[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor":3,"chapter-warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-237":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Warhammer: The 11th Primarch - The Black Emperor",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1511036,1962,"Chapter 237: The Spirit Medium","warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-237",237,"\u003Cp>Alpharius pondered for a few seconds before speaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ferrus Manus will win this contest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This isn't the same as the hunting trial on Fenris.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In that trial, they hunted Krakens. Nareth and Leman Russ were both Primarchs, they could each hunt down any Kraken. What decided the outcome was simply who found the larger one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alpharius paused for a moment, recalling the scene on Fenris.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Perhaps Nareth was favored by luck, or perhaps his senses were keener, allowing him to find the bigger Kraken.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Nareth could have won that time. But this time is different.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Excavating ruins tests skill. Manus and his men hold the advantage here, this isn't something luck can compensate for.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Emperor's eyes flickered. His tone was deep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Perhaps Nareth will still win.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ships of the Eleventh Legion launched, flying toward the toxic cloud–covered region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The landing craft slowly descended. Through the viewing ports, the Shadows of Order saw below them ruins filled with ancient metallic devices and stone structures of unimaginable size.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their sharp senses picked up faint, hazy shadows drifting among the ruins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth knew the Medusans called this region the \"Land of Shadows\", a cluster of ancient ruins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the Medusan legend, this was the gathering place of spirits and tribal ghosts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The landing craft touched down, and Nareth led his men off the deck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He ordered, \"Techmarines, study the devices. The rest, keep watch and familiarize yourselves with the terrain.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Nareth turned to Adams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Spirit Medium,' it's your task now. Go question the spirits, find the greatest, oldest, and most valuable ruins.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth understood that the ghosts Adams sought might not know all of Medusa's secrets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they could serve as intermediaries, as ritual materials, to locate the most valuable ruins. So he sent Adams a psychic pulse:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bring back the spirits you encounter.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes, Father.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The \"Spirit Medium\" inspected the spirit crystals he had crafted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These crystals had been made in the catacombs of the Fourth Company.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The catacombs had been built aboard their chapter's flagship, the Sepulchre, a relic warship granted by the Gene-Father himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, Adams was still Sequence-8, the \"Gravedigger.\" In his pursuit to master the power gifted by the Gene-Father, he studied the funerary customs of many races.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During that process, an idea struck him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The brothers who had died fighting for the Gene-Father deserved burial within the Sepulchre.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Death lord finally decreed that, imitating the Rogue Traders Militant , the entire lowest deck of the Sepulchre would be turned into catacombs, to bury the fallen who could not be interred in Dreadnought sarcophagi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, as the \"Spirit Medium,\" when he fashioned vessels for spirits out of psychic crystal, he came alone to those catacombs to complete his work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He named his creations \"spirit crystals.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The one in his hand glowed with a dim green light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some bore scales clinging to them, others feathers, each inscribed with strange blood-red sigils.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Adams separated from the group. Guided by his heightened intuition, the \"Spirit Medium\" walked south.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his ears came faint, overlapping whispers ahead, like countless unseen beings muttering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After two kilometers, he halted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From within the machines, the shadows of ruined stone, the dim corners all around, he felt countless eyes fixed upon him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A rare smile crept across the icy mask of his face, like frost beginning to thaw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Spirits lingering here, come forth.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was low and ethereal, drifting like mist, blending with the wind and shadows around him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed to come from another realm, echoing faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A blurred figure was first to emerge from a machine husk, beyond its own control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Medusan eyes, it was a translucent wraith.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the \"Spirit Medium's\" sight, it was crystal clear: a man in a red worker's garb, carrying an iron spade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More and more figures emerged, from machines, from ruins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some were charred black, some held severed bloody limbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath Medusa's eternally dark sky, the dead walked out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the \"Spirit Medium's\" face was not as cold as usual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He smiled slightly and asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Among you, who was the first immigrant? Step forward.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No ghost moved. At last, a scorched spirit murmured in confusion:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Am I an outsider, or was I born here?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Four minutes later, a robed wraith suddenly declared:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I remember now, I was among ones of the first to arrive!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When we found this world, we named it according to ancient Terran tongues, Sthelenus.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following the Spirit Medium's command, he stepped forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if memory switches had been flipped, several more spirits emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After him, who came next?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The \"Spirit Medium\" patiently questioned, piecing together a rough chronology of the ghosts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Medusans had no Terran calendar, no record-keeping; their harsh volcanic world had allowed no such traditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the \"Spirit Medium\" asked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Where is the oldest building nearby?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The older the ruins, the greater the chance of lost ancient technology and greater value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not ask for 'ruins,' for what was a ruin now might have been a functioning factory in their time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Show me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hundreds of ghosts pointed in many directions, but twenty-five indicated the same one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them was the robed noble spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The \"Spirit Medium\" approached him. \"How far is that building from here?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The noble ghost thought a moment. \"Fifty-nine kilometers.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One by one, the \"Spirit Medium\" recorded their knowledge of the oldest, largest, and most valuable structures onto his dataslate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carefully, he asked, \"And the oldest ruin you know of?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghosts again pointed in various directions. To his surprise, the noble looked elsewhere entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'If his memory was true, then the site he indicated predated humanity's arrival on Medusa itself.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By cross-examining, Adams gathered six categories: the oldest, the largest, and the most valuable ruins, each type marked in a different color on his data slate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When his notes were complete, he selected sixteen ghosts from the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These matched the sixteen spirit crystals he carried. He did not reserve any, for in the transport's crates lay another 104 crystals of his making.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You. Come here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pointed at the noble spirit. Without hesitation, the ghost shuffled forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The \"Spirit Medium\" raised his hand, psychic force spreading toward the ghost as he chanted in Dunnic:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In my name, I summon you. By my command, spirit lingering here, be bound to my will, take residence in this crystal of mine!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gray-green light engulfed the noble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he could speak, an irresistible force pulled him into the scale-marked green crystal in the Spirit Medium's palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a shriek, a gray face appeared within the crystal, his own likeness, frozen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The \"Spirit Medium\" bound each chosen ghost into spirit crystals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>None fled. None resisted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the others, he said calmly,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you for your cooperation. Return now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spirits turned and drifted back into the ruins. The \"Spirit Medium\" retraced his steps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>.....\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[email protected]\u002FDaoistJinzu\u003C\u002Fp>",1158,"2026-06-06T05:05:10.769Z",1,"novelbin.me","266be18c611353237f9ccdf688e3ddd7d1ca9245d66addffd077edcc30cc55b5","warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-238","warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-236",698,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwarhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-cover.jpg"]