Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 269 Loading the Stars! (2-in-1)

Upon hearing Guilliman's reply, Gao Yi quickly opened the system.

As expected, the requirements for the last planet were also met.

[Habitable Planet (10/10)]

Requirements have been met.

[Can load a third game program segment]

Looking at the system prompts, Gao Yi had already decided which third game program he wanted to load.

stars.

Aether Engine Activated! Drain Warp!
This was the key to his godhood in Warhammer physics, and also the key to completely purifying the warp.

Of course, this is on the premise that the virtual realm and the subspace will be recognized by the system as equal existences.

However, given the system's capabilities, this was almost inevitable; even his own Xel'Naga projection could appear in the warp.

The addition of the Stars will allow Gao Yi to achieve significant development in various aspects, including people's livelihood, industry, warships, and individual strength at this stage.

Stellaris's tech tree is quite comprehensive.

Furthermore, the Ascension talent can greatly enhance a person's own strength.

Genetic remodeling, flesh and blood become weak and painful, synthetic evolution, the mind triumphs over matter.

However, apart from the first type, which is relatively controllable and can completely preserve the human form, the latter three types will almost completely change humanity itself.

This is in great conflict with the current ideology of the Empire of Man, whose ideology in the Warhammer world places great emphasis on purity.

Although there are mechanical clerks who are keen on modifying themselves, Gao Yi doesn't want to be surrounded by robots. Compared to living in that form, Gao Yi hopes that people can still live in this world as humans.

In addition to these four types of ascension talents, there are some special ascension talents, two of which can also allow Gao Yi to obtain two unique mechanical creations that defy common sense and can even be said to surpass divine artifacts.

That is the synaptic condenser and the ether phase engine.

The former, named Cosmic Creation, provides you with a special mechanical construct that can be used as a super-large wet component connector.

It can house intelligent beings and sustain their lives; it can link the thoughts and consciousness of all living beings together.
As the population placed within it increases, and the power of the creation itself increases, the synaptic concentrator will begin to consume their lives and even their souls; it is essentially using these things to accelerate technological breakthroughs.

Just like computer hardware wears out, it uses its lifespan to increase computing power.

Just as its name suggests, ascension can ultimately allow your technology to reach a level where you can control time and space, and even arbitrarily modify the laws of physics.
If you were willing, you could even eliminate friction, round up π, and change the entire world in the blink of an eye.

However, reaching this point comes at a heavy price and requires a long time.

If Gao Yi didn't know that this thing had nothing to do with the warp, he would have thought it might be part of Tzeentch's conspiracy just by looking at its effects.

Isn't this pure sacrificial behavior? Exchanging souls for knowledge is exactly the same as Tzeentch's methods of bewitching mortals.

Of course, Tzeentch's power is far from reaching that level.

Moreover, the population that appears to be 1 in the stars can be quite large in reality.

Although there is no explicit number, Gao Yi has no doubt that the required population is in the hundreds of millions.

In the Stars, where everyone is a war criminal, one can mercilessly throw all other races in need, even the unemployed under one's own command, into the fray. But here, Gao Yi knows he can't bring himself to do that.

These are all living, breathing human lives.

However, some alternatives can be found in this world.

The most suitable ones would be those green-skinned creatures, pure organic life forms. Judging from their vitality, they might be able to withstand more of the synaptic condensation machine's devastation.

In terms of the green skin's reproductive ability, it is even more exceptional, and it even has the opportunity to be "cultivated" scientifically on a large scale, which can almost be said to be the perfect wet component for the condensing machine.

However, Gao Yi believes that more experiments are needed for these selected wet components.

When the rules of two different worlds collide, Gao Yi can't say for sure whether it will cause some special phenomena.

After countless green-skinned beings have their consciousness linked together by the synaptic concentrator, will an unparalleled waaagh field emerge, ultimately causing some unimaginable consequences?

Moreover, the influx of a large population is not without its costs; it still has to meet physical limitations.

That means the more people you cram in, the more energy you'll consume. If you really cramm a huge number of people in without any limit, you might bankrupt your faction in terms of energy before you even get to enjoy the technological boosts.

Gao Yi knew that even if he could manufacture this thing, he had to first improve his own fundamentals.

The latter, named Star Sea Heavenly Punishment, not only allows Gao Yi to create the Heavenly Blazing Weapon that can blast stars at will, but also enables him to create the Ether Image Engine that can drain subspace. In the final stage of the Ether Image Engine, it can even detonate the entire universe, allowing the entire race to travel to a completely new world.

However, meeting these conditions is even more stringent than achieving the goal of condensing the machine.

Not only would doing so make them almost an enemy of the entire universe, since no race wants to just wait to die like that.

Even people within humanity would surely have doubts about this approach.

Destroying all the stars and ascending to a completely new world—Gao Yi believes that not everyone will believe in this approach.

Furthermore, the dark matter resources required to upgrade the Ether Engine can only be obtained from black holes.

Moreover, in this situation, not only external enemies, but also the entire human empire would inevitably be plunged into internal strife.

Games are just games. When you're a gamer, you don't need to worry about anything, but in real-life situations, there are just too many things to consider.

Either option will have a terrifying impact on the universe, so choosing either one will turn you into a "catastrophe" in the game.

However, in Gao Yi's vision, even without upgrading the Ether Engine to the final stage, it might still be able to suppress the subspace.

There's no need to completely drain it; as long as the Ether Engine exists, it can continuously pump water out of the subspace, keeping it in a shrinking state, which is also a good option.

After all, Gao Yi himself also possesses a subspace projection, and the attributes of the virtual realm are different from those of the subspace. Normal humans all have projections in the subspace, and if the subspace were truly drained, it could have a huge impact on humans.

The Exorcism Zone has already demonstrated the state of humanity after the complete isolation of the subspace.

After thinking about it, the best solution is to combine the two: use the Ether Engine to compress the subspace, causing it to lose its supernatural reliance and strength, and finally use the Synaptic Condensation Machine to accelerate the breakthrough and crush the subspace with the technology.

The warp in this world isn't that difficult to enter; warp travel is enough to enter the warp, not to mention the massive warp rifts in the real universe.

Then we'll show the four peddlers what it means for the subspace to assimilate the real universe, and for the real universe to assimilate the subspace in the same way.

"I hope there can be fewer restrictions in the game. It would be great if we could choose both."

The more Gao Yi thought about it, the more excited he became. Either of them could change the fate of the entire Warhammer universe.

However, regardless of which method is used to unlock construction or even research related technologies, it will inevitably consume a lot of resources. Gao Yi thought about the pitiful output that he saw in advance when loading the second part of the game program.

Unlocking related technologies and achieving ascension using these resources would take forever!
The Warhammer world we're in now isn't a game. In games, you can speed things up, but here, every single second has to be endured on your own.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Gao Yi checked the star-related resources currently available through the system display, praying that his current power level would provide him with sufficient resources for development.

"Phew, thank goodness there's some hope now. If I have this amount of resources, the resource boost I can get as I continue to expand my power should be quite considerable."

Gao Yi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the technology points for physics, social sciences, and engineering could reach 500 points per month.

It's so much better than the initial 20 points. The popularization and development of the Holy Machine Order has led to a large number of technical priests and related personnel joining the Montgomery Dynasty.

The Holy Mechanism Order in the expanded region has even surpassed the size of the pioneer fleets that came to explore the expanded region.

Even many priests in these pioneer fleets, after spending resources to purchase the Seal of Purity and SCV services and experiencing its wonders firsthand, began to believe in the ideals of the Holy Machine Order and joined it.

Within the Empire, a portion of the forging worlds in the Calissis Sector, which borders the expansion, have also begun to be influenced by the Holy Machine Order.

Gao Yi believed that after the victory in Cardia, the wonders of the Holy Machine Order would spread throughout the Empire through the surviving Cardia soldiers and the Imperial fleets and Astronauts that had retreated to their respective star sectors.

Who wouldn't be tempted by an SCV that grants machines immunity to Chaos Corruption and allows for rapid repairs? The Holy Machine Repair Society's influence will grow even greater, and Gao Yi will gain far more technology points than that.

Kaul also agreed to work together to crack the warp drive, and the priests under his command were all outstanding individuals. Spreading the news that Kaul had stayed with the Holy Machine Order would greatly enhance the Holy Machine Order's influence.

By continuously unlocking new technologies with technology points to fill the dynasty's technology reserves, and then using these technology reserves to continuously cultivate and attract new technical talents, a virtuous cycle is formed.

Gao Yi continued looking back and saw that the resource called Cohesion was the key to unlocking the Ascension talent, and the acquisition of Cohesion brought Gao Yi immense joy.

Nearly a thousand units of cohesion per month? Wow. That's much more than I imagined.

Gao Yi speculated that the large gains in cohesion were also due to the inherent characteristics of the Warhammer world itself.

Faith has both its advantages and disadvantages.

Since the Great Crusade, the Warhammer Empire has survived only because of its faith in the Emperor. Although the state religion is extreme, it has maintained its vast and corrupt territory by promoting faith in the Emperor.

Faith has united humanity scattered across the galaxy, providing them with a sense of belonging to the Empire and a spiritual anchor.

In this world, faith can genuinely produce miracles.

Without the support of faith, the entire human empire would have long since fallen apart. Although faith has filled the empire with fanatical people, it is indeed something that the human empire cannot abandon for the time being.

Gao Yi knew that the same was true within his own Montgomery dynasty. It wasn't just the Xel'Naga projection that possessed special power; after defeating Vashtor, he also truly experienced what a miracle was.

In the physical universe, they even possess the ability to wield this divine power.

Compared to humans on other planets in Warhammer, life within the Montgomery dynasty was quite comfortable, which gave its people a strong sense of belonging to the dynasty.

The strength of the Montgomery dynasty almost entirely stemmed from Gao Yi, and the dynasty's propaganda about him was the same, almost brainwashing the people into believing that Gao Yi was everything to the Montgomery dynasty.

He received regular reports from Weill and Rebecca.

He also learned that some people within the dynasty were gradually showing a tendency to "deify" it. Gao Yi also knew that becoming a god in the Warhammer world was not a good thing, and even if he ordered it to be stopped, he couldn't stop people from doing so in private.
The existence of faith has become so ingrained in humanity that people in this world are accustomed to it and even unable to abandon it. People in suffering hope that a faith can protect them and become their refuge.

Gao Yi had no choice but to passively accept these beliefs, but this did indeed greatly help him consolidate his rule.

After his attempts to dissuade them failed, Gao Yi had no choice but to order Rebecca and Will to reduce their official publicity efforts.

Furthermore, the Holy Machine Order has always regarded him as the incarnation of Om Messiah.

All these factors combined are what make the cohesion so powerful.

After seeing that his basic resources met his expectations, Gao Yi began the loading process.

Gao Yi could no longer contain his emotions. He stared excitedly at the notification that popped up on the system interface.

[Confirm loading the Stellaris game application?]

Gao Yi pressed the OK button without hesitation.

[Start loading the Stellar template]

Loading...

The entire loading process took much longer than before, perhaps due to the large size of the file.

After a long wait, the system finally sent a notification.

[Successfully loaded the Stellaris game program]

【Loadable game program 3/3】

The next part of the game loading process requires a thorough understanding of an entire star system.

Gao Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the notification.

He couldn't wait to open the exclusive interface for the game, which was significantly different from the game interface after system optimization.

The option to ascend has become a requirement for cohesion and specific technologies.

This simplified many of Gao Yi's operations. Gao Yi guessed that this change was made because many conceptual buffs in the original game tradition could not take effect in Warhammer after leaving the game.

As Gao Yi expected, all the ascension options were displayed in the list.

Genetic reshaping, flesh and blood weakness, synthetic evolution, and the mind over matter—these four ascensions are currently displayed in gray and cannot be selected. Gao Yi also learned through inspection that they can only be selected after two ascension talents are unlocked.

What excites Gao Yi the most is that the Star Sea Heavenly Punishment and the Creation of the Universe can be activated right now.

There isn't even a restriction between the two that allows you to choose only one specific natural disaster, as is common in games.

This means that it is now possible for Gao Yi to achieve both of these advancements simultaneously.

The system then immediately displayed a notification.

[One Ascension talent can be activated for free (0/1)]

[Activating the next Ascension Talent requires 1000 Convergence.]

(End of this chapter)