Deep Dive

Psychic power did not come from the Psyker himself, but from the Immaterium.

The Orks were an exception. Their Waaagh! Field was another matter entirely.

This made it nearly impossible for Psykers to continuously explore their own abilities without assistance, until they completely understood everything.

For those who wielded psychic power, the "small fry" Psykers were simply gambling with their lives whenever they used it. When they died depended entirely on Destiny's arrangements, while exceptionally gifted Psykers at least had a rough sense of their own level.

But rough was not enough for Qin Xa. He did not need vagueness, nor did he believe in it. Before he had transmigrated here, back when his body had not regressed into that of a little brat, both his work and his talent had made him loathe uncertainty and ambiguity.

Qin Xa wanted to know exactly how stable his psychic talent was, then measure it as close to numerically as possible. Ultimately, he wanted to reach a scientific conclusion based on rational judgment, then develop and use his abilities according to that conclusion, while judging and remaining alert to the probability of danger arising.

Only then could an ability be used precisely and efficiently. This applied not only to psychic power, but also to certain scientific laws and physical rules.

That was why Qin Xa had decided to take the risk.

Recalling certain details in what the Librarian had said, Qin Xa began to deeply sense his own psychic talent, the innate ability to wield psychic power that set him apart from others.

As he sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, focusing his senses, Qin Xa suddenly felt weightless.

Then it seemed as though his entire body was sinking into an ocean.

This was completely different from what the Librarian and every Psyker he had previously seen had experienced when attempting to venture into the Immaterium.

But Qin Xa did not panic because it was different. He kept himself as rational and calm as possible, sinking deeper.

Until he finally fell into darkness.

Qin Xa began trying to sense it. He focused on one question, as though asking some kind of existence, seeking to learn just how stable his ability to use psychic power was.

Stable.

That was the response Qin Xa received from himself, like an echo from his soul.

But just like the simple conclusions drawn from the complicated tests and tentative personal probes conducted by the White Scars Chapter's Librarian and the Grey Knights' mentors, it was a vague conclusion. Its only use was to let others know that this Psyker named Qin Xa would at least not become a flesh gate through which a daemon entered reality.

"Deep dive."

Qin Xa murmured to himself and continued exploring deeper.

Beyond the endless darkness was a transparent mass of white energy, enclosing something enormous.

Qin Xa could see countless threads coiling across that energy.

"This might be The Veil."

"The threads are the Web of Fate."

Qin Xa made a rough judgment based on what he knew.

The real universe was wrapped in something called The Veil. It could block off the Immaterium and Warp Creatures, but like any wall, it was not without blind spots or impossible to breach.

And attached to The Veil were the Threads of Fate. The Threads of Fate formed a Web of Fate, which was the destiny of living beings in the real universe.

Some Psykers could make Prophecies by peering into and sorting through the Threads of Fate. That was the principle behind Prophecy.

Qin Xa felt himself continuing to fall. His vision and senses told him the same, and soon he left The Veil behind and entered the Immaterium, that unimaginably dangerous realm of the mind.

Even now, Qin Xa could not quite determine whether what he saw was an illusion or whether he had truly left the real universe.

If he had truly entered the Immaterium, it was extremely dangerous, whether physically or spiritually.

Qin Xa knew it was dangerous too, but psychic power was his only possible means of changing his own destiny and, incidentally, the destiny of a Primarch. Knowing the danger and doing it anyway was something he had no choice but to do.

Whether in an illusion or in reality, Qin Xa discovered that after entering deeper into the Immaterium, he was not alone in this bizarre place.

He looked around and realized he was inside something.

Equipment and consoles were piled up around him, accompanied by beeping sounds like a submarine's sonar.

Qin Xa hurriedly made a circuit of the area, then discovered that he was actually inside a submarine.

Beyond the portholes was the Immaterium.

Qin Xa did not understand why there was a submarine here, but compared to the strangeness of the Immaterium itself, it was hardly worth mentioning.

Nothing in the Immaterium conformed to common sense.

Planets overlapped one another, while nebula-like matter gathered into gigantic beasts baring their fangs and claws.

Stars with fleshly eyes stared at Qin Xa, watching as the submarine slowly passed by.

There were also countless bizarre creatures, traveling in groups around the submarine.

As Qin Xa observed them, some harmless creatures passed straight through the submarine. Then another group arrived and began trying to attack it.

They slammed madly against the portholes and hull, but could not break through the submarine and enter.

Qin Xa even saw a daemon. It had no obvious traits belonging to any one of the Gods of the Immaterium. Roaring, it clung to the outside of a porthole and opened its bloody maw. A person crawled out from its mouth and roared at Qin Xa, but Qin Xa could not hear what it was shrieking.

And when Qin Xa thought of driving those disgusting creatures away, the submarine's torpedo bay launched two Torpedoes.

The Torpedoes traveled through the Immaterium, rolling three hundred and sixty degrees as they struck those Warp Creatures from incomprehensible angles and along impossible trajectories, instantly driving them away.

"What is all this?" Qin Xa was speechless at the sight before him. He turned and walked into the submarine's control room, sat down in the seat, and suddenly began piloting it as though he had always known how.

When Qin Xa wanted to go somewhere else, the submarine began sailing somewhere else.

That somewhere else could be anywhere, anywhere Qin Xa wanted to go.

At that moment, Qin Xa had a thought: he wanted to see what his Soul Projection looked like.

Living creatures possessed Soul Projections in the Immaterium. A Soul Projection could be anything, reflecting a creature's heart, emotions, desires, or some other state, as well as traits that even the creature itself did not know it possessed.

A Psyker's Soul Projection was the most dazzling thing in the Immaterium. When they used psychic power, their psychic projection was like a beacon.

Warp Creatures were drawn to Soul Projections and brought danger to Psykers. This was one reason Psykers were so dangerous.

Qin Xa piloted the submarine, but when he had the thought of looking at his own psychic projection, the submarine did not move at all.

This thing protecting him did not, as before, pass through regions occupied by daemons or sail past enormous stars with eyes...

"Could my psychic projection be this submarine?" Qin Xa looked around, deep suspicion written across his face.