Chapter 606: The Awakening Test Subjects
At the same time, rumors regarding the abnormal production efficiency at Nexxam began to circulate on a limited basis within the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Although both Ryo and the Collegia Titanica kept a low profile on the matter, such large-scale resource mobilizations and manufacturing activities could hardly be kept entirely hidden from the eyes of other Forge Worlds stationed at Nexxam, or from internal factions paying close attention to the Collegia Titanica's movements.
Some traditional Forge Magos, strictly adhering to ancient dogmas, expressed strong suspicion and even opposition. They believed that deviating from traditional production cycles was a grave sign of disrespect to the machine spirit, bound to yield fragile and unreliable creations, and might even invite the wrath of the Omnissiah.
In private, they condemned Ryo as a "heretical innovator," considering it a reckless gamble for the Archmagos Dominus to cooperate with him.
Conversely, representatives from other Forge Worlds who were more pragmatic—or facing production pressures of their own—began contacting Ryo's faction on Nexxam under various pretexts, attempting to glean information or probe the possibility of cooperation.
After all, the ability to rapidly acquire powerful war machines was an irresistible temptation for any faction aspiring to secure a more favorable position in the Imperium's power structure.
Nexxam, a planet originally not particularly prominent among the ranks of Forge Worlds, temporarily became the center of undercurrents where many eyes within the Adeptus Mechanicus converged due to the EVA-Titan project.
Unaware Pilots
Meanwhile, at the Death World base, the three EVA pilots remained entirely unaware of these developments.
They conducted their training as scheduled, occasionally sensing a subtle shift in the base's atmosphere, but without digging deeper. They had no concept yet of the larger fleet of "EVA-Titans" on the horizon.
Nor did they know that they themselves, along with the three EVA-Titans they piloted, were the very source and template for it all.
On Nexxam's testing grounds, the first unit had already been handed over to the Collegia Titanica's vanguard technical team to undergo deeper system adaptability trials, as well as preliminary neural connection attempts with the reserve pilot assigned to it.
Subsequent EVA-Titans had also entered the final stages of general assembly.
The pace of the production line showed no sign of slowing down due to external scrutiny or internal doubts. It continued, according to that unbelievable cycle, steadily "spitting out" one gray giant god after another.
Archmagos Dominus Zoor's order had not only midwived a new weapon, but also acted as a key, carefully attempting to pry open the heavy, ancient gates of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Deep in the Laboratory
Deep within the Underhive of Necromunda, in the gene-seed laboratory completely isolated from external disturbances, the atmosphere was solemn in the extreme.
The environmental control system maintained temperature, humidity, and atmospheric composition within strictly precise limits, with only the low-frequency hum of operating instruments and the faint sound of nutrient fluid circulating through pipes breaking the dead silence.
Ryo's massive mechanical body stood like an ancient sculpture before the main control console, though the dozens of precision mechadendrites extending from his back adjusted the parameters of each cultivation vat with micro-level movements barely perceptible to the naked eye.
His crimson optical lenses were locked onto twenty giant vats in the center, filled with fluorescent green life-support fluid.
Inside the vats, candidates who were originally ordinary humans had developed into full Astartes forms after more than a year of targeted cultivation, genetic editing, and psychic guidance.
They lay in deep dormancy, their faces serene as if merely asleep.
However, the most critical phase had arrived—awakening.
This was no simple waking from slumber.
It meant transforming these "products"—cultivated through non-traditional means and fused with optimized gene-seed traits—from unconscious test bodies into "suitable subjects" possessing basic cognition and capable of enduring subsequent implantation surgeries.
The process involved complex neural activation, subconscious construction, and the implantation of initial memory templates (primarily basic concepts of loyalty toward the Imperium, the Emperor, and the Space Marine Chapter, alongside essential combat instincts).
Any minute error could lead to neural collapse, gene-chain instability, or unpredictable mutations.
Ryo's logic core allocated nearly all its processing power to this task, monitoring tens of thousands of physiological parameters in real-time across every single subject—brainwave activity, hormone levels, gene-expression stability, and more.
Laboratory logs indicated that within the past seventy-two hours, three cultivation bodies had exhibited irreversible signs of degradation due to neural overload during awakening. They were automatically flagged by the system as "failures," their life support was terminated, and they were scheduled for deconstruction as research samples.
The remaining seventeen were in relatively stable condition, but how many would successfully awaken remained an unknown quantity.
There was no emotional fluctuation in Ryo's consciousness stream—only pure data analysis and decision-making.
Failure was an acceptable cost during experimentation; what mattered was extracting data from failure to optimize the process.
His objective was to build a "production line" far more efficient and controllable than traditional Space Marine recruitment, screening, and modification procedures.
The rapid manufacture of the EVA-Titans proved his efficiency in mechanical fabrication, while the gene-seed project represented the same pursuit of efficiency within bioengineering.
The Convergence of Futures
As he focused intently on the awakening sequence, a message from the Death World base marked [Maine's Squad—Dimensional Exploration—Initial Contact Report] slid into his queue at low priority.
He allocated a tiny fraction of processing power to skim the summary. The situation appeared somewhat unique, but it did not pose an immediate emergency threat. He archived the report, marked it "for subsequent processing," and returned his full attention to the seventeen cultivation bodies whose fates hung in the balance.
To him, the Collegia Titanica's order, the Martian Magos's shock, and the undercurrents within the Mechanicus were all minor details compared to this moment determining the fate of seventeen (or fewer) new warriors.
His plan was vast and multi-dimensional: the EVA-Titans were the power displayed to the outside world, a bargaining chip to trade for resources and influence; the optimization of the gene-seed was aimed at fundamentally strengthening the core military foundation under his control.
Once these "suitable subjects" successfully awakened and passed subsequent trials, they would no longer be ordinary Astartes initiates, but seeds of greater potential, deeply optimized and stripped of known genetic defects.
They would bear Ryo's technology and will, becoming crucial components of his future blueprint.
The lights in the lab seemed to concentrate entirely on those seventeen vats, the subtle ripples in the nutrient fluid reflecting the sleeping giants within.
The moment of awakening drew near. Whether successful or not, it would mark his faction's expansion entering a whole new, deeper phase.
The hope of the future was being shaped piece by piece within this silent laboratory.