248: Blood Raven was overjoyed! "My lord, can this Fearless be used?"

The bridge of the Macragge's Honor was as dim as a tomb that hadn't been cleaned for ten thousand years.

The air was thick with a strange mixture of engine oil, overloaded cables, and some kind of holy incense.

Zhang Yuan stood before the massive observation window, his expression grim.

He hated it here.

His flagship, the Fist of the God-Emperor, was bright, clean, and efficient.

But this place was more like a mobile, oil-leaking steel cathedral.

Deep within the bridge, the few Navigators soaking in nutrient vats were so deformed they looked like failed creations from Nurgle's garden.

"To carry out the Emperor's will."

Tai Adronetus's voice, sounding like metal grinding against metal, rang out behind him.

This Custodian Shield Guard stood at the bridge entrance like a golden mountain.

Even if he didn't say it, Zhang Yuan knew.

Surveillance.

In the shadows of another corner, the figure of Sister of Silence Callista flickered in and out of view.

She was like a non-existent ghost, yet she was everywhere.

Zhang Yuan withdrew his gaze from the sea of stars.

He turned and walked toward the bridge exit.

Adronetus didn't move, but his golden eyepieces tracked Zhang Yuan's movement slightly.

Callista's figure dissolved into the shadows and coalesced again at the end of the corridor ahead of Zhang Yuan.

Two door gods.

Zhang Yuan cursed inwardly.

Fortunately, this ship was large enough.

He had his own area for "free movement."

He traversed the long, oppressive corridors, twisting and turning until he reached a massive freight elevator platform.

The heavy alloy doors opened.

A completely different atmosphere rushed toward him.

Bright, clean, and filled with a pure industrial aura.

This was Zhang Yuan's "state within a state."

The massive ship's cargo hold had been completely remodeled.

Modular buildings of the Astartes barracks stood on one side, the automated turrets at the entrance rotating silently.

Further away, the vast silhouette of the heavy factory looked like a crouching giant beast.

As for the other buildings?

Before leaving Terra, he had dismantled them all, turning them into cold numbers in his system.

He hadn't left a single screw for the Red Robes of Mars.

"Clang! Bang!"

The sound of heavy metal collisions came from the combat training ground next to the barracks.

Dozens of azure steel giants formed a circle; just by standing there, the metallic scent unique to newly forged power armor and their powerful biological fields made the air in the entire cargo hold heavy.

They were Cawl's creations, Roboute Guilliman's future, and now, the first sharp sword in Zhang Yuan's hand.

In the center of the grounds.

Titus, clad in the black power armor of the Deathwatch, was conducting combat training with a Primaris Space Marine.

The Primaris Space Marine's movements were wide and sweeping, every punch carrying enough force to tear the air.

Speed, power, reaction.

He completely suppressed Titus.

But Titus was like a reef that had been washed by torrents for a thousand years.

He always managed to avoid fatal attacks with the smallest movements at the most critical moments.

The Primaris Space Marine's power fist grazed his helmet and hit nothing.

Titus took the opportunity to crouch low, his power sword sparking against the floor as he aimed directly for the opponent's knee joint.

The Primaris Space Marine was forced to retreat and create distance.

Experience filled the gap in physical prowess.

Zhang Yuan did not disturb them.

His gaze fell on the other side of the training ground.

A castraferrum dreadnought, painted in the red and black livery of the Blood Ravens Chapter, stood there.

It was surrounded by Valorian and several Deathwatch veterans.

It was Kaelen Shadowblade.

"Aren't you going to the stasis pod to maintain your machine spirit?" Zhang Yuan walked over.

The Dreadnought's helmet turned toward him, its blue optical lens flickering.

"My Lord," Kaelen's electronic voice came through the vox-grille, carrying a hint of mechanical hum.

"A brand new war machine needs breaking in, not slumber."

"I intend to fully master this iron body before we arrive at Ultramar."

His massive mechanical arm rose, brushing over the bright red Blood Ravens emblem on his breastplate.

"Thank you for granting me this supreme honor, My Lord."

"My Lord, if such a holy creation could be properly maintained and studied by the Librarians and Chapter Serfs of the Blood Ravens, its glory would surely shine upon more dark corners, recovering more lost knowledge for the Imperium."

"I believe that with our Chapter's technical heritage, we could better... analyze and honor its machine spirit."

Zhang Yuan looked at Kaelen's matter-of-fact attitude and almost laughed out loud.

Truly a Blood Raven.

Even 'acquiring' equipment was framed so elegantly and righteously.

"Speaking of relics," Zhang Yuan patted the Dreadnought's cold leg armor, "would you like to see how my factory manufactures these 'relics'?"

Kaelen's optical lens suddenly brightened.

"It would be my honor, My Lord!"

Zhang Yuan led Kaelen toward the heavy factory.

Massive mechanical arms moved over the assembly line, sparks flying everywhere.

Rows of brand new punisher Terminator power armor were being assembled.

"Swann," Zhang Yuan ordered over the comms channel, "you can start on that new toy."

"Copy that, Boss!"

In a corner where no one was looking, Zhang Yuan opened the system interface.

[Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought]

[Requirements: 8,000 crystal minerals, 6,000 high-energy gas]

He chose to accelerate production without hesitation, and a vast amount of resources was instantly consumed.

An independent production platform in the deepest part of the heavy factory was activated.

Massive mechanical arms, like wild dancing snakes, welded thick armor plates together.

Complex wiring and power cores were precisely implanted.

Kaelen's optical lens stared fixedly at the production area, data streams scrolling frantically through his lens.

He had never seen such an efficient method of production.

It didn't even look like manufacturing; it was more like it was... "growing" out of thin air.

In just a few dozen minutes.

Amidst the hiss of high-pressure steam, a steel behemoth, even larger and more ferocious than Kaelen's castraferrum dreadnought, stepped off the production platform.

It stood nearly ten meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back, like a Titan from myth.

Its arms were a fearsome Grav-flux Bombard and a Cyclonic Melta Lance.

Twin-linked heavy Bolters were mounted on its torso.

That pure sense of oppression, born for destruction, made the air in the entire heavy factory grow heavy.

Kaelen's castraferrum dreadnought looked like an underdeveloped child in front of this Leviathan.

"Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought."

Zhang Yuan's voice sounded beside Kaelen's vox-grille.

"The ultimate killing machine of the Great Crusade era; a single unit could go head-to-head with a Knight Titan."

He reached out and lightly patted the Leviathan's leg armor, which was taller than he was, producing a dull thud.

He turned his head to look at Kaelen.

"What a pity."

Zhang Yuan's voice carried a perfectly measured hint of regret.

"If such complete technology had been available back on Terra, what you would be inhabiting now would be this very destruction itself."

"Rather than merely being... its witness."

"Hum..."

Kaelen's Dreadnought emitted a low moan, sounding like a machine spirit overloading.

His blue optical lens stared intently at the Leviathan that had just stepped off the assembly line.

The data stream in his lens merged into a waterfall, nearly crashing his logic engine.

His mechanical body began to tremble slightly.

It wasn't a malfunction.

It was an uncontrollable shudder from the depths of his soul.

His massive mechanical foot moved a small step forward, metal grinding against the floor with a piercing screech.

He wanted to get closer.

Like a believer longing to touch a holy icon.

"That... what holy configuration is that..."

Kaelen's electronic voice became intermittent due to the data surge, filled with static noise.

"Its machine spirit... I can feel it... roaring..."

He looked down at the relatively 'slender' mechanical claws of his castraferrum dreadnought.

This body... this iron shell that had once made him feel honored, appeared so... crude in the arrogant shadow of the Leviathan.

A rough substitute.

Kaelen's optical lens rose again, locking back onto the Leviathan.

That gaze was a mix of a scholar's thirst for ultimate knowledge, a warrior's obsession with the strongest weapon, and... a Blood Raven's instinctive greed for a 'lost relic'.

Zhang Yuan laughed.

He turned and left the heavy factory.

Behind him, Kaelen Shadowblade's Dreadnought remained motionless.

His optical lens was deadlocked on the Leviathan, and a string of fine electric sparks erupted from the joints of his mechanical arm due to the excessive data surge.

A thought he had suppressed for countless days and nights with Astartes honor and restraint now, before the Leviathan's iron divine power, was like a demon breaking its chains, savagely tearing apart all his logic:

I must have it! At any cost!