The week that followed was a whirlwind of controlled chaos that would have given any normal military instructor a heart attack. The Task Force Chimera barracks became the galaxy's strangest cram school.
Lin Ming spent the first two days back in the Hall of Four Books. The chamber, now familiar and almost welcoming, seemed to hum with energy as he approached.
With the knowledge of Earth as his foundation, he found that approaching the other elemental codices was far easier.
He placed his hand on the Book of Water. He didn't try to command it. He listened. He felt the concept of change, of yielding but unbreakable strength, of the crashing tide and the gentle rain.
He understood that water's power wasn't in its form, but in its ability to take any form.
[Hydromancy Skill Tree Unlocked!]
[System notes: Host's affinity with water is... surprisingly good. Maybe all that milk tea is finally paying off.]
[New Skills Available: Water Whip, Healing Mist, Pressurized Water Jet...]
Next was Fire. This was more difficult. Fire was passion, rage, consumption, and creation. It was the opposite of his calm, analytical nature.
But as he connected with the book, he realized that fire wasn't just about destruction; it was about transformation. The forge that tempers steel, the sun that gives life.
[Pyromancy Skill Tree Unlocked!]
[Caution: Host's control over this element is volatile. Unsupervised practice may lead to loss of eyebrows.]
[New Skills Available: Fireball (Basic), Flame Blade, Controlled Detonation...]
He didn't have the Battle Will Points to buy all these new skills yet, but having the knowledge was a massive advantage.
He was like a student who had been given the answer key to the final exam; he just needed to do the work to understand it.
Meanwhile, Quynh Nhu was in her element: a shopping trip with an unlimited Blacklight budget. She returned to the barracks with crates of beautifully dangerous toys.
There were rifles that fired super-heated plasma, grenades that created localized gravity wells, and her new personal favorite: a specialized sniper round that, upon impact, deployed a network of razor-thin monomolecular wire, turning any enclosed space into a giant cheese grater.
"They're calling it the 'Nhu-dles of Doom'," she said with far too much pride. "I helped with the naming."
[System has added 'Nhu-dles of Doom' to the list of things to absolutely never be on the receiving end of.]
Her main focus, however, was the piloting simulator. The 'White Rabbit' was unlike any conventional aircraft. It didn't fly; it brutalized the laws of physics. Minerva's simulations were relentless.
Quynh Nhu spent hours crashing, exploding, and accidentally warping into the wrong solar systems.
"Dammit, Minerva! I was aiming for the moon, not Jupiter's third-largest gas cloud!" she'd yell, covered in sweat.
Minerva (comms): Piloting requires finesse, Hawkeye, not just pointing the ship in the general direction of your target and hitting 'go'. Your last landing attempt registered on the Richter scale.
Pham Tuan's training was even more brutal. Lin Ming took him into the gravity simulation room and dialed it up to five times Earth's normal gravity.
"Your Juggernaut form is strong, but it's just compressed rock," Lin Ming explained. "True defense isn't about being hard; it's about being dense. Resilient. I need you to learn to compress the stone, to change its molecular structure under extreme pressure. Think less 'boulder,' more 'diamond.'"
Under the crushing gravity, Pham Tuan struggled. His stone form would crack and crumble. But with Lin Ming's guidance, using the principles of Earth he'd just mastered, he started to learn.
He focused his will, forcing the earthen energy within him to condense, to purify. Slowly, his dull grey stone skin began to gain a crystalline sheen. It was agonizing work, but by the end of the week, he could manifest a thin layer of diamond-hard armor over his hands that could withstand a plasma torch.
He wasn't a full Diamond Juggernaut yet, but he was getting there.
Lin Ming's own pilot training was... surprisingly smooth. Having mastered the principles of gravity and elemental forces, he found that guiding the 'White Rabbit' through space felt intuitive.
While Quynh Nhu was fighting the controls, he was dancing with them.
Minerva (comms): Zenith's piloting aptitude is abnormally high. He handles complex warp-vector calculations as if he's guessing the weather. It is... illogical.
"It's not about logic, Minerva," Lin Ming said to the empty simulator cockpit. "It's about feeling the flow. The universe is just a bigger version of the Tu Thu Dien. Full of elemental energies, pushing and pulling."
On the last day before their scheduled departure, Su Quyen visited him at the facility. She brought him a small, sealed box.
"My father pulled some strings," she said, her expression a mix of worry and pride. "These are 'Combat Nutrient Rations, Type-7'. They can sustain a person in peak physical condition for up to a month. For... long-duration missions." She didn't need to say more. She knew he was going somewhere far away and dangerous.
"And this," she added, handing him a data chip. "It's my complete research on the Madakaros language, their known clan structures, and my most recent hypothesis on their cultivation weaknesses. Minerva helped me compile it. Maybe... maybe it will be useful."
He took the chip, their fingers brushing for a moment. "It will be, Quyen. Thank you."
"Just... come back," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "That's an order, Team Leader."
He smiled. "Yes, ma'am."
That night, the four members of Task Force Chimera stood in a secret, underground hangar deep beneath the Blacklight facility. Before them sat their ride: The White Rabbit.
It wasn't a majestic starship. It was a small, ugly, and entirely unassuming vessel shaped like a flattened wedge. Its hull was made of a strange, non-reflective matte-black material. It had no visible engines, no windows, no markings. It looked less like a spaceship and more like a piece of experimental debris.
"That's it?" Quynh Nhu said, her voice full of disappointment. "That's our chariot to the stars? It looks like a burnt slice of toast."
Minerva: Aesthetic design was not a priority in its construction. Its stealth systems are, however, unparalleled. It generates no heat, reflects no energy, and when its warp drive is active, it is dimensionally out of phase with normal space-time. To any sensor, it simply does not exist.
"So it's an ugly ghost," Pham Tuan summarized.
"It's our ugly ghost," Lin Ming said, walking towards the ramp. "And it's time to fly."
They boarded the ship. The interior was just as utilitarian—cramped, with four seats and a dizzying array of holographic controls. Lin Ming and Quynh Nhu took the pilot and co-pilot seats.
Lin Ming placed his hands on the controls. They felt cool and responsive. "Minerva, are we good to go?"
Minerva: I have uploaded my core consciousness to the ship's mainframe. I am the ship now. All systems green. The hangar roof is opening.
There was a low rumble as the ceiling above them retracted, revealing the starry night sky.
Minerva: Director Tran sends his regards. His message reads: 'Try not to break my secret spaceship, and for God's sake, bring my daughter's... friend... back in one piece.'
Lin Ming smiled. He looked at his team. A deadeye sniper munching on a stress-relieving chocolate bar. A diamond-in-the-making juggernaut taking deep, calming breaths. A super-A.I. who was now their ride.
It was insane. It was a terrible idea. He couldn't wait.
"Alright, Chimera," he said, his hands flying across the console. "Hold on tight. Next stop, Mars."
With a jolt that felt less like movement and more like the universe turning inside out, the White Rabbit shot up into the sky and, with a silent, invisible shimmer, vanished from existence.