"Lawyer"

A "Lawyer" had three Beyonder abilities. The first was Spiritual Enhancement, the second was excellent logical reasoning and the ability to sift through information and seize key points that stemmed from it.

The third ability, and the core ability of a "Lawyer," was "Extraordinary Eloquence."

It granted extraordinary persuasive ability and could, to a certain extent, distort or guide a target's thoughts, making them feel close to the user and willing to believe them.

As a Primarch, he was bound to conquer Vostonia.

Of course, not every Primarch had conquered the world they were on. Before Horus awakened his Genetic Memory, he had merely been a gang boy and had not unified Cthonia.

After awakening, he returned to the Empire.

Regardless of the other Primarchs' circumstances, Nimrod had already decided to conquer Vostonia and, given the chance, expand to other planets.

At the same time, he had to continue ascending along the Sequence pathway. His first task was to act as a "Lawyer" and digest the potion.

After drinking a potion, one would not absorb it all at once. To gain all the power contained within it, one had to act.

When acting, one needed to begin with the potion's name, interpret it, and uncover its core symbolism and concrete imagery.

Nimrod believed that acting as a "Lawyer" did not necessarily mean practicing the profession in its literal sense.

Benefiting through rules was acting as a "Lawyer." If he could find loopholes in the rules and exploit them, the acting effect would be even better.

Whether his interpretation was correct would become clear in time. A Beyonder would definitely be able to sense the digestion of the Acting Method.

[Based on my understanding from my previous life, as well as what I saw and heard in Tezwork, the only rule in the Lower Hive is that matters inside the dome are decided by Arbites. Outside the dome, there are no rules.]

With that thought, Nimrod immediately devised his next plan of action.

*[Just like before, seize the factory quickly.

If the Arbites interfere, use "Extraordinary Eloquence" to persuade them.]*

With that in mind, he summoned Rawlslev and asked about the situation in the Khanty-Mansi Dome.

He chose the dome's largest factory as his target—the Magneto Steelworks. Every factory within the dome depended on the steel it produced.

The Ceramite composite material produced by Magneto—Mithal Steel—would even flow into the Upper Hive as material for manufacturing Carapace Armor.

The Magneto Steelworks was controlled by Gorsk of the "Iron Fist." He had more than a thousand thugs under his command.

Nimrod also learned Tezwork's method of keeping time. A day on Vostonia, like on other Hive City worlds, was called a Work Cycle.

Each Work Cycle lasted thirty-three hours and was divided into three shifts: the Bainiban Shift, the Curiban Shift, and the Nightfall Shift.

Workers in the Upper Hive followed a strict three-shift rotation.

Working hours in Lower Hive factories varied, but they were generally longer than those in the Upper Hive.

Nimrod decided to launch the attack at the end of the Nightfall Shift. Though the workers' schedules varied, the guards rotated through three shifts.

The final hour before their shift change was also when the star, obscured by industrial dust, rose. That was when they were at their most relaxed.

In the second-to-last hour of the Nightfall Shift, Nimrod stood atop a high platform. He tapped his brow twice with a finger and looked down at the people below.

A person's emotional state—their "Astral Body"—had a slight external manifestation.

Beyonders with Spirit Sight could judge another person's health and emotional state through the thickness, brightness, and color of their aura.

He had previously examined his own physical condition. Now, he was observing everyone's overall emotions.

Most Psykers possessed this ability as well. The Thousand Sons called it Aetheric Sight.

Nimrod swept his gaze over the crowd. As expected, the dominant color of everyone's aura was a heavy black. They feared him.

Some of them, especially Rawlslev and the others who had eaten good food before, had traces of pale orange anticipation mixed into their auras.

He tapped his brow twice again and closed his Spirit Sight before speaking.

"Over the past two days, you should have understood that the more you do, the more you get. But you don't know how much you can get."

"In the past, you followed your bosses and fought for your lives, only to scrape together a little food. Most of the time, you couldn't even eat your fill."

"Things will be different from now on. As long as you're capable, you can eat anything you want. Today, I brought back giant rats, and I also brought back Las-Vault."

Nimrod's tone lowered as he tempted the crowd.

"Think about it. A bite of rat meat, followed by a mouthful of Las-Vault."

The scene painted by the newly advanced "Lawyer" captivated his subordinates. The corresponding image involuntarily appeared in their minds, and they swallowed unconsciously.

Rawlslev was the first to raise his head, his eyes filled with longing.

Influenced by him, the people around him raised their heads as well.

In the end, everyone looked at their boss with hope shining in their eyes.

Nimrod raised a hand and swung it down forcefully. "Move out!"

"Seize the Magneto Steelworks! Eat meat and drink liquor!"

Everyone shouted fanatically, "Seize the Magneto Steelworks! Eat meat and drink liquor!"

Once everyone had turned away, Nimrod lowered his arm and tapped his brow twice.

Sure enough, he found that everyone's emotions had changed. The dominant color of their auras had become the red of passion and excitement.

One stellar hour later, rapid gunfire rang out at the Magneto Steelworks.

After killing the guards at the entrance, Nimrod rushed into the factory first. He immediately saw a tall, heavily bearded man staring at him from an iron platform.

The man's right sleeve was bare, revealing his steel prosthetic limb.

"Nimrod."

Gorsk's tone was certain as he spat on the ground.

"Kid, you've got some skill if you managed to kill Vulture."

"But I'm not trash like Vulture. Today, I'll capture you, have some fun, then sell you to the Upper Hive."

A beam shot toward him in reply. Gorsk saw Nimrod raise his gun and inwardly cursed. He only had time to use his steel right arm to shield his body.

Amid a sharp, crisp sizzle, a large hole was blasted through the steel arm, exposing the copper wires and steel plates within.

"Kid, you dare sneak-attack me."

Gorsk swung his arm and clenched his fist hard at the same time. His steel fist spun as it shot toward Nimrod.

He had spent a fortune buying that Mechanical Arm from House Finde. It had caught several powerful Lower Hive fighters off guard and beaten them to death.

Gorsk knew Nimrod's shooting was precise. He had nearly been killed by a single shot just now, so he immediately used the Iron Fist's killing move. He only used it against the strongest enemies.

Nimrod held his gun in his left hand while swiftly drawing his Chainsword with his right. It roared to life.

The structure of the mechanical construct he had obtained previously surfaced in his mind. He then flicked his sword upward, driving its blade directly into the junction between the mechanical structure's connecting rod and joint.

The transmission mechanism drove the Iron Fist forward, but it was caught by the Chainsword.

Two rapidly rotating forces, nearly perpendicular in direction, collided. A few seconds later, the Iron Fist detached from the connecting rod and fell to the ground.

Gorsk was startled and turned to run.

He had only taken one step when a bright beam entered through the back of his head.

One Work Cycle later, Nimrod controlled the Magneto Steelworks.

Not only had his forces not decreased, they had grown. After incorporating some of Iron Fist's thugs, he had nearly six hundred fighters under his command.

Nimrod personally led two hundred subordinates into the tunnels and hunted more than four hundred giant rats. Fifty of them were exchanged for over a hundred bottles of Las-Vault.

As the meat stew simmered, he told the crowd, "Just as I said, everyone who took part in this battle will have all the meat they can eat and a cup of liquor as well."

"Those who just joined can only drink the soup. If you want meat and liquor, work hard next time."

He activated Spirit Sight and examined the crowd's auras. The subordinates he had brought with him were all a warm, contented orange. The way they looked at him had changed from fear to reverence.

The newly recruited men, meanwhile, showed fear mixed with hope and envy.

Nimrod nodded in satisfaction. He felt his spirituality become a little more active.

[My acting as a "Lawyer" succeeded. Part of the potion has been digested.]

He then went to the control room. After locking the door, he willed it, and black mist rose up. His spirituality grew lighter as his Astral Body left his physical form and arrived in the Kingdom of Disorder in an instant.

Acting to absorb a potion absorbed the Beyonder characteristics within it, enhancing spirituality and Beyonder abilities. For example, a "Lawyer" digested the potion by exploiting rules, especially loopholes in them. Of course, gaining others' recognition would increase the digestion progress. Maris, a minor god of Chaos, possessed an extremely high status and immense power. But by nature, he was chaotic, slaughtering indiscriminately through force without involving himself in order or rules. He could never digest a "Lawyer" potion after drinking it. In contrast, an ordinary Lawyer might digest it after preparing and concluding a major case on a planetary scale. A member of the Adeptus Arbites might take a dozen days, while someone from the Administratum might take a month or two.