The fundamental reason Space Marines possess physical qualities far superior to ordinary humans lies in the nineteen gene-modification technologies they undergo, along with the accompanying psychological hypnotic suggestion and brutal training.
Psychological hypnotic suggestion and brutal training merely serve to unleash the potential of these super-soldiers, teaching them how to control the normal operation of the bio-engineered organs within their bodies, thereby allowing them to exert their powerful combat capabilities.
The nineteen gene-modification surgeries involve implanting nineteen different types of artificial organs into the recruit's body, while Dora Khaur's Primaris modification adds three additional organs, making the Space Marine stronger! More powerful! More dominant!
All artificial organs required for the total of twenty-two modification surgeries are cultivated from Gene-Seed.
Typically, the Biological Sage or the Space Marine Chapter's Apothecary and Chaplain responsible for performing the modifications will cultivate all artificial organs using the genetic material preserved in the Gene-Seed.
One Gene-Seed yields one set of organs; there won't be more, but some less fortunate Chapters might be missing one or two.
Then, depending on the culture of each Space Marine Chapter, the duration of the surgical modifications also varies; some fast ones might be completed in one or two years, while slower ones might take ten years to complete all implantation surgeries.
Of course, the Blood Angels' Sanguine Coffins are different from other Chapters; their Gene-Seed is consumed from the Sanguine Chalice along with the Primarch's blood, rather than having recruits disemboweled and various artificial organs inserted.
Because Gene-Seed is so important, it has become the most crucial lifeline for a Space Marine Chapter.
Even if an entire Space Marine Chapter is annihilated, as long as there is an Apothecary and Gene-Seed, there is still hope for the Chapter to be rebuilt.
But if a Space Marine Chapter's Gene-Seed is lost, then even if the Chapter still has troops, it will hopelessly fall into decline, or even face the crisis of extinction.
There is only one method for producing such vital Gene-Seed: among the twenty-two modification surgeries, there is one called the Gene-Seed Retrieval Gland. After being implanted into a recruit's body, it collects the recruit's genetic material. Once the recruit completes all modification surgeries and matures, this Gene-Seed Retrieval Gland also collects the genetic information of all artificial organs and can be harvested.
Each Space Marine has two glands. One can be extracted after the recruit completes the modifications; this is typically submitted as a tithe of one-tenth of the Space Marine Chapter's Gene-Seed, collected by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
When a Space Marine Chapter suffers heavy casualties and needs to replenish its ranks on a large scale, it can apply to the Imperium to use these submitted Gene-Seeds for expansion.
At the same time, these submitted Gene-Seeds have another very important function: the Adeptus Mechanicus inspects them for corruption, mutation, or other genetic issues within the Space Marine Chapter.
The other Gene-Seed Retrieval Gland remaining in the recruit's body is only recovered by the Space Marine Chapter's Chaplain when the Space Marine dies. This is typically the Gene-Seed primarily used by the Space Marine Chapter to replenish its recruits.
The biggest difference between the two is that the Gene-Seed Retrieval Gland harvested after death preserves the Space Marine's combat experience and some memories. Recruits implanted with it will inherit these memories recorded within the genes.
And this is precisely the Space Marine Chapter's most important heritage, its most precious wealth.
However, this also brings a not-so-small problem: when a Space Marine Chapter wants to expand, it is often limited by the quantity of Gene-Seed, making large-scale expansion impossible.
For a Space Marine Chapter in the 40k era, an immediate surge of 200,000 troops after the Battle of Calth, like the Ultramarines during the Great Crusade era, is unimaginable.
This is also why Luka asked Shi Dong if the Gene-Seed was sufficient; even with enough base bodies, without Gene-Seed, expansion is impossible.
"We are using base bodies to rapidly cultivate Gene-Seed. Although it is still in cultivation, according to Sage Olegana's calculations, it will be sufficient," Shi Dong explained to Luka.
Upon hearing this, Luka immediately understood Shi Dong's plan.
Simply put, after the base bodies are cultivated, they are immediately modified. Once the modification is complete, both Gene-Seeds are immediately harvested and then implanted into new base bodies.
Repeating this process can yield a large number of Gene-Seeds in a short period.
At first glance, it seems similar, but currently, Shi Dong has thirty-three Primaris Astartes, and the first batch of Gene-Seeds harvested will also only be thirty-three.
If calculated by only harvesting one Gene-Seed after implantation, even if the Sanguine Coffins can cultivate one batch of recruits per year, they would only be able to expand by 330 people in ten years.
But if it's the latter method, where all Gene-Seeds are repeatedly used to produce new Gene-Seeds, then after ten years, there could be 33,792 Gene-Seeds.
Luka asked Shi Dong, and he does not intend to use such an extreme method to cultivate Gene-Seed, but he also does not intend to cultivate new recruits using traditional methods.
Instead, he plans to use half of the Gene-Seed to cultivate new recruits and the other half to cultivate new Gene-Seed.
This way, there will be enough Gene-Seed and enough recruits.
Although the quality of the recruits might be slightly lower, recruits cultivated in this manner only have slightly lower initial quality. After training and practical combat testing, there will be no significant difference in strength between them and orthodox Space Marines.
Through this method, after ten years, there will be a considerable number of Primaris Space Marines and Gene-Seed reserves.
The only remaining requirement is for weapon and equipment production to keep pace, and Luka's troop expansion will be virtually unlimited.
Thirty years from now, when the Great Rift unfolds, Luka might even be able to drown his enemies with countless blue-clad descendants.
Of course, this is pure fantasy. While the number of Gene-Seeds and Primaris Space Marines is indeed not an issue, producing enough Power Armor and Bolters to arm so many people is not a simple matter.
Even if Luka could develop the entire Rostov Sub-Sector, the production capacity would be insufficient to support such a massive Space Marine legion.
Not to mention that these Primaris Space Marines not only need Power Armor and Bolters, but also things like Chainsword, Power Swords, Storm Shields, and various vehicles, as well as strike cruisers for transporting Space Marines—these are the real major expenses.
According to Luka's estimation, if he can develop the Rostov Sub-Sector within thirty years, he could probably support two to three thousand Space Marines. Any more than that would truly be unsustainable.
"For now, let's continue cultivating them this way. Additionally, the production of weapons and equipment must keep up, so we don't face the awkward situation of having recruits but no weapons or equipment," Luka instructed Shi Dong.
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