This Must Be the Emperor's Might!

Galien stood to one side without speaking. He had originally hoped that Odinson's importance would persuade the Chapter Master to abandon this absurd experiment, but it now seemed that not only had it failed, it had instead strengthened the Chapter Master's resolve.

Only after the two had finished talking did Galien speak. "Chapter Master, I am ready to begin the implantation surgery. Please step outside first."

Huron left the operating room and watched the proceedings through the observation window.

After sterilization and disinfection, Galien began injecting the unconscious Odinson with drugs, adjusting his bodily activity and immunity to raise the success rate of the Gene-seed implantation.

Once Odinson's physical indicators had reached their peak, Galien opened his chest cavity, carefully removed the Tiger Claws Chapter's Gene-seed from its storage container, and implanted it into Odinson's body.

Once the implantation was complete, Galien focused his mind completely. The first trial was about to begin.

After implantation, the Gene-seed would take over the body's hormone secretion. It would also produce a variety of entirely new hormones to alter the recipient's body, making it more suitable for the implantation of various Superhuman Organs.

This process was safest in boys during or before puberty, as their bodies had not yet fully developed.

Galien had never encountered a recipient like Odinson, who was already several centuries old and had even undergone a rejuvenation procedure. He was not even certain what problems might arise.

I hope the Chapter Master truly received the Emperor's revelation. May the Emperor protect Odinson. Galien prayed silently. Since becoming Chief Apothecary, he had rarely felt so lacking in confidence.

After the Gene-seed entered Odinson's body, the 50 Political Points Huron had spent earlier also began to take effect. The Emperor, who had been observing from the shadows, once more sensed that unknown power.

"Just as I thought. I knew it wouldn't be that simple!"

The Emperor felt that He had made the right wager again. This power was drawing Him into sending Psyker Power toward Odinson to help him survive the enhancement surgery.

He knew the limits of His own Psyker Power. Although the amount He could control had now fallen to an unprecedented low, its violent nature had not changed.

Moreover, this was not an environment saturated with the Warp. He could not perform delicate manipulations here. If He truly poured Psyker Power into the boy, this recruit would probably die even faster.

Yet He still sent down His Psyker Power along with that force, because He was curious to see what it would do.

If this force was an Enemy of Humanity, then He needed to understand His enemy to defeat His enemy, just as He had once obtained the Primarchs through dealings with the Four Gods.

Under the Emperor's observation, that force carried the Psyker Power into Odinson's body. The Psyker Power that should have been violent was precisely controlled by the force, gently influencing the psychic components within the Gene-seed.

Under the effects of these two forces, the Gene-seed changed. Its genetic compatibility with Odinson reached 100%, as though it had just been taken from his body.

At the same time, Odinson's body entered a state of secondary development, greatly improving its adaptability to the various hormones secreted by the Gene-seed.

To Galien, all of this appeared as Odinson's physical data steadily and smoothly shifting toward the conditions needed for Superhuman Organ implantation. It was natural, with not a single abnormality—nothing less than the ideal state.

"By the Emperor, his genetic compatibility was practically zero. Why has the implantation process been so... ideal?"

For the moment, "ideal" was the only word Galien could think of. But then he recalled the Chapter Master's words and his ever-confident demeanor.

"This must be the Emperor's might!"

At that moment, Galien no longer had any doubts. The Chapter Master must have received the Emperor's revelation and protection; otherwise, there was no explanation for this unprecedented phenomenon.

Outside the operating room, Huron spoke through the microphone. "Galien, how is Odinson doing? Can we proceed with the organ implantation? If we can, begin at once."

"...We can. There is no problem at all." Galien opened his mouth, then ultimately chose to trust the Chapter Master.

Under normal surgical procedures, a Gene-seed recipient would first be given time to adapt, allowing the Gene-seed to properly reshape his body before the subsequent organ implantations were performed.

But Galien felt that a Chapter Master blessed by the Emperor should understand surgical procedures better than he did. After all, the Emperor had created both the Astartes and the Primarchs, so Galien chose to follow Huron's instructions and begin the implantation immediately.

Nineteen storage containers holding Superhuman Organs were lined up in a row. Galien removed the three first-stage Superhuman Organs—the Second Heart, Ossmodula, and Biscopea—and placed them all into Odinson's body.

Although all Astartes theoretically received nineteen Superhuman Organs, for various reasons, most Chapters had lost the implantation techniques for some of them to a greater or lesser extent. The most famous example was probably the Imperial Fists.

Only the Black Carapace, the organ essential for operating Power Armour, was possessed by every Astartes Chapter. Without it, a Chapter was not far from destruction anyway.

As an Astral Claws Chapter with distinguished service, a long history, and even enough strength to split off three successor Chapters, they naturally possessed implantation techniques for all nineteen Superhuman Organs.

The moment the three organs entered Odinson's body, they immediately began functioning, working with the Gene-seed to alter his body on an even greater scale.

Before long, Odinson's physical indicators had already reached the level needed for the second-stage Superhuman Organ implantation. Galien was so astonished that he even entertained a somewhat blasphemous thought.

If the Chapter Master had received the Emperor's protection earlier, perhaps the Chapter would have long since recovered its former numbers—or even surpassed them. It would not be in its current state, with barely more than eight hundred men even after counting the Battle-Brothers outside the official establishment.

Haemastamen, Lyman's Ear, Larraman's Organ, Catalepsean Node, Preomor...

One Superhuman Organ after another was implanted. If this had been any other Chapter, doing so would have been no different from murdering the recruit.

Yet Odinson never showed any rejection response. Every organ functioned as though it had always been part of him, obediently working alongside the Gene-seed to reshape his body bit by bit.

An enhancement procedure that should theoretically have taken years, or even more than a decade, was completed in merely a few hours with the aid of the Emperor and the system. After only another year of development and training, he would become a standard Astartes recruit.

Once everything was finished, Galien opened the operating room door. There was a trace of reverence on his face. "Chapter Master, the enhancement surgery is complete. Everything went smoothly—exceptionally smoothly. Brother Odinson can now be considered a recruit."

Huron looked at Odinson, whose body had already begun to develop faintly atop the operating table, and was overjoyed.

But he barely managed to maintain his composure, merely smiling and nodding at Galien. "Well done. Even with the Emperor's protection, Brother, your skill remains indispensable."

Huron was not merely being polite. If it had been him, he could only have cut someone open and forcibly stuffed the organs inside. Whether the Emperor would have protected him then was another matter entirely.

"It is my honor." Galien straightened his chest, his expression resolute.

As far as he was concerned, Huron had to be one of the Emperor's Chosen! This operation had completely overturned his understanding of recruit enhancement surgery. If it was not the Emperor's protection, what else could it be?