Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 681: Share your secrets with the most familiar stranger in the world -
"This is it."

Ever since he met the young man named Utherma Atla on the road that day, Magnus felt as if he had found a treasure, but he also felt more regretful that the treasure had been covered in dust.

After some amiable questioning, the youth, Utherma Atla, with all the respect and timidity a mortal should show to a Primarch, announced that he was from the northern African region of Terra, a visitor who had come to see the great library in the pyramids of Tizca, and that he had sojourned in part to find a teacher here to relearn and improve his natural psychic skills.

"My mother abandoned my brother and me when we were very young."

There was a hint of sadness between Maatla's brows as he spoke. Magnus looked at him and felt something in his chest tighten.

"My father was always busy with family affairs and business, and we were rarely together. He seldom took care of my brothers and me. We had an old housekeeper, and the living expenses sent by my father were also very generous. Therefore, we were well taken care of in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but we were helpless in other aspects... In the tradition of the area where my family lived, psychic gifts were regarded as a useful but ominous gift. Priests who were proficient in prophecy always lived in seclusion and often died in the end. Therefore, when I was very young, the tutors my father found for me taught me psychic skills, not to develop them, but just the opposite. I have always been learning how to hide them as much as possible and avoid using them. So now I have power but don't know how to use it. As I grow older, my power increases day by day, but my brothers and father can't understand me more and more, so I left home and came to Prospero, trying to find my way here."

Because Maatra seemed to have perfected every detail of his Terran noble identity, although from the very beginning the Thousand Sons Legion had no chance of recruiting this genius into the Legion when he was still of selection age, the Scarlet King was still somewhat bothered by the fact that he had lost an heir who had great potential to become a lecturer in the Black Raven Septon after Ahriman due to his age.

After listening to the young man's life story and learning why he possessed such powerful psychic powers but such childish skills in using them, Magnus felt even more incredibly sympathetic towards him. The Fifteenth Primarch was surprised to find that he was so sentimental, emotional, and able to empathize with mortals. His heart was filled with tenderness, and he even condescended to pat the thin shoulder, which was not even as thick as one of his fingers.

"What a waste of talent!" Magnus said indignantly, "These mortals bow their heads to the ground all day long, living a vulgar life, with only a shadow in front of their eyes. How can we expect them to understand the true light of the sun? Believe me, Utherma Atla, your talent is not a curse, but a real gift. Just stay here! I promise you a promise from a Primarch - your psychic talent will bring you unexpected supreme glory and applause here."

"Thank you for your kindness and generosity, my Lord, but I am afraid that my poor skills and abilities cannot meet your requirements, and I have let you down." The young man bowed to him, without any of the confidence, style and majesty that a man of noble birth and great power like him should have, standing above all those who are not as good as him. Instead, he was full of the cautiousness and compliance with rules that he had developed from years of oppression, which made the Scarlet King feel heartbroken for him again.

"How could this be! Don't worry, with your qualifications, as long as Ekuannan and Ushizar... No! I will teach you in person at the beginning! You will definitely become a great prophet. Alas! It's a pity that you are too old to be suitable..."

The Fifteenth Primarch looked at this talented and beautiful man with his one eye filled with grief and sorrow, and at the same time began to think about where in his legion he could find a suitable position for Maatra - well, that's right, it would be a pity to use such a level of psychic power and comprehension just as a one-time consumption to replace Ahriman.

Although the age of this mortal youth had exceeded the deadline for almost all the Astartes transformation surgeries he knew, perhaps if he gave him good and strict training, and arranged some cost-effective Astartes-like enhancement transformations that he had spied on his brother, this young man should eventually be able to survive the ceremony that Magnus wanted to hold, and then continue to serve him and the Fifteenth Legion after completing the glorious mission he was promised.

"I trust you absolutely, my lord." Utherma Atla's High Gothic did not have any accent, but rather had the standard pronunciation of the aristocrats of the Throne World. Only the oldest and earliest noble families who followed the Emperor would train their direct descendants to learn this tone. After the inquiry just now, Magnus also learned that Utherma Atla had a brother who was successfully selected and became a member of the Emperor's Children Legion as a duty to the Emperor of Mankind. This made him want to beat his chest even more.

"I said it before! Implementing the Think Tank Program is a wise and correct choice... and father should really continue to promote it instead of openly reprimanding me like he did on Nikaea - we should select suitable teenagers during the selection process and send them to Prospero, so that no rare geniuses will be wasted, and they can better serve the Empire in their longer lives - the Thousand Sons Legion is very experienced in discovering and cultivating the abilities of an Astartes think tank!"

At this point, the pair of green eyes boldly blinked at the Primarch with doubt, and Magnus realized that he had just spoken out of turn, but it was not a big deal because there was no one else around them.

Just when the Scarlet King said in a friendly manner, "We're here," they had already stopped at the door of an underground cave hall.

The two tall doors make this place quiet and mysterious, and it is even more colorful after opening the door: the cave is several stories high and several kilometers wide, with countless densely packed and intertwined crystal prisms growing inside. The colors range from the lightest white to the look of a thick green forest. The edges of the hexagonal columnar crystals are as smooth as if they were artificially polished, emerging from the milky white bedrock. A faint aura mist floats on these beautiful crystals, causing a slight resonance among the instruments and equipment placed around the central open space in the cave.

“This is…? This is…?” Maatra exclaimed with genuine admiration, a hint of sadness in his tone, “So… beautiful, an eternal miracle of ingenuity.”

"This is one of the most precious lost secret treasures left to us by the old city of Tizca. We discovered it by accident when we were expanding the new city of Tizca. Of course, this happened many years ago, and it was classified as top secret once it was discovered, so it is not surprising that no one knows the truth. There is a famous stone pillar on the ground above this place." Magnus blinked his only eye slyly, "You can guess which one it is."

The young man thought for a moment. "Could it be the Doric column with the brazier on top, where you come to Prospero and save her statue? This should be the most famous column in Tizca."

"That's it." A smile of approval appeared on the corner of the Fifteenth Primarch's mouth. "As far as I know, many local residents will tell outsiders that this stone pillar was used by the ancestors of Prospero to communicate with the distant old Earth before the advent of the ancient long night, but no one knows how it works now. In fact, the pillar is just a marker on the ground to cover the core of the real device. The real place that may have the energy required for such long-distance communication and the place to activate it is exactly this cave where we are now. These crystals grown here-"

He took two steps forward with the mortal youth and waved towards the empty hall of the giant crystal cave.

The light of countless souls, like frightened fireflies, silently flew into the air from the columnar crystal clusters of varying depths, thicknesses and sizes, and then circled in groups like dancing among the ivory stalactites and crystal columns hanging from the ceiling of the cave, emitting a soft light that was reflected on the countless reflective surfaces and thin mist of the entire giant crystal cave, making it dreamy and sparkling.

"Oh my God, Terra." Maatra closed her eyes, then opened them again, her eyes filled with surprise and tears. "These... these are all human souls. Are the crystals in this entire cave some kind of crystals that can carry souls to reside in the world? No... incredible... no, it should be said that the crystals in this cave are treasures that can trigger earth-shaking events! No wonder... no wonder you said it was a secret treasure." "Very good." Magnus looked at Maatra with satisfaction, like a teacher looking at his proud student who had just fallen into the hub. "So this is the truth hidden by the legend: this is indeed the real place where the ancestors of Prospero used to communicate with the distant Terra before the ancient long night, but no one knows the real location."

"But that stone pillar is in the center of the Secret Eye Plaza!" Maatla's surprise was beyond words, and he quickly controlled them. "It's unbelievable that this is the scene under the most prosperous plaza in Tizca! Aren't you afraid that so many people come and go and stay there every day, and someone will discover the secret under the plaza?"

"There's no need to worry about that." Magnus pointed upwards. "The closest place to the ground here is a thousand meters thick. We are now more than a thousand meters below the surface. The safest place is the most conspicuous place."

"But just in case..."

Magnus waved his hand nonchalantly and confidently. "No chance of that happening. Its true situation is already hidden in the legend. Everyone, even those who want to explore the legend, will only focus on the stone pillar on the ground. I have issued an infallible order to keep the location of this place secret. Besides, who would suddenly go crazy and peek into the ground a kilometer away and try to find a device or something like that when they pass by their own route every day?"

"Your wisdom, sir, is as great as the mountains and the sea, and is unparalleled in the world." Maatra bowed deeply, and his black bangs on his forehead and on both sides fell down, covering the expression on his face at the moment.

Magnus narrowed his eyes and accepted the sincere compliment from the talented young man with reserve but great pleasure.

"Of course, when we were studying the crystals here, we also found some very old equipment remains and records that had completely decayed and turned to dust, proving that this place was indeed once used for some kind of scientific research or practical purposes. Unfortunately, the time is too long, and even under the good preservation conditions here, all written or other forms of records can no longer be traced, and the Prospero text before the ancient night has also been lost for a long time, which makes it even more difficult for us to interpret the few words. However, even so, through our efforts to re-analyze, study and speculate, we have made some progress and achievements."

The Fifteenth Primarch led his guests and the designated new apprentice to bypass clusters of gem crystal columns that contained countless soul lights. When people approached, ethereal singing or silver bell sounds rang in their ears like an illusion or a dream. When you turned around to take a closer look, there was nothing there, only darkness and the flash of crystals.

They walked along an invisible path, and the crystal clusters became larger and denser as they walked further, until they reached the center of the cave.

A faint golden and green light ignited in Magnus's eye and Maatra's eyes like sunlight in a forest of glowing emeralds.

suddenly see the light.

Utherma Atla clenched his fingers and the robe he was wearing, and his whole body began to tremble with excitement. "This... this thing..."

"How is it? Pretty amazing, right?" Magnus walked over and slowly walked around the huge bronze instrument hanging from above the center of the cave ceiling.

This extremely slender and huge instrument is very similar to some kind of elongated ancient naval telescope, except that its size has been magnified to an extraordinary scale. Silver-shining patterns and various mysterious spells are cast or engraved on its surface, and at its lowest tip is a perfectly round green crystal ball with a diameter of three meters.

Judging from its texture and color, its raw materials should have come from the cave itself.

The bright golden-green color that the two of them had just seen was emitted by this crystal ball.

"Isn't it extraordinary?" Magnus said with a smile. Maatra's eyes were wide open, which undoubtedly pleased him. "Come and see - this golden color is the sunlight shining on the Secret Eye Square at this moment. This instrument can directly reach the surface of the earth. The stone pillar conceals its ground part very well. This is the instrument I discovered, speculated, and reconstructed from here - combined with the newly developed secret instrument, it will help me travel in the galaxy with the body of light, whether it is to save my brother or go to Terra, it will be no problem."

The Fifteenth Primarch's voice turned low and soft, with a bewitching buzzing echo and a hint of threatening anticipation.

"You will help me accomplish this miracle, won't you?"

After a while, Uthelma Atla raised his head and showed the purest and most sincere smile.

"I will," he told Magnus. "I promise."

(End of this chapter)