Entering the Tomb

When the elevator came to a steady stop and Chen Xi and Ovilia stepped into the mine tunnel, a string of notifications sounded beside his ear, several lines of text projected into his field of vision.

"Entered a xenos ruin. Mission chain activated."

"Mission One: Explore the current ruin."

"Mission details: The xenos ruin contains both dangers and rewards. Begin exploration and determine the condition of the current ruin."

"Mission Two: Clear the xenos within the ruin."

"Mission details: Traces of xenos still remain within the ancient xenos ruin. Clear them out to prevent them from threatening the Imperium."

"Mission Three: Destroy the current xenos ruin (optional)."

"Mission details: The existence of the xenos ruin threatens the stability of this planet. You may choose to destroy it completely."

"Mission Four: Unknown."

"Mission details: Explore the ruin to obtain more information and unlock this mission."

Seeing the series of mission notifications flash before him, Chen Xi nodded in understanding.

He had been wondering how to trigger more missions. Until now, there had only been a beginner mission and a main quest, leaving him without any direction even when he wanted to complete missions.

Now that this whole string of missions had appeared, he finally had a direction for increasing his clearance level and earning more points.

The points Big E provided could still be exchanged for quite a few good things. Chen Xi hoped to get more points so he could trade for more items.

He had already set his sights on the Psychic Talent exchange option and planned to obtain Theta-level Psyker abilities for himself.

Psychic Talent at this level was considered middling. It was not especially powerful, but those with such talent could perceive the existence of psychic power and learn to control it through their own efforts.

Relatively speaking, it was a stable psychic level that was less likely to lose control. Most Psykers in the Inquisition and Astra Telepathica were at this level.

Any higher, and it became rather dangerous—something that required supervision.

And Theta-level Psykers were not to be underestimated. They were already regarded as true Psykers and could display formidable strength on the battlefield.

Take the Inquisitor piece Chen Xi controlled, for example. Its psychic level was Eta-level, only one rank above Theta-level, yet it could turn a Space Marine in Power Armor into a Tau Steel meatball with a single gesture.

As for higher-level Psychic Talent, it was not that Chen Xi did not want it. Psykers of that level could no longer control themselves and required specialized supervision and restraint to contain their untrained Psychic Talent.

Moreover, the higher the Psychic Talent level, the greater the danger.

An untrained Delta or Gamma-level Psyker would have no fate but death from a rampaging talent unless they received training and control soon after their psychic awakening.

And an Alpha-level Psyker... could literally tear apart an entire planet, even rip open the barrier between reality and the Warp, bringing about a planet's destruction.

According to Imperial research, human genes were insufficient to control psychic power of that level, unless one was a Primarch or an immortal.

But if Chen Xi possessed Alpha-level psychic power now, he would not need to descend into the mine with Ovilia in person.

Whether using psychic power for precognitive divination or simply dragging the entire ruin out from underground, either would be effortless for an Alpha-level Psyker.

"What exactly is this Blackstone? A natural mineral, or a xenos creation?" Walking through the tunnels at the bottom of the mine, Ovilia curiously asked Chen Xi as she looked at the obsidian-like deposits around them.

The Imperium of Man's research into Blackstone was still in its infancy. Even the Adeptus Mechanicus had only recently learned of this miraculous mineral's existence.

Having finally encountered someone who seemed highly knowledgeable about the substance, Ovilia naturally wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"I can't say for certain. At least, the information I collected did not explain whether this material formed naturally or was created by some xenos race." As Chen Xi spoke, he reached out and touched the cut black deposit beside him. "But all the Blackstone we have seen comes from Necron creations. These ancient xenos once built a great many Blackstone structures across the universe."

This Blackstone was also the primary material they used to construct their tombs and spacecraft. Virtually all Blackstone discovered by the Imperium so far came from various architectural ruins built by the Necrons.

"So we're tearing down their house?" Ovilia summarized with a rather vivid analogy.

"I'd rather call it digging up their graves." Chen Xi pointed ahead as he spoke and asked Ovilia, "Is that the ruin entrance you found?"

Ahead of Chen Xi and Ovilia, there was a breach in the wall that appeared to have been formed by a collapse, with several strange inscription symbols nearby.

At the tunnel entrance, several automated defense turrets sealed off the area.

"Yes, this is the entrance to the ruin." Ovilia stepped forward and directed several armed servitors she had brought to enter the breach first. "For various reasons, I had never explored it before."

"Caution was the right choice. Perhaps you should be glad you did not explore it rashly." Chen Xi came to the breach and looked at the strange inscriptions around it. "These inscriptions are Necron writing. We still can't translate them, but seeing them at least tells us that Necrons must be buried below."

As he spoke, Chen Xi had his Servo-skull record them.

These Necron inscriptions were highly mysterious, and the Imperium had yet to decipher them, but Chen Xi believed they could be analyzed once enough samples had been collected.

Seeing this, Ovilia naturally did the same.

After both had recorded the inscriptions, they crawled through the breach together and entered the so-called xenos ruin.

The moment they entered, they saw a somewhat dilapidated stone chamber. Traces of battle covered the place, and the walls bore numerous scratches.

The servitors Ovilia had brought guarded the entrance to the room, while several damaged-looking metallic beetles lay scattered across the stone chamber floor.

Chen Xi crouched down, picked up one of the beetles, and handed it to Ovilia after examining it. "This is a Canoptek Scarab, a mechanical construct the Necrons use to maintain their tombs. Did you see these bugs when you came here last time?"

"No. There were no such bugs here when I came last time." Ovilia checked the records from her previous visit before answering with certainty.