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

Chapter 865 Human Local Area Network
Since the Emperor was completely freed from the curse of the Dark Lord, stepped down from the Golden Throne, and returned to the Empire, the entire human empire has rapidly recovered its long-lost vitality.

If the former empire was like a sluggish train, only able to run on the tracks left by the emperor.

Even if it can maintain stable operation, as long as no new track is opened, the train can only go around in circles on the original track.

When the tracks decay or the train's power system malfunctions, the human empire will plunge into an endless abyss.

This process, though exceptionally lengthy, is inevitable.

But now, the train conductor has returned, and he has upgraded the power system, enabling it to run faster than before.

More importantly, this train began to create new tracks, which was the decisive factor in breaking the original deadlock.

The empire's most important plan now is naturally to repair the man-made network tunnel beneath the palace.

Roger Dorn and Peturabo, the two Primarchs, personally oversaw the process, sparing no effort to ensure the safe and stable progress of the network repair.

Every moment, massive amounts of materials and resources are transported to that section of the network channel, where they are transformed into qualified network channel materials by the conversion machine.

In fact, the biggest bottleneck restricting the speed at which humans can repair the network is the speed at which the Spirit Race's Bone Singers can create Spirit Bones.

Compared to humans who can rely on large-scale production and frantically expand their productivity, spirit bones can only rely on those who chant bones to slowly utilize their spiritual energy to solidify subspace energy.

One is the industrialized mass production of the interstellar era, and the other relies on meticulous handcrafting. The difference in efficiency is more than ten million times.

Humans have tried every possible method to address this weakness.

Under Loshi's "friendly" negotiations, Uslan, on behalf of the Eldar, taught humans the techniques and methods of creating spirit bones, attempting to cultivate a group of human spirit-singers.

Loshi drew a group of psionic think tanks from various Astartes legions, and also borrowed a number of powerful psionicists from the Imperial psionic departments such as the Star Language Court and the Star Torch Court, to increase the feasibility of training human Bone Singers.

However, due to the short time available, even the most outstanding psionic think tanks would find it difficult to learn the Bone Singer's professional techniques.

Bone Singers need to use special methods such as music and dance to shape the specific form of solidified spiritual bones. The huge difference in physical structure between humans and Aida makes it exceptionally difficult for human psionicists to learn.

The vast differences in their trachea and throat alone mean that many syllables that the Eldar can easily chant are impossible for humans to utter.

Based on the current situation, even the most outstanding human apprentices can only use psionic energy to shape spirit bone materials the size of a fist, and their quality is not even comparable to that of the Eldar Bone Singers.

These are things that require time to build up and accumulate; even if Roxi and the Emperor are in a hurry, it won't be of much use.

They indeed learned the Bone Singer's techniques very quickly, and their speed and quality far surpassed those of the Eldar craftsmen.

However, one of them is the ruler of humanity and the helmsman of the empire, while the other is the leader of the advanced technology community and the person in charge of technological development. Naturally, they cannot spend their precious time on things like manufacturing spirit bone materials.

The only saving grace is that this section of the man-made network tunnel beneath the palace is not very long. Given the empire's meager technological capabilities at the time, if the man-made network tunnel were too long, it would likely have collapsed on its own.

This also means that the requirements for repair materials for this section of the network are not too high. As long as the disaster caused by Magnus is plugged and the original network barrier is reinforced, the task can be considered completed.

Based on the current production of spirit bones, it is estimated that they will be able to completely repair this artificial network within approximately three Terran months, eliminating the possibility of another intrusion from the warp.

In terms of the empire's domestic affairs, Guilliman and Macardo also could not escape the Emperor's clutches and once again shouldered the enormous responsibility of reforming the empire's power system.

Although both of them were trying to shift the blame onto each other, it was clear that this was of no use to the emperor.

When the Lord of Humanity gazed lovingly at his Seal Bearer and Thirteen Sons with those infinitely charming eyes, even the strongest psychological defenses crumbled in an instant.

The Emperor promised the two that if they could hold out until the completion of the Webway Project, he would find replacements for them.

As for who could replace him, the Emperor did not say, nor did Guilliman and Macardo ask further.

Since the emperor has already expressed this attitude, it would be extremely impolite to press further.

To be able to obtain a promise from the emperor, a check that can be cashed in the future, is already a success in itself.

Moreover, for them, the sense of accomplishment from rebuilding the empire they enjoy today is incomparable to maintaining the corrupt empire of the past.

After all, a mere patch-up artist for an empire, no matter how well he does it, cannot pull the empire out of the mire. On the contrary, because he stands high enough, he can see the empire's decadence and depravity.

The other, however, is able to see the empire under their rule thriving and flourishing, with its future visibly improving—this is naturally incomparable.

Of course, the best news for Guilliman was that there weren't any annoying high lords around him who stood up to criticize his actions in the name of the Emperor, or openly or secretly sabotage him.

The Macuragh have had enough of being held back by the High Lords.

For a century after the Great Rebellion ended, he engaged in complex political games with more than one generation of high lords. Although he had the power to overturn the tables, he had to play along with them to the end in order to maintain order and balance.

All of this has become history. The emperor no longer imposes his own biases about humanity on the current human empire, nor does he emphasize that mortals should govern themselves.

This can only be a beautiful hope, at least until humanity breaks free from the curse of the warp and escapes forever from the shadow of the corrupted chaos.

The high degree of centralization and efficient decision-making brought about by superhuman politics is something that the original High Lords' Council could not match at all.

Guilliman relinquished his original position as commander-in-chief of the empire and instead became regent, a position with a broader scope of power, overseeing matters in many areas including the economy, military, and politics.

Macardo's role as the seal-bearer, however, focused more on oversight and scrutiny.

The High Lords' Council surrounded them, becoming the actual implementing body, which ironically eliminated much of the infighting and buck-passing.

However, despite everything looking so promising, Luo Xi was surprised to find that the Emperor was appearing less and less in everyone's sight.

Based on what Loxi knew about the Emperor, this creature had many similarities to human cubs.

The emperor's ability to express himself was almost the same as that of a human infant still drinking milk. He never liked to reveal his plans, keeping them all to himself and making them secrets.

An emperor's emotional intelligence is, most of the time, not much different from that of a human child. If he were any human being, not half of his sons would choose to betray their father.

Furthermore, if the emperor remains silent, it must be that he is plotting something even more sinister.

Loxi dared not be careless at all, and directly found the emperor, who was sitting on the golden throne, seemingly pondering something, through the underground network of the palace.

"What, you've only just gotten off here, and you're already missing the feeling of sitting up there?"

The emperor gazed at the two colossal pillars of light intertwining and battling on the throne, only emerging from his meditative state after Rosie came to his side.

"That's impossible. The Golden Throne is indeed the most terrifying torture device ever created by mankind. The individual sitting on it will have their spiritual energy and soul drained until they are reduced to ashes."

"Even if my spiritual power is strong, it doesn't mean I can't feel pain. Of course, I'm grateful that Magnus took on most of the pressure for me."

Loxi frowned slightly, and through the blinding beam of light, he saw Magnus's withered and emaciated figure, still sitting at the very top of the golden throne.

According to the plan to repair the underground network of the palace, Magnus's mission would end once the network beneath the palace was repaired.

This fool who destroyed humanity's hope only endured a century on the golden throne before his sentence ended, which, in Rosie's opinion, was far too lenient.

Did the emperor come here to pay his respects to Magnus and then think about what kind of place to put Magnus?

“I know what you’re thinking. The crimes Magnus committed cannot be erased in a hundred years.”

He will be brought down from the golden throne, but he will not escape punishment.

The emperor's voice was calm, yet filled with an undeniable resolve.

He was indeed Magnus's father, but because of that identity, he felt no pity for this greatest sinner of mankind.

"Then what are you doing here?" Rose pressed.

"I have already cleaned up the network once. As long as Dorn and Caul keep pushing forward steadily, the remaining work will be completed smoothly."

"I need to continue to carry out some challenging work. After all, everything is difficult at the beginning. Without me taking the lead, when humans want to do similar things, they may face much greater difficulties."

Luo Xi nodded slightly upon hearing this, agreeing that what the Emperor said made a lot of sense.

For example, the network repair plan, if not proposed and implemented by the Emperor himself, would have been difficult for anyone else to mobilize the entire empire's manpower and resources so perfectly.

Even Guilliman, when trading with the Eldar, could not completely gain the upper hand without the Emperor's support.

Judging from the Emperor's words, he intends to launch one or more similar large-scale projects while initiating the network repair plan.

This feeling of biting off more than you can chew... truly befits an emperor.

"I've been thinking about a question: the Web protects the human body, allowing humanity to avoid the corruption and threats of the Warp on a physical level."

"But humanity cannot hide in the Web forever. We cannot lose our galactic territory. Not a single piece of this territory is superfluous or can be discarded."

"It is this enormous size that gives humanity its powerful vitality and endurance, allowing it to win against more powerful enemies by virtue of its size."

For the human race as a whole, their technological level is not among the most advanced in this galaxy full of all sorts of strange and wonderful beings.

The Eldar, the Necromancers, and even the Ork can all produce technology that surpasses the limits of human capabilities.

Humans' greatest advantage lies in their sheer size; even with sheer numbers, they can overwhelm the Ork, who are equally adept at swarm tactics.

"But size is both an advantage and a disadvantage," the emperor suddenly sighed.

"The sheer size of the population makes it an unrealistic fantasy to try to manage and control all of humanity."

"When the corruption of the subspace begins to spread on a planetary world, its sheer size makes it initially inconspicuous, but by the time it is exposed, it has already developed into an irreversible catastrophe."

"The larger the human population, the greater the harm caused by subspace pollution. This double-edged sword has never stopped harming humanity itself."

"What I want to do is to protect the human race on a spiritual and soul level."

The emperor's desire silenced Rosie.

This is even more difficult and unbelievable than the Netway Project.

The exact number of humans in the entire Milky Way galaxy is unknown, even to an emperor. Billions, even tens of billions of humans die every minute, and countless more are born every second.

For the malevolent beings of the warp, a race as numerous, emotionally rich, and yet lacking sufficient resistance is the most tempting treat.

"In order to strengthen the willpower of the mortal auxiliary army, I used the mind control tower deciphered from the Moravic Cube to imprint their minds with steel imprints."

“I even used this special technology to imprint the mind of the butcher’s nails of those loyal war dogs, thus causing their contradictions to die.”

"But even the thought imprint only strengthens humanity's resistance to the subspace. As long as the subspace is polluted enough, even the most powerful thought imprint cannot be maintained indefinitely."

"Moreover, from both a cost and feasibility standpoint, imprinting the mind onto all of humanity in the galaxy is a pipe dream." While mind imprinting is powerful, it is not entirely without risk.

If even the slightest mistake is made when imprinting a thought, it will lead to irreparable and disastrous consequences.

“So,” Lothie’s voice deepened, his gaze sharp as he looked directly at the Emperor, “you are seeking an 'immune system' that covers the entire race at the warp level? A mechanism that can protect human souls on a massive scale and sever the corruption of chaos?”

The emperor nodded slowly, pointing forward.

The next moment, a subspace rift was torn open in front of the Golden Throne, revealing a colossal presence that could only be clearly perceived by psychic vision.

It was an ocean formed from the souls of countless orcs and the energy of waaagh, a vast "local area network" that enveloped the souls of the entire orc race.

“Look there, Rosie.”

The emperor's voice carried a complex emotion that bordered on admiration.

"The Ork Orcs, descendants of the Kork Orcs created by the Old Ones, possess a natural advantage on the soul level that we can't even begin to grasp."

"Their souls are inherently connected to a vast and robust subspace network."

When an individual orc dies, their soul essence returns to that warp network.

In the orcs' understanding, this meant being summoned and taken away by the second brother, to continue the great waaagh with the orc god!

"The Second Brother of the Orcs is a powerful divine being born from the collective consciousness of the Orcs. They protect all Orc boys who are willing to believe in them... Rather than protection, it seems to me more like recycling."

"This network of orc souls formed a closed loop, a local area network, which ultimately created a powerful soul firewall."

Loshi suddenly recalled that when he was discussing the orcs with Vulcan, the Lord of Fire Dragons had mentioned a similar concept.

It is precisely because of this special subspace local area network that the Orcs can go wherever they want.

Even when wandering through the warp, the orcs wouldn't activate the Gale Field; instead, they would simply and brutally engage in enthusiastic fighting and wrestling with those ignorant warp demons.

The fundamental reason for this is that warp demons simply have no way to deal with orcs.

They can kill orcs, but they cannot take away an orc's soul.

Even beings of the Chaos Four Gods' caliber, if they wanted to seize the souls of orcs, would only face a rare double attack from the second brother of the Chaos God.

This innate advantage is something that makes people envious.

If humans possessed the same resistance as the Orks, then Lothie would not be exaggerating when he said that humanity could now embark on an expedition into the Warp, following the Eye of Fear.

The Eye of Fear is no longer a bridgehead for warp invasion of the real universe, but a natural wormhole for humanity to invade the warp.

Countless Smurfs will emerge from beneath Khorne's Brass Throne, and if the Blood God loses his grip on the throne, His Brass Arena will be ravaged by the Ultramarines of Alteramar.

When the Emperor mentioned so much information about the Orc LAN, Loxi immediately guessed what he meant.

The Emperor intends to create a "warp local area network" for humanity, modeled after the green-skinned orcs.

The way to achieve this goal... is by using the power of faith.

The emperor's fingertips traced across the void, as if tracing an invisible structure.

"The structure of the orc local area network is not very complicated."

"Gao Mao Erge is the local area network administrator, the core node of the firewall. They use the pure waaagh energy provided by orc souls to carve out a relatively pure domain in the turbulence of the warp."

Secondly, the connection between Mao Erge and the green-skinned orcs is extremely close, far exceeding the bond between human believers and the God-Emperor.

"But this is the legacy left to the Orcs by the Ancient Saints. They were inscribed with this instinct by the Creator even before they were born. It is an extremely complete and self-consistent cycle. Can we humans really do that?"

Rosie frowned deeply and voiced her concerns.

"The opportunity is called: those who learn from me live, those who imitate me die. We do not want to completely imitate their orcish nature, but rather to learn from their concept and architecture of 'networking' and 'centralized protection'."

"An individual's mind and will are weak; only a few strong individuals can resist the influence of the warp. However, for a race, the will that is united is extremely powerful."

"Many grains of sand make a tower, and drops of water make a river; this is the principle."

"Humans are different from orcs; we do not have an innate soul connection network."

But humans possess something orcs can never attain—complex and intense emotions, and… a faith that can be cultivated.

He pointed to the opposing pillars of light above the Golden Throne, to Terra, to the vast empire, as if he could see the invisible yet mighty torrent of faith converging on the Emperor's radiant pillar of light.

"I have completed the trinity arrangement. The God Emperor has been born and has become a real entity."

"All human suffering and sacrifice, prayers and despair will bring power to the God-Emperor. As time goes by, these powers will increase and push the God-Emperor to an unimaginable height."

"Therefore, as long as the God Emperor exists, we humans already have a powerful and stable god similar to 'God Brother Mao', who can carve out a private domain for humanity in the subspace."

"The God-Emperor can act as a node in the human local area network, actively guiding and shaping the spontaneously formed, crude torrent of faith into an orderly and controllable 'subspace soul protection network' belonging to humanity."

Loxi gasped in shock.

The Emperor's plan was no less ambitious or risky than repairing the network.

This is to directly destroy the foundation of the Warhammer universe by the four Chaos Gods at the subspace level.

He wanted to use humanity's own faith to forge a Noah's Ark for mankind in the chaotic and raging ocean.

This may sound incredible, but upon closer examination, it is not impossible.

"The plan I have devised also has an important advantage."

The emperor pointed to the golden throne that sat in the throne room and then said.

"The Golden Throne was originally created by the most insane, most brilliant, and most radical golden scientists of the Dark Ages as the ultimate artifact for ascending to godhood."

"It can absorb the intense emotions of all mankind, such as pain, fear, and despair. If the person sitting on the throne of the Ascended God can persevere, then he will become one with the collective consciousness of mankind."

"He will become the god of mankind, the very concept of mankind, thus completing the leap from mortal to extraordinary."

"But unfortunately, based on my observation, the madman who attempted to ascend to godhood failed, which is why the Golden Throne was buried in the desert of Central Asia and remained silent for countless years."

"By modifying the Golden Throne, we can use it as a 'server' for sending and receiving data on the human local area network, making it a link and connection between the God-Emperor and all human believers."

"Those who believe in the God-Emperor will have their souls protected. At the end of their lives, their pure soul essence will be drawn through the bond of faith into the 'Kingdom of Human Souls,' located deep in the subspace and dominated by the God-Emperor's will."

"In the relevant doctrines of the state religion, there are concepts such as the kingdom of the God-Emperor and eternal rest under the Golden Throne. Now these are no longer just vague spiritual comforts, but facts."

Loxi was already immersed in the beautiful vision the emperor had outlined.

In this realm that belongs solely to humankind, devout souls will find eternal slumber, far removed from the clamor and corruption of the underworld.

The tranquility of the soul is an extremely luxurious thing for people in the Warhammer universe. Very few people can achieve this, since most people's souls will enter the warp after death, and the fate of that is unimaginable.

The best outcome would be annihilation by the aetheric energy of the warp, while the worst outcome would be falling into the hands of warp demons.

The emperor's gaze was fixed on the distance, as if transcending time and space to see an endless battlefield.

The main theme of the Warhammer universe is war, endless war.

"The most resilient and valiant souls will be given a new choice—they can choose to find peace in the realm of souls, or they can choose to answer the call when the empire needs them most, and continue to fight for the survival of humanity, in the form of some kind of 'heroic spirit'."

"This may sound somewhat similar to the Cursed Legion, but it is fundamentally different."

"The warriors of the Cursed Legion have lost themselves and become the embodiment of pure revenge, while these 'heroic spirits' have an extremely clear concept of self."

Luo Xi calmed her thoughts and looked at the Emperor with a hint of helplessness.

Neos is never idle. He just pushed forward the network repair plan, and then he pulled off another huge stunt.

Calling it a fancy trick might be a bit of an understatement, but the Emperor had already figured out the overall framework of this plan, and even detailed how to execute it.

The emperor was a gambler. For the future of mankind, he was willing to take risky actions, hoping to win big with small bets and create a bright future.

The Lord of Humanity slowly raised his hand, making a fist, as if feeling the invisible pressure from the suffering fate of billions of humanity.

When he sits on the golden throne, he can feel countless people worshipping him, offering sacrifices to him, and calling upon him, but his power is limited, and he can only help a very small number of lucky ones.

The emperor was well aware of the fate of those who did not receive a response.

If he has no other choice, he will remain hard-hearted and face the challenges head-on.

But now that he has a choice, he hopes to help more people escape their dark fate.

"Look at this dark galaxy, the shadow of chaos still exists, and humanity's struggle has never ceased. The internet can protect our bodies, but it cannot protect our souls."

"Passive endurance cannot win this eternal war; humanity must possess its own spiritual fortress."

The emperor turned around and looked at Luo Xi with utmost sincerity.

“I need your help, Losi. This plan is also extremely complex and dangerous.”

It involves the most fundamental laws of psionic energy, the guidance and purification of faith, the reshaping of the warp structure… I need your knowledge, your skills, and your clear mind to mitigate potential risks.”

Rosie gave a bitter smile and tentatively asked:

"Can I refuse? I already have enough burdens on my shoulders."

The emperor maintained his smile, but Rosie knew that this guy hadn't given her the option to refuse.

“Okay, okay, but we’ll have to wait a bit,” Rose said.

"Compared to this large project, the situation in the network channel deserves more priority."

"The Dark Eldar have occupied this treasure land of Comoros for far too long. It's time to send them back to where they belong and kick them off human soil!"

(End of this chapter)