The Business Just Started with Two Thousand Men and a Little over a Thousand Guns

The chapter's senior leaders looked at one another, none raising a voice in opposition.

With a solid boost to the success rate of neophyte implantation and the ability to conjure brand-new weaponry and equipment out of thin air, no one dared claim that Huron was falsely invoking the Emperor's name.

Since Huron was truly the Emperor's chosen, wasn't opposing Huron the same as opposing the Emperor?

What was more, Huron's proclamation that he was the Governor of the Badab Sector had already received everyone's unanimous agreement.

Seeing that no one spoke out in dissent, Huron nodded in satisfaction.

"Since no one objects, Galien, take the Apothecarion and begin cultivating the supra-human organs matching all the Gene-seeds, then carry out the neophyte implantation. The Emperor has revealed to me that over the next twenty-nine Terran days, our neophyte conversions will be blessed by the Emperor. Remember to tell me if you run into any difficulties."

Chief Apothecary Galien nodded in assent. "I will finish cultivating the organs as quickly as possible, but Chapter Master, where shall we prioritize selecting the reserves?"

With a one-hundred-percent success rate, the genetic matching rate was no longer the most critical metric, and the pool of candidates for the reserves suddenly expanded immensely.

"First, select those among the Chapter serfs who were previous implantation failures, then pick ship captains, serf commanders, boarding parties, and anyone skilled in administrative management can also be prioritized for selection."

Huron had already figured out in advance how to choose the new recruits, though he would have preferred to wait until the first batch of auxiliary forces was trained so he could pick the best of the best from among them.

Yet considering the sentiments of the others in the Chapter, he still needed to successfully execute a large-scale conversion once to give the rest of them confidence before he could push forward with subsequent work.

"Next is the armory. Armenius, arrange a warehouse for me. From now on, the equipment newly bestowed by the Emperor every day will be placed inside, and you can just go straight there to collect it."

"Understood, Chapter Master." Chief Techmarine Armenius's eyes gleamed with curiosity.

He believed the neophyte implantation surgery was due to the Emperor's blessing, but he refused to believe that these freshly manufactured items were gifts from the Emperor as well.

Rather than divine gifts from the Emperor, he preferred to believe the Emperor had bestowed upon the Chapter Master some powerful STC templates.

Certain powerful STC templates could produce goods without consuming matter and energy, which practically amounted to running power meters in reverse, matching the Chapter Master's display.

Armenius could not help feeling somewhat excited.

As a Techmarine who had studied on Mars and received official certification from the Adeptus Mechanicus, his research enthusiasm for STCs was not a bit lower than that of the Tech-priests.

However, the Chapter Master did not state outright that he possessed an STC, perhaps to prevent those people from the Adeptus Mechanicus from using coercion or enticement to snatch it away.

Anyway, the meat was in the pot. Once the Chapter grew powerful, the Chapter Master certainly wouldn't mind pulling out a few STCs for the armory to study, just like the Iron Hands and the Salamanders.

"There is one more matter," Huron said, having settled the affairs concerning the neophytes. "Brother Odinson will act as my full representative to govern Badab. Go to your respective companies and ask if anyone is willing to come and assist him in administration."

Everyone exchanged glances. The Astral Claws were a Chapter that took glory in combat; asking them to govern mortals was practically exile and penance.

Among them, Second Company Captain Corian reacted the most intensely. "Chapter Master, why do this?! Why punish battle-brothers who have committed no wrong?"

Watching his eyes bulge with fury, Huron sighed. "Fine, you Tiger Claws do not need to concern yourselves with this matter."

The Tiger Claws had been secretly harbored by the Astral Claws for a long time, and Huron knew the ethos of this Chapter was one of universal bellicosity, knowing only war.

As the nominal Second Company Captain and the actual Chapter Master of the Tiger Claws, Corian was naturally the fiercest fighter in the Tiger Claws and the most loyal to his bonds.

Therefore, upon hearing of this punishment, which was practically death by a thousand cuts, he had jumped out eagerly to object.

Huron explained, "I am not exiling or punishing them; governing mortals is meant to better practice the Emperor's great work. Handing Badab over to those mortal nobles, leaving them to ravage the Emperor's subjects, is a disgrace."

"Most importantly, if we do not properly develop Badab, we will have no quality manpower, no sufficient logistics, and no massive fleet. We can't just wait around for the Emperor to bestow equipment, can we? Making Badab prosperous is the truest practice of the Emperor's Way."

Seeing that Huron had even brought up the Emperor's name, the others fell into thoughtful reflection.

Of course, the most crucial part was that Huron's words genuinely made sense. Right now, two thousand men could only rely on the Emperor for gear, but what about future expansions? Surely they couldn't expect people to wait around for equipment every time?

Therefore, properly governing Badab was a necessity.

Chief Librarian Damien voiced his support. "Indeed, the Reclusiam should have several chaplains interested in the enlightenment of mortals."

The Chief Librarian followed right after. "There are quite a few psykers on Badab now. Since the neophyte implantation success rate is this high, expanding and training the Librarium is of the utmost priority."

Although neither chaplains nor librarians were professional administrators, it was enough for Huron.

He wasn't some die-hard Astartes supremacist, and even if he were, the Chapter—including the neophytes about to be implanted—only numbered two thousand souls now. How could they possibly manage Badab, which had a population of fifty billion on paper?

These individuals were actually meant by Huron to serve as endorsements for Odinson. The true core of management would be the Chapter auxiliary forces that Huron prepared to train utilizing the system.

The system could now train two million troops at once; as long as the training standards were appropriately raised, two million grassroots administrative clerks could be produced in just a few months.

With this batch of personnel, Huron could completely exterminate Badab's nobility, centralize power, and turn a puppet state into genuinely controlled territory.

With all matters arranged, the meeting adjourned, and everyone went off to busy themselves with their respective duties.

Galien incorporated all the "semi-Astartes" who had suffered failed implantations in the past yet survived into the reserve pool, and likewise included a good number of commanders among the Chapter serfs within the scope of the implantation.

Naturally, per the Chapter Master's request, Galien also selected several clerical administrative personnel as reserves. These individuals would, much like Odinson, take the governance of Badab as their primary mission.

With the reserves in place, Galien led the Apothecaries to begin the surgeries.

At first, everyone proceeded with extreme caution, terrified of mishaps. Yet with the dual blessing of the system and the Emperor, the Apothecaries soon discovered that the implantation process had become almost tedious.

Cut open the incision, insert the Gene-seed and supra-human organs, and then there was nothing left to do; the subjects' own bodies could finish everything else.

This level of difficulty, let alone for formal Apothecaries, was far too simple even for apprentice apothecaries.

To increase efficiency, Galien directly handed the surgeries over to the apprentices for practice, arranging only a single Apothecary to supervise while he and the other Apothecaries focused on cultivating supra-human organs.

Just like that, over a thousand Gene-seeds were completely implanted in less than ten days, and not a single case failed.

Under this staggering speed, even with Huron's extra assistance, the armory could not churn out a thousand sets of power armor. Armenius was sweating profusely over this.

Fortunately, these neophytes still required a period of training and physical development before receiving their armor, and for now, they only needed to take turns using training armor.

Huron looked at the information summary on his datapad: Total current battle-brothers: 2026, bolter shortfall: 219, power armor shortfall: 633... He could not help but sigh inwardly:

Back in the day when my outfit first started, we had only two thousand men and a little over a thousand guns...

As for what kind of men they were and what kind of guns they held, well, you needn't ask.

However, now that the neophyte conversions were underway, it was time to build up Badab and train the auxiliaries along the way. His civilian factories had long since been hungering for work.