With the help of the Adeptus Mechanicus, his own wealth, and the technological assistance contained within the STC template, Zeke exhausted most of his fortune over a year, finally assembling a 500-strong Astartes company!
These 500 Astartes represented the limit of his wealth, not the limit of technology.
The technology of the Warhammer World was simply too distorted, so even though the STC template tried its best to find him things that could possibly be manufactured, this was already his limit.
These private Astartes, belonging to Zeke, wore red armor, and a large red cloak was draped over their backs.
These Space Marines were not equipped with the Imperium of Man's commonly used ceramite Terminator armor, but rather Assault Team armor made of null-material armor.
That's right, the name is that simple and unadorned.
They didn't have names like Terminators; they only had the most straightforward name: Assault Team standard armor.
Null-material armor is an extremely powerful armor, possessing exceptionally high defensive capabilities.
It is an armor constructed at the neutron level, capable of effectively resisting any attack and providing powerful protection to the wearer.
It has extremely high resistance to both energy weapons and ballistic weapons, making it very difficult for either to cause effective damage.
Generally, this type of armor is only used on large warships, but in the Terran Dominion, it has been popularized among ordinary ground troops.
Even though the Dominion hardly uses ground forces.
These ordinary Assault Team combat suits were one of the main reasons for Zeke's rapidly depleting wealth.
Null-material armor is not an ordinary item; in fact, the armor he manufactured was, strictly speaking, not a qualified product at all, but rather a reject among rejects, given the technological level.
Any technology requires a sufficient foundation; it's like throwing the manufacturing method of a J-20 fighter jet to cavesmen—they still wouldn't be able to build a J-20.
Even with an STC template, it would be meaningless.
But even so, his reject among rejects among rejects among rejects among rejects had a value and defensive power that could even be compared to auramite.
Of course, this was his own estimation, as he had never obtained auramite or used that armor, otherwise he couldn't determine its actual defensive power, which is exclusive to the Custodes.
What it's truly like will only be known after testing, but that doesn't stop him from having made some judgments.
The auramite armor equipped by the Custodes is said to be worth the price of a planet for a single suit, and if you only consider the technological content and defensive power of these Assault Team's ordinary armor, they are not far behind.
Of course, while this item is standard issue for ordinary Assault Team members, it doesn't mean that ordinary troops can actually be equipped with it.
After all, this thing is a bit heavy, and its price is not cheap; the ordinary Astra Militarum shouldn't even dream of being equipped with it.
However, how could just this exhaust all the wealth Zeke had accumulated?
The most significant expense was not these armors, but the dark energy shield he personally equipped.
Other things, like null-material armor, could still be painstakingly produced using various materials through the STC template , but dark energy technology was not so easy.
Even for the lowest-grade dark matter technology equipment and shields in this template, he spent almost half of his wealth just to barely create this dark energy shield.
Obtaining dark matter is extremely difficult, requiring a personal trip to special black holes; it is a composite similar to a combination of chaos energy and physical energy.
The universe can be said to be permeated with dark matter energy, but extraction is only possible in special black holes, as he currently has little technological foundation.
A year's time.
Fortunately, there was a black hole in the surrounding star system.
And luckily, there was indeed some dark matter energy there; he spent a vast amount of wealth to extract just a tiny bit, and that tiny bit was enough for him to build the first dark energy shield generator.
This dark matter energy shield has a core powered by dark energy, and this energy is sufficient for him to use for 10 million years, ensuring that this shield is virtually indestructible.
Almost nothing can penetrate the defense formed by this dark energy shield.
Even the most powerful knight titan in the knight house cannot cause him any harm.
It even has considerably strong resistance to chaos; in a battle to banish a chaos Daemon, a knight from the knight house once carried this dark energy shield.
Under the protection of the dark energy shield, chaos energy had no effect on him.
Dark matter energy technology—mastering this technology allows one to control space and time.
This is a top-tier technology, considered top-tier even in the Terran Dominion.
The single-person dark energy shield he has now created is merely the lowest-grade technological product, with its defensive power being considered bottom-tier within the STC template.
This item is for Zeke's personal use and will not be given to his 500 Space Marines.
However, the Space Marines are indeed the soldiers he has built by expending a large amount of wealth.
To ensure the survival of his soldiers and to prevent his efforts from being in vain, Zeke also equipped them with some energy shields.
Of course, dark matter shields were not feasible; he only provided his Space Marines with basic shields.
These basic shields also have some resistance to chaos, but don't expect them to withstand repeated assaults from a titan or a knight titan.
This type of ordinary shield is basically rendered useless after being struck once by a knight titan.
That's right, their limit is to only block one blow, but this one blow is already very powerful; in the year Zeke turned 17, he had his first Space Marines company.
Of course, this was also his poorest year; he had exhausted all his wealth and barely managed to build this 500-strong Space Marines company.
This alone had consumed all his money; as for other weapons and equipment, like kinetic weapons, he could no longer afford to build them, so he could only equip them with the bolter and chainsword commonly used by the Imperium of Man's Astartes.
For anything more, sorry, he had no money; he was dirt poor, having used up all his fortune.
Space Marines are not simple things; the entire Imperium of Man, with millions of planets, only has a mere million Space Marines.
Overall, before he turned 18, his life was quite good, especially after he formed his first Astartes company at 17, which made him feel a glimmer of security for his survival.
With the existence of this 500-strong Astartes company, theoretically, he should have some safety assurance when he goes into battle.
Even if his knight titan were to be defeated by a chaos daemon, his Astartes should be able to rescue him from the daemon's encirclement.
To ensure his own survival, Zeke used every brain cell he had, doing his utmost to secure his combat safety.
Or rather, the guarantee of his future survival.
Because in another six months, he would turn 18.
Eighteen is a very important day for children of a knight house, as it means they must go to the machine throne and connect with their knight titan.
It was also a very important matter for him because only by passing the trials of the ancestral machine spirit within the knight titan could he truly pilot a knight titan and become a true knight.
Only then could he become the true heir of the high king.
This was very important; otherwise, even if his father had already declared him the heir of the high king, even if he was the high king's eldest son,
If he could not become a knight, he would still be unable to inherit the throne.
Generally, scions of a knight house who fail to gain recognition from a knight titan would rather die there, but Zeke was different.
He was from a previous life; he had memories of his past life. He did not want to die on the throne just because he couldn't get the titan's recognition.
He didn't want to die; his life had just begun. Why die?
Therefore, this Astartes force was his guarantee of survival and the support to maintain his life if he did not receive the family's recognition or the knight titan's recognition.
There was no need to worry about the loyalty of the Astartes force, because in the STC template, he had already clarified his identity.
He was the Emperor!
But he didn't understand why he would become an Emperor of an empire, or why such an absurd title as Emperor would appear in a federal system like the Terran Dominion.
But this didn't prevent him from understanding this point.
And after genetic modification, these individuals would also be eternally loyal to him, their Emperor!
In this world, merely having wealth is not enough; he needed military power.