Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 332 Fortress Monastery

The first month of 840, Vostochnya.

As the Shadow of Reigns sailed toward the starport, Nimrod stood by the observation window, looking at the metallic behemoth in the void, and asked Artena Dunn beside him.

"What is the construction progress of the Ramirez-class star fortress?"

“My Lord,” the Primarch’s servant replied, “the first Ramirez-class fortresses built by Vostoria and Triken are both complete.”

"They are all based on the improved standard construction template of Lian, and have completed the improvement of modules such as the fortress-level energy shield."

"The construction of the second star fortress built by Sepra Mundi is about one-third complete, while the construction of Triken and Vostonia is about one-fifth and one-tenth complete, respectively."

Ning Lu nodded slightly. The three bases that built star fortresses also reflected their differences in their void construction capabilities, such as building ships and star fortresses.

Cypra Mandy has overtaken Triken and Vostoria to become one of the five largest shipyards in the Empire.

Only Mars and the other three casting worlds, Voss, Grugalod, and Lorraine, can rival Sepra Mundy in shipbuilding capabilities.

"My lord, the last Glory Queen-class battleship built by Mars for the Legion in order to acquire the Ramirez-class Starfortress is expected to be delivered this August in Terra time."

Ninglu pondered for a moment, taking into account the past achievements and losses of each battle group, especially the sacrifices made in the "First Randan War," and realized that there was only one option.

"This ship will belong to the Third War Group."

After deciding to handle all matters, Nimrod went to the "Land of Chaos" to inform Bukayo Arshavin to prepare for the takeover.

"My lord, the Emperor has summoned a new War Council, and you are required to attend tomorrow," the Primarch's attendant reminded him.

"Lewis von Valentius, the merchant-ronin you have bestowed upon me, requests an audience."

Ninglu recalled that Lewis had previously discovered that the Vladians were gathering in the Westday system, attempting to launch an attack on Vostoria, and that Lewis might bring important intelligence.

“I will meet him at the fortress monastery.”

After the Shadow of the Kings docked at the starport in Vostonia, Nimrod, Arsena Dunn, Thomas, and Mikel boarded the Stormbirds and flew toward the Legion's fortress monastery.

Leaving the starport, one can see a vast mountain range from 10,000 meters above the ground, where advanced technology has reshaped the ecosystem around the fortress monastery that was destroyed by early Vostonia colonists.

The surrounding chemical peaks, industrial sludge, and black, foul-smelling rivers were removed by Vostoria's technicians.

Marble fills the missing spaces, and artificial mountains rise from the ground.

The low slopes of the mountains are covered with fir trees, and wild animals that have recently migrated from other worlds climb along the steep edges of the mountains.

Five winding man-made rivers flow between the mountain peaks.

The modification techniques reshaped the ecosystem surrounding the fortress monastery, which had been destroyed thousands of years ago by the early Vostonia colonists.

Towers and bunkers dot the mountain peaks, with cannons protruding from their mouths to defend against lasers and giant cannons, their firepower enough to cover an entire void ship.

Atop the mountain peaks and cliffs lies a series of duplex shooting corridors, stretching menacingly downwards.

At the heart of the mountain, magnificent high walls surround the fortress monastery, and the armored glass cavity of the dome opens to welcome its master.

At the top of the city wall, opposite the city wall walkway, lies the fortress, with massive buttresses surrounding the inner wall, and in between, thousands of bright and shiny windows are embedded in the wall.

The deep black banners fluttered in the wind, with the light black legion insignia engraved on them. Ordinary people could not see them, but the shadow of order, which possessed superhuman vision, was clearly visible.

As the stormbird flew over the city walls, it saw a tiered, stepped structure and vast, transformed farmland.

The clear, man-made river, like a spider web, divides the farmland, adding a touch of gentleness to this armed fortress.

Food and river water can not only guarantee daily food needs, but also help cope with crises when under siege.

The black fortress monastery looked completely different from the orderly fortresses or palaces of other legions.

Viewed from above, the main tower is a tilted, conical spire that pierces the earth's crust at a 44-degree angle.

Surrounding it are thirty triangular irregular buildings, and on the outermost edge are eleven irregular spiral-shaped sub-towers.

The winding passageway between the main tower and the secondary tower resembles a randomly drawn graffiti, intricate and difficult to discern.

The entire fortress monastery, along with its walls, covers an area similar to that of a large hive city in the same world, and its spires reach the height of the top of a hive tower.

The aircraft reduced its speed, glided between the towers, and finally landed on a hexagonal platform protruding from the top of a towering spire.

Unsué-HL-19, who had been waiting eagerly, walked up to Nimrue:

"Lord Nimrod, our unit requests that you take over this asset, your fortress monastery." The Great Sage felt that to complete the construction of this fortress monastery, almost all the mechanical parts of his body would need to be replaced.

His logic engine and graphics engine malfunctioned several times due to their asymmetrical structure, and errors occurred frequently in every work cycle.

Frequent malfunctions and errors have significantly hampered the construction of the fortress monastery.

Given Vostonia's industrial base, the construction period should have been shortened, but it was extended by six years and two hundred and twelve work cycles.

The construction of the fortified monastery for the Primarch was originally an honor for Unsué-HL-19.

But the Great Sage only wants to leave as soon as possible, then reset his memories and forget all the details of the building forever.

The twelve sages behind him also looked at the Primarch with expectation.

The genomicon seemed to have caught the expectations of the motorists and was deep in thought.

"As the builder of this fortress monastery, you should introduce yourself to me."

“Of course.” Unsuai-HL-19’s logic engine reported an error again, and its mechanical tentacles swung, quickly completing a temporary repair.

A synthesized sound array rang out from beneath the Great Sage's mask.

"This building exhibits an asymmetrical feature that defies common sense, with a maze of asymmetrical passageways throughout the entire structure."

"Compared to a fortress monastery, I prefer to describe it as a labyrinth of shadows, as its underground area is the same size as its surface area."

“Even if it doesn’t fit my aesthetic, it is still a marvel of architecture, combining the functions of a palace, a defensive fortress, and the Astartes Legion’s headquarters.”

Nimrod followed the Great Sage, passing through black marble steps and floor tiles flanked by pillars, and entered a series of huge, heavy, asymmetrical, deep black metal doors.

The original genome of Unsuai-HL-19 will be further described.

“There are winding passageways connecting the main tower and the eleven secondary towers.”

"As per your request, the functions of the buildings within the fortress monastery have not yet been subdivided, leaving it to the Great Order's Shadow to establish think tanks, foundries, legion armories, apothecaries, archives, and storage rooms as needed..."

After a shift, Ninglu said to Wensuai-HL-19 with satisfaction.

“Great Sage, I am very satisfied and agree to accept.”

"Thank you for your efforts in building the fortress monastery."

The Primarch's praise caused a surge of delightful code to flow between Unsuai-HL-19 and the Sages.

“This is my honor.” The Great Sage then left the fortress monastery with the other sages without hesitation.

As soon as he boarded the transport ship, he immediately said, "Prepare the memory reset procedure and a complete set of replacement parts."

Ninglu then returned to the palace and sat on the black throne with thirty-three swords stuck in its back.

The Primarch's servant smiled and reminded him, "My lord, I think you should give it a name."

Nimrod thought of the eleven secondary towers of the fortress monastery, which were in the shadow of the main tower, with the underground portion being the shadow of the ground.

"Shadow Fortress".

"Order the Legion's technical sergeants to construct a fortress-level energy shield for Shadow Keep and assign personnel to maintain it."

"As you command, my lord."

The Primarch then looked at the Chief Pharmacist: "Does the Legion have a sufficient stockpile of gene seeds?"

Although Ninglu believed that the pharmacists could meet the needs of the Legion's rapid development without extracting genetic material from him.

But if needed, he has ways to meet the demand.

[Just drink more potions to make up for the lost extraordinary properties, but the digestion time will be longer.]

Furthermore, because I cannot determine which sequence of potion was inherited, I need to drink potions from four different sequences before digestion.
Only those with high-sequence extraordinary traits, such as sequence 4 or higher, can freely control whether and how much of an extraordinary trait is inherited.

Sequence 6 and Sequence 5 Beyonders will naturally inherit some Beyonder traits.

Correspondingly, since extraordinary traits are not entirely inherited, the portion that remains in the body will slightly enhance extraordinary abilities.

However, the retention enhancement of low-sequences is not very meaningful to me, and the retention of medium-sequences is also limited.

Unless absolutely necessary, there's really no need to drink a second dose of the potion.
(End of this chapter)