Chapter 51: Meeting with the Great Sage
Flagship of the Archmagos Belisarius Cawl – The King of Explorers
When the Stormbird transport carrying the group landed on the colossal metal deck, Eileen almost thought she had wandered into an oversized version of an underground factory.
This wasn't a warship.
It was a steel fortress drifting through space.
The air smelled strongly of machine oil and overheated spices.
Every wall was covered in tangled data cables, brass pipes, and pistons venting clouds of steam.
"Buzz—buzz—"
Servitors and tech-adepts rushed through the massive corridors like worker ants, hauling crates and machinery of every conceivable shape.
"Wow…"
Eileen sat comfortably on the left shoulder armor of Captain Sicarius—her new favorite seat ever since Sergeant Varo had become busy accepting endless duel challenges.
She held half a butter biscuit in her hand, scattering crumbs across Sicarius's shoulder plate while glaring at a floating cherub servitor.
"The people here really hate clothes, huh? Why does everyone just weld metal onto themselves?"
Sicarius walked forward calmly, maintaining the dignity expected of an Ultramarines captain despite biscuit crumbs sliding into the joints of his armor.
"They are members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, my lady. They believe flesh is weak, and that only steel endures."
At the front of the group, Roboute Guilliman walked in silence. He clearly knew this environment well—though the slight crease in his brow suggested he did not particularly enjoy it.
The tech-priests lining the corridors bowed as he passed.
Behind him walked Mortarion.
His figure had become faint and translucent, and he wore a massive grey cloak to conceal the glow of his psionic body. Even so, his towering presence attracted the attention of countless red sensor-eyes.
"We've arrived."
Guilliman stopped before a colossal gate shaped like a cog, dozens of meters tall.
The doors slowly opened.
Inside lay a spherical chamber filled with floating holographic screens and streams of cascading data.
At the center floated something that could hardly be described as human.
Its lower body resembled a giant metallic centipede composed of dozens of articulated segments, easily four meters tall.
The upper body wore the red robes of a high-ranking Martian priest, but beneath the robes extended more than twenty mechanical arms, each manipulating different instruments.
Its "face"—if it could be called that—consisted of sensor clusters and vox-grilles, with only a patch of shriveled human flesh remaining around the chin.
Belisarius Cawl.
Archmagos of Mars, greatest inventor of the Imperium—and a man who lived dangerously close to heresy.
"No matter how many calculations I run," the figure muttered while facing a holographic display, "warp instability always causes the data to overflow…"
He spoke in three overlapping voices at once, as if arguing with himself.
"This is what we call a variable."
"That data is heretical! It should be deleted!"
"Silence! That fragment may contain truth!"
"Ahem."
Guilliman coughed loudly.
The mechanical centipede froze.
Cawl rotated his massive body with surprising agility. Dozens of glowing lenses focused on the newcomers simultaneously.
"Ah! Your Highness!"
His mechanical limbs spread in greeting.
"The greatest—no, the most statistically significant savior in the galaxy. Your presence has increased the ship's processing efficiency by 0.03%."
His sensors moved across the group until they settled on the grey-cloaked giant and the little girl sitting on a Space Marine's shoulder.
There was no fear in his gaze.
Only curiosity.
The look of a scientist encountering a fascinating puzzle.
"Allow me to introduce them," Guilliman said.
He gestured toward Eileen.
"This is Eileen. Chosen by… my father. You may think of her as a living vessel of divine power."
"Oh?"
One of Cawl's mechanical eyes extended forward, emitting a scanning hum.
"Psionic readings extremely high… structure remarkably stable… interesting."
"Hello, small sample."
"My name is Eileen! Not 'sample'!" she snapped, stuffing the rest of her biscuit into her mouth.
"And you look like a giant metal worm."
Cawl responded with a metallic chuckle.
"Excellent. Very energetic logic patterns."
Guilliman then gestured to the cloaked giant beside him.
"And this… is my brother who has returned from his errors."
His voice deepened.
"Mortarion."
Clang.
Several tools dropped from Cawl's mechanical arms.
Even his enormous processing core froze for a full second.
"Mortarion? The one with the moth wings?"
His sensor cluster whirred loudly.
"But the life readings… no decay… no warp corruption…"
"Instead I detect a psionic construct similar to… Saint Celestine."
"Warp corruption reversed? Warp connection severed?"
Cawl rushed forward, waving a dozen scanning devices around Mortarion like a man possessed.
"This defies all scientific models! This violates established physical laws!"
"This is… a miracle!"
Mortarion endured the inspection silently. In the past, he might have cut the Archmagos in half with his scythe.
"Enough, Cawl," Guilliman said firmly.
"We didn't come here so you could write a paper."
He explained their situation.
"Mortarion's physical body was destroyed during purification. His current form exists only through psionic power."
"That cannot continue forever."
"You are the foremost expert on Primarch bioengineering. I need you to create a new body for him."
"A real body—one capable of containing a Primarch's soul."
Silence fell.
Cawl withdrew his mechanical limbs and straightened.
"Regent. Your request is… extremely unreasonable."
"A Primarch is not merely flesh and bone."
"It is the result of genetic alchemy, lost science, and—"
He paused.
"—psionic technology."
"I have studied that project for ten thousand years. I even created the Primaris Marines."
"But I cannot create a Primarch."
"I lack the Emperor's laboratories. I lack the original data. And I lack the means to safely fuse warp energy with biological matter."
The light in Guilliman's eyes dimmed slightly.
"But…"
Cawl's tone shifted.
"I can create something else."
He moved toward a vault protected by layers of force fields.
After multiple unlocking procedures, the vault opened with a cold hiss.
Inside was a sealed container.
Floating within was a mass of dark-red, pulsing biological matter.
"What's that?" Eileen asked curiously.
"A fragment of the Sangprimus Portum," Cawl said proudly.
"In simpler terms—the 'mother source.'"
"It contains genetic fragments from the original Primarch project."
"I isolated Sample Fourteen."
He pointed to the specimen.
"The original genetic template of Mortarion."
"With this seed, and my gene-cultivation technology, I can produce a new body."
"A vessel… potentially stronger than a Primarch."
He looked at Mortarion.
"It will not match your original demigod physiology. Nor will it grant your former immunity to toxins."
"But it will be clean. Pure. Uncorrupted."
"A perfect container."
Guilliman turned to his brother.
"What do you think?"
Mortarion gazed at the specimen.
His origin.
"As long as it is not that rotting body again…"
"Even a mortal form would be acceptable."
"But there is a problem," Cawl said.
"This vessel would be purely physical."
"Mortarion's current existence is purely psionic."
"Forcing the two together would be like placing a nuclear reactor inside a cardboard box."
"The body would collapse within minutes."
"We require a binding medium. Something capable of stabilizing immense psychic energy within a biological structure."
"That level of control… only the Emperor himself possesses."
The room fell silent again.
Then—
"Um…"
Eileen raised her hand from Sicarius's shoulder.
"What about enchantment?"
Every eye turned to her.
She pointed at her head.
"Old Huang said stuffing a soul into a finished body would definitely explode."
"But what if… his power was involved during the creation process?"
"Like mixing an egg into dough while kneading it—instead of cracking it on top afterward."
She struggled to explain Old Huang's idea.
"What if his psionic energy reinforced the bones and blood vessels while the body is growing?"
"Like weaving power directly into the structure."
Cawl's mechanical eyes froze.
His processors spun at full speed.
"Psionic energy… integrated during genetic development…"
"Allowing the body to adapt during growth…"
His mechanical limbs began trembling.
"This… might actually work."
"This would be the reverse of daemonization."
"A saintly body created through divine power!"
He rushed toward Eileen excitedly.
"You brilliant apprentice!"
"This is surely a revelation from the Omnissiah!"
"Come! No time to waste!"
Cawl spun around and raced toward the depths of the laboratory.
"Activate Production Line Five! Prepare the gene vats!"
"Clear all unnecessary equipment!"
"We are about to create a new technological pathway!"
---
Core Biological Laboratory – King of Explorers
The chamber was filled with glowing green nutrient tanks and massive pipes.
At the center stood a towering cylindrical gene-culture vat.
The fluid inside bubbled violently.
Cawl stood at the control console, dozens of mechanical arms typing commands.
"Import genetic sequence… accelerate bone development… deploy neural network…"
Across from him stood Eileen.
Golden light filled her eyes.
Through her senses, Old Huang examined the unbelievably complex gene-engineering interface.
Then he froze.
[Wait…]
[Why does this interface look so familiar?]
He scanned the adjustment panels.
[The text is different… but the layout…]
[Isn't this basically the character-creation editor from that RPG I play?!]
[There's even a slider for chin width!]
A ridiculous thought crossed his mind.
Had the Emperor designed the Primarchs using the same character-creation mindset?
[Whatever.]
Old Huang mentally rubbed his hands together.
The dormant spirit of a hardcore RPG player awakened.
He looked at the empty gene tank.
Then at Mortarion.
[If this is basically a custom character system…]
[Then it's time to show my skills.]
[Don't worry, Mortarion.]
[This time I'll make sure you get the most handsome face in the entire galaxy.]
[No more gas mask for you.]
Eileen grinned brightly.
"Ready, Archmagos Cawl?"
Her voice was full of excitement.
"Let's start creating."