How about hanging the old cured meat on a cross?

The most eye-catching feature was a meticulously sectioned-off area, occupying a full third of the planet's landmass. Lush vegetation and lakes encircled this region, dotted with towering Gothic structures.

The ravens that lived among the steel forests of Giava had also been brought to Savior Star. Their primary living areas were concentrated in this region, and the sight of ravens flying overhead was a common occurrence.

This was precisely the cradle Sandman had requested, set aside to cultivate the various talents of the Raven Guard Legion. Sandman named it the "Fire-Forging Academy," hoping that no matter what the future held, the flame of human civilization would be passed down.

Several years had passed since the academy's construction, and the first batch of Fire-Forging Academy students were soon to face the Legion's trials.

"Boss, we've finally been waiting for you to come back!" Sandman saw Korax and the others who had come to greet him as soon as he disembarked from the Stormbird.

"Korax, Fal, Erifania, long time no see." Sandman waved his arms enthusiastically at them.

He had missed his companions on Savior Star dearly during the more than two years they hadn't seen each other. In the chaotic galaxy, there were at least people and things he cared about. Seeing his old companions, all the unpleasantness Sandman had encountered on Terra vanished instantly.

"Long time no see," everyone replied enthusiastically to Sandman, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.

"Savior Star is like heaven and hell compared to before!" Sandman looked at the Raven Tower, which was completely different from its past. The formerly eerie and terrifying atmosphere had long been swept away by the Raven Guard Legion.

The lives of the people on Savior Star were hundreds of times better than before, and the native birth rate had been steadily increasing year after year. As the Legion's homeworld, it was now extremely difficult to enter and settle on Savior Star. The quickest shortcut was to obtain permanent residency after passing the evaluation and assessment of the Fire-Forging Academy.

This was also one of the paths to advancement left by Korax and Sandman. Now, academies were being established in all the territories conquered by the Legion, covering primary, secondary, and higher education systems. This work was managed with extreme strictness under Korax's leadership; anyone who dared to interfere would have their head severed and displayed at the school gate by the Raven Guard in the middle of the night.

"Boss, right, we just received a communication from Lord Malcador. The Imperium's supply fleet is arriving soon. What's going on? The Raven Guard's supplies were just delivered," Korax asked, somewhat confused. Sandman, having just returned from Terra, knew a little about it.

"I'm not sure about that. Whatever, just accept it. The Department of the Interior might make mistakes, but Malcador never does. Perhaps your father took it out of his own private coffers to compensate you," Sandman immediately thought of the possibility of these supplies. Apart from the Emperor, that bastard, no one else would have such a grand gesture. The supplies for a Legion were no small matter.

"Shouldn't some students from the Fire-Forging Academy have passed the Raven Guard's new recruit selection?" Sandman asked. He planned to discuss with Korax about sending a portion of these new recruits to Macragge for advanced studies, while another portion would specialize in the Legion's administrative affairs to alleviate the increasingly complex workload of the Legion's high command.

Especially with the continuous expansion of their territories, more and more people would be needed to specialize in various management roles in the future. Although the Astartes were born as killing tools for battle, this was unavoidable. They had also considered using mortals to manage the increasingly vast territories, but in the end, they decided on a method where the Raven Guard would take the lead, with mortal officials providing auxiliary management.

This was something Sandman had always insisted on, primarily because mortals were too easily corrupted by power. It was like the High Lords of Terra in later generations; although most of them died of overwork in their positions, the internal strife they caused had inflicted losses on the Imperium that were enough to execute them countless times. The Astartes, on the other hand, were pure enough not to be easily corrupted by power.

"Pure," these two words were enough.

Why did Huron, the timely rain of the later Star Scythes, fall out with the Imperium? Was it because his Chapter's personnel exceeded the limit? Was it because he wielded great influence in the Maelstrom or formed factions there? None of these were the fundamental reasons; Huron was forced into a corner.

Did the High Lords of Terra not know what Huron was doing? Did they not know his troop strength was abnormal? Terra knew all of this, but the stability of the Maelstrom was sufficient. At that time, Huron's interception of Maelstrom taxes was to strengthen the stability of the Maelstrom, but the mortals in the neighboring sector were unhappy. Why should you intercept our taxes?

So, after uniting with their allies, the Fire Hawks Chapter, and confronting Huron, a civil war between Astartes, second only to the Horus Heresy, erupted again. Eventually, the situation escalated to an irreconcilable point, even involving several founding Chapters. Huron could only defect to Chaos.

The final result was that the Maelstrom became the base of operations for the Red Corsairs, and the security of the Maelstrom and its surrounding sectors rapidly deteriorated. It became another bottomless pit that consumed countless Imperial resources.

Therefore, this was why Sandman insisted on the Astartes as the primary force. He didn't care what others would call him in the future, whether he was some kind of "Grand Astartes-ist." He just cared about effectiveness and ensuring his subjects could live and work in peace.

In any case, most of the high-ranking officials of the Imperium were either not human or were on the path to becoming not human. In this damned universe, no ideology mattered. It was better for the human race not to rush towards extinction.

At the same time, Sandman also complained that the current overlords of the galaxy were getting worse with each generation. The Ling Clan, as the previous overlord of the galaxy, had dominated the galaxy for over sixty million years, but humanity? It was already on the verge of collapse after just over ten thousand years.

He even wanted to ask the Emperor if, after the galaxy-spanning Great Rift opened from south to north, another great rift would open from west to east, forming a cross. Would it be more fitting to hang that old salted fish, the Emperor, on it?

Unfortunately, he was busy fighting with the "yellow-skinned ones" and forgot about it in his excitement. By the time he remembered, he was already in Warp travel. So, he jotted it down in his little notebook to ask the Emperor next time he saw him.

"The first batch of new recruits from the academy have entered the gene-modding stage. It is expected that the first batch of new recruits will complete their modifications in three months, after which they can be assigned to the recruit companies," Korax said. He was very strict about the training plan for new recruits.

Even the Astartes who would later pursue management roles had to complete various training. At the same time, they needed to rotate into battlefields with less intensity to maintain their purity.

"Alright, in a while, people from the Ultramarines will also come to teach them systematic and complete knowledge of territory management," Sandman repeated what he had mentioned earlier in the psychic communication.

Although the high-ranking managers of the Raven Guard knew that the Ultramarines were once a Legion even more obsessed with killing than the Raven Guard, they never doubted the words of their own Legionary Commander. This was a solid guarantee of character forged through countless trials.

"By the way, where is Mortarion now? They should have completed one or two war missions by now, right?" Sandman suddenly remembered the smelly one, the second member of his Third Imperium.

"He just led the Death Guard to complete their second war mission and has now returned to Barbarus for rest," Korax said. The progress of the two Legions was actually quite similar.

During their first expedition, the Death Guard received their mission from the War Council about two months after the Raven Guard. Now that the Raven Guard had largely recovered, they had also just completed their second mission and were resting.

"Are you free tomorrow to go to Barbarus? I haven't seen that smelly one in a long time," Sandman suggested to Korax. The two Legions were close anyway.

"No problem, I haven't seen Mortarion in a long time either," Korax agreed with Sandman. As for Sandman referring to another Primarch of a Legion in such a way, no one found it strange, especially since Mortarion himself hadn't said anything.

"Ah, why are there still so many? Erifania, did you make a mistake? These should be Korax's share..." Sandman shook his slightly numb right hand, looking at Erifania who was carrying another large stack of Legion archives, and drooped his head.

After he went out to tour the Fire-Forging Academy during the day, Sandman was dragged back to the Raven Tower by Korax to handle various important Legion matters together. Amidst the silent protests of Fal and the Nev brothers, Sandman reluctantly sat in his seat and began to process the Legion's administrative affairs.

There was no choice; the gazes of Fal and the Nev brothers were too unnerving. Thinking about how long he had been out having fun, Sandman finally had a moment of conscience and began to slowly process the Legion's administrative affairs. This also gave him a deeper understanding of the Raven Guard's current strength. After several years of development, the Raven Guard had expanded from a scale of just over 20,000 people when they first changed their name to over 50,000 people now.

The Legion's fiefdom had also expanded from the single Savior Star system to territories encompassing nearly a hundred habitable planets, including the Kanta System and the Nordic Sector. However, population migration was currently underway in the Kanta System, and post-war reconstruction was still being carried out in the Nordic Sector. With three Forge Worlds working simultaneously, it was expected that population migration would begin within one to two years.

"Lord Sandman, there was no mistake. These are yours. Because Korax has approved the leave requests of Vice Legionary Commander Fal and others, their work will only continue until they finish the documents they have on hand. All subsequent work will need to be completed by Korax and you," Erifania said to her boss, who was accustomed to avoiding administrative tasks, with a slightly apologetic smile.