Chapter 224: Unlocking a Special Mission
The bone density procedure appealed to Kian in a way the full augmetic conversion hadn't. It wasn't replacement — it was reinforcement. His biological skeleton, made denser and harder through incremental treatment. That was a meaningful distinction.
The question of what the Sanctum would preserve was still relevant. But bones that had been progressively strengthened over months and years, that his muscles and tendons had adapted to, that had become genuinely and inextricably part of how he moved through the world — that felt like something he could accept as essentially his.
He still had concerns.
"This procedure only affects the skeleton. If my bones become significantly denser and harder, but my tendons and muscles stay the same, my body won't be able to move the upgraded frame properly. The skeleton gets stronger but the rest can't drive it."
Antonius had anticipated this.
"The procedure doesn't transform your bones overnight. The first treatment increases skeletal density by approximately five percent.
Five percent imposes no significant burden on your current musculature. Your tendons and muscles will adapt to the slight increase naturally — the same mechanism as progressive resistance training. A person who carries additional weight continuously develops the musculature to support it.
Based on how your soft tissue adapts, we schedule subsequent treatments at intervals of months or years — each adding another five to ten percent. The final result may be skeletal density two to three times your baseline. Your musculature, having adapted incrementally throughout the process, will develop the density, size, and capacity to drive the enhanced frame.
If the full program completes successfully, your physical strength may reach two to three times its current level."
Kian turned this over.
"Side effects? Long-term impact on the body if I don't pursue further augmetics?"
"Minimal. The procedure is gentle by Mechanicus standards and reversible at any stage. No significant adverse effects anticipated.
The one caveat: as your physical capacity increases, your metabolic organs — liver, kidneys — will face increased load processing the waste products of enhanced tissue. In a young, already healthy subject, this is generally manageable. If it becomes problematic, oral compounds from the Rejuvenat Orders can supplement your body's processing capacity. With your current resources and standing, sourcing those should present no difficulty.
Should that prove insufficient — at that point I would recommend targeted organ augmentation."
Kian narrowed his eyes.
"Every time I express any interest in anything, you end up recommending more augmetics. I'm starting to feel this isn't coincidental."
Antonius was entirely composed.
"My lord Baron — you are a peer of standing on a world where the Omnissiah's servants have only a single Forge Temple. This is an agricultural world. The Machine God's light reaches it only faintly.
If a titled noble of genuine influence were to publicly embrace the path of augmentation, the missionary implications for the Mechanicus presence here would be significant."
So that was it. Antonius wanted to use Kian as a conversion showcase — a Baron who had accepted the Omnissiah's gifts, living proof that the path was compatible with secular authority and noble standing. A walking advertisement for Mechanicus relevance on a world that didn't currently think it needed them.
"I'm a minor Baron. If you're trying to expand Mechanicus influence on this world, I'm a modest vehicle for that ambition."
"A warship begins with the first bolt tightened. Any progress is progress."
Kian said fair enough, and returned to the practical question.
"Print me the full documentation — risks, procedure details, everything. I want to read it myself before I agree to anything. You Enginseers, I don't entirely trust you not to insert unexpected clauses.
And — what does this cost me?"
Antonius produced a data-storage unit from his coat and held it out.
"All procedural details are contained here. The information has been certified by the Forge Temple — any falsification, and I face the Lava Sanction.
As for cost — I don't want Agri-Scrips. What I require is described in the storage unit. Review it at your convenience."
He said nothing further.
Back at the Sanctum, Kian settled Old Kae and Little Kae with their still-unconscious elder brother and went to the intelligence station. He plugged the storage unit into the interface.
The screen displayed: Special intelligence detected. Analysing.
A progress indicator ran for nearly five minutes.
Two significant intelligence items extracted. View now?
He clicked through.
The first document: the full bone density enhancement protocol. Risk assessments, procedure timeline, anticipated adaptation schedules. The risks were real but manageable — inflammation during treatment, metabolic stress on the liver and kidneys as physical capacity increased. In the worst case, the Rejuvenat Orders could grow him a replacement skeletal system from cultivated biological material. He could handle this.
The second document: a map.
Five hundred kilometres northwest of Hive Tenebris, beneath a mountain range, an incomplete military installation had been under construction when the rebellion began. The facility was thirty percent complete when work stopped.
Left behind in the underground sections — a large-scale Mechanicus tunnel boring machine. Too large to extract quickly. Abandoned when the rebels took the region.
The boring machine's drill head was fabricated from adamantium.
Adamantium — one of the Imperium's rarest strategic metals. Warship keels. The armour of legendary Astartes. High-impact, high-heat components on critical weapons systems. An adamantium drill head on a boring machine was a resource of extraordinary value, and it had been sitting forgotten under rebel-held mountains for years.
The mission Antonius wanted was straightforward: escort a Mechanicus repair team to the underground facility, protect them while they restored the machine to operational condition, then escort the boring machine out of rebel territory and back to the Forge Temple.
Complete the mission. Receive the bone density procedure.
[End of Chapter 224]
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