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Chapter 269: Loading Stellaris! (2-in-1)
🕑 Added 2025-09-04 09:19:24 +0000 UTCChapter 269: Loading Stellaris! (2-in-1)
Hearing Guilliman's confirmation, Lucan quickly opened the System. As expected, the requirement for the final planet had been met.
[Habitable Planets (10/10)]
[Requirements Met]
[Third Game Program can now be loaded]
Seeing the system prompt, Lucan already knew which game program he would load.
Stellaris.
Activate the Aetherophasic Engine! Drain the Warp dry!
This was the key to his physical ascension to godhood in the Warhammer universe, and the key to permanently purifying the warp. Of course, this was all predicated on the System recognizing the Shroud from Stellaris and the Warp as equivalent entities. But given the System's track record, this was almost a certainty. After all, his own Xel'Naga projection could manifest within the warp.
Loading Stellaris would satisfy all of Lucan's current needs, allowing for massive development in civil affairs, industry, warship construction, and even individual power. The Stellaris tech tree was incredibly comprehensive. Furthermore, its Ascension Perks could dramatically increase the strength of humanity itself: Genetic Resequencing, The Flesh is Weak, Synthetic Evolution, and Mind Over Matter.
However, apart from the first path, which was relatively controllable and allowed for the preservation of the human form, the other three would fundamentally change what it meant to be human. This conflicted sharply with the current ideology of the human Imperium, which placed a great emphasis on purity. Although there were factions like the Adeptus Mechanicus who were enthusiastic about self-modification, Lucan had no desire to surround himself with robots. He much preferred that people continue to live in this universe as humans.
Besides these four main Ascension Paths, there were other, more specialized ones. Two of them, in particular, would grant Lucan access to the two most important, reality-defying, and arguably god-like mechanical constructs.
The Synaptic Lathe and the Aetherophasic Engine.
The first, associated with the "Cosmic Genesis" path, would provide him with a special construct that could be thought of as a super-massive wetware computer. It could house sentient beings, sustain their lives, and link all their thoughts and consciousness together. As more population was placed within it and its own power was increased, the Synaptic Lathe would begin to consume their lifespans, and even their souls. In essence, it was trading these things for breakthroughs in the speed of technological advancement. Just as a computer's hardware wears down, it used life itself to increase its processing power.
As its ascension name implied, it could eventually elevate one's technological level to the point of mastering time and space, even to the level of being able to arbitrarily modify the laws of physics. If you were willing, you could cancel friction, make Pi an integer, and change the entire world with a single thought. But the price to reach this stage was immense, and it would take an extremely long time. If he didn't know for a fact that this thing had no connection to the warp, Lucan would have thought it was a Tzeentchian plot just by looking at its effects. Wasn't this pure sacrifice? Trading souls for knowledge was exactly how Tzeentch seduced mortals. Of course, the power of Tzeentch was nowhere near this level.
And a single "pop" unit from the game would represent no small number of people in reality. Although there was no direct conversion rate, Lucan had no doubt that the required population would be in the billions. In Stellaris, where everyone is a war criminal, one could mercilessly throw other species or even one's own unemployed population into the machine. But here, Lucan didn't think he had the heart to do it. These were all living, breathing people.
However, he could find some substitutes in this universe. The most suitable would be the Orks. They were purely organic life, and given their vitality, they could probably withstand more of the Synaptic Lathe's torment. Their reproductive capabilities were second to none, and it might even be possible to "farm" them scientifically and on a massive scale. They were, in a way, the perfect wetware for the machine. However, Lucan felt that more experiments were needed on these "chosen wetware." When the rules of two different universes collided, he couldn't be sure if some unique phenomena might occur. If the consciousness of countless Orks were linked together by the Synaptic Lathe, would it create an unparalleled WAAAGH! field, leading to unimaginable consequences?
Furthermore, adding a large population was not without its costs. It still had to obey physical limitations. The more population was added, the more energy it would consume. If he were to mindlessly cram vast numbers of people into it, his empire might go bankrupt from the energy costs long before he enjoyed any of the technological benefits. Lucan knew that even if he could build this thing, he had to get his fundamentals in order first.
The second path, "Become the Crisis," not only granted Lucan the ability to build the Star-Eater, a weapon that could destroy stars at will, but ultimately allowed him to create the Aetherophasic Engine, which could drain the warp. In its final stage, the engine could even detonate the entire universe, allowing his people to ascend to a new one.
But the conditions to achieve this were even more stringent than for the Synaptic Lathe. Not only would doing so make him the public enemy of the entire universe—after all, no race would want to just sit by and wait for death—but even within human society, such an action would surely be met with doubt. Lucan believed that not everyone would trust in a plan to destroy all the stars in order to ascend to a new world. Moreover, the Dark Matter required to upgrade the Aetherophasic Engine could only be harvested from black holes. In such a scenario, he would not only face external enemies but would also inevitably plunge the entire human Imperium into civil war.
A game is a game. When you are the player, you don't need to worry about such things. But in a real situation, there were far too many things to consider. Either of these two paths would have a terrifying impact on the universe, which was why choosing either one in the game would turn you into an "endgame crisis."
However, in Lucan's vision, even if he didn't upgrade the Aetherophasic Engine to its final stage, it could probably still be used to suppress the warp. He didn't need to drain it completely. Just the existence of the engine could continuously siphon off the warp's power, keeping it in a withered state. That wasn't a bad option. After all, he himself had a Warp Projection, and the nature of the Shroud was different from the warp. Normal humans all had a reflection in the warp; if he were to drain it completely, it could have a huge impact on humanity. The Null-Field had already shown what a complete separation from the warp would do to the human state.
Thinking it over, the best method was to combine the two. Use the Aetherophasic Engine to compress the warp, stripping it of its supernatural power and intensity, and then use the hyper-advanced technology from the Synaptic Lathe to crush it. He would show the Four Punks that just as the warp could assimilate the material universe, the material universe could also assimilate the warp.
"I hope there are fewer of the game's restrictions," he thought, growing more excited. "It would be great if I could choose both." Either one of them was a thing that could change the fate of the entire Warhammer universe.
But no matter which one he chose, unlocking, building, and researching the relevant technologies would inevitably consume a massive amount of resources. Lucan thought back to the pitiful resource output he had seen when he loaded the second game program. At that rate, it would take an eternity to unlock these technologies and pick the Ascension Perks. This wasn't a game where he could just fast-forward time; here, every second had to be lived through.
With a sense of trepidation, Lucan checked the projected resource income for Stellaris. He prayed that the current scale of his empire would provide him with enough resources to develop.
"Whew, not bad, not bad at all. There's hope." The numbers were promising. "If I have this much now, the increase should be quite substantial as I continue to expand my territory."
When he saw that his monthly research points for Physics, Society, and Engineering had already reached 500, he breathed a sigh of relief. This was countless times better than the 20 points he had started with. The spread and development of the Cult of the Holy Machine had brought a large number of Tech-priests and other technical personnel into the Mongorte Dynasty. In the Koronus Expanse, the scale of the Cult of the Holy Machine had even surpassed that of the pioneer fleets exploring the region. Many Tech-priests from those fleets, after purchasing the Mark of Purity and experiencing the miraculous services of the SCVs, had come to believe in the Cult's philosophy and joined its ranks.
Within the Imperium, some of the forge worlds in the Calixis Sector, which bordered the Expanse, were also beginning to be influenced by the Cult of the Holy Machine. Lucan believed that after the victory at Cadia, the miracles of his Cult would be spread throughout the Imperium by the surviving Cadian soldiers and the Imperial fleets and Astra Militarum regiments returning to their home sectors. Who could resist the temptation of machines that were immune to Chaos corruption and could be rapidly repaired by SCVs? The influence of the Cult of the Holy Machine would only grow, and the research points he could gain would be far more than this. Cawl had also agreed to help crack the secrets of the warp drive, and the Tech-priests under his command were all exceptionally capable. Spreading the news that Cawl had joined the Cult would also greatly enhance its influence.
By continuously unlocking new technologies with research points to fill the Dynasty's tech base, and then using that technology to train and attract new technical talent, he could form a virtuous cycle.
Lucan continued to look down the list. The resource called Unity was the key to unlocking Ascension Perks, and its income was a pleasant surprise. Nearly a thousand Unity per month? Damn. That was far more than he had imagined.
Lucan surmised that the large amount of Unity was due to the unique nature of the Warhammer universe itself. Faith had its downsides, but it also had its benefits. After the Great Crusade, the human Imperium had survived to this day precisely because of its faith in the Emperor. The Ecclesiarchy, though extreme, had maintained this vast and decaying empire by promoting this faith. Faith had united the humans scattered across the galaxy, giving them a sense of identity as subjects of the Imperium and a spiritual anchor. And in this universe, faith could genuinely produce miracles. Without the maintenance of faith, the entire human Imperium would have long since collapsed. Although it had filled the Imperium with fanatics, it was something that humanity could not yet abandon.
Lucan knew that the same was true within his own Mongorte Dynasty. It wasn't just the special power of his Xel'Naga projection; after killing Vashtorr, he had truly felt what a miracle was, and had even gained the ability to use that divine power in the physical universe. Compared to the rest of the Warhammer galaxy, life within his Dynasty was almost luxurious. This gave the citizens of the Dynasty an extremely strong sense of belonging.
And the strength of the Mongorte Dynasty was almost entirely derived from him alone. The Dynasty's propaganda reflected this, almost brainwashing its citizens with the idea that Lucan was the source of everything. Through regular reports from Verre and Rebecca, he knew that some of the citizens were beginning to "deify" him. He also knew that becoming a god in the Warhammer universe was not a good thing. Even though he had ordered a stop to it, he couldn't prevent people from doing so in private. The people of this universe were already accustomed to, and perhaps even unable to abandon, the existence of faith. People suffering in hardship hoped for a faith that could protect them and become their spiritual anchor.
Lucan had to passively accept this faith, but it was undeniably a great help in consolidating his rule. After his attempts to dissuade them failed, he could only order Rebecca and Verre to tone down the official propaganda. Add to that the fact that the Cult of the Holy Machine had always regarded him as the avatar of the Omnissiah, and all these factors together were the reason for his high Unity output.
After seeing that his basic resource income had met his expectations, Lucan began the loading process. He could barely contain his excitement as he watched the prompt pop up on the system interface.
[Confirm loading of the Stellaris game program?]
Lucan pressed the confirm button without hesitation.
[Beginning to load the Stellaris template...]
[Loading...]
The entire loading process took much longer than before, perhaps because of the sheer size of the game. After a long wait, the system finally sent a notification.
[Successfully loaded the Stellaris game program.]
[Loadable game programs: 3/3]
[The next game program requires you to completely control an entire Segmentum.]
Seeing the prompt, Lucan finally let out a sigh of relief. He eagerly opened the dedicated Stellaris interface. It had been optimized by the system and was quite different from the game. The option to unlock Ascension Perks had been changed to a direct requirement of Unity and specific technologies. This simplified many of the operations for Lucan. He guessed that this change was because many of the conceptual bonuses from the original game's traditions would not be effective in the Warhammer universe.
As he expected, all the Ascension options were displayed in the list. The four main paths—Genetic Resequencing, The Flesh is Weak, Synthetic Evolution, and Mind Over Matter—were currently grayed out and could not be selected. By checking them, he learned that they first required him to unlock two other Ascension Perks.
But what excited him the most was that "Become the Crisis" and "Cosmic Genesis" were both available to be activated right now. And the game's restriction of having to choose only one specific crisis path was gone. This meant that it was possible for him to obtain both of these ascensions at the same time.
Then, another prompt popped up from the system.
[One Ascension Perk may be activated for free (0/1).]
[The next Ascension Perk requires 1000 Unity to activate.]
