After the ceremony, Hogg went aboard the Eleventh Legion's flagship. During the ceremony, he had announced that the Eleventh Legion would be renamed Blackwatch and its flagship, Blacklight.
Blacklight was a Gloriana-class Battleship, 21 kilometers long—about the size of a county in his previous life.
The ship was covered in a charcoal-gray paint scheme, with white trim tracing its contours. It was like a dignified noblewoman sailing through the cosmos, embracing all who lived aboard.
The Gloriana Class was equipped with unbelievable firepower, capable of defeating an entire fleet or a rebellious planet single-handedly.
Naturally, during the Great Crusade, these ships also became the flagships of the various Astartes Legions. They would help the Legiones Astartes swiftly conquer newly discovered worlds and bring them into the Imperium, strengthening the rule of the Imperium of Man.
When he reached the bridge, Hogg felt a stir within him. It was as though a strange, subtle thought surrounded him. He could sense the ship's joy and affection.
The first thing Hogg did after rejoining the Legion was hold a meeting. The captains of the various companies were gathered in the main conference room while Lyla Lynn, the acting Legion Commander, reported on the Eleventh Legion's current state.
"Father, the Legion currently has a total of 10,372 Space Marines. Besides Blacklight, we have three battleships, six frigates, and seven transport ships. Our vessels, supplies, and personnel are all in good order, and we have 6,214 Gene-seed in storage.
"Compared with the gene-seed of other Legions, ours is free of mutation and contamination. However..."
"However what, Lynn? I'm your father. Perhaps I'm still young and haven't seen as much war as you have, but I should know what's going on within the Legion, shouldn't I? You can speak freely. This is my Legion."
Hearing the Primarch's gentle tone, Lynn was deeply moved, and told him the truth.
"Father may not know this, but thanks to your mighty power, our warriors have incredible regenerative abilities. As a result, we're sent to the most brutal battlefields to break through enemy lines.
"Perhaps because we're more agile than other Legions, we feel an inexplicable urge to scavenge the battlefield. We can't help picking up supplies from other Legions. And then, well..."
At this point, Lyla Lynn looked up at Hogg to check his expression. Her father was still as handsome and beautiful as ever.
"Then we collected a lot of Xenos technology. It's given us a rather poor reputation. We're always being called scavengers and little dwarves, so the warriors in the Legion may have slightly unusual tastes."
Huh? Hogg suddenly realized something was off. Astartes were supposed to be superhuman warriors, at least 2.2 meters tall, but as he looked around, hardly any of them were taller than him.
And he was only two meters tall. Lyla Lynn, standing before him, looked to be the tallest one here—and she was only 2.1 meters.
"What the hell do they know?"
(⊙_⊙)? Father, what did you say?
Slumping into the sofa he'd swiped from the Emperor, Hogg said with complete seriousness:
"What the hell do they know! What good is being so big? You just make a bigger target. It's the Space Age now. Use guns! In a battleship's corridors or in the pipes, can they fit where we can? No!
"Damn it! They'd have to dig twice as much dirt as us just to build a trench. Let them exhaust themselves."
"Father is right!!! We're the most standard Astartes." A short officer, under two meters tall and even smaller than the others, chimed in.
Looking at the little potato before him, Hogg felt very pleased.
"What's wrong with scavenging? We call that being thrifty and putting things to good use.
"Besides, we're sent into the most dangerous battlefields. We didn't steal anything, did we? And what Xenos technology? Let me see." Hogg spoke dismissively.
"Father, look!"
Encouraged by his approval, the warriors eagerly brought out their prized possessions: a blade glowing green, a dagger made from some unknown bone, a claw with living tissue and a purple Disruption Field, a gleaming Spirit Stone, and even a familiar game console.
"(ˉ▽￣~) Tch~~ Is that all? Who says this is Xenos technology? You—yes, you. Find a bucket of paint and coat them black, then slap the Imperial Aquila on them. Who'd dare say they weren't Imperial technology?"
During that day aboard Blacklight, Hogg finally understood why the Eleventh Legion had such a bad reputation.
In the warehouse, Hogg discovered all sorts of strange things, like weapons and ammunition bearing the insignia of other Legions. Tanks and the like were nothing; there was Xenos technology everywhere, along with unidentified artifacts from the Dark Age of Technology.
His sons said they'd taken things because they seemed useful. They weren't even afraid they might explode. Hogg quickly called Candice Laza over to see if she could figure out how to study them.
At the meeting, Hogg laid out the development plan for the next two years. First, they would get to work on construction and turn Alicia into a fortress world.
Next, they would recruit soldiers and select new recruits there. With Candice Laza's connections, they would also bring in a group of Tech-Priests to reverse-engineer the Xenos technology.
As the Primarch's homeworld, Alicia enjoyed the Imperium's most favorable trade policies. Hogg planned to develop it as his own rear base. At the very least, it had to become self-sufficient.
News of the Primarch's return brought a flood of Rogue Traders to the planet, while Alicia's local nobles all swore their loyalty to Hogg.
Perhaps it had something to do with Hogg's gene-seed. Along with their powerful physiques, Blackwatch had plenty of Psykers, too—and their abilities were quite strange.
Unlike Psykers who communicated with the Warp, the Psykers of Blackwatch were, to put it precisely, freeloaders. According to the veterans, the Warp entities they encountered during Warp travel all found them extremely annoying, and the chance of the ship's crew mutating was laughably low.
During the Great Crusade, besides being sent to break through enemy lines, Blackwatch's Space Marines received more orders to escort supplies than anything else. That was why the Legion was rolling in wealth.
A month later, the Emperor returned to Terra. During that time, Hogg absorbed a vast amount of knowledge. At the very end, the Emperor gave him an object of immense value, even by the standards of the cosmos: a fragment of a Void Dragon.
According to the Emperor's research, the laws of the physical world would help it grow.
After the fragment was implanted, Hogg's body underwent a dramatic transformation. Silver-white patterns appeared across him, and sickly green lightning materialized from the void.
Perhaps because of the fragment's higher-dimensional nature, absorbing the alien energy went smoothly. A weak consciousness tried to influence Hogg, but he devoured it in an instant.
After devouring the Void Dragon fragment, Hogg also mastered Dimensional Lightning. Its power was insignificant compared with that of a C'tan, but he had gained a supernatural ability.
For the people of Alicia, this was an exceptionally happy time. As the world where a Primarch had been discovered, its inhabitants were now far safer. More than 7,000 Astartes swept the planet from end to end.
The unruly gangs were either dealt with—┗(∧｀)┛—or executed by firing squad. Recalcitrant nobles had their assets confiscated, and mutant creatures were wiped out. Blackwatch warriors, transformed into Construction Boys, and the local defense forces reclaimed the wilderness and built settlements.
Thanks to Alicia's relatively good environment, its land was highly suitable for cultivation, even after the civil war. The ruined minor Hive Cities were demolished.
The Titans and Knight Mechs in Blackwatch's stockpiles were put to their intended use. Scrap was recycled, metal was smelted, and transport ships streamed into the spaceport.
After studying for several months, Hogg worked with Candice Laza to create a rudimentary local network, using the properties of the C'tan as an anchor. Its simpler, more efficient operations greatly increased production efficiency.
Some of Hogg's old friends chose to retire and take up farming, while others joined Blackwatch's Auxilia.
During its development, Blackwatch changed its paint scheme. White trim now traced the charcoal-gray armor. Taking inspiration from the modular design of Hogg's Raider armor, the Legion's Power Armor was optimized, fitted with thicker plating and weapons platforms.
"Lady Emilia, this is the sixth shipment of construction supplies. Please confirm receipt." The communications message from First Company captain Rossmanderson appeared on Emilia's data terminal.
After receiving the Primarch's approval in the plaza that day, Emilia had joined Blackwatch as the Primarch's head of household affairs.
Thanks to years of noble education, Emilia was thoroughly familiar with this kind of work. But what made her happiest was that she could see him every day and stay by his side openly.
Once the regular updates are secured, there may be extra chapters at irregular intervals, depending on how the author feels after dinner.
Before you continue