Two Years

What made this species strange was its ability to accelerate or reverse a target's time.

For example, with a Servitor, the Hrud could accelerate his time, causing him to die of old age and his parts to deteriorate. They could also turn back a Servitor's time, restoring him to the intact, four-limbed state he had possessed before being converted into a Servitor.

Whenever Sandman thought of this species, he wondered how much more room there would be for maneuvering if they had not been exterminated in the future.

For instance, what if the cries of a child suddenly rang out among a squad of Space Marines? An infant popping up among a bunch of burly veterans would surely be hilarious.

Or perhaps this time weapon could keep Sister Fey from being utterly confused, and prevent Dorn from earning the nickname of "Always Holding Something Back."

Or perhaps it could make Angron grow a brain instead of merely growing Butcher's Nails.

The possibilities were simply endless.

Then there were the Xenos Khrave, with their vampire-bat-like appearance and octopus faces, capable of remotely controlling other intelligent beings across the Warp. Before their long lives, humanity's peak Golden Age was no more than a footnote.

The Khrave could remotely control the bodies of other creatures through the Warp, turning them into their hosts.

All it took was for a host to make eye contact or physical contact with a human—or another intelligent being—and that being would become a new host. Their consciousness would be harvested, and their minds gnawed away.

Everything they knew would become known to the Khrave, who absorbed life essence and repeatedly strengthened their own energy.

The Khrave themselves did not need to enter a host's body; remote control through Psychic Power was enough. When a host was destroyed, the Khrave would remain unharmed unless special weapons related to Psychic Power were used.

Hosts were divided into two types: Root Hosts and Mind Slaves. Mind Slaves gained greater combat power, while Root Hosts possessed terrifying Psychic Power.

Each Khrave could use a single Root Host to infect a large number of Mind Slaves, making them serve at the cost of their lives. If three or more Root Host Khrave joined forces, they could force a Primarch into a bitter battle.

The most famous battle involving this species was when a Khrave leader actually attempted to control Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels. Instead, Lion found the location of their homeworld, ultimately leading to the species' extinction.

There were countless species in the Milky Way capable of bringing down even Primarchs.

Not to mention that before humanity became the ruler of the Milky Way, it still had to face the Xenos known as **. That was a terrifying existence capable of erasing two Primarchs from the Imperium entirely.

"Looks like we need to pick up the pace. This little pond of Lycaeus is still too small. We need to get Korax to take over the Raven Guard as soon as possible," Sandman decided after a moment of thought.

In the original history, by the time Korax returned to the Imperium, the Great Crusade was already nearing its end. After driving out those Terran Raven Guard members made up of slave masters, Korax restored the Legion to a strength of eighty thousand.

Then the Great Heresy broke out, and everyone knew what happened after that...

Time flew, and two years passed in the blink of an eye!

With the newly discovered Adamantite Vein, Saviors Camp successfully endured Tower's punishment of demanding double the usual ore submission for the next quarter.

Not only that, under Sandman's orders, the Saviors began expanding again, forcefully absorbing the other small camps nearby.

Well, calling it an annexation was not quite right. The people in those small camps had been desperate to join Sandman's camp, after all. At least they would not constantly be on the verge of starving to death.

There had been too few Saviors before, and people often starved to death. If people still often starved to death after the Saviors arrived, then what would have been the point of their coming?

The midday sun shone down on Lycaeus through the pristine white dome.

Through the mottled light and shadow, traces of dust could still be seen on the mining world. Though this was a mining planet, the fortress-grade air purification system at least made the air outside the mine tunnels tolerable.

"Boss, word has been spreading in many places across Lycaeus lately that the Savior is about to appear. Even those vampires in the west have quieted down quite a bit.

This was all caused by Korax. There had also been several medicine thefts at Tower. I am afraid Tower has already noticed his presence," Nekser reported to Sandman.

"It doesn't matter. Even if Tower notices, they won't be able to catch him, but tell Sharojin and the others following Korax to pay attention and make sure they don't hold him back," Sandman said with a smile.

Over the past two years, Sandman had directly placed Sharojin into Shadow Kill and put him under Korax's command. In return, Shadow Kill's intelligence gathering, assassination, and all other capabilities had undergone a qualitative leap.

With the Shadow Lord teaching them personally, things were naturally different. Sandman could already foresee that the future Raven Guard would have far more Shadow Masters than the Raven Guard of the original history.

Likewise, over those two years, Korax had drained dry all the knowledge possessed by the political elites, war heroes, and liberation movement leaders in those camps.

Never doubt a Primarch's capacity to learn. Each of the twenty-one cheats could wring every scrap of knowledge from a scholar of immense learning in the shortest possible time, then innovate upon it and elevate the original system of ideas to heights its creators could never reach.

Whether it was politics, economics, military affairs, culture, or philosophy, so long as it was a field that interested them, they could effortlessly surpass those pioneers who had immersed themselves in it for countless years.

That was also why Sandman had ultimately let Korax investigate for himself and experience the lives of the other miners on Lycaeus. He had realized that he had little left to teach him. This mining world's big shots were plentiful, so Korax could let them worry about teaching him.

In any case, those people would eventually gather under Korax's command. All Sandman needed to do now was prepare as thoroughly as possible for the miners' next actions.

Over the two years, Korax occasionally returned to the camp to exchange ideas with Sandman.

But whenever he left, he would take a batch of supplies with him to support miners in other camps. This gave many other camps a precious chance to catch their breath amid Lycaeus's day-after-day oppression.

Korax had even infiltrated Tower several times in search of sufficient medicine, stealing large quantities of drugs, finely crafted weapons, and other valuable items.

To reduce suspicion, Korax spread his attentions evenly. Besides Lycaeus, he had also traveled by transport ship to Kiavahr for several on-site inspections.

Korax's Psychic Power could heal the wounded to a certain extent, but he could not remain in any one fixed camp forever. Medicine and such supplies were therefore indispensable.