Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 364 Machine-Aided Computing

The group arrived at the stone chamber door at one corner of the pyramid. The door was about ten meters high and covered with runes.

The gate, like the gate on the Yemenga Starry Sky Stele, also bears the emblem of the Sotek dynasty, but it is much smaller, only four meters high.

Thomas activated his "Eye of Secrets" to examine the runes on it.

A moment later, he noticed that the strange runes on it were slowly changing, like black ants crawling.

The triangular and circular runes, one moment in the upper left corner, the next moment they are pointing downwards and to the right respectively.

The original position in the upper left corner has been changed to a rectangle containing an ellipse.

……

The "mysterious observer" exclaimed in surprise, "Apart from the emblem of the Sotek Dynasty, the other runes are moving."

Gabriel walked to the door, his eyes shining.

"The runes utilize a technique that activates metals; they move and rearrange themselves according to certain rules."

“I have studied the Golden Garuda; the alien's technology is very peculiar.”

He said, puzzled, "But this place isn't like the gate, where there are dozens of Gauss cannons guarding it."

Is it feasible to force open the door?

Alsena Dunn's eyes were deep: "It shouldn't work, even though there seem to be no defensive measures here."

"But there might be some kind of defense mechanism inside the door, especially since this place is so close to the energy source."

Miguel Quasta's gaze was deep as he raised the Heartforged Staff and aimed it at the door.

A moment later, he frowned.

"The green mist and the black energy field both interfered with my psionic probing."

"I can't be sure what's inside the gate, but I do sense some kind of dangerous rune."

After listening to everyone's words, Ning Lu came to the gate.

In the eyes of the "Corrupted Baron," the chaotic lines of rules were as disordered as a deliberately tangled ball of yarn, making it impossible for him to pinpoint the location of the control core as he had at the main gate.

Even more problematic is that as the living metal moves across the gate, the alien runes are being reconstructed, and the lines of rules are also changing.

Before the "Corrupted Baron" could even sort things out, a new chaotic situation had already formed.

After a moment of contemplation, the Primarch spread his thoughts across the first three layers of Magnus's mind.

Most of the Thousand Sons used the Magnus Mindset rather crudely; they only pushed it to the highest level they could grasp, even the Temple Chief was no exception.

In Nimrod's memory, both Carlofis of the "Fire Phoenix School" and Hathor Mat of the "Bright Feather School" would only maintain the eighth level of mental state during battle, striving to unleash powerful spells.

A more refined application can be approached in two directions.

One approach is to switch between different levels of mindset depending on the situation being faced.

Azek Ahriman and Sanakt, the top swordsman of the "Thousand Sons," were both skilled in this art.

Another approach is to simultaneously extend one's mindset to all levels, maximizing the computational capabilities of the mind.

The chief void warfare expert of "Thousand Sons," Ignis, the Lord of Destruction, is most proficient in this art.

Born into the "Sky Owl School," he, along with his "Cult of Destruction," possesses computational abilities comparable to the Simulated Sanctuary through a mental link, and can instantly transmit commands to every part of the warship.

The original manifestation of his genes is that he can extend his thoughts to lower levels of mind. He has not yet invested much time in this aspect, but he can already extend them to three levels of mind at the same time.

Meanwhile, through a mental link, "Machine John," who possesses computational abilities comparable to the modified Steel Hand, also joins the calculations.

The "Corrupted Baron" suddenly increased his speed in processing the threads of rules, quickly identifying the tangled mess and outlining clear lines in his mind.

After a few breaths, Ninglu understood the techniques the Sotek tomb engineers had used on the gate.

[The living metals, following the design of the tomb engineer, undergo changes that result in the reorganization of the runes.]

The runes are changed and recombined into new control nodes.

The control node changes every second.
Ninglu seized the control point for the next second, flapped his golden wings, and flew to its location before the runes changed.

It is not the center of the lower ring, but a point between the horizontal line of the center point of the upper ring and the left arc.

Ning Lu slapped the ground with his right hand, and the ground beneath everyone's feet trembled slightly as the ten-meter-high gate slowly opened.

At the same time, through the telepathic link, he sensed that within John's body, it was as if stars were shattering.

John became a true "machine."
In the damp, green mist, Miguel followed the strange runes around the gate and found that they converged in the center of the hall.

Within the blinding green light, a black crystal floated in mid-air.

The power contained within the black crystal terrified him.

Miguel said thankfully, "The gate is connected to the energy crystal of the space necromancers. If we had violently destroyed it just now, the energy balance would have been broken, causing an explosion."

After Ninglu landed on the ground, he led everyone into the stone chamber.

He saw in the stone chamber that there were memory crystals suspended in a black device.

Besides the memory crystal, there is also an energy crystal located further inside the stone chamber.

There is a mesh-like matrix between the two energy crystals.

Gabriel stepped forward, walked around the mesh matrix, and finally his gaze fell on the rune at the top center.

"Two energy crystals power this stone chamber, and the tomb engineers use runes to manipulate the matrix to execute their commands."

He followed the rune links of the mesh matrix to the two sides of the stone chamber, where sloping stairs led downwards.

"The very end of the instruction acts on what is below."

“I believe the area below should be one of the functional modules of the Yemenga Starry Sky Monolith.” Alsena nodded in agreement and said:
"There are four stone chambers at the four corners of the pyramid."

"They should each control a specific functional module."

"According to my lord, there should be a module that generates anti-psychic fields and physical replication. In order for the monolith to operate, in addition to the central power supply area, there should also be a maintenance module and another module whose function cannot be predicted."

Ninglu nodded, acknowledging the logical reasoning of the "reasoning student".

Instead of heading to the central area immediately, he decided to go down below first.

According to Alsena's reasoning, there should be some gains below, which are easier to obtain than the Supreme Star God.

The group descended the steps, with green mist drifting around them.

The steps rotated as they descended, and irregular emerald-colored arcs of electricity flickered in the surrounding walls.

After walking nearly a hundred meters, Ning Lu suddenly shouted.

"Meet the enemy."

The Shadows of Order immediately raised their weapons, preparing for battle.

One by one, space necromancer constructs appeared out of thin air from the fog. The ghostly workers, relying on their long tails with scythe-like barbs at the ends, hung on the walls and launched surprise attacks from all angles.

When they straighten their bodies to prepare for an attack, they move like snakes gliding swiftly.

Arsena waved his staff, and a series of blazing fireballs shot towards the ghost of the underworld.

Compared to the bridge where they encountered the ghost of the underworld, the suppression of psychic energy was much stronger here, and his fireball was only a quarter the size of the previous one.

The fireball struck the undead construct, piercing through its body like a wisp of mist.

The newly emerged ghost of the underworld is more terrifying than the previous ones; its body exists between the phase technology of physical entities and cosmic necromancy.

A thought flashed through the mind of the "deduction student".

[After those ghostly workers were destroyed, new, even stronger ones were created to counter us.]
As Alsena pondered, he raised his force field shield, and the tail of the space necromancer construct slammed into the shield like a whip.

Invisible ripples spread, and the force field shield trembled.

A pair of sharp claws slammed into the force field shield, just as the sharp claws were about to grab Arsena.

The protective orb hanging from his waist shone brightly, and the ghostly claws of the underworld worker struck the rising protective shield.

Alsena raised his left hand, and his ring weapon fired a long metal spear that pierced deep into the construct's chest.

The ghost of the underworld twitched and gradually disappeared, and Alsena surveyed the battlefield.

Compared to the bridge where they fought before, the combat environment was more unfavorable for them as they descended along the passage.

The ghostly workers can emerge from anywhere above or to the sides, using their swiftness to launch attacks.

Four ghostly workers rushed toward the Honor Guard, their keen senses of the Shadow Order allowing them to spot the enemy ahead of time and unleash a volley of fire at close range.

Two space necromantic forged bodies fell, and the remaining two charged into the battle line.

An Order Shadow stabbed at it with the bayonet hanging from the bottom of a bomb gun, but the monomolecular blade, which should have pierced the enemy's body, missed and slipped into the mist.

The ghostly worker swung its claws, tearing through the power armor.

Just as he was about to tear the black-armored enemy apart, his arms suddenly slipped, and his claws pierced through the side of the power armor without harming the body of the Shadow of Order.

Another Shadow of Order drew his power sword, pressed the rune, and charged the blade with a hiss, slashing at the alien construct.

Ning Lu used "force" to change the direction of the ghostly claws of the underworld worker, saving his offspring, only to find that the shadows of order were locked in a fierce battle.

The surging ghostly workers were much more powerful than before, and they made full use of the terrain and their speed.

He flapped his golden wings and took flight.

A shower of golden flames fell, and the power of the Burner's fragments caused the living metal to melt rapidly.

One after another, the alien constructs were burned into a pool of mercury-like liquid by the flames, and then liquefied and disappeared.

"keep going!"

Ninglu gave the order, and the troops continued their descent.

Their view gradually opened up, and Gabriel's eyes gleamed as he looked down.

He saw metal being pushed into strange black devices by ghostly underworld workers, green light flashing, and a moment later a new ghostly underworld worker emerged.

After surveying the area below, Gabriel spoke:
"Below is the necromantic foundry, which manufactures ghostly craftsmen. They are then responsible for maintaining the Yemenga Starry Sky Monolith and attacking anyone who enters it."

“They are purely automated constructs; I mean, they don’t require regeneration procedures like real space necromancers.”

"They are just mass-produced products."

After a moment's thought, Ning Lu said, "Return to the control room and study the memory crystals inside."

"Find a way to stop the casting of ghostly craftsmen."

The group then retraced their steps and returned to the stone chamber.

Sanchez led a team to receive more technical sergeants into the control room.

The Master of Arms, along with his technical sergeants, joins Miguel in researching memory crystals.

The director of the think tank leads the think tanks to assist them in conducting research and recording data.

Arsena also joined the research with great interest, showing great interest in ancient races.

Nimrod left John the Brain Cat behind and took only Freddy the Black Wolf with him, heading towards the box-shaped passage leading to the center of the pyramid.

The fragments of the Supreme Star God are far too dangerous for others.

(End of this chapter)