Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 377 Divination by Alicia
After the war council concluded, Nimrod's consciousness returned to the Shadow of the Throne.

After leaving the rune array set up by the Star Speaker, he returned to his office.

Nimrod then traveled to the “Land of Chaos” to confirm that the prophecy dice were fully charged, and he decided to divine Alicia’s fate.

Although he also wanted to take control of Ganadir ahead of time, the war in Ganadir would not begin until 869, and the star system was not yet within the Empire's sights.

On the other hand, Ninglu considered that Huang Laohan might entrust him with the war against the space dwarves, so it was not advisable to take action against Ganadir at this time.

He knew that the Gadinar had a relatively complete history since the "Age of Conflict." Over five thousand years, they had resisted countless invasions by powerful alien enemies, and even grew stronger and fought back, having a certain influence on several neighboring star systems.

Gardiner possessed a strong industrial base, and its ruling class was a warlike and capable military aristocracy.

In Ninglu's memory, although they negotiated with the Empire, it was merely a pretense, and there was no guarantee that war wouldn't break out.

Once war breaks out, it is difficult to preserve complete industrial facilities while controlling losses.

Ninglu knew that Gadinar not only possessed the Rhino and Predator variants of the STC, but also could mass-produce quadrupedal mechs that were as tall as the Warhound Titan, but larger.

Each walking mech was comparable to a Titan from the "Flame Pattern" Legion, and their numbers overwhelmed the entire Titan Legion.

The Gadinar people also possess formidable top-tier combat strength, boasting life-extending technology surpassing that of the Empire, and their trained warriors are rich in combat experience.

The most powerful of the artificial psionic beings can even use their mental abilities to briefly mind control Manus.

Later, a Lord of Gadinar, whose lifespan exceeded three thousand six hundred years, and a warrior with incredibly rich combat experience, launched an assassination attempt against the Primarch, using mind control to put Manus in a somewhat awkward position.

If it weren't for the Lord of Ganadil's foolish act of claiming to know everything about Manus, thus igniting his boundless rage, the battle might have lasted even longer.

[It must be said, Lord Gaddinar is truly brave; neither Old Man Huang nor Forgrim would dare claim to know everything about Manus.]
Ninglu chuckled softly, then gathered his thoughts and returned to Gadinar himself.

He believed that only the "Iron Hand" under the precise command of Finus Manus could seize all industrial facilities with minimal losses.

During the "Great Expedition," in addition to conquering the Industrial World, Manus also worked with the Tech Guys to collect various technologies from the galaxy.

He discovered a large amount of technology from the "Dark Ages," including forbidden technologies and equipment scattered throughout the Mimir Vaults across the galaxy.

Possessing advanced technology and formidable armor, the "Iron Hand" was able to swiftly defeat the Gadinars under Manus's calculations, ensuring that countless industrial facilities around the battlefield remained unaffected.

The storehouse of Mimir was also the main object of Nimrod's divination after the grand birthday celebration.

Although he didn't know which planets and locations they were on, a small team he sent to the "Iron Hand" would record the worlds that the 52nd Expeditionary Fleet had visited.

With certain information, one can perform divination. Combining the prophetic dice, Nimrod believed that at least a few of them could be found.

Robert Guilliman's computational abilities were inferior to "Iron Hand" during the war, and he lacked the advanced weapons developed by Manus and provided by the oilers, making it impossible for him to quickly defeat the Gadinars.

He will win after paying a heavy price.

The First Legion possessed many forbidden weapons given to them by Old Man Huang, but those weapons were difficult to control, and they could not perform comprehensive and meticulous calculations like the "Iron Hand."

After their victory, they will leave behind only vast ruins, and Gardiner's production capacity will be severely damaged.

Preserving an intact industrial facility like Manus is by no means easy.

But I know about Gardiner's situation, and there are extraordinary individuals who can utilize his abilities and do so.

The operation against Gadinar should have been carried out before the Second Randan War, and considering post-war recovery and preparations for war with the Randans, it should have been conducted at least five years in advance.
After pondering the matter of Gadinar, Nimrod quickly recalled the information he knew about Alicia.

Esilia is a verdant, civilized world, with countless barren moons, gas clouds, and asteroid belts within its galaxy.

...]

Besides the enormous profits from its role as a subspace route, the complex environment of the galaxy, which facilitates concealment, is also a major reason why pirates entrenched themselves in this region.

After quickly reviewing everything Ninglu knew about Alicia, he silently recited it in his mind.

[A star map from Osiris to Alicia. ...]
After reciting it silently eleven times, he stretched out his hand and threw the prophecy dice in his hand.

After the triangular cone tumbled several times in the air, it landed in Ning Lu's outstretched hand, and a scene that looked like a holographic projection appeared before his eyes.

After Ninglu noted down the star map, he entered it into the data crystal.

He then returned to the real world and had "Machine" John perform a divination.

The cat with the strong brain picked up a pen and paper, gripped the quill pen tightly in its paws, and began to write quickly on the parchment.

John silently repeated the sentence to himself, writing down the information on the paper over and over again.

After reading it eleven times, John grabbed the parchment and leaned back on his wooden bed.

The machine sketched out a sphere of light in its mind, its eyes turned deep black, and it quickly entered a meditative state.

The surroundings suddenly became ethereal, and there seemed to be invisible things and colorful light extending endlessly above.

The "machine" allowed itself to fall into a deep sleep in this state, and its consciousness wandered through the subspace, gaining revelation.

Everything began to blur; the "machine" was half conscious and half dazed.

In a distorted, illusory world, the "machine" sees countless slender, elegant warships sailing towards the verdant planet.

Before John became a "monster," he had vague memories of Sam-Han Ark, when he often saw those warships flying by.

Now, possessing intelligence comparable to that of Astartes, he can clearly recognize that it is an Eldar warship.

At the same moment, Ninglu saw John's dream divination through a telepathic link.

As expected, Alicia was once again plundered by Eldar pirates.

If the timing is right, this could be an excellent opportunity to win the loyalty of the Alicias.
Thinking of this, Ninglu immediately went to the third level of space, his spirituality spreading towards the golden sphere of light.

He saw Howard Findle sitting at the table, examining a report on a data panel in his hand.

Ninglu confirmed that no one was around. With a thought, he pulled Howard into the "Land of Chaos".

As the black mist rose, Howard found himself engulfed by it. He looked up into the depths of the mist and, sure enough, saw the Black Emperor sitting high on his throne.

"My lord."

Ning Lu nodded slightly. "How is Osiris doing?"

"The situation in all eleven star systems has stabilized. The last time the Osiris-controlled seed was discovered was ten solar months ago."

With a thought, Ning Lu used telekinesis to send the data crystal to Howard.

"Set off immediately for Alicia, the recruiting world for your chapter."

"The Alicias have accumulated rich experience in ship-to-ship combat during their long struggle against pirate attacks, and they will be excellent naval officers and sailors."

"Rapid strikes combined with rail and air support are their effective way of dealing with cunning pirates. Your chapter should recruit talent in this area and form the 'Alician Airborne' as an auxiliary force to fight alongside the chapter."

Howard caught the data crystal in his palm, bowed, and said, "Yes, my lord."

After Nimrod returned Howard to Osiris, his spirituality spread and touched the shining blue orb.

He saw San Diego Bergkamp, ​​lying in a white medical pod.

[I asked him to figure out how to open the Caligum Gate. Could he have been injured during the mission?]

Hmm, it seems that Leon originally went to great lengths to open the Caligum Gate, perhaps because there was some kind of danger involved that neither demonic psionicists nor "Master of Tricks" San Diego could handle.
(End of this chapter)