One day, as Beerus was napping on his beach chair, he suddenly sensed a Ki Blast hurtling toward his head. His eyes snapped open.
Crack!
Before the Ki Blast could even get close, it was disintegrated by the destructive energy radiating from Beerus's body.
"Is using destruction energy all you know how to do, Lord Beerus? Why don't you face me head-on if you've got the guts!"
Gran appeared in a flash beside Beerus and kicked his beach chair, shattering it to pieces.
Beerus, of course, had dodged the attack. He stared at his ruined chair, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
Don't get angry. This is the disciple I chose. His talent is immense. Don't get angry!
"Lord Beerus, come and fight me!"
Gran beckoned to Beerus with his finger. Not content with just that, he then stomped on the broken remains of the chair a couple of times for good measure.
"You're asking for it, aren't you? Fine, I'll indulge you!"
Beerus could no longer hold back. After suppressing his power to match Gran's level, he twisted his body and vanished.
Boom!
Boom!
Fierce collisions echoed from the sky above, the shockwaves from their blows radiating outwards.
"I'm really at my wits' end with these two!"
Whis, who was enjoying his afternoon tea on the other side of the lake, instantly formed a transparent, ten-meter-wide protective barrier around himself.
"Lord Beerus, eat my kick!"
Using the rebound from a previous blow, Gran launched a counter-clockwise kick at Beerus. He had been in the God of Destruction's world for a year and a half, and his power level had naturally risen to 700,000. This single kick contained all his strength.
"You're still too green!"
Beerus raised a hand and gave a gentle push to the side. Although he was using the same level of power, the motion was incredibly strange. There was no loud crash; an invisible power somehow dissipated Gran's force.
"This is combat technique, this is combat experience. Without having gone through thousands of battles, you can't possibly understand these things," Beerus said, retreating a short distance. He placed one hand behind his back, seemingly intending to fight Gran with only one hand. He chuckled, "You should probably use the results of your past year and a half of training!"
In Beerus's eyes, Gran had already achieved the "Semi-State of Selfless." While his foundational combat instincts—his power, reaction time, techniques, and awareness—were still weak, the "Semi-State of Selfless" could connect them, giving him an embryonic form of Ultra Instinct.
"You infuriating Lord Beerus!"
Seeing that Beerus wanted him to use his budding Ultra Instinct while he himself would only use pure strength, Gran gritted his teeth, and his expression suddenly became incomparably calm.
Voom!
A silver light shimmered around him, his hair turned a pale silver, and an ethereal aura swept across the sky.
On the ground, Whis set down his teacup, his expression turning serious.
"Lord Beerus, be careful!"
"Come on!"
Gran moved.
A silver streak cut through the sky as Gran launched the first attack. Straight punches, sweeping arms, palm strikes, leg sweeps... every movement was filled with a natural grace.
Faced with Gran's storm-like assault, Beerus didn't use any power-ups or special abilities. He responded with an equal amount of pure strength. To say he was "responding" was generous; it was more like he was guiding Gran's moves. Otherwise, even with the same power level, Beerus would have beaten him senseless. The main issue was that Gran's bodily instincts were still too weak to match his "Semi-State of Selfless."
Within seconds, the two had exchanged over a hundred blows, the visible shockwaves of their impacts spreading out in all directions. Fortunately, this was the God of Destruction's world; Gran's power was nowhere near enough to cause any serious damage.
After twenty seconds, Gran's attack speed began to slow.
"It seems that with his current power, he can only maintain that state for a short time," Whis, on the ground, shook his head.
Ultimately, Gran had only mastered his own power and achieved the "Semi-State of Selfless." In the year and a half he had been here, he hadn't specifically trained his strength. His power was still too low, and maintaining that state for twenty seconds was already impressive.
"Let's end this. Get down!"
In the sky, Beerus caught Gran's small fist with one hand and sent a kick at him.
BAM!!!
Gran crashed down by the lake, sending up a cloud of dust.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Gran stood up, clutching his stomach. Seeing Beerus descend, he complained resentfully, "You're so strong, but you couldn't even go a little easy on me!"
"..." Beerus's face was dark. He retorted, "All talk and no game. I'm not talking about anyone else, I'm talking about you!"
"You... Fine! You're not getting any dinner tonight!"
"You dare!"
A vein throbbed on Beerus's forehead. This kid's talent was immense, and his cooking was superb, but he was also incredibly infuriating.
"Alright, can you two stop bickering all day?!" Whis walked over.
"Hmph!"
"Hmph!"
The big and the small both crossed their arms and turned their heads away from each other.
Whis: "..."
He found it strange. The two had become incredibly close, to the point where you could say they were inseparable. But... why did they argue all the time? Was this just how they interacted? How peculiar.
"Gran, what did you learn from this battle?" Whis asked, looking at the little one before him.
Gran glanced at Beerus before answering, "Although I've controlled my power, I still make too many unnecessary movements in battle, which wastes a lot of stamina."
Whis nodded. "And?"
"In the end, it's because I haven't fought enough. Compared to Lord Beerus, my combat awareness, techniques, and experience... are still too weak!"
"At least you're self-aware," Beerus interjected from the side.
Gran said irritably, "Lord Beerus, can you please not talk?"
"..."
Whis rubbed his forehead, exasperated. "Alright, stop arguing. Is there anything else?"
"And also... my power is still too weak. It can't support me in a prolonged fight." Gran fell into thought.
Six months ago, he had actually asked Whis if it was time to start training his strength. But Whis had replied that he wasn't familiar enough with the second stage of mental fortitude and needed to continue training his mind.
"Excellent. I didn't expect that just a short battle with Lord Beerus would allow you to see your own shortcomings," Whis said, his tone full of admiration.
Beerus also gave a slight nod. The kid's comprehension was as monstrous as ever.
Whis continued, "Your power is indeed not strong enough, but compared to your state of mind, your mind is more important. That's why I had you train it for another six months! Now, your mental training has hit a bottleneck, and it will be difficult to improve in the short term. It's time for you to start training your power."
This was the plan Whis had laid out long ago. First, have Gran master his own power, then train his state of mind. After that would come power, combat techniques, combat awareness, and combat instincts... and finally, dimensional level and the laws of nature. Of course, there was an even deeper level of training, but that would have to wait until Gran reached Beerus's level.
"Then how should I train my power?" Gran asked excitedly.
Although his current power was decent, measuring at 700,000, that wasn't even enough to touch Frieza. And Frieza was just the first major boss in the Dragon Ball story!
"Simple."
With that, Whis waved his staff, and a set of bulky clothes instantly appeared on Gran.
Thud!
The moment the clothes materialised, Gran was slammed to the ground. He recognised the outfit. It was the same type of weighted clothing Whis had given Goku and Vegeta when they came to train.
"So... heavy!" Gran gritted his teeth. He felt as if every cell in his body had been shackled with weights. His power was also suppressed, and the sudden gravity made it difficult even to stand up.
"Hahaha!" Seeing the kid's miserable state, Beerus laughed gleefully. "That's what you get for annoying me all the time! Serves you right!"
"Damn... you! When I have the time, I'm going to make you a meal of stinky tofu, Lord Beerus!" Gran growled, still pressed to the ground.
Whis and Beerus exchanged a look. What kind of delicacy is stinky tofu?
If it's a delicacy, why does it have the word 'stinky' in it? Beerus suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Alright!" What changed the subject? "You'll wear this outfit for the time being. I will create a training plan for you. The gravity multiplier will adjust automatically as your strength increases, so you don't need to worry."
???
Gran suddenly noticed something was off about Whis's tone. It sounded like something you'd say before leaving.
"What are you two up to?"
"Oh, you noticed?" Whis glanced at Beerus, signalling for him to speak.
Beerus cleared his throat twice. "You should know the duties of a God of Destruction, right?"
The duties of a God of Destruction? In the universe, the Gods of Destruction and the Supreme Kais were opposing forces—not enemies, but counterparts who maintained the balance of the universe. One managed destruction, the other creation. The duty of a God of Destruction was to destroy unqualified planets and the ultimate evils of the universe...
Lying on the ground, Gran frowned, then quickly understood. "Lord Beerus, are you saying you're going to destroy some useless planets?"
"Correct." Beerus clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the sky. "The duty of a God of Destruction is to maintain the balance of the universe. When there are too many useless planets, it is our duty to step in."
"Wait!" Gran suddenly remembered something. "Didn't you just visit Planet Vegeta a few years ago, Lord Beerus? Didn't you periodically clean up the universe's useless planets back then? Why are you going again so soon?"
"..."
Beerus's face instantly turned as black as ink.
Whis, on the other hand, was covering his mouth to hide his snickering. He was laughing because, back then, Beerus had been too busy looking for tasty food and the best pillow in the universe. He hadn't done any of his cleaning duties at all!
Seeing Beerus's and Whis's expressions, the prone Gran also figured it out and began to mock him directly. "No way, Lord Beerus! According to Whis, you're the strongest God of Destruction. How can you be so lazy?"
Normally, hearing Gran's taunts, Beerus would have shot back a retort. But his reaction this time was strange. Not only was he not angry, but he had a playful look on his face.
"Mocking me?" Beerus's lips curled into a grin. "It seems a certain someone is now the God of Destruction Candidate for Universe 7, which means you also have a responsibility for the universe's cleanup tasks in the future!"
"Hiss!" Gran drew a sharp breath. He's right.
Before Gran could start cursing, Beerus and Whis transformed into a streak of rainbow-colored light and shot into the sky, leaving behind a piercing laugh.
"When you learn the laws of destruction, we'll leave the universe's tasks to you! Hahaha!!!"
"Damn it!!"
Gran struggled to lift an arm and slammed it on the ground. What bad luck to be stuck with such a lazy God of Destruction!
After a while, Gran sighed. What could he do? He just had to keep training.
Compared to training his mind, he was much more fascinated by power. In other words, he was a Saiyan, and Saiyans were a warrior race. The desire for power was practically encoded in their genes.
Gran looked forward to his power level breaking through 3 million. According to the original story, Goku's power level when he first transformed into a Super Saiyan was 3 million. Once his power reached that level, perhaps he, too, could transform.
However, he had heard that besides extreme rage, transforming into a Super Saiyan also required a sufficient amount of "S-Cells." Gran didn't know the level of S-Cells in his own body. It seemed that S-Cells proliferated in times of peace.
"Better not overthink it. I'll focus on training my strength first," Gran muttered to himself and began to push himself up from the ground.
He had to admit, the training suit Whis had created was terrifying. Although it didn't cover his head, gravity still affected it. In addition, Gran felt the suit had a healing effect. The combination of gravity and healing meant he didn't have to worry about overtraining. This was even better than a gravity chamber!
"Vegeta, I'm coming for you once I'm done with my training!"
Gran remembered the near-death experience he'd had right after arriving in this world. Pushing the thought aside, he began to train using the gravity from the suit.
A thousand push-ups, a thousand squats, ten thousand punches, ten thousand leg sweeps... This was the plan Whis had set for him, though he had to do it in sets.
The first day passed.
The initial multiplier for the weighted clothes was 100. With Gran's power level of 700,000, this wasn't too much for him to handle. However, it was his first time experiencing such high gravity, and his internal organs struggled to adapt. On this day, he focused solely on acclimatising, not even completing half of his planned workout.
By the second day.
The suit's healing effect had fully restored his fatigue and any minor injuries from the previous day. He had finally adapted to 100 times gravity. He also managed to catch up on the training he had missed.
By the third day.
The gravity multiplier increased to 200 times...
By the fourth day.
The multiplier increased to 400 times. This was the current limit of what Gran could endure. At this multiplier, he finally began to feel his strength increasing.
Time flew by, and half a year passed.
In the star-studded cosmos, two figures hovered near a desolate planet.
"Lord Beerus, this is the 27,634th planet you are to destroy."
(T/N: To put a context, the estimated number of planets in one Universe is Hundreds of Quintillions or even more)