Warhammer: I live under the watchful eyes of the gods

Chapter 204 Fire Phoenix School
After the blazing heat cooled down, everything in the surrounding room finally appeared before Karl's eyes.

A complex and exquisite mechanical clock is pushing the minute hand forward again with the sound of gear friction.

07:01:00
Looking out from the morning sunlight that penetrates into the room from the tall glazed window on the side.

Karl finally confirmed his guess, this is Prospero.

The towering pyramid-shaped library is showing a geometric angular beauty under the light cast by distant stars.

The small floating transport boats shuttle back and forth, like the last stubborn stars floating in the early morning, floating up and down in the background of the pyramids in the distance under the brilliance of the morning sun.

But this should have represented a scene of being busy and prosperous, but it made Carl feel cold behind his back.

It was a harbinger of war.

To make matters worse, if he remembered correctly, the Thousand Sons hadn't fought back the Space Wolves with all their strength during the Battle of Prospero.

From the beginning to the end, only Azek Ahriman of the Crow School organized some of the most basic counterattacks.

Even in the end, it was Ruth who cornered Magnus.

But this time is different.

The Thousand Sons are preparing for battle!

This is definitely not good news for Carl, or even for the Space Wolves who have not yet been there.

Of course, this news seems to be even worse for Karl.

The Sons of Horus and the Word Bearers were all retrieved by Karl when they were still loyal as a whole.

But this time is different.

The Thousand Sons were openly preparing for battle.

This means that there is a high possibility that Magnus at this moment has already joined the Chaos camp for some unknown reason.

Or to be more specific, at least the rebellious side of Magnus had the upper hand at the moment.

And this is definitely not good news for Karl who is coming to find someone.

It's not all bad news here, though.

At least he has identified the "examiner" for this trial of the Four Gods at this moment.

Who else can set a deadly trap for him at the beginning?

Anyway, Karl felt that this person could not be the Emperor.

Move your eyes away from the complicated and exquisite carvings on the colored glaze windows, and turn your attention back to this room that is obviously several circles larger.

After looking around, a new question gradually formed in Carl's mind—what about the Abadans?
But this question was quickly dispelled by Karl himself.

He is now the target on the bright side, and the one who is really behind the scenes in the dark is Abbadan, who has never appeared before.

Thinking about it this way, it makes sense that the emperor didn't send Abadan to him.

"Oh, I don't know where the eggs are sent."

Although he already has a guess direction for this result, but this kind of hard to say can be left to think about later.

After silently sighing, he turned his attention to other furnishings in the room again.

A huge bookcase represents the knowledge of the former owner of this body.

Even Carl, who has a mechanical canon, has to admire this kind of erudition.

After all, apart from machinery, there are many things worth learning in the world.

And in these respects, he could only silently admire the heavy classics from all walks of life in the bookcase.

After all, a dignified Astarte of the Thousand Sons couldn't buy books just to look good on the bookshelf like him.

However, in the process of scanning his eyes, a scroll hanging on the bookshelf attracted Karl's full attention.

=7-day trial=
1x、 2x、3x、4x、5x、6、7
After the first 5 days, they were all marked with a "cross", and if Carl's guess is correct, it should be the seventh day of this so-called trial.

But what kind of trials does an Astartes who has already experienced many battles need?
His eyes swept over the reserved interfaces everywhere on his body.

Those reserved connections for docking the power armor have long been covered with traces of time.

Obviously, the owner of this body has been fighting for the empire for hundreds of years.

However, just as Carl was thinking about what the "calendar" hanging on the wall represented, the door behind him was suddenly swiped open.

That is not the opening of violence, but the unlocking of an advanced authority.

Karl, who is the holder of the Mechanical Tome, is very clear about this.

But other than that, he knew nothing about the can that appeared in front of his eyes.

Therefore, in order not to expose the real situation prematurely, Karl deliberately put on a confused look.

"Carl Price, are you all right?"

Hearing the other party's condolences with a little concern, at least Karl's hanging heart fell temporarily.

But he also knew that he couldn't show any flaws in front of these wise men.

Therefore, the only way in front of him at present is to "pretend to have amnesia".

Anyway, it's not surprising that such a strange thing as subspace power occasionally has a little accident, right?

Trying to keep the muscles on his face relaxed, Karl basically put on a confused expression again.

"who are you?"

Obviously, the stalwart figure in the large red Terminator power armor and a lot of meritorious accessories was shocked by Karl's heaven-defying answer.

Or rather than calling it a shock, it would be more appropriate to call it a kind of sadness.

Karofis - Captain of the Sixth Society of the Thousand Sons.

Looking at the bewildered "brother" in front of him, he felt deeply helpless.

That curse cannot be lifted at all.

This kind of meaningless "experiment" will only make Qianzi fall into madness and confusion.

But Carlos had nothing to do with this situation.

That was the Primarch's order.

True, he had to admit that the Primarch's intentions might be good.

But is it too hasty for all the Thousand Sons to face the "distortion of flesh and blood" that was once considered taboo and took the lives of countless Thousand Sons?

Everything was in a hurry, as if some unknown oppression was forcing the Primarch to do so.

And the consequences of this "catch up" are obviously disastrous.

It is true that this set of them combines the latest appeasement technology provided by the Death Guard, which can greatly increase the probability of "permanent suppression" of flesh and blood distortion.

But why not wait for the technology to mature a bit?

In fact, apart from Azek Ahriman of the Black Crow School, the chief curator of the Thousand Sons think tank, since the trial started on the 7th, only a very small number of people have been able to successfully suppress the flesh and blood distortion in their bodies.

In this regard, the company commanders of the Thousand Sons Society have repeatedly raised objections to the Primarch.

However, the Primarch did not give any explanation for this situation.

The gate of that magnificent palace has not been opened even for a second so far.

Not even a single Captain of the Society was allowed into that magnificent hall.

But even so, this horrible experiment is still going on.

To defeat the "distortion of flesh and blood", even if there is only a slight possibility, every Thousand Sons is willing to try everything.

Why did the thousand sons thirst for knowledge?

Because they are not like other Astartes who can focus on fighting.

Mutations of flesh and blood hover over their heads like sharp swords.

That is a potential runaway danger rooted in the genetic level.

It is precisely because the sword of Damocles hovers over the heads of the Thousand Sons all the time that the Thousand Sons yearn for all knowledge and hope that this knowledge can help them get rid of this so-called curse.

However, as the saying goes, there is no end to the sky. In a letter exchange between Magnus and Mortarion, by discussing how to deal with the Nikaia trial, Mortarion shared a taboo. technology.

= If it cannot be cured from the genetic level, why not try to live to death? =
With the bonus harmonic "temperament", the plan called the 7-day trial was born.

The gene sequence in the subject's body was stimulated again and again, causing it to run wild within a tolerable range.

Then repeat this process until the subject is completely immune to this rampage, or in other words, achieves a kind of "symbiosis" with the rampage.

This is the origin of the 7-day trial.

Crazy, aggressive, reckless.

This was Magnus' initial assessment of Mortarion's advice.

In fact, none of the Thousand Sons took this plan seriously at first.

Until—the spaceship named Expansion struggled to come to Prospero.

Although Carlofis has no evidence for this, and these are just speculations by the company commanders.

After all, none of them had been shared the secrets of that meeting by the Primarch.

But since then, everything on Prospero has changed, just like the Expansion ship that is still anchored above Prospero.

All academic research was forcibly stopped by the Primarch, and this trial began instead.

In this regard, Carlofis can be said to have had enough.

They are soldiers of the Emperor, and they shouldn't be "sent to die" like this somehow.

It's not scary to have a strong enemy, and even the Fire Phoenix School, which Carlofis belongs to, is the school that is good at fighting among the Thousand Sons.

Rather than predicting the future or seeing through the minds of their enemies, they are better at using psionic energy to gather into an incinerating flame, purifying any enemy who dares to stand in their way.

The word timid obviously shouldn't appear in Carlofis's dictionary.

But being brave is not the same as being stupid.

Facing the trial with almost no pass rate, even Karofis felt a little hopeless.

In fact, he is very clear about the principle of "mutation of flesh and blood".

But it is precisely because of understanding that he is also very aware of the horror in it.

That is a kind of despair.

=The only barrier that can prevent the frantic mutation of flesh and blood is your willpower=
= But when you are in it, you know a cruel fact all the time, you will eventually be weak and unable to fight =
In the wave of psionic energy surging in the body, the mutation of flesh and blood will disintegrate any willpower from the genetic level.

What Mortarion gave was only an auxiliary ceremony.

With the help of this auxiliary ritual, the Thousand Sons can be artificially "temporarily pulled back" from the brink of flesh and blood mutation.

Hence the hypothesis of the 7-day trial—can this pain be adapted to "coexist" with it?
The answer is yes, because No.1 Azek Ahriman who participated in the experiment is the best example.

It was a state of perfection.

Azek Ahriman, chief curator of the Thousand Sons think tank, who has abundant spiritual energy, clear consciousness, and no constraints of flesh and blood distortion, has reached a whole new realm.

But just when everyone was rejoicing, thinking that the flesh and blood distortion would become the history of the Thousand Sons, an accident happened.

As if under some kind of curse, the morbidity rate of the 7-day trial began to soar.

Why is the "7-day trial" limited by the 7-day limit?

It is precisely because of this kind of trial that once the 8th trial is performed, it will completely go berserk 100%.

That was a lesson learned by a large number of Thousand Sons in exchange for their blood.

But this does not mean that within 8 times is absolutely safe.

In fact, as far as psionic powers are concerned, there is no such thing as certainty at all.

The 7-day trial is like a gamble, a gamble that may lose all the principal at any time.

And for a wise man, what pain can be more painful than "losing all wisdom and memory".

Seeing "Karl Price" with a confused face in front of him, Carlofis, the company commander of the Sixth Society of the Fire Phoenix School, felt a little inexplicable sadness.

At this juncture of preparing for the war, he lost another "old friend" who once fought side by side.

After all, for a Thousand Sons, the knowledge in his brain can be regarded as half of his combat effectiveness.

And like the Sun Auxiliary Army before them, the Thousand Sons are not a lone wolf.

Only in the psychic battle formation relying on each other can they display their full strength.

And the Thousand Sons who firmly believe in this, even after the 001.M31 Nikaia think tank ban, still obediently obey the newly established terms.

Obviously, a soldier who has lost his knowledge and memory can only lag behind in a war of that scale.

Although the Primarch has not revealed any information about the enemy so far, just from the defensive facilities that Prospero has laid out like a "heavenly net" at this moment, Carlofis, who has experienced many battles, can also guess that the enemy this time is extremely powerful. not simple.

"But that's not your business anymore. I have arranged a special lounge for you, and I hope you can recall those forgotten knowledge."

Listening to Carlofis, he finished introducing the current situation in a flat tone.

Carl's heart also gradually cooled down.

(Is this not the end of the calf?)

Good guy, this time it was Magnus who ambushed the space wolf who came directly over?
It was really the "best" news he had ever heard.

This means that at this moment, even if Magnus is not completely depraved, he can still be regarded as having read 99% of the article.

As for this trial, it is obvious that the 8th time is the hole that Tzeentch has already dug.

It is very in line with his style to give a little sweetness first, and then completely kill him.

And if Prospero has already set a trap like a net, Karl even wonders if he is here to save the wolf king Ruth?
Why did the Fortitude ship led by Kaya stop at Prospero?

When did they arrive?
Are they locked up now?

Where did the Abba man go?
Everything is still in layers of fog.

Fortunately, after listening to Karofis’ introduction, Karl has already made it clear who he needs to meet next——Azek Ahriman, chief think tank curator of Thousand Sons
Just as the so-called reluctance to bear a child and not a wolf, Karl believes that this Azek Ahriman must still be loyal to the Emperor at this moment.

Then the next question is how to take the opportunity to get out.

But when Karl was thinking about how he would sneak away to meet Azek Ahriman later.

Carlofis, who was leading the way, was suddenly taken aback, and then stopped.

When he turned, Karl read surprise in his eyes.

"you succeeded?"

…………

(End of this chapter)