Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 674 Old Man Huang, Fenus, I have a Void Dragon Fragment too.
Rosicky Cech used a translator to reach a consensus with the indigenous people through a standard incorporation process, helping them deal with the invading aliens.

After working side-by-side for fifteen sidereal days, he earned the trust of the natives.

When Rosicky discovered that they possessed a palm-sized, mandala-shaped key, he immediately realized that this was the world the Black Emperor had sent him to find.

During the celebratory banquet, he asked the indigenous chief, one of the twelve governors, a question.

"Consul, your key is very peculiar. Where did it come from?"

The consul's body, except for his head, was completely mechanized, which reminded Rosicky of the Tech Priest.

Through his observation of the various social strata of the local indigenous people during this period, he was able to determine that the basis for the division was the degree of mechanization of their bodies.

“Lord Rosicky, we discovered it in ancient ruins.” The governors had already begun negotiations with the “Shadow of Order,” and he, who aspired to become the head of the governors, made no attempt to conceal this fact.

"We came to this planet a thousand years ago and have been struggling to survive under the onslaught of various alien creatures."

The consuls readily agreed to submit to the king in hopes of gaining the protection of a powerful order.

"Until 230 years ago, during our exploration, we discovered a large underground ruin."

“We found a key shaped like a datura petal in a black stone chamber, and after studying it, we developed this key.”

Rosicky's eyes narrowed. He recalled that in the data crystal, the Black Emperor had mentioned that the symbol of the Sotek Dynasty was the mandala.

[The ruins may be related to the Sothek dynasty of the space undead.]
As he made his own deductions, the consul spoke with pride.

“My grandfather was one of the people who discovered the ruins.” He concealed the ancestors of the other governors, who were also among those who discovered the ruins.

"Using this key, we can not only detect enemies, but also get advice from them, quickly switch weapon systems, and deal with different alien attacks."

"Thanks to the key, our situation has improved, and we have shifted from defense to counter-offensive, killing the aliens and burning their filthy nests."

"From that moment on, humanity became the master of this planet."

Rosicky nodded, and after a moment's thought, he spoke.

"Governor, I would like to ask you to lead me to that ruin."

The governor, seeking support, thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Of course, it's an honor."

Three sidereal hours later, Rosicky, led by the Archon, entered the passage leading to the underground ruins.

The "mechanical expert" gently stroked the smooth black surface with his fingers, and the governor immediately began to introduce it.

"Lord Rosicky, this is a synthetic material. It is made by mixing materials such as agate into black marble in a way that we cannot yet understand."

His gaze was deep and unfathomable as he looked into the depths of the passageway.

"The entire site covers an area of ​​approximately 36,000 square kilometers and is at least 5.2 kilometers deep."

"This is not the result of any detection instrument. They would fail due to electromagnetic interference, which is why the ancient people did not discover this site for a considerable period of time."

"The extent of the area is the result of our ancestors' exploration using the key, outlining a labyrinthine underground ruin."

Rosicky nodded slightly. He glanced at the helmet's built-in assist system, and after confirming that it was still functioning properly, he stepped forward.

The governor took out a palm-sized key from his person and quickly followed.

Rosicky curiously examined the key in the governor's hand, which had a silver pointer-shaped rune on it that swayed slightly.

“At each fork in the road, there are an unpredictable number of paths; if you’re not careful, you can easily go the wrong way.”

"Although I have a route map left by my grandfather, I still need to rely on it to avoid getting lost."

Rosicky nodded and stopped before the six dark, branching passageways.

The consul unfurled the dim, ancient scroll; his data panel had become invalid the moment he entered the passage.

After checking it, he also checked the direction indicated by the key before entering the third passage from the left.

As Rosicky followed him into the deep passage, red runes flashed, and the divination box system went offline.

As Rosicky followed the governor, winding his way deeper into the ruins, various systems, including communication systems and audio filters, began to malfunction.

After the built-in timer malfunctioned, he intuitively sensed that about four standard hours had passed before the governor spoke.

“We’re here.” Rosicky looked ahead and saw an open black stone chamber.

The superhuman brain, shrouded in the shadows of order, pieced together the two separate images to restore them.

After identifying the abstract mandala runes, Rosicky immediately determined that the ruins here were indeed related to the Sotek dynasty.

He was not surprised. The documents issued by the Black Emperor and the records Gabriel obtained from the Jemenga Starry Sky Stele both indicated that the Sotek Dynasty possessed as many as eighty Throne Worlds, stretching from Attila to the Mandala Stars.

Rosicky stepped into the stone chamber that emitted a green glow, and the governor quickly followed.

He saw the giant walk up to the stone tablet and then spoke.

"The runes on the stone tablet have absolutely no connection to anything known."

“We have been studying this place ever since our ancestors discovered it. To date, our research has only been based on the key we discovered, and we have replicated the corresponding runes.”

Rosicky stared intently at the stone tablet. Instead of using his extraordinary abilities, he retrieved the necromantic script that Gabriel had deciphered from his mind.

Ten minutes later, he turned and walked outside.

"go back."

[As expected, Lord Rosicky can't see anything either.] The governor wasn't surprised, but he was also a little disappointed. After leaving the stone chamber, he looked into the depths of the ruins.

He shook his head, suppressing his curiosity.

His grandfather and other ancestors of the ruling families went there and never returned.

……

At the altar of the Forge, an invisible gate opened, and black mist engulfed Rosicky and the jellyfish-shaped alien.

Ninglu, seated high on his throne, glanced at the jellyfish-like creature and immediately matched it with Jalik, the main ingredient of the potion "Ocean Singer," Sequence 5 of the "Tyrant" pathway, which was written on the blasphemous stone tablet.

He knew little about Jalik, only that these aliens were one of the many successes of the "Great Crusade," because they were one of the few races that had not appeared since being declared extinct.

At least until the "Great Rift" unfolded, Jalik never appeared again in the official records of the Empire.

Nimrod knew that the Jaliks were an aquatic race, but he made the leap from the underwater environment to space by relying solely on intuition.

They leveraged their intuition to become professional space pilots and tacticians.

[With the addition of the Sahadune, the "Ocean Singer's" potion is now complete.]

All that's missing is finding Obnis, and then Szesny and the others can be promoted to "Ocean Singers".
The ascension ceremony for the "Ocean Singer" was the same as he remembered; it involved taking a magic potion inside Obnis's stomach.

While Ning Lu was pondering, he listened to Rosicky's report.

"...My lord, according to the inscription on the stone tablet, a fragment of a Void Dragon is sealed within the hypercube tomb in the ruins."

Ninglu nodded. Normally, the hypercube tomb is used to seal the supreme star god, but the Void Dragon is different from other star gods who were shattered into thousands of pieces. He was only broken into hundreds of pieces.

Each Void Dragon fragment possesses the power of the Supreme Star God.

The Zortec Dynasty was one of the most powerful space necromantic dynasties, so it was only natural that it possessed Void Dragon Fragments.

The Orphic Key was developed by the natives based on the remains of the Necromancers in space, and was further developed by the Orphic rulers.

Therefore, the extraordinary level of technology displayed by the Orphic ruler may also be related to the Void Dragon, just as the old man used the largest one to guide the incubation of the Mechanicus.
Ning Lu believes that this is related to both technology and the subtle influence of the power emanating from the Star God fragments, which increases mechanical affinity.

After pondering for a moment, he gave instructions to the master of the furnace.

“Establish fortified monasteries and train technical sergeants.”

The fact that the Void Dragon fragments did not escape even after the Great Rift opened indicates that the seal was quite strong, and that the awakening of the Sothek Dynasty was still thousands of years away.

"Explore around the hypercube tomb, but do not set foot in the center."

Ninglu was not confident in capturing the Supreme Star God Fragment of the Void Dragon, one of the strongest Star Gods, and decided not to explore it personally for the time being.

Although we are not able to collect it for the time being, it is only a matter of time.

Old Man Huang, Fenus, and a Void Dragon Fragment—I have one now too.
“I will obey Your will,” Rosicky replied respectfully.

After sending Rosicky back to the real world, Nimrod immediately returned to the Shadow of the Throne to attend the war council convened by Old Man Huang.

(End of this chapter)