami's spaceship and make the wish with the Namekian dragon balls.

He wouldn't have even let Goku's dragon ball get away. With his speed, he could grab the four-star dragon ball as it turned to stone after the wish before it could fly off. Also, if Shenron existed, the wish to learn Namekian would be so mild that it wouldn't contribute much to Omega Shenron's appearance.

He had everything planned. Like always, whether he liked it or not, Yamcha would have done what was needed.

Why involve emotions in this? The answer was simple: because he wanted to.

'Fuck doing the easy thing or trying to turn off emotions when making decisions. I'm Liam, and I'm going to fucking enjoy the hell out of this world!'

A burst of unknown feelings raised in his chest. Like always, Gamer's Mind was about to take effect but stopped mid-way. It was strange as the familiar wave of calmness washed over him, but Yamcha was still excited.

'I think, therefore I am. Gamer's Interface is my tool. It doesn't matter how it came into existence or if someone else made it. If some ROB got me this and tries to get in the way of my enjoyment, then I will kill them too.'

For the first time since coming to this world, Yamcha knew what he truly was. He was a simple man who would chase after his own joy and happiness selfishly, no matter the cost. This might not be a noble statement in the eyes of others, but it was a statement true to himself.

He had been avoiding Kami because they feared they might try to read his mind. He didn't care much about what they might see, and he was worried about what Kami wouldn't be able to see…

Since when did he become a man afraid of his own shadow? Yamcha wondered as a smirk made its way onto his face. He was trying so hard to avoid mistakes, which in itself was a mistake.

Eventually, he would have to meet Kami, and he would rather get acquainted with the alien slug-man sooner rather than later.

Kami had seen many people throughout his long life. Warriors, priests, killers, emperors, kings, kind men, evil men, lucky idiots, naive fools, and smart schemers. But every now and then, a new type of person he had never seen comes.

He had been aware of the special young man flying toward his tower for quite a while now. Ever since he had used the dragon balls. But the young man, Yamcha, had completed his wish so fast that Kami hadn't seen the actual wish. It couldn't have been an item, as even capsules couldn't store things so fast, and Kami would have been able to see the smoke afterward.

He had asked Shenron, who usually hibernates in Earth's core. But the dragon hadn't revealed the wish and had been strangely secretive about this. But Kami knew the dragon knew something he wasn't saying. Shenron had seemed scared, no matter how well he had tried to hide it, he had seen something about the young man named Yamcha.

But such thoughts were for another time as Yamcha landed on the lookout. Kami got a better look at him and couldn't help but think of how the young man felt familiar. Like Shenron, but different. It was a very mysterious feeling. Had Yamcha wished Shenron to make a change to his body? Kami didn't know, and decided to shelve such thoughts for now and sensed the young man's power.

Yamcha was stronger than any human currently on earth. When going all out in the tournament, Kami would put Yamcha's power around that of Demon King Piccolo. Having seen what he could do, Kami was quite confident that Yamcha could likely almost double his current output, bringing the young man to about his level. But his power didn't matter, with Popo around Kami wasn't too worried about Yamcha attacking him.

"Welcome to the lookout, young man," Kami greeted him.

Since they were so close physically, Kami contemplated the ethical question of mind-reading someone. He wasn't usually the type to do so, as generally, he could tell someone's nature by simply feeling their aura. Korin had gotten that trick down a while ago.

Most people who knew of them assumed Kami was the oldest one of the two. But that was quite the opposite, as Korin was over twice his age.

"Thank you for having me," the young man replied. With the way he moved and looked around like a curious child, many would have made the mistake of thinking the young man in front of Kami was a naive youngster.

But there was a melody to his movements, rigid but fluid simultaneously. As if he felt awkward but confident, scared but powerful. Kami didn't know what to make of him. "You're welcome, young man. I see that you already knew of our hideout in the sky. May I ask how you learned of this?"

"Well, you already asked," Yamcha chuckled. He didn't seem to take the question as offensive. "But I learned it from a fortune teller who sells golden snakes."

That was confusing, and Kami didn't think anyone like that even existed on earth. But despite his title as God, he wasn't omniscient or omnipresent. Kami was one person and was quite busy looking after earth to ensure it didn't get hit by huge meteors or some big storm that didn't destroy the planet while keeping the humans, humanoids, and demons in check.

On top of that, not being able to tell whether the man in front of him was lying made Kami anxious enough to extend his mind-reading abilities toward the young man.

But as his spiritual energy got closer, Kami winced as it felt like he suddenly bumped face-first into an invisible glass around Yamcha's memories and thoughts.

He had never seen something like this before, which was becoming a repeating answer as he investigated Yamcha.

Despite trying numerous times, Kami couldn't break through the invisible barrier. By Yamcha's reaction, he didn't seem to notice his intrusions either. So Kami came to a sharp conclusion, this wasn't Yamcha consciously stopping mind reading, but some kind of subconscious magical defense.

After a dozen seconds of awkward silence, as he tried to get a read on what kind of person Yamcha was, Kami finally decided to give up and asked the young man directly. "If you don't mind me asking you another question. Why're you here, young man?"

You could cut the tension with a knife. Kami had no doubt this was one-sided. Yamcha acted and looked all friendly. Even with all the awkwardness, he looked relaxed. So the only thing Kami had against him was that he couldn't read his mind.

"I am what most would call a magic enthusiast," Yamcha says, waving his hand, and an enormous compressed Magic Power flows out of his hand and creates a purple flying carpet with jitters of blue. "So I was hoping you could teach me something new?"

No, Kami didn't even need to think of the answer.

He wouldn't trust such power with full certainty to someone he couldn't trust. While Yamcha seemed like a good young man, Kami knew mistakes could lead to devastation. He was already responsible for Demon King Piccolo's existence, and the last thing he would want was to create another problem for Earth.

He didn't think Yamcha was a problem and even seemed like a good young man. But sometimes you could never know with people, and Kami wouldn't take these chances.

Still, he wanted to break the news to Yamcha softly, so he lied. "My abilities aren't magical, and I know no magic. These are simply abilities granted to anyone who swears to become God and look over the planet's population."

"Oh?" Yamcha's eyes shined with excitement. "Can I become the Earth's Guardian then?"

"No," Kami refused him without a second thought. The next guardian of Earth had to be someone he knew deeply and would care about the world greatly. "Currently, there's no need for a new Earth's Guardian. But when one is needed, I will keep in mind to notify you for the competition."

No, he wasn't even going to call him. Also, deciding the world's guardian in a competition? That's stupid. It's like deciding the leader of a country in a popularity contest, not skill. So Kami was going to choose his next successor by himself. But Yamcha didn't need to know that.

"I understand," the young martial artist sighed and looked defeated. "Then can I at least get some books about long-lost languages? I'm somewhat of a language enthusiast too."

Kami contemplated this. It was no trouble for him to do that. But he wanted to know more about Yamcha, someone so mysterious that he barely knew about him. But in his over four hundred years of life, Kami knew that being controlling and trying to know everything would end up in disaster, he had seen many great people fall into that folly. "As long as you promise to help save Earth once, I will give you all the language books you need. From lost language to things you could never even imagine."

Yamcha glanced at Kami for a couple of seconds longer than usual. Then he turned back to looking around and shrugged. "Sure. But you should ask me another favor since saving earth was something I would have done anyway."

'Maybe I'm so used to reading people that I had forgotten that I lost sight of the goal and immediately assumed the young man was here to trick him.' Thought Kami, so he decided to get rid of his prejudice and accepted the terms. "Okay. But you will owe me one for later. Mr Popo! Bring out what the young man has requested."

As soon as Popo's name was mentioned, the young man turned and looked at his assistant bringing a huge pile of books.

There was cautiousness and even a trace of fear in Yamcha's eyes? Kami found this weird as Popo was always a very soft and gentle gentleman. What got Yamcha so frightened?

"T -Thanks," Yamcha nodded, uncertain, as he took the books and checked them one by one. Kami kept an eye on what he chose, but it was mostly long and ancient languages.

The Namekian Language book was amongst them, but Yamcha threw it by the side, Kami noted.

The Namekian Language book was the most important among them, and he knew Yamcha had been close to his spaceship. Popo had even gone so far as to send a group of dinosaurs to draw him away. It hadn't worked.

But Kami wasn't too worried about it as Yamcha had never entered or even interacted with the spaceship. There's no way for him to know that Namekian was the language used to operate the spaceship.

Namekian was the language of Kami's home world. Something he didn't know the name of. He wondered how that place might look or if other people of his race were out there.

Yamcha felt his heart beat erratically as Popo handed him the books.

'Fuck, I really hope this isn't the abridged version of Popo!' He prayed within his heart. He had forgotten how the usual Popo was in Dragon Ball, but he was reminded by the gentle dark humanoid.

'No, no, I need to be calm about this. If this were the Cthulhu version of Popo, I would be dead by now.' Yamcha wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he put the books in a giant sack.

He wasn't going to show Kami his inventory ability, though he wasn't sure if the Earth's Guardian might know about his secret. Hidden cards are best kept close to one's chest.

From his casual conversation with Kami, Yamcha had gotten quite a lot of info from the old namekian. Kami couldn't see through him, meaning Gamer's Mind could resist his power. The old namekian can't confirm something large-scale, like an old woman selling golden snakes; he needed to be specifically looking for something and knowing the general place, Yamcha noted.

From what he got, Kami hadn't observed him, which was something Yamcha had been dreading.

Maybe that was just his fears and pessimistic mind, always thinking of the worst situation. After all, how could earth's God have nothing better to do than observe him constantly?

After all, the times Yamcha was worried about Kami seeing something was less than 1% of the time. Most of the time, Yamcha was doing something boring like training or just looking around, which was bound to be excruciatingly boring for someone like Kami.

A/N: If you read between the lines during Yamcha's conversation with Kami, and know that Yamcha was actually after the Namekian books from the beginning, it will paint a different picture of the conversation.

P.S: For anyone who doesn't remember Chapter 1, Liam is the MC's name before he transmigrated.

P.P.S: Also, the last part where Yamcha isn't influenced by the Gamer's Mind isn't some random power-up Shounen Moment: where somehow, the Gamer's Mind didn't work. Everything has an explanation.

P.P.P.S: If anyone is curious about the Chinese Farmer Story, you can google: Chinese Farmer Story. It's a short and cautionary tale about assumptions.

P.P.P.P.S: Does anyone read the Author's Notes? Well, I never do when reading a story…