The great hall fell into a deathly silence.
When Sith calmly spoke those words, it wasn't just Bayer, who had suddenly acquired five hundred top-tier 'test subjects', who stood stiffly, trembling with excitement.
Even Van Roth and the others snapped their heads up, their gazes locking onto Sith.
Then, they couldn't help but collectively glance at Daviello beside them.
As the first Astartes to fight alongside Sith—though Daviello's official joining of Sith came much later—even so, Daviello's combat power had long since suppressed almost all Astartes of the same rank.
Perhaps only those who were also 'protagonists' in their own stories, like Tai Ritian or the Western Sword Saint, could temporarily surpass Daviello.
But that was only because the time Daviello had truly followed Sith was too short.
And now, with the situation deteriorated to such a wretched state, Sith actually intended to subject all these veteran soldiers, the earliest to follow him, to Primaris Conversion!
Primaris Conversion was a grand gift Bayer had spent ten thousand years preparing for Guilliman; Primaris Astartes were far more powerful than the early Astartes.
They were also the main force of the Indomitus Crusade currently launched by Guilliman.
However, when things everyone had grown accustomed to were suddenly applied to another familiar entity, everyone found it hard to accept immediately!
It wasn't until the crowd finally digested all the implications of Sith's words that their eyes, previously dejected due to the dire situation, were instantly stimulated into a bloodshot frenzy.
What about five hundred?
Five hundred it is; with five hundred 'men' gathered in one place, even the Golden Throne could be cleaved!
A feverish heat dispelled the gloom of the hall. Only Bayer excitedly turned his stiff body, staring at the Blackwatch on duty nearby while swallowing hard, before asking a crucial question:
"Lord Sith, whose gene-seed will your Blackwatch use?"
"Not to boast, but I personally recommend the Emperor's Children..."
As Bayer spoke, before Daviello could glare and roar in rebuke, the first to react was actually behind Sith—those 'charming' and beautiful eyes, which had turned flushed to the extreme upon hearing that the five hundred Blackwatch might all become Emperor's Children.
Even just after Bayer spoke, Slaanesh—the Evil God currently revered by the Emperor's Children—began showering blessings in abundance without even receiving any benefits first.
Seeing Sith turn pinkish right after Bayer spoke, the people in the hall weren't the only ones wordlessly averting their eyes.
The few entities within the Warp also glared at each other with disdain.
Then, the other Evil Gods, not wanting to be left out, prompted the Plague Doctor and the Thousand Sons who had followed Sith earliest to also receive their old masters' summons; they stepped forward awkwardly to recommend their own gene-seeds as well.
Sith was just one person and hard to fight over.
But there were five hundred Blackwatch; surely they could get a piece of the pie!
Feeling the 'hunger' in the gaze behind him, Sith remained silent for a moment before turning his back to the eyes in the Warp and offering another choice.
"Using me as the blueprint, create a new gene-seed."
A gene-seed is essentially just a piece of scientific technology. For the Imperial side, cultivating a gene-seed from a new source is extremely difficult, almost impossible.
But for Bayer, the galaxy's number one Apothecary, it was not an absolute impossibility.
After all, while this old fellow hadn't cloned the Emperor yet, he had already cloned Primarchs several times.
Even if these cloned Primarchs lacked the Warp essence, creating a new gene-seed completely independent of all other Astartes was no problem at all for Bayer.
Hearing this, Bayer was stunned for a moment. Though he didn't object, he showed a hint of regret.
The reason for choosing a Primarch as the genetic source was to obtain some of the Warp essence behind the Primarch, ensuring the Astartes weren't just physically powerful.
For instance, most Thousand Sons are polymaths but must possess psychic abilities, and the Ultramarines are all outstanding politicians; the strength of these Astartes stems more from their Primarch's essence.
But with Sith as the genetic source, what essence could there be? It couldn't be that they'd also be able to... double things... like Sith, could it?
Bayer naturally didn't understand the 'doubling' mechanic; Bayer and the others only knew that Sith seemed to have an extremely high comprehension ability, such that anything in his hands could exert a multiplied effect.
As Bayer thought of this, the regret in his eyes gradually turned into horror.
Of course, it was impossible for them all to be like Sith, the gene-father, with a hundredfold increase; most would at most have a one-fold boost, and a few exceptionally gifted ones might reach twofold.
Story 'protagonists' like Tai Ritian or the Western Sword Saint would be at most threefold.
But even so, this was simply unthinkable.
If this had to be considered Sith's Warp essence, then in terms of combat power, this essence would become the greatest among all gene-seeds in the galaxy!
Bayer grew even more excited; at this moment, who cared about the damn Emperor's Children.
He had chosen the Emperor's Children for their 'perfect' essence, but now, if the Blackwatch could inherit Sith's 'conceptual doubling', would there be any more 'perfect' existence in the entire galaxy?!
Bayer trembled almost frantically, his face turning from white to red as he continued to think deeply.
Then, as if seeing the most exquisite 'beauty' in his world, his eyes filled with morbid bloodshot veins as he licked his lips, scanning the distant Blackwatch who were even starting to frown.
Until Sith interrupted his 'appreciation' and continued straight to the point:
"How much time do you need to cultivate the gene-seed and perform the Primaris Conversion?"
Cultivating Astartes is an extremely long process, let alone having to prepare a brand-new gene-seed first.
Bayer was finally pulled back to reality by the situation at hand. He wanted to say that time didn't matter, as he had plenty of it.
But seeing the two urgent letters in front of Sith and his master's serious gaze, Bayer paused, then lowered his head to perform a serious estimation.
When he looked up again, a trace of helplessness was added to the excitement on his face:
"Three years at the earliest."
"Three years?"
Sith showed a look of helplessness, while Daviello, Van Roth, and the others looked at Bayer in extreme shock.
No wonder Chaos was so desperate to protect Bayer; you've practically turned Astartes production into an assembly line!
One must know that a normal Astartes goes through three stages from Mortal to final form: selection trials, surgical modification, and training graduation.
And each stage takes anywhere from several years to a decade.
In other words, even using an average of five years per stage, it should take at least fifteen years.
Yet Bayer only needed three years, and that included the time to cultivate the gene-seed. Bayer truly lived up to his title of 'Old Physician'.
He also lived up to being the top technical expert of Chaos, an existence capable of going toe-to-toe with Cawl.
Knowing he couldn't push for more speed, Sith could only wave his hand for Bayer to leave. But this time, no matter how excited Bayer was, he didn't move. Even Van Roth looked over with an equally fervent gaze.
"My Lord, after the Primaris Conversion, they can no longer be called the Blackwatch—at least, not just the Blackwatch."
Van Roth spoke up. After all, 'Blackwatch' was already established as an Astra Militarum name. As Primaris Astartes born from the veterans of the Blackwatch, Sith had to give them a new name.
Facing the fervent looks of his subordinates, they were waiting for Sith to personally speak and announce the birth of the 19th Astartes Legion in the galaxy.
Sith was stunned for a moment, then without taking much time, he thought of the most suitable name.
"101."
"My Legion..."
...shall be called the 101!"
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