Nimrod searched through the luxurious palace, his gaze sweeping over the vivid murals.
The crystal chandelier overhead lit the palace as brightly as day.
Nimrod strode across the soft carpet laid over the marble floor. By sensing the flow of air and listening to the response when he tapped the walls, he eventually found a hidden door behind an oil painting in the study.
Clearly, this greedy king trusted no one else.
He pressed the ring into the corresponding circular recess in the wall.
After sensing a series of complex mechanisms moving within the wall, Nimrod watched as a concealed door slowly opened before him.
He stepped inside and descended along the spiral passage.
After a hundred steps, he reached a platform. At its end stood a sentinel, identical to the one he had seen at House Finde.
Nimrod drew his right leg back, gathering force for a charge.
Red light flickered in the sentinel's eyes. A shrill alarm sounded, and three copper tubes extended from each of the heavy metal railings on either side.
They simultaneously spewed torrents of blazing fire and rotated rapidly, covering an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees.
In an instant, Nimrod calculated a route through them.
He leapt forward. When he landed, he was precisely at the intersection between the first and second rows.
For less than a second, that spot had yet to be covered by the molten flow.
His second step landed at the exact instant within the blind spot between the second and third sets.
When his third step hit the ground, he had already rushed before the sentinel and slammed straight into it.
Having served the Boleslaw Royal Family for thousands of years, the sentinel's alloy circuits had begun to age under the passage of time. At last, it could rest.
Nimrod then smashed through the alloy door and charged into the treasury.
The moment he entered, his attention was drawn to a furnace in the center.
Nimrod walked up to it and discovered red lettering on its gilded body.
One side bore Lingua-technis composed of zeros and ones, while the other bore local Vostonian Low Gothic.
The first thing Nimrod noticed was the furnace's size—nineteen meters tall, with a cross-sectional diameter of eleven meters.
Without climbing the operating ladder, he reached out and opened the furnace door on the side where Lingua-technis and Vostonian Low Gothic intersected, then touched the inside.
The fuel hearth where Promethium was placed was ice-cold, and the infusion pipes bore not a trace of grime.
He moved to the other side and opened that furnace door as well. The interior was equally spotless.
Nimrod continued reading the text on the furnace. "Praise the God of All Machines. The material used in this furnace was the first batch of steel obtained after Vostonia received the enlightenment of the Omnissiah."
"Bestowed upon the kings of Vostonia's Hive Cities in recognition of the servants of the Omnissiah."
"..."
A steel seal was stamped in the bottom corner. Beside it was a familiar signature: Magos Kivior of Mars.
So this furnace was built this large to display the friendship between the Tech-priests and the royal families of the Hive Cities. Still, it suits my purposes perfectly.
My body can enter the true side of the Kingdom of Disorder. I should be able to brew Potions within Source Essence's space. Now I can test whether my previous idea works.
With that thought, Nimrod stretched out both hands and gripped the gilded furnace.
With a thought, his body and the furnace vanished together in the next moment.
Nimrod appeared in a plaza within a place known as First Layer Space. He released his hands, and the furnace stood steadily upon the Obsidian-like ground.
He returned to the treasury once more, found fourteen kinds of potion ingredients totaling twenty-one items, and brought them back to the Kingdom of Disorder.
After sorting through the materials, Nimrod realized he had gathered everything needed for the Warrior potion. The Arbites potion only lacked a gavel.
Estupinian is an Arbiter. His will do.
He immediately returned to the real world and called Rawlslev through the communicator.
"My lord, two groups of enemies previously launched probing attacks, but House Finde's guards drove them back."
"The Hive Spire has been cleared. Only your followers remain now."
"Have someone send up a canister of Promethium and a rubber ladle."
Within the Kingdom of Disorder, Nimrod tossed Vulture's Chainsword into the furnace.
After a burst of crackling explosions, he saw a red gelatinous solid remaining in the furnace.
After ladling it into a bottle, Nimrod saw that there was no residue left in the furnace and that the gelatinous substance was perfectly uniform. He knew the Warrior potion had been successfully brewed.
Delighted, he thought, Since I can brew Potions in the Kingdom of Disorder, I now control the Beyonder system. I can choose people I trust and cultivate them into Beyonders.
The core of Sequence Potions was the extraordinary abilities granted by the Potions!
Only by knowing the formula and gathering the materials could one brew a potion containing miraculous power. Only after drinking it could one gain extraordinary abilities.
Even if Tzeentch acquired the knowledge that came with drinking a potion, he would still be unable to replicate a Beyonder.
That was the case with the Sleepless potion he had previously given Bukayo.
Without drinking the Sleepless potion and gaining the extraordinary ability Vigor, one could know that Sleepless people needed no sleep at night and only three or four hours during the day, yet still be unable to do it.
Tzeentch could alter a follower's body so that he no longer needed sleep, but that was not an extraordinary ability.
Even if Tzeentch acquired the legal knowledge he had gained and bestowed it upon a follower, without Spiritual Enhancement and the extraordinary ability Extraordinary Eloquence, that follower could not defeat a top-tier lawyer the way Nimrod had.
Tzeentch could also grant followers abilities such as mental manipulation or deception to achieve the same outcome, but those were likewise not extraordinary abilities.
No matter what knowledge Tzeentch obtained from the Potions, the abilities He granted His followers would still be powers He had originally been capable of granting.
Extraordinary abilities were the true core, while potion formulas were the only key to opening this door.
Yet Nimrod still had one problem to face: the Chaos Gods could peer into reality and witness his potion-brewing process.
Though the four gods could also bestow blessings, they might become interested in the potion system.
Wherever there was possibility, there was risk.
Now that he could brew Potions within the Kingdom of Disorder, the sole hidden danger had been eliminated.
No existence could peer into the world of the Kingdom of Disorder.
As for the three Potions he had previously brewed—the Lawyer, Barbarian, and Sleepless Potions—
Nimrod did not care about the first two at all. He even hoped the Chaos Gods would replicate them.
High-Sequence Beyonders could exert tremendous influence over Beyonders of their own pathway.
Once he advanced to Sequence 0, the Black Emperor, with Source Essence, he would be able to alter potion formulas, add or remove extraordinary abilities from every Sequence, and control the Beyonders of his own pathway.
If the Chaos Gods were willing to cultivate subordinates for him, Nimrod would naturally praise them as "good people—no, benevolent gods."
The only possible loss would be the Sleepless potion formula.
As long as Nimrod controlled Vostonia's satellites, then without Moonstone, it would be useless even if the Chaos Gods watched the entire brewing process.
Besides, Sequence 9 Beyonders were ultimately only beginners, capable of reaching the limits of ordinary mortals in a particular field.
The Lawyer could turn someone ignorant of the law into a top-tier lawyer overnight, but that was all.
Sleepless merely made one somewhat stronger than ordinary people in dark environments. Bukayo could use the enhancements from Night Vision and Child of the Night to kill gang members, but he could not defeat Imperial Auxilia equipped with Auspexes.
Even Sequence 8 Beyonders were far weaker in combat than Astartes.
After awakening his Genetic Memory, the core of Nimrod's combat system was the abilities of a Primarch. Extraordinary abilities would become increasingly important as he advanced through the Sequences.
Of course, he would not casually grant extraordinary power to just anyone. Potential and loyalty were what he valued most.
Upon returning to the real world, Nimrod immediately decided to summon Rawlslev and use the experimentally brewed Warrior potion to cultivate him into a Beyonder.
Although Rawlslev had less potential than Bukayo, he was more loyal.
Moreover, when Beyonders died, their Beyonder characteristics would precipitate from their bodies. They could be used either as primary materials or to create mystical items.
As long as they could be recovered, nothing would be wasted, and he would have even less reason to fear betrayal.
Before you continue