The Ringing of a Forge of Stars [Warhammer 40k/ Celestial forge V3||OC...ish]

[Bear_Mint]

Kerbals are a treaure

 

[InfiniteChaosRai]

seeing how Samus Aran is apparently the perfect character insert, I say that seeing the chozo in 40k works, with the beyond clarketech bs they can asspull at any given time they probably have colonized most of the multiverse at this point.

 

[Mastersgt]

So... this chapter MASSIVELY killed my interest in this story. Mostly because I am a very paranoid person by nature. I do not like not being in control of my own destiny/choices, as well as having any freedoms or privacy taken from me.
In this chapter, the MC's new assistant was given FULL access to the forge. Which was my first issue. I mean, an assistant should NEVER have full access to anything. I'd get master-level or some high-level access. but not FULL/Admin.
Then we have MC having his mind invaded against his will, without his knowledge. MASSIVE issue with that, hits all the red buttons for me.
Lastly, we have the MC just accepting these things happening to him, even being grateful. Which is, for me, such a MASSIVE disconnect to any line of thought that I could have, that it gave me whiplash. Instantly ripped me out of the story, and made me dislike the MC. As I am now no longer able to relate to, sympathize with, or get into the mindset of them. I am sure, going forward, I will be able to again. But the disconnect here, as I said, really hurt the story for me. Not sure about other readers. Not everyone reads a story by putting themselves in the shoes of the MC and comparing the MC's decisions to what they themselves would do in that position with those options.

 

[Inbetweenaction]

For an inquisitor and a engineer, they are all remarkably calm about the abominable intelligence...

 

[Bigreader]

*jaw drops*

Wow. That question just happened...alright then, Check HERE for details.

Click to shrink...

I never played Metroid the closest thing I know about it comes from that old cartoon in the 80s/90s where therr was just mother brain.

 

[omegasrevenge]

I never played Metroid the closest thing I know about it comes from that old cartoon in the 80s/90s where therr was just mother brain.

Click to shrink...

He probably just expected you to google it. It's what I did since I have no idea about Metroid either.

 

[Slider Zero]

So... this chapter MASSIVELY killed my interest in this story. Mostly because I am a very paranoid person by nature. I do not like not being in control of my own destiny/choices, as well as having any freedoms or privacy taken from me.
In this chapter, the MC's new assistant was given FULL access to the forge. Which was my first issue. I mean, an assistant should NEVER have full access to anything. I'd get master-level or some high-level access. but not FULL/Admin.
Then we have MC having his mind invaded against his will, without his knowledge. MASSIVE issue with that, hits all the red buttons for me.
Lastly, we have the MC just accepting these things happening to him, even being grateful. Which is, for me, such a MASSIVE disconnect to any line of thought that I could have, that it gave me whiplash. Instantly ripped me out of the story, and made me dislike the MC. As I am now no longer able to relate to, sympathize with, or get into the mindset of them. I am sure, going forward, I will be able to again. But the disconnect here, as I said, really hurt the story for me. Not sure about other readers. Not everyone reads a story by putting themselves in the shoes of the MC and comparing the MC's decisions to what they themselves would do in that position with those options.

Click to shrink...

Oof.

I...I don't have a proper response to this. Somehow reading this makes me feel like I failed in some way. Sure, I could go on all day about what I'd intended and why I did it the way I did, but this still feels like I should have seen it coming and adjusted my path somehow.

I'm not going to cheapen your opinion by apologizing or anything similar. It just kind of hits me in the gut that I managed to kick one of my readers out of enjoying the experience due to a narrative choice.

I hope you manage to find some enjoyment out of my writing in the future, despite this. Thank you for your input.

 

[Mastersgt]

Oof.

I...I don't have a proper response to this. Somehow reading this makes me feel like I failed in some way. Sure, I could go on all day about what I'd intended and why I did it the way I did, but this still feels like I should have seen it coming and adjusted my path somehow.

I'm not going to cheapen your opinion by apologizing or anything similar. It just kind of hits me in the gut that I managed to kick one of my readers out of enjoying the experience due to a narrative choice.

I hope you manage to find some enjoyment out of my writing in the future, despite this. Thank you for your input.

Click to shrink...

Still like your writing, still following/reading the story. Hope my comment does not demoralize you, but I try to give honest commentary. The disconnect in this chapter was just a bit too much for me. If it was any ONE of those issues. I'd still be upset, but it would not be as jarring. All of them together was a knockout.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Good chapter. Great story. I'm looking forward to your work.

"We have to go back anyway. I think the bird people are trolling me."

Click to shrink...

xD Its like that with Chozo.

I liked to read about Harry and how his opinion shifted on mc earlier chapters. It was great to follow his thought process.

It was also an intersting way how you insert companions from the Forge. Mia adds a new dynamic to the previous duo so it's all good.

That said, what was going on with the Emperor? Was he trying to dupe mc with I'm your ally as we are both human because of Celestial Forge?

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Still like your writing, still following/reading the story. Hope my comment does not demoralize you, but I try to give honest commentary. The disconnect in this chapter was just a bit too much for me. If it was any ONE of those issues. I'd still be upset, but it would not be as jarring. All of them together was a knockout.

Click to shrink...

What He actually gave her acess to ALL his abilities?! I thought it was only to Knowledge constellation.

{Miolala Granliss accepted as Assistant. Special provisions for primary assistant have activated. Akashic nexus active. Access to constellation abilities granted.}

Click to shrink...

Yes. When I reread that part it indeed looks like he gave admin access. Hmm. It's extreme trust so fast. Mind reading is not so much a problem for me since its a two way street but this primary assistant mode has huge powers.

I guess I didn't react any more violent because I knew her thoughts from our meta perspective. So I knew her loyality was never in question.

 

[Vrenze]

So... this chapter MASSIVELY killed my interest in this story. Mostly because I am a very paranoid person by nature. I do not like not being in control of my own destiny/choices, as well as having any freedoms or privacy taken from me.
In this chapter, the MC's new assistant was given FULL access to the forge. Which was my first issue. I mean, an assistant should NEVER have full access to anything. I'd get master-level or some high-level access. but not FULL/Admin.
Then we have MC having his mind invaded against his will, without his knowledge. MASSIVE issue with that, hits all the red buttons for me.
Lastly, we have the MC just accepting these things happening to him, even being grateful. Which is, for me, such a MASSIVE disconnect to any line of thought that I could have, that it gave me whiplash. Instantly ripped me out of the story, and made me dislike the MC. As I am now no longer able to relate to, sympathize with, or get into the mindset of them. I am sure, going forward, I will be able to again. But the disconnect here, as I said, really hurt the story for me. Not sure about other readers. Not everyone reads a story by putting themselves in the shoes of the MC and comparing the MC's decisions to what they themselves would do in that position with those options.

Click to shrink...

I feel the same way for pretty much the exact reasons plus how aggressively sexual the assistant is being. I get we are on QQ but that shouldn't affect perception in story. I mean she is throwing practically every Slaaneshi cultists vibe I am aware of not focused on food or S/M.

The tails and ears/horns is another thing, not as regards to any "Furry = eww" sentiment but more in a "how do they plan on interacting with ANY Imperium group past the point of it being noticed?" Kinda feels like a cheap drama pass "we need to talk with [imperial group] and things are going good but oh no! A chaos plot has knocked my hat off and then [imperial faction] is now all 'PURGE THE XENO/MUTANT' guess we gotta do it ourselves"

Edit: I feel I should expand on the previous issue so as not to be misinterpreted. In one aspect it's that he chose to keep a biological change he did not ask for prior to receiving despite it being an easily discovered thing in the worst moment that would lead to worst outcomes in many situations that would be very difficult and needed to begin with. He decided to keep them after getting them despite also getting a hat he felt oddly happy to have which implies things are not just adding info to his head but messing with what he feels about things. But he made a decision based on stubbornness, totally fine with that, it establishes a character trait. Except that the next instance where the story could have reinforced that stubbornness was when he decides he won't take advantage of the assistant he was given based on power dynamics being completely out of whack, but within an hour(?) of her pushing they've already fucked which throws off the "he's stubborn and will keep true to himself and his decisions" so either his convictions aren't very dear in the face of a pretty face aggressively trying to fuck him or prior character establishing moments aren't going to be respected in the face of out of story mechanisms.

 

[Cheetored20]

I feel the same way for pretty much the exact reasons plus how aggressively sexual the assistant is being. I get we are on QQ but that shouldn't affect perception in story. I mean she is throwing practically every Slaaneshi cultists vibe I am aware of not focused on food or S/M.

The tails and ears/horns is another thing, not as regards to any "Furry = eww" sentiment but more in a "how do they plan on interacting with ANY Imperium group past the point of it being noticed?" Kinda feels like a cheap drama pass "we need to talk with [imperial group] and things are going good but oh no! A chaos plot has knocked my hat off and then [imperial faction] is now all 'PURGE THE XENO/MUTANT' guess we gotta do it ourselves"

Edit: I feel I should expand on the previous issue so as not to be misinterpreted. In one aspect it's that he chose to keep a biological change he did not ask for prior to receiving despite it being an easily discovered thing in the worst moment that would lead to worst outcomes in many situations that would be very difficult and needed to begin with. He decided to keep them after getting them despite also getting a hat he felt oddly happy to have which implies things are not just adding info to his head but messing with what he feels about things. But he made a decision based on stubbornness, totally fine with that, it establishes a character trait. Except that the next instance where the story could have reinforced that stubbornness was when he decides he won't take advantage of the assistant he was given based on power dynamics being completely out of whack, but within an hour(?) of her pushing they've already fucked which throws off the "he's stubborn and will keep true to himself and his decisions" so either his convictions aren't very dear in the face of a pretty face aggressively trying to fuck him or prior character establishing moments aren't going to be respected in the face of out of story mechanisms.

Click to shrink...

Let's put it this way, you are alone for a few months, haven't had time to jack off and a hot babe pretty much bends over and asks you to nail her. That's basically what's going on, we aren't getting a day by day account like BCF here, we skipped some days in between.

 

[Vrenze]

Let's put it this way, you are alone for a few months, haven't had time to jack off and a hot babe pretty much bends over and asks you to nail her. That's basically what's going on, we aren't getting a day by day account like BCF here, we skipped some days in between.

Click to shrink...

Except this ignores entirely that I know I am in warhammer 40k and Slaanesh is a thing.

The timeline as I understand it is that she has only been awake and around him for 2 days. The day she wakes up, meets and greets, MC yells at everyone because he is just done with the day, cleans up, goes to bed, has convo with her about everything on day 2 and then they get it on.

 

[ATP]

Great chapter.And great waifu he get.But - he is foxboy,she is lizardgirl...is there some kind of monstergirls crossover ?

 

[Cheetored20]

Great chapter.And great waifu he get.But - he is foxboy,she is lizardgirl...is there some kind of monstergirls crossover ?

Click to shrink...

It's a side effect of one of the perks, they can cause serious body changes.

 

[Nicator]

While it's true that Chaos, Orks, Tyranids, and Necrons are all potentially galaxy-obliterating threats (with the Dark Eldar mostly just being a chronic pain in the ass), helping the Emperor would have been one very effective way of trying to deal with them.

After all, the MC is just one man, with very limited resources, and no political clout. And saving the Imperium (or at least the people suffering beneath its horrible authoritarian rule) without the active cooperation of its leadership is going to be near impossible.

Getting the Emperor resurrected would have meant that the Imperium could respond to and deal with these myriad threats effectively.

The only other real option I can see is if the MC decides to try to make their own faction and supplant the Imperium entirely. While that would arguably be better in some respects (the Imperium was basically flawed from its very inception, and the Emperor is a colossal asshole who would doubtless try to exploit or enslave the MC), that would probably be the work of centuries, if not millennia.

I think the "ideal" solution might have been to fix the Golden Throne/resurrect the Emperor while also placing magitech in his new body to give him such restrictions, or outright control him if necessary. Basically, make it so Emps couldn't act against the MC, and had to earnestly try to reform the Imperium as best as he possibly could.

 

[Slider Zero]

What He actually gave her acess to ALL his abilities?! I thought it was only to Knowledge constellation.

Yes. When I reread that part it indeed looks like he gave admin access. Hmm. It's extreme trust so fast. Mind reading is not so much a problem for me since its a two way street but this primary assistant mode has huge powers.

I guess I didn't react any more violent because I knew her thoughts from our meta perspective. So I knew her loyality was never in question.

Click to shrink...

Going to use you to answer this one for everyone as this is becoming an issue.

The Thing with Mio getting granted access to the forge is NOT by choice from Satori, but is a feature of this forge itself, and her right as the first (and therefore Primary) assistant. everyone screaming about trust issues (except for mastersgt) can kindly go sit down and stop with the nonsense, please.

I feel the same way for pretty much the exact reasons plus how aggressively sexual the assistant is being. I get we are on QQ but that shouldn't affect perception in story. I mean she is throwing practically every Slaaneshi cultists vibe I am aware of not focused on food or S/M.

The tails and ears/horns is another thing, not as regards to any "Furry = eww" sentiment but more in a "how do they plan on interacting with ANY Imperium group past the point of it being noticed?" Kinda feels like a cheap drama pass "we need to talk with [imperial group] and things are going good but oh no! A chaos plot has knocked my hat off and then [imperial faction] is now all 'PURGE THE XENO/MUTANT' guess we gotta do it ourselves"

Edit: I feel I should expand on the previous issue so as not to be misinterpreted. In one aspect it's that he chose to keep a biological change he did not ask for prior to receiving despite it being an easily discovered thing in the worst moment that would lead to worst outcomes in many situations that would be very difficult and needed to begin with. He decided to keep them after getting them despite also getting a hat he felt oddly happy to have which implies things are not just adding info to his head but messing with what he feels about things. But he made a decision based on stubbornness, totally fine with that, it establishes a character trait. Except that the next instance where the story could have reinforced that stubbornness was when he decides he won't take advantage of the assistant he was given based on power dynamics being completely out of whack, but within an hour(?) of her pushing they've already fucked which throws off the "he's stubborn and will keep true to himself and his decisions" so either his convictions aren't very dear in the face of a pretty face aggressively trying to fuck him or prior character establishing moments aren't going to be respected in the face of out of story mechanisms.

Click to shrink...

Let's put it this way, you are alone for a few months, haven't had time to jack off and a hot babe pretty much bends over and asks you to nail her. That's basically what's going on, we aren't getting a day by day account like BCF here, we skipped some days in between.

Click to shrink...

Except this ignores entirely that I know I am in warhammer 40k and Slaanesh is a thing.

The timeline as I understand it is that she has only been awake and around him for 2 days. The day she wakes up, meets and greets, MC yells at everyone because he is just done with the day, cleans up, goes to bed, has convo with her about everything on day 2 and then they get it on.

Click to shrink...

Slannesh can kiss my black ass. And Satori's too, for that matter. Mio has other things for the bitch that thirsts, and they all go "boom".

No. Seriously. Just because Slannesh exists does not mean that any and all acts of physical pleasure are suddenly verboten and subject to corruption rolls. Besides, Mio got flirty AFTER the workover took effect, not before, and there is a check for that kind of corruption inherent in Satori's aura, even if he is not necessarily aware of it.

Mio's backhack allows her to see into Satori's head, not alter it, and even if it did she would not do so. I thought I had this plain in the text. among other things, this means that she knows what buttons to push to get certain outcomes that would not happen otherwise.

Is she moving fast? hells yes. She also has access to inside information direct from Satori's own mind that moving that fast was necessary in her view. I am not rremoving my character's agency just because you are getting icked on the waifu type actually wanting the D.
I will also point to the old adage of soldiers known around the world: "A soldier who won't fuck won't fight". Make of that whatever the fuck you want.

Great chapter.And great waifu he get.But - he is foxboy,she is lizardgirl...is there some kind of monstergirls crossover ?

Click to shrink...

It's a side effect of one of the perks, they can cause serious body changes.

Click to shrink...

Originally missed this in first posting, but Mio is Dragongirl, not lizard, and she's also half Oni. it's the Arknights thing acting up again. This is not a monstergirls crossover by any means (despite the Cu Sith Assistant still in the forge proper).

While it's true that Chaos, Orks, Tyranids, and Necrons are all potentially galaxy-obliterating threats (with the Dark Eldar mostly just being a chronic pain in the ass), helping the Emperor would have been one very effective way of trying to deal with them.

After all, the MC is just one man, with very limited resources, and no political clout. And saving the Imperium (or at least the people suffering beneath its horrible authoritarian rule) without the active cooperation of its leadership is going to be near impossible.

Getting the Emperor resurrected would have meant that the Imperium could respond to and deal with these myriad threats effectively.

The only other real option I can see is if the MC decides to try to make their own faction and supplant the Imperium entirely. While that would arguably be better in some respects (the Imperium was basically flawed from its very inception, and the Emperor is a colossal asshole who would doubtless try to exploit or enslave the MC), that would probably be the work of centuries, if not millennia.

I think the "ideal" solution might have been to fix the Golden Throne/resurrect the Emperor while also placing magitech in his new body to give him such restrictions, or outright control him if necessary. Basically, make it so Emps couldn't act against the MC, and had to earnestly try to reform the Imperium as best as he possibly could.

Click to shrink...

This is not off the table, just not a priority for team Forge at the moment, due to factors that should be obvious. But, as you said, Satori is one man, and even with the newly arrived backup of Mio and Harry being up to par, they can only do so much in so many places. there will be choices that have to be made.

Also, Mechanicus Oni/Dragongirl Waifu isn't going anywhere anytime soon. get used to her.

 

[Vrenze]

Slannesh can kiss my black ass. And Satori's too, for that matter. Mio has other things for the bitch that thirsts, and they all go "boom".

Click to shrink...

So one of the four biggest antagonistic factions is inherently unable to affect the MC because the author doesn't like them. Cool, good indicator of writing quality I guess.

No. Seriously. Just because Slannesh exists does not mean that any and all acts of physical pleasure are suddenly verboten and subject to corruption rolls.

Click to shrink...

No, and I didn't mean that either. I meant he should be suspicious of anyone acting like a hard-core slaaneshi cultists that's trying to jump his dick but I guess uncontrollable urges to fuck override common sense or precaution.

Mio's backhack allows her to see into Satori's head, not alter it, and even if it did she would not do so. I thought I had this plain in the text. among other things, this means that she knows what buttons to push to get certain outcomes that would not happen otherwise.

Click to shrink...

Never said she was altering him I said the forge was, that he had evidence of this and didn't even acknowledge he might have been changed as was brought up as an issue in another post.

I am not rremoving my character's agency just because you are getting icked on the waifu type actually wanting the D.

Click to shrink...

Not "icked" by some fade to black lewds. Just pointing out you established a character trait and, narratively, immediately setup a scenario where than trait could be reinforced but instead reneged on it entirely in a fairly quick time frame.

I will also point to the old adage of soldiers known around the world: "A soldier who won't fuck won't fight". Make of that whatever the fuck you want

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Well good thing old folk sayings are the driving motivation for writing and characterization then. Guess the MC is about to die or need a doctor very soon since he hasn't had an apple in multiple days! /s

 

[Ame]

Wow.. that was a fair bit of salt. My only major nitpick thing is just saying, keeping the obviously non human features is definitely not a perk in this setting. Its a drawback that puts your character in constant danger of discovery. That said its your story, so write what you want. I'm tossing in my pennies and going back to lurking.

 

[Slider Zero]

Wow.. that was a fair bit of salt. My only major nitpick thing is just saying, keeping the obviously non human features is definitely not a perk in this setting. Its a drawback that puts your character in constant danger of discovery. That said its your story, so write what you want. I'm tossing in my pennies and going back to lurking.

Click to shrink...

Thank you for your time, and I hope you are enjoying the story so far.

 

[apocolypse1011]

Just started reading this one, but I gotta say that it's really interesting and I look forward to seeing how the story grow.

 

[ATP]

Being unknown demihuman with demihuman waifu is certainly risky - but far less then innovating and making real science instead of praing to computers.Becouse unknown demihuman could be forgiven if they are usefull,but those who really do science...Mechanicus would kill them.Slowly.
So,it is really not important how SI look,becouse what he is doing arleady made him main target for Mechanicus.If he would not be silly powerfull,i would name him as dead man walking,but even now his chances are not better,then...25% maybe ?

 

[Slider Zero]

The days that followed were in an odd sort of routine as everyone got themselves re-situated and reset from the nightmares of the previous days. As part of this, I had "suggested" remedial training for each of us as a way of improving coordination between us. I figured I could also work in some time learning more about my newly awakened powers as well.

Calling the results interesting was very much underselling it. For one, both Myself and Mio and access to Aura now...the semi-legendary ability of the Huntsmen of Remnant that used the light of their very souls to protect them, even as it boosted their abilities. What's more, this was NOT the version that was presented in the show as being easy to use and relatively plain, outside of semblances. As much as we tried to work around it, we simply did not have enough experience with the powerset to do any form of real training with it beyond the most basic, and we were forced to move on

The second point was in the form of Originium Arts, which I was learning were more varied and expansive than I had ever thought possible. It seemed that almost anything was possible with these arts, and the only true limit was Imagination and training.

Or, as Mio found out the hard way, sheer power. That woman somehow had enough power inherent in her form that she was making large craters in the landscape just trying to learn to control the simplest of caster arts, much to her dismay. The good news was that she was improving at an astronomical pace, especially with my help, and would soon be able to wield her power without the risk of destroying half a block by accident.

Speaking of Mio, she somehow ALSO had incredible physical strength to go with it for some damned reason. I was not sure exactly why this was, but the few hints that I had on the subject were that she was some kind of hybrid. Mio, of course, found it both amusing and fascinating, as was doing studies into what, if any, other powers she might possess from her new physiology.

All in all, I thought she was adjusting well.

Perhaps the biggest add from our training, though, was that both Mio and Harry were rapidly approaching proper N7 competency levels for combat situations. This was more of a boon for Harry than Mio, who had at least 30 years of combat experience on the both of us, but it DEFINITELY helped.

Unfortunately, training was not all that we had to do. There was also some basic scouting, rebuilding of equipment lost in the psyker attack, general upgrades all around, and getting Rico used to simply being a thing that existed in this hellhole. He was adjusting rather well to being here, from what I could tell. Mio positively loved the little guy, and would spend most of her free time just talking with him, digging into what he knew about his origins and technology. For his part, Rico was teaching all of us the basics of the nameless magical style that he used during his exorcism of the troll ghost.

The style itself had nothing to really set it apart aside from being primarily combat-focused, something that I wanted to change eventually. It was, however, extremely versatile, even with only the basic examples of the various spell types to use. Of note was the existence of a binding spell, which I KNEW would come in handy sooner or later.

Rico did mention that there was one more spell that he had access to that he wanted to teach me specifically, before anyone else, but we hadn't had the time yet for him to get around to it, with us all keeping busy in other pursuits. Hell, I had way too much on even my plate at the moment, as well…

Of course, we were fooling no one. The three of us were simply exhausted and legitimately terrified of what might await us outside. And as much as I wanted to say that even that level of fear was nothing to one such as myself, I would be lying. I had come far too close to death for comfort, and without even having stepped onto a battlefield at that. Gang shootouts and random xenos threats I could deal with. Having a massive telekinetic windstorm suck you up and attempt to play "Will it Blend?" with your body is beyond my ability to simply cope.

Hence, we were stalling our asses off by pretending to actually be useful or "preparing" for further action. I know Rico saw what was happening, but he thankfully said nothing while we worked on some much-needed decompression from the shitshow of our lives.

I had reason to believe that Harry was taking this far worse than any of us, though. He really didn't have anyone to help him with his mindset. At least I had Mio being both insistently needy and pleasantly pliant to distract me from having to think about that mess.

Hell, I actually would have had an easier time of it if not for Thoth telling me outright that the Frame portion of our setup was unavailable due to some kind of lockout. A picture of a bird was all I needed to see to understand what had happened and why, and I suspected that our inevitable return to that cavern of mystery would be needed to clear the lockout.

In any case, we were actually forced to address the elephant in the room because of one simple reason: we were running out of food.

"Somehow, I feel very pathetic right now."

"Nah. You have every right to feel like a damned baby, friend." Harry quipped back at me. "I've only been in three other major psyker attacks, and all of them were terrifying to the core. If you weren't scared shitless I'd be more concerned."

"We still need to get some more food though. The stuff I packed in here previously is running out, and we can't survive off of just water, y'know."

"Point. I'll see about grabbing supplies--"

"No. I've been holed up in here long enough. Even if I'm scared shitless that another of those fuckers is going to drop on my head the instant I step outside, that is no excuse to just hunker down here and not do anything.

"Besides...I want to check and see if anyone at the Base survived, eventually."

The Van Saar base was a major concern for the both of us, as while they may have been allies of convenience as a whole, there were some people there that I did not want to actually see getting offed, especially not like that. Namely, Janus, with which I had struck up a sort of odd friendship with.

There was also the issue that I had the ability to cure that radioactive wasting sickness now thanks to my much better understanding of both healing OA's and their magical equivalents, but improvements in my medical tech base. Treating long-term radiation sickness shouldn't be too much of an issue...assuming I get my ass in gear and stop being a scared fool.

"...Alright, then. I'll let you get prepped." Harry reluctantly replied. "Bear in mind that down here, things are a bit...different. Mutants are a fact of life in the underhive proper, and most will not bat an eye at you walking around openly as you are. Would help with the interactions with the locals, as well; As much as the "proper" authorities do not like to admit it, many of the mutants are quite loyal to the Imperium, only seeking a chance to prove themselves."

I pondered Harry's words for a moment, before answering.

"So why were you so up in arms about me?"

"Mostly the changes, along with the situation. I had reason to believe that you were an agent of Chaos...for all of five seconds. We in the Ordo Xenos do not have the luxury of being closed-minded all the time, I'm afraid."

Now that I could understand.

---

Stepping outside was...difficult. Not so much physically as it was mentally, with my constant fear of having another mad psyker drop on my head with the intent to kill thousands. The distinct lack of that event occurring right off helped me ease my nerves a bit, but the anxiety was still there, watching and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Harry very conspicuously did not comment on my paranoia. I just as conspicuously did not thank him for it.

The two of us headed outside, into the small shantytown that was a part of the local slums. I hadn't bothered to really look at it when we were coming in, but now that I had eyes to actually see…

The place was, not necessarily bad, but clearly ramshackle and ad-hoc. Clear effort had been made to make the structures as sound as possible, and yet even a casual visual inspection showed that in many cases the builders made do with what was available at the time and shored it up when they thought they could get away with it. It was a surprise that none of these structures had collapsed yet.

Another note was that the air quality was actually quite good for being so low in the hive structure. I wasn't sure if we were near an atmo plant or something similar, but my best guesses of depth told me that we should be either in or below the smog layer by now, and the air got downright toxic below a certain point.

"Hey, Harry…"

"We're supposedly near one of the old air recyclers that used to be down this way." He responded, anticipating my question. "It keeps most of the local air supply good, although no one here knows exactly how the smog isn't filtering in from outside. People just take it as is and run with it."

And that was a mystery that I definitely wanted solved before too long. There were actual living people down here. I didn't want them choking to death just because whatever kept the air clean decided to up and die on them.

We slowly ventured towards what looked like the local town square, or at least the approximation thereof. A marketplace of sorts had been assembled there, with what looked like a wide selection of goods to choose from. Actually, now that I think about it, there shouldn't be this large a stock of stuff here. The hell?

I nudged Harry, and motioned towards the obvious bounty. His reply was whispered under his breath. "Don't question it."

...Huh. It's like that, then? Fine. I won't pry. Just need to make sure that the local boss of whatever operation allowed for that is not too interested in my activities.

The square was moderately crowded, with a mix of all sorts of people moving around as they needed, and children running through the throng and playing as they saw fit. So far, nobody had commented on my ears despite being on full display, but I was not looking forward to any form of formal interactions with people down here. With luck, we would be able to find what we needed and get out without having drawn too much attention.

Or, at least, that was my hope, which was dashed almost instantly when a cloaked figure stepped into our path with the clear intent of blocking us. I looked him over, seeing no obvious weaponry on his person, but I did note the spots where one would normally conceal a laspistol or similar on their person. That I found nothing obvious did not mean it was not there.

The cloaked man (which was obvious now that he was moving closer to us) stopped at what counted as a respectable distance from us before speaking. "Welcome, newcomers, to the Breezeway. You looking for anything in particular?"

Harry took the lead. "Just some food. Nothing major to worry about."

The now very obvious security made a gesture that I translated as acceptance. "Very well, then. Head on your way. Just be warned: don't cause any trouble if you don't want any. Been getting a lot of those folks lately, and well…"

I could finish the sentence for myself. Bad ends all around for the idiots who came in trying to run things. How very fortunate that we did not intend to cause any trouble here.

I nodded my acceptance at the "rules", and Harry let out a small chuckle. "Sure, we'll play ball. Besides, you guys have actual food and not the groxshit we normally get. Don't wanna miss out on that."

The sentry nodded his own acceptance and stepped aside, allowing us on our way. Harry pushed forward eagerly, seeking out the obvious good stuff for replenishing our stores, but I stayed behind on an odd impulse, eyes firmly locked onto the guard. He stared back as well, and for the first time I got a good look at his face.

The only word I had for it was...monstrous. There were what looked like scales meshed all along his skin, along with clearly reptilian eyes that had a soft yellowish glow to them. his mouth was somehow morphed and elongated into a kind of half-snout, and stuck to the lizard theming as well, and I caught what looked like a forked tongue poking out between his lips.

I approached him slowly, but at an angle, with the clear intent to pass by. But not once did I let my eyes leave his. Nor did he move his own gaze away from me.

It was only as I was about to pass by that he actually spoke, in a low tone that was clearly meant for me alone. "Do not fear. You are welcome here, as are all loyal children of the Emperor."

So he wasn't chaotic.

The tension that had built up in my body eased significantly at those words, and I felt my nerves settle down just a bit. The reaction was plainly obvious, as there was an equal releasing of tension from the guard as well, with my relaxing. We both gave each other one last look, then a curt nod, and we went our separate ways.

---

Mio found herself once again back in the workshop proper, this time doing general upgrades to the equipment in an effort to keep herself from stressing out. Not that it had helped much over the last week or so.

She had found herself in an increasing state of anxiety, and over the stupidest and most irrational of fears too: that another unchecked chaos psyker was just going to appear out of nowhere and end them all as a footnote to the grander slaughter and destruction that it would cause. She had told herself that it was irrational, that there was no logical basis for it happening here and now, but she was still on edge, to the point that she had pestered Satori more than was strictly necessary for a bit of...comfort.

That he was clearly taking solace in her just as much as she was him did not go unnoticed by her, but neither did she really care. That damned fear remained.

She had been taking other measures to distract herself as well, including learning to properly use her new inbuilt abilities...only to find out that she was so powerful in the originium arts that even Satori couldn't help her much until she learned proper control. Added in was little Rico beginning the group's training in the use of the novel energy manipulation method he used, and one would think that she would be occupied quite well for the foreseeable future.

Instead, she still had the nightmares. She still was jumpy around corners, still watching every nook and cranny with a wary eye as if it could hide another daemon ready and waiting to strike. It was almost too much for her to bear.

The only thing keeping her going at this point was the slight presence in the back of her mind; that connection to her Satori that constantly reminded her of why she was actually here. And more importantly, what, and who, she stood to lose if she allowed her fears to control her.

And thus, here she was in the workshop.

A good thing, too, as the tools and equipment here was in desperate need of some upgrades to actually be in line with the gear that she could make. Some of these tools were clearly scrap-built for a task and then forgotten about, while the rest was...well, calling it downright ancient was being nice. Being VERY nice.

Fortunately, some of the newer additions to their home away from home would help in getting the place properly set up. That Resource Generator building, for example, was the gift that just kept on giving when it came to this stuff. So far, she had managed to do a full cataloging and rebuild of all the improvised tools, and was now working on the planning stages for adding in more advanced stuff like the heavy arms and various industrial machines needed for a proper Laboratory-Forge.

The issue: this was proving to be just a bit more complex than she had imagined, as even with the data sets in her head, and the local mainframe having a full breakdown of needed capabilities for various projects and technologies, she was still having trouble getting the layout right for some of the bigger builds.

With a frustrated huff, she threw her wrench onto the workbench and growled at the situation in general.

"This crap is not. That. HARD!! Why am I still screwing it up?!"

A series of strictly unnecessary "percussive maintenance" sessions followed as she vented her frustration on the environment for a bit. At least in here, there would be no permanent damage…

"Miss Miolala. A moment of your time?"

Mio turned to look at one of the cute green things (Kerbals, she reminded herself) looking up at her. It was another of the "orange" ones, this time the group's sole female. Curious, she stopped her denting of the environment to listen.

"I was wondering about your state of mind, actually."

Mio blinked. "Err…"

The Kerbal continued onward. "Yes. you've been on edge for days now, and even I can tell that this is not your normal state of mind. We were willing to let you folks mope around and be sullen for a bit, but this is getting to be too much now. I mean, look at you. You're just sitting here brooding instead of doing something actually productive."

Mio tried very hard to not flinch at the point being made...and failed miserably. Instead, she made a move to counterattack. "Hey!! This workshop revamp is very important!!"

"And how many tools have you made to face the outside?"

Mio mostly suppressed the flinch this time. "Well, I was in the planning stages for that…"

The Kerbal was undeterred. "And on your training to control your power?"

"Well, I was taking a break from that…"

"Looks to me like you are just sitting here and hiding. Why would someone of your caliber do that?"

Mio felt the first stirring of anger. "I'm not hiding."

"Well, then what do you call it? Don't you have a duty to perform?"

The anger grew. "I am well aware of my duties, thank you very much."

"Well, then I apologize, but I certainly do not see it. All I see before me is a dead husk, waiting to be buried."

Those words caused Mio to flash back to the moment. The time trapped in that storm, utterly helpless to even save herself from its wrath, and remembered the terror of the moment.

And then she knew only rage.

She was unaware of just when she had moved, but between one moment and the next, she was fully in the little Kerbal's personal space, and had lifted her by what passed for a neck completely off the floor with one hand.

"LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR BULLSHIT FOR ONE DAY. YOU WEREN'T THERE. YOU DON'T KNOW. SO DO NOT DARE TO PRESUME THAT YOU CAN LECTURE ME!!"

For some reason, she found herself breathing heavily after that outburst.

"Feeling better?"

Mio looked at the shockingly calm Kerbal in her grip, and decided to actually consider the question. It did not take long to recognize the same tactic that she had used on Satori to call out his own ducking of the issues. Gradually, she set the Kerbal back down.

"...Yes, actually."

"Good. I didn't want you getting lost in the death spiral now." The Kerbal had a smirk on her face as she said this.

"The...death spiral?" Mio, on the other hand, was making a face that she was sure that Satori would love to see.

"Yep. the death spiral of fear, depression, anger, and more fear. It's alright to be afraid. Hell, I've been scared shitless every time we launched a new mission, praying like all hell that everything actually worked right for once and the ground guys didn't leave me holding a bag of shit as everything blew up around me. Sure, I would survive, but crashes hurt."

The Kerbal moved back towards the workshop entrance towards the hangar and it's open airspace.

"The point is, don't get so trapped in your own issues that you ignore everything else, ok?

Mio shook off the thoughts of shame that threatened to appear before her. After all, this Kerbal had a point. It did require one question, though.

"...What is your name, miss?"

"Valentina Kerman. Pilot."

"Then thank you, miss Kerman."

"Call me Val. And no problem."

Mio watched Val leave the workshop, then shook her head. "Right. Need to get back in the game. Let's get something cooked up over here then, yes?"

With that, she turned back to the workbenches and got to tinkering. After all, this shit wasn't going to build itself!!

---

The food we had gotten was surprisingly fresh and varied. I suspected that the truck this stuff fell off of was meant to go to the upper levels, but it begged the question of how the hell it made it all the way down here in the first place.

I made sure to very carefully not ask said question anywhere near where someone could hear it being asked, out of respect for whomever was so good as to be able to get access to that kind of shipment. I dare say they were some hardcore dudes.

In any case, Harry and I were headed back to the safehouse, food supplies in hand, if considerably less than I had thought would be available...but I had a bit of a workaround that I thought might be usable with a bit of testing.

Our trip back to the safehouse was surprisingly uneventful, despite all of my expectations of yet another encounter of some kind going down. We entered the workshop space proper, however, to find a scene of barely controlled chaos.

The Kerbals were on another one of their larks with testing new spacefaring technology. That was both normal and expected. Seeing Mio fully in the mix with them was not.

As for what they were working on...the only thing I can actually safely call it was a brick. It was boxy, had effectively zero aerodynamic qualities, despite the vain attempt that someone had made with little stubby wings on the sides and the top, and looked to have no form of actual propulsion system attached to it whatsoever.

My guess is it was another test of that antigravity tech that they had managed to kludge together, which would explain Mio's presence at least. And while watching the mad scramble was indeed fun, I felt it was better that I announced myself before they got too far ahead of themselves.

"Hullo, the test!! We got some more grub!!"

That got everyone's attention, and created an almost universal ceasing of activities to bumrush the guy with the food. Too bad for them, I had other plans.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!! Not all of this is for eating. Some of this stuff I picked up for a test to see if we can get away with making a hydroponics plant or even a basic farm or something. I do NOT want to end up without food again, guys."

Mio popped up from the internal space of the Brick with a look of interest in her eyes. "You might be interested in a little feature of that resource warehouse, then. Supposedly, it can copy any form of resource that is brought in and produce it every day. Food is most definitely a resource in many ways, and I wouldn't be surprised if it can pull it off."

As much as I was willing to test the idea out, we needed a solid backup in case it didn't. "I'm still gonna put together a hydroponics bay all the same. If the R-Gen works out, then we can use the hydro bay as a backup and test bed. If not, then we have the basis for growing our own food."

Harry nodded in agreement. "It would also get us eating things other than Fungus and corpsedust, so there is that too. I am curious as to how you plan on getting a soil sample that is not contaminated to hell and back, though."

I made a small shrugging motion. "That's actually part of the tests. I think I can work out a way to purify the toxins from the soil samples, or at the very least get something that will not end up killing us if we grow stuff in it."

"You were planning on using your light magic, right?" Mio asked. "I'm not sure that's the best course of action here. I think I have a better way."

Mio was reaching out to her magical power. I could feel it as it permeated the ground, manipulating it. It was barely a moment before a chunk of the earth below us popped up as a sort of pedestal example, with a clear layer of rich, black soil that was perfect for growing crops in. the hole that it came out of was swiftly filled in as she levitated it up to eye level for all to see.

"And here we go, right here. One patch of fresh, loamy earth courtesy of your friendly Engineseer!" Se was practically preening at the result, and with good reason. That dirt there was damn near the answer to all of our worries.

"Huh. Didn't know you had an Earth affinity stashed in there." I chuckled at the minor joke. Mio preened harder somehow. "What gave you the idea of what would work, anyway?"

"I know that this kind of work is not my specialty, but I learned a bit about how the agriworlds worked during a deployment, so I used that to help create this. And the rough codex of earth magic here is so very underutilized it's not even funny. I'm wanting to experiment with this more now that I know about it…"

Harry's chuckling broke us of our minor reverie. "And just like that, you manage to solve a problem that the Imperium has had for centuries on some worlds. And without even batting an eye…" he finally managed to contain his mirth for a bit before continuing. "There are many who would pay quite handsomely for your services. Even more that would skip the middleman and just kidnap you outright, Miss Granliss. Do be careful who you display your power to, lest you attract the wrong set of eyes, yes?"

"Harry, she's stronger than I am."

"All the more reason for her to be concerned." He wasn't even trying to hide it anymore, how close he was to outright rolling on the floor in laughter. Mio, for her part, played the perfect picture of the offended female, incensed that people around her would dare think that she could not take care of herself.

They managed to hold the scene together for all of three seconds before we all burst out into uproarious laughter.

After the moment of joviality had passed, we set about getting the food stored and making a bit of a meal of things. The quality was much, much higher than I was used to seeing for Hive food at the lower levels, and was downright opulent compared to what was supposed to be normal for underhive grub. And we'd managed to get a boatload of this stuff, on the cheap.

Once again, I refrained from asking too many questions I did not need to know the answers to. Some things would just need to remain a mystery.

I did want to check out the Resource Generator, just to check and see if it could churn out the goodies. If not, then the fresh stuff we had would be enough for me to set up a small garden to play with, so we wouldn't run out of food. There was also the issue of long-term provisioning of the starships we had available, but that was still a ways off yet.

Dodging by the Brick and the work crew that was assembled around it was an easy matter, and I arrived at the small warehouse that was the R-Gen proper. The clipboard had conveniently been placed "outside" on a hook, and was marked down with a number of new items that it had recorded since coming online. I quickly reviewed the list, and sure enough, the food was listed there as being brand new...and would apparently take about 72 hours to get properly set up for the normal process.

More concerning was that the list included the stable isotope of Originium that I had locked away, the equally stable (and highly fucking DANGEROUS) "exotic" materials needed for the creation of neuromods, which I thought I had safely locked away from this kind of shit, and even a varied amount of fucking DUST?!?

Since when in the hell did we have dust being stored around here, and why was I not informed of it?

A notification pooped up on my HUD just then, from the tag, it was an apology from Watts for applying a potentially dangerous ability update without notification, complete with the listing of the abilities that I had gained and more or less ignored over the last week. (a postscript noted that Mio's integration into the system privileges profile was complete, and she had been granted the same, as well as everything else that would come normally with such.

There was another note there as a belated notification that there was a "bleedover effect" happening between us, where similar abilities that we had with differing expressions were being copied over to the other as part of our growing sync/bond. This was actually pretty nice to know, even if there was no real noticeable benefit yet.

Finally, there was a cheeky blurb congratulating me on my marriage, and wishing me happiness with my spouse. I was sorely tempted to chuck that last part out as a joke, but Mio would feel bad if I did…

Dammit. Somehow, in the middle of one of the worst places to be in the entire multiverse (in general, anyway) I had managed to luck out and acquire a Waifu...and a God-tier one, at that.

Oh well. I'd enjoy the benefits properly (again, anyway) later. Right now there was the issue of A) setting up a workable hydroponics plant for the new "farm" setup, and B) finding and securing the goddamned DUST before one of the Kerbals sneezed too hard and nuked half of the hangar or something. And then after all of that?

Part C: Training in the proper usage of Aura, with the intent of eventually becoming good/strong enough to awaken Harry's own.

I deliberately ignored the mild explosion over in the clearing as I deliberated.

I think I was going to need some help for these...and judging from the explosion, some Kerbals were free at the moment. Time to design stuff!!

---

"But it works fine!! It doesn't need any of the extras you're trying to add."

"Boss, no. this needs to be properly blessed so that Chaos does not taint the plants we will use as nourishment. Please step aside so that I may perform my duties."

"Just let it happen, man. She has a point on the taint, I've seen it happen before. Nasty thing when it does, too."

The current discussion that we were having (because argument was way too strong a word for me getting verbally chokeslammed by everyone else) over the blessings needed to dispel chaos in machinery were a thing that existed for some reason. Nevermind that I and the Kerbal work crew had put together a workable setup in about two hours, nope. Mio needs to bless it for some reason, even though it's never leaving the workshop.

I took my lumps like a grown man and stepped aside after getting ganged up on so that Mio could perform her duties as a Priestess of the Machine God. Technically I could have done the same, and in fact my even building it could have counted as such, hence the brief discussion, but Mio outranked me in such things, and it would not be certified as "good" without her personal touch.

My take was that she was mad that I didn't ask her first when it came time to build the thing, and was making a point of being involved in the process in at least some manner. Which was not bad, but…

"And it is done. This machinery is now safe for operation. Please do your best to keep the machine spirits placated."

Mio's own actions were a blatant hint to my theory, as well, as that particular ceremony was usually far more involved than her simply laying a hand and blessed oils on the machinery in question.

Fine. I'll make sure to involve you more in me building things from now on.

[See that you do so.] And yes, there was somehow a digital pout in that as well.

Anyway, Mio's (valid) issues aside, I had our food setup done and ready to roll a bit with the odd veggies that we had available. No meats, obviously, but that fungus that gets cultivated around here had a section for itself, so we didn't need to be reliant too much on the outside. I had a strange feeling that would be very necessary in the future.

Rico chose this moment to drop in on my head. "Lord, a moment?"

I more than had time for the little device."Sure. whatcha need?"

"Regarding the substance you call Dust...were you aware that it is magically reactive?"

I nodded my acceptance. That had been something of a point of contention from what little I knew of the show. Glad to see that it was confirmed...wait a minute…

"What happened, Rico." It was most definitely not a question.

To his credit, Rico did not actually try to slip away from the impromptu interrogation. "Well...it kind of exploded in my face when I was handling it...while also fusing itself with me somehow? I'm not sure just what happened…"

I blinked. Then blinked again. I could see that the Dust would potentially react poorly to being incorrectly handled, but that was a bit...much. And the fusion part had me concerned as well.

I motioned for Rico to follow me as I started heading towards the workroom, figuring that was where he was attempting to move the stuff to.

"You alright, at least?"

Rico nodded. "I am fine, though unsure as to why the substance reacted the way it did. My scans suggested that I would be one of, if not the, safest person to handle it. But it still went volatile anyway. I am confused as to why."

Alright, I admit it. Rico was cute when he made that confused face. Still didn't solve the mystery of the dust being more twitchy than usual, though. On a whim, I reached out to him with my senses, doing a quick checkup on his overall state just to reassure myself...and was then surprised as I ran into a barrier that I most certainly did not expect to feel there. Said barrier resisted only for a brief moment, before moving aside, letting me do the necessary scans.

The second surprise was that Rico's systems were almost completely foreign to me now, despite my having given his core a complete workover before even activating him. Valkyrie Core adaptation at work, maybe, but even then there was only the faintest edge of the adaptation and upgrade system that I had slipped in doing its thing. The rest was a weird mix of energies that I couldn't get a read on, even if I felt that I should, and a much, much larger Linker Core to compensate. Somehow.

"Um, Rico? When were you planning on telling me about the...changes you've been going through?"

Rico shrugged. "I wasn't, really. The changes in my systems that you see are normal for the synchronization process of Unison. Once you became my Lord, My systems automatically adjusted to support you appropriately. The changes you see are a result of that."

"So that's why there's a really confusing mix of energies swirling around inside you right now? Along with the Linker Core expansion too?"

Rico nodded again, a smile on his face. "Exactly. Would you like for me to explain?"

We had arrived at the workshop by now, which currently had only one occupant in the form of Harry, who had beat us over here ad was doing a bit of weapon maintenance. Somehow, his old slugthrower had survived the mess from above, and he was doing his best to apply some TLC to the poor thing.

I motioned for Rico to begin explaining the weird energy mix as we moved towards one of the side benches, where Mio had installed a (relatively) simplified automated bullet press, though to what end I was still unsure. Next to it was a stack of small reinforced crates, of which the topmost one was open, with red Dust sitting inside.

"My linker core's growth is normal for the systems I have available. Everything else is a result of either modifications made before my activation or are as a direct result of our synchronization and my attunement process." Rico's explanations began. I let his voice fade into the background while I inspected the crates of Dust.

The opened top crate looked like normal "fire" dust, which if I remember correctly was usable as a pretty good substitute for gunpowder on Remnant. Some fans said it was superior to proper "modern" gunpowder (at least by 21st century standards, anyway). I would be doing tests to check and be sure. The big draw of fire dust was the obvious, as you could rig some decent explosive rounds with it.

I shuffled the other crates around while Rico continued in on the efficiency ratings and some of the photon boosts and conversions that he was doing in his spare time. (the mods were paying off, it seemed.) The second crate contained green Dust, which if I remembered correctly was aligned to Wind. a quick test with a pinch of the stuff confirmed the theory, and simultaneously reinforced the question of why Rico nearly got blown up by the fire dust.

Speaking of the device, he was on a minor tangent about the things that photon manipulation was capable of, and his personal desire to explore the subject at length as soon as possible. I understood completely, as that was one of my biggest unfinished projects as well, and likely the source of what would become our strongest weapons as well. The ancillary benefits were already massive, as proven by the hybrid mana reactor concepts that I had yet to actually build.

The third dust crate had blue stuff in it. I assumed by process of elimination that it was Ice dust, the third of the basic elemental types. I didn't bother testing it, even though I had a strong affinity with the stuff. There was no point, really. Instead, I dragged up the last crate and peered inside.

Yellow, glowing Dust met my eyes, and I was at a loss for a bit as to which element that was supposed to be. Thunder? I think yellow dust was thunder. In any case, it was there, all accounted for, and looked to be surprisingly stable just as the rest were.

So what was the issue here? It's not like Rico just had aura pulses emitting outwards to react with crap, otherwise I'd be in a tornado of hurt right now.

"...And when the process finished, there was a new and oddly small energy field that kind of...overlapped everything? It's weird. Maybe you can explain it?"

Wait. what?

"Small energy field? Describe it please."

The confused look came back again, cute as ever. "Well, it kinda overlaps with everything and nothing all at once, and is very difficult to control...but somehow is extremely powerful. I have done a few tests, and it seems to passively boost a lot of my parameters just by being there, circulating. Do you have any Ideas?"

There was no way. There was no way in HELL.

I reached out, one more time, but not with my normal senses or anything as simple as mana.

And to my shock, even with my amateur handling of it, I felt him. Or rather, his Aura, with my own.

"Yeah. somehow, and I'm not sure exactly how, but I'm guessing it's my fault...you have Aura, kid. For all intents and purposes, this is proof that you have a soul."

I let the statement hang. Rico just stared at me, shock clearly written on his face. He slowly, almost reverently, raised a single hand, and channeled the small bit of aura he had to it, which caused it to glow a warm, cheery blue-green that was nearly indistinguishable from his own magic color. He sat there for a while, just playing with the power, silently.

Next thing I knew, I was getting bowled over by the device as he outright glomped me in one of the fiercest hugs I'd ever been a part of, babbling something or another into my shirt, which muffled the message beyond recognition. I suspect it was some form of "thank you" or similar.

I took the moment to speak. "We're gonna have to add you to the training list for Aura, then. Until we can get you at least up to basic speed, don't mess with the Dust, alright? Don't want you blowing up for no reason."

I only got hugged harder.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel Mio giving me the equivalent of a "well done" and another digital hug, complete with loads of smiles and happiness that very carefully concealed an extremely smug "I told you so".

Whatever. She can have her victory. This one here? This is mine.

---

---

I want to put more. I really do. But this chapter is late enough, and I want you guys to read, too, so I'm slicing it into two pieces. Nothing new in the forge...yet.

 

[stads]

nice chapter thx for writing it
fun to see the kerbel version of the pep talk :d make sense there all afraid though with all the faction that tried to kill them the last couple of days

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

Alright, I freely admit that this is NOT my best chapter. At all. Like seriously. Also, Mio is being sassy at how she wants to be written, and basically forced herself into being a waifu. I TRIED writing her differently, I really did.

Click to shrink...

That's alright. I know that it's impossible for you to write characters in the first person so writing the driving force behind the narrative, the protagonist, from the perspective of some rando is fine.

Of course, we were fooling no one. The three of us were simply exhausted and legitimately terrified of what might await us outside. And as much as I wanted to say that even that level of fear was nothing to one such as myself, I would be lying. I had come far too close to death for comfort, and without even having stepped onto a battlefield at that. Gang shootouts and random xenos threats I could deal with. Having a massive telekinetic windstorm suck you up and attempt to play "Will it Blend?" with your body is beyond my ability to simply cope.

Hence, we were stalling our asses off by pretending to actually be useful or "preparing" for further action. I know Rico saw what was happening, but he thankfully said nothing while we worked on some much-needed decompression from the shitshow of our lives.

Click to shrink...

Isn't pretending to prepare for danger what he's been doing since he got here?

Hell, I actually would have had an easier time of it if not for Thoth telling me outright that the Frame portion of our setup was unavailable due to some kind of lockout. A picture of a bird was all I needed to see to understand what had happened and why, and I suspected that our inevitable return to that cavern of mystery would be needed to clear the lockout.

Click to shrink...

Time for a new Valkyrie Core I guess. Fuck ransomware. Toss that shitty alter into the fuck-mothering Warp.

"No. I've been holed up in here long enough. Even if I'm scared shitless that another of those fuckers is going to drop on my head the instant I step outside, that is no excuse to just hunker down here and not do anything.

Click to shrink...

Yeah and right alongside that is the fact that neither it not defiance of it is any excuse to go out of your fucking pocket dimension without a fucking tank you basic bitch flashlight wielder wanabe.

There was also the issue that I had the ability to cure that radioactive wasting sickness now thanks to my much better understanding of both healing OA's and their magical equivalents, but improvements in my medical tech base. Treating long-term radiation sickness shouldn't be too much of an issue...assuming I get my ass in gear and stop being a scared fool.

Click to shrink...

With as lacking in creativity as this man is I fully expect there to be no solution coming from his ass other then "Use literal chemotherapy" and "Stuff their soul full of light".

Another note was that the air quality was actually quite good for being so low in the hive structure. I wasn't sure if we were near an atmo plant or something similar, but my best guesses of depth told me that we should be either in or below the smog layer by now, and the air got downright toxic below a certain point.

"Hey, Harry…"

"We're supposedly near one of the old air recyclers that used to be down this way." He responded, anticipating my question. "It keeps most of the local air supply good, although no one here knows exactly how the smog isn't filtering in from outside. People just take it as is and run with it."

And that was a mystery that I definitely wanted solved before too long. There were actual living people down here. I didn't want them choking to death just because whatever kept the air clean decided to up and die on them.

We slowly ventured towards what looked like the local town square, or at least the approximation thereof. A marketplace of sorts had been assembled there, with what looked like a wide selection of goods to choose from. Actually, now that I think about it, there shouldn't be this large a stock of stuff here. The hell?

I nudged Harry, and motioned towards the obvious bounty. His reply was whispered under his breath. "Don't question it."

...Huh. It's like that, then? Fine. I won't pry. Just need to make sure that the local boss of whatever operation allowed for that is not too interested in my activities.

The square was moderately crowded, with a mix of all sorts of people moving around as they needed, and children running through the throng and playing as they saw fit. So far, nobody had commented on my ears despite being on full display, but I was not looking forward to any form of formal interactions with people down here. With luck, we would be able to find what we needed and get out without having drawn too much attention.

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God seven lines and three inadequacies, the unpreparedness needed to go into a warp-storm damaged place without some atmosphere filtering a lack of questioning the local supply lines and completely relying on luck for public relations, made apparent. I'm actually impressed by the authorial skills required to do that.

The only word I had for it was...monstrous. There were what looked like scales meshed all along his skin, along with clearly reptilian eyes that had a soft yellowish glow to them. his mouth was somehow morphed and elongated into a kind of half-snout, and stuck to the lizard theming as well, and I caught what looked like a forked tongue poking out between his lips.

I approached him slowly, but at an angle, with the clear intent to pass by. But not once did I let my eyes leave his. Nor did he move his own gaze away from me.

It was only as I was about to pass by that he actually spoke, in a low tone that was clearly meant for me alone. "Do not fear. You are welcome here, as are all loyal children of the Emperor."

So he wasn't chaotic.

The tension that had built up in my body eased significantly at those words, and I felt my nerves settle down just a bit. The reaction was plainly obvious, as there was an equal releasing of tension from the guard as well, with my relaxing. We both gave each other one last look, then a curt nod, and we went our separate ways.

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...For fucks sake man even if you were worried about that that's a shit reason to dismiss those worries. Get some proper Warp tech already you most basic of bitches.

She had found herself in an increasing state of anxiety, and over the stupidest and most irrational of fears too: that another unchecked chaos psyker was just going to appear out of nowhere and end them all as a footnote to the grander slaughter and destruction that it would cause. She had told herself that it was irrational, that there was no logical basis for it happening here and now, but she was still on edge, to the point that she had pestered Satori more than was strictly necessary for a bit of...comfort.

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You know I get that psykers being something one can't generally defend against, until you get to the higher ranks of the setting, is a major theme of the setting but I would have expected Out Of Context Problems/Solutions to not follow that theme.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!! Not all of this is for eating. Some of this stuff I picked up for a test to see if we can get away with making a hydroponics plant or even a basic farm or something. I do NOT want to end up without food again, guys."

Mio popped up from the internal space of the Brick with a look of interest in her eyes. "You might be interested in a little feature of that resource warehouse, then. Supposedly, it can copy any form of resource that is brought in and produce it every day. Food is most definitely a resource in many ways, and I wouldn't be surprised if it can pull it off."

As much as I was willing to test the idea out, we needed a solid backup in case it didn't. "I'm still gonna put together a hydroponics bay all the same. If the R-Gen works out, then we can use the hydro bay as a backup and test bed. If not, then we have the basis for growing our own food."

Harry nodded in agreement. "It would also get us eating things other than Fungus and corpsedust, so there is that too. I am curious as to how you plan on getting a soil sample that is not contaminated to hell and back, though."

I made a small shrugging motion. "That's actually part of the tests. I think I can work out a way to purify the toxins from the soil samples, or at the very least get something that will not end up killing us if we grow stuff in it."

"You were planning on using your light magic, right?" Mio asked. "I'm not sure that's the best course of action here. I think I have a better way."

Mio was reaching out to her magical power. I could feel it as it permeated the ground, manipulating it. It was barely a moment before a chunk of the earth below us popped up as a sort of pedestal example, with a clear layer of rich, black soil that was perfect for growing crops in. the hole that it came out of was swiftly filled in as she levitated it up to eye level for all to see.

"And here we go, right here. One patch of fresh, loamy earth courtesy of your friendly Engineseer!" Se was practically preening at the result, and with good reason. That dirt there was damn near the answer to all of our worries.

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Ah yes. A nice humus rich, bioactive with rotting biomass and soil bacteria, patch of dirt. For the hydroponics farm.

You know even if you wanted to grow the plants in something solid you could easily make some soil bacteria and house it in some superabsorbant polymer gel soaked in fertilizer. No minerals required.

But no no never mind. Chemicals bad. Nature good. Evaporated water leaves the planet. It's probably accurate to 40K lore that hydroponics bays use dirt anyway.

Harry's chuckling broke us of our minor reverie. "And just like that, you manage to solve a problem that the Imperium has had for centuries on some worlds. And without even batting an eye…" he finally managed to contain his mirth for a bit before continuing. "There are many who would pay quite handsomely for your services. Even more that would skip the middleman and just kidnap you outright, Miss Granliss. Do be careful who you display your power to, lest you attract the wrong set of eyes, yes?"

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That's...That's not even slightly a solution to the ecological damage caused by planetary mismanagement. Why the fuck would he think that? Why the fuck would anyone think that? Why the fuck isn't he being shot for thinking that badly?!

Alright. Alright. I'm cool. I'm fine. I've stopped caring about narrative or characterization integrity.

To his credit, Rico did not actually try to slip away from the impromptu interrogation. "Well...it kind of exploded in my face when I was handling it...while also fusing itself with me somehow? I'm not sure just what happened…"

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So at first I thought that this was Mia, because Rico existed in the part of the last chapter that was seemingly composed primarily out of non-sequiturs that I just kind'a mentally filed into the same place that Omakas go, and thought to myself that the same adaptations used to deal with Originium contamination probably incorporated it but nah we're talking about the substance that effects magical energy projection effecting the magical energy projection.

So what was the issue here? It's not like Rico just had aura pulses emitting outwards to react with crap, otherwise I'd be in a tornado of hurt right now.

"...And when the process finished, there was a new and oddly small energy field that kind of...overlapped everything? It's weird. Maybe you can explain it?"

Wait. what?

"Small energy field? Describe it please."

The confused look came back again, cute as ever. "Well, it kinda overlaps with everything and nothing all at once, and is very difficult to control...but somehow is extremely powerful. I have done a few tests, and it seems to passively boost a lot of my parameters just by being there, circulating. Do you have any Ideas?"

There was no way. There was no way in HELL.

I reached out, one more time, but not with my normal senses or anything as simple as mana.

And to my shock, even with my amateur handling of it, I felt him. Or rather, his Aura, with my own.

"Yeah. somehow, and I'm not sure exactly how, but I'm guessing it's my fault...you have Aura, kid. For all intents and purposes, this is proof that you have a soul."

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Yeah? Of course they have a soul? They're a magical computer. They're arguably nothing but a soul.

For that matter thank the Emperor that he never thought about the possibility of these two things interacting or else they probably never would. Citation: everything that has been considered to be compatible or synergistic has been seemingly actively prevented from synergizing.

 

[ATP]

Good story.If they could unlock Aura,that it is another game change for them.I undarestandt,why Chaos panicked and tried kill them instead of corrupting.
P.S He is fox,his waifu dragongirl.Which mean,that their children would be foxy dragons !

 

[Nimeroni]

fun to see the kerbel version of the pep talk :d

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You know you are mentally fucked when the space orks are you psychatrist. And it's effective.

God seven lines and three inadequacies, the unpreparedness needed to go into a warp-storm damaged place without some atmosphere filtering a lack of questioning the local supply lines and completely relying on luck for public relations, made apparent. I'm actually impressed by the authorial skills required to do that.

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He didn't (loudly) question the supply line to blend in. He doesn't want a fight. He just want to buy his fucking groceries in peace for once.

...For fucks sake man even if you were worried about that that's a shit reason to dismiss those worries. Get some proper Warp tech already you most basic of bitches.

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Warp tech, what warp tech ? To the best of my knowledge, "warp tech" means "Psykers" in the imperium. The only ones with decent warp tech are the Necron, and good luck stealing their tech.

As for Outside Context Solution, he does have some anti warp technology. See the earlier chapters. They are not perfect however.

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

He didn't (loudly) question the supply line to blend in. He doesn't want a fight. He just want to buy his fucking groceries in peace for once.

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If he had loudly questioned the supply lines that would have been four things he'd done wrong because he'd probably have someone done that while also still not continuing to wonder.

 

[Slider Zero]

Normally I avoid feeding the Trolls (or those who act like trolls) but today I am making an exception.

Let's Begin.

SNIP.

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*sighs*

Look. I get it. you think that there are MASSIVE flaws in the logic here, in characterization, etc. the list goes on. I could go out of my way to try and alleviate concerns, or answer legitimate questions, sure. But the bullshit attitude you bring to it is going to get ignored. Period.

I'm not going to play Internet Tough Guy over this. Either tone down the sheer vitriol in your posts or assume that I am not paying attention to you when you do post. I would hate to lose a reader over something so petty, but I also need to point out that I do this in my spare time. therefore it will be the way I want it to be, and with the flaws that I give it, either intentionally or otherwise. (usually the latter.) If you have such a major problem with it that I can feel the anger in the posts from here, then, as much as I hat to say it: You are free to leave.

With that out of the way, lets see if I can prune out some legit criticism from this mess.

*looks closer*

Nope, not really, no. Sorry, but I can't see any legit criticism hidden within all of the snark and anger. try again, please.

You know you are mentally fucked when the space orks are you psychatrist. And it's effective.



He didn't (loudly) question the supply line to blend in. He doesn't want a fight. He just want to buy his fucking groceries in peace for once.

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Going to step in here and note that the advice to not question things game from Harry, who is both A) used to the area from previous experience, B) of an occupation that means that he is supposed to know info like this, and C) is very clearly trying to not mess up a good thing by allowing unfortunate questions to be asked. This shit happens in the real world, too.

Warp tech, what warp tech ? To the best of my knowledge, "warp tech" means "Psykers" in the imperium. The only ones with decent warp tech are the Necron, and good luck stealing their tech.

As for Outside Context Solution, he does have some anti warp technology. See the earlier chapters. They are not perfect however.

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and here we come to the next portion. Satori has some, SOME anti-warp tech, and nearly all of it is less anti-warp and more anti-warp CORRUPTION. There is a difference. Second, a lot of the efficacy of the tech relies on his natural resistance to the stuff and Thoth being Thoth, and thus beyond the more obvious methods.

As to Outside Context Solutions...well, they exist, but the training in them being useful does not. yet. Thoth is currently being used as bait by troll birds, so that option is out.

If he had loudly questioned the supply lines that would have been four things he'd done wrong because he'd probably have someone done that while also still not continuing to wonder.

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I am not sure what you want here. Do you want questions asked? or not? keeping one's mouth shut is a thing, even if you have thoughts and questions in your head.

This concludes my reply corner. See you next time!!

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

*sighs*

Look. I get it. you think that there are MASSIVE flaws in the logic here, in characterization, etc. the list goes on. I could go out of my way to try and alleviate concerns, or answer legitimate questions, sure. But the bullshit attitude you bring to it is going to get ignored. Period.

I'm not going to play Internet Tough Guy over this. Either tone down the sheer vitriol in your posts or assume that I am not paying attention to you when you do post. I would hate to lose a reader over something so petty, but I also need to point out that I do this in my spare time. therefore it will be the way I want it to be, and with the flaws that I give it, either intentionally or otherwise. (usually the latter.) If you have such a major problem with it that I can feel the anger in the posts from here, then, as much as I hat to say it: You are free to leave.

With that out of the way, lets see if I can prune out some legit criticism from this mess.

*looks closer*

Nope, not really, no. Sorry, but I can't see any legit criticism hidden within all of the snark and anger. try again, please.

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Oh I have no problems whatsoever about your characterization or narrative skills. They're fucking fantastic. You have very efficiently and skillfully characterized this lad Satori. It's the character itself that I have a problem with because you have very skillfully and effectively characterized a terrible fucking character.

If anything it's even more impressive that you've managed to do that because good characterization skills naturally lend themselves well to characterizing good characters. To do the exact opposite, especially without getting cartoonishly evil or incompetent or otherwise hatable, a la Dolores Umbridge, and simply depicting a deeply and critically flawed human being, is worthy of praise.



If you did want to interpret that criticism constructively for the purposes of writing less deeply flawed characters though you could have them start being more critical of their beliefs. Like, as a single example, I was saying how Satory went from believing that someone was a agent of Chaos because they were kind'a lizardy to believing that they couldn't possibly be a agent of Chaos upon hearing them recite something vaguely Imperial.

Like for fucks sake does he expect Chaos infiltrators to walk around with a belt full of skulls and a undead arm, wearing the skins of three other human beings, right through the middle of the street and up to a Imperial Guard recruiter? If you weren't intentionally going for someone wholly oblivious it'd be horrible and while it's still horrible it's horrible in a good way. The sort of horrible that you watch a gory horror movie for.

and here we come to the next portion. Satori has some, SOME anti-warp tech, and nearly all of it is less anti-warp and more anti-warp CORRUPTION. There is a difference. Second, a lot of the efficacy of the tech relies on his natural resistance to the stuff and Thoth being Thoth, and thus beyond the more obvious methods.

As to Outside Context Solutions...well, they exist, but the training in them being useful does not. yet. Thoth is currently being used as bait by troll birds, so that option is out.

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I was kind of thinking more along the lines of Warp-detection then Warp rejection/Realspace reinforcement. Something like Psychometry would be pretty good for that. Actual Psychometry done by a Psyker could be a bit hazardous, presumably, but it's canonically done by reading the "residue" of psychic energy on a thing which seems like the sort of thing that could be done, however crudely, by a device. I think that they even have devices for exactly that used in the production of Quake Shells. At least enough to tell whether someone's been bathed in strongly aligned Psychic energy as a Cultist, of pretty much any Cult now that I think about it, would be.

Now I wouldn't expect them to automatically have this but they're worried about Warp fuckery. I would expect their worry about Warp fuckery to take the form of looking for countermeasures against Warp fuckery. "Show don't tell" and all that.

I am not sure what you want here. Do you want questions asked? or not? keeping one's mouth shut is a thing, even if you have thoughts and questions in your head.

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Seeing if he can recognize any of the food products based off of how what they are would develop in response to/react to something like soil quality or local air conditions, and from there what places would have soil or air of that quality, or trace elements that a place or transportation or handling or packaging process might have imparted upon it. He did subvert most of the low-level local network of the Hive after all. That's a lot of sample surveys and detectors adjusted based off of local conditions so that you don't have something like a smoke alarm going off because it's close to somethings exhaust system but still goes off if something catches fire. It would not be unreasonably to expect a few musings about the source of one product or another.

Like avoiding openly questioning randos off of the street about where shit came from like some Inquisitor that high off of all of the drugs and about to leave the planet in a few weeks anyway is one thing but dropping the question entirely and refusing to even acknowledge it internally is, you know, slightly different.