A Cookie Blessed by the Five Gods

"Right!"

Fulgrim had not even taken two steps before turning back, smiling as she poked her head in through the doorway.

"I might be pretty busy for a while, so I won't be able to guide you."

"But I found someone especially capable in the Legion. She can definitely train you into a qualified Space Marine!"

"Bye-bye!"

"Is this the place?"

Kasgar pushed open the door doubtfully.

As a training chamber, the entire room was decorated with extreme simplicity.

Aside from a few necessary crates, tables, and training cages, the room was mostly just wide-open space.

Dozens of old-fashioned, heavy sabers of various kinds hung upon the minimalist gray walls. Their blades were long and ornate, each bearing its own distinctive patterns, markedly different from the standardized weapons that all looked alike outside.

The wall full of sabers was like a display of treasured collectibles, flaunted by an owner with some sort of collecting obsession.

And at the center of the room, a young man was already waiting.

Kasgar knew him. Rather, he was extremely familiar with him.

"Hey, Lucius."

I even held you when you were little!

"Big Brother Kasgar! You're here for training too?"

Seeing Kasgar enter, he looked delighted as well.

Ever since Kasgar had rescued him over twenty years ago, Lucius and his younger sister Corleon had lived in Karax and successfully enrolled in the military academy established at Kasgar's suggestion.

There, they received expedition training for the campaigns they would face in the future ahead of time. With outstanding results, both had joined Chemos's expeditionary force as members of its first graduating class.

"Of course. How has Corleon been lately?"

"She's better than me." Lucius gave a bitter laugh. "I don't know how she does it. It's like she was born able to communicate with a ship's Machine Spirit. The Imperial Army has already snatched her up like she's some treasure."

"That's a good thing. Maybe she'll soon be serving in the Third Legion and become the captain she's always dreamed of being."

"Hopefully."

Lucius neither agreed nor disagreed.

Though the room's furnishings were simple, it was not entirely empty.

A small metal tray also sat atop an iron-gray table near the entrance.

On that tray was a batch of exceptionally... distinctive cookies.

Though their maker had clearly put a great deal of care into shaping them, every cookie seemed to have its own unique ideas.

In terms of the actual result—

They looked like crap.

Kasgar was blunt about it.

He picked up a cookie. It seemed it had not been out of the oven for long, and it still gave off a faint warmth.

Sniff, sniff.

Why didn't this cookie smell normal either?

A strange, indescribable odor made him feel deeply unsettled.

It looked even more like crap now.

Was this really how freshly baked cookies were supposed to smell?

"Forget it. Why overthink it?"

Kasgar did not dwell on it and directly put it into his mouth.

Still, this was pretty nice. There were even snacks.

Though it looked rather unremarkable, how bad could a cookie possibly taste, even if it was awful?

He had eaten corpse starch for decades. Surely he wouldn't be unable to—

"Ugh—!"

Kasgar clutched his mouth in agony and crouched down.

No, what the hell was this thing!?

How could one cookie bring such complex changes and pain to his taste buds?

With just one bite, it felt as though eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight Nurglings, each with eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight transformations, had unleashed their ultimate moves across his tongue!

An eerie flavor beyond the descriptive limits of human language exploded in his mouth in an instant.

It sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Kasgar, are you okay?!"

"Do you need me to call the Apothecary?"

Lucius looked utterly panicked as well.

"Uh..."

Kasgar did not answer Lucius.

Or rather, he was no longer capable of answering him.

Lying on the floor, he twitched and writhed a few times.

"Kasgar!"

Then he quickly stopped moving.

"Kasgar!!!"

Kasgar felt as though he were drifting through the Sea of Souls.

He sensed countless beings roaming within it, their gazes cast upon him from infinite dimensions of time and space.

Among them, four particularly immense and significant beings seemed curious about Kasgar's appearance.

One praised Kasgar's courage in daring to eat the cookie.

One coveted the recipe for the cookie Kasgar had eaten.

One was shocked by the endless transformations blossoming across Kasgar's tongue. (But it was still within the plan!)

One licked at the novel pain Kasgar was suffering.

They each sought something different.

Then Kasgar felt all four beings being driven away by a warmth.

Amid endless illusion and change, he seemed to see a figure radiating golden light.

Solemn, majestic, and sacred.

Yet even that figure seemed unable to dispel the wondrous flavor brought by that dreadful cookie.

The figure sat upon a dais forged of gold, silently overlooking all living beings.

Yet at that moment, there seemed to be nothing but helplessness in his eyes.

"Alas, child."

"Not at this moment. Not now."

"Go back quickly."

"Ugh, bleurgh, bleurgh, bleurgh—"

"Cough, cough! Cough, cough!"

"Ptui! Ptui, ptui, ptui!"

Huff. Huff.

Feeling his soul return to his body, Kasgar nearly coughed up his stomach.

Having narrowly escaped death, he was still shaken.

"Bro, are you okay?"

"Huff... It's hard. Hard to say I'm okay."

It seemed he had nearly returned his soul to the Golden Throne.

Kasgar struggled to rise from the floor, only to discover that he had lost all his strength.

"I... I thought this thing was baked by you."

He raised the horrifying cookie blessed by the Five Gods in his hand and slowly brought it closer for a look.

Then he blinked hard several times.

No.

Then wasn't this thing far too terrifying?

Could a cookie really possess such power?

Was this really the kind of food called a cookie, made from sugar, oil, milk, and wheat flour for humans to eat?

Or was it some newly developed simulated poison from one of Malcador's assassins?

Kasgar turned to look at the somewhat embarrassed Lucius beside him.

"I don't know either."

His expression was utterly innocent.

"I sniffed it and found it a little strange, so I didn't dare eat it..."

"It's fine."

Having narrowly survived, Kasgar seemed to have gained a new ability through misfortune.

—By merely tasting food, he could accurately determine the name of its maker.

He was so stupid. Truly stupid.

The moment he saw the wall full of Xhanabal Sabers, he should have realized it.

Who else among the Sons of the Emperor could collect so many sabers, be a swordsmanship master even Fulgrim greatly admired—

And possess such "wondrous" culinary skills?

"Was it you?"

"Brother A, Akur Duna?"

Looking at the woman who entered the room with a dejected face, carrying a tray full of cookies, Kasgar declared.

Wait, a woman?