"Child… you've come." The Grand Elder spoke to Aeris with an unusually serious expression.
"Grand Elder, did something happen?" Seeing him this serious, Aeris immediately felt that something major must be going on.
The Grand Elder told Nail to stand guard outside for a while, saying that there were some things he wanted to discuss in private. Nail listened and quietly stepped out.
Once Nail had left, the Grand Elder looked at Aeris, who was visibly a little tense.
"Cough, cough… child, don't be nervous. Dende told me that you want to use our Namekian Dragon Balls?"
Aeris froze for a second.
Was this some kind of test?
Still, she answered honestly.
"Yes… I'd like to borrow Namek's Dragon Balls to grant one of my wishes…"
"What wish?" the Grand Elder asked as he looked at her.
Aeris scratched her cheek a little awkwardly.
"I want to ask the Dragon to let me survive in outer space… to be able to breathe there."
The Grand Elder looked at her, then smiled faintly when he saw the slightly embarrassed expression on her face.
"There is no need to be nervous. I only wanted to confirm it. It's just that… your wish may come with a certain price. I cannot say clearly what that price will be, so you should think it through carefully."
Aeris was stunned for a moment after hearing that.
She thought it over.
Then she remembered that in the future, she would very likely end up fighting in space. In the end, she still firmly chose to go through with it.
Seeing that Aeris had made up her mind, the Grand Elder said no more.
The reason he was willing to lend her the Dragon Balls was simple enough.
On one hand, Aeris was not trying to use the Dragon Balls for something evil.
On the other hand, she had spent all this time helping train Namek's warriors, giving the tribe a better chance at protecting themselves.
And while Aeris had indeed promised earlier that she would protect Namek's flame if disaster ever came…
If a crisis happened when Aeris was nowhere nearby, then that promise alone would mean very little.
Besides, once he lent the Dragon Balls to her, Aeris would naturally care even more about Namek's warriors.
Taking everything into account, the Grand Elder decided to let her use them.
And no, do not start whining about moral coercion.
When the safety of an entire race is on the line, everything else becomes secondary.
"In that case, I'll have Nail collect the Dragon Balls from the other villages. You may wait here for a while."
Aeris was extremely grateful after hearing that. Once the wish succeeded, it would become a genuine lifesaving ability for her.
Then, in a much better mood, she called Nail back in.
The moment Nail came in, he saw that bright little expression on her face and looked slightly confused.
After Nail returned, the Grand Elder told him to collect the Dragon Balls from the other villages.
Nail said nothing and directly used the unique telepathy of the Namekians to communicate with the other villages.
And before anyone asks why the Grand Elder didn't personally contact them—
Please.
Have you ever seen the boss personally passing messages down the chain himself?
Besides, the Grand Elder was already very old, and his energy was limited.
About ten minutes later, the Dragon Balls from all over Namek were delivered by the people of the various villages.
Aeris cheerfully greeted them all.
After all, during her time here, she had been helping train their fighters.
And before anyone gets the wrong idea, no—she was not training every single Namekian. Only the warrior-type Namekians.
While Aeris was chatting with them, the sky suddenly darkened, and thunder began rolling overhead.
She quickly turned to look and realized Dende had already summoned the dragon.
Still…
Why did this dragon feel kind of weird?
There was just something a little…
Well, whatever.
She could not quite put her feelings into words, but as long as it could grant her wish, that was what mattered.
"State your wishes. No matter what they are… I can grant you three wishes."
Porunga lowered his head and spoke to Aeris and the others below.
Of course, Aeris couldn't understand a word of it.
Because, ridiculously enough, most of the places she had traveled to just happened to use Earth's language.
It was absurd.
So with no other choice, Aeris looked at Dende for help.
Dende explained what the dragon had said, and after hearing it, Aeris made her wish.
"Can you let me breathe in outer space?"
Dende stood to the side, translating Aeris's words to Porunga.
"That is simple. However, this wish requires a small price."
Porunga replied.
Dende repeated the dragon's words.
Aeris didn't even hesitate.
She agreed immediately.
Porunga's eyes flashed red.
And then…
Nothing else happened.
The dragon spoke again.
"Then state your second wish."
Dende turned toward Aeris.
Aeris only shrugged and indicated that she had no more wishes.
"Since your wish has been granted… farewell."
As soon as Porunga finished speaking, he turned back into seven Dragon Balls and flew away to the villages they originally came from.
Aeris watched the whole thing with fascinated amazement.
Earth's Dragon Balls definitely didn't come with built-in return tracking like that.
After staring for a while, she suddenly felt her body begin to change.
Aeris immediately checked herself over, only to find that nothing seemed wrong.
Then, a second later, she finally realized—
Her hair had turned white.
Once she realized that the "price" was only a change in hair color, Aeris let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Seeing the look on her face, Dende came over and explained.
"The price of a wish depends on the size of the wish itself. The wish you made only changed part of your body's structure, so the cost wasn't very large."
Aeris scratched her head awkwardly.
"To be honest, even now, the idea of having to pay a price for a wish is still kind of unsettling. But now that I know the price is just this… I feel a lot better."
Nail, watching Aeris like this, couldn't help feeling that she was a little silly sometimes.
"Ah, come on, don't all look at me like that. This is embarrassing."
After messing around and laughing with everyone for a bit, Aeris said goodbye to the Grand Elder and the others.
She wanted to go admire her new look.
As for doing anything weird—
Better not.
There were people here.
And their hearing was way too good.
Ahem.
That thought went in a very crooked direction.
After spending a while admiring herself, Aeris concluded that it looked great.
Because really, who doesn't love white hair?
Especially when the white-haired beauty in question was herself.
After smugly appreciating her own appearance for a while, Aeris headed back out again.
And where was she going?
Simple.
She was going to assign the other Namekians their next training tasks.
Because training was important, obviously.
And just like that, those poor Namekians were once again dragged off by the overly enthusiastic Aeris for more training.
Aeris sat there drinking Namek's local fruit juice while watching them train. Every now and then, she would casually sit down on top of some unlucky warrior in the middle of doing push-ups.
"Come on… one more… almost there… just one more rep…"
By the time Dende arrived, what he saw was his clansmen being forced through push-ups by Aeris. Not ordinary push-ups either—they were wearing weighted gear. As for the poor Namekian currently being sat on by Aeris, his face had gone green.
Well…
More green than usual.
"Oh, little Dende's here."
Aeris hopped down from the unlucky Namekian's back and scooped Dende up into her arms.
"Little Dende, why aren't you with the Grand Elder today? What are you doing here with me instead?"
As she spoke, she rubbed her cheek against his affectionately.
To be fair, Dende really was adorable at this age.
Dende's little face turned red, and he quickly jumped down from Aeris's arms.
"I came to find Nail. There's something I need him for."
Hearing Dende say that, Nail stopped training, asked Aeris for permission, and then left with him.
Aeris was left standing there, confused.
They had their own private line of communication, after all.
She couldn't hear a damn thing.
Still, Aeris didn't say anything.
Maybe it was something urgent.
"What are you all staring at? Why aren't you training? You want extra work added on?"
The moment she barked that out, the others jumped and immediately started training harder.
Seeing that, Aeris nodded in satisfaction.
"At least you know what's good for you."
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