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

It can be said that the Holy Grail's presence in Chaldea is due to its versatility, but also its downfall: because the versatility of attributeless magic is too wide, if you want to make full use of it, it requires the user to have knowledge and skills in magic - and Fujimaru Ritsuka obviously does not have both of these.

Since it's of no use to her, she might as well give a few to someone who can really use them.

-

In the dim warehouse on the Storm's Edge, the Holy Blood Priest Decker, who inevitably looked nervous compared to the calmness of the other two, was looking around as inconspicuously as possible.

From what he could see so far, this place was more like an "exhibition hall" than a "warehouse." At least from the dim lighting in a large area and the emphasis on lighting the "exhibits" that were "exhibited" here in various forms, he had this association.

As a member of the Blood Angels, he did not agree with the overly simple design of the surroundings, nor did he understand the significance of these things being "exhibited" here. From various perspectives, he did not think that those things, whether works of art, or scenes that were displayed out of thin air by some means he could not understand, or weapons that did not see any special features, or some strange things - there was no need to display them.

Considering that the door of the warehouse was always locked and was not opened until Ritsuka Fujimaru arrived and her identity was verified, the guess of "exhibition hall" seems contradictory.

However, taking into account the identity of the owner of the ship and the fact that Decker did not find anything obviously "wrong" in his glance, the Holy Blood Priest decided to keep this doubt in his mind. In my own mind: The reason why he appears here is really not to do these unimportant puzzle-solving tasks.

Then, the girl's voice pulled his mind, which had been wandering around in the new environment, back into his body.

"Although the value of the Holy Grail has depreciated significantly recently in terms of effectiveness, I still have to ask you what you are going to do with it out of management obligations."

While standing in front of the subdivided "resource storage room" and dealing with identity verification, Fujimaru Ritsuka asked Asclepius in a nonchalant tone.

For some time before, the anxious Decker had tried to ask this doctor, who looked like a mortal but whose knowledge and methods were obviously not "mortal" at all, in a roundabout way, but he only got a simple and rude response of "shut up". When the latter faced this little girl who looked more "mortal" than himself, Asclepius' attitude was obviously much better:

"I don't intend to 'do anything' with it. I just want to use it as an emergency measure when necessary. You see, isn't the 'Holy Grail' also a 'cup' after all?"

This explanation was slightly interrupted by the sound of the mechanical door of the resource storage room sliding open in time. When the group walked into the small internal door, Asclepius asked in a confirming manner: "As for the 'True Ancestors' and 'Dead Apostles', you know what their 'blood-sucking impulse' is, right?"

Decker didn't know what the terms "True Ancestor" or "Dead Apostle" from another world meant, but he could clearly understand the literal meaning of "blood-sucking impulse". This made the Holy Blood Priest instinctively alert, and he even reached for the grenade launcher at his waist while hesitating.

"I know, I know, but is this really the same thing?" Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was unaware of this, was still focused on the numbers of the cabinets standing in front of him. "Although this flaw is indeed a coincidence in the design, But whether it is the 'True Ancestor' or the 'Dead Apostle', or the so-called 'Principle Blood Ring', the relevant operating rules are not universal in this universe - Miss Arquette said so."

"However, thanks to the coincidence being too similar, the cause of this defect is indeed too similar." Asclepius said lightly, "Based on my previous research using these Blood Angels as samples, I found that the mechanism that causes the so-called Red Thirst symptom in them is, loosely speaking, equivalent to a weakened version of the Dead Apostles' blood-sucking impulse."

"Excuse me—what are you talking about?" Decker finally got the courage to interrupt, unable to suppress his doubts. "It has been less than seven standard hours since my blood brother and I boarded this boat. What is your research—"

"——After having a possible high-level reference direction, the research I conducted on you was just a verification." Asclepius interrupted the latter dissatisfiedly, "On this matter alone, Ritsuka almost threw the answer in my face. What I did was just to verify a known design flaw and design a response method for it in an emergency. This task can be completed in less than three hours."

"What kind of joke are you playing--" The Blood Angels' "blood-sucking urge", or "red thirst", is a secret that the Chapter has been trying to cover up for 10,000 years, and it has also plagued all the descendants of Sanguinius for the same length of time as a curse. Now, such a secret has been revealed by an unknown outsider who found a solution within three hours. This is something that Decker, a Blood Priest, and any member of the Blood Angels Chapter, including blood slaves or servants, cannot accept emotionally.

He instinctively wanted to draw his gun. Not to shoot anything, but in such a tense and extremely chaotic emotional state, the instinctive reaction of any Space Marine would be to draw his weapon. But before he could successfully pull out the grenade launcher from the holster on his waist, an unknown force locked his arm out of thin air.

"——Let me remind you that we are in the warehouse now." Fujimaru Ritsuka, who once again borrowed the Emperor's psychic energy, said helplessly, "But I understand... Forget it, why don't we spend some time here to explain this problem in detail."

Meow (six o'clock)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 231 What are we drinking when we drink blood?

"From the perspective of human ethics, the 'blood-sucking urge' is undoubtedly a defect," Fujimaru Ritsuka said to Decker.

"I dare not say that I fully understand how much you have paid in the past ten thousand years to fight against the Red Thirst, and how many brothers have had to be executed because of this problem, but I still have to make this unwelcome request: at least in the process of our discussion on this issue, please regard it as a kind of "design feature" determined by the genetic template of the Blood Angels."

As a Blood Priest, Decker knew rationally that, given that every Blood Angel brother could not escape the crazy symptoms caused by the thirst for blood, this "design characteristics determined by the genetic template" argument was not untenable. But emotionally, he absolutely could not accept this statement:

"You mean to say that this defect is not caused by the mutation of the Chapter's gene seed during the process of being passed down from generation to generation, but -"

The pressure from the Emperor's psychic energy suddenly increased, and a slight burning pain penetrated the arm armor of the Holy Blood Priest and burned on his skin. This little bit of pain was almost negligible to the Astartes, but for some reason, it successfully calmed his boiling thoughts.

"--Calm down, Mr. Decker. We all want to try to solve this problem, don't we?" The girl said calmly. "At present, we happen to have a theory about the origin of this problem. Only by knowing why this defect itself is formed and its operating mechanism can we prescribe the right medicine and try to cure it, right?"

"Let me interject." Asclepius, who was extremely rigorous in matters such as medical research, interrupted without mercy. "From the perspective of the physiological mechanism of the Blood Angels, it is obviously impossible to 'cure' the blood-sucking urge. What I am currently preparing to do is just to try to find a way to guide this 'blood-sucking urge' to be harmless."

The psychic pressure slowly dissipated, but Decker still held the bolter at his waist nervously: "What does this mean?"

"Literally. Ritsuka just said that, in essence, this is a 'design feature'. If you want to correct this on a genetic level, you must completely change your genetic structure." Asclepius spoke in a straightforward manner, and to Decker, these words were tantamount to a judgment on the entire chapter. "This kind of thing is indeed within my ability, but if I really did this, ask yourself, can you still call yourselves 'Blood Angels'?"

There was so much shocking information in these two short sentences. Decker felt that he had so many things to ask, such as what exactly was the "design feature", why this seemingly ordinary doctor could claim in such a calm manner that he could change the Emperor's design, and - but the first question he blurted out in the next moment was not these:

"Who are you?"

Asclepius showed a bit of annoyance.

"You already know my name," he told Decker in a languid tone. "And my identity, at least at this moment, is only the chief physician of the Storm's Edge—Is the Holy Grail still on the same shelves?"

The last sentence was obviously addressed to Fujimaru Ritsuka. After receiving a positive answer, Asclepius left the spot without saying a word, and was obviously moving along the numbers on the shelves, clearly looking for something.

Decker's eyes were drawn to the doctor who was gradually leaving, but the voice of the girl beside him rang again:

"What can alleviate the symptoms of 'red thirst' must be 'blood' - to be more precise, the 'blood' that flows in the bodies of most sentient life forms and is used to transport nutrients to maintain physiological functions. Have you ever considered the reason for this problem?"

This was a very practical question, so it immediately attracted Decker's attention. Over the past ten thousand years, successive Holy Blood Priests had tried to find substitutes other than blood that could relieve the Red Thirst, but with little success.

The first possibility that was ruled out in the actual test was artificial blood: as a medical product that can be produced at any time, artificial blood can undoubtedly assume any function that blood should assume in the blood vessels of patients who need blood transfusions. This is a long-tested and iron-clad fact. But it cannot even alleviate the desire for blood of the brothers who are suffering from red thirst.

After that, the test on synthetic blood also clearly failed. The Holy Blood Priests once put aside the function and used the wisdom of the Astartes far beyond ordinary people to artificially synthesize a kind of "synthetic blood" that was completely consistent with human blood in appearance, smell, composition, trace elements, and even the ratio of blood cells. The Holy Blood Priests once gave this synthetic blood and real blood to the mechanical priests, and successfully made it so that they could not tell the difference with any instrument - but it was useless.

Not to mention the brothers who were in the Red Thirst, any Blood Angel could easily tell from the smell coming out of the container which was the fresh blood just released from the blood slaves' bodies and which was the work of the Blood Priest brothers. Even though they were all the same, they still had a temperature similar to that of the human body.

During these ten thousand years, generation after generation of Holy Blood Priests have experienced various failures on this issue. In the end, up to now, the current strategy of the Chapter on this issue is still to raise blood slaves. It was like this ten thousand years ago, and it will be the same ten thousand years later. And this repeated failure naturally makes all Holy Blood Priests raise the same question: Why?

Why did it have to be blood? Why did it have to be blood that had been extracted and preserved from the bodies of living people? Why did it have to be blood that flowed peacefully through veins and arteries, gushing from living throats? Why?

"Because in this question, 'blood' is just an appearance, a symbolic concept." The next second, Fujimaru Ritsuka answered himself, "The reason why this special mechanism of 'blood-sucking urge' exists is that your body itself is craving for 'external life information', and can use these resources to replenish itself without your consciousness. Although these are all my speculations, I guess you will feel energetic for a period of time after drinking blood, and the speed of wound healing will also increase. Also, I think this is why the lifespan of Blood Angels is generally longer among Astartes."

"...I don't understand." Although Fujimaru Ritsuka used some slightly unfamiliar terms in the narration, after a simple understanding of the words, the knowledge that a Holy Blood Priest should possess, even including some warp taboos, told Decker that it made sense.

However, he still couldn't accept it emotionally: "But, if this is a 'design feature', why among all the Astartes, such a defect only occurs in us?"

"Because among all the Primarchs, only Sanguinius possessed this 'characteristic' due to the Emperor's unintentional act." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied in the face of Decker's incredulous gaze, "Yes, from a certain perspective, this is a proof of the blood connection between you and the Archangel."

"You mean, our genetic father also--"

"——I can say this with certainty: Sanguinius himself also suffers from the 'Red Thirst'." Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone was quite firm, "The 'Red Thirst' of the Blood Angels is not a defect caused by mutation, but comes from the inheritance of gene seeds. It's just that the expression of the same base sequence inevitably suffered degradation in the process of being downgraded from a Primarch to an Astartes, and the corresponding 'defect' was magnified."

Decker was silent for several seconds in shock, which was a very long time for an Astarte.

"But - why?" Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't know what the Holy Blood Priest was thinking in these few seconds, but when he asked the question, his expression was finally fixed on a desperate anger: "Why would the Emperor allow such a defect to exist? Why did he even allow his most glorious son to become a -"

"It's very simple, because from the Emperor's perspective, and from the perspective of design purposes, this is a more advantageous trait - in fact, a similar function should theoretically exist in all Space Marines." Ritsuka Fujimaru said almost mercilessly.

"The 'blood-sucking urge' brought by 'Red Thirst' is just a superficial phenomenon, a relatively failed and incomplete physiological function that is even more contrary to ethics and morality. But if we exclude the ethical aspects, and there is a way for Sanguinius to maximize this function, then the ability it will eventually display will theoretically be the ultimate enhanced version of the 'Gene Detection Nerve' -"

"——The Emperor's original intention was not to require Sanguinius or you to drink the blood of your own kind, but to add a means of collecting intelligence and replenishing physical strength on the battlefield so as to better complete combat missions."

After hearing this, Decker was clearly confused:

"But... that's just... since the Astartes' manufacturing template already includes genetic detection nerves, I don't think this..."

It is always difficult for people to imagine things they have never seen. Knowing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka fully understood the other party's confusion and doubts, so he sighed and tried to use an alien that the other party obviously knew as an analogy:

"We're not talking about something like 'genetic detection nerves'," she said. "For example, the Tyranids can quickly complete targeted evolution by eating the corpses of enemies on the battlefield. You should have seen such things, so you can imagine it, right?"

Decker nodded in confusion.

"The final form of this Red Thirst we are discussing will theoretically be far more powerful and far more terrifying than the Tyranids can utilize at the biomass and genetic level."

As he said this, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but shiver.

She had seen how the real "One of the Originals" "ate".

Meow (peaceful)

(End of this chapter)

I'll write a chapter about the recent update frequency.

I'll write a chapter about the recent update frequency.

Save traffic: From this month on, updates will be random, and will not return to normal until mid-February (approximately).

As everyone (?) knows, the company is striving for performance at the end of the year, and the leaders are not being kind, so I started to work overtime, and even my days off were basically gone.

The overtime hasn't officially started yet. The official overtime will start tomorrow, so I can't be sure what the overtime will be. Anyway, judging from the evasive workplace language used by the leaders in the meeting, it is obviously impossible to update twice a day.

If the situation is good, I will try to update once a day, and the update time will inevitably become erratic. But the possibility that the situation is good is just an optimistic guess. The greater possibility is that I will work overtime until 10 o'clock every day and fall asleep when I go home (which means that the update will become intermittent). In addition, in addition to leadership tasks, I will also start to be busy with my own duties in the second half of the month, so I will most likely have to post from mid-December. It is basically a fantasy to be fully present this month.

By the way, I will probably update this part next January without any progress. This is how the leader assigns people to work before the holidays.

Anyway, my personal suggestion is that everyone should start saving from today and keep saving until the middle of February when the leaders (expectedly) let us go during the Spring Festival. I am just a writer for fun and don't care about the results. Everyone should save when they should save and forget when they should forget.

I think that when I resume stable updates in mid-February (approximately), we can see each other again because of your kindness, and it is only natural that we will not see each other again. The most important thing for people to read online novels is to have fun, and the most important thing for me to write online novels is also to have fun. Anyway, I haven't had enough fun with this story, so I will definitely come back to continue writing (hands crossed). With the outline I saved now, at least before I can seriously develop Sanguinius, you don't have to worry about me abandoning the project.

(And maybe the outline will slowly grow on its own while I’m slacking off at work…)

Anyway, that's it. I'm grateful for the pen refill. I'm going into the ice cave and preparing for the meeting...

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 232 The Night Lords specially provide love to the brothers of the legion, you have to taste it

Asclepius didn't know, nor did he care, what Fujimaru Ritsuka said to Decker. He only knew that after he returned to the place with a Holy Grail, the conversation between the Chaldean Master and the Holy Blood Priest had ended.

Decker still looked a little wavering and nervous - you know, a Space Marine would write this kind of emotion on his face, which means that in his mind, the situation he encountered was already very serious. ——But at least now, he has not shown any aggression in any sense, and is really trying to let himself accept this too... shocking knowledge.

Asclepius did not care about process. He does not need to know what happened in the meantime. His ultimate goal is to create a blood substitute that can alleviate the Red Thirst of the Blood Angels and leave the full set of technologies to the Blood Angels. For this reason, a Holy Blood Priest who is involved in the development phase will be of great help to the overall progress.

He didn't care about the specific reasons why the other party joined, and he didn't even expect the other party to really help him in his research process. He only hopes that the other party can correctly implement the treatment plan he finally came up with without any compromise, and bring it to the people who really need it.

——Although he did question the membership of the Blood Angels, and even before that, he also questioned the membership of all Astartes. But what he decided to do now was not, or rather, not entirely, the work he decided to do at the request of Fujimaru Ritsuka.

Some people are unable to work and live like normal people due to certain symptoms. Asclepius simply couldn't allow something like this to happen before his eyes.

-

After dealing with such an unexpected episode, Fujimaru Ritsuka was finally able to go to the cafeteria again.

But it's a pity that Storm Frontier is only so big after all. Under the premise that most of the passengers above have some major or minor problems, it is not so easy for her to have a meal in peace:

It did sound quiet in the cafeteria. However, this kind of silence seems very suspicious when it is not during wartime and before dinner.

...Don’t? Not to mention Asclepius who broke out halfway, she had just been freed from the intense mental work with Ferus, and she had not yet put down the tablet she used to take notes. She really needed a quiet meal right now.

It is a pity that the Chaldean Master, who is well versed in human nature, has a bad premonition in this regard that will always come true. When the door of the cafeteria slid open in front of her, she was not surprised to see three Midnight Lords who had come down from work to eat, with faces full of eating melon, and two Imperial Guards holding small teacup noodles that were very small for them. Watch the show expressionlessly.

Then, she walked into the cafeteria and followed the gazes of these people. Again (meaning this was not the first time a similar confrontation in the cafeteria had occurred), she saw, without surprise, that Judge Hastings and Sevatar were at odds with each other. The big eyes glared at each other. Kaelia, who was caught between the two of them, tried her best to pretend that nothing had happened, mechanically cutting the steak on the plate in front of her with a knife and fork - the remaining part of the piece of meat was almost cut into pieces by her. Broken to pieces.

Anyone with a little knowledge of the skills of observing words and emotions would not be able to miss the message of "Help me quickly" emanating from Kaelia who was caught in the middle. Fujimaru Ritsuka let out a long sigh and made a note to everyone else present.

The resentment caused by food is very deep: every one of these theatergoers is responsible for disturbing her meal!

Responsibility belongs to everyone, but the situation is now in front of us, and Fujimaru Ritsuka has to deal with it. So, almost instinctively, she started from the focus and looked in the direction of Judge Hastings and Sevita:

"So, what happened this time?" After asking this question, she set her sights on being forced to become a sandwich biscuit again (meaning that this was not the first time a similar situation had happened). Sandwiched Kaelia, "What trivial matter did the two of them quarrel with again?"

——Yes, the reason why this kind of confrontation in the cafeteria occurs again and again is not essentially because of the natural conflict of positions between the Inquisitor and the traitorous Astartes. After observing Fujimaru Ritsuka over the past six months, she can easily conclude that they only quarreled because they wanted to quarrel! Even small things like Savita entering the cafeteria with his left foot first today or Hastings swearing in the air can cause them to quarrel!

"How can you say it's a trivial matter?" Sibylla Hastings, who was born in Ultramar, has cooperated with the Ultramarines, and has served on the Psychic Council of the Imperial Regent, knows how to Use "civilian language" to whitewash small things into big ones, "Even the smallest crack, if no measures are taken to it, may one day shake the foundation of the empire——"

"——The little girl looked twice at the Blood Angels when she passed by the infirmary today." Yago Savitarion exposed the facts directly and ruthlessly, "To be honest, I don't see any need to do this to her. The need for 'behavior modification'."

Inquisitor Hastings stood up from his seat with a sudden movement. The complicated decoration on the inquisitor's uniform accidentally brought it to the spoon Ben placed in his hand, causing the metal tableware and porcelain plates to collide with each other. A little noise: "Kelia is my apprentice now. If I think it is necessary, then it is necessary!"

The person being mentioned visibly flinched.

Although Fujimaru Ritsuka once told her that as one of the important formal members of Chaldea, there was no need for her to be angry with a non-staff employee like Judge Hastings, but even though Kaelia was not old, the thoughts in her mind were Inherent ideas have already been formed and are not easy to break. Even in Parmenio's grammar school, the teacher-student relationship has a serious and absolute superior-subordinate tone - let alone this one-to-one form of inquisitor-master-disciple.

Generally speaking, the Inquisitor has absolute control over his Acolytes (or Apprentices). This "control" is so strict that it is close to a kind of "ownership of objects" - from a legal point of view, even if an Inquisitor suddenly decides to use his Acolytes as sacrifices to summon demons, the reason he will be punished is "summoning demons" instead of "sacrificing his Acolytes".

Of course, whether to exercise this power over the acolyte depends on the character and personality of the inquisitor. The good news is that Inquisitor Hastings is not so inhumane, and Kellya does not need to worry about her life as an apprentice under him; the bad news is that Inquisitor Hastings has been practicing for about 120 years, which means that he has some humanity, but not much, and has a strange temper. He was not completely willing to accept Kellya as a "student".

This led to Kaelia's apprenticeship career not being so smooth. Although Fujimaru Ritsuka clearly told her that "there is a problem with Imperial Inquisitors being approachable", this was not intolerable at all. She also tried very hard to "make Inquisitor Hastings less annoying in front of her" "This subject, but...

Forgive her, she was only sixteen years old next year, not even a fraction of the age of Sibylla Hastings. She had indeed worked very hard, but the gap in experience and way of thinking accumulated over hundreds of years could not be made up in just half a year.

Although in the first week or two, she successfully gained the support of several Night Lords, it soon became apparent that she knew how to mediate a trial among various hostile forces better than a sixteen-year-old girl. Guan Jiushao identified the pulse of the scattered sand and successfully divided and suppressed everyone except Sevatar. Inquisitor Hastings used this to formally establish his authority in front of his "not obedient" apprentice. Similar things happened repeatedly in the next six months, but they were still basically under his control.

——But the situation in Kaelia is not the "usual situation" between the inquisitor and the acolyte, and the reason why Hastings can only say that the situation is "basically" under his control rather than "completely", It is precisely because of this:

Legally speaking, he can only be regarded as Kaelia's substitute teacher. Although the substitute teacher is still a teacher, when it comes to exercising power related to students, he has never been in the first place: the person who truly fully and thoroughly enjoys these powers over Kaelia is Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"What's wrong with looking at the Blood Angels more? I also like to look at handsome guys." Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had a low pressure, started to mess around - they just wanted to quarrel anyway, so the content of the quarrel was not important.

What she should do at this time was to divert the topic so that they could no longer argue, and remove Kaelia, who was being treated as a raft for no reason, from the topic: "Why does Kaelia like to watch Blood Angels but not you? I suggest you reflect on why you are not handsome enough."

This subtly offensive, purely female perspective, which had never appeared in the debate before, stunned both parties (and the audience) at the same time. The advantage of Astartes in reacting faster than ordinary people who have not been transformed is clearly reflected in Sevatar:

"Are these cousins ​​of the Blood Angels handsome?" He touched his chin unconsciously, and the expression on his face was % genuine confusion, "I don't think so?"

Although it was an obvious good sign that one of the conflicting parties was led astray by this point of view, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt angry for no apparent reason and turned around without hesitation and cursed:

"Shut up! Savitarion, you tasteless thing!"