Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 119 Vox's Conditions (Eleventh Update)
"Chen Yu, it's good to see you back safely." Vox's voice rang out, his tone, a mixture of an old man's hoarseness and electrical static, was less formulaic and more casual, as if he were talking to a familiar subordinate, even with a hint of barely perceptible friendliness: "The wisdom of Om Messiah has always guided us, even though the road ahead seems to be full of thorns."

“Great Sage Vox. Following your guidance, I have completed the initial exploration.” Chen Yu responded with standard Mechanicus etiquette, his crimson optical lens calmly gazing at the other party, awaiting further instructions.

After a brief opening, Vox cut straight to the point without much small talk.

His original human eye narrowed slightly, as if recalling something, while he waved a mechanical tentacle, projecting a huge star map and data report into the air above his desk.

“Chen Yu, you’ve come back just in time. The situation… is worse than when we last communicated.” Vox’s voice carried a heavy, nostalgic tone. “You saw the unfinished project on the tracks, and you passed through that increasingly dreary factory below.”

Looking back on the Great Expedition... those were such memorable years.

The empire's territory continues to expand, the warlord's fleet is invincible, and our Nexus's furnaces burn day and night, forging indestructible armor for the emperor's warriors.

At that time, the entire sector could hear the roar of our forging hammers and feel the glory of Om Messiah.

His tone gradually shifted from reminiscence to the solemnity of reality, his mechanical eye locking onto a flickering node on the star map: "But now... the trauma caused by Horus's betrayal is far more profound than we initially anticipated."

The empire is recovering, but the order has changed. Our most stable pillars... are crumbling.

Vox's mechanical tentacles swept across the star map, bringing up another clear stream of data.

A thick band of light, marked "Seventh Legion, Imperial Fist," held an absolutely dominant position in the historical data, its light stream so strong that it almost obscured all other minor order sources.

“Look here,” Vox said, his voice carrying a deliberate, pragmatic distress, as if stating an inescapable physical law, “We Neksam, from the moment the first foundation was laid, have had the code to serve the Seventh Legion flowing in our veins.”

"The offspring of the Primarch of Dorne, they are our strongest foundation, the very reason our Forges are designed the way they are. Their needs are our production orders."

His tentacle tip gently tapped the part of the light band on the chart that had begun to narrow and fork noticeably in recent decades, producing a metallic tapping sound: "But, as you can see, Robert Guilliman... before his unfortunate death, pushed hard for that 'second army' plan, which aimed to break up all the legions into independent small battle groups."

He paused, a complex emotion flickering in his native human eye—a mixture of regret and resignation to the inevitable: "Back then, the Primarch of Dorne was firmly opposed. He believed that it was the right thing to do while the Empire's wounds were still fresh."

But...fate is cruel. After Primarch Guilliman fell, Primarch Dorne became the most steadfast enforcer of this policy. He believed it was to complete his brother's unfinished work, a necessary price to pay in the fight against Chaos.

“Now, the dismantling of the Imperial Fist is unstoppable.” Vox’s worry became more specific, even carrying a hint of calculating complaint. “What does this mean? It means that the huge orders that used to be delivered directly to us and feed our core production lines will now be cut into dozens, or even hundreds, of pieces and scattered throughout the galaxy.”

Those newly formed battlebands, each with their own temperament, some may have already been flirting with the forging worlds near their home planet, while others will seek the 'blessing' of those established, more renowned forging worlds...

As for us here, alas, order volume has genuinely shrunk by nearly 40%. To be honest, the expansion plans for Star Ring have been completely shelved, and a third of the secondary furnaces in the factories have cooled down. If this continues, we fear we'll even struggle to maintain the equipment updates for our current Guardian Army.”

On the chart, the once thick data stream has now split into dozens of smaller tributaries, many of which point to the logos of other forging worlds.

"Order volume is expected to plummet by more than 30%, and that's just the most optimistic estimate." Vox's mechanical tentacles slumped limply onto the table with a clatter. "Do you know what that means? It means that part of the furnace flames will need to be extinguished, it means the production line will come to a standstill!"

This means that the technical priests and workers will have nothing to do, and it means that our Nexus's position and resource allocation within the Cult of Mechanics will further decline!

Vox raised his remaining human eye, his gaze filled with a mixture of expectation and shrewdness, and fixed it firmly on Chen Yu.

"So, Chen Yu, after I received your report and carefully reviewed the data about that 'core of ancient logic'... I realized that this might be a ray of hope for us in our predicament, a potential opportunity to break the deadlock."

His tone became more lively, with a pragmatic, even somewhat mercenary, flavor: "That 'core' was thoroughly analyzed by an absolutely reliable internal unit."

The result... was quite interesting.

Yes, it does exhibit a degree of autonomous logical judgment, and its data processing model differs significantly from the Thinker system we commonly see; its style… is quite ancient, even somewhat heterogeneous.

“But!” He paused deliberately to emphasize what he was about to say, the mechanical tentacle he used to aid his expression making a slicing motion in the air: “We must, and we can, strictly define from a technical point of view—its level of intelligence is far from crossing the unforgivable red line of ‘abominable intelligence’.”

It's more like... a complex, highly efficient automated logic unit, a tool that's 'not smart enough'.

You understand what I mean; it lacks genuine 'intention,' and its behavior remains confined to a pre-defined parameter framework, only this framework is… a tiny bit more flexible than the standard template.

Another mechanical tentacle deftly twisted, as if weighing an invisible bargaining chip: "The key lies in the subsequent 'packaging' and 'guidance.' We can emphasize the 'archaeological value' and 'historical uniqueness' of its structure."

Its outstanding efficiency is highlighted when handling specific types of complex data, such as environmental perception, production line process optimization, or ballistic trajectory prediction.

At the same time, it carefully handles the overly 'non-standardized' parts of its logical path, interpreting them as characteristics of a lost school of thought.

Ultimately, we can position it as a new type of high-performance dedicated Thinker Core, a unique product capable of bringing technological highlights to our world of forging!

(End of this chapter)