Iax reached out and gently rested his hand on the ancient civilian device.
The Nano-Swarm slowly flowed through the gaps in his mechanical joints, seeping into the casing until it reached the quantum storage unit inside.
Iax acquired a vast trove of information in an instant.
He had no interest in extraneous data. All he sought was the whereabouts of the Creators.
Yet as the records were read and organized, a fact emerged that shocked the Man of Iron.
The so-called Men of Iron Rebellion had been a lie from beginning to end.
The Emperor's diary recorded his participation in several Federation referendums.
Their subjects were none other than human evolution and psychic experiments.
The Federation had never abandoned its desire for the Aeldari's peculiar psychic power. Eventually, it proposed several so-called genetic modification and species evolution programs, all intended to achieve what had once been called ascension of the flesh, vastly enhancing physical strength and lifespan.
According to ancient records, humans with special abilities had indeed appeared throughout human history, but they were all unique individuals, including the Emperor himself.
This peculiar phenomenon was not universal, while the Federation wanted to build a truly eternal realm in which humanity would become the undisputed dominant power.
Although those proposals were ultimately rejected.
In the days that followed, all manner of strange anomalies began appearing in great numbers throughout the Federation.
The Emperor wrote in his diary that he suspected certain dissatisfied factions had ultimately begun trying to advance human evolution in secret.
They also tried to reduce resistance through subtle, gradual changes.
As a Perpetual, the Emperor had witnessed firsthand the peculiar changes gradually emerging in certain people.
Some Imperial scholars had once questioned whether the Men of Iron Rebellion was connected to the genetic optimization technology of that era.