"Spirit Medium"
After pondering for a few seconds, Alpharius spoke.
"Ferrus Manus will win this match."
"This is different from the hunting competition in Fenris."
"That contest involved hunting Kraken. Both Nimrod and Leman Russ are Primarch, capable of hunting any Kraken. The deciding factor was who found the largest one."
Alpharius paused for a moment, recalling the scene in Fenris.
"Perhaps Nimrod was lucky, or perhaps he had keen perception, which led him to find a larger Kraken."
"Nimrod could have won, but this time is different."
"Excavating ruins tests one's skills, and Manus and his men had an advantage in this area, which luck couldn't compensate for."
The Emperor's eyes flickered, and his tone was deep and profound.
"Perhaps, Nimrod will still win."
The ships of the Eleventh Legion took off and flew to the area covered by the poison cloud.
The landing craft slowly descended, and through the viewing windows, the Shadow of Order members saw below a landscape filled with the ruins of ancient metal equipment and stone structures of unbelievably large size.
They keenly sensed that there were hazy, shadowy figures below.
Nimrod knew that the Medusan called this area the "Shadow Land," a group of ancient ruins.
According to Medusan legends, this place is a gathering place for ghosts and tribal Ghost.
The landing craft slowly descended, and Nimrod led everyone down the deck.
He addressed the group. "The Tech Sergeant will study the equipment; the rest of you will remain on guard and familiarize yourselves with the surroundings."
Nimrod then spoke to Adams.
"The 'Spirit Medium' is now in your hands. Go and question the ghosts, and find out the largest, oldest, and most precious relic."
Nimrod thought that the ghost Adams had inquired about might not know the whole story of Medusa.
But they could be used as a medium, as materials for ritual magic, to find the most valuable relics of Medusa, so he sent another Thought Impulse to the "Spirit Medium".
"Bring back the ghost you encountered."
"Yes, Father."
The "Spirit Medium" examined the Spirit Crystal he had created.
These crystals are in the Underground Catacombs of the Fourth Legion.
The Fourth Legion's Underground Catacombs are built on the Chapter's Graveyard, the Graveyard, a Relic-class warship bestowed upon it by the Primarch.
At that time, Adams was still the "Gravedigger" of Sequence 8. In order to master the power bestowed upon Primarch, he extensively studied the cultures of the dead among various races.
During this process, he had an idea.
The bodies of the Primarch and his brothers who died in battle deserve to be buried in a cemetery.
The Death Lord ultimately decided to emulate the merchant families and build an Underground Catacombs on the lowest deck of the Graveyard to Burial his fallen comrades who could not be buried in the Dreadnought.
After becoming a "Spirit Medium," he went alone to the Underground Catacombs to create a vessel for spirits using Psyker Crystal.
He named his work "Spirit Crystal".
The crystal in his hand emitted a dark green light.
Some of the crystals were covered with scales, while others were covered with feathers; both were adorned with strange, Blood Red symbols.
Adams left the group alone; the highly intuitive "Spirit Medium" followed his intuition and headed south.
In the "Spirit Medium's" ears, a series of faint, overlapping murmurs came from ahead, as if countless invisible people were discussing something.
The "Spirit Medium" walked about two kilometers before stopping.
He felt that in the metal machinery, in the shadows of the ruins of stone buildings, in the dim corners, there were pairs of eyes watching him!
A smile appeared on the Spirit Medium's cold face, as if ice were thawing.
"Ghosts lingering here, emerge!"
The "Spirit Medium" had a low, soft, and ethereal voice, which seemed to blend into the surrounding wind and shadows.
His voice, like mist, seemed to linger, originating from another land, accompanied by subtle echoes.
A blurry figure emerged uncontrollably from the metal machine.
To the Medusan, he was a transparent phantom.
But in the eyes of the "Spirit Medium," his body was exceptionally clear; he was wearing a red worker's uniform and carrying a shovel.
One figure after another emerged from the metal machinery and ruins.
Some were burned black all over, while others held bloodied arms...
Under the Medusa dark sky, the Ghost emerged.
Faced with this horrifying scene, the "Spirit Medium's" expression was not as cold as usual.
A smile played on his lips as he asked the ghosts.
"Who among you was the first immigrant? Step forward."
The ghosts didn't move, and the charred ghost said in a daze.
Am I an outsider, or was I born here?
"..."
Four minutes later, a ghost dressed in fine clothes spoke loudly.
"I remember now, I was the first one here!"
"When we found this world, we called it Sthenelus, according to the Old Terra name."
He took a step forward as instructed by the "Spirit Medium".
As if a memory switch had been flipped, several more Ghost emerged from the queue.
"After you, who came here first?"
By asking questions one by one, the "Spirit Medium" roughly determined the era of all the ghosts.
Medusa did not use Terra for timekeeping, nor did the people struggling to survive in this cold world with its frequent volcanic eruptions establish a way to commemorate her.
Then, the "Spirit Medium" asked another question.
What is the oldest building in the vicinity?
Generally, the older the ruins, the more likely they are to contain lost ancient technological artifacts, and these artifacts are often more valuable.
He didn't ask about the ruins, because what are now ruins were probably still factories or other buildings in normal use in the time of the ghosts.
"Show it to me."
More than a hundred ghosts were facing different directions, but twenty-five of them were pointing in the same direction.
Among them was the earliest, Noble Ghost dressed in magnificent robes.
The "Spirit Medium" approached the Noble Ghost and asked, "How far is that building from here?"
After thinking for a moment, the Noble Ghost replied, "Fifty-nine kilometers."
The "Spirit Medium" inquired about the oldest ruins known to each ghost and recorded their locations on Data Slate.
He then inquired about the largest and most valuable buildings they knew of.
The "Spirit Medium" cautiously asked, "What is the oldest known ruin?"
The ghosts turned in different directions, and to his surprise, he saw that the Noble Ghost was looking in another direction.
[If his memory serves him correctly and his account is accurate, then the ruins he knows of existed in Medusa even before the arrival of humans.]
Adams, through questioning, recorded the oldest, largest, and most valuable relics known to the ghosts.
There were three types in each of the two categories, totaling six types, which he recorded on the Data Slate using different colors.
After completing the record, Adams selected sixteen ghosts from over a hundred.
These are all the Spirit Crystal the "Spirit Medium" carries. He didn't keep any because he had 104 more he made in the crates of the transport ship.
"You, come here."
The "Spirit Medium" pointed to the Noble Ghost, and without hesitation, he immediately moved over.
The "Spirit Medium" raised his hand, Spirituality spread towards the ghost in front of him, while chanting incantations in Dunnish.
"I summon in my own name, commanding the spirits that linger here to be at my beck and call, to reside within the crystal in my palm!"
As the "Spirit Medium" chanted the incantation, a gray-green light enveloped the Noble Ghost.
Before he could speak, an invisible yet irresistible force pulled him toward the green, scale-covered crystal in the "Spirit Medium's " palm.
With a scream, a gray human face appeared in the green crystal, its features identical to those of the Noble Ghost.
The "Spirit Medium" binds the selected ghosts one by one to the Spirit Crystal.
No ghosts fled, nor did any ghosts rebel.
The "Spirit Medium" looked at the other ghosts and spoke.
"Thank you for your cooperation, you can go back now."
The ghosts turned and walked back the way they came, and the "Spirit Medium" also returned the way he came.