The Three Axes of Psionic Power

"From now on, I will teach you how to master your own gifts."

Qin Xa felt as if he had drifted back to his childhood.

In the great hall of the White Scars chapter, Qin Xa sat cross-legged.

That kind and gentle Librarian sat cross-legged opposite him.

"I heard that other people's psychic gifts manifest passively, usually during moments of intense emotion," Qin Xa said, looking at his palms. "But not me. My psychic talent is extremely stable, but the downside is that I can't be like others—knowing exactly what I excel at the moment I first manifest the ability to use psychic powers."

The Librarian closed his eyes, sensing something, and said softly, "Indeed. I excel at divination. I often dreamed of the future when I was a child; I was a loader slave on the gun decks of a strike cruiser back then, and my master discovered my gift."

"Then you are specifically gifted at divination." Qin Xa lowered his hands and looked at the Librarian. "I am not. I don't know what I excel at."

The Librarian took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Then, he opened his eyes.

An ethereal voice echoed in Qin Xa's ears.

"What do you want to excel at? Do you want to excel at biochemical abilities, losing control in a state of extreme emotion and resurrecting the dead on an entire planet in an instant?"

"Or, do you want to excel at offensive abilities, wiping out hundreds of thousands of people with a single bolt of blue lightning when you lose control?"

"Is that good? No, that is not good."

The Librarian closed his eyes again but continued his lecture.

"Stability itself is a gift, a tremendous gift. Even if you can only learn to cripple a man with lightning after training, you are still more powerful than a psyker who can instantly obliterate an entire legion, because you are stable."

"You don't need to worry about the power aspect, either; I will teach you."

Hearing that the Librarian would teach him, Qin Xa nodded, wanting to ask what exactly he would be taught.

The Librarian seemed to have predicted the question: "I will teach you the three abilities I excel at. I call them the Three Axes of Psyker Arts."

"The Three Axes of Psyker Arts?" Qin Xa asked, curious.

"Divination, offense, and healing. The most basic kind." The Librarian opened his eyes again. "If you are very clever, you will learn the first one after undergoing the transformation surgery to become a White Scars Astartes—for instance, crushing someone's skull or something similar."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Qin Xa's face: "Perhaps I will learn faster. I have always had a hunch that the thing my psychic talent makes me excel at is learning, just like I... I once did."

"What 'once' could a little brat like you have? By the time you are able to slaughter enemies alongside your battle-brothers, you will barely be eighteen." The Librarian rolled his eyes at Qin Xa and returned to his meditation.

Qin Xa pursed his lips and gave a wry smile.

The two remained silent for a while.

Qin Xa suddenly asked, "Why do you meditate? Is this a form of training to strengthen your mental power? For example, making your psychic powers grow stronger through this method."

"No, I am just used to doing it." The Librarian shook his head. "The level of your psychic talent is determined at birth. Psychic power doesn't even come from within you, but from the Warp. What is the point of training?"

"Then, if a psyker's talent isn't strong, does that mean they are stuck like that, with absolutely no way out?" Qin Xa asked again.

"Yes, there really is no way out." The Librarian replied. "However... everything concerning the Warp is unstable and uncertain, existing in a superposition of 'can' and 'cannot.' Everyone has their own destiny. The heights you can reach are closely tied to your fate."

Qin Xa nodded thoughtfully: "All things are fated, and none are under one's own control?"

"All things are fated, and none are under one's own control."

The Librarian said in a deep voice.

"Just like the name you inherited, Qin Xa, that Kheshig warrior from ten thousand years ago when the chapter was still a legion. Even though he was saved by someone, he still died. That is fate."

Qin Xa opened his eyes.

Realizing he had once again fallen into a memory involuntarily, Qin Xa rubbed his face to clear his head.

He looked around.

Angron was already curled up against the wall, asleep.

Oeno was squatting under the iron window, looking at the pendant around his neck.

The other gladiators were also resting.

But the moment Qin Xa opened his eyes, Caesar, who had been lying on the ground resting, snapped his eyes open, as if sensing that Qin Xa was now available to be disturbed.

"Awake?" Caesar stood up and walked over, looking levelly at the cross-legged Qin Xa. "How strong is your athletic ability? What kind of sorcery do you know?"

"Why do you ask?" Qin Xa countered.

"You want to run, right?" Caesar sat down, looking up at Qin Xa's face. "I feel like your athletic ability should be very strong. Every time I run out of the cell, I just jog slowly toward the outside and get caught. If it were you, you might be able to move very quickly and figure out what kind of security measures this hellhole actually has."

When Caesar made this suggestion, Oeno looked up: "You want a giant nearly three meters tall to go scouting? Have you gone mad again?"

"No! No!" Caesar shook his head vigorously, his eyes staring at Qin Xa with a manic intensity. "My father said you could do it, he said you could, you definitely can!"

Hearing the "father" in Caesar's mouth, Oeno was already accustomed to it.

It wasn't the first time he had gone mad.

But Qin Xa understood Caesar's state better.

It was a reaction to hearing certain voices; some psykers were like that, able to hear what others could not, and see what others could not.

Some psykers even treated The Emperor as an imaginary companion, thinking The Emperor was protecting them and chatting with them at every moment.

Regardless of what Caesar's "ailment" might be, there was one thing he was right about.

Qin Xa was indeed capable.

"I can do it; I can move at high speed without making a single sound," Qin Xa said.

Caesar was pleasantly surprised: "You really can! That's great, that's great, Father was right."

"Then perhaps it is worth a try." Oeno stood up, walked over to Qin Xa, and said earnestly, "Caesar does have the ability to get you out of this cave. If you fail, you will just be dragged back like him, because this escape and capture is a game in itself; sometimes we are even let out on purpose just to see us run."

"That's right, that's right!" Caesar nodded repeatedly. "Even though the odds of you escaping are slim, we can at least gather information and accumulate experience. Those damned slave owners will pay the price for their arrogance!"

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Xa looked at Caesar: "You come with me. If you can bring a few more people, we'll pick the ones who move the fastest to go out together, so our efficiency in gathering information will be very high."

"Count me in!" Oeno raised his hand.

"Count me in too." A blonde female gladiator who had been sleeping nearby opened her eyes and raised her hand to sign up.

Caesar held up three fingers: "Not including myself, I can bring at most four others."

There was one spot left.

Qin Xa looked at Angron.

Angron had already woken up, and he nodded firmly.