Chapter 407: A Slightly Dry Wetware

The Mars Casting General Uwula painfully realized that even after expanding so many Thinker arrays, rendering himself nearly entirely mechanical, he was still foolish.

Belisarius Dora Kaul spread the True Faith on Mars, yet he, in his stupidity and ignorance, had mistaken it for heretical false belief.

Even when the Primordial Motive stood before him, he remained foolish, failing to perceive the holy mechanical radiance upon It, failing to perceive the sublime motive It emitted ceaselessly.

This must still be due to the excessive amount of flesh within his body!

Fortunately, the Great Primordial Motive was so merciful; even though he was stupid and foolish, It did not withhold Its holy will and sublime motive from him.

The will and motive of the Primordial Motive, the Holy Dora Dora, flooded into his body.

His mechanical frame instantly became like a lubricant infused with holy oil—each component's efficiency rose by 222%, the Thinker arrays ran as smoothly as a metal plate polished for ten thousand years, and his computational power surged dramatically; many problems Uwula had been calculating resolved themselves effortlessly.

Without doubt, that was the God of All Machines, the First Motive that drove all things into existence—the Great Primordial Motive.

If Uwula still had eyes, they would have filled with tears.

We are saved! The Golden Throne is saved!

What? The "Wrath of the Om Misaiya Believers" promised to Iltu?

Now Uwula only wished to vent that wrath upon the Neiwu Force Director Iltu.

That fat bastard nearly ruined his prostration before the Primordial Motive.

So Uwula knelt before Zhou Yun, begging Zhou Yun to use the might of the Primordial Motive to restore the Golden Throne.

Yet Zhou Yun's words left the Casting General Uwula stunned.

"The mechanical components of the Golden Throne are fine."

"Have you considered the wetware?"

Uwula instinctively wanted to refute.

He had inspected every component, every mechanical and wetware structure—whether he understood their function or not, Uwula had checked them all.

But at the very last moment before speaking, he remembered.

There was one structure he had not checked—yet that structure was the very key to the entire Golden Throne system.

It was a somewhat dry wetware.

Uwula drew in a sharp breath—he understood.

Tiruien also drew in a sharp breath; he understood nothing of machinery, but his mind was swift, and he grasped what Zhou Yun meant.

To call that one "wetware" was surely blasphemy—Tiruien felt terror.

Yet Uwula did not feel it blasphemous to call the one upon the Golden Throne "wetware."

In the Mechanicum, terms like "wetware," "machine," and "lacking humanity" were praise.

To call someone cold and inhuman within the Mechanicum was like calling them a machine—and the one insulted would thank you for the compliment.

What truly troubled Uwula was Zhou Yun's implication—that the one upon the Golden Throne had malfunctioned.

He urgently wished to ask for details, but suddenly remembered the mechanical priests serving him were still present.

Yet at that moment, Zhou Yun slightly raised his hand; a faint tremor emanated from it, and the mechanical priests abruptly ceased operation, as if their power had been severed.

The entire room now held only Uwula, Tiruien, and Zhou Yun awake—of course, Dora Daxiong, who accompanied Zhou Yun, could also be counted as awake.

The Casting General Uwula marveled at Zhou Yun's skill—merely raising his hand, he had halted dozens of heavily modified mechanical priests.

"My Lord, do you mean the Om Misaiya has malfunctioned?" Uwula asked anxiously.

Not everyone within the Mechanicum acknowledged the Emperor as the Om Misaiya.

Most high-ranking officials of the Empire and the Mechanicum understood: the Mechanicum publicly claimed their Om Misaiya was the Emperor, while the Empire turned a blind eye to this pretense.

But Uwula was among the minority—he devoutly believed the Emperor was the Om Misaiya, the incarnate manifestation of the God of All Machines.

Thus, he clung obsessively to repairing and maintaining the Golden Throne's function.

Now Zhou Yun, who very likely was the Holy Dora Dora—the Primordial Motive—told Uwula a possibility he had never dared imagine:

The Golden Throne itself had no problem; the true problem was the Om Misaiya itself—Om Misaiya had malfunctioned.

No wonder, no wonder every past Mars Casting General believed: the day the Golden Throne ceased functioning would be the day the entire galaxy ended.

If Om Misaiya malfunctioned, one of the Threefold Will of the God of All Machines had failed—meaning the God of All Machines itself had failed.

And since the God of All Machines was the sum of all machinery, motion, and law, its malfunction would inevitably cause the galaxy to malfunction.

Zhou Yun paused slightly at Uwula's question.

Uwula's thoughts were mostly mechanical; Zhou Yun could clearly read them.

How to put it? Though the process was bizarre, the outcome seemed roughly the same.

The Emperor indeed had a problem—and that problem would indeed lead to the end of the galaxy.

But the Emperor's problem was not, as Uwula understood, a malfunction of Om Misaiya —it was that the Emperor was about to ascend as the Dark King.

Yet considering Uwula's unique Mechanicum worldview, Zhou Yun did not rush to explain concepts like the Dark King, the Corruption of Destruction, the Malevolent Arts, or the Warp—instead, he nodded slightly: "You could say that without issue."

Despair surged through Uwula's mind: machinery could be repaired with human wisdom—but how could one repair a malfunction of Om Misaiya?

"But it's fine—its condition has improved considerably," Zhou Yun said gently to Uwula.

The Emperor had cut through the Corruption of Destruction twice—though not much, it had eased his burden enough to hold that position for several more centuries.

At least, the Emperor had assured Zhou Yun He could endure until after the forty-third millennium of humanity.

Uwula's thoughts froze for an instant, then flooded with intense joy.

Of course! Only another aspect of Om Misaiya 's will could repair Om Misaiya 's malfunction!

If Uwula had harbored even a sliver of doubt about Zhou Yun's identity before, that doubt vanished now—even without Zhou Yun guiding his thoughts, Uwula would devoutly believe Zhou Yun was the Primordial Motive.

"You may now go inspect the Golden Throne—you will find it has at least returned to the state it held a thousand years ago."

Uwula's mind erupted in ecstatic joy—he longed to rush to the palace immediately and confirm the Golden Throne's condition.

Then… then there was no then.

Uwula, Tiruien, and Zhou Yun stared at each other.

Uwula's dwarf terminal twisted its head toward Tiruien, its translucent green glass eyes flickering.

Clearly, this body could not move on its own—it required external assistance, usually provided by Tiruien.

"I'll arrange a transport vehicle and crane," Tiruien sighed helplessly, shuffling his pudgy frame and jogging out of the room.

"I don't ask you to shrink your size," Zhou Yun rubbed his temples. "But at least give yourself tracks or legs?"

The dwarf terminal before Zhou Yun bowed deeply.

"My Lord, I will dismantle part of my mechanical structure and replace it with mobility units."

"But seventy-three percent of my body consists of Thinker arrays, primarily composed of fragile wetware—there are no facilities on Terra to dismantle them."

Uwula truly could not bear to part with his centuries of modifications—this massive body was his proof of nearing the God of All Machines.

Yet removing some Thinker arrays and replacing them with mobility units was acceptable.

Previously, to gain greater computational power, Uwula had installed Thinker arrays at the absolute limit of his power supply—he had to drag massive power cables just to move.

Now that the Golden Throne was restored, Uwula no longer needed so many expanded Thinker arrays—he could remove some, run others at low power, and free up energy to install mobility units.

As he spoke, Uwula hesitated slightly.

He wished to request Zhou Yun visit Mars—but he wondered whether he should be the one to make such a request.

After all, Belisarius Dora Kaul was the one Zhou Yun had chosen as the Mechanicum's Grand Sage—and Uwula suspected the position of Casting General would soon pass to Belisarius Dora Kaul.

Zhou Yun read Uwula's thoughts.

"Grand Sage Kaul will not take your position as Casting General."

Zhou Yun said, somewhat helplessly:

"He hasn't lost his mind that badly. Don't worry—your position as Casting General is still yours."

Uwula exhaled slightly in relief.

The Casting General was among the Twelve High Lords with relatively less pressure—not because his duties were fewer, but because Uwula's mechanical modifications had long surpassed human cognition, even outstripping the Astartes, making his High Lord duties comparatively easy.

In other words, another high-quality ox.

"Mars."

Zhou Yun stroked his chin—Kiryman had hoped Zhou Yun would replicate what the Emperor once did: gain deeper control over the Mechanicum.

"I will find a suitable time to visit Mars."

Uwula's dwarf terminal bowed again: "Your visit shall make Mars more sacred and glorious, as when Om Misaiya visited in ages past."

"Hmm?" Zhou Yun sensed a hint of doubt in Uwula's mind—but before he could examine it further, Uwula spoke up openly.

"My Lord, when you visit Mars, may you, your humble servant, answer a lingering confusion."

Uwula's voice carried hesitation:

"On Mars, what manner of being are the dragons?"

Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow slightly.

In the blind spot of both Uwula's and Zhou Yun's vision, Dora Daxiong's eyes flickered with a brief gleam as he stared at Uwula for a moment.

(End of Chapter)