Chapter 20: Knowledge Will Pry Open Your Skull on its Own
The day Omega walked away from the Temple of the Omnissiah, he was resolute, as if he had made some kind of final decision.
It seemed that "faith" was something he just couldn't touch.
—Omega, Non-Denominational Religious Person.
Why did I have a brain fart and try to force my way into a gathering of fanatics? he wondered. This must all be the conspiracy of some blue-skinned fiend! Terrified by his own thoughts, Omega quickly pulled the dusty, hand-copied Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer from under his bed and began to chant.
(The Emperor: Where is that little brat hiding? Come out, come out, wherever you are. Your Uncle Emperor needs you!)
"Why are my ears suddenly burning? Hmm? Where did this Ecclesiarchy-style reliquary come from? Are those... human bones inside?"
Rhea noticed that Omega had started acting paranoid again these past couple of days. She felt she ought to give him another couple of smacks to the back of the head to lower his intelligence, but before she got the chance, he called a meeting to discuss something important.
That night, at the secret meeting convened by Omega, the attendees were the same as the past few times, with the exception of Magos Laust (who was actually present, just eavesdropping).
However, the mindset of Jacob and the others was completely different. They assumed one of them had slipped up and Omega had noticed. On their way to the meeting, they had coordinated a story to placate him.
Omega spoke first. "Ahem! I have something to say!"
"Go on," Rhea said, subtly signaling the others to be ready to play along.
"Ahem, this is very serious. Don't speak of it outside this room!" Omega emphasized.
"Of course, Boss. Don't you trust us?" Paul said.
"That's right."
"Of course."
"Omega, you're hurting our feelings. Do you think we're the kind of people who can't keep a secret?"
Omega quickly cut them off before they could start another session of grilling him. They had been getting on his case about everything lately. "I don't! But what I have to say is very serious, so I'm just giving you a heads-up!"
"Alright, alright, just get on with it!" Rhea urged. "We've all had a long day. I want to go back and rest."
Hmph! This petty cog-girl, using my gratitude against me. You weren't so disrespectful before, when you were crying and begging me to help you earn some Gears!
"I've discovered a heretic in our temple!"
"Hmm?" said the four of them.
"Hmm?" said a certain eavesdropping Magos.
"Look at this!" Omega said, producing the Ecclesiarchal reliquary.
"Yo, some Ecclesiarchy stuff."
"There are bones inside!"
"The remains of some Imperial Saint?"
"Ahem..." coughed a certain cog-girl.
"I found it under my bed!" Omega declared. "I suspect someone is trying to frame me!"
A certain eavesdropping Magos thought: Nonsense! Frame you! Was the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer under your bed also planted by me?!
The cog-girl who had seen the reliquary before obviously knew who had put it there. She couldn't let Omega continue down this path. "Omega, we have a cooperative relationship with the Imperium. Ecclesiarchy items are not encouraged here, but they are not forbidden. Understand?"
"Oh, is that so?"
Jacob saw Rhea signal him and understood the reliquary was connected to her. He helped cover for her. "That's right, at least on the surface. So many ships come and go from the spaceport every day; it's inevitable that some Ecclesiarchy items would find their way here."
"Oh... I wonder who snuck into my room, then? Nothing was missing, and my safe hasn't been touched. And I have some real treasures in my safe."
A certain Magos thought: Hah, treasures.
While the contents of Omega's safe were nothing to Magos Laust, the personal refractor shield, disruption field generator, servo-skulls, plasma pistol, and his Lucius-98 that he had repaired were all rare and valuable items to Jacob and the others. It was just that Omega was afraid of attracting trouble and couldn't take them out for now.
"Forget it! I'm not thinking about it anymore! Let them do what they want!" Omega suddenly slumped into his chair in a fit of self-abandonment, like a salted fish that had lost its purpose in life. (I think I know who put it there,) he thought.
"Omega, what's with this attitude?" Louis said with a chuckle. "If something's on your mind, just say it. We can help you! And if we can't, we can at least have a good laugh."
"That's right, tell us," Aedus, who had also been infected with the 'prankster priest' virus, chimed in.
"You guys are so annoying!" Omega, the salted fish, turned his face away.
"Just say it," the prankster cog-girl urged.
"Heh heh heh! I didn't want to crush your spirits, but since you insist on asking for trouble, don't blame me!" Omega did a "half-carp-flip" and roared at the group.
"Yes, yes, hurry up and say it."
"Since you are so sincerely asking to be crushed, I will now mercifully tell you. I, your humble servant, the future Archmagos Omega, have already learned all the technological knowledge that can be found on the market and from the weapons and vehicles in the factories! Now that I have no way to access more advanced knowledge, I'm just going to lie here and do nothing!"
Rhea clearly didn't believe him. She teased him to the others, "My, my, Archmagos Omega, that sounds so grand! You've learned everything? So your trips to the temples were just to find the next step up the ladder?"
"I wonder when I'll be able to work on Archmagos Omega's Ark Mechanicus. Right, Aedus?" Louis nudged the priest next to him.
Aedus pretended to think, pressing a finger to his unmodified temple. "According to my precise calculations, you will board the ship one minute and thirteen seconds before I do!"
"I'm ready to board the boss's ship at any time," Paul declared.
"If I'm still alive by then, I'll come aboard too," Jacob added, joining in the teasing.
Mortals! You will never know how terrifying a Tech-Priest with a 'system' can be! Knowledge will pry open your skull on its own and drill itself inside! Today, I will use my power to make you recall how utterly devastated you were at that dinner table a year ago!
"Test me! Come on! Today, I will show you the gap between yourselves and me, Archmagos Omega!"
About an hour and a half later, a satisfied Omega left the secret meeting room, feeling refreshed and ready for a good night's sleep. As for the "foolish priests" left behind, who could only repeat, "This is impossible!", Omega thought to himself: Heaven's wrath can be forgiven, but self-inflicted wounds cannot be healed! Serves you right!
A certain eavesdropping Magos thought: Truly, a monster! Even a piece of slag like Veyl can produce such a 'fine melon'! Impossible, absolutely impossible! At eight years old, he probably couldn't even control his own bladder!
(Archmagos Veyl: I couldn't fully control it at nine, either. I am ashamed, ashamed.)
Omega's tactic of "showing off in front of others" was a success. For a short time afterwards, he received the looks of respect (and terror) that he desired. There was a downside, though. Led by a certain cog-girl, they started taking every opportunity to pat Omega's head, claiming they wanted to "absorb the 'wisdom-chi' from the Omnissiah-blessed brain."
Omega returned to his "scrap-heap recycling" business. This time, he spent a large sum of money on the best raw materials he could find and hand-crafted several read-only memory devices. Without the purely mechanical lock and dedicated input device that he had designed himself, even he couldn't input information into them. The information was input in the form of Chinese characters, and the display was also specially designed. Omega felt that besides himself, no one should be able to understand it. The one sitting on the Golden Throne... well, that was a different story, but He couldn't get down anyway.
(The Emperor: I heard that! Child, humanity needs you!)
Besides the dual insurance of the hardware and the information itself, Omega also strictly followed the blessing procedures, kowtowing on schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and spraying sacred oil on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. What about Sundays, you ask? A man's got to rest.
The reason he went to such great lengths was simple. The mechanical artifacts he could obtain were very scattered, and the knowledge he gained was in bits and pieces. He was inspired by his first pot of gold—the "tutoring index"—and felt that knowledge needed to be sorted, categorized, and made logical. He planned to start collecting knowledge and filling out his tech tree, bit by bit. There was also the fact that although his memory was excellent, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't forget things. He was also afraid of the daemons and evil gods of the warp altering his perception. Having such a backup would at least give him a point of comparison. (An unnecessary worry, but forgive the child for being timid.)
Most importantly, Omega wasn't 100% confident in his "system." The monsters and gods of the Warhammer galaxy were too numerous and too outrageous.
(Author's note: Who was it that came to me in a dream in the middle of the night and said I wouldn't make it without a system? Otherwise, I would have added it in Chapter 7. I was originally planning on letting you face the dangers head-on!)
Overall, the few months after the "temple leg-chopping" incident were busy and fulfilling for Omega. Even Magos Laust would occasionally check in on his studies and impart some knowledge, making him think that his genius had been reported to Laust by Rhea, and the Magos was preparing to take him on as a student. He was all prepared, planning to give Laust a "chance" on account of their familiarity. But he waited and waited, and nothing happened, leaving him in a state of limbo. According to others, for a while, Omega's mouth was perpetually turned down in a pout, as if he had facial nerve palsy. Omega denied this.
The "Omega" exosuit underwent another major upgrade after Omega's knowledge base increased. Because the original "Omega" was modified from a Battle Sister's "Paragon Warsuit," the artificial muscle fibers in the legs, which were designed to enhance strength, needed to be connected to the pilot's leg muscle nerve signal collectors to be controlled. Magos Laust, having no biological legs, had removed them and replaced them with adamantium-framed mechanical legs. This decreased its agility but greatly increased its carrying capacity and defense.
This time, Omega modified the feet of the exosuit with two retractable wheels. Powered by the power pack and an internal engine, and equipped with a mechanical gyroscope, it could maintain balance at high speeds.
However, a "major problem" arose with the "machine spirit"