Pov: Vik
Pushpa let out a soft, approving purr, closing her eyes and settling back around my neck.
"Pack your bags, buddy," I chuckled, turning toward the facility exit. "You're joining the circus."
The giant T-Rex gave another low, happy rumble, blowing a gust of warm, sulfur-scented air across my robes as it nudged my hand like a golden retriever that had just discovered beef jerky.
"Alright, buddy, personal space," I chuckled, pushing its scaly snout back an inch. "First things first, you need a proper scholar name. Since you're a majestic creature of the Cretaceous era resurrected by absolute morons, your name is now Chintu."
System: "Host, you just named an S-rank Calamity-level Tyrannosaurus Rex 'Chintu'?! Where is your dignity as a Saintly Scholar Snake?!"
"Dignity doesn't keep a forty-meter apex predator from stepping on your garden, System," I retorted. "Chintu is an approachable, grounded name. It builds character."
Chintu blinked his giant amber eyes and let out a soft, guttural chirp, clearly having zero objections to his new name as long as the soothing Prana aura kept flowing.
"Now, the real logistical problem," I muttered, looking at the forty-meter dinosaur, then looking at the narrow, flesh-covered titanium blast doors leading out of the magma chamber. "How am I supposed to fit you through a standard emergency exit?"
System: "Host, you have a spatial gate connected directly to the Anonymous Hall! Or you could just store him in your beast pouch!"
"I don't keep sentient creatures in cramped pouches, that's basic ethics," I said, waving my hand. "And the Anonymous Hall gate inside the sub is only ten meters wide. If I try to shove Chintu through that, we'll get him stuck like an oversized cork in a wine bottle."
I stepped back, inspecting Chintu's giant frame. "Let's see if we can apply a little biological compression. Chintu, hold still. This might tickle a bit."
I placed my palm against his thick, scaly leg, channeling a steady stream of Prana energy combined with my Shape-shifting Dao comprehension. Prana, being the ultimate life blueprint, made biological cellular rearrangement remarkably easy.
'Shrink the skeletal density, compress the muscle fibers, fold the mass into a miniature spatial pocket...'
Squeeeeeeeeeak!
With a comical sound resembling air leaking out of a giant balloon, the forty-meter titanic dinosaur rapidly compressed. In less than ten seconds, Chintu shrank from a skyscraper-sized Calamity Beast down into a chubby, three-foot-tall baby T-Rex.
He still had his tiny, useless little arms, his giant head, and his emerald-green scales, but now he barely came up to my knees.
Chintu looked down at his tiny feet, let out a confused, squeaky "rawr?" and tried to take a step, immediately tripping over his own heavy tail and tumbling forward like a scaly bowling ball right into my shins.
Pushpa peeked open one eye, looked down at the tiny green lizard faceplanted against my boot, and let out a single, deeply condescending mew.
"Perfection," I beamed, scooping up the mini T-Rex under one arm like an awkward, scaly bag of groceries. "Look at him, Pushpa! He's portable! He fits right under the armrest!"
Chintu wiggled his tiny arms frantically in the air, completely content with being carried like an overgrown plushie.
Walking back up the ascending corridors, I found the three alchemists still huddled under my golden-green Prana dome inside the ruined observation room. The airborne toxins had completely dissipated, and the fleshy corruption covering the walls had begun to shrivel and dry into harmless, brittle moss following Chintu's purification.
Senior Researcher Ellen was nervously pacing back and forth, her hands shaking. The moment she heard my footsteps, she whipped around, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief as she saw me strolling out of the magma depths completely uninjured, carrying a tiny green dinosaur under my arm.
"S-Senior!" Ellen gasped, rushing to the edge of the barrier. "The seismic alarms stopped! The geothermal resonance stabilized! What happened to the Specimen?! Did you obliterate its physical form with an ancient forbidden art?!"
"Obliterate? Heavens, no," I said, looking offended as I adjusted my white robes. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. I simply had a polite philosophical discussion with your 'Specimen,' cured his indigestion, and negotiated a peaceful surrender. Meet Chintu."
I lifted the mini T-Rex forward.
Chintu opened his jaws, letting out a miniature, adorable "rawr!" while wiggling his tiny baby arms at the researchers.
The two male alchemists stared at the squeaking baby dinosaur, their jaws dropping so low they nearly unhinged.
"T-That... that thing is the S-rank Calamity abomination that ate the High Council?!" one of them stammered, grabbing his hair in pure existential denial. "The monster that collapsed our four-circle containment barriers is currently being held like a sack of potatoes?!"
"It was having an identity crisis caused by your terrible dietary management," I said severely, tapping Ellen's barrier with a gloved finger to dissolve the golden dome. "Now, as compensation for your failed science experiment trapping my submarine and delaying my schedule, I am confiscating Chintu, along with any other prehistoric fossils you have lying around in storage."
Ellen blinked, completely bewildered. "F-Fossils? Senior, we only had the one bio-core—"
"Shame," I sighed, clicking my tongue. "I was really hoping for a Spinosaurus. Ah well. The spatial loop around the island has completely collapsed, so you three can use your emergency communications to call your institute for a pickup. If anyone asks who solved your crisis, just tell them it was an ordinary scholar passing by."
Without waiting for their reply, I turned on my heel and strolled out through the shattered blast doors, heading back down the mountain slope toward the coastline.
A few minutes later, I walked across the calm surface of the Endless Sea, arriving back at the hidden location of the Great White.
"Submarine, surface," I commanded.
With a massive surge of white foam, the sleek metallic hull broke the water's surface, lowering the boarding ramp with a pneumatic hiss. I stepped inside, carrying the squeaking mini T-Rex under my arm while Pushpa snoozed peacefully around my neck.
Instead of keeping him on the sub, I walked straight down to the gate room and activated the spatial archway. The swirling blue portal hummed to life, opening a direct bridge to the vast, simulated Great Fire Forest inside Anonymous Hall, where my four disciples were currently secluded in cultivation.
I stepped through the portal into the open forest clearing.
Under the shade of towering spirit trees, Lu Xiaoran and Roman were in the middle of meditating, their respective elemental and titan auras swirling steadily around them. Nearby, Lina was analyzing formation blueprints, while Noah sat calmly on a rock, quietly consolidating his newly forged Qi pathways.
The moment the portal flared, all four of them snapped their heads toward me.
"Master!" Lu Xiaoran called out, hopping to his feet with an eager grin. "You're back! Did you resolve the anomaly outside? Did you defeat some ancient sea fiend?!"
"Something like that," I replied calmly, strolling to the center of the clearing and gently setting Chintu down on the lush green grass. "I brought you all a new companion."
Silence.
Lu Xiaoran stared blankly at the three-foot-tall green dinosaur. Roman scratched his beard in total bafflement. Lina's eyes flashed with curiosity as she scanned the miniature beast, and Noah's crimson eyes narrowed slightly, sensing a terrifying, latent vitality sleeping beneath that tiny frame.
Chintu took a wobbly step forward, looked up at Roman's massive muscular frame, and let out a tiny, high-pitched "rawr!" while frantically flailing his two-inch arms in the air.
"Master..." Lu Xiaoran said slowly, pointing a shaking finger at the reptile. "Is that... a miniature green lizard with useless baby hands?"
"That is Chintu," I explained proudly, brushing off my white robes. "He is an S-rank Calamity-level Tyrannosaurus Rex. When I release his Prana compression seal, he grows to forty meters tall and breathes atomic plasma."
Lu Xiaoran's jaw dropped. Roman's eyes instantly lit up with fierce, heavy battle intent.
"Since you and Roman have been complaining about lacking realistic combat pressure during your seclusion," I added with a wide, benevolent scholar smile, "Chintu has graciously volunteered to be your new full-contact sparring coach. In about ten minutes, his compression seal will temporarily wear off in this forest. Happy training, boys."
Lu Xiaoran's face instantly drained of all color. "Wait! Master! Let's discuss the pedagogical ethics of this—!"
"No refunds on character development," I chuckled, stepping backward through the blue spatial portal and closing the gate behind me.
Back on the quiet bridge of the Great White, I sank into the captain's leather chair, took a sip of fresh coffee, and initiated the navigation controls.
"System, set course for the Western Continent. Optimum cruise speed."
Pushpa let out a satisfied purr on my shoulder as the submarine's engines roared to life, plunging smoothly back into the deep sea.