Chapel of Prayers aboard the Imperial Glory.
Qin Yun walked before the Emperor's statue to claim his reward for completing the mission.
"Praise the Emperor."
The moment he spoke, the surrounding space warped.
Qin Yun was once again pulled into that magnificent colossal city.
He instinctively looked around for Constantin Valdor.
Yet this time, he did not see the First Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes.
Instead, he saw a young man standing some distance away, dressed in golden robes, holding a long staff, with silver hair draped over his shoulders and a laurel wreath upon his head.
"Child, you have come."
The young man's voice possessed a wisdom and composure utterly at odds with his appearance.
"Who are you?" Qin Yun asked in confusion. "Where is Constantin Valdor?"
"You may call me Malcador. If you prefer, you may call me old man, or something else. As for Constantin Valdor, he has other matters to attend to."
"You're Malcador?" Qin Yun was somewhat surprised. "You look so young?"
Shouldn't Malcador have looked extremely old?
Why did he look like a young man?
"What this realm reflects is the mind, not the flesh."
Malcador explained,
"In truth, I am still quite young. I only appeared old because I used to work too much. That is why excessive work must be avoided."
Qin Yun blanked out for a moment.
He had not expected the legendary Malcador to make jokes.
He had always assumed the Imperium's three great figures were all cold, rational fanatics.
Teasing and joking were things that would never appear in them.
"So are you alive now? Or are you already dead?"
Qin Yun voiced the question that troubled him most.
"Is that important?"
"I'm just curious."
"Curiosity is a good thing, but it is not yet time for the answer