As the saying goes, troubled times give birth to mighty men, and just as humanity teetered on the brink of collapse, a figure known simply as the Emperor stepped forward! The Emperor, the most powerful psyker in human history, an immortal beyond compare, an entity whose name countless Warp creatures dared not utter, the creator of the Imperium of Man, the savior of humanity, the great Omnissiah of the Machine God...
In ancient times, the Emperor had always hidden behind the scenes, taking on many names, subtly guiding humanity's progress. Now, this peerless, mighty individual, finally persuaded by his close friend Malcador, decided to shoulder his immense responsibility. With lightning speed, the Emperor unified Holy Terra, the Imperium of Man's homeworld, which had been embroiled in relentless warlord conflicts. He then perfected a new generation of Astartes, forged an alliance with the Mechanicum of Mars, and launched a Great Crusade aimed at reclaiming humanity's lost territories across the galaxy!
To ensure the smooth progress of this grand endeavor, the Emperor used his own genes as a template, combined with dark, forbidden Warp technology, to create 20 Primarchs. Each of the Emperor's 20 overpowered sons possessed abilities that truly surpassed the limits of mortal imagination.
They wielded unimaginable martial prowess, capable of simultaneously managing the affairs of hundreds of planets, tearing apart main battle tanks weighing hundreds of tons with their bare hands, and felling Titans, known as the Machines of God. These were merely the common traits shared by all Primarchs; each also possessed their own distinct area of specialization.
The 20 Astartes Legions, forged using these Primarchs as templates, constituted the main force of the Great Crusade. These two-hearted, three-lunged Astartes were pure killing machines built for war. They knew no fear; their very existence was to slaughter every enemy of the Emperor. Any single Astartes, if placed in another world, would be the ultimate protagonist, but unfortunately, the world they were born into was this one—this universe called Warhammer.
Not to mention the Astartes, even beings as strong as the Primarchs, as strong as the Emperor himself... ultimately, half of the Primarchs became neither human nor ghost, and the great Emperor, leader of the Imperium of Man, eventually became a withered corpse, forever trapped on the Golden Throne.
Of course, none of this had much to do with Swain, who was currently wrestling with iron ore, because some things were simply too distant to concern him now. From his past life's memories, what was useful now were the memories concerning Corax, the Primarch of the XIX Legion.
The Primarchs should be grateful they had a 'birth mother' named Erda, who loved them dearly. If it weren't for such a motherly figure, the Primarchs would have grown up on Terra according to the Emperor's plan, receiving personal education from the Emperor himself. They would then take over their Legions and make outstanding contributions to the Emperor's Great Crusade, allowing the Emperor more time to complete his grand plans and attempt to prevent humanity from eventually evolving into a psychic race and becoming food for Warp entities.
If not for Erda, Corax would not have fallen on Lycaeus, growing up among various households and hiding from the threats of overseers. Of course, compared to many of his other brothers, Corax's situation could be considered quite good. Compared to those brothers who fell to death worlds, the environment of the planet Corax landed on was practically paradise.
If there was any regret, it was that Corax returned to the Imperium too late. The Crow King was the last Primarch to return to the Imperium, arriving about 150 years later than Horus, the first-found son. Even when he took over his Legion, the Raven Guard had already become Horus's private army.
The Horus Heresy broke out 60 years after Corax took command of the Raven Guard. Corax had tried his best to reorganize the Legion in the shortest possible time and reshape it according to his will, developing it from scratch to a size of over 80,000 men.
Unfortunately, everything came to a halt on Istvaan V, and the entire Legion was destroyed in that shameful betrayal. To quickly rebuild his Legion, Corax sought help from the Emperor. The Emperor provided him with the universal gene template used to create the Primarchs, cultivating a brand new generation of Astartes.
However, the Alpha Legionnaires, who had infiltrated the Raven Guard, had already seen everything. The despicable traitors corrupted Corax's new recruits. After the war, Corax could only, at the request of these severely mutated new recruits, personally execute his heavily mutated sons.
Thereafter, the Crow King locked himself in the Raven Tower for a year. When Corax slowly walked out of the gate, he looked back at his sons who stood frozen. He wanted to say something but hesitated. Finally, he just said, without looking back, "Nevermore," and embarked on the path of revenge alone.
These were Corax's stories, but they were still very far from Swain. Swain still had to figure out how to complete his daily tasks and feed his hungry stomach. He didn't know why, but Swain found that ever since he transmigrated, his appetite had been growing, as if this body had re-entered a growth spurt.
"Oh, jackpot," Swain, who was wrestling with the iron ore beneath his feet, stopped his power pick and said in surprise. The red hematite, originally as large as an adult, had been broken into evenly sized chunks of ore as Swain continuously excavated. However, a football-sized piece of ore displayed a completely different color from the other fragmented ores. Threads of gold, like fine strands, intertwined with the red hematite, forming a beautiful blend of gold and red. These golden threads were, in fact, incredibly precious adamantium
Adamantium is an extremely rare and hard metal. Apart from a few uniquely blessed planets in the galaxy that possess abundant adamantium Mines, most adamantium is found alongside other minerals like obsidian and star-iron, and its content is very low. Such a raw ore containing adamantium would yield at least a tennis ball-sized piece of pure adamantium after refinement. This raw ore was enough to cover Swain's rations for a week. Yes, the Tech Guild on Kiavahr was that exploitative. Rather than a Tech Guild, they were outright slave owners. The adamantium that could be extracted from this football-sized raw ore would only fetch seven days' worth of rations from them, and sometimes even at a discount.
Miners on Lycaeus often had to work hard for an entire day just to get enough rations to cover their energy consumption for that day, but more often than not, they couldn't even gather half a day's worth. As for those comrades buried in mining collapses during the excavation process, they could only blame their bad luck; such situations on Lycaeus were beyond saving.
Besides mine collapses, miners were also subjected to occasional whippings from overseers. In mining areas lacking medicine, once injured, it meant their lives had entered a countdown. Furthermore, the mining area was not safe. Deep within the mine shafts, many fierce beasts resided. Life is resilient; even on a mining planet, countless other organisms struggled to survive. Over centuries, a unique ecosystem had already formed on Lycaeus, this mining planet.