Warhammer begins in 2026

At that moment, Neos located the third Primarch coordinates—Ferus Manus—within the Temple of Terra.

Its life support capsule crashed into Medusa, an industrial death star in the western spiral arm of the Milky Way.

It was a wild, industrial planet, rife with geological turmoil, perpetual crustal movement, frequent volcanic eruptions, and swirling magnetic storms. Broken mechanical wreckage, abandoned workshops, rampaging autonomous machines, and primal, ferocious beasts littered the landscape. The environment was harsh, resources scarce; the entire planet was consumed by endless forging, destruction, and struggle.

Feralus Manus grew up in this inferno of steel and fire. He tamed Medusa's raging beasts with his bare hands, suppressed rampaging machines, unified shattered tribes, and with his bare body he faced planetary catastrophes, forging unparalleled brute strength and top-notch forging skills. He was fierce, stubborn, and loyal, believing that strength and craftsmanship were everything.

Unlike the amusing contest to subdue Felus Manus, in the official history, the Emperor's subjugation of Felus Manus was a gentlemanly duel of mutual respect between the strong, a test of skill, and a head-on clash.

Neos crossed the sea of ​​stars alone and descended upon Medusa.

At that time, Felus was clad in rough steel armor, covered in lava soot, his hands calloused from years of forging and fighting, his iron fists capable of tearing steel and cracking rock. He stood atop the erupting volcano, looking down at this suddenly appearing, unfamiliar powerhouse, his fighting spirit fierce and fearless.

Neos did not begin by mentioning the father-son relationship, but directly stated his purpose: He had heard that Medusa's master forging skills were unparalleled in the starry sea and her physical body was incomparable, so he came here to compare skills and strength.

Ferrus was strong-willed and competitive, and he respected the strong and valued skilled craftsmen. He immediately agreed.

Round One: A Battle of Forging Skills.

The two of them took Medusa's hardest meteorite steel and started forging it by hand on the spot. Felus's forging skills had already reached the pinnacle of mortals. His hammering was powerful and heavy, the patterns were regular, and the quenching was precise. Each hammer blow sent molten lava flying. In a short while, he forged a rough blade with perfect patterns and a balance of strength and flexibility.

With a wave of his hand, Nios shaped the steel with his divine power, tempered it with holy flames, and infused it with star patterns. Without a giant hammer or a furnace, he instantly forged the same piece of black steel into a holy blade that possessed divinity, toughness, sharpness, and the characteristic of never breaking.

Steel purification, structural texture, durability limit, and process level are all comprehensively refined.

Looking at the almost miraculous forging, Felus's eyes showed shock for the first time, and he had already lost half of his battle.

The second round was a battle of brute force.

This is Feralus's most confident domain. He honed his unparalleled brute strength amidst the crushing of billions of tons of Medusa's rock layers, the scorching heat of volcanic lava, and the deadly battles with colossal beasts, believing himself to be invincible in terms of physical strength.

The two engaged in close-quarters combat, each punch landing squarely, a raw, unadulterated clash, devoid of tricks or feints, a pure collision of physical prowess and willpower. Volcanoes collapsed, rock strata shattered, and magnetic storm currents were torn apart by the force of their blows, causing the entire planet's crust to tremble.

Ferrus poured out all his brute strength and fighting skills, growing increasingly frenzied and refusing to retreat, yet he could not budge Neos in the slightest. His opponent's power was steady, profound, and overwhelming, like a mountain suppressing a flood or a starry sea covering dust.

In the end, Neos delivered a powerful and steady punch to shut down the attack, firmly knocking Feralas back and completely locking down the battle.

In both matches, skill and brute force were completely defeated.

Ferrus Manus was frank and straightforward, deferring to the strong but not to the weak. Though stubborn and unyielding, he was by no means an arrogant and unrighteous person. He knew that the man before him far surpassed himself in strength, craftsmanship, and vision, and was a truly worthy supreme ruler to follow.

He abandoned his fighting spirit and pride, solemnly knelt on one knee, and bowed his head in submission.

"I lost."

"From this day forward, I, Felus Manus, submit to Terra. My forging, my power, my steel legions, all belong to the Emperor of Man. I will remain loyal to craftsmanship, to the expeditions, and to humanity for the rest of my life, never to betray them."

Neos reached out and helped the Primarch, whose body was made of steel and pride, to his feet.

Subsequently, the Tenth Legion, the Iron Hand, was officially placed under the command of Felus. This legion inherited his fierce, rigorous, meticulous, and perfectionist characteristics, advocating mechanical advancement, physical enhancement, and zero-tolerance military discipline. In the future, it will become the most impregnable steel bulwark of the Great Crusade, defending every inch of human territory in the starry sea.

However, Huang Feng instructed the Primarch to properly manage the Legion and correct this flaw in the Legion, as they were somewhat too fond of mechanical modifications.

Then Huang Feng also gave him a space backpack, a top-tier technological creation from the Golden Age, which could hold all kinds of large weapons, making Ferus a humanoid Titan.

Of course, there's also the Eagle Banner, which all Primarchs possess; the Eagle Banner's effect is Steel Body.

The dual hardening of the body and power armor significantly reduces the penetration of bullets, missiles, melee slashes, and explosions, perfectly aligning with the Legion's "steel-like" belief and offsetting the disadvantage of being hit by heavy armor due to its cumbersome nature.

Huang Feng adapted the warriors of the Vulgar Legion to be more agile, offsetting the huge inertia of the heavy power armor, increasing the speed of turning, charging, and dodging heavy impacts, and solving the weakness of Iron Hands being clumsy and easily kited by high-speed troops.

Neos returned to Terra with the newly appointed Feralus, preparing to familiarize him with the Imperial military and political system and coordinate the establishment of the Legion. Meanwhile, Huang Feng, who remained in Terra to oversee the overall situation, intercepted a high-risk intelligence report from the Eastern Arm of the Galactic Empire.

The global star map monitoring station, the long-range reconnaissance fleet, and the psionic early warning array simultaneously transmitted abnormal data: a large-scale orcish empire cluster has appeared in the eastern spiral arm border star field.

It was a chaotic star system perpetually dominated by savage greenskins. Countless orc tribes, after years of internecine warfare and conquest, eventually united to form a nascent orc empire. Vast numbers of orc lads, heavily armored thugs, mech-wielding barbarians, and flying biters gathered and entrenched themselves, equipped with crudely made but fiercely armed ramming fleets and explosive warships. They wantonly plundered the border star systems, tore through shipping lanes, and slaughtered small human colonies and outposts along the way.

Unlike scattered and chaotic small tribes, this orc force already possesses a unified war leader, a well-established fleet organization, and large-scale military production. It has the ability to actively expand outward and invade human territory. It is the first wave of alien cluster forces encountered since the Great Expedition began.

Huang Feng immediately retrieved the complete intelligence, his fingertips tracing across the floating star map, his gaze locking onto the entire turbulent eastern spiral arm border.

Intelligence clearly shows that the Orcish Empire is assembling its main fleet, ready to launch a large-scale invasion of the human race's star system while the Great Expedition is advancing westward and the border defenses are weak. The aim is to plunder resources, conquer colonies, and extend the flames of war to the Empire's homeland.

Given the urgency of the situation, Huang Feng immediately suspended all routine rest and internal affairs review work, activated the wartime contingency plan for the Great Expedition to the border, and issued combat readiness orders to the entire region.

She ordered Horus to stay behind and help Makado coordinate and stabilize Terra and the order of the reclaimed star system; she also dispatched Leman Russ and his Wolf Pack advance team to the border to garrison, using their high-speed mobility to scout enemy positions, harass enemy troop buildup, and delay the Orcs' advance.

At the same time, Huang Feng ordered the two Iron Hands and White Scar beside him to cooperate with the Wolf Pack, and the entire Iron Hands reserve legion entered a state of combat readiness. Orcs are best at savage charges, mass crushing, and close-range berserk attacks, while the Iron Hands' extreme heavy armor, precision machinery, zero-tolerance assault, and tenacious positional defense tactics perfectly counter the orcs' chaotic and ferocious mass attacks, making them the optimal fighting force against the Greenskin tide.

In addition, Huang Feng ordered the fleet to prepare ammunition, repair ship hulls, and assemble battle group. The Martian Mechanicus started full-scale production, accelerating the mass production of thermoplastic weapons, armor-piercing cannons, and heavy assault equipment to meet the battlefield needs of fighting against the orc heavy armor groups and crudely made warships.

The Gray Knight squad entered standby mode, ready to suppress any mutated psionic foes that occasionally emerged among the orcs, preventing greenskin psionic riots from disrupting the battlefield; the global think tank registration system was fully activated, monitoring border psionic fluctuations in real time and predicting orc attack routes.

The Great Expedition now has an additional objective: to wipe out the Orc Empire on the border and quell the alien rebellion in the Eastern Spiral Arm.