Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 672 Guilliman, you won't mind me bragging to you again, kid? (From the world of recruiting as a technical sergeant)
The war of annihilation in Viziore lasted for an entire stellar year, until it ended in 903 when the 47th Expeditionary Fleet surrendered to Kur, designated the planet 47-10, and began building the perfect city to worship the emperor in the planet's capital, Monachia.

Within a 120,000-kilometer radius around Viziore, burning metal debris illuminates the planet.

The planet's surface is studded with fungus-covered metal and permeated with disgusting pus.

The screams of death echoed throughout the galaxy as the Fourth Chapter's "Gatekeepers" and "Necromancers," along with "Necromancers," roamed the planets, replenishing the lost undead.

The Shadow of Reigns, Primarch Office.

Arsène Dunn, holding a data tablet, began his report.

"My lord, I have tallied the casualties of each battle group. A total of 24,050 men have been killed in the six battle groups."

"Most of them died in the distortion effect caused by the Hruds after the destruction of the Ramirez-class star fortress."

Ninglu nodded. Including the 2,840 people who had died earlier, the total number of casualties for "Shadow of Order" reached 26,890.

The total number of casualties, excluding the "Iron Warriors," is approximately 30,000.

Moreover, the results achieved were fundamentally different. Peturabo only drove away the Hruds, and the Gugan system was shattered and unusable.

Nimrod annihilated the largest Hrud race in the galaxy and gained the Sak Terrada Abyss, which can be developed and utilized.

[Hmm... Although the casualties were considerable, it was still lower than repeatedly activating the stasis device in various Hrud colony worlds.]

After all, defeating the Hrud warships and deploying them on the ground both take time, which means sacrifices.

Moreover, it significantly reduced the duration of the battle and prevented the Hruds from escaping.

More importantly, stasis mechanisms may encounter problems during repeated startups and collisions with entropy energy fields.
As Ninglu pondered, the Primarch attendant with snow-white hair continued to report.

"Among them, the First Battle Group suffered the most casualties, with 7,410 men. They opened up the landing zone and undertook the main defense of the various fronts."

"..."

"Another 28,600 people suffered from varying degrees of physical aging, of whom 1,940 were severely aged and unsuitable for continuing high-intensity combat."

The image of Barabbas Danteok flashed through Ninglu's mind; he was ordered to defend the Volpa Gorge.

In the end, not only did Star Gorge fall, but he also aged three thousand years, making it difficult for him to walk, and even earning the brief pity of Peturabo.

"They were removed from frontline combat and reassigned as recruit instructors."

“I will obey Your command,” Arsena wrote down, and continued.

"What I think you should pay attention to is that although the static force field overwhelmed Hrud's entropy field, at different times and in local areas, it suffered a brief distortion effect due to the invasion of a large number of Hruds."

"The technical sergeants provided support in various places, but suffered the greatest losses since the corps was founded, with a total of 258 technical sergeants killed."

Ning Lu nodded slightly. "I understand."

“I will find a suitable place for them to recruit soldiers.”

“I think the Lord of the Forge will be happy to hear this news.” Arsena breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that the Black Emperor had taken it seriously and decided to resolve the issue. He continued.

"My lord, how should we proceed with the expansion of the Sark Terrada Abyss?"

“Viziore belongs to the Fourth Warband,” Nimrod ordered. “The six warbands will be dispersed to explore.”

"Focus on exploring each ancient site, collecting mycelium scrolls, and you will be responsible for compiling the information and searching for traces of Bilake."

"Summon the master of the furnace to come and see me."

“Follow Your will.” Arsena acknowledged the command and then withdrew, relaying the order. Nimrod, in a flash of thought, arrived at the fourth level of the “Land of Chaos,” picked up the fully charged prophecy die, and the mandala stars and their situation flashed through his mind.

[Southeast of the Milky Way, on the frontier of the Storm Starfield, within the Mandala Cluster, in a region known as the Enveloped Zone.]

The mandala originates from the most powerful Sotek dynasty of the space necromancers.

The region is plagued by frequent stellar disasters, many of which are ancient galaxies, too old to support life, and are filled with dense nebulae and surging space debris.

[…]
The recruitment site that Nimrod chose for his technical soldiers was not simply a world rich in mineral resources that met the requirements for establishing a forging world, but rather Orpheus, the main planet with a large number of technological relics.

It is the homeworld of the "Ultraman" sub-group and the "Orpheus Archon" chapter during the future second military period.

The Orpheus Consul is considered to have the highest level of science and technology among the many Ultra Warrior subgroups, and is similar to the Tech Priest.

They also possess the Orpheus Key, which can be used not only as a multi-functional key but also as a oracle. Most notably, its Thinker Engine can analyze unknown or faulty technologies and provide solutions for users.

Ninglu believes that the technology of the "Orpheus Archon" and the special Orpheus Key most likely originated from the relics of the "Dark Age of Technology" that were being explored.

As far as I can remember, during the "Great Expedition" period, the "Ultramen" did not possess similar technology, and their technical level was significantly lower than that of legions such as the "Iron Hand" and the "Iron Warriors".

More importantly, the Orpheus Archon's technical skill level is exceptionally high compared to all other Ultramarines squads.

[To find a suitable special world for the technical sergeants, and to make it easier to further cultivate teams primarily composed of "perfectionists."]
He gathered his thoughts and then turned to another idea.

[Guilliman, you haven't even finished exploring the Altera Mara space region yet, you shouldn't mind me bragging about your kid again, right? As a recruiting world for a technical sergeant.]

Furthermore, the Mandala constellation, which will later be named the Orphic Sector, was not discovered by you.
Ninglu recalled that the Orps sector was the latter half of the "Great Expedition," during which the traveling merchant Arica Orpheus conducted a long-range exploration deep into the vast extended region known as the Mandala constellation.

Orpheus's voyage was intended to serve as a guide for the Astartes and auxiliary fleets, and he discovered a region containing remnants of human civilization from the "Dark Ages" and scattered alien lands.

This is why Nimrod did not directly divine the main star Orpheus, because he had intercepted it in advance and knew that this star sector would not have that name in the future.

But the name of the Mandala constellation has existed for tens of millions of years.

After Ninglu had reviewed all the details of the mandala constellations in his mind, he silently recited them in his heart.

[A star map leading from the Caligum Gate to the Mandala constellations.]

[…]
After silently repeating it eleven times, he threw the triangular cone in his hand.

The moment the triangular pyramid spun and fell into his large hand, a star map unfolded before him.

After recording the star chart, Ninglu entered the data into the crystal.

He immediately returned to the world and summoned Rosicky Cech into it.

Ninglu pushed the radiant data crystal in front of the Forge Master and gave the order.

"You shall immediately lead the fleet to the edge of the Storm Starfield and explore the human ruins of the Mandala Stars."

"Search for special key relics mentioned by the data crystals in the human civilization and ruins of the 'Dark Age of Technology', and establish armories on the planets where they are found to train technological soldiers."

"That place will be the best place for technical sergeants to grow."

Rosicky's eyes gleamed; the casualties among the technical sergeants had troubled him for quite some time.

Now, the Black Emperor has granted them a suitable world.

He picked up the data crystal and said respectfully, "Follow Your will."

(End of this chapter)