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

For a moment, Sevatar was sure that Curze's face had an expression that he had often seen on his face in the past. The emotional color it embodied was very subtle, and only the Night Lords who were closest to the Primarch and knew their gene-father best could barely interpret it. And the meaning it expressed was unfortunately very general, and even Sevatar could not understand its deep meaning in many cases. At least, he understood the message that the Primarch wanted to convey consciously or unconsciously through this expression: You should understand.

Unfortunately, Sevita doesn't understand it a lot of the time.The same goes for more Night Lords, and so does this one.

But he soon discovered that the expression that should have lasted for a while only flashed across Curze's face. In the mist, the Primarch's dark eyes that should have been staring at him were fixed on a point in the void in thought - and then he spoke again.

"...Fujimaru Ritsuka is right." He seemed to be talking to Sevatar, or to himself, "It is always difficult to admit one's mistakes."

"...What?" Sevatar couldn't help but asked in confusion.

At this moment, he already had some feeling in his heart: his Primarch suddenly gave him such a strange order and forbade him to call other brothers to assist, just to reasonably enjoy a period of time to be alone with him, and silence would not be too awkward. But even if he understood this, he still didn't know what Curze was apologizing to him for.

"Don't pretend, you know what happened before." Coze waved his hand impatiently, bringing a small string of water droplets into the air, "During this period of time since returning from the Claw of Destruction, I have thought a lot-"

He paused here for a moment, as if considering whether to reveal all his thoughts to his closest offspring, but in the end, he gave up.

He simply made a concluding conclusion:

"——I tried to look at my past life from a different perspective, and then I came to the conclusion that I was undoubtedly a great failure, whether as a Primarch, a legion commander, or a father."

You finally realized something so obvious, Sevatar thought to himself, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

He knew he shouldn't put such a harsh remark into words, but he didn't intend to remain silent.

He was born in the streets of Nostramo Dines and grew up among the gangs. The cold, sharp and sharp sense of humor had been ingrained in him before he joined the Legion, and the atmosphere of the Night Lords itself made him hone this skill more skillfully and purely in his subsequent service.

He should have had a thousand witty remarks about this - ones that were more positive in meaning, or ones that packaged negative emotions more euphemistically - waiting to be uttered by him, but in reality, the inexplicably heavy emotion seemed to be pressing tightly on his chest like a huge rock, causing even his throat to tighten and making it impossible for him to make even the slightest sound.

"So, I'm sorry, Sevatar," Curze repeated. "I don't ask for your forgiveness, or any other Night Lord's forgiveness. I just..."

He was at a loss for words, and that expression of "you should understand" once again unconsciously appeared on his face, but at the same time, he was also thinking.

At that moment, the First Captain realized that his Primarch was trying to explain a thought that he had originally disdained to explain.

"...I don't understand, sir." Sevatar began, almost noticing that his voice was choking and frighteningly hoarse. "I don't understand, but I don't care. It's okay if you can't explain it completely at the moment, there is still a long time in the future - as long as you wish, I will always be by your side."

Sevatar almost didn't know what he was saying. After these words came out, he wanted to slap himself twice. The Primarch did not immediately make any clear expression, but after a few seconds of silence that seemed like centuries to Sevatar, Curze nodded.

"Thank you," he said briefly.

No more today (Migu). The public platform really limits my output.

In fact, the things simulated in the simulation room highlight the reality and illusion. Most people use this place as a projection of the environment and atmosphere, but it is not that no one is hunting wild boars for the Master (I am talking about you, brother). Because I don’t really want to spend words to connect the boss lady’s hot spring hotel to Storm Border, so here we will just treat the simulated hot spring as real (you).

Also, if you really go to a public hot spring, don’t imitate Xiaosai and Koz (pointing).

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 75 Don't forget to complete the limited-time main mission

"This is the 'Book of False Ministers.'" On the Claw of Destruction, Fujimaru Ritsuka placed a small book suitable for mortal size on the table and introduced it to everyone present.

The Iron Hands sitting around the table were somewhat puzzled. They could not see what was worth mentioning about this small book of ordinary thickness, ordinary material, obviously only existing as a paperback book, and even seemingly difficult to preserve for more than a century under normal circumstances. Only the Think Tank brother moved uneasily and asked: "Is it... a ritual prop?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded: "To put it simply, this is one of the bases for Mr. Ferrus Manus, a creature of the warp, to exist in the real universe."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense, and even Ferrus, who was arguing with Adjutant Fish about future plans, turned his attention.

"This is a ceremonial anchor point I added after you decided to return to Medusa after resting, so it won't be a big problem if it breaks." Fujimaru Ritsuka pushed the small book from the table to the think tank, "But if this book breaks, the anchor point he uses for positioning will be reset from 'around this book' to 'around me', so it still needs to be hidden."

The think tank nodded hurriedly, and took out a small reliquary from somewhere on his power armor, took out a metal amulet from the stasis field inside, and picked up the Book of False Ministers from the table with obviously excessive caution and placed it upright in the vacated stasis field.

In this atmosphere where everyone even unconsciously lightened their breathing, the Iron Priest couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "Can't this, uh, 'ritual anchor' be made into a form that is more conducive to long-term preservation?"

The natural lifespan of ancient people was far less than that of mortals with rejuvenation technology today, so Fujimaru Ritsuka did not agree with this idea. She asked in confusion, "This is not a weapon, just put it in a safe place. Even if a book is left on the shelf and left alone, it can be preserved for 50 to 60 years under the right dry and wet conditions. Isn't this long enough?"

This difference in concept and sensitivity to measuring time made the Iron Hands feel a little out of place. Ferrus interrupted the conversation in time, interrupting the descendants' possibility of further thinking: "She is right, I don't really plan to rely on the ritual base point to spend so much time in reality."

What he meant was that such a long period of time would definitely be enough for him to successfully strengthen his spiritual foundation, complete his etheric shell, and be able to ignore the barrier of the veil like Conrad Curze and move freely in the real universe with all his strength. But if the Iron Hands, who were currently in a state of panic, heard this, they would only interpret it in a bad direction.

To avoid embarrassment, Fujimaru Ritsuka pretended not to notice the sudden downturn in the atmosphere in the room, and directly started the next topic with Ferrus: "Now, we have to start thinking about what to use to completely anchor you in reality, and the energy supply problem after that."

The atmosphere around them rose to a "high-spirited" state in an instant, and Fujimaru Ritsuka still pretended not to notice anything: "Take Conrad Curze as an example. The two core points of his body are undoubtedly two hearts - one heart is the concept of the planet 'Nostramo' itself. The ether generated by the natural breath of the star soul can provide him with energy to maintain the etheric shell, move freely in reality, and even reveal his essence; the other heart is forged from Aurora Steel and Nostramo's fine gold. On the one hand, it serves as an anchor point with a strong affinity with him to fix it in the body, and on the other hand, it also stably echoes with the previous heart, so that the ether of the shell and his true ether form a balance. But the structure of each Primarch is very different when it is designed. I don't think a similar system can work successfully on you."

Ferrus, who had watched the entire process and knew very well how troublesome all the above steps were, nodded and said, "It's better not to use the same design. I don't want to blow up Medusa because of this."

——The premise that the star soul of Nostramo in the illusion can exist in reality with Conrad Curze is that the star soul of Nostramo in reality has already dissipated 10,000 years ago. If Ferrus also tries to complete his own body with the same design, then he must first "kill" his home planet by various means.

However, Castimir Fish, who was muttering "No?" beside him, obviously didn't think there was anything wrong with this. So the next second, the adjutant was slapped on the table from behind by the literal hand of steel after receiving the "punishment of love" from his genetic father. The fall of a Space Marine did not cause any damage to the table itself, but the vibration it generated frightened the only mortal opposite and made him take a step back.

"Don't say such stupid things. Do you also want to go to the detention room?" Ferrus asked angrily.

By the way, the Iron Father Malkan Ferrus, who was supposed to preside over this meeting, is currently in confinement. I won't mention the specific reason, but Ferrus said that as a mature and efficient Primarch, he would handle it personally.

After a brief thought, Ferrus asked again: "What are you going to do about Sanguinius?"

"I have a vague idea, but I am sure that his design will never be used on any of you." Fujimaru Ritsuka said firmly after returning to the table. "I have to personally see the environment of the Bal Three Stars before I can finalize the specific process. However, you should have studied the design draft of the 'Chaldea Lighthouse', right?"

Ferrus thought about it for a few seconds, then suddenly realized, "Are those redundant energy lines in module 4 reserved for him?"

"He has a stronger connection with his home planet than any of you. Since the Great Crusade, the faith of the angels there has clearly pointed to him. No other Primarch can compare to this. This connection even supports him to place his core externally. Considering the strategic significance of the Lighthouse after its completion, it will definitely be heavily guarded to the extent that 'whoever can push the bottom of the tower will basically end the empire'. Placing a Primarch's anchor there will probably not cause any problems."

Fujimaru Ritsuka paused for a moment and added, "But I don't know if this will work. After all, you know his condition. The premise of everything is to find a way to collect his shattered soul first. Let's wait until No. 1 and No. 2 are in place before considering the production of No. 4. If there is still no hope when the project progresses to that stage, then the output and operating principle of No. 4 module must be greatly changed... I digress. In short, the selection of anchor points and cores is also related to your essence. It doesn't necessarily have to be related to the mother planet. I choose the original body's mother planet because it is convenient for me."

The confused Iron Hands listened to this with a bit of bewilderment. They basically didn't understand what their Gene Father and the Inquisitor were communicating, but they could still vaguely understand that "the Inquisitor wanted to build a tower as the base for Sanguinius to appear in the world." This matter can't be said to be inappropriate in symbolic terms, but it doesn't seem to be very appropriate in strategic terms, uh... Anyway - will the Blood Angels agree to this?

But Ferrus did not speak. If the Iron Hands Primarch, who was a master of strategy and tactics, agreed to this, then the descendants of the Legion should not object. After about two seconds of silence in the room, Ferrus spoke again:

"If we only consider etheric energy, wouldn't it be possible to use electricity if we can properly handle the conversion problem?" The Primarch, who had obviously studied the entire energy system on the Storm's Edge, said casually, "In that case, I should have collected a 'generator' from the Dark Technology Age in a Mimir treasury."

"Then this will inevitably involve the corresponding energy loss, the conversion of virtuality and reality, and the combination of material entities and the essence of the subspace... Considering that your essential form is also a quasi-mechanical product, this fusion is theoretically feasible, but I think it will definitely be painful." Fujimaru Ritsuka judged, "You are also aware of the entire process and the risks involved, so I won't tell you more about the technical points. As for your official anchor point in the real universe - I heard from the Emperor that your skull is still in Medusa?"

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, but Ferrus himself admitted it frankly: "Indeed. The two core issues have been resolved. I will deal with these issues during this voyage back to Medusa, which will take about five to eight months. Then we will contact each other and decide in detail what to do next."

They didn't mention how to contact each other, as if they had already agreed on a method for this problem. Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded without hesitation: "Okay, if everything goes well, I should be in Bal in five to eight months. We will need to contact each other then."

As she spoke, she stood up from the table again, signaling that the topic was over and the Iron Hands, who were forced to adopt an unfamiliar meeting method, could disband. The Iron Librarian carefully picked up the holy amulet that he had taken out of the stasis field from the table, and prepared to immediately return to his secret room to carefully re-arrange all the important items.

But at this time, he was driven by an inexplicable sixth sense to turn his head again, and happened to see Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was also about to leave, as if he had been punched in the face out of thin air, without warning and without saying a word. fell down.

He heard the exclamation first, and then realized that it was he who cried out in surprise: in that instant, he felt the Emperor. The touch was fleeting, but he would never mistake it.

Before the think tank's panic disappeared, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who seemed to have lost consciousness for a short time, had stood up again with the help of the Iron Priest. Blood was flowing out of her nostrils like a stream because of what happened just now, but she just took out a handkerchief from her pocket and covered her face with it, looking quite unconcerned.

"Please lend me your Star Language Choir." She said sullenly behind her handkerchief. "The Emperor sent me a Star Language message, but I can't understand it."

Mimi (six o'clock).

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 76 Be careful that the limited-time main mission may be pushed back on you

The fact that "the Emperor sent an astronomical message to Ritsuka Fujimaru" did surprise everyone present, but the focus of the Iron Hands was on "the Emperor", while for Ferrus himself who knew the whole story, the more important thing was the "astronomical message".

"Why did father send you astropathic messages?" The Primarch, feeling uneasy, asked cautiously, "He should have many more gentle ways to communicate with you."

"Because he's in a hurry." Fujimaru Ritsuka moved his handkerchief, turned it over and folded it, and at the same time checked whether his nosebleed had stopped. "Face-to-face communication always takes time. If you send me a compressed package of star language, he can continue to do other things. I really can't guess what he is doing during this time-"

"-Ultima was invaded by Nurgle, led by Mortarion. Before I withdrew from the Webway War, my father had been watching the battlefield over there."

"And we are now in the Extreme Star Region."

The combination of these keywords was enough to make people realize that something was wrong. Fujimaru Ritsuka staggered forward and tried to struggle towards the door. Her center of gravity was unstable like a drunk. The Iron Priest instinctively reached out to help her. A mechanical arm with a clamp with soft padding on the tip was opened and quickly reached over. It clamped Fujimaru Ritsuka's waist from above and lifted her up with a grumble of discomfort.

The priest looked behind him blankly, only to see Ferrus naturally taking the little Inquisitor from the mechanical arm and letting her sit on his arm like a child. At the same time, he ordered Adjutant Fish at the side: "You come with us to the Star Tongue Spire."

At the same time, Fujimaru Ritsuka also grabbed the metal edging on the outer edge of Ferrus' shoulder armor, obviously he was very used to it.

After the voice fell, the mechanical arm also smoothly returned to Ferrus's power backpack. The Primarch strode forward and left the room with the young Inquisitor. Adjutant Fish, who obviously didn't react to what happened, followed mechanically, leaving the priests and think tanks in the room looking at each other in bewilderment.

-

In the Star Language Spire, the choir will decipher and interpret the star language messages received by Fujimaru Ritsuka.

In fact, it stands to reason that astropathic communication, as a form of psychic communication, can be interpreted by any telepathic psychic who knows how to view the memories of others after it is sent to the right place - as long as the reader knows the corresponding encryption method and can successfully decipher the message that the sender really wants to transmit. Every Librarian of the Astartes Chapter will encounter many situations where they need to do this during their service, and the one on the Claw of Destruction is no exception.

But that obviously only applies to ordinary astropathic messages. The astropathic message sent by the Emperor himself on the throne is obviously not "ordinary" - if the astropathic choir on the Claw of Destruction were to receive this message, within the first half second of direct contact with the psychic signal, it is estimated that all the people in the choir would be directly burned dry by such a huge force.

Lead singer Leslie Cole was very sure of this because he had just used psychic power to explore the memories related to Ritsuka Fujimaru under the order of the Iron Hands Primarch. Even though the person's mind had no resistance to this, he still had a psychic amulet shattered by the energy of the message itself.

"Just know that this is true. Don't think about solving it alone. Ask the entire choir to use the ritual of receiving long-distance messages to share the psychic impact." Fujimaru Ritsuka, whose nosebleed had finally stopped, stood there and instructed dazedly, "The nature of the Emperor's psychic energy is very aggressive. If this astronomical message is converted into energy, it would even be enough to fire a ship-borne light spear. Ordinary people who don't have the corresponding receiving function should be cautious."

She said this just to create a comparative benchmark to explain the current situation, but the dizzy Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't have time to think that not only would other people not understand how she, the only "comparative benchmark" in the world, collected the data for comparison, but they would also interpret other completely wrong information from these words.

At least, after hearing this, the devout Leslie Cole realized that this was obviously not the first time she had received the Emperor's psychic power, so she immediately shouted excitedly, "Living Saint!", and then knelt down with a plop and bowed her head. Fujimaru Ritsuka was so scared that he immediately bent down and pulled his astropath robe, trying to pull him up:

"What living saint? Only those who died and came back to life are called living saints! I am still alive and well and have never died!"

Leslie looked up enthusiastically. "…So you don't deny the 'saint' part?"

"..." Fujimaru Ritsuka wanted to refute immediately, but then she remembered that according to the Empire's standards, she could show the Emperor's miracles at will, and she seemed to be a "saint". She was embarrassed for a second, and then she made way for the other party to kneel, turned back, pointed at the astropath in front of her, and looked at Ferrus for help.

"Do your duty, First Cantor." The Primarch of the Iron Hands had no good solution to this problem. He chose to calmly skip over this unimportant issue and get things back on track.

Leslie, overjoyed, knelt down and kowtowed. When his forehead touched the golden floor, there was a loud knocking sound, which made Ritsuka, who was holding the railing, shudder. Then, the chief singer of the Star Language Choir stood up with a bright smile, turned around and began to mobilize his members with full energy - as if the wound on his forehead that was bleeding slowly on the pattern of the floor did not exist.

"I advise you not to care about him," Ferrus whispered. "I have discovered in the past few days. The more you try to be nice to them, the more they ..."

"...Fanasis." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied in a low voice with lingering fear, "I thought I was mentally prepared for this..."

"……Me too."

Ferrus secretly exchanged a sympathetic look with her, then changed the subject: "Father's psychic energy is very violent. Are you okay after receiving the astronomical voice?"

"It's nothing serious." The bleeding stopped, and Fujimaru Ritsuka put away his handkerchief. "I can be his psychic base station. How can a base station be burned out by random energy? I have a headache and nosebleed because he stuffed too much information into my brain and I can't handle it. And I may have a low-grade fever in a while, but I'll be fine after lying down."

"——Your Excellency the Saint," Leslie's joyful voice came from afar. In the tight formation of the choir, there was only a gap left at the core. "Please stand here!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed: "Okay, it would be better if you could stop calling me 'Saint'..."

-

Leaving aside the complicated ritual process, Leslie finally succeeded in relying on the strength of the entire choir to safely extract all the astronomical data from Fujimaru Ritsuka's memory.

Unlike most astronomical messages which are filled with hints, metaphors, and incomprehensible graphics, this message from the Emperor is very concrete—so concrete that everyone can understand it after a preliminary interpretation. What does most of it mean?

It was a very detailed local star map of the Extreme Segmentum, with dim stars flickering in the torn subspace cracks. The golden halo marked the Parmenio system, which was at the front line of the war. The fleets led by the Imperial Regent and the Chaos Engines coming from the Plague Garden were even clearly visible on it.

Everyone can understand the meaning of such an image. Leslie, who was exhausted from the ceremony, used telepathy to transmit the image to the Primarch and the Saint in detail in order to avoid the loss of information during the retelling process. Then he added to the two: "In addition to this image, the Emperor has another decree: 'Destiny has changed.'"

"..." After studying the extra star map in his mind for two minutes, Fujimaru Ritsuka responded slowly, "I seem to, maybe, probably, possibly, see where the 'change' is."

——At the edge of the war zone, in the chaotic void, another fleet was emerging from the cracks. Even from the psychic image, it was clear that most of them were in a predicament of insufficient supplies, and their ships were clearly out of repair. It was hard to understand why they were so unwise to appear on such an intense battlefield. Among them, the leading and largest ship had the tactical logo of this force hanging high above it:

Night Lords.

Mi (peaceful).

I hope everyone still remembers that this is a lighthearted Xover stitching meme! (Meaning don't expect any big war scenes)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 77: It's not a game, why not cheat?

"I think we need to talk to Debbie." Ritsuka Fujimaru said to Adjutant Fish who came with him.

Although the latter did not read the content of the star language, he understood the meaning of the music, so soon, they gathered together in the preliminarily renovated strategy room, surrounding a holographic star map in the middle.

Ferrus didn't know Debit yet, and at first, he didn't pay much attention to the young man who was asked by Fujimaru Ritsuka to join the discussion. A cable stretched out from his power backpack and connected to the data interface of the holographic star map. The light spots and symbols floating in the air changed rapidly between zooming. Within a few seconds, the current content displayed in the star map was exactly the same as the scene shown in the star language sent by the Emperor.

"Father sent me this message." Facing the fierce battle situation of the imperial forces, he said seriously, "This undoubtedly shows that this war needs support."

The Iron Hands Primarch spoke calmly, but his ambition was obvious. There was no Primarch who didn't know how to wage war, and Ferrus Manus was the best among them. The war that was about to be ignited by such a huge fleet might seem like a scene of destruction to ordinary people, but to him it was just a pretty good appetizer. After all, since the Great Crusade, he had been performing the same task like a precision instrument that worked perfectly:

Get on the ship, move to a battlefield, win. Then move to the next battlefield, win again.

When faced with the same situation, Ferrus instinctively wanted to go to the battlefield again. The pride that the Primarch unconsciously exuded easily infected the Son of Gene, and Adjutant Fish also felt his heart surge at the same time - until Fujimaru Ritsuka poured a basin of cold water on him in time:

"That's right, but don't even think about it." She stood there with her arms folded, looking up fearlessly at the Primarch who was too big for her. "Do you need me to find a sofa cushion to remind you how weak your combat power is right now?"

Hearing this, Adjutant Fish's originally heated mind suddenly sobered up, but Ferrus himself was obviously still trying to struggle: "Battlefield command does not require going to the front line."

"It's a blessing that the Claw of Destruction can now sail in the void. What are you going to command?"

Ferrus pointed confidently at the large number of Imperial fleets on the star map, and Fujimaru Ritsuka also pointed without exaggeration at the Macragge's Glory in the center of the fleet - everything was self-evident: the commander-in-chief of this fleet must be Robert Guilliman, do you want to use his troops to fight a high-intensity war of attrition?

I don't know what he remembered, but the Iron Hands Primarch quickly stopped fighting in a few seconds. Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed: "I don't know how you can still be so enthusiastic after fighting in the Webway for ten thousand years."