Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

Chapter 106 Discussion of "Gestalt"
Ignoring the surrounding commotion caused by the unexpected appearance of orcs, Calvin turned his attention back to his previous thinking:
"How did you feel?"

Calvin lowered his head and put a cut steak into his mouth, and asked Golden who was sitting opposite.

"I really feel a kind of oppression, similar to the proper name shown in the information, what is it? Gestalt?"

Golden's mouth was not idle either. After hearing Calvin's question, he slowly swallowed what was in his mouth, recalling the situation at that time.

"I noticed Interceptor Squad had very little intrusive use of psionic discipline before Warboss fell. Why?"

Calvin turned his attention to the other team leader sitting next to him, Alexei who was also in charge of leading the interceptors in this operation.

The latter gave the same answer on hearing Calvin's question.

"The ultra-complex environment full of bulkheads on the spaceship has very high requirements for the use of teleportation. And we did feel the force field interference of the Gestalt-like at that time. Considering the unnecessary necessity of the battle situation, I No risk. If you have a problem with this..."

"No, no, no, I have no objection, you are doing the right thing." Calvin quickly stopped the other party's thoughts.

"In fact, you have done a very good job. For these orcs who have no real scale, conventional tactics are enough. You don't need to take risks at all. We are only talking about this position."

Considering that the number of cooperation with each other is still too small.Misunderstood, he added to Alexei again and emphasized the tone of the conversation.

"Thank you for your understanding. Well, according to our feelings at the time, before the leader, WarBoss, was wiped out, the position effect of the orcs was indeed obvious. And what I have to say is our previous melee weapon - the Valkyrie of Vengeance It didn't work out very well.”

Under Calvin's emphasis, Alexey confirmed the other party's intentions, and then discussed the specific gains and losses of the battle based on the facts.

"Oh?" Calvin was very interested.He reconfirmed to Golden:

"Is it the same on your side?"

"Yes. The weapon damage effectiveness of the Valkyrie series of melee weapons has indeed dropped significantly."

Golden put down the wine glass he had just picked up, and answered Calvin's question.

"What's the reason? Do you have any specific guesses?"

"Yes!"*2 Golden and Alexei replied simultaneously.

"You said" *2, and the two spoke at the same time.

The two people who looked at each other smiled, and Gordon, who had a higher military rank, said to Alexei:

"You say it."

Calvin also nodded with a smile.

"Tell me, Alexei."

"Okay, then I'll tell you." Alexei said.After lowering his head and reorganizing the language, he gave Calvin a completely unexpected point of view in a decisive tone:

"After the specific killing effect was created, we observed the whole process from the spiritual perspective and confirmed that the specific killing effect of the weapon is completely composed of physical damage. In other words, these "artificial" creatures do not have individual souls at all !"

"Huh? No soul?"

Regarding this conclusion, Calvin also had some vague conjectures and premonitions, because this can explain many previous doubts.

But again, after this conjecture explained some problems, it also created new problems.

"Then what about their psionic stance? How can psionic power come from without a soul? How can this be explained?"

Calvin asked subconsciously, and then he shook his head.

How can you expect the other party to give an answer immediately with omniscience and omnipotence?There are so many unknowns in this universe, and human energy is absolutely limited.

But unexpectedly, Alexie really knew something. At least his observations of the orcs were more detailed and thorough than Calvin imagined.

Alexey seemed to have anticipated Calvin's questioning. He took a sip of the wine with the meal in the gap between his words, and then took a leisurely sip after Calvin's question was finished. Topic:

"That's why we say that what they don't have is an individual soul!"

"Individual..." Calvin and Golden both murmured this High Gothic adverbial word.

"Yes." Seeing that the two of them were already thinking in this direction, Alexei decided to use his understanding to push their thinking further.

"It's individual, they don't have individual souls. But when there are leaders, they have a complete soul in the group! In other words, except for a very small number of elites, when the souls of most orcs do not have the Waaaaah position, It's what's missing!"

"So, as you said, what is the meaning of the elite unit orcs?" Calvin asked along this line of thought.

"Load this soul? But it is just not enough to fully play the role of the soul. So only when the number of groups under his command is enough to share the load for him, the soul it carries can fully play its role." Alexey Add your own point of view.

"Understood." Calvin said.

This can explain why the aggressiveness and intelligence of orcs will increase exponentially once they enter a tribe or a larger group.In contrast, solitary orcs lose all of the violence and cunning for which they are known.

"How do you know? It's only based on one or two combat observations, but it's hard to draw such a profound conclusion!
Calvin had some respect for the non-commissioned officer in front of him, and the other party's answer confirmed his guess:

"Looking at the data, there are records of their observations in the Titan database. Their civilization at its peak was built on the basis of a huge number of low-level orcs. For example, the orc war was the one on Terra. They They even have their own empire, and sent envoys to Terra to persuade them to surrender. Looking at these things that are still in the tribal era, do you really believe that they are the same race? But that’s exactly what happened.”

"So, the evolution of technology and wisdom of this race is not based on the time dimension? It is based on the absolute underlying cardinality?" Calvin came to this conclusion seriously.

"Yes, and the greater the number, the more they can do with their psionic stance. And similar to but different from Tyranids, their gestalt is more active and disordered."

Speaking of which, Alexey looked at Calvin who was still thinking. After thinking about it carefully, he decided to express his thoughts:
"When I was on the battlefield, I felt your will, and seemed to be trying to learn them."

"Well, yes. I know it's a risky move..."

Calvin, who woke up from thinking, felt that he had to explain his actions to the learned Master Chief.

"No, no, no..." This time, the person who was afraid of a misunderstanding just turned around, and it was Alexei who interrupted Calvin's speech.

He put down the tableware in his hand, wiped the napkin from the corner of his mouth, and looked at Calvin seriously:
"Listen to me, young arbitrator. In the past few thousand years, you are not the first person to observe and try this way, but you are the first person to try to produce results."

Having said that, Alexey looked at Gordon and Tariq who had been sitting by the side, then stretched out his hand to press Calvin's shoulder, approached his face and said:
"Whether it's Tyron, orcs, or us, if we want to complete the active application of group will on the battlefield, we all face the problem of specific individuals carrying the overall consciousness. Tyron chose to let the huge but ignorant mothership to bear the pressure; most orcs go insane under such pressure. And you, I don't know your reason. Maybe I'm not high enough to know such a secret. But I did at some point I feel that under your leadership, our will once collided with them. This time the attempt is indeed clumsy, but I have to say that this is a great exploration for us."

He looked meaningfully at Gordon and Tariq, who were already nervous, and said with a smile:

"Let's just say, this is not a secret. The gray knights present at the time were all members of the group, and you couldn't shut them up. And we have tried similarly, but we were all limited by the pressure that our souls couldn't bear. And a little bit of it. You know that the group strengthening technique in the precepts is such a product. So don’t worry about whether it is correct. What I want to say is, cherish your existence, your particularity may save you on a certain battlefield in the future More lives; keep trying, let your talents make up for what we humans lack here."

After finishing speaking, he stood up and greeted the three of them, and then left without looking back.

The remaining three people looked at each other in silence, and then Tariq asked with some melancholy:
"Bless the Emperor, my dear Highness Titan. How long do you think we can hide from these warriors at the pace you are doing things like this?"

(End of this chapter)