Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 468: Iron Warriors' Teaching Mission
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"So what the hell is this job assignment? Soltarn!"

Tolamino - angrily rushed into Soltan's temporary command room in the camp, waving the commission he had just received in his hand and screaming - the commission was obviously in the "Imperial" style - or, it was more like the style of the Destiny Steel: the decoration pretending to be retro and the modern style deletions and writing that could not be concealed, as well as the deliberate damage and traces of aging - in short, it was very consistent with the style of a certain 3K Terran's impression of games and animation CG.

Since the Earth Ruler had recently regained the wisdom of his fathers from his handwritten holy book, he was careful not to reside in the fortress of Kalan-Gol as his predecessors did.

On the contrary, he was praying tirelessly and devoutly requesting the Lord of Iron to grant him a larger, safer and more fully functional fortress - so that it could serve as a base for storing important seeds, stationing troops and training new recruits, forging new products and opening an Iron Warriors school - well - although others thought he was a little wishful thinking, and if he continued to be so daring he might be turned into an unshovelable puddle on the ground by the lightning that fell from the sky, but Thor Tarn was indeed asking the Lord of Iron for the use of his own palace.

After all, if there was one residence on Medlengard that was larger than the Fortress of Kalan-Gol or any Chaos Lord's fortress, and had a solid security that had never been breached in the past ten thousand years, it could only be the palace of the Iron Lord himself.

At present, this very bold prayer has not received any response, so they still improved the military camp outside the Kalan-Gol Fortress as a fortress for temporary garrison and activities, because before blowing up this ancient fortress, they found it necessary to clean it up and find some usable and lost things, and by the way, if possible, take an inventory of the list of unfortunate victims - the former Blood Ravens think tank brother Seraface strongly agreed with this and took the lead.

Although Thortan could command the rock spirits here to build a huge stone shelter for him, it would be quite troublesome if there was nothing inside except stone.

After all, the residence of the Iron Warriors, no matter how corrupted they become or which god they surrender to - first, there must be a forge core, second, there must be a manufacturing workshop, and finally, there must be a battle room and the sandbox chess pieces inside.

Throw in enough random slave labor, evil overseers, sweatshops, the odd order from other demon lords, and the occasional raid for gene-seed from old foes the Imperial Fists to replenish the ranks - and this is every Iron Warriors Lord's preferred lifestyle (in the Eye of Terror).

Any Chaos Iron Warrior who lacks any of these and attempts to climb the officer ranks will be implicitly labeled as a bumpkin and a young brat by the old Terrans - Hong Suo does not know yet that among the various criticisms he has received over the centuries, in addition to his eye-catching bloodline, about a quarter of them come from complaints that "this brat does not care about the old rules and manners" - after all, the Iron Warriors may be one of the least particular about ceremony and appearance decoration among all the legions.

If the other Iron Warriors had reliable sources of information that no matter which world line Honso was in, he eventually won Perturabo's favor and was given more resources and power precisely because he "didn't follow the old rules," they would probably be shocked.

Of course, Soltarn didn't know this either.

But Soltan had felt it, lived there, seen it, and eaten it on the "Steel of Destiny".

So in another respect, Soltan's mind is indeed more than one level higher than that of the natives of Medlengard.

He also has a limited edition custom-made power armor and weapons hand-made by the Lord of Steel "himself" (apparently someone was new to the party and had no time to play around so he made them very carefully for every lucky person around him), as well as an even more precious pendant.

Therefore, facing Tolamino who was running towards him aggressively, Soltan's answer was.

"Yes, that is your new position, Tolamino."

"But you can't...!"

"I can. This is an arrangement I made based on my father's inspiration. If you think there is something wrong with it, you can go directly to the newly built Iron Temple and pray to our father to see if he will grant you a revelation of mercy. If you can obtain such grace, I can even let you rule this place, without a second thought."

"You...!" The expression on Tolamino's face kept changing like a kaleidoscope, until Soltan, who had been looking at him for a long time, threw out a bait that he could not refuse.

"...Samokan will also be in your class. We need your knowledge of mysticism and demonology, so you can talk to him at close range while teaching." The hoarse voice of the Stonecaller was like the whisper of the Lord of Change, causing Tolamino's eyes to radiate greed.

"really?"

"It's pure gold, Tolamino." Thortarn sneered. "I am not like some people. We have served the Legion together for ten thousand years. Do you think I am a warrior who does not keep my word?"

"That's right." The Iron Warrior wizard nodded in agreement, "You are just like Felix, you rarely promise but always keep your word."

He paused again on his newly forged staff, feeling a tingling current as his frenzied psychic energy was gathered and his mind cleared. This acrid whipping energy pierced through the wizard's gauntlets, whipping his muscles, and for the first time in thousands of years, his mind remained as sharp and clear as when he was still an Olympian mortal.

This staff, with its distinctive broad-headed, double-edged style, was part of the deal in which he agreed to hand Kalan-Gol over to Thortarn and serve him. It was forged by the Stonecaller himself, from a precious alloy of adamantium, common volcanic basalt, and a mysterious inner core. The surface was engraved with elegantly simple but alien runes, and it was given to Tolamino "in order to greatly restrain it in order to enhance psychic power."

According to Soltann, who looked distressed, he deliberately added a magical and precious hair into the core of the staff, which could have an unprecedented effect of resisting the pollution of the warp and focusing psychic energy.

Tolamino had no doubt about this. Now he was intoxicated every day by the warmth of admiration and the stinging pain that holding it brought him, and every time he saw the father of genes - this damn Soltan must have been a shameful thief! He might have stolen the hair of the primarch and put it in it to make it have such an effect... Keeping promises is one of the few commendable qualities of this country bumpkin... Wait a minute... Does the primarch have hair long enough to fall... No, no, my father is the greatest... Maybe Soltan stole my father's nail fragments or blood... But this is from my father...

"Okay. If you have no objection to this, then I will assume that you have accepted the appointment," Soltan asked politely, and at the same time began to pretend to pick up the documents on the table, "Professor Tolamino. Now the first course we will open for you is Anti-Demonism and Mysterious Ritual Studies, and then you will have your first class tomorrow." "What?! Wait! The Demonic Ritual is a very sophisticated and complex... wait, anti-?"

"I know, so." Soltan narrowed his eyes and looked at Tolamino's neatly combed white hair without a helmet. "Look, you have 13 hours and 22 minutes to prepare for the class."

"What?! Wait! But you confiscated all my human skin scrolls and human skin stocks! And my fresh bone marrow pigment, spiced blood ink and brain gold powder! Then considering the waste required for teaching demonstrations, you will need to send me about a thousand slaves for..."

"Well, all the lives of Medlengard became the property of the Iron Lord when I received them in the name of our Great Father, so you are not allowed to abuse your father's property! That's stealing! Tolamino!"

"Then what do you want me to teach them? What about the sacrifices?"

"Slate and charcoal, easy to write with, and they're everywhere. Sacrifices? Just find some scrap metal and make a model of each."

"Are you kidding me?! Such dry and insincere spells and rituals cannot summon any powerful lifeless advisors!"

"Of course, this is exactly the effect we want. Remember your course? - 'Anti' Demonology and Mysterious Ritual Studies, Tolamino, your course requires students to be able to identify those symbols and magic circles, and then tell them how to destroy them with the least force and the most precision. As for how to find a practice object, well, there are a large number of demon-driven forges and engines in and around Kalan-Gol. You can pick a few for on-site teaching - don't make any mistakes."

"What a waste! We have been using demons as engines and igniting forges to drive our foundries for dozens of centuries, Soltarn. This is the tradition of the Iron Warriors. Using demons as energy cores is a necessary knowledge and a seal that requires great cost to complete. It is a sin to destroy them casually!"

"You can talk to my father about this. If you don't want to do it, return the commission and the staff to me. This will not affect the other parts of our agreement, but I will report this to my father at the next prayer, and then according to my father's enlightenment, find a more intelligent and suitable wizard to serve as a professor."

Soltan seemed no longer willing to waste any more words on this matter, and began to write daily documents and new letters of commission with a feather pen that was found from some unfortunate imperial clerk at some unknown time and place and thrown into a pile of miscellaneous items, and was now found during the large-scale investigation ordered by Soltan.

Finally, the wizard with white hair and golden eyes looked hatefully at his old (imaginary) opponent who looked very tall even when sitting behind the desk, but still tightly grasped the letter of appointment, turned around and walked out wearing combat boots that had been specially heightened by three inches and three centimeters.

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"…So, this demon that was bound and used as the core of the Kalan-Gol Fortress for various purposes - its name, well, remember it, it's called Bloody Heart. Strictly speaking, although the barbaric undertakers used its power to stimulate the fortress's anti-warp shield in the past, and later used it as a donor of warp energy to maintain... uh... some life energy, first of all, it was not bound by them. The ritual to bind it was very ancient and took a very long time, and it is unknown who first initiated it, so their use of it was very limited; secondly, it did not belong to the Lord of Life and Laughter of the Plague, but to the God of War, Courage and Blood... Their gods' names cannot be recited casually here... You have to remember, especially the Lord of Plague and Life, he and his subordinates are very easy to summon... because their requirements for sacrifices and wishes are relatively loose..."

"Professor Tolamino! I have a question!" Samokan raised his hand.

"What's the question?" The Iron Warrior wizard, who was showing off enthusiastically, was not very happy when his performance was interrupted, but considering that it was Samokan who asked the question, he still restrained his hand that was about to use the witchcraft fire.

"Just now you said that its power can be used to maintain the supply of warp energy, but before that it can be used as a shield against warp invasion. So, is this also an example of the practical application of the anti-demon and mysterious rituals we are going to learn?"

"Hmm..." Tolamino was frantically thinking about the connections in his head, but he still expressed his reserved approval verbally, "Yes, that's right, so this is an example we will analyze and explain in depth later, but now let's talk about some basic knowledge first. After all, some people's brains are like mud..."

In the lower levels of the Kalan-Gol Fortress, which was once as terrifying as a living purgatory and even the Chaos Iron Warriors champions were unwilling to set foot in, the Blood Lake where demons were imprisoned in the sky is now quiet and empty, with only the sound of a certain Iron Warrior professor's lecture echoing in the seemingly empty rock mine.

The mortal children who had been captured and had not yet been transformed had been sent to the camp outside, to be cared for by the Dragoon Regiment and the mortals under their command; the piles of corpses had been temporarily classified according to whether or not they contained gene seeds and the state of the seeds, and stuffed into cold storage as much as possible; as for the precious gene seeds snatched from the Empire, they were carefully taken out and temporarily kept in caves and freezers in the center of Soltarn's camp, supervised by Lieutenant Colonel Leonid with tears in his eyes. Soltarn was not in a hurry for use, as such valuable items that were considered hard currency in both the Empire and the Warp would always find a use.

By the now calm red lake, stood a small group of people, each holding a slate and a charcoal pencil, looking up at the demon that was sealed and hung above the lake with chains, while listening carefully to the explanation of the leading Iron Warrior wizard.

This is Tolamino and the students he brought today: among them are the Renegade Space Marines wearing power armor, Samokwan who is now wearing power armor skin simulated by demons, and a being taller than anyone present, the King of the Skinless. Their tribe has now received some psychic spells to treat them, which has at least temporarily freed them from most of the pain. Another unexpected thing is that the leader of the Skinless heard that they were going to open a course, so he got himself a seat as an auditor, so this weird group is now being taught on the spot by "Professor" Tolamino.

"Next we are going to talk about the relationship between the Blood Heart and its seal. Come, take a look at this seal. It is from at least nine thousand years ago, and may be even older. If we pull it up a little bit... yes... because it is so old, its seal is also very primitive... No one will risk pulling it up, but I will show you the consequences of loosening it a little bit..."

The scarlet blood light and the white phosphorus-like aura lit up at the same time.

White burning flames gushed out from the loose wound, splashing in the air. The Blood Heart's drooping head suddenly raised up, and the demon let out a painful and mad roar. Malice filled the entire space, and everyone's mind was in excruciating pain due to the most primitive fear engraved in their instincts.

A black subspace rift was torn open on the boiling surface of the Blood Lake.

(End of this chapter)