After Magnus emerged from seclusion, Diego was overjoyed. At last, he no longer had to worry about the Primarch's safety. But the Blackwatch weren't so thrilled, because now that Hogg was back, they could no longer coast through life.
The study plan that had been put on hold was brought back out. But unlike the soul-crushing training regimen, the new textbooks had the lads discovering that this time, they could actually understand what they were reading.
Just like Hogg, who had taken a beating, the Blackwatch had also been deeply humbled during that month of studying.
Because the Blackwatch had a longer recruit training program, every member had to earn a high school diploma. And after graduating from Catachan, they had to complete an additional six years of skills training.
The standard for graduating from skills training was being able to build a nuclear bomb all by yourself. This meant the Blackwatch weren't stupid at all. In fact, they secretly looked down on the other Legions, believing that among all their cousins, they alone were the clever ones.
When their long-held pride was shattered and the Cloaked Cockroaches realized that the wondrous knowledge they had inherited from Hogg was completely useless, an indescribable sense of frustration began to take root.
If left unchecked, this frustration could easily lead to serious problems. Fortunately, Magnus came through. By studying Hogg's backwards-written textbooks, he had devised a system of spells suited to Psionic Energy—or, more accurately, physical magic.
"Father, no wonder we haven't seen you for months. We thought you'd run off without telling us! We never imagined you still cared about us enough to come up with something like this!"
Ross's praise pleased Hogg immensely. His grin was harder to suppress than a Bolter. But just as Hogg was about to run