Warhammer: Expedition to the Multiverse from 30k

Luo Xi scanned the contents on the data pad and kept in touch with the combatants on this trip.

"It's strange. This habitable world has no traces of human colonization. Even some nasty aliens have never been here."

He put the dataslate back, feeling a strange sense of danger.

Such a suitable planet has no colonists, and there is not even any trace of its rise and fall, which is completely worthy of suspicion.

"Maybe it has something to do with the thing on Mount Pharos." He guessed silently in his heart.

The thing called Pharos that Dantioch activated was actually named after Mount Pharos where he was.

Luo Xi knew in his heart that the thing could carry out zero-delay communication on an astronomical scale of thousands of light years, and its technological content was completely beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

He even thought that in terms of communication, the civilization that created that thing was ahead of humanity at its peak. This also meant extreme danger, as the other party's potential technological level was ahead of humanity, even at its ascendant stage.

As usual, the Red Alert stopped in the planet's low-Earth orbit, and Luo Xi and others came to the ground in a fully armed Thunderhawk gunboat.

Before coming to Sotha, Guilliman had already informed Dantioch and others that a team would be sent to this planet. Therefore, when the Thunderhawk gunship entered the atmosphere, the 199th Company of the Ultramarines from the surface contacted them.

"Welcome to Sousa, we have been waiting for a long time."

The electronic voice of the Ultramarines came from the communicator, and an Ultramarines sergeant named Arkus made contact on behalf of the 199th Company.

He was accompanied by two young scouts who had only been in the service for a short time and lacked experience.

Roche noticed a special emblem on the shoulder armor of these Ultramarines. He knew that it was the symbol of the Space Marines stationed in Sosa. They called themselves the Shield Company and were the guardians of Sosa.

The war blacksmith arrived late. He was wearing heavy old-fashioned power armor, and his body was a little staggering and slow. Luo Xi seemed to hear him panting faintly.

Luo Xi is also full of respect for this veteran with outstanding achievements.

After the experiences of the past two years, he has discarded his previous condescending attitude. These warriors, like him, are fighting for the survival of mankind. He has no right to judge them.

Making casual comments is an extremely arrogant behavior. In the two years he has been with the Extreme Marines, Luo Xi often reflects on whether his conservative strategy of thinking of escaping as soon as things go wrong is a mistake.

Perhaps his original idea of ​​rebuilding human civilization in an uninhabited land was itself a naive, utopian fantasy.

"Luo Xi, nice to meet you."

"Dantioch." The Iron Warrior didn't seem to want to say anything more, but his posture proved that he actually cared very much about these guests from afar.

This time when he came to Sosa, Luo Xi also brought the new type of Star-type power armor. Because it was too remote, the warriors here were still wearing old-style power armor.

This action quickly won the favor of the soldiers of the 199th Company stationed here, and Luo Xi clearly felt that they had become much friendlier.

However, the war blacksmith refused to change the power armor. He said that he had already gotten used to the armor he was wearing and politely declined the good offer.

As instructed by the Primarch, Dantioch will take Roche and others to the primary location Alpha to closely study the devices left behind by this mysterious race.

Luo Xi changed into a fully enclosed power armor. The mountains in Sosa are very tall and steep, and there are often blizzards at this time. It is not easy to climb to the cave on the top of the mountain.

"There is abnormal electromagnetic interference near Sosa, so it is best not to get close to any flying vehicles."

The war blacksmith was not wearing a helmet. His iron mask was imprinted directly on his face, leaving only his eyes, mouth and nose exposed. His voice was a little low and hoarse, but he still patiently explained to the newcomers.

On the top of the mountains, through the high clouds, one can see traces of the destructive storms in space. The scars left by the subspace on the real universe are extremely ugly, like a scar left on space.

"That's the Warp storm caused by the traitors' ritual. We don't know if it's only in the Ultramarine, but at least the navigation and communication between the five hundred worlds have been almost cut off." Dantioch said in a muffled voice, breathing the biting and cold mountain air directly.

Luo Xi listened carefully. He walked to Dantioch's side and walked side by side with him.

The Warsmith's pace was more difficult than that of the Extreme Marine, and even Roche could feel that he was exhausted.

His breathing was also more rapid than others. In theory, a Space Marine's two hearts and three lungs would not be overloaded by this level of marching.

He was like a stubborn old horse, stubbornly walking at the front of the team. If any Extreme Warrior wanted to clear the way for him, he would become annoyed.

This was not only because he was hit by the Hrud's entropic weapons, but also because his heart was in agony.

Dantioch's iron mask was branded by himself. He had angrily rebuked Perturabo for his command errors and was ordered by the violent primarch to never show his true face. However, the Iron Warriors were much more cruel and directly replaced their true faces with iron masks.

To the Imperium, he was a member of the Traitor Legion, the Iron Warriors who followed the Wolf-God in their betrayal of the Emperor.

He was also a traitor to his own Legion, defying the orders of his Primarch and striking down the traitor.

There seemed to be no room for a warsmith on either side, and if Roboute Guilliman had not recognized him, even the vast galaxy would have seemed to have nowhere to go.

"Boy, have you noticed anything after looking at me for so long?"

Dantioch's voice came through the blizzard, like the roar of steel crushing.

In his eyes, Luo Xi was just an ordinary mortal, but he didn't know why he was trusted by the Lord of Macragge.

"I saw a piece of steel, steel that had been forged through the bone and became indestructible."

Luo Xi replied.

The Warsmith laughed loudly, his laugh so wild that it was still clearly visible in the blizzard.

"I never thought a mortal could understand me. You're right. Those bastards know what it means to be steel inside and out. The Fourth Legion doesn't understand, and neither does Perturabo!"

"I am the real Iron Warrior!"

When everyone climbed to the top of the mountain, the blizzard dissipated, and the golden sunlight penetrated the dense clouds and shone on the cliffs of Pharos.

The sunlight shines through the wide and winding entrance and enters the depths of the cave after thousands of complex refractions.

"I don't think anyone can figure out how the caves of Pharos were formed. They are like conch shells on ancient Terra, with complex and regular spirals inside."

The real Faros was right in front of him, and Luo Xi stood at the entrance of the cave and watched first.

The obsidian in the cave is smooth and soft, without any straight lines or edges, as if it had been finely polished by something.

He launched several drones into the cave, which could be used for field exploration according to basic procedures or for precise movement controlled by an intelligent computer.

The interior of Faros is huge beyond imagination, as if the entire mountain has been hollowed out by it. Numerous caves crisscross like capillaries in the human body. Caves of all sizes can almost make all explorers lost. Fortunately, the drone has a memory function and can return safely by the original route.

Roche noticed that the stone walls in the cave hardly reflected light. Only when the angle of sunlight reached the moment before sunset could the golden light illuminate Faros.

"These caves are actually connected to the foot of the mountain. This was discovered by explorers sent here more than a hundred years ago." said Sergeant Akus.

Since the Age of Conflict, the Five Hundred Worlds have become a concept found in books, and all aspiring people dream of restoring the wholeness of these five hundred worlds.

Guilliman's adoptive father, King Konor, once also wanted to restore Greater Ultramar, but the king died in a coup and did not live to see the day when Guilliman would regain his territory.

Roboute inherited his father's will and fulfilled King Konor's dream, making the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar the most prosperous and great political entity in the eastern part of the galaxy.

Chapter 111: Dead Relics

Ever since the discovery of Pharos by an exploration team sent by Guilliman more than a hundred years ago, it has been carefully maintained in a state of undevelopment.

Since it is unknown whether the alien creatures above are threatening, there is only one small settlement in the entire Sosa, and the Ultramarines' camp is located on a nearby mountain.

These Ultramar people who settled in Sosa were just ordinary farmers. They cultivated the land and raised livestock on this paradise-like planet, and they lived a happy life.

The Ultramarines gave these settlers only one task, which was that when the vegetation near the entrance of the Pharos Cave grew too lush, these farmers needed to go out together and use sickles and hoes to trim the excess bushes.

The caves of Pharos are generally off-limits, but as time goes by, some people who are lost or looking for adventure and excitement will break into the caves of Pharos.

They relax in the caves, and some of them play the saltire in this natural reverberation box. The winding and intertwined caves can transmit echoes very well, so the concerts played here are particularly beautiful and pleasant.

This is where the saltari and mysterious reverberations that Guilliman heard in Macragge came from.

"There are wars everywhere in the galaxy now. Those who live in Sosa are very lucky. At least they are still alive and have not been invaded by the enemy." Luo Xi suddenly felt something.

Standing on the top of the mountain, you can see the fertile land in the valley and the paths built along the mountainside. The people here live a primitive life away from the world and they don't even use some machines to help with production.

Their production patterns are not much different from those of the first millennium of humankind.

Due to the recent activation of the Pharos device by Dantioch, the residents at the foot of the mountain were forbidden to enter the mysterious and complex caves, and the Ultramarines advised them to stay at home and rest for a while.

The drones sent out to explore the terrain returned with valuable data. After they exported the data, a holographic image was automatically generated on Roche's screen. The caves inside Faros did not seem to be inhabited by any living creatures.

Because its caves vary in size, some can accommodate a super heavy tank, while others are difficult for even a mortal to pass through, and the criss-crossing caves have many dead ends, they are like small paths branching off from a main road, and there is nothing at the end.

"At least it is impossible for creatures that walk on two feet like humans to survive here." Dantioch asserted as he looked at the situation inside.

The Warsmith was an expert at building fortresses; perhaps only the Imperial Fists could rival him in the Empire. He had a sharp and experienced eye and could see the design flaws of these caves at a glance.

The interior of Pharos was just like the cave exposed on the top of the mountain, made entirely of some kind of obsidian-like rock, extremely smooth and clean, without any straight lines or edges. There were no slopes to walk on, and no stairs to use as a support.

The largest caves detected are three connected grottoes, which are like the rumen of a creature called cow on ancient Terra. There is a smooth passage about 700 meters deep connected to it, and at the other end is a huge hemispherical chamber with a height of more than 100 meters.

"We still don't know what its interior is like. If we go further in, the drone will be at risk of getting lost. Perhaps, as we speculate, the entire mountain is part of Pharos."

Luo Xi said when he saw that the bottom of the holographic image was still empty.

In order to be able to walk on this extremely smooth rock wall, Dantioch and others had previously built a passage space using an STC that could lay walkways. It was a treasure of the Mechanicus, and Roboute Guilliman ordered the use of this precious heritage.

This STC generated stairs, bridges, and cableways, and it seems to have been some kind of civilian equipment in the distant past, provided by colonists to conquer strange planets.

These steps are attached to the smooth and hard rock walls of Pharos, cleverly keeping them fixed without damaging these unknown devices.

Dantioch believed that everything in the Faros had value, and unless they understood the principles behind it, they must not cause even the slightest damage.

The metal with the double-headed eagle logo roared as it extended inwards, while the Extreme Marines who remained outside ordered the servitors to continuously transport metal ore raw materials into the STC.

As long as there are raw materials, these technological black boxes can skip the conventional smelting, design, casting and other steps and directly produce finished products.

Roche looked at the rock wall of Faros and the rough metal stairs with a scrutinizing eye. From a purely aesthetic point of view, human creations were like putting a poor-quality patch on a piece of exquisite porcelain inherited from ancient times.

Advanced technological creations are not necessarily good-looking, but good-looking technological creations are often advanced. A technological creation that embodies a lot of wisdom will naturally be more in line with the aesthetic taste of living things.

Luo Xi and his group slowly advanced along the metal stairs, like a group of ants that had mistakenly entered a giant's house, moving like a needle thread in the unprecedentedly huge cave.

After about half a day's march, Roche finally arrived at the special location known as Prime Location Alpha. It was here that Dantioch activated the alien relic known as Pharos.

"Is this the control center of this facility?" Luo Xi looked up. The shape of this cave was very regular, with a hemispherical dome on the top. The ground here was at a level that could never be a natural environment.

“I prefer to call it the main station. It is the ‘mixing console’ or ‘sounding board’ of the entire facility, where its hidden engine can be activated.”

Dantioch proudly showed off his discovery that deep in the Pharos Mountains, there was an ancient quantum pulse engine. When it was started, the entire mountain range would be awakened by the infrasonic vibrations emitted by the instrument.

"Activate it again and let me see its power with my own eyes." Luo Xi said.

The War Blacksmith operated in the black cave according to the process and method he had figured out. No one knew how he figured out the solution. There were no words, no signs, and not even any objects that could be guessed.

A low-frequency infrasound pulse came from far underground, propagating and reflecting in the black caves of Pharos, forming a sense of vastness and ethereal sacredness that is difficult for ordinary people to imagine.

An ancient relic machine that may have existed for tens of thousands of years, or even longer, is being ordered to wake up.

In the city of Macragge, the ghost awakened again and wandered in the garden.

The quantum resonance of Faros connected the two places across most of the Ultramarine at this moment. Roche and Dantioch were able to see the situation in Guilliman's hydroponic garden, and their "ghosts" also appeared in Macragge accordingly.