In the darkness, Nimrod wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were heavy, as though they had been glued shut.
He vaguely sensed his curled-up body slowly turning in murky amniotic fluid, sinking drowsily back into sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, his senses suddenly became clear. Beyond the amniotic fluid was a glass partition, part of an unpainted device with a silver-gray iron casing.
The smooth surface of the device was covered in mechanical slots and ports. Silver Gothic numerals—XI—were clearly inscribed on its front, while another line of smaller, exquisitely written text was engraved on the metal plate below.
It was the first time Nimrod had "seen" this kind of writing. It differed from every language he knew, seemingly a long and elaborate prayer meant to seek blessings and support from some external power.
Just as he tried to decipher it, a surprised voice sounded beside him.
"My lord, Primarch Number Eleven's senses are extremely sharp, just like Primarch Number Fifteen's."
A majestic voice, like thunder, rang out.
"No, Malcador."
"I bestowed powerful Psionic Energy talent upon Primarch Number Fifteen. What I gave Primarch Number Eleven was keen perception and a powerful consciousness."
"He will possess extraordinary insight. He will keenly seize the enemy's weaknesses and deal them precise, lethal blows. He will be a battlefield Death God who reaps lives."
[Primarch Number Eleven?]
[Malcador?]
Nimrod felt as though he had been struck by lightning, and his hazy consciousness instantly cleared.
An elderly man holding a scepter stood there, seeming frail with age. Blinding light radiated from him, yet compared with the sun beside him, he was more like a star.
The instant Nimrod's consciousness touched that sun, he felt a scorching pain.
"Sleep! You are still too weak. It is not yet time for you to serve me!"
There seemed to be some magic in the sun's voice. Nimrod immediately lost all sense of the outside world, as if the entire world contained nothing but the gestation pod.
His body slowly turned at once, presenting his back to the two speakers as his sluggish mind thought.
[I... transmigrated... They are... The Emperor... and Malcador... I became... Primarch Number Eleven...]
Nimrod felt his thoughts enter a strange state. By the time that sentence fully appeared in his mind, he had no idea how much time had passed.
His perception was suddenly released again. More accurately, the restraints on it had vanished.
He sensed the platform, the vibrating metal pillars, the engines, and other gestation pods.
He also sensed another awakened consciousness. Magnus?
Nimrod sensed that The Emperor and Malcador had already left. He also sensed the nearby gestation pods and the powerful lifeforms growing within them.
He further sensed scientists working at their respective posts beneath the platform. The number "I" was printed on the backs of all their protective suits.
Their gloves were covered in blood as they used silver scalpels to cut open pale organs.
Nimrod had now confirmed that he had transmigrated into the Warhammer universe. He was a Primarch created by The Emperor to conquer the galaxy for the "Great Crusade."
*[Why did I have to transmigrate into the shithole that is Warhammer, and as Primarch Number Eleven, who will be erased no less?*
*Even if I remain cautious, can I really avoid my future fate?]*
The moment he thought this, he suddenly felt his "body" float up, wrapped in black mist.
[How could there be fog inside a gestation pod? Are The Four Ruinous Powers making their move already?]
Then Nimrod discovered that his consciousness had entered a world of black mist. The mist was boundless, and he could not sense its edges.
Only within a hundred-meter radius centered on himself was there no black mist, allowing him to see clearly.
[Weren't The Four Ruinous Powers supposed to sweep away all the Primarchs and cast them onto worlds across the galaxy? They shouldn't have dragged away only my consciousness.]
During the creation of the Primarchs, The Emperor had made a deal with the Chaos Gods, agreeing that half of the Primarchs would belong to the gods of the Warp.
His heart held only humanity, and he would not be bound by morality. Naturally, he intended to break the agreement, but the Chaos Gods would not simply allow him to default. They created a Warp Storm within the laboratory and scattered the twenty Primarchs across different worlds in the galaxy.
Just as Nimrod was puzzled, a massive torrent of information suddenly flooded his mind.
His head would definitely have exploded in the past, but now his superhuman brain rapidly processed the information.
[I am now within the "Kingdom of Disorder." In order to evolve, Source Essence chose me and brought me to the Warhammer universe.]
Nimrod suddenly remembered that, before his transmigration, he had joined a crowdfunding campaign for the Blasphemy Slate as a fan of Lord of Mysteries.
He had excitedly opened the package, only to find a mysterious bonus gift inside. Black mist had then enveloped him, and he lost consciousness.
At the same time, Magnus's consciousness stirred. His doubt spread outward, and when it swept over Primarch Number Eleven's gestation pod, he found nothing unusual. After lingering for a moment, he sensed that Nimrod seemed to be asleep and withdrew his consciousness.
Nimrod looked ahead and saw an enormous stone slate. He precisely sensed that it was twenty-two meters wide and ten meters tall.
With a thought, he arrived before the gray stone slate.
The "Kingdom of Disorder" had just instilled a vast amount of knowledge about the Beyonder domain into him. He knew that the slate recorded the potion formulas for twenty-two pathways.
A pathway was a sequence chain that advanced step by step, steadily growing stronger.
If mortals wanted to obtain supernatural power, they had to consume a Sequence 9 potion and become Beyonders.
The lower the Sequence number, the higher the potion's quality. Sequence 9 through Sequence 0 was also a path to godhood.
As the one bearing the identity and fate of the master of the "Kingdom of Disorder," he had to follow the "Black Emperor" pathway. Therefore, the Blasphemy Slate currently contained only the formula for the Sequence 9 "Lawyer" potion. The formulas for later Sequences and other pathways would need to be gradually unlocked.
Sequence 9 "Lawyer" potion formula:
Main ingredients: 1,100 millimeters of Wire Grass, one Chem-Dog tongue.
Auxiliary ingredients: 1,100 milliliters of Helas Volt, one Spine Crystal, one Hive Giant Rat.
Beyonder abilities: ...
From his Beyonder knowledge, Nimrod knew that the potion materials on the Blasphemy Slate differed from those in his memories. Instead, they were materials from the Warhammer universe containing the same Beyonder traits.
Fortunately, every material came with an image, so he would not mistake them.
He also noticed that among the potion materials, the Hive Giant Rat and Spine Crystal glimmered faintly, while the other three were dim and without light.
Helas Volt?
When he saw the liquor that resembled black vodka, he immediately recalled that it was a local specialty of the industrial world Vostonia.
The Chem-Dog also had nothing to do with the Savlar Chem-Dogs. It was a canine brought over by Vostonia's first settlers.
*[I am currently in Terra's laboratory. Hive Giant Rats and Spine Crystals exist in the Hive City, so they are glowing on the Blasphemy Slate.*
The other three potion materials are absent, so they are dim. This is rather convenient. At least it lets me know whether potion materials exist in the world where I am.
*If I want to become a "Lawyer," I will have to make a trip to Vostonia.]*
Thinking that The Emperor might return to the laboratory at any moment, Nimrod decided to return to his body.
His "body" quickly became heavy, the black mist vanished, and he returned to the gestation pod.
Nimrod felt a wave of exhaustion and soon fell asleep.
After sensing the anomaly, Magnus's spreading consciousness found nothing and withdrew again in confusion.
Over the following days, he alternated between sleep and wakefulness, considering plans to use his cheat to change his fate.
*[The Primarchs are useful tools to The Emperor. For him to order the eradication of the Primarchs of the Second and Eleventh Legions, they must have committed sins he could not tolerate. Either they fell to Chaos or colluded with xenos.*
With my keen senses, I may be cast onto some special world and contaminated beyond cure by its local culture as I grow up.
*If I want to change the fate of being erased, I must start from within the gestation pod!]*
On the eleventh day after his transmigration, he abruptly woke from his slumber. He sensed that the Geller Field protecting the laboratory had suddenly failed, and the energy barrier between the real world and the Warp had been torn apart.
The origin of Warhammer's Beyonder traits—why these materials could be mixed into Potions that granted Beyonder abilities—would not be discovered until Nimrod advanced to higher Sequences. This involved the rules of this universe. Part of it would be revealed in Chapter 47.
The scattering of the Primarchs followed the official novel Head of Heresy, where it was stated to be the first step in the Chaos Gods' plan. The scenes inside and after leaving the gestation pods also came from the events witnessed by Argel Tal in that passage. The translation of "gestation pod" naturally followed the terminology used in the book.
This conflicted with Erda's account in the Siege of Terra series. Personally, I do not believe she had the ability to destroy The Emperor's laboratory defenses and cast the Primarchs into the Warp.
Legion members will continue to be updated in the work's related section. Those who have forgotten may look them up themselves.
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