Second Legion (✘) Dark Souls II ()

"Father, if you send Rambo and the others to Catachan, won't that cause some trouble?"

"What kind of trouble could there be? I see you don't understand a thing!"

At this moment, everyone was relaxing in the upper-level bar of the Abomination Exemplar. Hearing the Primarch's reply, a group of Space Marine gathered around, skillfully ordering drinks. It was clearly time for the Primarch to tell another story.

Under the shameful expression of the barmaid Captain Tom, Mordred, feeling dizzy from days of experimentation, gulped down a mouthful of orange juice and spoke:

"Do you think you know what I was doing before I returned to the Legion? Let me tell you, it took me eight years to unify the Dog-man Tribe, but it took less than four years to unify the entire Serene World, and at least half the credit for those last four years belongs to the dogs."

The Atlas nodded in understanding. As a wildlife preserve from the Dark Age of Technology, the Serene World was scattered with flora and fauna that could be called monsters. Aside from its excellent natural environment, it could easily be called a mini-Catachan.

If they weren't wearing Power Armor, they might not even be able to defeat those Serene Wandering Chicken; after all, those chickens were nearly four meters tall, could fly and run, and one peck could pierce Adamantium.

As for those Explosive Toad and One-Punch Mushroom, they could only be eliminated with long-range firepower. But why did it take longer to unify the tribe than to unify the planet?

Seeing his offspring acknowledge the lethality of the wildlife back home, Mordred revealed another life-altering piece of history.

"Don't think Rambo earned my favor because he was my old subordinate. I am a fair man. Even though the dogs are lazy and greedy, they have real skills. For starters, can you command tens of thousands of Ogryn soldiers? Can you?"

Everyone shook their heads. Forget commanding tens of thousands of Ogryn; they couldn't even handle a hundred, and that was assuming the Ogryn of the Serene World were generally smarter than those elsewhere.

"But the dog-men can. Otherwise, how do you think I managed to clear out those monsters?"

Summoning Captain Tom, who was still playing dead, Mordred pulled out a patent leather Bunny Girl outfit and signaled for him to put it on immediately, stating that if he said he was a bunny girl, he was a bunny girl—no discounts allowed.

"Father, can I not wear this? It's so shameful."

"No. If you keep whining, I'll make you a bar server for the rest of your life. Go change now; I have to go verify an experiment in a moment, or you'd better pray no one else helps you move."

The 9th Company Captain accepted his fate and walked toward the back, amidst countless gloating gazes, to face his social execution.

"It was by relying on these dog subordinates that I was able to command eighty thousand Ogryn warriors. And this time, I've sent out the smartest of the dog-men, the Canid Eight."

"They are: Breath of Storms—Canid-Niz, Arid Earth—Bane, Savage Lightning—Rehgar, Brilliant Pure Ice—Seven, Bloodhound—Guts, Death Wish—Vera, and Shadow Hunter—Casca."

"Finally, there is my personal disciple, known as the Flame of Destiny, Rambo."

"Each of them possesses extraordinary skills, and their fighting spirit and patience are far beyond the ordinary—they are certainly not just some run-of-the-mill mutts."

After speaking, Mordred took a pocket watch from his neck and opened it to show everyone the photo inside.

In the center of the photo, Mordred, clad in scrap-metal armor, looked spirited, while the eight dog-men behind him appeared fierce and majestic. Below was a line of small text: "One heart, one body, glory forever!"

An inexplicable sense of absurdity stirred in everyone's hearts. They didn't know why, but they felt the Primarch was talking nonsense, yet they also wanted those cool titles for themselves!

Mordred saw through his offspring's psychological activities at a glance, but this glory did not belong to them; if they wanted cool titles, they would have to earn them themselves.

"Alright, I'm going to do my experiment. When that dog Captain Tom comes out later, you must leave him with an unforgettable memory. It's best to take a photo; I want to put it in the album as a souvenir."

Watching their Primarch's retreating back, the Tin Can Kid opened the recording switches on their Power Armor. As soon as Captain Tom appeared, they would be ready to capture the Dark History photo.

Just as everyone was waiting, one Atlas suddenly said:

"Hey, have you noticed? Since those eight dog-men all have cool titles, then according to Father's personality, he must have one too! But why didn't he tell us?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't. Since Father didn't say, he must have forgotten. Why think so much? Look! Captain Tom is out."

As soon as the words fell, Captain Tom, now in his shameful outfit, appeared before them. With a flash of light, Tom let out a humiliating roar:

"Quack! You bastards! It was one thing when Father was here, but you're still humiliating me when he's gone? I'm going to blast you all away!"

Just as Captain Tom's Dark History was being captured in high-definition 1080p, Mordred arrived at the Secret Room where the Demon Xil was being held.

In just one month, the Secret Room had changed drastically, expanding from the size of a Living Room to the scale of a football field. The Arch-Magos was inside performing the final data comparison.

"My Lord!"

Waving his hand to signal everyone to continue working, Mordred walked to the Arch-Magos's side, staring at the row of culture tanks containing a large number of demons.

"Are the results confirmed?"

Kragg Nodded and handed over an experimental log for Mordred to review:

"My Lord, the experimental results show that the Second Legion inherited this trait of yours. In fact, one could say this trait is the true power of the Second Legion."

Holographic models of two Atlas were projected. Through the obvious height difference, Mordred immediately distinguished which offspring these data models belonged to.

"The one on the left is the Fourth Company Captain Gawain, who returned from studying with the Fourth Legion, and the one on the right is the 9th Company Captain Joseph, who returned from studying with Alpharius."

"Through data comparison, I discovered that recruits implanted with the Second Legion's Gene-Seed enter a very long period of weakness. Their souls experience varying degrees of frailty and begin to diminish."

"Conversely, the veterans of the Legion do not have this phenomenon. However, by comparing them with the Son of the Emperor Dreadnought named Rilano in the warehouse, even the Atlas veterans have the problem of thinning souls."

"Wait! What is that Dreadnought called?"

Mordred interrupted the Arch-Magos's explanation; he felt he had heard an incredible name.

"Rilano. The name of that Dreadnought is Rilano. It's the unwanted Dreadnought that the Fourth Company Captain picked up."

At this point, even the Arch-Magos Kragg couldn't help but laugh. An "unwanted" Dreadnought? Everyone placed in a Dreadnought is a hero of the Legion; how come I never find things like that?

"...Continue."

"I'll deal with that unlucky son when I get back. What the hell... you can pick up things, but you had to find such a famous thief—no, this is something we Atlas brought back after rescuing allies on a battlefield. Yes, that's what happened. That is the fact!"

Ignoring his Primarch's self-deception, the Arch-Magos continued his report:

"Therefore, based on the data comparison, I can confirm that the Second Legion can rely on devouring Warp Creature like demons to replenish their souls and undergo adaptive evolution."

Even without consuming daemons, the Legion's Gene-Seed slowly absorbs the contents leaking from surrounding souls, depending on the environment.

This is the reason why veterans of the Legion show such distinct differences.

The Arch-Magos's report had already explained it quite clearly: because of Mordred, all Atlasians are Soul-Thinners, and while being Soul-Thinners, they also crave to complete their souls.

This leads them to become increasingly like whichever Legion they "study abroad" with, and their innate nature of unconsciously absorbing soul fragments makes their cousins in other Legions dislike them.

This phenomenon reminded Mordred of the Soulless, yet it was slightly different—more like the Undead from a game he used to play.

However, things were far from over; after reporting this pile of news that was neither good nor bad, the Arch-Magos finally revealed a "good piece of news" that excited Mordred.

"Your Highness, I have found a solution to the low compatibility rate of the Legion's Gene-Seed!"

???

"Really? Tell me quickly! If you can truly solve this problem, we'll just ignore the hierarchy—I'll call you Teacher, and you can call me Father!"

As long as this difficult problem could be solved, Mordred was perfectly willing to throw his dignity away; the 3.99-meter big guy hugged the Arch-Magos and refused to let go, terrified she might run away.

Following a few sounds of metal cracking, Kragg, hearing his internal organs screaming in alarm, hurriedly spoke up:

"Stop, stop, stop! My waist is about to snap!"

Looking at the Arch-Magos, who had been twisted into a dangerous arc in his arms, Mordred hurriedly put his good teacher down and immediately began fussing over her.

"Your Highness, stop moving! I can handle it myself. Let's just talk about the solution!"

"By studying that batch of Thirteenth Legion Gene-Seed in the warehouse, along with your blood samples and those of the Primarch Vulkan, I discovered that if Atlasian Recruits are implanted with a second Gene-Seed from another Legion during their Gene-Modding Surgery, the success rate will see a qualitative improvement!"

"In other words, would you mind going to steal some more Gene-Seed from other Legions?"

"..."

Silence was the Cambridge of tonight; Mordred smiled with relief.