The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 3064: Subspace Dive

"Ah, excellent beer, thank you very much."

Seeing SoshJan drink half of the beer in his glass in one gulp, Bairno grinned.

"This is the legendary brand of Bergman Brewery, King's Gold, second only to Sky Spear."

Only after hearing this did SoshJan realize that this beer did indeed have a metallic texture similar to gold, which was very unique.

After pondering for a moment, SoshJan asked in a curious tone:

"Are all ships allowed to drink alcohol during working hours?"

After taking a sip, Bairno stroked his beard and slowly replied:

"For us, this is not drinking alcohol, it is our way of always remembering our home. The Hearthkyn are born in the void, destined for many of us to spend most of our lives wandering on journeys. Apart from the Ancestors who can keep us in mind, there is only this beer. Besides, we don't seem to get drunk easily, right? Many jobs don't actually require constant attention, as you've seen. Our ships have a high level of automation, and people often just stare at the equipment. This is a very boring and uninteresting job, and the crew needs something to help them concentrate."

"I see."

SoshJan nodded thoughtfully and took a sip from his cup.

In fact, he felt that there was another reason, which was that the Hearthkyn did not have an army in the political sense. Their armed forces were more like commercial bodyguards, so there was no need to maintain that highly authoritative image of a violent machine.

As for the automation mentioned by the other party.

He looked at the Ironkyn who were covering their faces with silver-plated glass covers, busy and tireless, and thought that if humans had this technology, then the bridge would not need to be so tense.

"This Bergman Brewery, I have heard of it. I heard that it is the largest alcohol conglomerate in the Votann League? And it doesn't even belong to any League?"

"After Joseph Bergman inherited the clan's winery that was about to decline, he once ran to many alliances to provide loans or financial support, but was rejected. After that, he independently participated in a dangerous adventure and obtained a generous reward from the adventure, restarted the production of the winery, and rapidly expanded the business with a unique formula. At that time, many alliances offered generous conditions to invite him to join, but Joseph announced that Bergman Brewery would never join any alliance."

"Ha, a very legendary business story. But I thought that between the Hearthkyn."

Hearing SoshJan's meaningful words, Bairno raised his eyebrows and said:

"The core of a business alliance is always profit. Without profit, the alliance will disintegrate, the enterprise will go bankrupt, and the factory will be acquired. This is very realistic and very cruel."

"But humans don't seem to have heard of Bergman's beer. Does he only do business within the Votann?"

"Not really. I heard that Joseph also thought about exploring the human market. He also found a partner in the solar system, who was said to be a very powerful nobleman in the Empire, to act as a distributor. At first, the two parties cooperated well, and Bergman's beer opened up sales in the solar system. But after a period of time, Bergman found that his distributor had been owing payments and had never paid a penny. At that time, in order to reach a cooperation, he allowed the other party to ship goods on credit first and then pay, but when he went to ask the other party for money, the Imperial nobleman reported him for some alien crime, and he was almost detained in the solar system. Since then, Bergman seems to have no longer had the idea of entering the human market."

"Uh—"

SoshJan really didn't know what to say, but this is indeed a characteristic of many Imperial nobles—breaking faith and betraying righteousness is like drinking water, treating rules and contracts like waste paper, and acting recklessly as long as they have power.

"The ship has entered idle mode."

At this time, a broadcast sounded, and Bairno raised his head and glanced at the screen, then picked up the command microphone next to him.

"Maintain course, navigate for 5 minutes, set all scanning equipment to maximum power, and confirm the surrounding situation."

Then Bairno began to put on some equipment. He was not only a fleet commander, but also a Void Master. In the Votann League, each ship is commanded by a Void Master. They are captains who are proficient in various navigation skills and are usually technically enhanced to better perform their duties.

After preparing the equipment, he looked at SoshJan.

"We are about to perform the Supreme Sky dive. I may not be able to entertain you during this time. Please feel free to do as you wish."

SoshJan smiled slightly.

"You are busy, do you need me to avoid?"

Bairno just looked at him more, and then stepped on a floating board.

"If you want to see it, there is no problem, but it may be a bit boring."

Then the floating board flew up, taking Bairno to a large metal ball hanging from the top. Then this ball, which was more than ten meters in diameter, unfolded in the mechanical hum, revealing a set of very complex equipment. At the same time, four Ironkyn with unique shapes also stepped on the floating board and appeared around the equipment. Their shells had some metal tentacles-like mechanical arms, and the head covers were also black. Then they connected the mechanical arms to this machine.

SoshJan watched all this quietly, pondering a series of questions in his mind.

Some of these questions were answered by Lord Vokun, but some were not easy to ask directly.

For example, he once asked Lord Vokun that humans must use the Astronomican to guide their course during warp travel, and that psykers like Navigators are needed in this process. So what do the Hearthkyn use for navigation? Are they psykers like Grimnyr?

But Lord Vokun denied SoshJan's guess. He told SoshJan that these Grimnyr are not psykers as SoshJan understands them, or as defined by the Imperium. Ordinary Hearthkyn are like lanterns sealed tightly, while Hearthkyn with psychic activity only open a small crack in this lantern. In other words, all Hearthkyn are extremely insensitive to psychic power. The power of the Grimnyr actually mainly comes from technology. The Votann League has a large number of psychic equipment. These psychic equipment, under the control of Hearthkyn with psychic activity, emit soft power or flicker with cold witchcraft light. It is through carefully using such technical equipment that the Grimnyr are able to manipulate the energy of the warp, creating an influence on real space similar to that of true psykers.

Therefore, Grimnyr cannot serve as "Navigators," a position that requires a high degree of psychic sensitivity.

As for what the Hearthkyn use to navigate and whether they need aids like the Astronomican, Lord Vokun did not answer directly, and SoshJan did not want to ask, because this is very obviously a very core secret of a race.

But today, seeing the Void Master controlling the ship to perform the difficult operation of "subspace dive," SoshJan suddenly realized that he might have underestimated the Hearthkyn's technology and understanding of the warp.