Regan left.
He practically scrambled out of the workshop on all fours, even thoughtfully pulling the door shut behind him.
Quiet returned to the room.
Andy sat at his expansive workbench, his previously startled facade vanishing without a trace.
He was thinking.
First, he needed to figure out what this so-called "gravitational wave beacon" actually was.
In the Necrons' utterly unreasonable technology tree, despite having "beacon" in its name, this device was neither a communicator for broadcasting nor a lighthouse used by the Imperium to guide ships.
In essence, it was a physical anchor used to fix spatial coordinates.
As everyone knew, although the Necrons spent most of their time sleeping, the places where they slept were not necessarily underground.
To be precise, not necessarily underground in "three-dimensional space."
To prevent their Tomb Worlds from being eroded by time or dug up as scrap metal by ignorant lower races, the ancient Necrons developed a technology called the "Hyperspatial Pocket."
Simply put, through spatial folding, they stuffed their main tombs, armories, or specific critical facilities into an isolated "pocket dimension" outside of realspace.
It was somewhat similar to the Old Ones' Webway, though since Necrons possessed no psychic abilities, its performance was naturally a step down.
This pocket dimension was attached to reality, yet did not fully exist within it.
Even if you dug through the planet with a shovel, you would not find a single one of their bones—because they simply were not in your physical coordinate system.
This gravitational wave beacon served as the anchor connecting realspace to the pocket dimension.
It continuously emitted gravitational waves at a specific frequency, maintaining the phase stability between the two dimensions to ensure the pocket did not drift away.
"So..."
Andy's fingers tapped gently on the tabletop.
"The reason that unlucky explorer could see the facility and even walk inside was not because of good luck, but simply because something went wrong with this beacon."
It made complete sense.
Just like the six small spheres hovering behind Andy, even technology from the Dark Age of Technology suffered from slow decay over ten-thousand-year spans.
After enduring tens of thousands of years, even Necron black-tech was bound to experience malfunctions.
Fluctuations in the beacon's energy output caused the hyperspatial pocket to grow unstable.
The facility originally hidden in the dimensional fold was briefly "spit out" into realspace because its anchor had loosened.
That explained why the Great Western Desert was normally empty, only for "miracles" to suddenly appear.
At that time, the pocket dimension failed, and the defense systems inside were likely offline or in disarray.
Looking at the waveform diagram, the heavy stone hanging in Andy's heart finally settled a bit.
The fact that planet Zais had not been annihilated yet—and still allowed these warlords to jump around on its surface for so long—was the strongest evidence in itself.
It meant the Necrons inside that facility had not awakened.
Or rather, there was no full Necron military contingent stationed there at all.
If a Phaeron—or even just an Overlord—were sleeping inside, the moment the beacon faulted and the main door opened, those notoriously cranky-when-waking Necrons would have launched Doom Scythes to cleanse the surface long ago.
Since there had been no orbital cleansing, the threat level remained controllable.
"Phew..."
Andy simulated a deep breath.
As long as it was not a Dynasty's main Tomb World holding hundreds of millions of sleeping skeletons, there was room to maneuver!
He refocused his gaze on the description in the diary:
A massive black obelisk flowing with a green aura on its surface.
This description was critical.
Within the Necron architectural repertoire, very few structures matched these traits.
Tombs or barracks were typically pyramid-shaped, while energy stations were usually non-Euclidean.
Only one type of structure took the form of an obelisk:
[Blackstone Constructs]
It could be a "Blackstone Obelisk" used to suppress the Warp, or a "Resonance Tower" used to amplify Warp energy—or even a simple monument.
That did not matter.
What mattered was its material.
Blackstone.
Andy had previously acquired a batch from Kaka and verified its properties, though he had not processed it yet.
In the Warhammer universe, this substance was more precious than adamantium and rarer than antimatter.
It was the only material capable of physically interfering with Warp energy.
With it, one could construct an absolute "Null Field," rendering psykers useless and banishing daemons straight back to the Warp.
For Andy, its strategic value was immeasurable.
If he could secure a supply of Blackstone and outfit his starships with "Blackstone Armor," why would he ever fear Warp storms or daemon invasions again?
It would be physical exorcism!
Furthermore...
Andy thought of the Parsing Station.
There were still many grayed-out, high-tier options inside that required special materials to unlock.
One of them was [High-Dimensional Matter Conversion].
If he could retrieve some Living Metal...
Even if it was the territory of the Necrons—the most unyielding squatters in the galaxy—as long as the returns were high enough and the risks remained manageable, Andy would dare to throw a party right on their graves!
Besides, the beacon was already malfunctioning.
With proper handling, he could exploit this glitch to slip inside, dismantle a few components, and make a run for it.
He did not need to haul away the entire obelisk; picking up a few Blackstone slabs or dismantling a few active Canoptek constructs for analysis would be a massive profit!
"Let's do it!"
Andy made up his mind.
Fortune favors the bold!
Since he was determined to establish a foothold in this universe, he could not pass up any opportunity to grow stronger!
However, thorough preparations were mandatory before setting out.
Andy was greedy, but he was no fool.
Relying solely on high-explosive crossbows and bolters on Necron turf was nowhere near enough.
The Necrons' self-repair capabilities were disgustingly resilient; even if you blew them to pieces, they could reassemble themselves in seconds and resume fighting.
Moreover, the hyperspatial pocket itself posed a major hazard.
If he failed to handle the gravitational wave beacon properly and it suddenly self-repaired or ramped up to full power after he stepped inside, closing the entrance, Andy would be trapped in that alternate dimension, spending the rest of his life alongside the Necrons.
He needed targeted countermeasures.
The first thing Andy thought of was a device capable of detecting, jamming, and holding open a gravitational wave pathway.
Closing his eyes, Andy submerged his consciousness into the vast STC database.
He began searching.
Keywords: [Gravitational Wave], [Dimensional Interference], [Phase Lock], [Spatial Anchoring].
Vast streams of data flashed rapidly through his mind.
Countless blueprints were pulled up, only to be rejected.
[Graviton Oscillator]
Producible.
Can generate gravitational waves, but lacks precise control. Likely to collapse the dimensional pocket.
Next.
[Dimensional Tear Bomb]
A brute-force, single-use cracking method capable of blowing apart even four-dimensional space. Who knows what monstrosities it would tear open.
Performance is too absurd!
Besides, completely impossible to manufacture right now. Pass!
[Graviton Shift Shield]
Defensive. Cannot be used to force open a doorway, and its properties are too stable to induce resonance.
Move aside.
Andy's mind navigated through the ocean of data, searching for the optimal solution.
Humanity during the Dark Age of Technology had encountered similar spatial technologies.
During that era of grand expansion, human exploration vessels frequently encountered various spatial anomalies, including alien civilizations that utilized dimensional technology.
To handle such situations, the STC inevitably had contingency plans—there had to be engineering equipment specifically designed for fixing broken "spatial gateways."
Minutes passed.
Andy's processor load climbed higher and higher, causing the six floating units behind him to spin at high speed.
Finally.
Under an extremely obscure engineering subcategory, inside a folder labeled "Non-Standard Spatial Operations," Andy found what he was looking for: a blueprint that looked surprisingly straightforward.
Its core component was a massive thermal gradient coil surrounded by a complex assembly of gravitational lenses.
[STC Standard Template Construct: Gravitational Wave Interference Thermal Base-Station]
[Function: Used to stabilize localized spatial structures in complex gravitational environments. Capable of detecting and locking onto hidden dimensional folds, or serving as a temporary spatial anchor.]
"You're the one!"