Support from the Terran Dominion had set off, but Zeke was unaware of any of this.
He had no idea that the empire he once played as in games had already achieved ascension and even dispatched a fleet for him upon learning of his needs.
At the same time, even though the Terran Dominion had sent a fleet, the long sub-space journey across the universe also required time.
At least in the short term, Zeke would not receive his fleet's support.
He was currently suffering from a severe headache, trying desperately to think of a way to change his current situation.
At the very least, he needed to continue strengthening his army to ensure, as much as possible, that his knight house could survive, or that his parents could survive.
Zeke pondered, then checked his vault's deposits and his current funds.
Hmm—poor!
The technology in the Warhammer world was simply too distorted; whenever he wanted to manufacture the technologies from the STC templates, he was constrained by his insufficient funds.
Overall, as an heir, he was actually quite wealthy.
His wealth was so vast that, on his previous planet, his annual income could sustain the entire planet for 20 years.
Yet, this income, when used to manufacture even inferior versions of Null-element armor, was not enough to produce much.
Not to mention building those massive void warships; he feared that even if he only wanted to build a single frigate, he would need to establish a stellar base within a star.
And successfully upgrade this stellar base into a starfort, not just an ordinary outpost. Only by achieving this step could he build shipyards on the stellar base and begin constructing warships.
To build effective warships, he also needed large quantities of minerals and qualified specialized alloys.
Now the problem was evident: his Null-element armor production wasn't even enough for his regular infantry, let alone for building frigates that were thousands of meters long.
Of course, he didn't have to use Null-element. There was another, lower-grade armor he could use, such as plasteel.
The problem was that even this low-end armor he couldn't mass-produce.
The reason was simple: he couldn't find suitable workers. That's right, he had no workers to help him with production.
Who could understand his despair when he realized there were no workers to help him? He looked and looked again, and then he found that only the well-established noble houses within the Imperium could meet his requirements; only they possessed the knowledge he needed.
Zeke felt a degree of despair upon realizing this.
This was a stellar age, a stellar age for crying out loud, and he was still being told that the literacy rate among the common people within the Imperium needed to be calculated?
No matter how heaven-defying the technology Zeke possessed, technological development required prerequisite conditions.
With the resources he could currently mobilize, he simply couldn't fully develop his technological advantage. He could only train a small number of people and then conduct small-scale production.
This was also why, to this day, he only had that one cruiser, gifted to him by his family and then modified by himself.
This was truly frustrating. Zeke racked his brains but couldn't think of a way to strengthen his void fleet.
There was simply no other way.
His current talent pool was already stretched to its limit supporting the various productions at his asteroid base, and new talents had yet to be cultivated.
Sometimes, he even felt an urge to kidnap a few red-robed lads from the Adeptus Mechanicus to work for him, as those guys were definitely qualified laborers.
Alternatively, another solution was to use AI intelligence.
If he could, he could build a team of AI workers in just one year.
By then, providing resources for building warships wouldn't be an issue, but the Imperial Inquisition and the Departmento Munitorum had such a deep-seated hatred for AI that he simply didn't dare to use it.
Although the Imperium of Man often seemed like a big idiot in many respects, it was abnormally sensitive in many other areas.
This was undoubtedly a very frustrating situation.
However, for Zeke to simply give up on preparations was impossible. Although the family had already begun mobilizing knights to prepare for departure, it was well known that the process for a knightly family to go to war was quite lengthy.
The knightly family would begin preparing for deployment and gathering their knights and vassal armies. This period would take at least three months.
With such a long time, Zeke couldn't justify doing nothing; he simply couldn't accept it.
However, building void warships was out of the question, as shipyards also required time. But even if void warships couldn't be built, he could focus on the ground army.
A stronger ground army could also guarantee some safety; it was better than doing nothing at all.
But before that, he needed some resources.
"Servant, please contact Fabricator-General Kolaris of the Adeptus Mechanicus on the Alphanus Forge World.
Tell him I invite him to my court; I have a small technical matter I'd like to discuss with him thoroughly."
Zeke made his decision. To acquire resources, approaching the Adeptus Mechanicus was the best option.
His father's side was out of the question; the family's resources were currently fully geared towards war, so it wouldn't be easy for him to get resources. He could only turn to those Mechanicus fellows.
To be honest, Zeke didn't like the heretics of the Adeptus Mechanicus. They made themselves neither human nor ghost, like machines. In his opinion, such behavior was simply abandoning their human nature.
It wasn't that he rejected augmetics, as he didn't mind them, but they shouldn't make themselves ugly and ridiculous, completely lacking any aesthetic sense.
Before creating these things, couldn't they have a little bit of aesthetic appreciation?
They just had to make themselves look like a pile of ugly dung.
Zeke's communication quickly received a response. The voice of Fabricator-General Kolaris, mechanically enhanced with a metallic tremor, came through the comms:
"Praise the Omnissiah! Esteemed heir of the Yaeger clan, your mention of a technical discussion greatly interests me. I shall arrive at your court in three standard Terran hours."
For the people of the Adeptus Mechanicus, technology was everything. They knew better than anyone the immense wealth that knowledge represented.
Therefore, they would not let go of any technology.
And this Fabricator-General had collaborated quite extensively with Zeke over the past few years.
Zeke's ability to create dark energy shields and Null-element armor was largely thanks to this guy constantly sending him money.
As for this transaction, what Zeke intended to exchange was even simpler: a power sword.
Not the power swords Zeke issued to his New World Army, but a power sword crafted with some Stellaris technology, which in this context would be considered a creation of the Dark Age of Technology.
The power of this power sword was also quite remarkable.
Zeke once experimented with a set of Astartes Terminator power armor. In front of his power sword, it was cleaved in half with a single stroke, without even needing any force, just a mere swing.
Although he couldn't cleave Null-element armor, this power sword could cleave through any armor beneath Null-element armor. This was undoubtedly a black technology from the Dark Age.
Frankly speaking, even if a Custodian Dreadnought stood before Zeke now, as long as Zeke could draw this sword and strike the Custodian, even the most powerful Custodian would be cut in half by this single stroke.
So, from a certain perspective, this was definitely a creation of the Dark Age of Technology perfectly suited for trade. He believed the Fabricator-General would give him an excellent price, as no one understood technology better than these fellows.