265: Setting an example is an order! The silent storm at Hera Fortress!

Beneath the steel dome of the council chamber, the phrase "Comply with the Regent's will" still echoed.

But the air did not grow lighter because of it; instead, it congealed into something far heavier.

It was named "Change."

Calgar did not delay.

The Regent of Macragge fulfilled his promise with thunderous efficiency.

Only one standard hour later, a Thunderhawk Gunship landed on the revitalized construction site of the Colosse Ruins.

One hundred gene-seeds, encapsulated in cryogenic stasis fields, were solemnly handed over.

Each one carried the hope of a future Astartes.

Zhang Yuan looked at those precious creations suspended in their containers, sighing inwardly once more.

This was the depth of the Ultramarines' resources; being able to produce a standard company's worth of gene-seed at a whim was a level of wealth that would make ninety-nine percent of the Empire's Chapters insane with envy.

Above the Colosse Ruins, the long-sealed barracks and heavy factory roared to life once more with low rumbles.

The welding torches of SCVs flickered like stars in the night sky as the foundation for a brand-new starport, possessing a heavy Terran-style aesthetic, was rapidly being laid.

Calgar stood on the observation platform, silently watching it all.

His gaze passed over the jaw-droppingly efficient engineering machinery and landed on a squad of Primaris Space Marines undergoing adaptive training.

They were taller, stronger.

Beside them, a veteran wearing traditional MK7 power armor appeared... somewhat small.

Calgar's expression became incredibly complex.

There was gratification and pride, but more than that, there was a deep-seated worry.

Sage Vogon Matriks was buzzing around those Primaris Space Marines and gene-seeds like a fly that had caught the scent of sacred machine oil.

His mechanical appendages danced rapidly, collecting data as he muttered prayers praising the omnissiah.

The Sage's fanaticism stood in stark contrast to Calgar's stillness.

Zhang Yuan walked over and stood beside Calgar.

He followed Calgar's gaze and understood the unspoken storm brewing within the Chapter Master's heart.

"You are worried," Zhang Yuan stated plainly.

"Tradition and the future," Calgar's voice was low like distant thunder. "In terms of physiological function, the Primaris Marines completely surpass us."

"That is a good thing."

"But it will also trigger a storm within the Chapter."

Calgar turned his head, his blue cybernetic eyes staring intently at Zhang Yuan.

"It will assault the system of honor we have maintained for ten thousand years; it will create cracks in our brotherhood."

"When a recruit is more powerful than a veteran of a hundred battles, how shall honor be measured? How shall merit be judged?"

"The veterans will believe they are about to be phased out, abandoned."

This was the heart of the issue.

In any change, the hardest part is not the technology, but the hearts of people.

Zhang Yuan listened calmly without refuting him.

Only after Calgar finished did he slowly speak.

"What comes along with the Primaris Space Marines is not just new armor and seeds."

"There is also a technology."

"Belisarius Cawl named it—Crossing the Rubicon Primaris."

Calgar's body jolted violently.

"It can transform traditional Space Marines into Primaris Space Marines," Zhang Yuan continued, his voice as cool as if he were reading a technical report.

Calgar's breathing hitched for a moment.

But Zhang Yuan's next words were like a bucket of ice water, dousing the flame that had just ignited in his heart.

"However, the danger is extremely high."

"According to the clinical data Archmagos Cawl accumulated on Mars, and considering the stability differences in the gene-seeds of various Chapters..."

"The success rate of this surgery is currently estimated... at only thirty-eight point four percent."

Thirty-eight point four percent.

A cold, cruel number.

It meant that more than sixty percent of the time, the result was death.

Not dying on the field of battle, but dying on a cold operating table.

The council chamber fell into that suffocating silence once again.

Vogon Sage stopped his data collection, his metal head turning toward Zhang Yuan, optical lenses flashing red light representing calculation and evaluation.

Calgar did not speak.

He simply looked at that veteran in the distance who appeared somewhat 'small'.

A long time passed.

He turned around to face Zhang Yuan and all the high-ranking Ultramarines present.

On his weathered face, there was no hesitation, only a resolve as steadfast as the mountains of Macragge.

"I will be the first to cross the Rubicon."

Boom!

These words were more shocking than a Macro-cannon shell detonating inside the council chamber.

Chief Librarian Dygrys snapped his head up, the psychic light in his eyes fluctuating violently.

"Chapter Master!"

"You must not!"

Several Captains stood up simultaneously, their voices filled with horror and incomprehension.

Calgar raised a hand, silencing them all.

His gaze swept over every brother, his voice sonorous and powerful, like a Warhammer striking an anvil.

"If this path is viable, the Ultramarines shall be the first in the Empire to take it!"

"If this path is impassable..." He paused, every word weighing a thousand pounds, "I am willing to use the body of the Chapter Master as the boundary to prevent my sons from marching toward destruction!"

His voice echoed in the chamber, every syllable filled with unquestionable determination.

Dygrys, the Chief Librarian who could see through the mists of time, had a storm of blankness in his eyes at this moment.

He wanted to speak, to use prophecy to dissuade him, but found that any future possibility seemed pale and weak before such a landslide-like will.

"Chapter Master! Your life is tied to the stability of all Ultramar!" One of the most senior Captains stepped forward, his voice hoarse with emotion, "Please reconsider! I can go personally, using a candidate..."

"Use them to test a path that even I fear?" Calgar interrupted him, his voice suddenly turning cold.

He looked around at his brothers, these paragons of the Empire, these practitioners of the Codex.

"Among the Ultramarines, there has never been a logic where others die in one's place!"

"The Chapter Master must face danger before his warriors."

He spoke each word deliberately; his voice wasn't loud, yet it made the entire steel structure of the council chamber resonate.

"To lead by example is an order!"

Those words, like a sacred decree, completely shattered all thoughts of dissuasion.

Inside the council chamber, there was a dead silence.

All the Ultramarines bowed their heads, not out of submission, but out of reverence.

This was their Chapter Master.

This was the Regent of Macragge.

Amidst this suffocating silence, Zhang Yuan, the man they had always viewed as an "outsider" Governor, spoke again.

"Thirty-eight point four percent is Cawl's data from Mars."

His voice was calm and clear, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"His equipment, his medical environment, and his understanding of gene-seed all remain at a... traditional level."

Zhang Yuan's words carried an unquestionable confidence that made Vogon Sage's optical lenses stop flickering and lock onto him.

"In my Command Center, there are the Empire's top medical pods and bio-analysis matrices."

Zhang Yuan looked at Calgar, his gaze as deep and calm as an abyss.

"I can take your physical data and your genetic sequence and perform real-time simulation and optimization for every step of the Primaris transformation, eliminating the vast majority of uncontrollable risks."

He took a step forward and stood before Calgar; the figure of this mortal cast an even larger shadow before the giant Space Marine.

"I cannot guarantee one hundred percent."

"But I can promise you that the success rate will be no lower than seventy percent."

Boom!

If Calgar's decision was a boulder thrown into a lake, then Zhang Yuan's words were a depth charge being detonated!

Seventy percent!

This number caused the cognitive cores of all the Ultramarines to experience a momentary overload!

From a near-certain death to a seventy percent chance!

What a subversive declaration!

The psychic light in Dygrys's eyes flared violently as he tried to peer into Zhang Yuan's soul, but he saw only a bottomless, calm abyss shrouded in golden light.

Calgar's massive power fists had unconsciously unclenched.

He stared fixedly at Zhang Yuan, as if trying to see the shadow of a god or a demon within this mortal's eyes.

All he saw was absolute confidence.

A long time passed.

"Good."

Calgar spat out a single word, heavy as a mountain.

"My life, my future, the future of the Ultramarines..."

He reached out a massive hand, not to shake, but pointing at Zhang Yuan.

"I leave them all to you, Lord Governor."

At this moment, the weight of the title "Lord Governor" completely changed.

It was no longer an honorific based on the Primarch's authorization, but a heavy entrustment concerning the fate of the entire Chapter.

The silent storm of Hera Fortress had thus begun.