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Chapter 220: Enhancing Cawl and Cypher's Intelligence
🕑 Added 2025-08-14 13:48:52 +0000 UTCChapter 220: Enhancing Cawl and Cypher's Intelligence
It had to be said that stuffing a behemoth like Cawl into the Divinity Machine had taken quite a bit of effort. Only in the name of the Emperor and with the persuasion of the Custodes did Cawl temporarily remove the excess mechanical limbs from his body. When Cawl saw the Divinity Machine, he was still exceptionally vigilant.
As Cawl entered the machine, Lucan spent 100,000 Psy-crystals on him. This was the largest investment Lucan had ever made in enhancing a single individual. A massive amount of Psy-crystals was converted into a special energy and injected into Cawl's few remaining bits of flesh and all of his remaining mechanical body.
During the enhancement, Cawl was fully conscious. Even at a time like this, he was still curiously observing the machine he was in. And with the activation of the Divinity Machine, all the sensors on Cawl's body blared with piercing alarms. An unknown form of psychic energy was being injected into his body.
But Cawl did not panic. No one knew the state of this body, into which he had poured countless efforts, better than he did. In the words of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the operational efficiency of his body had suddenly been increased by at least fifty percent. And his computational ability, without any hardware changes, had also increased by at least thirty percent. And this was an increase based on Cawl's already powerful computational ability. This supernatural power, Cawl knew, could no longer be explained by science and physical knowledge.
As the Divinity Machine opened, Cawl reconnected the mechanical limbs that had been removed.
"How is it? Are you satisfied with this gift? You seem to be in a very good state!" Lucan also walked toward Cawl.
"Very good. Unprecedentedly good. The performance of this body has been greatly improved. I had already raised the performance of this body to the limit I could achieve, and now it has broken through that limit. What kind of technology is this?"
"Why don't you just understand it as a miracle? There are always many things in this world that cannot be clearly explained. Let's just be pragmatic! As long as it can be used by us, that's all that matters!"
Lucan couldn't explain it either. It was better to leave a bit of mystery. This thing, unlike the other technologies brought to Warhammer, could not be reverse-engineered with physics or psionics. The Divinity Machine was purely a product of his golden finger.
"As you say, knowledge is endless, so I collect and store it as much as possible. After being enhanced by this mechanical creation of yours, I actually feel a long-lost 'vitality'. The various mechanical creations on this body have become more compatible with me. And for me, the most important thing is that the lifespan of these mechanical components will be greatly increased. This will allow my memory banks to store more knowledge without crashing. In these long ages, I have already lost too much technology. Although I have extracted and stored them in various places, ten thousand years is also too long for me. I have even forgotten the location of some of the databases. This is not only my loss, but also the loss of humanity. With the ability to accommodate more knowledge, I believe I can overcome more technical difficulties.
"Lord Lucan, I hope to study the technologies you mentioned, including those xenos technologies. Of course, the matter you mentioned to me, of creating a special gene-seed to modify some special Astartes, is not so easy. It will take a long time. But I can provide you with the Astartes modification surgery methods, and even have the tech-priests under my command perform the Astartes modifications for your soldiers. The modification surgery in my hands has added two new types of modified organs. However, without the gene-seed, their combat effectiveness may not be up to the standard that a normal Astartes can display."
Cawl had been completely attracted by some of the technologies Lucan had mentioned.
However, Lucan was not concerned about the lack of gene-seed. The characteristics of the Night Sentinels did not require it. What Lucan wanted was a simple early-game advantage; the subsequent enhancements could be compensated for with the Praetor suit.
"Of course, I would be very happy for you to join my research. But we still have to go and wake up Old Thirteen first. Are you ready to experience the jump engine? Although Cadia has received my aid, I don't know how much longer it can hold on. We must hurry!"
"I look forward to it!"
This time, with the Custodes and Cawl accompanying him, Lucan could go directly to the Ultima Segmentum openly. To resurrect Guilliman, he still had to persuade his fanatical sons. Otherwise, they might attack anyone who approached Guilliman's place of slumber.
After jumping to a star system near Macragge, the Ultramarines, knowing of the Custodes' visit, guided the Stellar Pioneer to dock in orbit above the planet. But just as Lucan was preparing to take an Ultramarines' Thunderhawk down to Macragge, the communicator on the Stellar Pioneer suddenly rang. The person who had sent the signal was actually Lord Cypher, who was consolidating Agripinaa for Lucan. Damon, stationed on Lorysia, had also allowed him to use the Dynasty's quantum communication after seeking Lucan's permission.
"Cypher? Has something happened at Agripinaa? Have the Dark Angels come to get you? Why the urgency?"
"Real-time, cross-sector communication technology?! What else are you hiding..."
"Hurry up and get to the point. I have more important things to do right now."
"The Fallen Angels who have infiltrated the Red Corsairs have sent me intelligence."
"The Red Corsairs? The Lord of the Maelstrom? 'Timely Rain' Huron? You have spies even in their ranks?"
"'Timely Rain'? I have never heard anyone give him such a title."
Lucan thought about it, and it seemed reasonable. The former Chapter Master of the Astral Claws, after losing a war with the Imperium for refusing to pay the tithe, had been forced to fall into the Maelstrom and accept a deal with the Four Gods, forming a massive Chaos Astartes force. But his acceptance of Chaos was limited to maintaining his own life. If he wished, the Dark Gods could ascend him to a daemon prince at any time, but he always refused.
And the composition of the Red Corsairs was much more diverse than that of Abaddon's Black Legion. He had not inherited the massive legacy and fame of Horus like Abaddon, nor did he spend his days thinking about destroying the Imperium. His anti-Imperial stance was purely for more practical reasons, and he had truly started from scratch. Faced with Abaddon's recruitment, Huron still insisted on developing his own forces.
Among the renegade forces, the Red Corsairs were second only to the Black Legion in size, so much so that Abaddon had even given him a Blackstone Fortress in exchange for his assistance, although it was more of a show of force and a way to shift blame.
Huron accepted anyone who came to him. As long as you showed the ability you should, if you gained his appreciation, he would give you money, men, and warships. Even if you had a blood feud with him in the past. With his powerful eloquence and ability to win people's hearts, the Red Corsairs even had members of some loyalist Chapters. He had even persuaded members of the Space Wolves to join. To think that these savage wolves had fallen to Chaos was incredible.
Even some people in the Black Legion had come to join him, drawn by his fame. He was even willing to provide a safe haven for many loyalist Astartes Chapters during their penitent crusades. If Guilliman had woken up a few years earlier and met Huron, perhaps the Red Corsairs would not have existed. Guilliman would definitely have incorporated this capable son into his own forces.
"So what intelligence did your spy send back?"
"The forces of Chaos are in contact with Huron. I don't know if he has agreed, but a part of the Chaos fleet under his command has already begun to move. One of my Fallen Angels is in one of those fleets. Their destination is Ultramar in the Ultima Segmentum. Have you already arrived in Ultramar? Their target may be you, or the gene-primarch. You must warn the Ultramarines of a possible attack."
It was good to have spies. You didn't have to rely on vague prophecies to know the enemy's movements.
