57 Reclaiming Hope (XIV)

"So, Sage, you mean this Necron traitor can help us get out of this damned place?"

Lufgt Huron, lieutenant of the Star Claws Third Company, asked this question.

Before Kaplan could answer, he let out a derisive snort.

At that moment, a peculiar expression, mingling mockery and pity, flickered across his face. His excessively deep-set eye sockets and habitually downturned mouth made that expression especially aggressive, making him resemble a savage beast poised to devour its prey.

However, the Sage, long accustomed to such things, remained entirely unmoved. He merely shifted the tendrils behind him, allowing Orikan to defend itself.

—Naturally, its first reaction was quite interesting.

Through his tendrils, the Sage could clearly sense the faint vibrations coming from that ruined body, indicating that their high-ranking Necron captive was engaged in some private mental struggle.

This was not something an astromancer named Orikan ought to do.

In the past, faced with such contempt and insult, it would have killed Huron by some means at the first opportunity. Kaplan had observed and profiled both it and Trazyn for a long time. He understood them and had identified certain traits they shared, such as their intense pride.

Yet because Necron personality simulations were so complex, even their common traits differed greatly.

In Trazyn's case, that pride could be interpreted as utter indifference—refusing to care about any form of offense or attack was itself his pride and arrogance. Orikan, however, was more "human" in this regard: it was exceptionally sensitive to everything.

A very simple example was the time it had infiltrated the Solemnace museum while Trazyn was absent, only to become enraged because the security chief had failed to recognize it due to its flawless disguise.

Afterward, it had not only revealed itself voluntarily, but had even altered the chief's protocols,