Chapter 289: Osenkes

After Ninglu left the Spear of Dionysus in the "Armory," he returned to the palace and entered the "Kingdom of Disorder" once more.

Upon discovering that the Prophecy Dice had finished "charging," he took it and returned to the real world.

The information he knew about Osenkes flashed rapidly through Ninglu's mind.

【Rock world, Osenkes.

Upon it lies a Standard Template Construct for a Star Fort.】

Ninglu's knowledge of the process by which Ramirez recovered the Star Fort STC was limited—less than that of a Leman Russ Battle Tank, no, a Belik Battle Tank.

After letting it flash through his mind at high speed, he recited silently in his heart.

【Star map from Vostonia to Osenkes.

...】

After reciting it eleven times, he reached out and threw the Prophecy Dice in his hand.

After the triangular pyramid tumbled in the air several times and landed in Ninglu's outstretched palm, a scene resembling a holographic projection unfolded before his eyes.

After memorizing the star map, Ninglu input it into a Data Crystal, while thinking silently to himself.

【The Prophecy Dice are incredibly effective; even with my limited knowledge, I can lock on and divine the star map.

Although they have no combat power, they are more effective than any weapon; the Ramirez-class Star Fort is undoubtedly the one with the greatest strategic value among the many STCs.】

As Ninglu pondered, a scene suddenly appeared in his mind: a dilapidated mechanical construct, as tall as a Dreadnought, dragging its heavy footsteps as it walked toward him.

He looked at Strong Brain Cat John; the scene just now was a future vision glimpsed from the "Monster's" mind, a situation that had occurred from time to time over the past few years.

"Have you become a true 'Monster'?" Ninglu asked; he had just sensed that inside John, it felt as if stars were shattering.

"I..." John's Vostonian was already very fluent, and his ginger fur ruffled, "I don't know."

Ninglu activated his Spirit Vision; he saw that John's astral body was entirely silver-white, and he spoke.

"You are a true 'Monster'."

Heilang Fulai Di curiously circled the Strong Brain Cat, and with his high intuition, he spoke: "It is indeed different."

He held his head high: "But still far worse than me."

While Freddy was sizing up John, Ninglu attempted to interpret the revelation of the "Monster's" vision.

【I will encounter a mechanical construct...

The future glimpsed by the "Monster" is uncontrollable; its randomness is far more unpredictable than that of divination-type psykers, and it is not necessarily on Osenkes.

What I know is that Rian Ramirez recovered the STC for the Ramirez-class Star Fort when he purged Osenkes.】

A flash of inspiration struck Ninglu.

Purge!

【Purging Osenkes, which is to say, Rian believed there were profane things there.

If he accepted Huang Laohan's ideas and viewed machines capable of independent thought and action as Abominable Intelligence, then what he purged might have been intelligent machines.】

Ninglu's eyes flickered; combined with the future vision glimpsed by the "Monster," he became increasingly certain of his deduction.

While Ninglu pondered, he sent the Prophecy Dice back to the "Kingdom of Disorder."

He summoned Arsena Dunn and issued instructions to the Primarch Attendant.

"Deliver the Data Crystal to the fleet navigator leader, Eden Vischer, and prepare to lead the fleet to Osenkes."

After establishing a covenant with the Wisher Family, the Wisher Family navigators entered the "Order Shadow" in full.

The fleet's navigator leader was held by Eden, the most outstanding of the young generation of Wishers.

"Order the 11th Chapter to prepare."

"At the same time, inform Archmagos Rian that the location of the Standard Template Construct has been confirmed, and the fleet will depart within ten work cycles."

Regardless of what is on Osenkes, since Rian's guard force could purge it, his leading the Honor Guard, Legion Librarians, and the 11th Chapter would be more than enough.

The silver-haired Primarch Attendant recorded the Primarch's orders, left the palace, and began to execute them.

On the Explorer, the Archmagos received the message from the Primarch Attendant, and his logic engines pulsed wildly.

【Really? // I expected Ninglu's "very soon" to be within ten years.

Calculated by Terra time / I searched for twenty-four years, five months, and twelve days / I did not find a trace of a single sacred template.

Ninglu found another one so quickly / Unbelievable // Does not conform to logic.】

Five work cycles later, the "Order Shadow" fleet and the Explorer set sail for Osenkes.

————

Osenkes.

On the bridge of the Shadow of Sovereignty, Captain Diana Polin was at her console, inspecting the video screen before her.

The Punishment-class Reactor replaced the former plasma reactor, providing powerful propulsion for the massive Shadow of Sovereignty, allowing the warship to decelerate smoothly during the final 520,000 kilometers of its voyage into the planetary orbital anchorage.

Diana did not even feel the structural vibration sounds caused by the unstable navigation of past planetary gravity.

Her blue-green eyes looked at the crystal screen; the reactor load was 15.42%.

The captain thought with some regret: 【No enemy ships, no combat.

I cannot test the combat effectiveness of the Punishment-class Reactor and the auto-charging void shield in real battle, let alone have the chance to use the Simulacrum Sanctum to command void warfare.】

The feeling of controlling all information during the experimental use in previous exercises flashed through the captain's mind.

The entire fleet seemed to have become a part of her body; that novel sensation made her look forward to the moment of commanding a new Gloriana-class Battleship to destroy enemy ships.

The captain cast aside her faint sense of loss and returned to the scan results from the Auspex and Auger Matrix, which were running at maximum power.

Her fingers tapped and clicked rapidly on the data tablet; she organized the scan results into levels and then forwarded them to the Primarch Attendant.

Before the Black Throne, Arsena Dunn inspected the information and reported.

"My Lord, the star system you have named Osenkes has four planets."

As the Primarch Attendant spoke, he operated the Control Staff, causing the holographic projection of the star system to appear before them.

"The Auger Matrix scan results show that none of the four planets in the star system are suitable for human habitation."

"But there is an anomalous signal on one of the planets; it is different from any identification signal currently in the Imperium."

"Further analysis shows that the planet is composed entirely of rock, with no air and no water present."

Ninglu nodded slightly; the Standard Template Construct should be on that planet.

"Send a message to Rian, tell him the Standard Template Construct is on that planet."

The black Stormbird took off from the deck, flying toward the surface of Osenkes.

The Gunship was twelve kilometers from the surface when the pilot suddenly spoke up to report to the Primarch.

"Father, the Auspex has identified an energy reaction, and the identification rune has automatically classified it as a high-threat hostile target."

"Continue the descent," Ninglu ordered, and the fifteen Black Stormbirds continued to land.

At a distance of four kilometers from the surface, blinding, scorching beams of light shot out from the ground.

The Order Shadow reacted swiftly, slamming the control stick forward, and the Gunship lunged ahead as the beam grazed the underbelly of the black Gunship.

As if a switch had been triggered, beam after beam launched an attack on the Gunships.

Ninglu looked down and saw over a dozen metal Machines on the ground; their cables and wires were exposed, and electric sparks crackled.

Their eyes lit up immediately; those eyes were red, not blue.

Ninglu also keenly noticed that their combat arms had not undergone adaptive changes, which led Ninglu to dismiss his previous speculation that they were Iron Men.

He saw polished steel heads shimmering with a blinding, spiritual radiance.

Ninglu's brain spun rapidly, matching them with the head of an Andrew Robot, the main ingredient for the Potion of the "Monster" path's subsequent Sequence 8, "Machine."

He walked up to a member of the Honor Guard and said, "Let me use your sword."

"Father, it is my honor." The Honor Guard member held the sword with both hands and presented it to the Primarch.

Ninglu took the sword, walked to the cabin door, unlocked it, and with a flap of his wings, flew out of the cabin.

Ninglu infused his Spirituality into the Spear of Dionysus and raised his hand to throw it.

The shining spear pierced through the abdomen of an Andrew Robot.

The dozen or so Andrew Robots flickered with cold red light in their eyes, their runes locking onto the black-armored, golden-winged figure in the air, identifying him as the primary threat target.

Binary streams interacted, shared, and calculated within the brains of the Andrew Robots.

Within one second, a fire-coverage strike plan was generated.

The Andrew Robots raised their right arms simultaneously, and the energy beams wove into a dense fire-net, shooting toward Ninglu.

Ninglu flapped his golden wings and swerved sharply to the left.

The Andrew Robots twisted their arms in unison, and the fire-net moved in perfect formation; not a single energy beam changed its relative position.

The fire-net covered Ninglu's body once again.

The Andrew Robots possessed super-computing power; they calculated parameters such as the Primarch's movement direction and speed, predicting his future position.

Ninglu performed a series of high-speed, sharp turns, only to find that the Andrew Robots had him firmly locked on.

A thought crossed his mind, and a rune lit up between the wings on his back.

(End of this chapter)