Since the two of them planned to leave this place and continue their journey today, after breakfast, Tights packed up the Capsule House.
Yamiru and Tights stood by the roadside in the wilderness.
Holding her hand, Yamiru asked, "Are you ready?"
Tights tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded. "Mm."
Yamiru focused his mind, quickly sensing a mystical intuition, as if his consciousness had connected with a vast and peculiar universe.
"Anyone who has shared physical intimacy with me."
For the first time, he activated his authority to adjust the qualification for entering the Spiritual Realm.
In an instant—
A profound understanding suddenly surfaced in Tights' heart. She was first surprised, then smiled. "So this is how you enter the Spiritual Realm? How strange… It's like I just 'suddenly realized' it on my own."
Exchanging a glance with Yamiru while holding hands, Tights' figure disappeared from where she stood—just like him.
At the same time, their silhouettes reappeared in another vast, mirrored universe, landing on an island.
"So this is the Spiritual Realm."
Curious, Tights looked around. The island they stood on had a landscape identical to Earth's natural scenery. However, the terrain was distinct—at the center lay an enormous plain, while the surroundings featured forests, hills, snowy fields, and towering mountains. It was as if Earth's natural environment had been enclosed into a grand arena.
Yamiru lifted Tights into his arms, and they soared into the sky.
"The physical laws are identical to our world, the Mortal world. The matter here…" Yamiru said as they overlooked the entire "Earth Island". "In a way, it's actually a projection of the matter from the planets of our world. So even if it's damaged during battle, it will quickly restore itself."
Tights was surprised. "That wasn't mentioned in the agreement…"
"That's the work of the Dragon God," Yamiru explained. "This projected matter doesn't contain vitality, but it serves as a bridge to connect the Mortal world energy."
Tights was puzzled. "What energy?"
"It's similar to this." Yamiru clenched his fist, gathering a white aura of ki over it. "It's not just living beings that have latent energy—non-living matter, the Earth itself, even the sun, all contain boundless power."
"I don't really get it…" Tights wasn't particularly interested in the topic. Instead, she looked beyond Earth Island. In the boundless space, she could see many other massive islands similar to it. "Are those the other planets of this universe? Huh?" She suddenly noticed that these islands weren't entirely scattered.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Yamiru held her tighter and ascended even higher with his flight technique, allowing them to get a clearer view of the Spiritual Realm's layout. "The Mortal World's projections in the Spiritual Realm have been divided into twelve regions by the Dragon God. He said the Mortal World is actually composed of twelve universes… and our Earth belongs to the Seventh Universe."
"Oh, I see…" Tights marveled but quickly picked up on something in Yamiru's words. "A part of the Mortal World? The boundaries of the Spiritual Realm… go beyond that?"
If she remembered correctly, the agreement stated that the Spiritual Realm's range was limited to the Mortal World.
"The Dragon God expanded the range of the Spiritual Realm," Yamiru admitted.
With a mere thought, he took Tights beyond the twelfth zone of the Spiritual Realm. There, they saw two vast and magnificent regions stretching to their left and right.
On the left, a massive set of concentric ring-shaped lands formed an intricate pattern. The layers were so numerous that Tights felt dizzy trying to count them. She focused on the solid central "island" instead, which helped ease her discomfort.
"That's the Dragon Realm."
Yamiru introduced it to her, describing the Dragon Realm's structure. It was actually made up of layered star rings, much like something out of a sci-fi movie. Each ring functioned like a galaxy within the Mortal World, home to countless dragons. The entire Dragon Realm resembled an enormous interstellar fortress.
Tights was amazed. "I never expected the mystical dragon race to actually be a civilization with such advanced scientific technology…"
"It's said that science and magic in the Mortal World originally spread from the dragons of the Dragon Realm," Yamiru said, recalling the Namekians in the manga, whose miraculous technology allowed them to build spaceships. In fact, Namek once faced near destruction due to reckless overuse of scientific advancements, leading to natural disasters…
"And what about that one?" Tights asked excitedly, pointing to the massive region on their right. She squinted at it, pondering. "It looks like another unique universe… but I can't see clearly. It's like a giant tree covered in countless layers of pixelation…"
Indeed, on the right side, the vast area resembled the silhouette of an immense world tree, its trunk thick and stretching from the heavens to the earth. Each sprawling branch seemed as vast as the Dragon Realm's layered star rings. However, this region appeared oddly blurry, as if it were unstable.
"That's the Celestial Realm," Yamiru said. "But its ruler refuses to open it to the Spiritual Realm."
He had originally wanted to call them stingy, but he reconsidered—deities seemed sensitive about certain words. If he accidentally provoked that almighty being, things could get troublesome.
"A universe built like a World Tree…" Tights tried to imagine such a realm—the trunk as the cosmic pillar, the branches akin to the galaxies of the Mortal World and the star rings of the Dragon Realm, and perhaps each leaf representing a planet. Suddenly, she had a whimsical thought: "If it's a tree, then it should bear fruit, right? I wonder if the Celestial Realm's tree grows any fruit?"
Realizing how absurd that sounded, Tights couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
Holding hands, Yamiru and Tights wandered through the Spiritual Realm for a while before returning to Earth in the Seventh District of the Spiritual Realm's Mortal Mortal World.
"But seriously, 'All-Realm's Spiritual Realm' is such a mouthful," Tights joked. "At first, I thought it only covered the entire word, but now that we've got the Dragon Realm and the Celestial Realm, maybe we should give each of them a proper name?"
The current Spiritual Realm was an endless expanse, broadly divided into three main regions: the Mortal World portion, the Dragon Realm portion, and the Celestial Realm portion.
The Mortal World portion was composed of twelve island clusters. The Dragon Realm portion consisted of countless concentric circles. The Celestial Realm portion, resembling a gigantic World Tree, formed a single landmass, though it remained blurry and inaccessible. Since the Celestial Realm's rulers hadn't opened their lands to the Spiritual Realm, Yamiru couldn't take Tights there, nor could they use it as a passageway to reach the true Celestial Realm.
"You're right," Yamiru agreed. Tights's suggestion made sense—it was only logical to assign distinct names to the Mortal World, Dragon Realm, and Celestial Realm within the Spiritual Realm.
First, he thought about the Celestial Realm… The word "celestial"…
"I've got it!" An idea sparked in Yamiru's mind as he recalled the name of that rascal, Son Goku. Grinning, he declared, "Let's call them the Mortal Court, the Dragon Court, and… the Celestial Court!"
Tights laughed and said, "So the Earth we live on is 'Spiritual Realm · Mortal Court · Seventh District · Earth Island,' right?"
They exchanged smiles before vanishing from the Spiritual Realm · Mortal Court · Seventh District · Earth Island.
The next moment, they reappeared at the roadside wilderness on Earth, in the exact position they had left. Even their footprints remained undisturbed.
"Let's go. Life goes on."
Hand in hand, Yamiru and Tights continued their journey.
The Dragon Realm, the Spiritual Realm, the Dragon God, the Celestial God…
It all felt like a grand and fantastical dream.
Yamiru knew exactly why he had created the Spiritual Realm in the first place—it was meant to be nothing more than a shortcut, a platform to bridge distances. To achieve true progress, he had to keep forging his own path.
Sure, he could use the Dragon Balls to make some strange wish and take a shortcut to immense power, but that wasn't the path he chose.
Through his unwavering dedication to martial arts and relentless self-discipline, Yamiru had become someone who simply refused to surrender so easily.
Without his deep-seated convictions, he wouldn't have reached Mount Paozu. He wouldn't have completed Son Gohan's training. He wouldn't have made it this far.
If, at this point, he were to abandon his principles and beg Shenron for strength, it would be nothing short of laughable—an absolute disgrace to everything he had worked for.
"I won't lose to myself." Yamiru tightened his grip on Tights's hand.
Perhaps there were easier paths, ones filled with power beyond imagination.
But he refused to bow his head and ask for it.
His heart was clear.
"I'll walk this path and claim it myself."
Perhaps the effort would be meaningless, and in the end, he'd gain nothing at all.
But as long as he stayed true to himself, that was enough.
Sitting in the hovercar, Tights noticed the smile playing on Yamiru's lips. She chuckled and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"I was just wondering…" Yamiru suddenly burst into laughter. "I wonder if some Monkey King is gonna stir up a riot in the Celestial Court! Hold on tight—we're speeding up!"
(That was a reference to Journey to the West)
Laughter filled the hovercar as the scenery flashed past.
They pressed on, ever forward.
---
Meanwhile, back in time, the previous day—
The moment Yamiru had suddenly vanished.
"Where's Yamiru?!"
Tights's face turned pale with shock.
"Yamiru, where are you?!"
Shenron remained silent.
Tights shouted at him, "Where did you take Yamiru? Hey!"
"..."
On the other end of the connection, deep within the innermost ring of the Dragon Realm, a Namekian-like Dragon Clan member named Dorag was casting a spell. He had initially intended to reject the absurd request of that Earthling outright. However, before he could do so, the Earthling had suddenly vanished.
Soon, Dorag heard the voice of his elder from the "Sun".
So, speaking through the mouth of Shenron, he addressed the anxious Earth girl.
"…Don't worry. Lord Dragon God has invited Yamiru as a guest. He will be returned shortly."
Tights was stunned, her head filling with question marks. But from the sound of it, Yamiru was safe. She sighed in relief.
However, noticing that Shenron had yet to disappear, she found it odd.
"..."
On the other side, Dorag said, "You have yet to make your wish… No matter what it is, I can grant it for you…" He mentally added: Of course, only using the power contained within Shenron's body, which comes from the Super Dragon Ball fragment… Anything beyond that is out of the question.
"This is an option?" Tights was surprised at Shenron's generosity—or rather, at the generosity of this so-called Dragon God Shenron spoke of.
She hesitated. "But I don't really have any wishes…"
That's for the best!
In the Dragon Realm, Dorag secretly grumbled. You two are the biggest troublemakers I've ever encountered. I've been managing this Shenron gig for ages, and this is the first time I've met such a bizarre pair.
Shenron spoke with authority. "If you have no wish, then I shall take my leave—"
"Wait!"
Tights suddenly raised her hand, looking serious. "Even if I don't have one now, I should at least think it through properly… It's not every day you get to summon Shenron! Give me a moment. Don't rush me, okay?"
She actually started pondering on the spot.
Dorag: "..."
Just as he was about to ask the Earth's Guardian—the Dragon Clan descendant of the Mortal Court—whether he could just leave already, Tights seemed to have come up with something.
She hesitated, looking a little embarrassed.
"No matter what your wish is, I can grant it," Shenron declared solemnly.
"I…" Tights finally voiced her request. "I want a superpower! When it's time for childbirth, I want to be able to deliver the baby painlessly in an instant—and recover my figure immediately!"
"..."
Shenron fell silent for a moment.
"That wish is quite—"
"Wait!" Tights interrupted. "It has to be completely harmless to both me and the baby!"
"..."
Dorag deliberately paused for a few extra seconds before hastily concluding, "This wish is quite simple…"