Warhammer: Empire Reboot

In the training field, Ilancia put on the Red Moon Clan's riding clothes again.

Her long silver hair slipped from her shoulders before she fastened her helmet, and she tucked it behind her ear with her fingers, a swift and decisive movement.

The cycling clothes clung to her body, and the spirit bone armor plates shimmered faintly at the joints.

She mounted her Storm Serpent, and the moment she sat down, her entire demeanor changed.

The other Eldar instructors also took their places.

They were handpicked from Saim-Han's finest riders, each with more than three Voidwalking experiences.

The fact that they were chosen as human driving instructors made their expressions quite complex. A mixture of honor and resentment lingered.

Ilancia activated the Storm Serpent, hovering in front of the three hundred Keystone members.

She began to explain the basic controls: the resonance triggering method of the Spirit Bone Core, the attitude adjustment logic of the anti-gravity module, the psionic energy input curves for acceleration and deceleration, and most importantly: how to establish a connection with the motorcycle using mental intention.

The core control of the Eldar motorcycle does not rely on the handlebars and pedals, but on the resonance between the rider's spirit and the psionic energy of the Eldar core.

The motorcycle turns when the rider wants to turn. It accelerates when the rider wants to accelerate.

This method of manipulation is as natural as breathing for the Eldar; they cultivate this psionic resonance ability from childhood through clan training.

This is a completely new experience for humans.

The Foundation Sequence does not possess the Eldar's innate psychic abilities, but they do have swarm intelligence.

Swarm intelligence has preloaded all available driving experience into the shared consciousness of these three hundred cornerstones.

The data accumulated by the Flying Bears on anti-gravity vehicle control, the driving parameters of the Space Wolf motorcycle, the control logic of various Imperial jet vehicles, and even the Eldar riding postures and habits collected by the swarm.

These data were integrated, calibrated, and optimized within the hive to form an initial control model adapted to the Spirit Race motorcycle.

With this foundation, learning becomes much faster.

After Ilancia finished explaining the basic controls, the three hundred cornerstone sequence members simultaneously attempted to activate the spirit bone core.

In the first round of attempts, the bone cores of about forty motorcycles did not respond.

The spiritual input frequency of the foundational sequence and the resonant frequency band of the spiritual bone are not perfectly matched and need to be adjusted.

The swarm intelligence system completed the frequency calibration in about ninety seconds.

In the second round, all the motorcycles started successfully.

Three hundred Eldar jet motorcycles simultaneously lit up with the blue-white light of their Eldar cores.

The expressions of the Eldar riders in the stands began to change.

They originally thought it would take humans at least a day to learn how to start.

The lights were all on in just two minutes.

Ilancia led the team into the air. Three hundred motorcycles followed her, slowly rising and forming a formation above the training ground.

In the first hour, the cornerstone sequence was adapting.

Their driving movements were noticeably stiff, their cornering was not smooth enough, and their acceleration curves were not as fluid as those of the Eldar riders.

Several motorcycles nearly collided while making a sharp turn.

The Eldar riders in the stands let out a few low, gloating laughs.

But swarm intelligence is running like crazy in the background.

Every control input, every attitude deviation, and every cornering data of the 300 cornerstone sequence members was collected, summarized, compared, and optimized in real time.

One foundational sequence made a mistake, and three hundred foundational sequences simultaneously learned how to avoid that mistake.

One foundational sequence found a better cornering angle, and three hundred foundational sequences simultaneously updated the handling model.

By the end of the first hour, the driving skills of the three hundred Foundation Sequence riders had caught up with those of ordinary Eldar riders.

The laughter from the stands stopped.

In the second hour, the foundation sequence became more proficient.

Their formation flying was so precise that even the Eldar instructors couldn't find fault with it.

High-speed lane changes, emergency braking, low-speed skidding, vertical lift—every action is executed with increasing precision.

Some foundational riders have begun to attempt high-difficulty maneuvers for Eldar riders, such as 360-degree barrel rolls, sudden stops and reverse accelerations, and crossing between two vehicles. These maneuvers require riders to have an extremely high degree of mental synergy with the motorcycle's core, and it takes ordinary Eldar riders several years of training to master them.

The foundation sequence took two hours.

The Eldar riders in the stands stopped laughing.

They began whispering to each other, their expressions shifting from disdain to confusion, and then from confusion to something deeper.

Some people are doubting themselves.

In the third hour, the Keystone Sequence's riding skills were already catching up with the Eldar's elite riders.

Three hundred motorcycles formed various tactical formations in the air above the training ground: triangles, diamonds, chains, spreading out and then coming back together.

Their speed has reached the level demonstrated by the Eldar instructors, and their G-force control during cornering, the precision of formation spacing, and the stability of their posture when aiming weapons have all reached elite standards.

The computing power advantage of swarm intelligence is fully demonstrated at this stage.

Three hundred riders share the same brain, and any technological breakthrough by an individual will be synchronized to everyone with zero delay.

This means that their progress is linear; when one person learns a new skill, it's equivalent to three hundred people learning it simultaneously.

A Spirit Instructor spoke a sentence in the Spirit language over the channel.

“These humans learned in three hours and caught up with the level that our riders have learned in three years.”

In the stands, the young rider who had previously said, "I hope they don't drive their motorcycles into the wall," was completely speechless.

His companion, looking at the formation flying on the training field with a complicated expression, whispered, "Their progress is not right. Three hundred people are like one person riding a horse."

The old rider didn't say anything.

He has been riding motorcycles for six hundred years.

These humans rode for three hours.

At the end of the third hour, Ilancia led the way and stopped the motorcycle in front of Lawson.

She took off her helmet, her long silver hair falling over her shoulders, a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. Three consecutive hours of high-intensity teaching and demonstration flights had indeed taken a toll on her energy.

She looked at Lawson with a complicated smile on her lips.

"My lord, your subordinates are all monsters."

She tucked the helmet into her waistband: "I have nothing more to teach you. The rest is just about accumulating practical experience slowly."

Lawson looked at her.

With her silver hair, cycling clothes, and the lingering traces of wind from just getting off her motorcycle, she certainly exuded a sharp and capable aura on the training field that drew attention.

"Thank you for your hard work," Lawson said. "You're a good teacher."

Ilancia's lips twitched, but she didn't reply.

She couldn't tell how much of Lawson's words were a genuine compliment and how much were just polite remarks.

Just then, a cornerstone member quickly walked up to Lawson and whispered a message.

"The envoys of Usvi, Iyanden, Aletok, and Bil-Tan. The four Ark delegations have arrived simultaneously and entered the Starfire Royal Court. The old patriarch requests that the Lord Seal proceed."

Ilancia frowned: "They didn't come when we asked for help, and now that the war is over, what are they coming for?"

Lawson glanced at her and smiled.

"Let's go. Let's take a look."

……

When the Spirit Bone Gate of the Starfire Royal Court opened for the second time, four groups of Spirit Race delegations entered.

The messenger from Usvi was a high-ranking prophet, his robes embroidered with runes of fate. He was followed by two black guards. Usvi were stationed year-round on the edge of the Eye of Terror. Their prophets used the Path of Fate more frequently than those on other Arks, and were therefore more adept at using prophecy to package politics.

Iyanden's representative was an elderly patriarch, with a Ghost Lord standing beside him—a colossal skeletal construct that contained the spirit of Iyanden.

Iyndon was nearly wiped out by the Zerg invasion a thousand years ago. Now, there are fewer living people than dead on the Ark, and a large part of the military force relies on soul-driven ghost constructs.

Aletok's envoy was a ranger commander.

His armor plates were covered with camouflage patterns, making him appear as if he might be swallowed by shadow even in the light of the Hall of Bones. The Alettok were known for their discipline and secrecy, and their people had a large number of rangers scattered throughout the galaxy, forming an extremely wide information network.

The representative of Bil-Tan is a Bladewind Lord. Bil-Tan is the most militarily zealous of the five Ark races. They firmly believe that the Eldar will eventually reclaim the lost empire, and their attitude towards humanity is the most hardline among the five Ark races.

The four delegations stood in the Starfire Royal Court.

The twelve clan chiefs of Saim-Han have taken their places at their respective clan pillars.

Salosin sat in the chief seat, Horace stood under the Red Moon Pillar, Kelah leaned against the clan pillar, and the other clan leaders took their places.

The atmosphere was indescribable.

The prophet of Usvi was the first to speak.

“My old friend Salosin. Seven days ago, the Path of Destiny showed us that Saim-Han would face a great calamity, but it also showed that an external force would intervene at a critical moment. After repeated deductions, our Prophets judged that Saim-Han could turn the tide. Therefore, we chose to invest our limited resources in the Eye of Fear fluctuations that Usvi himself was facing, to ensure that our defenses would not falter.”

In layman's terms: We anticipated that you would be attacked, and we also anticipated that you would survive, so we didn't come.

The old patriarch of Iyanden then spoke, his tone even gentler than Usvi's, and his words equally watertight.

"The Eyandon Ark is currently conducting a ghost retrieval expedition in the third quadrant. Our main fleet is more than four star sectors away from Saim-Han. Even if we receive a distress signal, at our current speed, it will take at least eleven days to arrive."

“You know Iyanden’s situation. We have too few survivors, and every expedition is a gamble on the future of the entire Ark.”

The implication is: We're too far away, and we're dying too, so we can't spare the time.

The Ranger Commander of Aletok only said one sentence: "The Ranger network of Aletok intercepted intelligence about the movement of the Chaos Fleet six days ago and has passed it on to patrols on the outskirts of Saim-Han via encrypted psionic communications."

Translation: We provided intelligence support; that's more than enough.

The Bladewind Lord of Bil-Tan spoke last.

“Bil-Tan’s main force is driving out the Orc WAAAGH fleet that has invaded the Vida star system. When I received the request for help five days ago, I requested that a strike fleet be dispatched to aid Saim-Han, but the Prophet Corps assessed that diverting troops would create a gap in the Vida defense line.”

He looked at Salosin.

"I'm late, but I really wanted to come."

The four delegations have finished their explanations.