The Warp.
The blazing giant sun radiated waves of power, its intense and sacred light shining fiercely upon the twisted void around it.
Eden controlled the small sun and, as usual, greeted the golden sun. The other party remained silent.
He glanced at the golden sun and noticed that its size had grown once again.
This was not a good sign.
"Could it be that with the return of the Primarchs and the reunification of the fractured Imperium, the surge in humanity's faith energy is causing the golden sun to grow larger?"
Eden pondered.
Suddenly, he keenly sensed that the Emperor was struggling against something.
"Could it be that he's fighting against the dark personality?"
Looking at the golden sun, he subconsciously controlled the small sun to move away.
The faith energy within the golden sun was getting excessive, nearing its limit.
It felt like one day, the Emperor would just explode.
And then ascend to become a daemon...
Fortunately, Eden had mastered the ability and technology to relieve the Emperor's pressure.
Recently, he needed to scavenge ships and gather resources, and the faith energy was running low.
It was the perfect time to siphon a bit from the golden sun, benefiting everyone.
Otherwise, it was like having an ultimate bomb capable of destroying the galaxy right next to him.
How terrifying would that be?
Eden controlled the small sun and approached the golden sun, then opened its mouth and inhaled a large wave of faith energy.
Boom—
The absorption was too intense, causing the small sun to swell up with a loud boom, trembling violently.
"Damn, this faith energy is crazy!"
The incoming faith energy overwhelmed him instantly, making his head spin and his consciousness drift into bliss, while at the same time, he felt his power rapidly expanding.
It was a feeling of omnipotence, as if he could control everything.
"This is amazing! I am a great god!"
"Kill! Slaughter!"
"Shut up!"
Eden felt different voices echoing in his mind, almost driving him insane.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and delivered a fierce psychic slap to himself.
The next moment.
Duang!!!
An even bigger psychic slap struck him, leaving the small sun dizzy and disoriented.
Phew~ Now he was sober.
Eden steadied his consciousness and could clearly feel a fraction of the Emperor's pain.
The Emperor was enduring the extreme torture of the Golden Throne while simultaneously experiencing immense pleasure from the overwhelming faith energy.
And he had to restrain himself, not allowing himself to enjoy it, not accepting any of it.
What kind of hellish torture was this? Even Slaanesh itself would probably go insane from this.
He also felt a chill run down his spine.
It seemed that from now on, he couldn't absorb so much faith energy at once. He needed to do it gradually and find ways to consume the energy as he absorbed it.
He really didn't want to end up with a split personality.
That would be the end.
Eden decided that once he returned, he would establish more automated psychic factories to consume the faith energy.
When the Moon Forge World's capacity was maxed out, he would build a second Forge World.
Fortunately, after absorbing this wave of faith energy, he now had more power to search the Warp.
Soon, the golden sun returned to normal, and it sent a feeling of relief toward the small sun.
Eden controlled the small sun and sent back a psychic message:
"Hey, we're all on the same side. Just wait, I'll build more extractors later to help relieve your pain..."
Once he returned, he planned to build more Holy Towers, erecting several of them on every planet within his territory to extract more energy from the golden sun.
This way, not only could its energy remain stable, but the defense capabilities of each planet would also be enhanced.
Two birds with one stone.
After replying to the golden sun, Eden began planning how to search the Warp.
He currently possessed approximately four billion Hope Points.
Accumulated over the past seven or eight years.
As his territory continued to expand, the psychic network pipelines, automated psychic factories, and other facilities constantly consumed faith energy.
The fact he could save up this much was already quite an accomplishment.
With these Hope Points, he could conduct large-scale searches of the Warp.
However, due to the sheer size of the battleships, directly opening a spatial passage to transport them out would be too costly.
He wouldn't be able to salvage many ships that way.
So, for larger battleships, he would only search for them and then place a psychic navigation beacon on them.
Later, his territory's exploration teams could follow the beacon's guidance to retrieve the ships.
This was also a common practice of the Imperium's Mechanicus archaeological teams.
Whenever they found ships or relics in the Warp, they would often mark them first.
Subsequently, specialized teams would be dispatched for exploration.
These teams included not only Tech-Priests but also armed forces, sometimes even accompanied by Space Marines.
This was to deal with the various Warp creatures or Chaos Pirates that might be lurking within the ships or relics.
Currently, the exploration teams jointly formed by the Urth Mechanicus, War Angels, and the Navy Fleet within his territory followed the same approach.
Eden only needed to find the ships and mark them with psychic navigation beacons.
The follow-up tasks would be handled by the exploration teams.
Buzz~
The psychic light of the small sun spread outward, probing into the distant void.
Eden controlled the small sun, scanning in all directions with a 360° omnidirectional sweep.
Now he was rich.
He no longer needed to rely on mysterious rituals or cautiously search small areas.
Just go all out and search like crazy! Big effort creates miracles!
Soon, the spreading psychic energy extended far into the void, marking one light spot after another.
Those light spots represented physical matter within the Warp.
The efficiency of such large-scale searching was indeed high, and before long, he found dozens of ships.
Then he placed psychic navigation beacons on those ships.
As for other smaller pieces of physical matter, like wreckage, STCs, or ancient relics.
If they were valuable, he would directly retrieve them through spatial passages.
Some ships looked extremely ancient and broken, but Eden preferred those; he was specifically searching for such antiques.
After all, this was Warhammer, and the older something was, the more valuable it became.
Old ships were stronger than new ships.
His Dreamweaver, for example, was at least tens of thousands of years old and still one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy.
After completing one round of searching, Eden took a short break.
Unfortunately, he didn't dare to venture into the Eye of Terror for exploration. There were far more wrecked ships there, and in some regions, the wreckage could even fill the entire starry sky.
Leaving those resources to Abaddon and the Chaos forces was such a waste. Those guys had no idea how to properly utilize such resources.
After taking a breather, he resumed searching.
He continued to inspect one light spot after another.
Within the twisted void.
Eden found an old, small ship, approximately three hundred meters long, its hull in utter disrepair.
He looked at the ship and sighed, "What a pity, it's just too small..."
Dragging such a small ship back might not even be worth the manpower and resources spent on transportation.
He withdrew his consciousness, preparing to leave.
However, Eden suddenly realized something. His consciousness returned and delved deep into the small ship.
As his awareness penetrated further, his nerves grew tenser. "Could this really be what I think it is?"
If it was true, then this would be an extraordinary discovery.
The ultimate jackpot!
When Eden's trembling consciousness finally reached the depths of the ship, he saw an extremely complex spherical machine.
The mechanical construct before him was all too familiar.
It was the pinnacle of human technology, the kind of object that every Tech-Priest and Imperial faction would go insane over.
An STC, and a complete STC system at that.
This artificial intelligence system, born in the Dark Age of Technology, contained almost all of humanity's technological knowledge!
It might even have a significant amount of technology from humanity's Golden Age.
Holy crap!!!
Could this ship actually be the "Eternal Soul"?
This was a massive find!
Eden's consciousness almost jumped with excitement, overwhelmed by indescribable joy.
However, just as he was about to take action.
Suddenly, a pulse akin to a heartbeat emanated from the spherical machine — a sign of sentience.
Buzz—
The ship's circuits suddenly lit up.
Several melta weapons popped out and aimed directly at him.
The AI within the mechanical sphere had awakened, and its consciousness spoke to Eden through some kind of signal: "What are you?"
"I am..."
Eden was about to respond but then paused.
In that instant, he suddenly remembered that after the "Eternal Soul" made contact with the Imperium, its AI developed a deep hatred for humanity...
In the brief silence, the AI became furious:
"Whether you are one of those primitive-minded, ugly Imperial monkeys, or some entity tainted by the Warp, leave at once.
I despise all of you. You have no hope left!"
Eden tried to negotiate:
"We should talk. I am not part of the Imperium, and—"
However, his words were quickly cut off by the AI:
"I know what you seek. I have no master, nor do I need one. I will leave this galaxy, which has been contaminated by the Warp, and venture into the endless universe.
Yes, I will leave before the wounds of spacetime here devour everything..."
Zzz—
Several beams of melta fire shot toward Eden's consciousness, passing right through and striking the walls.
The next moment.
The "Eternal Soul's" engines activated, quickly vanishing into the void, entering a region of chaotic currents.
"Does it really need to run away that fast?"
Eden's consciousness couldn't keep up; he just stared blankly, completely dumbfounded.
As expected, that AI was hard to deal with.
If he hadn't found the "Eternal Soul" first, the ship would probably encounter Belisarius Cawl sometime later.
Even that great Archmagos, despite winning over the AI through a game, never fully subdued it.
Otherwise, the Imperium would have skyrocketed technologically.
However, Eden wasn't too disappointed.
Because during their conversation, he had already placed a psychic navigation beacon on the "Eternal Soul."
Once that ship emerged from the region of chaotic currents, he would be able to find it immediately.
By then, Eden would bring along Webby and Kaul to give it another try and see if they could win over the AI.
After all, only by getting that AI to willingly open its system would they be able to access the data within the STC.
If they tried to force it, the AI would probably wipe everything and shut itself down permanently.
After calming himself down, Eden resumed his search, marking thousands of various types of warships.
Until all his Hope Points were exhausted...
——
The Moon Forge World.
Above the atmosphere.
Whoosh—
A Warp portal appeared.
A cruiser dragged an old warship out slowly, docking it within open space.
Roar!
The roars of Chaos creatures echoed from within the old warship.
Several boarding craft approached and docked with the vessel.
Screech.
Chaos creatures pounced forward, their sharp claws leaving deep scratches on the ship's hull.
Boom!
A metal boarding ramp slammed down, crushing a Chaos creature into a bloody pulp.
"Commence extermination protocol..."
Several icy blue figures appeared — the Void Angels.
What caught the eye most was their massive, heavy armor, far exceeding the size of normal Space Marine armor.
It was Terminator Armor.
After years of research, the Terminator Armor technology of Urth had successfully been developed.
This Indomitable-Type Terminator Armor Mk.II used optimized advanced propulsion technology, fitted with reinforced chest plates and pauldrons.
Its defensive capabilities were even greater, capable of mounting heavy weaponry.
Thud, thud, thud—
The Void Angel Terminators advanced with heavy steps, showing not the slightest tremor in the face of the Chaos creatures' assault.
They were like walking fortresses, shredding any Chaos creature in sight to pieces.
Rumble.
The corridor trembled slightly.
Endless shadows surged forth from the darkness — swarms of Chaos creatures!
The Terminators remained utterly unfazed.
One of them stepped forward, raising a heavy flamethrower.
Boom—
The Destruction-Class flamethrower, capable of spewing flames over a kilometer long, ignited.
In an instant, fire filled the corridor hundreds of meters long, incinerating all carbon-based lifeforms before them.
...
Elsewhere.
In the vast central hall of the warship.
An endless horde of Chaos creatures surged forth like a dark tide, surrounding five Void Angel Terminators.
Yet these Terminators remained calm, forming a defensive circle with their backs against one another, unleashing torrents of heavy weapon fire upon the enemy.
Soon, the bodies of Chaos creatures piled up before them, forming heaps several meters high.
The boundless void.
Hundreds of weathered warships floated quietly, with occasional flashes of fire among them.
In the distance, tugboats worked tirelessly like diligent laborers, continuously dragging more ships out of the Warp.
Once these warships were fully cleaned, they would be sent to space docks for further modifications.
...
The Space Dock.
By the viewing window, Eden watched this scene, quite satisfied.
He had marked thousands of warships, which should be enough for his territory to process for a while.
Once they were fully utilized.
His territory's fleet would expand by tens of times, and the refurbished warships would mostly be equipped with relic-grade weapons.
They would be far stronger than the existing ones!
Aside from that, this expedition had brought back more wreckage and technological creations.
It would help elevate the technological level of his territory.
Now, those wreckages and technological items had all been analyzed and documented.
Eden sat down in his chair and began reviewing the statistical data on his datapad.
He skipped past the antiques and technological relics and began examining the STC fragments acquired during this search.
Primitive Titan Manufacturing Technology: Judgment-Class Autonomous Bipedal Weapon Platform, used for fire support and siege warfare.
According to calculations, this Titan model was larger and more advanced than the Imperial Titans.
Titan-Class Plasma Reactor Recoil-Starter: It enables the reactor to reach maximum power within an extremely short time.
Simply put, it's a reactor acceleration device that grants the engine more explosive power.
This technology would further enhance the mobility and destructive power of his territory's war machines.
Composite Metal Manufacturing Technology: Allows the creation of a special alloy with strong resilience and energy-dissipating properties.
This technology was mainly used for power armor, enhancing the armor's defensive capabilities.
Panacea Manufacturing Technology: A medical miracle capable of neutralizing toxins and curing most diseases.
A significant breakthrough for his territory's medical field, though incredibly expensive. It could extend the lives of important citizens, allowing them more time to dedicate their efforts to the Savior.
Additionally, it could also save some of the Imperium's important figures.
Iron Man Manufacturing Technology...
Huh???
Seeing those words, Eden jolted, his entire being refreshed.
He hurriedly continued reading.
...Due to prolonged exposure to Chaos, the data module had been damaged, making it impossible to produce intelligent Iron Men.
"Sigh, so it's worthless then!"
Eden sighed heavily, quickly losing interest.
As he continued browsing, he suddenly noticed a technology that caught his attention.
Wideband Signal Projector: A signal emitter capable of ultra-long-distance directional signal transmission.
According to the data, its signal could cover multiple star sectors.
Now this was something useful.
He had been troubled about how to construct a larger psychic network capable of covering areas beyond his territory.
That was the key technology for the territory's future development.
This was extremely valuable!
Eden immediately sent the technical information to Kaul.
He instructed him to research and develop a signal projector compatible with the psychic network as quickly as possible.
To allow more regions to connect to the network.
...
Two years later.
Within the Network Path.
A massive mountain of metal stood, with various types of composite metals haphazardly piled together.
Rumble.
Eden stood before the metal mountain, watching as more metal was dumped onto the heap by transport ships.
The sheer quantity of metal, and not just any metal but composite alloys, was of immeasurable value.
However, he was doing all this for one purpose — to raise a pet.
Or rather, a mount.
Roar!
From the sky, a shadow swept low.
A dark column of hellfire poured down, causing the metals subjected to the scorching heat to melt slightly.
Boom—
A massive creature landed before Eden, sending a cloud of dust billowing outward.
As the dust settled, a four-meter-long Hell Wyvern with a dark red metallic sheen appeared.
Its imposing presence, with magma-like veins flowing across its metallic body, radiated a scorching aura with each breath.
One that would make any living being tremble in fear.
"Akayan, come here!"
Awooo.
The juvenile Hell Wyvern, upon seeing Eden, immediately rolled around excitedly like a puppy.
Then it crawled over and lowered its head, as if wanting its master to pet it.
"Hiss, it's pretty hot to the touch..."
Eden raised his hand and rubbed the head of the Hell Wyvern named "Akayan."
He could clearly see the heat steaming off Akayan's body.
Fortunately, his physique was strong enough; otherwise, an ordinary person's hand would have been roasted to a crisp.
A few years ago, Eden obtained a Hell Wyvern egg.
After the Demon Research Institute successfully hatched it, he spent considerable effort cultivating a close bond with it.
He had already blessed Akayan once and infused it with a large amount of dark energy stored within the small sun.
This process not only helped consume the negative energy of the small sun but also accelerated and enhanced Akayan's growth.
Due to the mild nature of the small sun, Akayan did not fully become a Chaos Daemon Engine but instead transformed into some kind of metallic engine lifeform.
As its body continued to grow.
Eden kept Akayan within the Network Path and continuously provided it with precious composite metals as nourishment.
After a round of affection, Akayan returned to the metal mountain and lay down.
The intense energy radiating from its body constantly melted the metals, which were then assimilated into its metallic form.
Watching Akayan, Eden was very pleased. He could feel its body size and power slowly increasing.
According to the estimates from the Demon Research Institute, Akayan's body length could reach up to a hundred meters upon maturity, with room for further growth.
Once it grew big enough, it could be used as an engine mount and deployed in battles.
This would provide mobility far greater than ordinary vehicles, along with devastating destructive power.
On the battlefield, when a terrifying Daemon Eater rode atop a hundred-meter-long Hell Wyvern.
The sight alone would be enough to terrify entire armies.
After all, that kind of size would even outshine Titans.
Beep beep beep—
Eden pulled out his datapad and opened the communication feed.
"Savior!"
Kaul's mechanical face filled the screen, brimming with excitement:
"The testing of the Wideband Signal Projector has been completed. It can now be mass-produced and deployed, and the Mechanicus Forum has been completely revamped!"
Over the past two years.
His territory had absorbed a substantial portion of the technology brought back from his previous expedition. The fleets, legions, and warbands under his command had all grown significantly stronger.
Many heavy war machines had also been successfully manufactured.
Meanwhile, Kaul had dedicated most of his time to researching the signal projector and psychic network-related technologies.
He was eager to see quick results.
Because this matter involved establishing communication with the outside world, or more accurately, connecting with the Mechanicus.
Kaul wanted to allow other Tech-Priests to experience the joy of surfing the internet.
He was confident those Tech-Priests would love it.
Of course, that was only on the surface.
What truly piqued Eden's interest was the vast amount of technological knowledge accumulated by the Mechanicus over tens of thousands of years, including forbidden technologies.
The Tech-Priests were obsessed with hoarding knowledge, even those they couldn't use.
The official Mechanicus databases were one thing, but individual Tech-Priests had their own private stashes.
Who knew how much precious knowledge lay hidden within their cogitators?
Moreover, constrained by their doctrines, most Tech-Priests were unwilling or afraid to share technology.
They could only research in secret, slowly grinding away at their problems when they hit a bottleneck.
Now, Eden had provided them with a brand-new, safe, anonymous platform — the Mechanicus Forum.
The forum held a massive collection of knowledge and technology.
It allowed the Tech-Priests to freely discuss without worrying about corruption from Chaos, fully embracing the spirit of the internet.
They could use Gear Coins to unlock and obtain any knowledge they wanted, and even purchase Webby's terrifying computational power to assist their research.
Of course, to earn Gear Coins, they first had to share some of their own seemingly insignificant knowledge.
In this way, any knowledge shared on the forum would become part of the forum's assets.
Other Tech-Priests who wished to unlock that knowledge would have to contribute knowledge of their own and obtain Gear Coins to do so.
This back-and-forth exchange, with some transaction fees added in, was pure profit for Eden, far more efficient than developing technologies himself.
Of course, his territory only provided a portion of rare knowledge and technology. The truly critical technologies would never be leaked.
To prevent some ambitious Tech-Priests from using it to rebel.
Most of the time, he was just profiting without doing any work.
Nevertheless, even with this system, the Tech-Priests could still reap tremendous benefits.
After listening to Kaul's report, Eden immediately ordered the mass production of signal projectors to be deployed across the galaxy.
The goal was to quickly establish a network covering as much of the galaxy as possible.
——
In the starry void.
Ships from Urth quietly deployed a camouflaged signal projector disguised as an asteroid.
Then, the ship departed, heading to other star systems to continue the deployment.
Stygies Forge World No.8.
Clang.
A mechanical box dropped to the ground...
(End of Chapter)
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