Warhammer 40k: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 157: The Plan to Cultivate Astartes

Abaddon's mind wasn't addled, but he wasn't stupid enough to trust the words of a minor Chaos God. Cooperation was one thing, but he would never sign a pact with an ambitious demigod. He didn't even truly have faith in the Four Gods; everything he did was for the sake of destroying the corrupt Imperium of Man. Despite his unparalleled status within the forces of Chaos, he had even refused ascension to a daemon prince to gain greater power.

Abaddon tore the human-skin parchment handed to him by Vashtorr to shreds.

Seeing this, Vashtorr was consumed by rage.

If Lucan's existence was not yet a fundamental threat to the Four Gods—after all, Lucan could not steal their faith—it was a different matter for Vashtorr. The faith of the "Cult of the Holy Machine" was encroaching upon the divine portfolio of machinery and technology. The God-Emperor was even pleased to see this happen; it would reduce the amount of faith-power flowing to him, further lessening his own pressure.

But for Vashtorr, the reduction in faith directly affected his power. More importantly, it pushed him further and further away from the path to true godhood. He wanted Lucan dead more than anyone, and he greatly coveted the technology possessed by the Mongorte Dynasty.

His blasphemous body stood up, and his divine power began to spread throughout the Vengeful Spirit. Scrap-code began to try and invade the mighty warship.

Seeing Vashtorr make a move, Abaddon also rose from his throne. He lifted his daemon sword. Blessed by a full suit of powerful artifacts, Abaddon's strength was by no means weak, to say nothing of the large number of Chaos Space Marines loyal to him on this flagship. The four members of the Ezekarion, Abaddon's chosen, also closed in.

Abaddon showed no weakness in the face of this purely daemonic being. No one could provoke the master of the Black Legion, the Chosen of all Four Gods!

Seeing his situation, Vashtorr retracted his divine power. He was strong, but there was still an insurmountable gulf between him and a true god. He was far from being able to single-handedly fight an entire army.

"Abaddon, I hope you will continue to consider my proposal."

With that, Vashtorr vanished from the Vengeful Spirit. Seeing him leave, Abaddon did not order his forces to pursue. Vashtorr and his followers were very important to his Black Legion. Countless pieces of equipment and warships were supplied by them, and the Daemon Engines that could decide the course of a battle were forged in Vashtorr's Soul Forges. His title as the greatest arms dealer of Chaos was not unearned.

Abaddon muttered Lucan's name. The ripples in the warp had been caught by the Chaos Sorcerers at his side. It was not just Vashtorr; as the Chosen of the Four, he had also received edicts from the gods themselves. Like Vashtorr, they all demanded that Abaddon destroy Lucan, warning him to be wary of this entity known as the Mongorte Dynasty, who would likely be coming near Cadia. The Four Gods described Lucan as yet another weapon created by the Emperor, just like the Primarchs of old.

Abaddon committed this being that had drawn the attention of all Four Gods to memory. But he would not change the target of his plan, which had been in motion for ten thousand years, just because of Lucan. At this moment, nothing was more important than the destruction of Cadia. If this person truly came here, then he would use his vast fleet to utterly crush him!

Abaddon sat back down on his throne. Soon, his fleet would begin the true invasion. He was waiting for the blackstone pylons in the star systems near Cadia to be destroyed, one by one. Typhus and his Plague Fleet, followers of Nurgle, had already begun to spread a terrifying plague in the sectors near Cadia. The Plague of Unbelief was once again spreading through the Imperium of Man, tying up a large portion of the Imperium's forces. Lucius the Eternal, a champion of Slaanesh, had also begun his own attacks on various Imperial worlds. And the mysterious Alpha Legion was carrying out its own plans on planets across the galaxy.

On Malfi, a new industrial zone composed of barracks, heavy factories, and starports was being constructed. Most of the Psy-crystals Lucan had acquired on Malfi were being invested into it. Malfi had now become the new forward base of the Mongorte Dynasty. The government began to reform, and supplies from the Koronus Expanse were constantly flowing in through the transit hub of Port Wander.

After Lucan had revealed his miracle, the Ecclesiarchy on Malfi also began to cooperate with Holter's work. Malfi began to reform from the bottom up.

At this time, in the bio-laboratory aboard the Stellar Pioneer, Lucan watched an embryo being gestated in a cultivation tank. Every day, the embryo showed significant growth. With a sufficient supply of nutrients, it would take two to three months for the embryo to develop into an adult. The tech-priests were monitoring all the embryo's data.

Once this technology truly belonged to him, Lucan began to collect the best genes. In addition to what Leon originally had, Lucan also collected genes from StarCraft humans and the Night Sentinels.

According to the analysis and testing of the tech-priests, the genes of the StarCraft humans, who were not from the Warhammer universe, had a lower sensitivity and higher inertia to the warp, despite also having a presence there. This meant they were less likely to be corrupted.

As for the Night Sentinels, their bodies, enhanced by the Divinity Machine, were already genetically distinct from Warhammer humans. Unfortunately, this powerful gene could not yet be fully replicated. When injected into an embryo, its potent characteristics were too much for an ordinary embryo to bear. The embryo would die before it could even develop.

This meant that Lucan's attempt to use a "bug" to save on Psy-crystals and directly mass-produce Night Sentinels had failed. The tech-priests could only try to splice short segments of the gene-sequence with other superior gene-sequences to maintain the embryo's stability.

"My Lord, this batch of embryos is very stable," a tech-priest reported, sharing his experimental results. Lucan was very satisfied. "It is predicted that once they are fully formed, the subjects' physical fitness will reach the level of normal gene-enhancement. The genes of the Night Sentinels are too perfect. Combined with the genes provided by Inquisitor Hawkins, they will be outstanding in both intelligence and physique. Once they are cultivated, they will quickly become qualified soldiers after brainwashing and training!"

What if... Lucan thought, using the Night Sentinel genes as a base, combined with the stable genes of Guilliman, that "Papa Smurf," or even just using the Night Sentinel genes alone... could I cultivate my own Astartes? Since the embryo cannot directly bear this gene, what if I created a gene-seed and implanted it directly into a pre-screened and qualified candidate? Could a new type of Space Marine be created?!

Unfortunately, Lucan did not have the technology to create Astartes, let alone the method for cultivating gene-seed.

However, according to the timeline, Belisarius Cawl should have already completed the technology for the Primaris Space Marines. He was just waiting for the opportunity to resurrect Guilliman, to use his status as a Primarch to help him promote it. Cawl's Primaris technology and his Primaris-captain, the first of his kind, proved that the method of combining the genes of multiple Primarchs to cultivate gene-seed was feasible.

Perhaps he could get in touch with him later and have him give it a try! Only he would have the guts to tamper with gene-seed. A normal Chapter would never try to alter the gene-seed; this gift from their gene-father, even with its negative effects, was a sacred bestowal to them.

Cultivating Night Sentinels with just the Divinity Machine was still too costly, and that wasn't even counting the investment in Praetor suits. Most importantly, Night Sentinels who had just been enhanced by the Divinity Machine needed a lot of time in combat to gain further strength.

But the various superhuman organs of a Space Marine, combined with the genes of a Night Sentinel, could create an all-around warrior, effective in the early, middle, and late stages of a battle.

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