What is the first thing after a battle?

What's the first thing to do after a battle?

Loot.

That's what Hades said.

Barbarus, the southern swamps, the Diderot Highlands.

Hades hummed a little tune, leisurely flipping through the bookshelf of the mid-sized Alien Lord Dursley. It was crammed full of Barbarus-specific steam-mechanical drawings, experimental records, and some ancient Barbarus texts—mostly related to Psychic Power.

Good luck, Hades thought, looking at the thick stack of steam-mechanical drawings.

In fact, Dursley had a considerable number of steam-mechanical drawings, compared to most of the minor Alien Lords he had fought before.

Most of these brutal, crude, and cunning Aliens relied on their Psychic Sorcery to dominate their territories. Aside from necessary steam vehicles and gas masks, few Alien Lords would actively collect and develop steam-powered electromechanical devices.

The Alien Lords on Barbarus all invested in Sorcery and Psychic Power ascension, with little investment in mechanics.

Of course, except for the major Alien Lord Nac'Lare, whose stats were maxed out.

Ah, is this a bit willful?

Hades thought silently, but his hands didn't slow down, continuing to browse and categorize the drawings.

Although Hades couldn't touch machinery now, one touch and he'd be done for, Hades believed that one day, he would be able to compress the Null Field to below his skin—

That way, he could touch machinery!

(He's such a little genius.)

Damn, this kind of massive machine is a man's romance!

In this Warhammer world, if you can't touch a Chainsword, Bolter, or Meltagun, is there any meaning to this life?!

No!

Hades admired machinery. A Meltagun that a factory could produce in a few hours, immediately equipping soldiers and increasing their attack power to 75, versus a Space Marine that took more than a decade to cultivate with an attack power of 200.

No matter how you look at it, the Meltagun is worth it, okay!

Technology is power!

This was the simple faith of a 2k Earth engineering student.

He was about to convert to the Omnissiah, cough, no, no.

After sorting the mechanical drawings, Hades turned his head and continued to look at the other instruments in the laboratory.

Hmm... A venom extractor, with black-purple venom dripping out; two connected instruments, whose purpose was unknown, but probably related to Psychic Power; a skinning machine, with a human skin stripped off who knows how long ago hanging on it to dry...

Damn it, you cursed alien things.

After a turn around, Hades looked around and confirmed that there were no more instruments he could use, or instruments that could be dismantled for materials.

(Yes, he had dismantled a bunch of instruments before, just to get parts. These strangely shaped parts were clinking in his pockets.)

Then he walked towards the Alien Lord's corpse next to the experimental table. Hades took out the dagger from his waist and began—

Skinning.

Yes, skinning.

The Aliens on Barbarus could resist the ubiquitous poisonous gases, partly because they had evolved skin that could resist these gases.

Hades planned to skin them and sew a few custom-made Hades gas masks.

Currently, the main way the resistance army led by Mortarion resisted these poisonous gases was to make armor similar to sealed suits.

Mortarion would definitely not be able to stand Hades's skinning method, but Hades knew he knew what he wanted.

Those armors couldn't defend against these poisonous gases unless it was the power armor full of technology like the Space Marines had.

Obviously, the small artisans on Barbarus now couldn't reach that level.

But it didn't matter, as long as Hades knew how to resist the poisonous gases on the highest peak.

But these alone couldn't defend against the poisonous gases on Barbarus—

The poisonous gases on Barbarus actually carried Psychic Power damage.

This simply shocked Hades's understanding. He remembered the first time he used the Null Field to sense the surrounding environment. He didn't notice these slightly green poisonous gases at the time, because if your whole body is in the air, it is difficult to perceive "air."

Until Hades tried to go to the mountains for the first time, he immediately used the Null Field to detect these poisonous gases that suddenly became thicker.

Then Hades was surprised to find that the land on Barbarus was actually covered with a faint green Psychic Power.

Damn, really damn.

Now, in Hades's imagination, from the perspective of the Warp, looking from space, Barbarus should be a planet flashing with a faint green light.

This is a planet completely cursed by [REDACTED]?!

Hades forcibly stopped his thoughts every time he thought of this, but he was very clear that any ideological behavior now was completely burying his head in the sand.

But he had no choice.

It was very clear: he was being watched.

But could reducing the frequency of his thoughts reduce the probability of being watched?

Honestly, Hades didn't know.

In this grimdark world, there were always things he couldn't know, things he couldn't do.

All he could do now was make himself as strong as possible and prepare for the worst possible future.

That was why he chose to challenge these minor Alien Lords alone. He needed to become stronger. Just staying with the Death Guard and following orders, Hades could never have reached his current strength.

He had to become stronger. Only then would he have even a slight chance of surviving in this world.

Because in this world, weakness was the original sin!

Even if you died because of weakness, your soul would be tormented by those supreme beings!

Truly, there would be no peace even after death!

Ugh, sh*t, Hades was trying very hard not to be that transmigrator who cried like a little b*tch.

Finally, carefully peeling off a large piece of usable skin, Hades stood up and slowly put it away.

He had saved up quite a bit; it should be enough soon.

But Hades thought that if he wanted to make a protective suit for Mortarion, it would really take too much material. Hades sighed deeply again.

Primarchs were such big guys. Not only did they eat a lot, but tailoring clothes for them was a huge waste of fabric!

Today, Hades also wanted to point at Mortarion and yell, "Big brother, can you do it or not? Don't waste things, okay?"

Ahem, just kidding.

He would still have to follow the Primarch in the future, so he couldn't afford to offend him.

After peeling off the skin, Hades circled the laboratory again, confirmed that there was nothing left in the room, and walked out of the laboratory, resolutely heading towards the warehouse.

As for this laboratory? Hades didn't need to worry about it. He had already told the Death Guard led by Typhon that, as before, they would come to clean up the battlefield the next day.

The Death Guard would take away the other charts, instruments, and the weapons piled up in the warehouse that Hades had deliberately left behind.

Every time he saw so many weapons left behind, Hades felt a pang of heartache, but then he thought that he couldn't use these weapons himself anyway, so he might as well give them to the Death Guard warriors.

Although their attitude towards Hades wasn't very good, they were, after all, brave warriors who stood up and risked their lives to fight for the fate of humanity.

Compared to Hades, who only fought battles that benefited him and thought about running away or playing dead when he couldn't win, they were indeed worthy of anyone's respect.

Today was another day of successfully soloing a minor Alien Lord.

Adding, adding, adding more settings.