Gene Ascension of the Golden Age

The passage was deep and silent, leading to the depths of the earth.

The helmet's HUD panel continuously displayed various prompts and values.

This indicates that the radiation intensity in the area has exceeded the limits of human survival.

Even Space Marines cannot stay in Power Armour for more than ten minutes.

It's hard to imagine how many nuclear weapons Baal and his allies dropped on their home planet during that Age of Strife.

This is why the Baal world can still maintain such a high radiation index even after such a long time.

Players from the Emperor's Cattle Warband stood in front of the gate at the end of the passage.

You said there's something good inside?

Upon hearing Ten-Timer's words, the Warmaster became interested.

His eyes held no fear of the unknown world, only greed for the dungeon rewards.

No one can stop him from taking the reward, not even Cthulhu.

Warmaster walked to the heavy door and knocked on it with his fist.

The dull sound alone revealed that this door was more sturdy than one could imagine.

It would take a lot of effort to forcefully break down the structure.

"So, how do we open it?" the Twisted Man asked.

"Look around for a switch or an identity verification device," Mount and Blade King said.

The players began searching around, scanning the surrounding area.

"This game's pursuit of realism is meticulous; every detail is handled perfectly."

"Even when running a small dungeon in the ruins, players have to find their own way to open the doors."

"It's more immersive than those so-called Secret Chamber games on the market."

The Turtle exclaimed sincerely,

"I don't understand what's so fun about those Secret Chamber puzzles," the Twisted Man complained. "I tried it once, and it felt like a waste of my life."

"The main problem is that the Secret Chamber made in China are terrible. The venues aren't spacious enough, the props are rudimentary, and there's no sense of immersion," Wrist Bro chimed in, joining the complaint.

"And once you've cleared the level, you basically have no desire to challenge it again. The second time I go, I just go straight for the key."

While scanning the walls for clues, Ten-Timer chatted with other players, including the Twisted Man.

"Warhammer Online still the most generous. Based on the official's usual practices, this is most likely a one-time dungeon. Once you finish it, it's gone, so there's no need to worry about repeating it."

A few minutes later, the players searched around but found nothing that could serve as a switch.

The passage was filled with stones, and no traces of electronic devices were detected.

"Damn it, do we have to solve another mystery?" The Wrist Bro looked troubled. "But there isn't even a single mystery here."

"Looks like this is a dead end. Let's go back and bring the excavator over," the Turtle suggested. "As long as the steel drill bit is powerful enough, there's no Secret Chamber that can't be opened."

"You have no tomb raiding spirit at all. If you just start demolishing things, where's the fun in the dungeon? People work so hard to build the dungeon for you, and you just start demolishing it right away."

The Twisted Man said,

"Next time, they won't even set up any puzzles. They'll just seal it up with reinforced concrete for hundreds of meters and let you slowly dismantle it."

"Those with a tomb-raiding spirit are now writing novels in jail. Why don't you go and study some more?" The Turtle rolled its eyes.

Warmaster came out and interrupted the argument between the two.

"Alright, this game claims to be 100% realistic, so breaking into it is certainly feasible."

"But the official team has put so much effort into creating this dungeon. If we forcibly break into it, I'm afraid the rewards we get won't be high, and we might even trigger penalties, such as the dungeon exploding."

"At that time, our losses would be severe. We need to find a way to solve the mystery; that would be the most cost-effective approach."

"The riddle should be the pattern on the gate," Ten-Timer said.

"The three symbols, the Golden Angel, the Black Angel, and the King of Angels, are closely related to the Blood Angels."

Warmaster examined the pattern, a thoughtful expression on his face. "By the way, do these three angels serve as evidence that there are planetary souls in the Warhammer Universe?"

"The existence of the three angels predates the arrival of humans in this world. In other words, the races that colonized Baal before were also troubled by Red Thirst and Black Rage, but not as intensely as humans, and were unable to actually observe them."

The Wrist Bro lit up with excitement. "The Soul of a Planet? Could it be that the worlds where the Primarch fell are all similar to Azeroth?"

"What does that mean?" the Husky asked, puzzled.

"Isn't the concept of the World Soul similar to the Star Soul in Warcraft? The world is just the outer shell that nurtures it," Wrist Bro explained.

"Actually, it's not entirely wrong to say that." Ten-Timer nodded. "In official documents, it has been mentioned many times that those Imperium heroes could utilize the power of their home planet."

"For example, Space Wolves, Salamanders, and so on, their rune priests and Librarians can communicate with the World Soul through meditation, thereby unleashing even more powerful forces."

"When Vulkan resurrected, the will of Nocturne also communicated with him, so the concept of the World Soul may actually exist."

"Could it be that we'll receive the blessing of the World Soul later on?" The Wrist Bro scratched his head. "Then wouldn't I, as World Eaters, be doomed? The Lion has blown up Angron's homeland— Nuceria."

"I think you've gotten a bit off-topic," Warmaster said. "Our primary task right now is how to get in?"

Strategist, Iron Warriors, stood still, examining the gate with a thoughtful expression.

"This angel pattern is a riddle, and it should also be the answer."

Strategist seemed to have thought of something.

He removed the wrist guards from his hands, cut open his palm with the knife he carried, and placed it against the wall.

A miraculous thing happened: the blood didn't flow down.

Instead, it flows along the pattern of the King of Angels on the gate, outlining a blood-soaked King of Angels.

Then, the blood was completely absorbed, and the blood-soaked sky made the king shine, transforming him into a radiant, Angels Sanguine with pure white wings.

The pattern seemed to come alive, with the Golden Angel and the Black Angel kneeling before the King of Angels, offering their eternal loyalty.

Then the heavy doors slowly opened, revealing a dark, Abyss- like hall.

Many players stared wide-eyed at Strategist, giving him a thumbs-up and expressing their amazement.

"How did you come up with this?" Ten-Timer asked.

Strategist organized his thoughts before explaining in detail to Ten-Timer and the others.

"In our view, the King of Angels in this picture corresponds to Sanguinius, the Golden Angel corresponds to Sanguinor, and the Black Angel corresponds to Red Thirst and Black Rage. All three of these are related to the Blood Angels."

"But when this door was created, the Blood Angels had not yet appeared in Baal, which means that the creator's original intention was not to refer to the Blood Angels."

"Moreover, the person who created this door was certain that as long as people lived in Baal, they would know what this pattern represented."

"Because the purpose of creating a door is to allow people to open it. If the other party doesn't want later visitors to get what's inside, they can simply destroy what's inside or completely block the way."

"Putting a door here means that the other party wants the later person to open the door and take what's inside."

"If those who come after cannot guess the answer to the riddle, then the riddle is meaningless."

"This pattern is related to the Blood Angels, but it was created before the Blood Angels was even born." "That means it points to a certain quality of the Blood Angels, something that will inevitably appear as long as someone lives here."

"There isn't even a hole here, so fangs definitely can't be used as keys to open the door."

"When all the impossible is ruled out, what remains, however unbelievable, is the truth."

"Therefore, the key to opening this door must be blood."

Warmaster clapped his hands and said, "Awesome! Although I didn't understand a word, I still think it's awesome."

Players such as Ten-Timer, Twisted Man, and Mount and Blade King also applauded.

"That's right, being awesome is all that matters."

"I don't understand anything, but just follow along and shout."

"Strategist 666".

"From now on, the puzzle-solving tasks for exploring these dungeons will be yours."

"..."

After praising Strategist, the players stepped into the hall.

It was pitch black inside, with no light source whatsoever. Without the armor's lighting system, they couldn't see anything.

Are these incubation chambers?

With the help of the Power Armor's visual enhancement device, Warmaster saw the densely packed rows of gene bays displayed in the hall.

They all look the same: cylindrical with silent, unlit mechanical devices on top.

"Judging from this, this should be the gene laboratory of the Golden Age." The Twisted Man looked around.

"I sensed the power of psychic energy." Ten-Timer looked uneasy. "It seems like some kind of blasphemous experiment is being conducted here."

Warmaster walked up to a gene chamber and, through reinforced glass, saw the experimental subjects immersed inside.

The experimental subject could be vaguely discerned to be humanoid, but its appearance was extremely repulsive.

The entire skull was covered by swollen bones, with white bony horns growing from the back of the head.

His eyes were empty, with no pupils visible, and his mouth revealed sharp teeth.

Rows of ribs were exposed on the chest, making it look ferocious and terrifying.

His limbs have well-defined lines, taut, strong, and thick muscles, giving him a powerful appearance.

Amazing bone spurs grew from his back, as if they were forming a pair of pure white bone wings.

This is a freak, Incubi creation.

"Brothers, here are the experimental documents."

His words immediately attracted the attention of the other players, who all walked over.

By comparing and scanning language databases, they successfully translated a portion of the document.

The Gene Ascension Project

The translated document title left the group looking at each other in bewilderment.

Good heavens!!

They seemed to have figured out why Baal's Mutants calamity was more severe than on other planets.

"Using technological means to project the power of mythology into reality, even a mere wisp of the power of the Dark Angel can enable humanity to evolve and possess unimaginable power..."

Players like Warmaster continued scrolling down.

The experimental documentation details how humanity in the Golden Age stole the power of the Dark Angel and injected it into experimental subjects.

This experiment was conducted in multiple locations, and ultimately resulted in the desired outcome of obtaining the hammer.

With the advent of the Age of Strife, the Warp has become unusually active, coupled with the AI ban.

This caused the laboratory's containment devices to malfunction.

Large numbers of mutants broke free from their restraints, rushed out of the laboratory, and wreaked havoc in human cities.

These mutants possess incredible combat and regenerative abilities.

It can easily leap seven or eight meters, destroy human vehicles, and possesses a learning ability that is difficult for ordinary people to match.

"We are gods, the next stage of human evolution. Baal should be ruled by us, not by you damned ants."

A powerful mutant once made such a statement to humanity in a high-profile manner.

Ultimately, humanity unleashed the forbidden high-powered weapons, reducing the entire Baal to ruins.

This is also why the radiation levels in Baal are so high.

In order to win the war, humanity had to resort to land clearing tactics.

They relentlessly attacked Baal and the two satellites until they turned paradise into a burning hell, only then did they stop.

"Goodness, are all these stories this happy to end like this?" Warmaster complained.

"Haha, when an ambitious man's lab goes wrong, the whole world suffers. Hahaha, even Warhammer 40K can't escape this kind of plot," Ten-Timer joked.

"No wonder the Emperor is so wary of those Tech-Priests. These guys are really good at courting death when it comes to research." The Twisted Man suddenly understood the Emperor's reluctance to innovate.

Anyone who experiences events like Baal's a few more times will end up like the Emperor.

Just as players were lamenting the mess Baal had made in the past,

A loud bang was heard.

The players were startled and quickly grabbed their Bolter, rushing towards the source of the sound.

"The gene module is damaged."

When Ten-Timer saw the nutrient solution flowing out of the ruptured gene chamber, he immediately sensed something was wrong.

"These things are still alive!!"

Roar!

A roar was heard.

A pair of scarlet eyes appeared in the darkness, filled with extreme malice.

Just as the players were about to kill their opponent, more loud noises rang out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The slumbering monsters awoke, broke out of the gene chambers, and surrounded the players.

Each one was wet and gave off a strange smell.

The flesh and blood appeared swollen and ghostly white due to prolonged soaking.

"I feel like we're being targeted by the game designers."

Warmaster activated his Chainsword, looked at the monsters surrounding him, and started to complain.

Then, the explosions roared and the chainsaws howled.

A brutal and bloody battle erupted in the dimly lit hall.

Achoo!!

Qin Yun, who was on board the Imperial Glory, sneezed.

He subconsciously rubbed his itchy nose.

"I'm already on par with the Primarch, how can I still catch a cold??"

"Master is perfectly healthy; it's probably just a normal sneeze," Xi Ling said from the side. "Is there anything else that needs to be revised in the eleventh batch of player rosters, Master?"

"That's all." Qin Yun waved his hand. "Just recruit people according to this list."

"Yes, Master."

Xi Ling's projection disappeared.

Achoo!!

Qin Yun sneezed again.

"Could it be that someone is talking badly about me?"

"Never mind, let's go get the rewards first. I haven't gotten the equipment for Save Baal yet!!"

Qin Yun strode towards the Chapel of Prayers, ready to receive the reward for completing the "Save Baal" quest.

PS: There will be another update tonight, I'll try to write 6,000 words and explain some things about Baal.

Some parts are fan-made and not intended to be exactly the same as the official ones.

I'm sorry, I can only manage 10,000 words a day now, but I'll make up for the missed chapters. I'll update more frequently when I'm feeling better.