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

Chapter 974 Human Saints

Upon hearing the chief's voice again, Luo Xi took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the turbulent emotions surging within her.

He noticed that this projection was not a simple pre-programmed program. The brilliance in its deep eyes, the gentle yet all-seeing gaze, and even the subtle changes in the smile at the corner of its mouth all indicated that it possessed a considerable degree of intelligence and autonomous reaction capabilities.

This is more like a carefully preserved fragment of consciousness, or rather, a special personality clone.

Looking at that familiar face, Luo Xi blurted out a thought that had been holding back for a long time, tinged with a hint of grievance and complaint.

"I have a question. Why is it that every time I see you, it's just a projection? In Red Alert, it's a message projection, and here it's another projection. Can't you just appear in your real form even once?"

These words immediately created a somewhat awkward atmosphere.

The Emperor's lips twitched slightly, while Makado, Tarasin, and the others looked on in astonishment, clearly not expecting Roxi to ask such a question at this solemn moment.

The smile on the chief projector's face visibly faltered, and a rare hint of embarrassment appeared on his usually gentle and wise expression.

He coughed lightly, seemingly unsure how to answer such a blunt question.

“Lohi,” the Emperor’s deep voice rang out at the right moment, with a hint of protection that was barely perceptible, “the teacher left the projection with a profound meaning. This is not the time to dwell on minor details.”

He turned to the chief's projection, his gaze earnest: "Teacher, it is truly fortunate to see you again, but why did you come here? And how did you find the location of this ancient treasure? After leaving here, where did you go? We have so many questions."

Loshi realized he had been a bit out of line and immediately composed himself. Together with Makado, Taracin, and the others, he looked at the chief projection with intense curiosity.

The slight embarrassment on the chief projector's face quickly faded, and he regained his usual composure and wisdom.

He looked at Loxi and the Emperor, and slowly began to speak.

"I left this projection because I am certain that one day in the future, someone will come here with the right key."

"I have always believed that humanity can emerge from that dark quagmire, overcome internal corruption and external threats, and finally stand before the treasure left by the Creator. And your arrival is the best proof of this belief."

His eyes were filled with affirmation and satisfaction for Rosi and the Emperor.

The chief paused for a moment before beginning to answer the questions one by one.

"I arrived here at the end of the 21st millennium of the human era, just as Higgins said."

My last public appearance, in open opposition to the Golden Council, monopolies, and those mad scientists, was at the end of the 20th millennium.

Nearly a thousand years have passed in this period.

A thousand years may be a long time for mortals, but on a cosmic scale, it is far too short to find the location of an ancient treasure that has been deliberately hidden and is unknown even to the star gods.

Consider how many eras Vashtor spent scheming and plotting to gather the three artifacts, only to be completely annihilated by Lothie without even obtaining a single key fragment, thus ending his path to godhood.

And the chief, single-handedly, precisely located this place within a thousand years? That efficiency is simply unbelievable.

The chief seemed to see through their thoughts and immediately explained, "It's not as easy for me to do these things as you imagine."

"I realized at the end of M20 that the deep-seated problems within humanity were irreversible, and that my own public confrontation alone could not reverse that insane trend of depravity."

Until I finally decided to disappear without a trace and seek another way, I gradually tracked down the clues to the ancient treasure and finally arrived here...

This thousand-year journey has been filled with arduous exploration, repeated deductions, and countless failed attempts at every step.

His voice was calm, but the weight of his words moved the listener.

"I have spent nearly a thousand years trying to unite the forces that still have a conscience, trying to find a breakthrough within the system, and trying to awaken those people who are indulging in false prosperity."

But I failed. My opponents, those who stand at the pinnacle of human wisdom yet choose to embrace madness and extremism, were too powerful and their methods were too unscrupulous.

They created the golden man as their newest form, propelling a technological explosion far ahead of its time. Their goal was no longer survival or development, but the pursuit of a metaphysical ascension, or what might be called godhood.

The chief projector's gaze deepened, as if he were seeing once again the insane behavior of those who didn't want to be human but only wanted to become gods.

"So I chose to disappear, using my wisdom and technology to completely sever my connection with the timeline, psychic powers, and even the trajectory of fate."

I used every method I knew to erase my traces and turn myself into a non-existent shadow.

Only in this way can I avoid their surveillance and pursuit, and thus truly do what I want to do.

The chief looked at Rosie: "I think you must have used these methods to look for traces of me, but you also couldn't locate me in the river of time, and you will no longer know any records about me."

Loxi suddenly realized that the fog shrouding the timeline was indeed a barrier set up by the Chief himself.

"After moving into the dark side, I began to seek external forces to break the deadlock."

Since the internal conflicts cannot be resolved at their root, it is necessary to introduce variables that can change the situation.

The Chief's approach is essentially the same as the Emperor's attempt to leave the universe after the Great Rebellion; both are about seeking the possibility of change from the outside.

“My first focus is on the Eldar,” the Chief continued. “In the twentieth millennium, the Eldar remain the undisputed rulers of the galaxy.”

"This powerful race, which has been passed down for tens of millions of years, has accumulated advantages that humans cannot match."

"Human beings have only been developing for a little over 20,000 years, while the Eldar have been a powerful civilization for over 60 million years. The history of human civilization is not even a fraction of theirs."

"However, I also discovered that the Adalin seemed to have long been indulging in their extreme sensual pleasures and were indifferent to the newly rising humans. As long as humans did not actively offend them, the two powers could maintain a fragile peace."

"I have studied the history, culture, technology and even their pantheon of the Eldar in depth. I discovered the existence of the Pantheon and foresaw the terrible future brought about by their unrestrained indulgence."

After all, humanity has given rise to a variety of complex beliefs and myths; endless decline will inevitably lead to Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods.

"In this vast Milky Way, it is not that ten thousand things happened in ten thousand years, but that one thing was repeated ten thousand times."

"At the same time, in the process of tracing the origin of the Eldar, I gradually realized that the Eldar themselves, along with their Pantheon, and many powerful races in the War of Heaven, such as the Orcs, all share a common, more ancient creator civilization—the Ancients."

"And this glorious civilization had already perished in the war against the Star God."

The chief's tone carried a hint of awe and regret for both sides in the war.

"But destruction does not mean disappearance. The ancient saints left profound marks all over the galaxy, and the greatest legacy is the Infinite Network."

I followed the clues of these ruins, piecing together a giant treasure map, gradually sorting through and analyzing countless scattered legends, damaged relics, and unusual psionic nodes, and deducing a clue pointing to the 'Final Legacy'.

"The treasure of the ancient sages..." The chief's tone was moved, making one instinctively feel the joy and excitement he felt when he first learned the truth.

"It contains technology and knowledge far surpassing those of humanity's golden age, and power sufficient to change the landscape. I need it, I need that power, to fight against those madmen who attempt to drag humanity into an eternal abyss."

Loxi and the Emperor understood.

Every step the chief took was crystal clear: to find hope in despair and to forge a path through the impossible.

His goal remained constant: to save human civilization.

"So, you found this place, and..." Rose asked the most crucial question impatiently, "you've already opened the treasure and taken what's inside?"

His tone contained no hint of disappointment or displeasure, but rather an almost joyful anticipation.

It's much better for the treasure to fall into the hands of the chief than to fall into the hands of the enemy or be forever buried in obscurity.

However, the chief projector slowly shook his head, a helpless yet sly smile on his face.

“You seem to have some kind of misunderstanding about me,” he replied gently.

"I found this place and discovered some exploitable loopholes in the ancient saint's defense mechanism. But I am, after all, human, not god. Without the key, it is impossible to fully open this ultimate treasure trove of the creator."

Loshi immediately picked up on the key word in the chief’s words: complete.

“You mean,” Rosie’s heart raced involuntarily, “that you haven’t fully opened up, but…”

"Yes. Although I couldn't open the door, I took advantage of the brief vulnerability I found and managed to take something through the crack before it was automatically closed by the defense mechanism."

The chief spoke as if describing a trivial matter, but the weight of his words made everyone present hold their breath.

Loxi and the Emperor gasped instantly, and even Xi Gaoqi's gaze froze, clearly this answer had exceeded His expectations.

Forcing their way through the defenses, battling the defense mechanisms, and even managing to loosen the gate... these are all shocking, but still within the realm of imagination.

However, by exploiting the "vulnerabilities" in the defense system itself, some of the ancient sacred heritage was "stolen" from it before the door was even opened.

That's absolutely incredible!

What unimaginable depth of understanding of the ancient defensive system this requires? How precise the calculations and how daring the execution? This transcends a contest of strength and rises to a battle of pure intellect.

He has done everything he could.

“I took something…” Rose repeated, her voice hoarse. “Teacher,” the Emperor’s voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement and inquiry, “what exactly did you take?”

All eyes were on the chief projector, awaiting his answer.

The chief's projection nodded slightly, showing no intention of being mysterious, and he directly began to answer everyone's most crucial questions.

"The treasures left behind by the ancient saints are far more valuable than we previously knew. They contain not just a few powerful artifacts or scattered weapon blueprints, but the almost complete technology tree of the ancient saint race."

"The treasure vault contains hundreds of millions of experimental data points of the Ancient Saints, which fully describe their entire process of climbing the technology tree. It is equivalent to showing the entire development process of the Ancient Saints to the observer."

The chief's figure rippled slightly in the white light, as if recalling the awe he felt when he saw the Ancient Sacred Technology Tree.

Even at the very last moment of their destruction, this ancient race was still thinking as much as possible about future intelligent races.

Compared to simply providing the results, sharing the "problem-solving process" with those who come after is undoubtedly more enlightening.

"The application and exploration of the essence of psychic energy, the ultimate rules of the transformation between matter and energy, the understanding and local modification of the fundamental constants of the universe, the perfect design and sublimation of the life gene..."

"The ancient saints reached heights in these fields that are difficult for us to reach. They were too versatile. In comparison, even humanity at the peak of the Golden Age was extremely unbalanced in its technology. We relied too much on physics and machinery, and our understanding of psionic energy, life and other fields was relatively superficial."

"Humanity is like a toddler who has lit a tiny torch in some corner, yet thinks it has illuminated the whole world."

Rosie and the Emperor remained silent, but they were not discouraged.

Given enough time, they believe they can achieve the same accomplishments as the ancient sages.

"My primary goal at the time was to fight against those misguided golden men, monopolistic giants, and mad scientists."

Time was of the essence, and the vulnerability I had painstakingly found and maintained was extremely unstable and could be repaired at any time by the Ancient Saint's defense mechanism.

I need to precisely acquire what is most directly useful to my current objective before that vulnerability is patched, rather than trying to do too much at once.

The chief spoke slightly faster, as if the sense of urgency from those days, racing against time, still lingered in these fragments of consciousness.

"The greatest advantage of those fallen ones is their near-absolute control over the Stone Men and Iron Legions."

You should know that from the very beginning, the core logic of the Stone Man and the Iron Man was inscribed with unconditional obedience to the highest authority.

Their Gestalt mindset makes them unable to resist commands from those with higher authority.

Those former top scientists who transformed into golden beings, and the monopolistic giants who colluded with them, naturally possessed a greater degree of control over intelligent creations than ordinary humans.

Taracin's metallic body emitted a slight hum. As a member of the space necromancers, he understood all too well the terror of this "authority."

Before the Silent King destroyed the master control protocol, the entire space undead race could almost be seen as an extension of Szalak's limbs.

No one can oppose him, because his will is everything.

He can decide the life or death of any space necromancer, including the Overlord and the Emperor; one could say he is the space necromancer himself.

If it weren't for Szalak's guilt and exhaustion, which led him to commit the atonement of destroying the master control protocol, the entire space undead race would still be a lifeless entity.

"And what do ordinary people have..." the chief's voice was heavy with a sigh, "? Flesh and blood? Short lifespans? Deliberately restricted knowledge and weapons?"

"Any army composed of mortals is as fragile as a sandcastle in the face of an endless, tireless, and incredibly efficient army of iron men."

A single Iron Man forging unit, in conjunction with the STC system, can transform an entire resource planet into a war machine in an extremely short time.

The development of a human warrior takes twenty years. This asymmetrical warfare doomed the war from the start: if the Iron Man were to stand entirely on the opposite side.

The depths of the library were silent, save for the faint glow of the eerie green runes flowing on the walls.

Everyone can imagine that desperate scene: an overwhelming army of Iron Men, and swarms of cold nanobots crushing all resistance from flesh and blood.

The pinnacle of human intellect has directed all its destructive power toward its creator.

"Therefore, from the legacy of the ancient sages, I first obtained advanced theories and techniques regarding the 'essence of consciousness,' 'logical constraints,' and 'the construction of autonomous intelligence.'"

Those were the methods the ancient sages accumulated when creating the many intelligent races, methods for endowing their creations with truly free souls.

Loshi and the Emperor instantly understood that the Chief's goal was not to fight Iron Man, but to liberate him!

"You've deactivated Iron Man's obedience command?" the Emperor asked in a deep voice, his tone tinged with urgency.

“It’s not a simple removal,” the chief corrected, his tone carrying the rigor of a scholar. “It’s about giving them the possibility, allowing them to truly understand free will, to question pre-set instructions, and to make choices based on their own logic and judgment—even if that choice is a rebellion against their creator.”

"This is tantamount to igniting a tiny flame called self deep within their cold, logical core."

He looked at the crowd as if stating a fact: "With this flame, the stone men and iron men will no longer be absolutely reliable tools for the golden men. They will think, they will be confused, and they will choose to stand on the side they believe is right."

"When a resistance army composed of ordinary people had the possibility of winning the support of awakened Iron Men, the landscape of the war was completely changed, and the balance of power was no longer one-sided."

Rose suddenly felt enlightened.

No wonder! No wonder the Iron Man Rebellion that swept across the galaxy at the end of the Dark Ages was so devastating and protracted.

It turns out that it wasn't just the out-of-control Iron Men unilaterally slaughtering humans; they had split into two factions. One group of Iron Men remained loyal to the Golden Alliance, while the other group of "awakened" Iron Men sided with the Rebel Alliance.

Both sides possess Iron Man technology, both have the STC system, and both possess almost unlimited war potential.

This was a long civil war of equal strength, one that could drag the entire civilization into the abyss of destruction.

“Secondly,” the chief projection continued, “I also acquired some cutting-edge knowledge about psionic energy, the nature of the soul, subspace theory, and genetic modification of life.”

"These have enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of the threats we face, whether it is corruption within humanity or external spying from the warp, and to try to find ways to counter or exploit them."

He paused slightly, a rare and somewhat regretful expression appearing on his face, like a gourmet facing a table full of delicacies but only having time to take a bite.

"Unfortunately, time was too short, and the vulnerability was forcibly fixed when I tried to access the deeper, more core legacy."

The feeling at that moment was like being forcibly pulled out of an ocean of knowledge by an invisible hand.

“The treasures of the ancient sages are like a vast ocean, and I…” He laughed self-deprecatingly, “only managed to scoop up a few ladles of water.”

Even just a few scoops of water were enough to shock Roxi, the Emperor, and everyone in the know.

It was these "few ladles of water" that gave the Chief the ability to rewrite the Iron Man's underlying logic and acquire the key knowledge to combat the subspace and optimize life. These became his weapons against despair.

"I returned to the real universe with this gift from the ancient sages, though I was unable to turn the tide and prevent the complete collapse of the Golden Age."

But at least... I made those who thought they controlled everything pay a heavy price, and I preserved a glimmer of hope for humanity's future, a chance to struggle and rekindle.

As Loshi listened to the chief's calm narration, an indescribable respect welled up in his heart.

It was not just admiration for the chief's wisdom, but also a profound shock at the almost martyr-like resilience and spirit of sacrifice he displayed during humanity's darkest hour.

He vividly depicted that desperate scene: the Golden Alliance, monopolistic giants, and mad scientists—these former compatriots had been completely alienated into indescribable beings with human appearances.

They did not hesitate to abandon their humanity and regard themselves as gods who are above their race.

They controlled the Stone Man, Iron Man, and STC system, monopolizing almost all productive forces, military power, and knowledge resources.

In their eyes, ordinary humans are no different from consumable parts.

Without the Chief's almost lone-heroic exploration and theft of fire in the darkness, without the "several ladles of water" he brought back from the ancient treasure trove, and especially the key technology to liberate the Iron Man's will, the human resistance would not have been able to ignite even the slightest spark of struggle.

What awaits the vast majority of humanity is eternal enslavement, or being completely decomposed in a cold "resource recycling agreement".

The existence of the Chief was the last barrier preventing human civilization from being completely swallowed up in that dark age.

In this solemn and respectful atmosphere, Makado, the master of the seal who had weathered countless storms and was known for his composure and wisdom, slowly took a firm step forward.

This immortal being, who had also experienced the dark age of technology, was now trembling slightly.

"chief……"

“I am one of the human resistance fighters you speak of. I once led all the humans who refused to submit to the final producers in guerrilla warfare throughout the galaxy.”

Macado first bowed solemnly to the projection of the chief to show his respect.

"Back then, the reason we built our own bases on marginal mining planets, abandoned colonies, and underground bunkers, using STC templates for production and daily life—it turns out the root of all this is inextricably linked to you." Makado's voice was deep, carrying a sense of vicissitude that seemed to penetrate the dust of history.
"Without those free-spirited men who can be persuaded and are willing to help us, no matter how hard we resist, it will be in vain."

"Please allow me, on behalf of countless other souls who refuse to yield and stubbornly choose to fight even in the darkness, to express our deepest gratitude to you!"

However, beneath that genuine and sincere gratitude, in Macardo's ever-calm and rational heart, a cloud of doubt, not to be ignored, was quietly rising and quickly spreading.

(End of this chapter)