Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 862 The Internet Repair Plan
The Emperor remained as decisive as ever. Having just been liberated from the Golden Throne, he immediately began issuing orders, urging everyone inside and outside the Throne Hall to take immediate action.

The Royal Guard Marshal was ordered to wipe out the remnants of Elfreda's faction and completely purge the Dark Lord's followers on Terra.

This task was something Waldo was extremely familiar with; after all, when they were clearing out those Thunder Warriors, it was the Imperial Guard who were the main operators, with the first batch of Astartes participating as assistants.

Meanwhile, Macardo and Guilliman, one old and one young, were sent by the Emperor to seize power from the High Lords.

From this moment on, the high lords who were once high above and held immense power are about to fall from their pedestals.

Their legitimacy derives from the emperor, but when the emperor breaks his silence and speaks out to express his opinion, their legitimacy comes to an end.

It has been proven that the High Lords are better suited to being led rather than having final decision-making power handed over to them.

The limited perspective and selfishness of ordinary people can cause the vast political machine of an empire to make mistakes that should not happen, and these mistakes will continue to amplify, causing even more serious consequences.

Dorne and Perturabo stayed behind, and although the Emperor said nothing, the two Primarchs were still incredibly excited and followed him around.

Roger Dorn appeared more composed, his rock-solid face betraying no emotion.

But Peturabo is different; the smile on his face is harder to control than the muzzle of a twin-barreled explosive rifle.

The Olympians, with their overactive imaginations, have even begun to speculate that the Emperor might be about to entrust them with some important hidden missions, which is a sign that they have regained the Emperor's trust.

“Petulabo, go and fetch Gavial Locken.”

"He should be on the battlefield of the civil war of the State Church, and he brought the other Grey Knights to me as well."

Upon hearing the Emperor's command, Peturabo immediately obeyed, turned around, and strode quickly out of the throne room.

If it were the previous Perturabo, he would probably be wondering why the Emperor deliberately sent him away while leaving Rogdorn nearby.

However, after experiencing countless betrayals and time travel with Dorne, Perturabo's mindset has ultimately changed.

He realized how stubborn, obstinate, eccentric, and childish he had been before.

Even if the current Peturabo were to interact with the past Peturabo, the current Peturabo would still be unable to accept his past self.

Sometimes people don't even empathize with their past selves. Looking back from his current perspective, Peturabo only feels a wave of shame and irritation.

Since the emperor was able to accept him again and let him do some things again, it proves that he still has value in the emperor's eyes.

While his value may not be as high as Roger Dorn's, he's certainly better than many of his brothers, right?
For example, Magnus, who is still sitting on the Golden Throne as a battery, is far superior to Peturabo.

"Looks like you've managed to appease him quite well. You're capable of this, aren't you? Why didn't you use it during the Great Expedition?"

"If we had used it sooner, we wouldn't have had so much trouble."

Looking at Perturabo's huffing and puffing figure, Rosi couldn't help but say to the Emperor.

"Ahem, let's not dwell on these old stories." Although the Emperor's expression didn't change, based on Luo Xi's understanding of him, the guy seemed a little embarrassed.

"The first thing we need to do is to completely plug the loopholes in the network beneath the Golden Throne."

"Although Magnus powers the Golden Throne, preventing those warp demons from infiltrating Holy Terra via the Webway, it also means we cannot restart the Webway project."

“Loxi, I need the network technology you obtained from the Ancient Saints.” The Emperor looked into Loxi’s eyes, his gaze filled with an irresistible light.

Loxi then began to copy the psionic data package that Qua had given her from her mind.

While the files were being packaged, Rose suddenly encountered a problem that had been overlooked.

"By the way, since you're so envious of the Ancient Sage's Internet Dao technology, why didn't you travel back in time to the era of the Heavenly War before starting the Internet Dao project?"

"Although this is unbelievable for most people, I think it wouldn't be that difficult for you."

Even he could detonate the spacetime disorder energy swirling around Perturabo, allowing the group to travel upstream to the era when the Ancient Saints were active.

There's no reason why an emperor couldn't do something similar.

Loxi didn't know the power ceiling of the Ancient Saints race, but if the Ancient Saints were used as a benchmark, the Emperor was fully capable of capturing several Ancient Saints and then violently beating them until they handed over their Net Dao technology.

The thought of this scene even made Rose feel an extremely immoral smile.

The ancient saint, with a bloated body and a shape resembling a hybrid of a lizard and a toad, was imprisoned in a small dark room by the emperor and interrogated about the technology and techniques of the Internet...

“I did try that before, but…”

The emperor seemed to recall some unpleasant experience, and his expression changed slightly.

"When I tried to put my plan into practice, the ancient saints and spirit gods joined forces to stop me from getting closer."

“They denounced me as the evil tentacles of chaos, the apocalypse that had tainted the timeline, and then they turned me away.”

"They would rather destroy the network than let it fall into my hands."

Loxi immediately understood, seemingly realizing why the ancient saints were so resistant.

At least at that point in time, the Emperor was unaware of his close relationship with the Dark Lord.

From the perspective of the ancient sages upstream in the timeline, the Emperor, a human from tens of millions of years in the future, clearly possessed the power of a chaotic evil god.

Although the Chaos Gods did not awaken during the War of Heaven, the Ancient Ones clearly knew of their existence and were aware of the cold sun in the warp.

Naturally, they couldn't have a good attitude towards the emperor; they would only unite all their forces to drive him back.

The ancient sage would rather commit suicide to destroy the network technology than let it fall into the hands of someone who might be a puppet of the Chaos God.

Through his psychic powers, Loxi packaged all the technology related to the Internet in his mind and gave it to the Emperor.

The Lord of Humanity cherished it immensely, analyzing and unfolding it within his own mind, and backing it up and storing it with his spiritual power.

A dazzling golden light shone in the emperor's eyes, and countless images and data were churning in his mind, building a complete theoretical model of the Internet.

"I see……"

"How perfect, what a brilliant idea..."

The Emperor is like a pirate who relies on his own intelligence and a pitiful sample to constantly explore and try to reverse engineer the finished product.

He obtained a limited amount of data on the Webpath from the Eldar, and then assembled a research team composed of members of the Cult of Mechanics to begin deciphering the Webpath, one of the greatest creations in the Warhammer universe.

But the emperor also knew that the probability of their "piracy" succeeding was extremely small, with almost 99% of the attempts ending in failure.

The Net Dao is the supreme wisdom of the entire Ancient Saint race. Even the creators spent countless hours and efforts to unlock the Net Dao on their incredible technology tree.

As for humanity, since the end of the Dark Ages, our technological foundation has withered, and we have almost lost the ability to crack this alien technology.

No matter how powerful an emperor is, he is still just an individual. He cannot even restore most of the technology of the Golden Age, since his expertise is only in the field of biological genes.

The chief's initial assessment of the Emperor was: Neos is a student with a quirky and unconventional approach to learning.

With the original technology available for reference, the Emperor quickly realized how rudimentary and ridiculous his original cracked and imitated human network was.

The gap between the human network and the ancient holy network is no less than the distance between a grain of sand and a silicon chip.

"Initially, I wanted to achieve miracles through sheer force. Since we couldn't compete in terms of technology, we would use quantitative changes to bring about a transformation."

"That's why the underground network tunnel in the palace consumed a huge amount of resources, since we had no other choice."

The emperor looked somewhat melancholy. If he had obtained these technologies two hundred years earlier, perhaps humanity would have already ascended to immortality.

“It’s not too late now, is it?” Rosie patted the Emperor’s arm encouragingly.

"Yes, it's not too late." The emperor clenched his fist.

"As the old saying goes: the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, and the next best time is now."

"Dorn, I have an important task for you," the Emperor said, looking at Dorne, who stood there like a stubborn rock.

Dorne did not question him, but simply stepped forward and stood before the Emperor.

"Next, we will begin repairing the breach in the network that Magnus blasted open. I need Imperial Fist to take on the responsibility of guarding it and some of the construction work."

"As you command, the Fist of the Empire will obey orders without question," Dorn promised.

The Emperor nodded in satisfaction. This was why he preferred Dorne; he was reliable enough, while Perturabo had his own ideas.

"So you're not planning to bring Peturabo along?"

Loshi came to his senses and finally understood why the Emperor had sent Perturabo to summon Loken and the other Grey Knights.

"After all, he can't completely put my mind at ease..." The emperor frowned slightly and said frankly.

“No, Father, I think you should trust Perturabo,” Dorn retorted at that moment.

“Since you are willing to accept Peturabo back, you should have complete trust in him, instead of holding back as before.”

“Petrulabo is a very overthinking person. His sensitivity is almost exaggerated. He will pick up on any slight suspicion or wariness you might have,” Losi said, waving his hand.

"If you don't trust him, then let him be with Dorn. Steel bars plus solid rock, and you will get the strongest reinforced concrete."

The Emperor pondered for a few seconds before agreeing with Dorn and Lothie's advice.

Before long, Peturabo's footsteps could be heard from outside the throne room.

More rapid footsteps followed, and a group of grey knights clad in silver power armor, exuding a pure and holy aura, approached the Emperor.

The Emperor gave Perturabo a look, and the beaming Iron Lord immediately stood beside Dorne.

Overwhelmed with joy and excitement, Loken and Garo, along with their fellow warriors, knelt before the Lord of Mankind.

"Emperor!"

The emperor before Loken gradually overlapped with the emperor in his memory, and the indescribable feeling overshadowed the hardships he had endured along the way.

Loken and Garo could feel the weight of that gaze, which carried scrutiny, but also a hint of gentle approval.

"Grey Knight." The Emperor's voice echoed in the empty hall.

"Your existence is the last hidden line of defense I left for humanity, to fight against the filth from the deepest part of the void."

Amidst the chaos of the state religion and the straying of faith, you upheld your duty and protected the flame of humanity from being utterly distorted—you did not disappoint my expectations.

Loken felt a warm current surge from his chest, almost breaking free of the power armor's restraints. Garo's tense jawline relaxed slightly, and he was overjoyed.

Behind them, each Grey Knight straightened his back, his silver shoulder armor resonating subtly in the silent tremors.

The emperor's approval is better than any medal in the world.

"This steadfast commitment will play an even more important role in the future path of the Empire." The Emperor's tone turned serious. "Rog Dorn, Perturabo." The two Primarchs stepped forward again.

"The network tunnel repair project will commence immediately." The Emperor's voice rang out, echoing throughout the throne room. "Dorn, your Imperial Fist will undertake the defense and structural reinforcement of the core area of ​​the palace's underground network tunnels."

“Perturabo, now that you no longer have your own legion, then act together with Dorne and command the Fist of the Empire together.”

Peturabo's heart skipped a beat.

What did he hear? The Emperor's responsibility, the responsibility of standing shoulder to shoulder with Dorne!

This, this, this is absolutely amazing!
He almost growled, but he forced himself to hold it in, nodding heavily as he clenched his fists, his motor joints emitting excited low groans.

Dorn nodded steadily: "As you command, Father. The Fist of the Empire will be your strongest shield and most solid foundation."

The Emperor turned his gaze to the Grey Knight and said, "Loken, Garo, you have proven your purity and ability."

"The network repair project needs your participation. All members of the Grey Knights will be incorporated into the project review team."

Your battlefield lies within those deep, dark tunnels. You must ensure that the souls of the builders are not corrupted, and that the newly formed tunnel barriers are not tainted!

"I believe in your purity, and I also believe in your keen awareness of the evil forces in the warp."

"For humanity, the Grey Knights will fight to the death!" Loken's voice was filled with unwavering conviction, and Garo and the other Grey Knights echoed in unison, spreading an aura of grim determination.

Lothie understood the Emperor's intention: appointing the Grey Knights, who possessed strong resistance to warp corruption, as inspectors was indeed more suitable than the Custodians, who were insensitive to warp corruption.

By having Dorn and Perturabo command the Imperial Fists to fight the Greys, and then having the Grey Knights act as overseers, the Emperor's system of checks and balances was indeed executed flawlessly.

“Very good.” The Emperor nodded slightly, then turned to Loshi. “Notify the Advanced Technology Community to have Rand, Caul, and all the top sages come to Terra.”

"This is not a request, it is a call to arms. Their wisdom and ability are the cornerstone of repairing the network."

"Have them immediately mobilize all relevant resources and, based on the ancient sages' network technology, design the most practical construction plan."

……

The Emperor's will injected new vitality into the entire human empire.

The Advanced Technology Community and the Mechanicus, like a giant machine, began to roar and rumble around the core of the Network Repair Project.

It is worth mentioning that the forces of the Sage Sennet Ezekiel, who played a crucial role in Abaddon's infiltration and takeover of Draconion, have met their end.

Ezekiel himself disappeared into the eternal night labyrinth where the Void Dragon was imprisoned, and the Technologist who had been in contact with him was also brought out through the clues.

They will be thoroughly investigated by the Council of Sages of the Advanced Technology Community. If it is confirmed that they, like Ezekiel, used the forbidden technology of Vashtor, then their fate is predictable.

The ancient technology and lost knowledge that Ezekiel possessed were confiscated and taken over by the public, and his temple forging was completely dismantled.

Terra Palace, inside the throne room.

This solemn and dignified core area, which has long possessed a strong religious atmosphere, now resembles a construction site under construction.

The transparent sarcophagi that were originally used to hold the "psychic firewood" were completely dismantled, and the already enormous throne room was crowded with technical priests and stone engineers.

A large number of cutting-edge devices originally deployed on Ganymede and Mars were carefully moved into the throne room.

The roar of machinery, the rhythm of the reactor, and the intricate network of mechanical pipes and energy cables created a particularly tense atmosphere in the throne room.

Belisarius Caul and his mentor, Akan Rand, as leaders of the Advanced Technological Community, are currently adjusting equipment in front of the wide-open gates of the Webway before the Golden Throne.

As an ancient being from the same era as Ezekiel, the Great Sage Rand had already faded from the world's view and was peacefully retiring on Ganymede.

He believed his life had been exciting enough, and all he needed now was a peaceful ending.

However, upon hearing the Emperor's call and the restart of the Internet Road Project, he could no longer suppress his restless heart.

"I will not die until the Internet is conquered, otherwise I will not rest in peace when I die!"

"How could a true believer in the Om Messiah die in bed? He should die on the front lines of scientific research!"

This is the clear stance of the great sage of Rand.

Directly beneath the Golden Throne, a portal taller than an Emperor-class Titan shimmered with a blinding halo.

Large numbers of Imperial Fist original Space Marines, Mechanicus Titans and Knights, Ironmen and Guardians are pouring in.

They are entering the ruins of the ancient Cyber ​​Wars, rebuilding a new frontier for humanity on that ancient battlefield.

"Teacher, based on the current progress, we should be able to clear out the enemies in this man-made network in about two Terra months."

"This speed is already quite encouraging. I originally thought it would take years."

Kaur observed the scene behind the light gate through the holographic projection next to the machine.

The massive Titan machines lay sprawled on the gleaming surface of the network, some shattered into pieces, others with their pilot control rooms destroyed, scattered like small mountains throughout the network.

From small Warhound-class Titans to massive Marauder-class and Warlord-class Titans, this site of the Cyberwar is as desolate and terrifying as a Titan graveyard.

As for the smaller knight mechs, as well as ordinary vehicles such as the Land Raider, the Sikaran Tank, and the Emperor's Venom Blade, they were scattered haphazardly across the battlefield.

They once fought to the bitter end against demons from the warp, under the control of valiant humans.

As a member of the Cult of Mechanics, Kaul could sense the tragic and indomitable will that remained on these divine machines, even though their mechanical souls had been completely annihilated.

Beside the Titan's remains lay a dense mass of human skeletons, like a desert.

Various laser guns, bomb guns, molten metal guns, and broken armor were mixed together. The human remains inside had been completely weathered, and occasionally a few gray bones could be seen standing upright in place.

The rarest remains are those of the Imperial Guard and the Silent Sisters.

During the Cyber ​​Wars, the main force on the human side was the Emperor's Claw. They bore most of the pressure from the demons in the warp, which gave other mortals the opportunity to deal damage.

The Great Sage Rand also wore a sorrowful expression. Unlike Caul, whose youth had prevented him from experiencing the cruelty of the Internet Wars, he was different.

He and many other sages of the Cult of Mechanics had personally experienced that dark period of history.

Many equally talented and accomplished technologists perished in the web, becoming part of this litter of corpses.

"We're back, we're back again."

"This time, the result will not be a failure."

Rand said silently, as if to console his deceased colleagues.

"The progress has exceeded our expectations because the current network now includes the Emperor, two Primarchs, Grey Knights, a portion of the Custodian Army, the Silent Sisters, the Imperial Fist Legion, the Iron Legion, and the Titan Legion belonging to the Cult of Mechanics."

"In the past, this force would have been enough to launch a small-scale large-scale expedition. Now that it has all been invested in the network, its efficiency is naturally astonishing."

A smile involuntarily appeared on Caul's face.

He had seen the Imperial Fists and the Grey Knights' Astartes, and their expressions of fervor and excitement when they learned they would be fighting alongside the Emperor, eager to charge into battle immediately.

"We also need to improve our efficiency. Otherwise, they've finally managed to clear out the warp demons, but we're still struggling to plug the network vulnerability. Wouldn't that be disastrous?"

Kaur adjusted the holographic projection, observing their progress in analyzing the network technology.

"We now have a basic understanding of the internal theoretical system of NetTao, but there is still a very critical problem to be solved in order to fix the NetTao vulnerabilities."

“Materials, materials are the most basic, but also the most crucial, issue,” Caul sighed.

From the time of ancient Terra to the present, materials science has always been a discipline that highly values ​​accumulation and refinement.

In a sense, materials science and alchemy are not so different. The same raw materials and the same experimental environment can produce different results.

The most widely used materials by humans, such as ceramic steel and plastic steel, are practically roadside trash compared to the spirit bones of the Eldar and the living metal of the space undead. They are even far superior to the materials of the Ork who have been imbued with the power of my thoughts.

Natural materials such as refined gold and radiant gold are too rare to be widely used.

It wasn't until Roche came to the Empire that a large number of materials such as strong interaction force materials, high deflection alloy materials, and degenerate state super-density materials were introduced.

“Yes, our civilization is only 20,000 to 30,000 years old, and we have accumulated far too few material reserves,” Rand said helplessly.

"Even if we obtained the ancient sage's network technology, the material problem alone has stumped us."

"It feels like a group of primitive people who have acquired the technology to build high-speed railways, only to find that they can't even make cement."

"Materials that can be repaired and used to build mesh networks have extremely high requirements in terms of strength, durability, and subspace inertness."

"It needs to have an anti-subspace force field on its outer layer, like the outer layer of an underwater tunnel that can block the erosion of the Ether Sea."

"Within the inner layer of the network, it also needs to amplify the subspace, since the network still needs to utilize the spacetime disorder of the subspace to operate."

"At the same time, the materials that make up the network channel also need to have a certain self-repairing ability. After all, there are always countless enemies in the subspace trying to infiltrate the network channel. They are like those marine parasites that are constantly destroying the network channel."

The Sage of Land spoke at length, while Caul's expression was also grave.

"It sounds like this material needs to possess the strength of adamantite, the compressibility of black stone, the polarity of the amplitude subspace, the self-healing ability of living metal, and the super-strong shaping ability of spirit bone at the same time."

"How on earth did those ancient sages create this kind of bizarre thing?"

A brief silence fell over the throne room, the technological gap looming like an insurmountable chasm.

"Actually, the more difficult it is, the more I feel that the Emperor is ridiculously strong." Kaul looked around and found that there was no one else besides his mentor.

"The Emperor, along with a group of technical priests who knew nothing about the network, used extremely primitive methods to construct a barely usable artificial network."

Kaul pointed to the spread-out net, his expression filled with emotion and admiration.

"Although it's not as good as the original, it's still usable. If Magnus hadn't made a stupid mistake, we might have already continuously updated and upgraded it to create a better material."

"On the contrary, we are completely at a loss when faced with this situation."

Rand couldn't help but chuckle at Caul's words of remark.

His disciple was indeed incredibly talented, having achieved remarkable success in many fields.

Showing him insurmountable obstacles now may not be without benefit for his future development.

“You’ve misunderstood something.” Rand turned his gaze to the Netway portal. “Just because we don’t have a good solution doesn’t mean others don’t.”

"This is no longer just a matter for the advanced technological community. Lord Loshi, the Emperor, and even the Eldar and the Necromancer allies must contribute their own strength."

"Unity and cooperation are sometimes more important than we think."

(End of this chapter)