Guilliman's words left Fabricator General Kren at a loss for how to respond.
No expression could be seen on the face covered in gears and conduits.
His mechanical eyes stared fixedly at the Primarch, while the calculation modules inside his skull ran at high speed, drawing so much power that they were faintly heating up.
The clauses of the Omnissian Prohibition were right there.
Every Tech-priest claimed to treasure them above all else and never cross the line by even half a step.
Yet of every ten Tech-priests, nine had certainly violated one of its prohibitions, while the remaining one was on the path to touching the forbidden red line.
To Adeptus Mechanicus priests who craved knowledge above all else, forbidden knowledge was like the whispers of Daemons, tempting them at every moment.
No one could resist such temptation.
Fabricator General Kren was even less able to do so. Otherwise, he would never have risen to this position.
Over the centuries, he had continuously replaced his flesh and blood with mechanical prosthetics.
Naturally, all followers of the Adeptus Mechanicus underwent similar surgeries.
But Kren's modifications had been utterly insane.
He had even used his authority to acquire prosthetic components regarded as heretical and install them upon himself.
Within his body was also a Cogitator intelligence driven by a forbidden artificial mechanical consciousness.
This artificial mechanical consciousness granted Kren unimaginable calculating power. He could control information across the entire star system and freely project his consciousness into other machines.
Yet mechanical intelligence that was not based on flesh was absolutely forbidden.
It was one of the red lines decreed by the Emperor that could never be crossed.
During the Great Crusade, multiple human civilizations that had become overly dependent on intelligence had been destroyed.
Under Guilliman's gaze, Kren finally lowered his