"I—I can return to the laboratory?"
At Ron's words, The Emperor's weathered eyes lit up slightly, and even his voice trembled.
It was something he had long awaited ever since leaving the Throne.
Though the former Master of Mankind was one of humanity's mightiest warriors, he preferred to see himself as humanity's savior, a scientist spreading the Imperial Truth.
He would rather remain in a laboratory, viewing combat as a "necessary evil" and a "tool," and he knew full well that war and slaughter could not solve every problem.
In truth, he had created the Primarchs in the hope that these sons could fight in his place and conquer more regions of the Galaxy.
Only then would he have time to do more important things, such as advancing humanity's technology and promoting the Imperial Truth.
Especially during the later stages of the Great Crusade, The Emperor had increasingly come to feel that individual martial power could not save humanity.
Even if the Imperial armies conquered the entire Galaxy, they could not stop the corruption of the gods of the Warp.
He had chosen to return to the laboratory, hoping to resist Chaos by strengthening humanity's genes and weaving the Webway, while extending Terra's sphere of rule as far as possible.
That was thousands of times more important than winning any battle.
To the former Master of Mankind, the laboratory was his "ultimate battlefield," the place where he wrote humanity's future, and an essential path toward realizing the Imperial Truth.
Thus, after the Great Crusade ended, he would rather hand the title of Warmaster and the Imperial armies to Horus, establish the High Lords Council and return administrative authority to humanity, abandoning all power and affairs so that he could retreat beneath Terra to conduct research and experiments.
He had planned