Warhammer: Empire Reboot

As Lawson entered the hall, KY-078 turned and bowed.

"boss."

Without further ado, KY-078 raised his hand and turned on the projector.

A model of a Space Marine's human anatomy appeared in mid-air.

The first floor is the old-style Astartes.

The second layer consists of the original Space Marines.

The third layer is a new structure that has not yet been named.

It is taller and wider than the original casting, with an additional set of deeply embedded nerve bundles around the spine. The arrangement of organs in the chest cavity has been recompressed, and the cardiopulmonary system is covered with a translucent reinforcing membrane. Beneath the black carapace, there is an additional layer of fine structure resembling a honeycomb pattern.

KY-078 stated, "The original Space Marines of Caul added three core modifications to the old Astartes: the Sannu, the Steel Tendon, and the Belissaru Forge."

The original cast structures on the projection lit up one by one.

"Saint-Neu enhances growth stability, the steel tendons boost muscle output, and Belisarius's furnace can be activated in near-death states, forcibly reviving vital signs. These three are effective, so the original Astartes is taller, stronger, faster, and more resilient than the old Astartes."

As he said this, the third layer of the projection suddenly pressed down, covering the original casting model.

"But the original casting is still just a better Astartes."

Lawson looked at the projection: "What's your judgment?"

KY-078 stated, "The value of Astartes shouldn't be limited to individual kills. The old Astartes were warriors, but the original Space Marines were even stronger warriors. What we need to do is make them high-level living nodes within the swarm warfare system."

"The first improvement is neural bandwidth."

The spine of the novel test subject is simultaneously projected and unfolded.

“We have added a second set of combat neural bundles on both sides of the spine as parallel combat pathways. When a regular Astartes encounters a sudden attack, it still needs to perceive, judge, give orders, and execute. The new structure can write some tactical actions into the neural reflex layer.”

"The second improvement is the integration of bee colonies into organs."

KY-078 raised his hand, and the dark black organ on the back of his neck was magnified separately.

"Tentatively named the Honeycomb Brain Core, it allows the new Astartes to directly access swarm communication."

"As long as the boss's swarm mentality persists, as long as they are still alive, even if they are thrown into the edge of the subspace, hundreds of kilometers underground, or into enemy-controlled communication zones, or even sealed off by electromagnetic storms and psionic interference, they will still not truly lose contact."

That's the core; stronger, faster, and more resilient are just the surface.

What truly set the original Space Marines apart was their communication connectivity.

A missing Space Marine is just a knife plunged into the darkness.

A space soldier who is always online is like a swarm of thoughts nailed into the nerves of the enemy's body.

Even without Lawson's communication sequence nearby, these Space Marines will not lose connection when fighting alone.

Lawson said, "This is good, very practical. What other improvements are there?"

The KY-078 switched projections, and the chest cavity of the new structure lit up.

"The enhanced Belisarius Forge, unlike the original Caul's Forge which only activates when the warrior is near death and is the last chance to bring him back to life, our modified version adds a segmented burning mode. It does not activate when the warrior is lightly injured, activates locally when the warrior is moderately injured, and activates the whole body when the warrior is severely injured. It does not wait for the warrior to die before saving him, but drags the body back to combat status before death approaches."

Next comes muscle strengthening.

"The fourth aspect is the redesign of the steel reinforcement. The original cast steel reinforcement has increased strength, but the output still has an upper limit. Our version incorporates a micro-bundle contraction structure and skeletal stress feedback, which can increase the short-term explosive power by 30% to 40% compared to the original cast steel reinforcement."

Then comes the strengthening of bones, improving their toughness and strength.

"Fifth, secondary mineralization of the skeleton. The new skeleton is heavier, but has stronger impact resistance and torsional fracture resistance."

Finally, the black shell interface was upgraded.

"The sixth item is the deep interface of the black shell. The original armor and the power armor are already well integrated, but it is still a man-controlled armor. The new interface will make the power armor become the outer nerve, with faster reaction speed and finer micro-movements."

Lawson asked, "When can we start mass production using our genetically modified seeds?"

"Conservative estimate: one year from now."

KY-078 said, "However, the fastest way to modify them is on the original Space Marines."

“The original forged already possesses a mature Astartes organ foundation, sufficient body capacity, high compatibility with the black carapace, complete combat experience, and a willpower far exceeding that of newly created samples. Sending the dying original forged into modification can bypass most of the time cost of cultivating from scratch.”

Lawson looked at the projection: "Near-death state? Your suggestion is quite opportunistic, but it's a possible solution."

"Thank you for the compliment, boss. I don't think we'll lack raw materials."

KY-078 said, "The best are those original forged individuals who cannot be saved by conventional means. Their bodies are not completely dead, their genetic seeds have not collapsed, and their nervous systems still have residual activity. Such individuals are most suitable for extreme modification."

Lawson laughed. 078 was right; this kind of material was indeed plentiful.

The empire's battle lines are too long.

Fighting is taking place in the Nakmonde Corridor, at the border of Vigilant Star, on the outskirts of Agrippina, around the Eye of Fear, and sooner or later near the Farseeing Enclave.

The dark side of the empire is fighting, and so is the holy side.

Every day, space warriors are seriously injured throughout the galaxy.

Some of them can be saved.

Some can only be put into the fearless coffin.

Some didn't even get to use the Fearless Coffin and could only wait to die in the battlefield medical pod.

Now, they have a third way.

Lawson looked at the new Astartes structure model.

"Please name this project, boss." KY-078 bowed his head and waited.

Lawson thought for a moment. He had never been good at naming things, so he decided to take a shortcut and named the spaceship "Skyforged Space Marine".

KY-078 praised without hesitation: "This name is great, even more imposing than the original Space Marine. The boss is awesome!"

Lawson: "..."

These assassins have somehow evolved; they've all learned to flatter.

This bad trend seems to have started with Er Gou.

In the laboratory, the third layer of the structure projected on the screen lit up automatically.

Old-style Astartes, original-cast Space Marines, Skycast Space Marines.

Three generations of products, each stronger than the last.

Lawson continued, "Issue medical evacuation orders to all Imperial Dark Sides. Space Marines who are critically wounded, near death, unresponsive to conventional treatments, or lack the necessary conditions for Dreadnought modification should be prioritized for transfer to the Agrippina Gene Research Center."

"Especially the original castings."

The swarm intelligence has already sent out the orders.

…………

Meanwhile, Er Gou and his crew, who had been given a few days off, went to fight on the planet Graytooth-19.

He also brought Titus, Andros, and Ventris with him.

Evelynn returned to Terra, leaving the others behind. Fortunately, the three of them had nothing else to do, so they joined the war with Er Gou and the others.

The sky above Graytooth-19 was a dark yellow.

This planet was originally an agriculturally transformed planet, with its surface covered by vast automated irrigation networks and genetically modified grain areas.

Now, half of the northern plains has been polluted by orc spores, turning it greenish-black.

Huge fungal carpets rose from the ground, covering the furrows, while in the distance, orcish chimney carts were spewing black smoke.

Deeper inside, a giant drilling machine pieced together from mining rigs, abandoned harvesters, armor plates, and orc statues is slowly moving.

Its front drill bit is larger than a small fortress, and with each rotation, it can tear a crack tens of meters wide in the ground.

The trapped engineers were inside the water circulation plant located below the crack.

The orcs wanted to drag the entire factory underground to use as a new spore hive.

The teleportation beam lit up behind a dilapidated barn.

Two dogs, three dogs, seven mastiffs, six guards, plus Tetus, Andros, and Ventris, all landed at the same time.

The bombs came flying as soon as I landed.

“WAAAAAGH!”

Dozens of orc boys rushed out from the other side of the barn, their broken guns spitting out a chaotic barrage of bullets.

Er Gou didn't even lower his head, and immediately fired a burst of heavy explosives.

The three orcs at the front were blown to bits.

Three Dogs' power axe swept across, cleaving two orcs who charged at him in two at the waist.

Titus thrust forward, activating the chainsaw sword. The serrated blade bit into the orc's shoulder, slicing diagonally down to his waist and abdomen, blood and flesh flying alongside a roar.

Ventris quickly confirmed the route from the rear.

"The factory entrance is 600 meters to the southeast, but the main passage is blocked by the fungal carpet."

Aoqi glanced at the terrain.

"You can use the underground drainage ditch."

Er Gou cursed, "Even the orcs have burrowed underground, and you're still going to walk through the sewers?"

"Because they are underground, the main force is concentrated around the drilling rigs. The drainage ditches are actually the weak points in the defense."

San Gou nodded: "He's right."

Er Gou was annoyed: "I know he's right, but I just don't like hearing him talk like that."

The sound of the explosion drowned out the argument.

Less than three minutes after the mission began, the number of orcs had increased from dozens to hundreds.

The green-skinned animals seem to grow out of the ground; the more they are killed, the more there are, and they've already exceeded a thousand.

Er Gou led his team to fight their way through.

Andros's explosive gun fires with precision, his chainsaw sword strikes cleanly, and his advance is much faster than that of a regular Astartes.

They fought their way to the entrance of the drainage ditch.