"…"
Hearing Curze's words, an expression of strained composure appeared on Guilliman's face.
To be fair, while his brothers had wildly different personalities, with some being outright psychopaths, Guilliman could confirm that all of them, as Primarchs, possessed intellects far superior to ordinary humans from birth.
Although there were some Space Marines in this academy, the student body was primarily human, which indicated that the curriculum itself was not overly problematic.
The Space Marines were mostly part-time students. After all, this was the Warhammer universe. War could break out at any moment. Take the Word Bearers' Chapel Priests, for example; there were always two positions. A Word Bearer could only be a part-time priest; there was also a proper, full-time human priest.
Zhou Ye had them take on some mortal roles mainly to anchor their humanity. He had a strong dislike for unfeeling killing machines.
So, for Curze to fail a course was something Guilliman found both shocking and incomprehensible.
As for things like participation scores, Space Marines were generally given half the points by default. They weren't mortals, so the assessment standards were naturally higher.
But even so, unless they were away on a campaign and missed the exam, they would not normally fail. They were all top-tier overachievers before becoming Space Marines, and even more so after.
This applied even more to a Primarch. So, Guilliman was genuinely curious. He walked inside.
"May I see your examination paper?" Guilliman asked. The professor looked at the giant Smurf, who was about the same size as Curze and considerably taller than a typical Space Marine, and then glanced at Curze. The Night Haunter gave a casual wave of his hand.
The professor handed over Curze's paper. After a quick scan, Guilliman found it difficult to maintain his composure.
As the saying goes, studying too much law can strip away one's humanity, and this was no joke. Law school exams often featured some rather… peculiar questions. Zhou Ye's version was much better than the modern equivalent.
The crime rate in his domain was actually very low, primarily because the wealth gap was incredibly small. The second, and most important, reason was that this was Warhammer 40,000. If any lazybones decided to slack off and dared not to dedicate themselves to the great Lord of Trailblaze, word would never even get out.
The community priest would personally pay them a visit. If they continued to slack, they could be considered heretics. In Warhammer, heresy is the ultimate crime.
But even so, there were still many convoluted issues. So, after seeing Curze's test paper, the corner of Guilliman's mouth twitched…
Curze's paper could be summed up with a single poem…
Heaven created the myriad things to sustain man, yet man still complains that Heaven is unjust. Little do they know that locusts and pests swarm the world, and all the suffering of the masses feeds the kings and ministers.
…
Kill the disloyal! Kill the unfilial! Kill the unrighteous! Kill the unjust!
…
In the end, Curze's composite score was a 52, a solid fail. Honestly, if this were Zhou Ye's original world and you dared to fill out an exam like that, you'd likely be called in for a talk with your student advisor, who would then suggest you see a psychiatrist or be expelled.
But in this screwed-up galaxy, Curze's approach was, for the most part, not wrong. However, some problems couldn't be solved that way, such as disputes and judgments between Rogue Traders. Curze's answer was to have the two duel it out—whoever wins is right.
But the most face-palm-inducing answer was for a hive city infested with the four major Chaos cults, Genestealers, and a host of other problems. The theoretically optimal solution was to maintain a balance of power. Curze's answer was simply: kill them all. This wasn't necessarily wrong, but in many situations, it was impossible to actually implement. Thus, Curze's answer was also flawed.
In the end, the core of all his answers was a single word: "Kill."
He lost half his points on these questions and failed outright.
Although he knew this galaxy was a mess, Guilliman still found it absurd. In his mind, someone like Curze didn't need an education right now; he needed a doctor.
"Is it really okay to make someone like this the Grand Judge?"
Guilliman maintained a healthy dose of skepticism. Even so, he had to admit that Curze was right in some respects.
After all, the true core of law in Warhammer wasn't about upholding justice, but about teaching you how to distinguish heretics from xenos, and how to kill them with the least possible cost.
Plus, given the different legal track Curze had chosen, his coursework was more akin to that of an enforcer.
This was by Zhou Ye's design. From their very inception, the purpose of these Knights of the Night was not direct battlefield engagement, but operating within large metropolises or hive cities. Their mission was to kill or destroy heretics and xenos with minimal collateral damage.
The Imperium often only deployed Space Marines after a Chaos incursion had already exploded. In reality, a preemptive strike by Space Marines at the right moment could prevent a lot of trouble.
Of course, you couldn't strike too hard, or you'd upset the balance. In any case, Zhou Ye disliked taking over hive worlds; they were too complex.
"Forget it. You continue. I'm going to see what the other academies are like."
Guilliman sighed and left, ignoring Curze's dangerous glare.
He wanted to wander around some more. Next up was the Agricultural Academy. It had two major branches: the Emperor's Children and the Dusk Raiders.
According to his guide, the two got along quite harmoniously. After all, one group farmed and the other cooked. And the Emperor's Children would never steal vegetables from the Dusk Raiders.
They had their own gardens, after all. The Culinary Department had its own vegetable patches and animal farms.
---o---
Elsewhere, Marneus Calgar left the operating table. It felt as if he had just taken a nap and woken up to find it all done.
The smoothness of the process was somewhat surprising. In this universe, everyone from the lowest citizen to the Emperor himself lived in suffering. And the one who suffered the most was the Emperor himself.
He had been in and out of the ICU multiple times. To have it go so smoothly now felt like a dream to Calgar. But before he could say anything, he was shooed away by an impatient Magos Biologis. They had brought over ten thousand Smurfs this time, which meant these Magi had to perform over ten thousand surgeries.
And it was foreseeable that there would be no shortage of work in the future; the total number of Smurfs was at least in the hundreds of thousands. Under these conditions, they would likely spend a sunless eternity in the operating room. These recent graduates, who had just passed their exams to become Magi Biologis, all had dark circles under their eyes.
Though they used to get excited seeing a demigod, seeing them too often was another matter entirely. Thinking about the nearly endless series of surgeries ahead of them, they'd be damned if they could feel happy.
Of course, Calgar said nothing about the gearheads' reaction. At his level, he valued efficiency above all else. And at the very least, these clearly very young gearheads were highly efficient.
"My strength has increased. Everything has been enhanced significantly."
Muttering to himself, Calgar entered another room. With the sound of whirring mechanical gears, he donned a new suit of Mark X power armor, specially prepared for Primaris Space Marines. His original suit was temporarily unwearable and needed subsequent repairs and modifications.
So for now, he could only wear the most common pattern of Mark X Tacticus armor. Of course, he had to pay for this as well. Providing some equipment was one thing, but Zhou Ye really couldn't just hand out wargear for the entire Ultramarines Chapter and all its successors.
However, because it was pulled directly from the warehouse, it was a little… different.
When Calgar finally appeared before the Ultramarines, the scene fell completely silent for a moment.
"Hahaha!!!"
Cato Sicarius, the successor to Captain Titus of the Ultramarines 2nd Company, couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Calgar, who was usually adorned with medals and purity seals, was now clad in plain, greyish-white power armor. He had become an unpainted model, not even sporting the famous Ultramarines toilet seat symbol.
What made it even funnier was what he was holding. Calgar was carrying a set of paints. Zhou Ye's policy was to give all visiting Chapters unpainted grey models and let them paint them however they wanted.
So, as the first native of Ultramar to undergo the procedure, Calgar naturally didn't get a pre-painted suit. After putting on the greyish-white armor, he was handed a bunch of paints and sent on his way. This was actually Zhou Ye's fault. He was, after all, a "cloud-hammer" fan. He knew each Space Marine Chapter's livery was very particular. He could recognize the famous ones, but asking him to do a proper, detailed paint job was just asking for trouble. So, he just gave everyone grey models to paint themselves. Even if they painted something blasphemous, it was their own fault, like that batch of Black Templars.
"…"
Looking at the perpetually twitchy Cato Sicarius, Calgar didn't settle the score with him just yet. Nor did he immediately start painting his armor. Instead, he walked towards the simulation chamber.
This time, it wasn't just him. All the Ultramarines and their successors who weren't yet scheduled for surgery followed him. They also wanted to see Calgar's skill. They had been holding tactical debriefings here for some time now.
Although they had been brutally crushed by the Emperor's Children, it wasn't a total loss. First, everyone agreed on one thing: this simulation battlefield was vital. It had various environments, including numerous vehicle-based mobile warfare scenarios, decapitation strikes, defensive battles…
No wonder the people of Trailblaze were so terrifyingly effective in combat and so skilled in teamwork. It was because of this facility. Macragge had already signed a treaty with Trailblaze, exchanging a massive amount of resources for access.
Periodically, the Ultramarines would send study-abroad teams composed of their various successor Chapters to train here.
But before that, Calgar directly opened a personal Memory Battlefield.
Target Selection: Bloodthirster of Khorne.
A massive figure quickly appeared. Calgar, without hesitation, equipped a power fist and walked forward. He began trading blows with the Bloodthirster, not losing any ground at all. And very quickly…
Calgar: 43,652.
"Hiss…"
Many of the Trailblaze personnel watching were stunned. Calgar had achieved the highest possible score on his very first try. In this mode, just not getting chopped to pieces by the Greater Daemon was considered a success, let alone getting a high score.
As expected of Calgar, his combat prowess was absurd. His score even surpassed Ashira Haqq's, which caused a stir throughout Trailblaze.
---o---
On the other side, inside Hogwarts.
Clank, clank, clank…
With the sound of sliding mechanisms, a line of brand-new Grey Knights donned the Aegis Terminator armor that Zhou Ye had specially prepared for them.
Thud.
With another muffled sound, the group knelt in perfect unison before Zhou Ye. The other Grey Knights in the Imaginary Cages turned red-eyed at the sight.
The surgeries had all been performed right under their noses. They were Space Marines, after all—tough and durable. Zhou Ye knew some Chapters even performed surgery without anesthesia.
He wasn't that extreme, of course, but there wasn't much need for a sterile environment either. As long as it wasn't a plague of Nurgle, ordinary bacteria were practically non-existent to them.
Zhou Ye had never heard of a Space Marine dying from a natural disease in a non-Nurgle plague situation.
This was what made the Imperial Grey Knights' eyes turn red. There were two hundred and fifty-one subjects. Not a single one died. All of them completed the modification.
Like the Deathwatch, the Grey Knights did not adhere to the Codex Astartes. Yet their numbers had never been able to grow; they were, in a way, forced to comply with the Codex's numbers. This was because their recruitment was so difficult. Among the psykers rounded up by the Inquisition on Terra, they had the first right of selection.
Even so, manpower issues had always plagued them.
Other Chapters had men waiting for equipment. For them, it was equipment waiting for men. The cost of creating a single Grey Knight was astronomical, even exceeding that of a Custodian. High-level, stable psykers were simply too hard to find, whereas the Custodes were selected directly from the noble families of Terra.
"How many steps did the Adeptus Mechanicus leave out, just to stack up successes by brute-forcing it with a high death rate?"
The Imperial Grey Knights had already decided. As soon as they returned to their home star, the first thing they would do was demand an explanation from the Mechanicus, the Inquisition, and the Custodes. As psykers, the Grey Knights were highly effective in combat.
An ordinary Custodian, without a Sister of Silence by his side, could very well be taken down by one of them in a one-on-one fight.
---o---