Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

Komi continued to think, expanding his line of thought.

The pristine white hall became a secure information repository; the beastly brew, crafted from blood, served as a bridge connecting different pieces of information; and faith in the Savior became the signal for sending and receiving information...

If this is true, then what should I call this power?

Orcs are on Waaagh's side, which is my power of thought.

What should this power be called?

Komi thought of ether, a fantastical substance proposed by Aristotle. Ether is invisible and intangible, distinct from the four elements of water, fire, earth, and air, and has become the fifth element on the path to perfection.

He also thought of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, with Yin and Yang clearly distinguished and the Five Elements mutually generating and restraining each other.

Perhaps it could be called an etheric field, the power of the five elements? Incidentally, it also matches the number five that is tightly bound to him.

Koji grinned at the title, considering that his subordinates were not a bunch of stupid beastmen, and that etheric field and the power of the five elements were indeed not difficult terms to understand.

It's also possible that this title won't circulate among his subordinates, but will simply become a special term that Komi uses to distinguish the source of his power.

After deciding on the title, Koken thought about how he would guide the energy of the etheric field to recreate the effect that interfered with the Eldar ships that day.

Brother Mao said we need to write some songs... What kind of songs should we write?

Religious hymns? Too long and too convoluted. Only nuns and priests have the time to master these things. Koken doesn't believe that the singing of a few sinful nuns can be the key to guiding the energy of the etheric field. The majority of the human empire is still a poor, uneducated bunch.

As she was thinking, Gu Jian suddenly remembered her experience during military training. After a day of training, instead of resting in bed, they would bring small stools to the parade ground and sit there to sing military songs.

Recalling that experience, Gu Jian felt complicated. On his way to the playground with his stool, he cursed the meaninglessness and torment of military training.

Once he sat down, listening to class after class, and even company after company, singing simple songs powerfully and in unison, Komi felt a collective force surging in his chest.

He felt that all the resentment he had accumulated during the day's training had been released, and he felt that the strangers around him were becoming familiar with each other through repeated choral singing.

Unity! Progress! Liveliness! Seriousness!

These words flashed through Koji's mind, and he found a development path that would make his army distinctly different from the traditional armies of the human empire.

His eyes lit up, and with some excitement, he picked up his pen and quickly wrote a few lines on the paper.

"Forward, forward, forward..."

Upon seeing these words, Koken couldn't help but hum the rest of the lyrics. He modified some of the words appropriately according to the Warhammer style and decided to promote the song to every corner of the Exterminator, making it the first song to be sung in unison on the singing stage!

The next day, Komi saw the crew members gathered on the stage, preparing to sing together.

When the familiar song was presented in a different form, Komi almost shed tears. At that moment, he even felt that this attempt would be worthwhile even if it yielded no results!

At first, the crew members sang a little awkwardly, but with repeated singing, they mastered the melody and lyrics. Their neat and loud singing was amplified by the special structure of the singing stage, and Komi could even see the sound waves surging towards him from the center, blowing his clothes.

It wasn't just Komi who was awestruck; even Samuel and the other Dark Angels who came to visit couldn't help but secretly admire the crew's spirit while singing.

Komi also saw the singing voice coalesce into a very faint milky white beam of light shooting upwards. It seemed that only he could see it, as no one else moved their gaze upwards.

Koken opened his eyes wide in surprise. A similar beam of light shot into the sky from the center of the Temple of the Far-Seeing Eye in the Flawless City, which undoubtedly became the focal point of the city's faith.

Komi also felt that his pure white hall was changing with the singing. It seemed that the crew's singing also exhaled some of their devout souls, forming wisps of mist that returned to the hall.

Komi tried to control these soul mists, but found that they were far too fragile compared to the soul bricks that could only be formed upon death. He could disperse the mists simply by brushing his hand past them.

But this also gave Koji a new direction. This singing stage only gathered a thousand or so people. If this scale could be expanded to allow hundreds of millions, or even billions, of people to sing this song every day, how much soul mist would he obtain? This is much faster than waiting for people to die to obtain soul bricks!

While Komi was pondering, Fithia and Sage Sem exclaimed in surprise at the dramatic changes in the data, eagerly reporting their findings to Komi.

"An invisible force is gathering here, I can detect it! My spirits are soaring, my fatigue has vanished, and even the machines on my body are ignited by this song! Savior above, is this a miracle you have bestowed upon us? Are you guiding us to defeat the enemy with the power of devotion!?"

Hearing the Sage of Sem's excited shouts that were almost bringing him to tears, Komi realized that he had indeed successfully activated the mysterious power originating from the soul that flowed within the Punisher and even among the Savior's followers, thanks to Mao's device and the logic of the Orc Waaagh energy.

Komi thought to himself with great optimism.

Every bloody battle in which the Emperor's name was shouted might not attract his attention, because the empire was too large and the Emperor was too busy.

But each shout of "Forward, forward, forward!" spreads the energy of the etheric field to every believer of the Savior, because this power originates from their souls. Koken simply used various means to gather and protect this power that was not valued or known, so that it would not be helplessly dissipated in the winds of chaos.

Just like the shouts of the orcs, each time they activate Waaagh, they may not receive the attention of Brother Goumao, but by unifying the energy of Waaagh through shouts, the orcs can temporarily unleash stronger combat power!

However, if the number of people is small and Waaagh's energy is insufficient, no matter how loudly and forcefully the orcs shout, it will not have much effect.

Chapter 465: Efforts to fleece Slaanesh

The success of the singing stage did not keep Komi excited for long; he felt he needed to further strengthen the etheric field in other ways.

Khorne granted him a gift: that the blood and souls of all the creatures he killed need not be offered as sacrifices.

Komi exploited this and used a bug in the Pure White Hall to make those who committed the killings in his name hand over their prey, instead of offering them to Khorne.

With the idea of ​​fleecing the Four Gods, Komi set his sights on the Slaanesh curse on himself.

Judging from the principle of overload word casting and the almost climax-like reaction of the machine spirits, Komi believed that the level of corruption around him was astonishingly high. It was only by the byproducts of his own blood and the calm nature of the pure white hall that he managed to suppress it. In comparison, the Dark Angel's weapon did not have a similar situation. The machine spirits were all very serious, and the effect of overload word casting was not so good.

Perhaps I should try to utilize this curse so that some of the power formed by emotions and pleasure can flow into the pure white hall.

Koken thought it was feasible, but he also knew he had to be careful and should work hard in those areas that belonged to Slaanesh's authority but were ignored by Him.

For example, the dull and repressed spiritual world of the vast majority of imperial citizens, and the beautiful sentiments forgotten by this cruel galaxy.

Based on his understanding of the nature of Slaanesh, Koken believed that this should be possible.

Slaanesh is the god of desire and pleasure. As long as a creature has the instinct to enjoy pleasure and avoid pain, it can provide it with power.

This means that the sources of Slaanesh's power are simply outrageous: enjoying delicious food, cherishing friendships, overcoming difficulties, mourning the dead, celebrating victories... any activity that can stir the emotions of living beings can nourish Slaanesh to grow stronger in the Warp.

In comparison, the sources of power for other chaotic gods are much narrower.

In the case of a war, Khorne could draw power from the brutal fighting between armies, and even from the ruthless slaughter of civilians.

Nurgle can draw power from the barren lands ravaged by war, the maggot-infested and rotting corpses on the battlefield, the wailing wounded in hospitals, and the large number of displaced refugees pursued by despair and hunger.

Tzeentch can enjoy all the efforts made by both sides in the war to achieve victory, the strategic deployments of commanders, and the various tricks that soldiers in the trenches learn under the pressure of survival.

The vast array of emotions spawned by this war is the source of Slaanesh's power: the hesitation of the commanding officers in launching an attack, the tension of the soldiers stepping onto the battlefield, the people's anticipation of victory at home, the fear of death of the dying, the novelty of a new weapon being used in combat...

With such a wide source of power, if Slaanesh were given enough time to grow, he would surely become the strongest god among the Chaos Gods.

While the future of young Slaanesh is limitless, his attention to the mortal realm is similar to that of other discerning Chaos gods. Ordinary emotions and stimuli cannot attract his attention, just as you cannot expect to gain Khorne's appreciation by making someone's nose bleed.

After experiencing the extreme cruelty of the Eldar Empire's final days and the painful offerings of the Dark Eldar of the Comoros, Slaanesh's threshold for enlightenment has reached an unbelievable level. Those who can make Him smile have committed atrocities that ordinary people could hardly imagine in their entire lives, or have done things that have never happened before. Komi's ambiguous little story about Guilliman's relationship with the Eldar belongs to the latter category.

Komi wanted to start with the lighter emotions and desires, using his knowledge to grasp the upper limit of emotions in advance, so as to prevent his subordinates from slowly degenerating to an irredeemable state.

For example, it can be divided into three levels.

Level 1: Astringent! Delicious!

Everyone loves to see beautiful things; this is human nature and perfectly aligns with normal human aesthetics.

Second level: The color...it's so weird.

The fact that these things are too niche makes most people frown after watching them, and even begin to question why these things exist.

Third level: Wrong... Well done.

The true darkness of this field is so profound that simply reading about it is physically disturbing. Even more terrifying is that the content isn't fabricated; it's a true record of a horrific tragedy. The industries behind it plunge countless people into despair, and anyone with a conscience should resolutely fight against its existence.

Komi's goal is to reach the first level, and any possibility of moving towards the second level must be immediately nipped in the bud.

Try to make it as smooth as possible~

Not Slaanesh!

So where should we begin?

Koken believed that they could start with the military, as they were considered an advanced group within the human empire. After all, maintaining their weapons and understanding combat orders required a certain level of knowledge.

The soldiers on the Exterminator have now proven their resilience and bravery compared to other Imperial armies, but in terms of mentality, they lack the ability to fight independently, just like most Imperial armies. Once they lose their commander, the remaining soldiers are at a loss and fight on their own, relying on their courage.

Koken believed that the cause of this was intellectual stagnation, which in turn was caused by two factors.

One reason is that the human empire favors policies of keeping the people ignorant: they do this not only to facilitate management and reduce administrative pressure, but also to prevent those with active minds from suddenly becoming tainted by those warp-like things.

Secondly, it was due to the redemptive thoughts of being a sub-orc: the casualty figures of the Exterminator soldiers during the operation to eliminate the pirates would confuse Komi. They clearly had an absolute advantage in equipment and combat skills, yet they still managed to achieve a one-to-one or even one-and-a-half-to-one exchange ratio when eliminating the pirates.

After investigating, Koken discovered that it was because some of the more mortal beastmen had set killing quotas for themselves. Once they reached the quota, they would rush out of their bunkers in ecstasy, letting the enemy fire riddle them with bullets to meet their death.

Now, with the Beast Brew and the Pure White Room as their spiritual sustenance, and in order to address the increasingly serious problem of dragging others down with them on the Exterminator, Komi believes it's appropriate to liberate the military's mindset a bit, reducing bitterness and resentment and increasing lightheartedness and liveliness.

Even if we can't make soldiers capable of fighting independently, we must at least get them to give up the idea of ​​killing until they've had their fill and then going down with them. Training a veteran is no easy task.

These issues didn't trouble Koken for long. He only needed to modify the overly extreme provisions in the Human Empire's military regulations and then combine them with the development history of an army that he knew.

Koji couldn't help but complain in his heart, but he was helpless, after all, the gods of this place really could manifest their power!

After writing these down, Koken felt that something was missing, that it lacked strength and was not smooth at all.

What should we do then? Have the soldiers dress like the penitent nuns, in light clothing, like the activities the penitent nuns do every Sunday?

Chapter 466: It's better to go crazy on a machine spirit than on a real person.

Koji felt a little melancholy; he dared not associate slutness with people, as it was simply too uncontrollable...

He frowned, glancing at the table, and immediately spotted a technological product that Fithia and the Sage of Sem had handed over.

Machine Soul Mapping Screen.

This is a hemispherical device, only slightly larger than the palm of a Komi. Beneath the translucent reinforced glass is a matrix of lights that can convert the machine spirit's response into light displays.

The two stated that they created this device to make it easier for the machine spirit to express its thoughts. The method of using characters to form emoticons and occupying a corner of the screen is not only inefficient but also not eye-catching enough.

This device will be prioritized for installation on the H1 Atonement combat suit and carrier-based aircraft. They believe that this device can increase the affinity between the pilot and the machine spirit, allowing them to better control the aircraft.

The H1 Redemption Combat Suit also revealed many problems in the battle to eliminate pirates. The rough structure was indeed easy to maintain, but it was also prone to some issues that could be categorized as "machine soul displeasure".

Komi reached out and tapped a button on the device, and a built-in emoticon for demonstration purposes appeared.

A very traditional skull was reflected on the glass. Komi turned the button to see other expressions, but found that only the position of the skull's chin had changed.

What does it mean when the skull opens its jaw? Is it surprised or laughing? And what does it mean when it's tilting to the left or right?

After shutting down the instrument, Komi realized he needed to tell Fetia and the Sage of Sem to revise the way the expression was displayed. He couldn't expect the soldiers to understand these expressions from the perspective of mechanical monks; an LED-style electronic expression would be fine.

Not only are they easy to understand, but the expressions are also more vivid and interesting, allowing soldiers to better express their feelings and helping them with what they are about to do.

Even if this decision goes wrong for some reason, how bad can it be? It's much better for soldiers to go crazy over the machine's spirit than over real, living people, right?

After all, a person is concrete, while a machine spirit is abstract.