"Oh, right!"
Fulgrim had only taken two steps before she turned back, poking her head out from the doorway with a smile.
"I might be quite busy during this time and won't be able to guide you."
"But I found someone particularly amazing in the legion. She can definitely teach you to become a qualified Space Marine!"
"Bye-bye!"
"Is this the place?"
Kasjia pushed open the door in confusion.
As a training chamber, the room's decoration was extremely simple.
Apart from some necessary boxes, tables, and a training cage, the rest of the room was just a large open space.
On the minimalist grey walls hung dozens of various old-style, heavy sabers. These sabers were long and ornate, each with its own unique pattern, distinctly different from the standard-issue weapons outside.
This entire wall of sabers was like a collector with a particular obsession showing off their treasures.
And in the center of the room, a young man was already waiting.
He knew this person. In fact, he was extremely familiar with him.
"Hey, Lucius."
I used to hold you when you were a child!
"Brother Kasjia! You're here for training too?"
He looked happy to see Kasjia enter.
Ever since being saved by Kasjia over twenty years ago, Lucius and his sister Koleon had been living in Kalliston and had successfully enrolled in the military academy that Kasjia had proposed.
There, they received early training for the future crusade, and both graduated with excellent results as part of the first batch of graduates to join the expeditionary force from Chemos.
"Of course. How has Koleon been lately?"
"She's better than me," Lucius said with a bitter smile. "I don't know how she does it. It's as if she was born to communicate with the machine spirits of starships. The Imperial Army has already snatched her up like a treasure."
"That's a good thing. Maybe she'll soon be able to serve in the Third Legion and become the captain she's always dreamed of."
"I hope so."
Lucius was noncommittal.
Although the room's layout was simple, it was not empty.
On an iron-grey table at the entrance, there was a small metal tray.
And on the tray was a batch of very... uniquely baked cookies.
Although the baker had put a lot of effort into shaping them, it seemed that each cookie had a mind of its own.
In terms of actual appearance...
...they looked like shit.
Kasjia was blunt.
He picked up a cookie. It seemed to have been baked not too long ago, and it was still slightly warm.
Sniff, sniff.
This cookie... why doesn't it smell normal either?
A strange, indescribable odor made him feel a sense of unease.
It looks even more like shit now.
Is this how a freshly baked cookie is supposed to smell?
"Forget it, why bother with all this."
Kasjia didn't think too much and put it directly into his mouth.
But it was a nice gesture, having some snacks.
Although they looked a bit unappealing, how bad could a cookie be?
He was a guy who had eaten corpse-starch for decades, he couldn't possibly not be able to handle—
"NGH—!"
Kasjia clutched his mouth in extreme pain and squatted down.
No, what the hell is this thing!?
Why can a single cookie bring such complex changes and pain to my taste buds?
Just one bite felt like eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight ever-changing Nurglings were having a grand orgy on his tongue!
A bizarre taste that transcended human language exploded in his mouth.
He collapsed to the ground instantly.
"Kasjia, are you alright!?"
"Should I go get an Apothecary?"
Lucius also looked extremely panicked.
"Urgh..."
Kasjia did not answer Lucius.
Or rather, he couldn't answer him anymore.
He lay on the ground, convulsing a few times.
"Kasjia!"
And then he quickly stopped moving.
"KASJIA!!!"
Kasjia felt as if he was... swimming in the sea of his soul.
He felt the gazes of countless beings, projected towards him from infinite dimensions of time and space.
And among them, there seemed to be four particularly large and important beings, all curious about Kasjia's appearance.
One praised Kasjia's courage for daring to eat the cookie.
One coveted the recipe of the cookie Kasjia had eaten.
One was shocked by the infinite changes blooming on Kasjia's taste buds. (But it was still all according to plan!)
One licked at the novel pain Kasjia was suffering.
They each wanted something.
And then, Kasjia felt these four beings all being dispersed by a warmth.
In the endless illusion and change, he seemed to see a figure glowing with golden light.
Solemn, august, and holy.
But it still seemed unable to dispel the magical taste brought by the terrifying cookie.
The figure sat on a high throne cast from gold, silently looking down on all living things.
And at this moment, in its eyes, there seemed to be only... helplessness?
"Sigh, my child."
"Not at this moment, not now."
"Go back quickly."
"BLEEEURGH—"
"Cough, cough, cough!"
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
Gasp... gasp.
Feeling his soul return to his body, Kasjia almost coughed up his stomach.
Having survived the ordeal, he was quite shaken.
"Brother, are you alright?"
"Gasp... it's hard... it's hard to say I'm alright..."
It seemed he had almost returned to the Golden Throne.
Kasjia struggled to get up from the ground, only to find that he had lost all his strength.
"I... I thought you baked these."
He picked up the terrifying, five-gods-blessed cookie in his hand and slowly brought it closer to look at it.
Then he blinked hard a few times.
No.
Then this thing is a bit too terrifying, isn't it?
Can a cookie really be this powerful?
Is this really the food that humans eat, made of sugar, oil, milk, and wheat flour, that people call a cookie?
Or is it the latest simulated poison developed by Malcador's assassins?
Kasjia turned to look at the somewhat embarrassed Lucius.
"I don't know."
His expression was extremely innocent.
"I sniffed this thing, found it a bit strange, and didn't dare to eat it..."
"It's alright."
Having survived the ordeal, Kasjia seemed to have gained a new ability through misfortune.
—He could now successfully identify the name of the baker just by tasting the food.
He was so stupid, really.
He should have known when he saw the wall full of Xana pattern sabers.
Who else among the Emperor's Children could collect so many sabers, be a sword master so admired by even Fulgrim...
...and have such "magical" cooking skills?
"Is that you?"
"Brother A, Arcur Tona?"
Kasjia asserted, looking at the woman who walked into the room with a tray full of cookies and a frustrated look on her face.
Wait, a woman?
-------
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