Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 127 Chen Yu in the Past (Seventh Update)

After the affairs of the Nexus world-building came to an end, Chen Yu began to arrange his return to the dead world where the ancient teleportation device had been discovered.

The core objectives have been achieved: successfully advancing to the sage level, finalizing a technology sharing agreement with the supervising sage Vox, and confirming the basic modification plan for the future flagship NXS-07.

At this moment, his focus naturally shifted to the next stage—returning to the cyberpunk world.

Although he carried a dimensional teleporter in his portable workshop, which theoretically allowed him to initiate interdimensional teleportation from any location as long as there was sufficient energy, Chen Yu had never considered performing such an operation in the Forging World.

Although Neksam is located in a remote area and cannot be compared with the heavily guarded Mars, it is still filled with various monitoring nodes and is home to a considerable number of technical priests.

An unreported large-scale energy burst or spatial disturbance could very likely trigger an alarm, drawing the scrutiny and investigation he least wants to face right now.

In contrast, returning to the ruins of the dead world, which he had completely taken control of, would take longer to travel, but would ensure the safety and secrecy of the operation to the greatest extent possible.

In that desolate, isolated place, he could conduct teleportation experiments undisturbed, freely traversing between the two worlds.

In all consideration, this time cost is undoubtedly worthwhile.

Before initiating the return process, Chen Yu clearly realized that he had to address an urgent issue: expanding his core team.

Ignis's Royal Guard is loyal and reliable, and its combat effectiveness is beyond doubt, but this army is not capable of research support, technical management, and daily affairs.

What he needs are technical backbones who can understand his thinking and execute complex instructions, true confidants like Ignis who can both stand on their own and be entrusted with his complete trust.

According to the tradition of the Mechanic Church, these roles are usually filled by apprentices personally selected and trained by the priests, or by a team of technical priests directly under the priests.

These assistants mainly come from two sources: one is "customized modifiers" born from culture tanks, who are genetically shaped into loyal tools.

Another type is those selected from the nests or attached residential areas. They stand out in the fierce competition with their extraordinary talent and perseverance, and eventually win the favor of the priest.

Chen Yu himself is a typical example of the latter.

His starting point was far from glamorous.

As a transmigrator who arrived in this world by accident, Chen Yu initially settled in a working-class family at the bottom of a certain city.

His childhood and adolescence were shrouded in the incessant roar of machinery and the acrid smell of industrial fumes, surrounded by endless rusted metal and numb faces.

In a world where knowledge is strictly controlled and almost monopolized, acquiring genuine technical knowledge is extremely difficult.

Formal education was out of reach for children of working-class families like him. Every basic technical manual was expensive, and every systematic lesson required tuition fees that he could hardly afford.

Most of his fellow workers on the assembly line had long since become numb, resignedly repeating monotonous tasks until the end of their lives.

But Chen Yu, who came from another world, could not accept her fate.

His extraordinary thirst for knowledge became the only burning flame in the dimly lit city.

After a day of arduous forced labor, while his fellow workers dragged their weary bodies to earn cheap entertainment, he, equally exhausted, had to try every possible way to acquire knowledge. His primary method was to "crash classes" at the simple Mechanic missionary temple in the neighborhood.

He squeezed among the bewildered or devout believers, listening intently to the extremely simplified and filtered doctrines and basic technical knowledge preached by the junior priests to the public.

These contents were merely routine for the priest, but for him, they were a valuable window into glimpsing just the tip of the iceberg of this vast technological system.

Unable to afford the exorbitant fees for private consultations, he could only swallow his pride and, during the brief interval after the priest's sermon, muster the courage to step forward and ask the questions that had been accumulating for a long time.

The priests weren't exactly hostile; it was more of a businesslike indifference.

They are usually expressionless and speak briefly. Occasionally they will answer one or two of the most basic questions, but more often they will casually refuse with the excuse that "this is beyond the scope of the lecture" or "you need to learn systematically" and then ignore it.

"Another kid from Chaodu trying to change his fate with his cleverness." He could vaguely sense that gaze.

But he didn't give up.

Lacking data boards and teaching materials, he used discarded parts and metal sheets he found to draw circuit diagrams and formulas on the ground from memory; without experimental materials, he would observe the mechanical structure of the assembly line while working and repeatedly deduce it in his mind.

His hands were covered with scars and calluses from long-term contact with rough metal and machine oil, but his eyes remained focused, fixed on the unattainable temple of knowledge, using every possible gap to climb upwards with difficulty.

This persistence, which seemed meaningless and even somewhat ridiculous to outsiders, lasted for several years.

The turning point came on an ordinary day when an explorer priest passing through the area noticed a young man who always appeared in a corner of the temple, his eyes burning with a thirst for knowledge that was out of place with his surroundings.

Perhaps it was Chen Yu's unintentional, unconventional understanding while answering a basic question that piqued the priest's interest; or perhaps it was the simple yet fully functional signal amplifier model he pieced together from discarded parts that demonstrated his hands-on skills and potential.

In short, Chen Yu seized this only opportunity.

With his years of accumulated, albeit fragmented, but solid foundation, and his undeniable passion, he finally impressed the exploration priest and earned the coveted qualification—an opportunity to leave the hive and become an apprentice in the School of Mechanics.

This is just the first step.

Entering the Cult of Mechanics does not guarantee a meteoric rise in one's career.

His humble origins, scarce resources, and the vast gap in starting point compared to those "customizers" or the descendants of nobility all became obstacles he had to overcome.

He needs to put in several times the effort of others just to barely keep up with the course; he needs to remain humble and vigilant at all times to find a foothold in complex interpersonal relationships; he needs to carefully prove his worth in repeated practical assessments and factional infighting, while avoiding becoming a victim.

Every step was taken with extreme caution, and every promotion was accompanied by sweat and calculation.

He was like a stone thrown into a giant gear train, destined either to be crushed to pieces or to find a gap, stubbornly wedge in, and become part of this massive machine.

His experience of climbing up from the bottom of the hive city shaped his resilient, cautious, and pragmatic character, and made him understand better than anyone how rare and important a reliable confidant is in the cold and cruel system of the Mechanicus.

(End of this chapter)