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

Chapter 976 The Golden Throne and the Producer

With the Chief killing Adrian the Golden Man, this heavy memory came to an end.

The conversation between the chief and the Golden Man did dispel a considerable portion of Makado's doubts; at least he now understood part of the reason why the Golden Men had become so fanatical.

The reason why these most outstanding individuals among humanity embarked on the crazy path of ascension to godhood, besides the increasing indifference of humanity brought about by the rampant development of technology, was that they perceived the enormous threat posed by the warp.

This may be different from common sense. It is generally believed that when humanity entered the Golden Age, the Warp was in a rare state of peace, and even the fourth evil god, Slaanesh, had not yet been awakened by the corruption of the Eldar at that time.

However, these top scientists of the golden age were terrifyingly powerful; they could detect the turbulent undercurrents beneath the calm surface of the subspace from the subtle traces.

Perhaps in pursuit of truth, perhaps in pursuit of transcendence, or perhaps, as Adrian said, they are seeking greater power to fight against the enemies of the warp, the Golden Alliance has indeed embarked on a path of madness.

Rosie's thoughts drifted in another direction. When he heard that the golden men's goal was to create a god belonging to mankind, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He thought of the God-Emperor, the god of mankind whose divine power originated from the Emperor, part of the authority of the Dark Lord, and the invisible nourishment from the faith and souls of countless humans.

Perhaps the purpose of those top scientists in the Golden Age, who were willing to destroy the entire Golden Age, was to create an existence like the God-Emperor?

Judging from the results, the Golden Man's goal seems to have been achieved in another form and at another point in time; now humanity does indeed have its own gods.

However, the one who occupies the divine position is not any golden statue, but rather an extension of the emperor's will.

Those mad scientists have long since vanished into the dustbin of history, forgotten by all.

The chief's projection seemed to sense the turmoil of everyone's thoughts. He paused slightly, a rare hesitation and struggle appearing on his face.

“Killing Adrian eliminated the risk of my whereabouts being leaked, but it also put the Golden Council on high alert.” The chief’s voice was hoarse with weariness. “More importantly, his words really did pierce my mind like a poisonous thorn.”

"I cannot deny that some of what he said before I killed him was true: the threat of the warp is real and deadly, and humanity, as a newly born race, is far too vulnerable to the malice of other dimensions."

"I began to think that perhaps humanity really needs a guardian, an existence that can contend with those enemies on the warp level, a god that belongs to humanity itself."

But I must never follow the old path of the Jurchens, I must never use the souls of hundreds of millions of compatriots as fuel to forge a twisted monster in madness and infighting.

The chief's tone still conveyed an unwavering resolve.

"I need to find another path, one that does not require endless sacrifices, but can gather the will and soul of humanity to forge a god of humanity."

He looked at Loxi and the Emperor, his eyes filled with a complex emotion.

"So I began an unprecedented study, combining the knowledge I had stolen from the ancient treasury with my lifelong understanding of the nature of the human soul."

The chief's description gradually sketched out a grand yet chilling blueprint:

"First, I need a medium or container to hold the human soul."

It must be able to instantly anchor and extract the soul core of an individual upon death, preventing it from falling into the warp and becoming sustenance for those beings. This requires an extremely precise soul traction field and powerful reality anchoring technology.

"Secondly, there is the refining furnace. The souls that are extracted cannot be piled up like garbage. The energy and spiritual imprints they contain need to be purified and refined to form a pure spiritual energy or power of faith that can be stably stored and guided and utilized when necessary."

"Third, this device must be able to safely guide the transformed, enormous energy into a selected target. This target will become the vessel for this human soul power, the prototype of a human god."

“As for the last point,” the chief’s voice finally began to lighten a little, “I need this device to become a portal to the Internet.”

"The Net was created by the ancient sages, a great creation that can easily achieve faster-than-light movement."

The future survival of humankind, whether through large-scale relocation or strategic maneuvering, will depend on it.

Therefore, my device must have robust built-in network access permissions, even capable of forcibly hacking, stabilizing, or repairing damaged network nodes when necessary.

"After all, the Net Path is a special kind of psionic creation, and the device I'm going to create will also flow with incredibly abundant psionic energy because it contains a large amount of human soul power."

It's not surprising that the chief also set his sights on the online platform. In fact, anyone with foresight would instinctively want to take control of the online platform after witnessing its power and convenience.

"After I listed all the requirements, I realized with deep emotion that this was an incredibly difficult task."

A strange expression appeared on the chief's face. In Luo Xi's view, it was probably the same as a client who liked to make all sorts of unreasonable demands, who, after summarizing his own harsh conditions, suddenly found himself in the same predicament as the client and the service provider.

As the most outstanding scientist of the Golden Age, the Chief Scientist has always used the strictest requirements to discipline himself and those around him. Once he has made a decision to do something well, he will do it to the best of his ability.

"The device I want to create needs to simultaneously absorb the souls of almost all of humanity in the galaxy, collect their souls after they die, and refine the power of these souls into a directly usable power of ascension."

Rosie and the Emperor's heart skipped a beat almost simultaneously, and a vague yet startling conjecture gradually became clear in their minds.

“To solve this problem, I made countless attempts,” the chief continued. “Finally, I chose a special location—near the Catalan spatial rift.”

“That place is a weak point in the real universe, with severe subspace energy infiltration and a harsh environment, but it also provides a unique experimental field and a natural environment with strong psionic energy.”

The chief's projection seemed to be accessing a memory database, projecting an image in front of everyone.

A long, narrow space station, resembling a spine, floats coldly against a backdrop of distorted starlight.

Its size is already astonishing enough, but what is even more breathtaking is the massive, planet-sized man-made ring structure built around it.

The outer shell of this ring-shaped structure is not metal or rock, but is covered with countless precisely arranged, mirror-smooth reflectors.

They resemble giant shields or an incredibly complex array of energy lenses, transforming the chaotic energy flow from subspace rifts to provide a relatively stable environment for the core experimental area inside the space station.

“This is my secret laboratory,” the chief explained. “I tested the stability of the soul traction field, optimized the efficiency of the energy conversion matrix, and built the first prototype there.”

The chief's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible regret, as if he was quite dissatisfied with the prototype.

"The prototype basically achieved its design goals: it could anchor souls, convert energy, and had a basic network interface, but it had a fatal flaw."

"It has too high requirements for the 'core'. It requires an individual with super psionic power to control it, and I am not a psionicist. I do not have that kind of talent given by the warp."

Luo Xi and the Emperor exchanged a glance, and both of them had reached a conclusion.

The prototype mentioned by the chief is probably the Black Glass.

During the Great Expedition, the Emperor himself discovered the abandoned Black Glass in the Catalonia region mentioned by the Chief. He attempted to reactivate the Black Glass in order to decipher the technology and knowledge used within it.

According to the Emperor's research, the technology used in the Black Glass and the Golden Throne found on Terra is very similar, except that the Black Glass is more primitive and rudimentary, and is obviously just some kind of test version.

"So, you created the Golden Throne? After completing the Black Glass?" Rosie swallowed hard, speaking with a strong sense of certainty.

The chief has already revealed almost everything; if they still can't see it, then they're really slow to react.

"If you call the final product I built the 'Golden Throne,' then it is indeed my work, since it does look completely golden on the outside." The chief nodded, confirming Rosie's question.

The confusion that had been lingering in the hearts of the Emperor and Macardo was finally resolved at this moment.

After deciding to establish a human empire to save human civilization from its fragmentation in an era of conflict, the two began searching for any usable relics and powers.

Makado originally came from the Seal Bearers organization, which was a special organization that continuously collected valuable items and recorded true history.

It wasn't until the thirtieth millennium, after the emperors had already begun their wars of unification, that they discovered the golden throne buried under the yellow sand in an ancient desert in the Terra region.

Terra, having experienced the Golden Age and the Dark Age of technology, is now ravaged by the Civil War, but no one knows what lies buried beneath those ruins.

Even if one doesn't understand the purpose of the Golden Throne, the fact that this enormous object is well-preserved proves its extraordinary nature.

It's worth noting that many of those precious STC templates were broken during the war and then dug up by the tech barbarians to be used as cannonballs.

After finding the Golden Throne, the Emperor and Makado took it to the original site of the palace in the Himalayas and placed it there. They then gradually built a vast palace around it to protect its safety.

No one knows who created the Golden Throne; the only certainty is that it must have been created during humanity's dark age of technology.

As for who created this powerful machine and then allowed it to be buried in the ruins beneath the yellow sand, that remains an unknowable mystery.

"Although my creation looks like a throne, it actually has no essential relationship with a throne." It was at this moment that the chief learned what future generations would call his work.

He came from the most enlightened and free golden age of mankind, so it was impossible for him to lead the way in turning back the clock of history and create a "throne".

"It is essentially a powerful psionic amplification device that can continuously amplify the user's psionic energy and give them an elevated perspective, transcending the limitations of human observation, thus allowing them to observe the world from a higher perspective."

"It can link to the network and forcibly enter the ancient saint's inextricable network system. Through this device, humanity can get rid of the dangers of subspace travel and thus travel more freely in the galaxy."

Upon hearing this, the emperor's feelings were quite complicated.

He never imagined that the Golden Throne, which was so important to humanity, would eventually turn out to be one of his teacher's creations.

Knowing the origin of the Golden Throne only amplified the mysteries in everyone's minds. "However, since the Golden Throne is so important, it possesses the ability that the Golden People dream of: to collect and utilize the power of human souls without causing widespread suffering, and to control the Web Path to a certain extent."

"Whether it's the rebels or the Golden Alliance, as long as they know about the existence of the Golden Throne, they will inevitably regard it as the most important strategic point."

"Why...why was it ultimately left in the Terra desert, buried under the sand, until Neos found it?" Loshi's tone was full of confusion and urgency as he stared intently at the Chief's projection.

This question was undoubtedly on point. The Emperor, Makado, Tarasin, and Higoki were all waiting for the Chief's answer.

However, the chief's projection fell silent for the first time when faced with this question.

The figure formed by the light and shadow seemed to become unstable, blurry and flickering.

The gentle expression that had always graced his face was gone, replaced by... hesitation? Even a hint of confusion.

Rosie sensed something was wrong: "Chief, what's wrong? Is this problem troubling you?"

The chief projector seemed to sway slightly, and he raised his hand as if rubbing his temples.

“Loshi, Neos, everyone… I need to explain something.” His voice was no longer as steady as before, and it was somewhat intermittent.

“I am not just a pre-recorded video. If I had to define it, I am more like a psionic clone of the original body.”

"After obtaining part of the ancient saint's legacy, the original body used the psionic knowledge it had just learned, along with some of the techniques it had mastered, to separate a clone with its own consciousness."

“I was left here, hidden in the defense system of the ancient treasure, to wait for the person with the key to come and tell you what needs to be said.”

He paused for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out what was going on with him.

"Because I am an avatar, there is still a tiny, weak connection between me and my original self."

This connection is very weak, like a thin, almost invisible thread in the darkness, but through it, I can roughly understand the state of the person, especially when they are particularly emotional, I can vaguely sense some of their thoughts.

The chief looked at everyone, a helpless expression on his face.

"So, I know that the entity did something in the twenty-second millennium: after many experiments, he created the 'Black Glass' prototype, solved the most critical problem, and then designed and began to build the device that you call the Golden Throne."

“However,” his tone suddenly turned heavy, “this connection is not permanent. Just as the Golden Throne was about to be completed, the connection between the main body and me began to weaken, and I lost the ability to perceive the outside world.”

As the chief clone finished speaking, Luo Xi and the others felt a complex mix of emotions: relief at having found the answer, yet also a deeper confusion and a lingering regret.

Loshi sighed softly; he had received an answer, yet it felt as if he hadn't.

They learned the origin of the Golden Throne, the other path the Chief had been secretly planning for humanity, and even most of his activities in the twenty-second millennium and his life-or-death conversation with Adrian the Golden Man.

This information is invaluable, filling a crucial gap in one of the darkest periods in human history.

But more questions arose, lingering like ghosts.

What exactly happened to the Chief's main body when he was about to complete the Golden Throne? Why did his connection with his clone suddenly break down?
Most importantly, why was that powerful artifact, which embodied the wisdom of the chief and was capable of changing the fate of mankind, abandoned deep in the desert of Terra and forgotten for so long?
The emperor's heart was equally heavy. He stroked the sword at his waist, but the cold touch could not dispel the fog in his heart.

He couldn't imagine what someone like a teacher would do to give up their most important creation.

Even death would likely not make the chief make such a decision. He would certainly entrust the golden throne to a suitable person before his death, or he would leave a contingency plan for someone else to take over the cause in the future.

On Makado's aged face, the wrinkles seemed to have deepened.

He had a strong premonition that there must be some hidden connection between the Chief's complete disappearance, the final demise of the Golden Men, and the abandonment of the Golden Throne, which he was unaware of.

However, even the chief clone in front of him didn't know the truth.

Was the Chief forced to relinquish the Golden Throne during the final battle with the Producers? Or... did he truly discover at the last moment that the Golden Throne had an unbearable flaw and made the decision to abandon it?

Every possibility points to a disturbing ending: the truth of history, like an inscription eroded by wind and sand, has its crucial parts forever lost.

“Chief…” Luo Xi opened her mouth, wanting to ask something more, but for a moment she didn’t know where to begin.

He knew that his clone had already told them everything it knew.

Even if you press further, you'll only get the same answer—I don't know.

The chief's clone seemed to understand their feelings.

"The mysteries of the past are like shipwrecks in the ocean; they may never be fully salvaged. Obsessing over those complicated details will only add to our troubles."

His gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on the open, starlight-filled giant door.

"The path beneath your feet leads to the future, not to the past buried in dust. The legacy of the ancient sages is right before you; the knowledge and power they contain can help you protect humanity today more than questioning the final fate of an old relic."

His words immediately jolted everyone out of their melancholy.

Yes, worrying about whether the chief is alive or dead, or why the golden throne was abandoned, cannot change the past.

Although humanity has now recovered from the greatest danger, the shadows of Victor and Iniede have not yet dissipated, and although Chaos has been banished, the threat remains.

The ancient treasures before them were their true objective for this journey, and something that could bring tangible benefits to humanity.

The Emperor took a deep breath, and a resolute light rekindled in his golden eyes. He looked at Rosie and nodded.

Makado also collected his thoughts, and the calm and focus of a master handprint returned to his aged eyes.

“You’re right.” Luo Xi suppressed the emptiness in her heart, her eyes sharpening.

"Let bygones be bygones. If we really have the chance, we can slowly unravel these mysteries in the future. But for now, let's see what treasures the ancient sages have left us."

Without further hesitation, he took the lead and stepped through the open, enormous door.

The Emperor followed closely behind, followed by Makado, Tarasin, Orikan, and finally Higochi, who all went in one after another.

The chief's psionic avatar stood at the entrance, watching everyone enter before being engulfed by a blinding light.

In the chief's eyes, a complex emotion mixed with regret and relief was revealed.

He spoke slowly in a voice only he could hear.

"Although I have lost contact with the outside world, in the end, I share the same way of thinking and ideals as my original self."

"Given the given assumptions and conditions, the choices I can make are the choices the entity itself can make."

"The original body created the Golden Throne, but wanted to wait for humans to die naturally and then draw their souls into the Golden Throne. This idea... does have my usual optimistic style."

"This plan is indeed feasible, but it is difficult to guarantee that those golden people will not discover the true intentions of the original body."

They won't stop the original body, because they also need the Golden Throne. They might even actively inject the suffering they themselves create into the Golden Throne, ultimately competing with the original body to become the sole being to sit on it.

“When the golden men compete with each other, the final winner will possess everything of the losers. As this process continues to cycle, the ultimate winner will be born.”

"As for my original self, although he has always insisted on not colluding with the final producers, from the moment he created the Golden Throne, he had already 'monopolized' the opportunity to ascend to godhood to some extent, and he also became a 'final producer' in the realm of godhood."

"After all, the methods by which the Producers enslave humanity and extract power from human suffering and despair are far too inefficient, while the golden throne created by the original body can accelerate this process at an exponentially rapid pace."

"In the end, it seems that my true self has become no different from the final producers..."

"Original Body, did you ultimately abandon the Golden Throne because you realized you had strayed too far from your original aspirations, and thus chose to give up all your efforts...?"

Loxi and the others had already entered the Ancient Saint's Treasury, so they naturally did not hear the chief clone's mutterings.

The chief clone had no intention of telling these newcomers about these things, since they were all just his own speculations.

The space behind the door was not, as one might have imagined, filled with rare treasures left behind by ancient sages.

It is more like a frozen starry sky, with countless stars made of pure energy and data flow slowly rotating and flowing in the void, forming a magnificent and abstract vast scene.

An enormous, incomprehensible geometric structure floats in the distance, emitting a soft glow, seemingly a device or a vessel of knowledge.

The ground beneath their feet was not solid, but rather a layer of energy membrane like the surface of water, which rippled gently as they stepped in.

Looking at the vast sea of ​​knowledge before them, the sense of loss they felt from learning about some history but leaving huge gaps was instantly replaced by intense surprise and longing.

(End of this chapter)