Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 392 "Shifting the Concept," Interacting with the Ancestral Shrine

The moment the Sage Grimnir saw the Black Armored Giant, he knew that the opponent was someone he could not contend with.

He raised his staff and commanded two mind servants to step forward. The warp circuits intertwined above their heads were activated, and the warp force field, along with the runes on the Sage Grimnir, simultaneously burst forth with blue light.

The Sage Grimm's spirit grasped the power of the warp and condensed it together, as if pulling cables out of a conduit.

He waved his staff, and bio-lightning was projected toward Nimrod.

The Primarch raised his left arm, and his telekinetic powers surged forth, coalescing into a high wall of psionic energy in front of him.

The psionic lightning struck the force field shield with a loud bang.

The force field shield shook for a moment and then shattered.

An invisible shockwave swept around, causing the entire deck to shake continuously.

The power armor of the honor guard members crackled and swayed.

Alsena's telekinesis surged as he struggled to maintain his balance.

The Primarch keenly detected the blue light bursting from the head of the Mind Servant. He also knew that the explosive gun in the Mind Servant's hand was merely a preventative measure at the practical level; their true primary means lay in the complex subspace circuits within the circular shell.

Grimnir himself did not have high warp abilities, and was only average compared to humans.

However, thanks to the runes on their bodies and the amplification from the warp circuits of their mind servants, they can unleash powerful abilities that only top-tier psionicists can use.

More importantly, the mind servants act like psionic fuses, cutting off the circuits as the Sage Grimnir draws power from the warp, preventing the power from spiraling out of control.

The psychic insurance provided by the Sages of Grimnir reminded him of the Star Speaker Abbot, who always had two silent nuns by his side to suppress his excessive psychic power and prevent others from spying on him.

[The method used by the psychic insurance and the Star Speaker Abbot is similar: one relies on the subspace circuit fuse of the mind servant, and the other relies on the Silent Sister.]

The combination of the runes of the Sages of Grimnir and the warp circuit system amplified psionic energy far more than expected.

It's quite useful; it both amplifies psionic energy and acts as a psionic energy insurance policy.
Nimrod decided to acquire the Grimnir Sage's warp circuit system, and he resolved to kill the three quickly without damaging it.

The "Corrupted Baron's" eyes flashed, and his spirituality burst forth.

The consciousness of the Sage Grimnir had just entered the warp, drawing power to fight the Black Armored Titan.

His idea of ​​protecting himself and preventing things from getting out of control was "distorted".

Sage Grimnir was horrified to discover that the warp circuit had abruptly reversed direction, and he could no longer sense the warp's existence. The psychic flames he had gathered vanished in an instant.

The Primarch charged forward at breakneck speed, unleashing the Vaal Sword, and the Mind Servant's raised arm fell to the ground.

Ninglu swung his charged sword again, slashing at the waist of the mind servants. The ornate crowns that curved upwards from their backs and covered the domes fell to the ground along with their heads.

After acquiring two spoils, he charged toward the powerless Sage Grimnir.

Nimrod swung his Vaal sword and plunged it into the head of the sage Grimnir.

The disintegrating force field tore his short, stocky body apart, but did not damage the runes on his body.

After capturing the flagship, the Honor Guard members searched the flagship and found the sealed Ancestral Shrine.

Unlike the human empire and many other factions, whose important cabins are built on the upper levels of their ships, the space dwarves build their structures on the lower levels, seemingly as a tribute to their underground mining activities.

The ancestral shrine is the same; it is built on the bottom of the flagship and has an area equivalent to four decks.

[Only the Sage Grimnir can communicate with Wotan, so it makes sense that the Ancestral Shrine is located at the bottom level.]
When Ninglu arrived at the gate of the ancestral shrine, he raised his right hand and placed it on the gate.

The primordial gene's muscles bulged, its back twisted, and its arms exerted force, slamming against the door.

The door didn't move at all.

[A gate forged from the finest alloy.]
Ninglu stared at the gate, where he saw that the gold alloy was covered with subspace circuits and runes he did not recognize.

After a moment's thought, he abandoned the idea of ​​using the Spear of Dionysus to forcibly destroy the gate made of the finest alloy.

The "Corrupted Baron" walked to the control panel, bent down, and placed his right hand on it.

“I am human, and so is the Sage Grimnir.”

“If the Sage Grimnir can open the gate, then I can open the gate too.” The “Corrupted Baron” was rapidly depleting his spirituality due to using the “Sleight of Hand” ability, and a series of runes flashed across his control panel.

The crimson chains shimmered, rapidly replenishing the "Corrupted Baron's" spirituality, yet he still felt his spirituality being depleted even faster.

The top-grade alloy gate trembled, and the deck shook in response.

Rumble!
The top-grade alloy gate swung open with a resounding boom.

The dimly lit ancestral shrine resembled a dark underground mine.

Ninglu saw a huge statue deep inside the ancestral shrine.

The statue, made of dark, rock-like material, has no arms or legs, only a huge head.

It occupies more than half of the area of ​​the ancestral shrine, and is surrounded by ten pillars. The pillars and statues are connected by runic pipes of the same color.

Ninglu walked around the shrine and found that the entire statue was like a dead object, unresponsive to his presence.

Each pillar was taller than the space dwarf, but the same height as an ordinary person, and covered with runes.

Ninglu walked to the base of the statue, where a complex mechanical device with intricate wiring was located, with cables from the surrounding pillars converging on its dark surface.

He knew that this was both an altar and an interactive interface.

Ning Lu leaned down and placed his hand on the screen.

After several tens of seconds, the screen remained unresponsive.

The "Corrupted Baron" invoked his spirituality: "The Sage Grimnir is human, and so am I."

“If the Sage Grimnir could communicate with Wotan through the Ancestral Shrine, so can I.”

The "Corrupted Baron's" spirituality was rapidly depleted, and at the same time, the statue's eyes lit up, their deep light reflecting on the screen.

Images and text appeared on the screen and scrolled by rapidly.

It takes far more effort to "change the subject" now than to open the door.

Moreover, the writing system of the Space Dwarves is very different from High Gothic.

Obtaining all of Wotan's secrets will not be easy; it will require a prolonged period of using "equivocation" and interacting with the Ancestor Core.
As the "Corrupted Baron" pondered, his spirituality rapidly depleted, and before it dried up, he raised his palm.

He has yet to find a way to actively communicate with Vokhan like the sage Grimnir did; the images and words that flash through his mind are beyond his control.

The "Corrupted Baron" could not accurately understand the meaning of the text; although he could not read the words, he could barely understand the meaning through the images.

He saw ten Grimnir sages, each with two mind servants, kneeling before a statue as large as the one before him.

They were excited and sang a resounding hymn.

Outside their capsule, countless space dwarves, raising their glasses, revel in unbridled revelry.

The statue was placed on a huge ship, which then set sail.

The ship arrived at a planet, and the statue was moved underground.

Ninglu's gaze was deep, and based on his knowledge of the space dwarves, he made a guess.

He knew that Wotan and the Ancestral Shrine were both intelligent machines that could transform into each other under certain conditions.

Wotan will decline due to factors such as data growth exceeding limits, leaving it only as a function of ancestral shrines, which will be seen as a tragic loss by the Hearthborn who witness it.

In Nimrod's memory, before the Great Rift unfolded, many Wotans declined due to the influx of memories from generations of dead space dwarves, exceeding their capacity to withstand it.

Some ancestral shrines will spontaneously develop artificial intelligence and evolve into Wotan.

When such a miracle occurs, the entire clan regards it as a great honor and rejoices over it.

The birth of a new Wotan may also give rise to a new alliance.

His clan sometimes chooses to leave and form new alliances.

[So, the Skot Alliance is a new alliance that emerged after the Ancestral Shrine was upgraded?]
(End of this chapter)