Fully Equipped

Since he had decided to delve into a dungeon for treasure, Chen Xi naturally had to get a proper set of gear for the character he controlled.

Although this Inquisitor token of his was modeled after the legendary Inquisitor Eisenhorn, it did not come with much equipment.

A Bolt Pistol and a Force Staff were the entirety of the token's equipment.

Even after Chen Xi sent over the Power Sword gifted by the Emperor and hung it at the Inquisitorial Governor's waist, it could not hide how lightly equipped the Governor was.

This loadout would be fine for fighting Cultists, and he could charge through rebel forces with ease if he encountered them. After all, Psykers in the Warhammer world were unquestionably overpowered. An Alpha-level Psyker could genuinely put on a show of tearing a planet apart with bare hands.

However, this Inquisitor token was not that absurdly overpowered. He was merely an ordinary combat Psyker. After all, Inquisitor Eisenhorn was not some overwhelmingly powerful psychic master.

Moreover, psychic power came at a price. If someone truly believed that awakening psychic abilities made them invincible, then abused those powers without restraint, the only result would be blowing themselves up into a Warp portal and becoming a gateway for Chaos Daemons to invade reality.

Although the death of this token in the Warhammer world would not affect Chen Xi, it would mean that all the investment and effort he had put into this identity had gone down the drain.

So, for the sake of safety, Chen Xi spent points on several new pieces of equipment and armed the Inquisitor from head to toe.

Although the two hundred points awarded by the beginner mission were not much, the Emperor's prices for this sort of personal equipment were not expensive. They were basically comparable to the point values in the tabletop rules.

For example, a Power Sword cost 5 points. Another 5 points upgraded it to master-crafted, another 5 raised it to master level, and an additional 10 could turn it into a relic.

So Chen Xi got his Inquisitor a master-level relic master-crafted Power Greatsword worth 25 points, a master-level relic master-crafted Plasma Pistol worth 25 points, and a master-level relic master-crafted suit of Power Armor for another 50 points.

With one hundred points spent, the equipment on this Inquisitor immediately underwent a qualitative leap.

In addition, Chen Xi spent 10 points on two Servo-skulls. He had Magos Ovilia install miniature shields and ion weapons on them, intending to use them as scouting drones and auxiliary equipment.

Servo-skulls came in a wide variety of models. Of the two Chen Xi exchanged for, one was a reconnaissance model that could scan unknown environments and did not require a High Lord of Terra to hold it in order to function.

The other could connect to the Power Armor, serving as a fire-control computer and battlefield awareness module that relayed all tactical information to its wearer.

Both the Power Armor and Servo-skulls were directly linked to the nervous system. When necessary, the Servo-skulls could even directly control the wearer's limbs to react to dangers the wearer had not noticed.

Besides that, Chen Xi had specifically exchanged for a Rosarius and hung it from his wrist.

Though its name sounded similar to the Inquisition's rosary, and even looked much the same, the rosary was merely proof of an Inquisitor's identity, while a Rosarius was a personal shield.

At first glance, the Warhammer 40K world seemed as though much of its technology was crude, even primitive, but in truth, its technology was so advanced it made one's scalp tingle.

The high-end personal shields found in all kinds of science fiction could, in the Warhammer world, even be made into ordinary items like medals and decorations.

Of course, "ordinary" was only relative. A person who wore so many medals that they could serve as armor might find that every medal on his body was a personal shield—one that could literally let him drink tea amid a hail of bullets.

Back then, Goge Vandire used one such medal to deceive the first Sisters of Battle, turning those country girls into the most obedient enforcers in his hands.

Although personal energy shields offered limited defense against Gauss Weapons and were nothing as outrageous as Void Shields, they were still better than using one's flesh to take the hits.

Across the wilderness, two Chimera APCs were advancing.

Their destination was a mining station belonging to the Adeptus Mechanicus on Rostov II.

The existence of this mining station was an open secret, because the ore mined here was called blackstone.

Blackstone itself was not an especially mysterious mineral. Although the Adeptus Mechanicus could not understand its physical properties or even the logic behind its existence, its special ability to isolate the Warp still gave both the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus considerable demand for it.

Though they had not figured out how to use the stuff at all, the Tech-priests could still mine "natural" minerals and use the stones to build houses.

It was just that, usually, things like Necrons and Necrons occasionally got dug up beneath blackstone deposits.

"Magos Ovilia, I will reiterate this once more. This time, we are only entering this xenos ruin for a simple reconnaissance mission, not a large-scale excavation. The moment the tomb's defensive systems discover us, we must retreat immediately. Do you understand what I mean?" Chen Xi sternly restated his position to Magos Ovilia, who was riding in the same vehicle as him.

For this tomb expedition, he had brought only his squad of Sisters of Battle, not even bringing the Kasrkin. His goal was to keep the team as small as possible and avoid waking the skeletons in the graves beneath them.

Naturally, Chen Xi also had to make sure Ovilia would not ruin things.

After all, everyone knew what Tech-priests were like. The moment they saw xenos technology, they would probably forget how to walk.

However, Ovilia knew the importance of priorities as well. She nodded solemnly and said, "Please rest assured, Governor. I understand what is urgent and what is important. I will not act recklessly during this exploration.

"Although I dearly wish to excavate this ruin as quickly as possible, in order to excavate it more smoothly later, I am willing to endure for now and restrain my urge to dig it up."

As they spoke, the Chimera had already reached the mining station. There were not many people here, only several low-ranking priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus directing large numbers of servitors as they mined blackstone.

"Although I suspended the excavation of the underground ruin as you instructed, Governor, this mining station still belongs to the Forge World of this sector. I cannot order them to stop mining blackstone, or the Forge World will notice something is wrong." Ovilia briefly explained why the station was still operating, then led Chen Xi into the mining station and took an elevator down into the depths of the mine.

"Let's hope this exploration goes smoothly." Chen Xi drew his weapons, adjusted his condition, and prepared for battle.