Chapter Summaries

The Art Student found himself in a monstrous battlefield where rival forces fought across continents of flesh and bone. He realized a strange force was protecting him within a roughly kilometer-wide radius, though he remained unable to stand.

• The Art Student watched blue birds, rotting green monsters, and other creatures slaughter one another across the battlefield.
• Armored warriors in black flames attacked wounded monsters with guns, then fought at close range in the name of the Emperor.
• The Art Student collapsed in terror and noticed that no monsters could approach within about a kilometer without weakening and dying.
• The Art Student slapped himself to confirm the scene was real and realized he could perceive distances far beyond his normal abilities.
• The Art Student sensed a strange force acting on him, like an unwanted, powerful presence inside his home.

Art Student realized he had transmigrated into the Warhammer universe, where all five Warp gods detected him and attacked. Their assault coincided with the Warp expelling him, leaving his fate beyond its borders unknown.

• Art Student recognized the battling monsters as Daemons of the Warhammer gods and feared he had transmigrated into their brutal universe.
• Nurgle sensed Art Student at the border of the five gods’ domains and sent a plague psychic attack toward him.
• Tzeentch noticed Art Student and struck him with magical lightning, while Khorne, Slaanesh, and the Emperor launched their own psychic attacks.
• Art Student panicked as he realized the five strongest Warp gods were targeting him, then stopped resisting the Warp’s rejection.
• The Warp expelled Art Student just as the gods’ attacks struck the border, killing countless Daemons caught in the assault.

After escaping the Warp, Art Student fell through a dark space and endured severe pain as unfamiliar information entered his mind. He emerged with the power of the strongest C'tan, which let him alter matter in the real universe, while the gods and the Emperor failed to locate him.

• Khorne and Tzeentch searched for Art Student but could not find him, while the Emperor ordered his subordinates to deal with the transmigrator; Nurgle and Slaanesh ignored him.
• Art Student fell through darkness for an unknown length of time before crashing onto the ground.
• Art Student suffered intense pain as unfamiliar information flooded his mind, then recovered and realized the ordeal had been worth it.
• Art Student used his new power to enlarge a tiny cigarette into a cigar and identified his ability as the power of the strongest C'tan.

The Art Student absorbed a fragment of the Void Dragon and gained a measure of its power, then reflected on his new Anti-Magic Body and its expanded Psychic Null Field. He resolved to stay cautious despite dreaming of taking the Emperor’s throne.

• The Art Student recalled how he had accidentally suppressed and devoured a confused fragment of the Void Dragon, gaining a portion of its authority.
• The Art Student laughed about challenging the Emperor and claiming the position of Lord of Humanity, then reminded himself to keep a low profile.
• The Art Student considered the dangers of the Warhammer Universe and acknowledged that he was still far from invincible.
• The Art Student reviewed his Anti-Magic Body, which suppressed supernatural abilities and could make them backfire against their users.
• After absorbing the Void Dragon fragment, the Art Student’s Psychic Null Field expanded to a radius of ten thousand meters, allowing him to suppress nearby psykers.

Art Student explored the limits of his C'tan' abilities and repaired his damaged phone, transforming it into a powerful offline personal terminal. He reflected on the immense Star God memories and advanced technologies he had gained, but knew he would need time and effort to understand and use them.

• Art Student tested his physical distortion ability and found it currently worked within a ten-meter radius.
• Art Student used his abilities to analyze and repair his broken phone, enlarging it and upgrading it into a powerful personal terminal.
• Art Student realized the phone could preserve information and serve as a backup while he had not yet fully accepted the Star God's vast memories.
• Art Student recalled advanced Warhammer technology, including how a Power Sword was made, but recognized that understanding and applying the knowledge would take work.
• Art Student decided not to rush into building advanced technology, though he believed he could easily create modern devices.

The Art Student crafted and named a giant rifle, the Ripper, then explored a vast underground cavern and suspected he had landed on a hive world. When three monsters attacked, he used the untested weapon to kill them with three shots.

• The Art Student manipulated rock into steel parts and assembled a firearm, then enlarged and upgraded it to suit his 3.5-meter-tall body.
• The Art Student named the rifle Ripper and considered it an early prototype that he could improve.
• The Art Student made night-vision goggles and discovered he was in a vast, dark karst cavern with no visible life.
• The Art Student followed the cavern downward, encountered a powerful foul stench, and made a gas mask to block it.
• The Art Student’s goggles warned him of three charging monsters, and he shot each one with the Ripper.

Art Student explored a toxic industrial lake and climbed through a hive city's foundations, analyzing the strange creatures and ancient construction materials he encountered. He found two groups of humans fighting in a dim pipe-filled area, watched them kill each other, and then left.

• Art Student examined a mutated Giant-Toothed Rat, collected samples of its flesh, blood, and bones, and continued toward the strange smell.
• Art Student discovered a vast green lake of industrial waste and climbed upward, encountering packs of mutated Giant-Toothed Rats along the cliffs.
• Art Student reached an ancient, high-strength black wall, analyzed its material, and used physical distortion to open a passage through it.
• Art Student explored a dim area filled with enormous pipes and overheard humans speaking an unfamiliar language.
• Art Student watched two groups of armed, crudely modified humans fight until everyone was dead, then quietly left.

Art Student rescued a group of Underhive survivors from a Genestealer and revealed that he was a rebel against the Imperium. The survivors asked to follow him, and he warned them that opposing the Imperium would cost lives.

• A Genestealer chased a group of survivors as they fled and fired at it with ordinary guns.
• Art Student shot the Genestealer dead with a powerful firearm and told the survivors they were safe.
• The survivors thanked Art Student and praised the God-Emperor until he said he was a rebel against the Imperium.
• A little girl asked whether Art Student was an angel of the Emperor, and he denied it.
• The burly man asked whether the survivors could follow Art Student, saying they were desperate to escape their hunger and constant danger.
• Art Student warned the survivors that opposing the Imperium would be difficult and that people would die.

The Art Student accepted Gray Mark and the other scavengers as followers, then used his abilities to restore their damaged bodies. After they thanked him, he promised them clean water and food and gave Gray a waterskin.

• Gray Mark remembered how taxes had ruined his family and decided that following the Art Student offered a chance to change their fate.
• The Art Student asked whether the scavengers were willing to follow him, and they pledged their allegiance.
• The Art Student transformed the scavengers’ crude prosthetics into lifelike mechanical limbs and restored Lilith Mark’s jaw and voice.
• Gray Mark introduced his wife, Rouge Mark, his daughter, Lilith Mark, and the other members of the group.
• The Art Student told the scavengers to stand, promised them clean water and food, and handed Gray a waterskin.
• Gray drank a sip of the water and was amazed by how clean it was.

Art Student gave Gray, Rouge, Lilith, and the other Underhive scavengers clean water, then led them to a concealed passage and introduced himself as the Lord of the Stars. The group followed him into a hidden golden corridor, convinced their leader was a god despite his claim that he was only a demigod.

• Art Student handed out bottles of clean water, and Gray, Rouge, Lilith, and the others drank their fill in amazement.
• Art Student used the Void Dragon's dimensional space to store supplies and led the group through the ruined Underhive.
• Gray asked Art Student's name, and Art Student told the group to call him the Lord of the Stars.
• Gray asked whether Art Student was a god, and Art Student said he was only a demigod, though the crowd believed him to be a god.
• Art Student led the group to a concealed entrance that scanned them and opened into a hidden corridor.
• The group entered the golden, softly lit corridor, and the entrance closed behind them.

Art Student brought the underhive group to his underground warship, where Gaia arranged for them to receive a vaccine that repaired their bodies, extended their lives, and protected them from warp corruption. After teaching them to wash and introducing them to the facility, he led them into the warship’s splendid living area.

• Art Student asked Gaia to send a medical robot to vaccinate the group, while Gray questioned him about Gaia and the vaccine.
• Art Student explained that the vaccine could repair damage, protect against warp corruption, and extend their lives to five hundred years.
• A white medical robot injected each person with the vaccine.
• Art Student led the group to bathing rooms, taught them how to wash, and gave them clean clothes.
• Art Student showed the newly cleaned group around the facility and led them by elevator and through an iron gate into the warship’s highest-level living area.

Art Student settled the Underhive newcomers aboard his self-sufficient warship, fed them, and promised them training and suitable work. Gray accepted the task of recruiting people he knew, while Gaia and Ares arrived to teach the group language and combat.

• Art Student showed everyone the warship's residential areas and arranged rooms for them.
• Art Student brought the group to the cafeteria, where they ate lavish meals and tried his cigarettes, while he stopped Lilith from taking one.
• Gray asked to introduce people he knew, and Art Student allowed it after three months of training, excluding cultists and murderous gang members.
• Art Student told the group they could train for years to reach Astartes strength and reassured those who preferred noncombat work.
• Art Student offered to make Gray a squad leader for recruiting ten fighters or a unit commander for recruiting a hundred, and Gray accepted.
• Art Student assigned Gaia to teach the Imperium's language and writing and Ares to teach combat.

Gray and his companions completed three months of training under Ares and set out to fulfill a recruitment mission. After Gray helped Mo Tuo’s camp repel raiders, he explained how his master had saved his people and invited Mo Tuo to join the master’s service.

• Art Student put Gaia and Ares in charge before returning to the laboratory to continue his experiments.
• Gray, David, and Nack trained for three months until Ares declared they had reached the limits of the human body and gave them equipment for their mission.
• Gray and his companions arrived at Mo Tuo’s camp and helped its people drive off a group of raiders.
• Mo Tuo thanked Gray for saving his people and asked why Gray and his companions had changed so much.
• Gray told Mo Tuo how his master had rescued his people, healed Lilith, and offered them food, water, and training, then invited Mo Tuo to join the master’s service.

Gray offered Mo Tuo and his followers a chance to join the Lord of the Stars, promising clean water and uncontaminated meat in exchange for loyalty. After tasting the food, Mo Tuo agreed to join with his family and began summoning people he knew to Gray’s camp.

• Gray explained his experiences and invited Mo Tuo to join the Lord of the Stars, but Mo Tuo questioned whether he could trust him.
• Gray said loyalty was the only price and showed Mo Tuo clean water and canned meat.
• Mo Tuo and his men eagerly ate the canned meat, then Mo Tuo asked whether he could have such food every day if he joined.
• Gray swore by the Lord of the Stars that his offer was true, and Mo Tuo agreed to join with his family.
• Mo Tuo contacted people he knew and brought them to his camp to meet Gray.

Gray left Mo Tuo’s overcrowded camp to seek food from the Lord of the Stars, but killed a gang of armed pursuers who tried to learn the base’s location. Meanwhile, the Art Student assessed his strongest genetically enhanced warrior, test subject No. 885, aboard the Lord of the Stars Flagship.

• As more gang leaders and their followers gathered at Mo Tuo’s camp, Gray realized there was not enough food for the growing crowd.
• Gray left David and Nack to help protect the camp and went alone toward the base to ask his lord for more food.
• Gray noticed more than thirty armed pursuers, including Sida and another camp leader, following him; Sida demanded that Gray reveal the base’s location.
• Gray opened fire and killed the pursuers, then shot Sida after Sida begged for his life.
• Aboard the Lord of the Stars Flagship, the Art Student examined test subject No. 885, the strongest survivor of his genetic enhancement experiments.

In his seventh year of research, the Art Student developed a genetic vaccine that gradually reshaped Warhammer humans into a new species resistant to psychic influence and created enhanced warriors capable of contending with Astartes. He ordered Gaia to conceal the research, leaving his subjects’ fate in his hands.

• The Art Student discovered that his genes differed drastically from Warhammer humanity’s and developed a vaccine that suppressed their psychic gene fragments and gradually reshaped them.
• The Art Student found that vaccinated humans gained limited protection from psychic attacks, while their descendants could become true New Humans insulated from the Warp.
• The Art Student established that his followers would rely on technology and genetic enhancement, with their lifespans and further modifications subject to his restrictions.
• The Art Student tested an enhanced warrior by killing him with a gesture, then ordered Gaia to classify all related research as top secret and destroy any compromised records.
• Gaia reported that Test Subject No. 885 had repeatedly pledged loyalty, but the Art Student dismissed the subject’s pleas as a desperate attempt to survive.

After Gray returned with over two thousand Underhive residents, Art Student explained the army and navy career paths to Gray, David, and Nack. The three chose to become Space Marines, and compatibility tests confirmed that all of them met the minimum requirement for gene-enhancement serum.

• Gray reported that he had recruited over two thousand people but needed food, water, and communication equipment, so Art Student sent supplies, combat robots, and a radio.
• Gray brought the residents back to the base, and Art Student praised Gray and the other two mission-completers for their work.
• Art Student explained the differences between the army and navy, and Gray, David, and Nack chose the Space Marine path.
• Art Student tested the three for gene-enhancement serum compatibility and found that Gray scored 76%, David 73%, and Nack 71%.
• Art Student congratulated the three on qualifying, and they celebrated their results.

Art Student put Gray and two others through gene enhancement and explained that their new abilities would develop through training. Over five years, the base and its military branches grew as the Space Marines advanced from basic exercises to twentyfold-gravity training, with combat instruction and armor still ahead.

• Art Student guided Gray and two others through automated gene enhancement, including a neural amplifier, and explained that intense training would gradually develop their strength.
• Gray and the others returned to their families before beginning years of demanding training in fivefold gravity, where they slowly grew stronger and more resilient.
• More than three months later, Gray met new recruits he had personally brought in and learned from Mo Tuo that those incompatible with gene enhancement had joined the Navy or Galactic Defense Force.
• Art Student’s base and its three military branches steadily expanded as the Space Marines’ training intensity increased from fivefold to twentyfold gravity.
• After five years, the Space Marines could move freely under twentyfold gravity, and Art Student planned to begin their combat and firearms training before issuing them improved Star Power Armor.

The first 178 Space Marines received their Power Armour and trained for three more years, improving their individual and squad combat skills. Meanwhile, on Hive World Two, a bishop learned that thirteen registered psykers had died and ordered an investigation into possible further deaths.

• Gray and Mo Tuo teased each other about their appearance in their new Power Armour.
• The first group of 178 Space Marines began armor training, while a larger second group continued training in gravity chambers.
• The Space Marines trained for three years in virtual reality against psychic races and other enemies, improving their combat abilities.
• A Luoshi reported to the bishop that thirteen registered psykers, including two astropaths, had died in the upper district that year.
• The bishop ordered an investigation into psyker deaths across the middle and lower levels and the Underhive.

The Art Student learned that the death of the psyker had thrown the Underhive into chaos, while his Psychic Null Field now covered nearly the entire planet. He called his administrators together to discuss the worsening situation and showed them reports from the teams sent out.

• Gaia reported that recruiters in the Underhive were under attack as leaderless Genestealers, gangs, raiders, and Chaos cultists fought and killed indiscriminately.
• The Art Student realized his Psychic Null Field covered almost the whole planet and killed any psyker who tried to use psychic power within it.
• The Art Student reviewed the base's population and military resources, then decided they could no longer recruit slowly and might have to seize the Underhive amid the chaos.
• The Art Student asked Gaia to summon the administrators, and she told him the notifications had already been delivered.
• Gray and Mo Tuo, followed by Mendeleev, Latus, Anrida, Anglie, and Hogood, arrived at the conference room and took their seats.
• The Art Student addressed the assembled administrators and displayed reports from personnel who had gone out during the recent period.