This is the bonus chapter for reaching 1200 Powerstones.
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Zeke stood motionless, scrolling through his mental catalogue of Minecraft creatures, contemplating which one would best augment a space marine.
Beside him, Archmagos Cawl paced back and forth. The Tech-Priest's mechadendrites twitched with suppressed agitation, and he frequently craned his metal neck to stare at the Chest Opener in Zeke's hand.
Finally, the curiosity of the Martian priest won out. Cawl reached out a mechanical hand.
"Ahem... Upholding the spirit of inquiry into unknown sciences, and considering the immeasurable impact this technology might generate for the Omnissiah..." Cawl's vocalizer buzzed with static. "Zeke, could you temporarily lend this object to me for a brief perusal?"
The subtext was deafening: Just show it to me! I want to touch it! I must research it!
"Seriously, Archmagos. If you want to see it, just say so."
Zeke handed over the tool.
Cawl snatched the Chest Opener and immediately marched over to a comatose Primaris Marine to perform a thoracotomy examination.
"My goodness... this, this, this..."
Cawl was incoherent, his binary cant blurring into excited gibberish.
Given that Primaris Marines were extremely precious resources, he restrained himself from doing anything reckless. Instead, he summoned a Servitor, put it into a sleep state, and conducted a series of rapid-fire experiments.
"It is true," Cawl announced, his optical lenses dilating. "This pincer can extract organs intact and reinsert them with zero trauma. It bypasses biological reality entirely."
After confirming its safety, Cawl, adhering to the rigorous attitude of the Mechanicus, turned the device on himself.
When using it on oneself, the prerequisite of being comatose or near-death was bypassed.
Click.
Zeke leaned in and saw the interior of Archmagos Cawl's chest. It was a labyrinth of energy cores, gear assemblies, cooling pipes, and logic gates. Cawl had performed so many modifications on his own body that his internal "inventory" was superior, complex, and vast.
Relying on his intimate understanding of his own physiology, Cawl selected a redundant gear set. He removed it, carefully savoring the slight drop in efficiency caused by the lack of that component, before slotting it back in.
"Fascinating," he breathed.
Amidst gasps of amazement, the Chest Opener was finally passed to Guilliman's hands.
The Primarch looked at his own chest, then looked at the complex machinery inside Archmagos Cawl.
"Better not," Guilliman decided, handing the tool back to Zeke. He stopped short of examining the Primaris Space Marine's organs. Some lines were better left uncrossed.
Now came the modification. After witnessing the magical utility of the Chest Opener, Cawl decisively agreed to Zeke's request.
–
Stepping through the Nether Portal, Zeke navigated to a Warped Forest biome in the Nether.
Finding an Enderman didn't take long; the tall, slender, pitch-black figures tended to spawn at the forest's edge, their purple eyes glowing in the teal fog.
The trouble lay in controlling the damage. Zeke's current gear was overpowered; a single strike with his enchanted sword would one-shot the creature, killing it before it reached the "near-death" state required for the Chest Opener to work.
Zeke sighed and holstered his weapon. He had to do this the primitive way.
Using his bare fists, he pummeled the Enderman, carefully whittling down its health bar until it was barely standing.
He took out the Chest Opener, aimed at its chest, and clicked.
The loot interface unfolded. Amidst a pile of bones and flesh, the prize sat in the center slot: an eye-shaped organ pulsing with void energy.
[Ender Eye]
Zeke speculated it could grant the transplanted host the ability to teleport. He extracted the organ and stuffed it into his backpack.
Target acquired.
Zeke ventured deeper into the Nether and happened to run into Dante. The man was sleeping soundly in a naturally formed Netherrack cave, with the Piglin, Vergil, snoozing beside him.
What surprised Zeke was that Vergil's golden blindfold had been removed. Yet, even without Dante wearing any gold equipment, the Piglin surprisingly didn't attack him.
Zeke looked at this inexplicably harmonious scene and decided not to disturb the pair.
Moving on to a Nether Fortress, he found a Blaze. After a brief struggle, he extracted a [Blaze Heart]—an organ that constantly burned with orange-red inner flames—from its chest.
With these two organs in hand, Zeke returned to the Iron Wraith.
–
Guilliman believed this experiment should not be publicized, so the operating room was cleared of all idlers. Only the three of them remained.
Zeke stood before the operating table, the organs in hand. Now was the time to witness a miracle.
"Wait a moment." Guilliman stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the Ender Eye in Zeke's hand. "What organ is this?"
"Actually, this can hardly be called an organ," Zeke said, tossing the Ender Eye slightly. "Think of it less as biology and more like a... hardware plugin."
"Don't worry," he added, seeing the Primarch's frown. "Apart from granting the Primaris new abilities, it won't produce other mutations. At most, it will alter their appearance slightly. I guarantee, even the strictest Inquisitor won't be able to tell the difference."
Click.
The Chest Opener unfolded the marine's chest cavity. Zeke dragged the Ender Eye into an empty slot in the Primaris Space Marine's inventory.
Instantly, all the organ icons vibrated. A negative debuff, [Rejection Reaction], appeared in the status bar.
Level 1.
This debuff couldn't be cleared with milk, but Level 1 was manageable. It was just a mild fever in system terms.
Emboldened, Zeke inserted the Blaze Heart.
Warning.
All organ icons began to vibrate violently. Cracks appeared on the health bar. The Rejection Reaction jumped straight to Level 5.
Zeke immediately yanked the Blaze Heart out.
Okay, lesson learned. Trying to stuff organs from different species together triggered a fatal biological conflict.
For now, he would settle for just the Enderman organ.
Zeke completed the surgery and closed the chest interface.
The Primaris Space Marine's appearance didn't change much. Only the skin at the fingertips of his left hand turned slightly darker, like charcoal, and his right pupil began to emit a faint, purple fluorescence.
If there were any more mutations, Guilliman wouldn't have been able to sit still.
Guilliman confirmed with Zeke that the other original organs—especially the sacred gene-seed—were unaffected. Only then did his clenched fists relax.
"Let us not speak of this matter for now," Guilliman ordered.
Archmagos Cawl nodded, activated the resuscitation equipment, and woke the comatose Primaris.
The body on the table shuddered. His chest began to heave, and he slowly opened his eyes. The initial confusion of waking from stasis occupied his brain first.
Who am I... Where am I... What am I doing...
Then, chaotic thoughts surfaced, and memory and cognition returned like a tide.
He remembered.
He remembered being selected from the Chapter, undergoing the Rubicon Primaris surgery presided over by Archmagos Cawl. While his body was reshaped, loyalty and mission were branded into his soul like steel.
He felt supreme glory.
His gaze fell on Archmagos Cawl beside him—his creator. The Primaris instinctively nodded to the Magos.
Then, he saw the magnificent figure standing in the observation bay—Guilliman.
A wave of awe overwhelmed him. He subconsciously snapped a perfect salute to the Primarch.
Finally, his gaze fell on the third person in the room.
He squinted. The figure looked unreal. Blurry. Indistinct.
In his left eye, Zeke was an ordinary human. But in his right eye—the eye glowing with purple light—Zeke transformed. He became a strange, sharp-edged construct. A blocky person made of cubes and pixels.
"What's wrong?" Zeke sensed the intensity of the stare and touched his face. "Do I have something on my cheek?"
The Primaris withdrew his gaze, blinking rapidly.
"How do you feel, soldier?" Guilliman spoke, his voice commanding. "Does your body fully obey your will?"
It was a double entendre; Guilliman was inquiring about both the Primaris's physical condition and the purity of his soul.
"Report!" The Primaris straightened his body, his voice booming. "Systems nominal, my Lord. Everything is good... though there are some strange visual sensations I cannot accurately describe."
The Primaris looked down at his hands, then rubbed his glowing right eye.
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Next Goal = 1300 Powerstones.