How can a retired savior be considered retired if he drops to 40,000?

-

Although the destination was determined, how to navigate was still a problem - this was the Ghoul Stars, the dark side of the Empire where the Astronomican could not be seen. The Warp was treacherous and the void environment was changing rapidly. Even if they did not enter the Warp, anything could happen. The navigator on the Lion's Mane had almost no experience in dealing with similar situations.

"Let's not even mention that we have no landmarks to refer to right now, and can only make short-distance warp jumps. Even during the Great Crusade when the warp was calm, it would definitely take more than two months to sail from here to Baal, my lord."

The chief navigator looked so upset that he had seen an outsider. Even though Lanmarok was watching him closely nearby, he could not stop him from saying:

"In the past, it would take at least six to eight months to travel from the Empire's outskirts like the Ghoul Stars to Baal, not to mention that we are not even sure where Baal is now."

Fujimaru Ritsuka fell silent.

“…Ah, is that so…I’m sorry I didn’t realize that…”

She was so comfortable with her efficient shopping on the Storm's Edge that she completely forgot that the Imperial navigators' human navigation efficiency could not keep up with the Flat Moon.

In fact, in the dark side of the Empire after the Great Rift opened, the navigation efficiency of most Imperial ships was limited by safety and could only make short-range warp jumps, thus being greatly slowed down. Those fleets that dared to really go deep into the waves of the High Sky either had the ambition to risk their lives or had some other methods to show their magical powers - no matter what, such voyages had a great risk of damage or deviation, and the probability of actually reaching the destination was not very impressive.

Actions like the Storm's Edge, which "took less than three hours to launch itself from Holy Terra through the Great Rift to Tagusa, and then spent about half a year traveling freely among the Ghoul Stars" would have been evaluated as "What the hell are you talking about" even during the Great Crusade, or would have been forced to undergo rounds of inspections by Imperial agencies and Space Marine Legions (especially the Dark Angels who held the Ikaros Protocol) because of the high suspicion of carrying some legacy of the Dark Age of Technology.

According to the current situation, it is unlikely that she would dismantle the Plane Moon to provide navigation for the Lion's Mane, or transfer the power system of the Lion's Mane to the Storm's Edge - after all, the two ships were manufactured nearly 30,000 years apart, and the operating systems were really incompatible.

Although given the Emperor's partiality, there is a chance that the entire ship could successfully reach its destination by crashing into the warp and then drifting freely, the probability that anyone in this universe can influence it is really not trustworthy.

"In any case, we have to plan a short-distance jump route, right? But this will increase the time and stops required for the voyage, and the corresponding risks will also increase... Lanmalok, can't we really go to Ulan Huda? At least it's close, and even if we walk slowly, it will take two or three jumps and a month to get there."

Ritsuka Fujimaru looked back at the Great Master Huoyi and once again received a very disapproving look.

"I'm serious. We must consider the issue of naval warfare. If we only rely on light spears to fight—"

"Don't I know I have to think about this? I am the one who—"

Lanmarok's angry roar echoed like thunder in the beautifully decorated corridor on the upper part of the ship, and even Fujimaru Ritsuka was frightened. But it cannot be said that he was completely unrestrained, at least he stopped the second half of the sentence, which was obviously more offensive, and swallowed it back. Fujimaru Ritsuka had no doubt that Lanmarok had some more weighty sentences in his mind, but it was better for everyone not to point it out.

Thankfully, this Fire Wing Grand Master is someone who can think rationally even in extreme situations. The current limited inventory situation has prompted him to make a safer choice while maintaining his prejudices:

"Let's go to Ulan Huda."

These words sounded like he was trying hard to squeeze them out from between his teeth with great reluctance.

-

Although the Night Lords were all surprised that Ritsuka Fujimaru could successfully persuade the Dark Angels to go to a heretical forge planet that was in cahoots with the traitors, and therefore developed a little inexplicable admiration for her, it is a pity that many things in this world cannot develop step by step after the parties involved have made a decision.

Even though Fujimaru Ritsuka had remade the face of the Emperor's statuette according to the reference provided by Curze, and spent three or four days applying gold foil and coloring the entire statue, it was still the same. Far away from Holy Terra, even the Emperor could not achieve his wish here.

To put it simply, not long after they left Jestal and entered the subspace through Mandeville Point, they coincidentally, so coincidentally that they ran into... something else.

Judging from the identification code, it was another Imperial ship, and it seemed that most of its functions had been shut down, but it was impossible to detect more information in the warp. I don't know when it started floating in the waves of the warp, maybe a few days, maybe a few years, or maybe...

All in all, given how "popular" this area is, this is most likely a trap.

"The only good news is that it doesn't look like it can move," Lanmarok commented cautiously, "which means we can just ignore it and go around it."

However, this time the roles were reversed, and it was Fujimaru Ritsuka who hesitated and wanted to choose the option with a lower safety factor:

"But the symbol on that ship is the Iron Hand." She pointed to the report passed down by the navigators and said, "Isn't this more reliable than Ulan Huda's?"

Lanmalok began to feel that this special envoy from the throne who acted on his whims was really unreasonable.

(I know my writing is very bad so I'll just post it here)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 46 Preparing to Open a Blind Box

Many times, exploring a space hulk isn't a smart idea.

By the same token, exploring space hulks while navigating the subspace is not a wise move.

But there are also many times when you know that what you are about to do is not a wise move, but you have to bite the bullet and charge forward - such as when facing a ship that is obviously loyal to the Empire.

During the warp voyage, many devices that can operate in the physical universe have abnormalities, and it has become almost impossible for the two ships to transmit data to each other in the form of radio waves at close range. But after the Lion's Mane sent an astropathic communication to the other party without hope, the Iron Hands ship also received a correctly coded and clear astropathic response. This is enough to prove something.

No matter what the circumstances, if you see a stranded ship, you should try to pull it out if you are able. This sailing tradition passed down from ancient times is also valid in the distant and treacherous subspace. Even Lanmalok, who was opposed at the beginning, had nothing to refute when faced with such irrefutable evidence, and could only start to prepare for the rescue in a sullen manner.

However, being able to respond to astropathic messages does not mean that the situation on the other ship is safe. Although the information transmitted by astropathic messages will not be worn out under such a distance, it is limited by the form of this psychic communication method and cannot really transmit too detailed and accurate information.

The information analyzed by the Lion's Mane's Astrologer Choir indicated that the reason the other ship was trapped in the Sea of ​​Souls was because it was invaded by subspace creatures after the damage to the Geller Field. During the battle, the ship's power system was damaged and its function was greatly reduced, making it impossible to start the subspace engine and tear open the curtain to escape. This reason for the accident is not unreasonable, but it seems a bit weird in the current situation:

What kind of accident would have to happen on an Iron Hand ship for it to come to a halt due to mechanical problems, leaving the crew helpless to do anything about it?

Moreover, their Geller position was obviously no longer valid. The concept of time in the subspace was very confusing, and even they themselves probably couldn't tell how long they had been drifting in this state without protection.

There might be some shipwrecked fellow Astartes on board, or it might be a trap set by some unknown enemy. It would be impossible to figure out what is going on without actually boarding the ship and exploring it.

"——In summary, this is the situation so far. I'll leave it to you from now on, Enkidu!"

In the summoning room, Ritsuka Fujimaru clasped his hands together and said this to the young man in front of him who had long grass-green hair and was difficult to tell whether he was male or female.

When you have to fight in the warp, what better fighter than a warp entity?

The initial proof of the concept of "humanity" has led to the recognition of the existence of "heroic spirits" generated from the history, legends, and fictional stories of human civilization. The structure of the base makes it easier for Fujimaru Ritsuka to summon her spirits - although the spirits she can summon are still from the "realm record tape" copies of her original world, and there are slight differences in the existence and execution of the local spirits here.

As for the so-called "native Heroic Spirits", the more widely known name is the "Cursed Legion". They were originally subspace entities formed by the dead souls under the influence of the Emperor's psychic energy. Like Chaos Demons, they have many restrictions when they appear in the world, and their strength is not very stable. Unlike the form of "Heroic Spirits casting their own copies from the throne" that Fujimaru Ritsuka is familiar with in his own world, when the Cursed Legion under the Emperor appears in the material universe, each one is equivalent to the original body in the lower world.

Obviously, the disadvantages of this mechanism are risk and efficiency, but the continuity of the client's memory is also an advantage. Just like now: Fujimaru Ritsuka has actually borrowed Enkidu's spiritual base many times in the past six months, but those usage data obviously have not really arrived at the seat. When facing this summoned client, she still had to quickly explain the series of events that happened after she came to this world.

She can even say that she started from "after arriving in this world", that is, after she had to part with most of the Heroic Spirits, which already proved that the connection between her and the Heroic Spirits was strong: more commonly, even if a projection with the same realm record tape is summoned in two summons, the summoned Heroic Spirit itself will not retain any record of what happened after it appeared in the world, but only have the memory of "before death".

"Well, I roughly understand the situation." Enkidu - "Chains of Heaven", a sentient divine weapon, and King Gilgamesh's best friend, smiled warmly, "It's great that I can help, Master."

The Grand Master, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who knew very well the messed up nature of these Heroic Spirits, felt something strange about these words:

"…Although this question is meaningless, could it be that you managed to steal someone else's qualification to manifest in the world and then appeared in the summoning ceremony?"

"No, it's just that as a king, Jill also has the dignity of a king."

As usual, Enkidu responded with a warm smile.

Fujimaru Ritsuka probably understood, and then she decided to change the subject.

"Although Chaldea's summoning system will also give you some 'modern' common sense knowledge when implementing the summoning, there shouldn't be any problems with language and basic common sense, but this world itself... well... seeing is believing." She carefully chose a rather euphemistic statement, "For many things, the impact of 'just knowing' and 'actually seeing' is not on the same level. I hope you can deal with it as calmly as possible. Most of these things have very complicated reasons behind them, and they are not problems that can be easily solved by making a big fuss."

"...That doesn't sound good. You're facing some complicated situations again."

"Haha, hahahaha." Fujimaru Ritsuka laughed dryly, "Enkidu, you must be joking. There is no easy part in saving Renri."

"That's true, but you really are easily dragged into various situations."

In fact, it was Fujimaru Ritsuka who jumped into "various situations" himself, looking away guiltily.

This time it was Enkidu's turn to chuckle.

"It's okay. We've all gotten used to you messing around." When the Godly Weapon mentioned this topic, he actually showed a look of nostalgia and emotion. "After all, you had no pursuit of the 'root' itself, but you thought of solving the problem by 'reaching the root', which shocked everyone. When the plan was really launched, everyone thought that no matter success or failure, they would never see each other again. Unexpectedly, you could fall into an unrelated world through the vortex of the root."

"In fact, I originally thought that I would stop at the Origin and never appear again... By the way, the structure similar to the 'Origin Vortex' in this world is called the 'Well of Eternity'. It felt terrible when I emerged from that place."

"After all, it's a journey to the roots. You're the only one in history who's survived and can tell your feelings. No matter how you feel, it's undoubtedly worth remembering - so how about it? Did you gain any knowledge from the process of contacting the roots?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka thought about it distressedly and ruffled his hair in pain: "No, I can't remember anything. I don't even have the impression of meeting Miss Liangyi and Sieg, and I don't know how I ended up here. It feels like the whole process has been deleted from my mind with one click."

Enkidu nodded indifferently. "It's probably the human brain's self-protection mechanism at work. Because you don't pursue forbidden knowledge itself, but are very obsessed with your identity as a human, so the brain instinctively deletes the memories that are 'not needed by humans' through subconscious judgment. That's why you can remain the same after the impact of that level of information. 'Fujimaru Ritsuka' can still exist under the name 'Fujimaru Ritsuka' (basket), which is not bad."

"I don't think that's the whole reason—"

Before Fujimaru Ritsuka finished her words, a loud chisel against the door of the summoning room abruptly cut off her unspoken sentence. She instinctively glanced back and wanted to speak to smooth things over, but at this moment, Enkidu had already walked forward with great interest, changing into a sharp temperament as if he was "ready for battle", and the door of the summoning room opened under his control -

In the next moment, Enkidu raised his hand and used his seemingly unprotected body to steadily catch the fist wrapped in dark blue power armor with lightning patterns that was smashing down fiercely from outside the door. Then he pushed it with ease, and the Terminator armored Night Lord who was standing firmly at the door was smashed hard against the wall across the corridor.

"Hello, according to the records, you should be a modified human warrior named 'Astartes', right?" The God-made Weapon, who looked human in appearance but had a far less self-awareness than a human, asked a question he already knew the answer to with a smile, and then made a casual comment:

"From the tentative exchange we just had, I think I'm stronger as a weapon."

Across the corridor, the former Black Armor Guard Terminator who had been sent over to call for help struggled angrily in the indentation on the wall.

-

Let's not talk about how Fujimaru Ritsuka made the two stop fighting and start working together. During this period, Storm's Edge had already arrived near the warp wreck as a temporary landing craft for the Lion's Mane, and could perform boarding exploration missions. The participants of this mission, in addition to Fujimaru Ritsuka and Enkidu, who were of course going, also included Konrad Curze and a temporary team of ten Night Lords, excluding Sevatar.

- As a psychic with insufficient knowledge and control over psychic energy, Yago Sevitarion was tragically excluded from the list for this boarding operation inside the Warp. Together with Jeanne Alter, whose majority components were extreme emotions and therefore extremely susceptible to the influence of the Warp, they had to stay on the ship with the Emperor's statuette.

The ten people who were allowed to serve as the Primarch's guards in this mission were the ten with the highest scores after comprehensive performance evaluation in the previous simulation training. Unfortunately, but understandably, they were all veterans of the Great Crusade, and even eight of Sevatar's former Black Guards took up the quota. These people were therefore allowed to receive their original power armors - they had already undergone basic repairs on the Storm's Edge by various means, and all "inappropriate" decorations had been removed. But if their mission was to "guard the Primarch"...

Looking at Conrad Coates now, Fujimaru Ritsuka decided not to comment. At this time, it's better to smile, and there's no need to make it too clear that "everyone is actually a tool to expand the scope of exploration", right?

After suppressing the divine weapons that were eager to try to "compete in performance" with the Primarch, the artificial god, the boarding operation was launched in an almost barbaric form: after Somni's detection and detailed calculations, the Holy Sword weapons on the bow of Storm's Edge were activated at low power, aiming at the ship with the Iron Hands Chapter logo on its surface, and appropriately chiseled a gap in it. Afterwards, the team of participants in this mission were dropped to the target location through here.

The process was not comfortable, but no one complained. This level of harsh environment was commonplace for the Primarch, the Astartes as a war machine, and Fujimaru Ritsuka who had to walk on a difficult road, so there was nothing worth mentioning.

——By the same token, the subsequent process of advancing towards the center of the ship was also commonplace and not worth mentioning in the eyes of everyone in this exploration team.

It's not that nothing happened during this journey. They did confirm that the ship was corrupted by Chaos, and dealt with some messy Warp creatures. If it was an ordinary Astartes team to carry out this kind of exploration, it might be possible to suffer damage under these mental chaos influences and attacks that violate the laws of physics, but for a team that includes Primarchs and divine weapons, and can use the Emperor's psychic power to deal with the mental pollution caused by Chaos at any time... It can only be said that this time the Chaos Demons kicked the iron wall.

"That's all so far, but the closer we get to the interior, the more uncertain it is." Fujimaru Ritsuka reasoned, "There was an incident on the ship that made the Iron Hands unable to repair the power system. I don't think the situation inside will be as easy as it is outside."

"Although I really want to question it, now is not the time to spend a lot of time questioning your criteria for quantifying whether the situation is critical or not." Conrad Curze said this inexplicably with a little annoyance, "Let's follow the original plan. You take five people to check the navigator and astropath on this ship, and I will take five people to check the core power room. As for this one-"

He glanced down at Enkidu rudely, and Enkidu smiled at him indifferently. "Search for hostile individuals and eliminate them, right? I can do it alone."

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was becoming tense again, Fujimaru Ritsuka interrupted indifferently:

"Enkidu and I are fine, but what about you? Don't let the Iron Hands soldiers be mistaken for enemies and be suppressed by heavy firepower after the battle begins, okay?"

"--Shut up!"

"In short, don't be so aggressive right from the start. You know that Mr. Ferrus gets angry easily, and his offspring must be the same. Try to start the conversation when both parties are calm—"

Conrad Curz no longer paid attention to Fujimaru Ritsuka's nonsense, turned around angrily, and gave a tough order to the five-member team of the Midnight Lords that had been divided at the beginning: "Let's go!"

In a strange atmosphere, the ten-man Terminator formation was split into two. The five people who followed the Primarch left unreasonably, looking back every few steps, and the five people who were left behind were also shrouded in a strange atmosphere and remained silent.

Enkidu didn't care about the strange atmosphere among the Legion's descendants. He smiled at Fujimaru Ritsuka and said, "How dare you provoke him like that."

"It's not a provocation, it's just to divert his attention. After all, it would be troublesome if you two really fought here - we are here to rescue, not to make enemies. I am weak enough and important enough, so he won't really attack me."

Fujimaru Ritsuka sincerely felt that, so she said that. However, Enkidu looked at her in a puzzled manner, as if she had just said something strange like "One plus one equals three, doesn't it?"

"how?"

“Nothing.” The green-haired man smiled inexplicably again. “You have always been like this, and it’s good that you can still maintain this state. Then I will move alone in the direction of the strong smell of something wrong. Be careful.”

After saying that, he turned into a spirit and disappeared from the spot, leaving Fujimaru Ritsuka and the five Terminator Midnight Lords there.

Then, the atmosphere inexplicably became even weirder.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 47: Opening a blind box and getting a hidden item that doesn't exist

After being divided, the team continued to move up the corridor in this strange silence.

These five Midnight Lords obviously had their own thoughts. Fujimaru Ritsuka could see that they seemed to feel that they understood something and were afraid of something because of it. This "understanding" made her instinctively feel that something was wrong. But now, it was good that these people remained quiet and well-behaved because of this, so she decided not to say anything to disrupt this delicate balance.

Obviously, it was the first time for everyone to enter the ship, but they did not encounter any major problems in finding the corresponding paths.

Imperial ships were originally built bit by bit in the docks of the Forge World according to a unified template. Even after delivery, they would be modified by the current owner to gradually develop corresponding characteristics, but the overall layout was still similar. That is why everyone knows that if you want to find the navigator and astropath on a ship, you should go up.

Almost any Imperial ship is designed and operated in this way: the living conditions on the upper deck are better than those on the lower deck. For these psykers who are very important in the operation of navigation and ocean communications, they will of course be provided with the best living conditions on the entire ship - especially the navigators who must constantly look directly into the warp during the voyage. Sometimes the chief navigator's life on the ship is even more luxurious than the captain; astropaths also often have some privileges in decorating their working environment. As long as they think that the modifications that can help them enter a meditative state and send astropathic messages are more helpful, they will often be approved.

But such treatment does not mean that they can enjoy it comfortably. As psykers who are closely connected to the warp, they are often the first to bear the brunt if the ship encounters chaos pollution during navigation. Therefore, while navigators and astropaths enjoy the comfortable life on the upper floors of the ship, their work and living areas are often isolated by heavy adamantine doors and long and narrow corridors, and necessary execution devices are installed in them.

This ship belonging to the Iron Hands had been drifting in the warp for an unknown period of time, and the survival rate of the navigator and astropath was almost non-existent. However, after the Lion's Mane sent an astropathic communication to her, it received a seemingly normal response. Whether there were really loyalists who were holding on to their posts, or the demons who had successfully taken over the body had set a trap for hunting, it was worth going there to explore.

This is why Fujimaru Ritsuka was assigned to this mission: no matter what the reason was for the ship to stop, or what kind of enemy there was on the ship, if the psychic on the ship had problems in the subspace, then the culprit was most likely a Chaos Demon. This is the mission with the least variables among the three separate teams. Fujimaru Ritsuka can borrow the Emperor's psychic power at any time, which will also bring advantages to the team when fighting against Chaos, so overall it has the highest safety factor.

——But it doesn’t seem like it should be this high.

"I feel like we've been walking for a long time." Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but break the silence. "The clock in the subspace is unreliable. How about everyone tell us how much time has passed? I think we've been walking for at least forty minutes."

The five-member combat team behind her paused for a moment, and reported times ranging from thirty minutes to one hour. Then, everyone realized the problem:

It was so quiet. They encountered no enemies along the way.

Not only were there no enemies, they hadn't even encountered a single servitor on the way. Although bullet holes, explosions, cracks caused by melting or hacking could be seen on the walls and floors around them, there were no corpses.

After entering the center of the ship, which is theoretically more crowded and therefore more chaotic, the weak subspace creatures that used to harass the team disappeared. Ritsuka originally thought that a more powerful demon or something had marked its territory on the ship, causing this phenomenon, but now, this reason has to be questioned: How can a demon clean up after wreaking havoc?

"Besides, is this ship that big?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked around at the walls with deliberately exposed pipelines in confusion. "When we split up, we were probably already in the middle of the ship. For a normal-sized battle barge, does it usually take that long to get to the upper deck?"

"It's normal for space to become chaotic in the warp." The Midnight Lord, who had gained experience living on the Storm's Edge, consoled him, "Perhaps this is just a natural phenomenon."