An adamantium suit of armor took roughly eighteen hours to produce. Factoring in the internal cushioning, thermal insulation modules, and installation of the Cogitator System, only one suit of power armor could be made per day.
Even if Lox expanded production capacity and kept adding matter reconstruction machines, that number would be hard-pressed to exceed one hundred.
He did not want the base's influence spreading to planets beyond Mustafar, whether for secrecy or to preserve the balance of his alliance with Guilliman.
"Tell Guilliman that I need adamantium—lots and lots of adamantium. I don't care where he reallocates it from, or even if he has to rob someone. He has to provide the adamantium I need!" Lox practically roared at Hill.
There were no adamantium mines on Mustafar. This rare mineral was an important commodity in interstellar trade, and many rogue traders dealt in this high-value metal.
But the quantities they carried were far too small. In the past, adamantium was generally used only for the framework of power armor and the forging of certain melee weapons.
The demand for it was nowhere near the scale required for an entire suit of adamantium power armor.
Finding large quantities of adamantium in such a hurry was almost impossible.
But after realizing the immense value of adamantium armor, Hill became even more frenzied than Lox. He sent thirteen high-priority messages to his gene-father in succession, repeatedly urging the primarch to deliver sufficient adamantium.
"My son, where am I supposed to find the adamantium you need on such short notice? Only the Adeptus Mechanicus likely possesses this quantity of adamantium."
"The Adeptus Mechanicus is fully occupied building new warships. Even if I talked myself hoarse, those oil-soaked bastards would never agree to my request."
The primarch clutched his head in frustration. It was a happy problem to have. Of course he understood the immense value of adamantium armor; it would raise the Ultramarines' combat strength in an unbelievable way.
"How about this? I'll first transfer some wrecked ships destroyed during the Battle of Calth to you. Their keels were originally meant to be reforged into new warship keels, but for now, they'll be allocated to you."
After thinking for several seconds, Guilliman offered a compromise.
"Father, I'm afraid that alone won't satisfy Lord Lox's appetite. He truly is a madman, with far too many mad ideas in his head." Hill gave a wry smile.
"You don't know this, but he also intends to re-equip the entire Ultramar Auxilia."
Guilliman's data-slate nearly slipped from his hand. The startled primarch almost dropped it.
What was Lox doing? He wanted to re-equip the Ultramar Auxilia? Was he insane?
The Ultramar Auxilia were defensive forces raised by the various planets of the Five Hundred Worlds. During wartime, they also supported the Ultramarines in battle.
Indeed, compared to the relatively few Astartes, these enormous mortal armies were the first line of defense against invaders across the Five Hundred Worlds.
Because the Five Hundred Worlds were prosperous and enlightened, these soldiers' individual quality and equipment surpassed those of most Imperial mortal auxilia.
Many of these mortals, rigorously trained and taught discipline and devotion, had failed the Ultramarines' selection process before joining the mortal armies instead.
These vast armies, numbering in the hundreds of billions, were scattered across the broad territories of the Eastern Fringe. They did not possess the extraordinary strength of the Astartes, yet they still guarded the lands of the Five Hundred Worlds and protected its people with mortal bodies.
Though these mortal forces all belonged to the Ultramar Auxilia, there were still considerable differences in their equipment. Auxilia from several core worlds could even be equipped with force-feedback power armor as standard and carry immensely powerful volkite weapons.
In overall combat strength, they could even match the renowned Solar Auxilia.
Naturally, the armies of more remote and backward planets could not afford such luxuries. Some simple armor and a standard-issue auxilia lasgun were all they had.
Even the smallest problem became an enormous one when multiplied by such colossal numbers. The Ultramar Auxilia already exceeded Imperial standards by a great deal, but improving them further would be difficult even for wealthy Macragge to sustain.
"Lord Lox believes that the garrison forces on important worlds such as Macragge, Konor, and Amattra are completely unable to bear the current pressure. Since the Imperium refuses to use artificial intelligence or methods such as the Iron Men, the mortal auxilia in these places must be armed as a priority."
Already troubled by the war and so busy each day that he could barely spare time to sleep, Guilliman's expression immediately darkened.
He wanted to improve the mortals' combat capability as well. It would greatly alleviate the current shortage of troops, but could it be done?
This was a gap in productive capacity. Those forge worlds simply could not supply so many weapons and pieces of equipment.
"Father, perhaps you could spare some time to inspect Mustafar. This place is very different from before." Hill hesitated for several seconds, then decided it would be more convincing to let Guilliman see it for himself.
Guilliman looked at Hill suspiciously. When had his son become so hesitant? Hill had always spoken bluntly.
"Very well. Today, I'll set aside half a day to travel to Mustafar. I'll bring Gage and the commanding officers of the Ultramar Auxilia. I hope you can give us a surprise."
After cutting off the communication, Hill finally relaxed. If producing adamantium armor still required considerable time and vast resources, then the equipment supplied to mortals could truly be called mass-produced.
By abandoning inefficient servitors and the cumbersome processes of burning incense, applying sacred oils, and blessing Machine Spirits, the weapons and equipment mortals needed could roll off assembly lines like dumplings from ancient Terra.
Automated production ran from smelting raw materials to casting components, then assembly and deployment. Everything flowed naturally and swiftly.
By accessing Macragge's mind-space and libraries, Lox had already gained considerable understanding of the other head of the Imperial aquila.
In his view, present-day Mars was no longer the open-minded, ambitious technological world it had once been. Instead, it was steeped in ignorance and religious atmosphere.
Though, at this point in time, the Age of Strife during Old Night had caused vast amounts of technological knowledge to vanish into the endless darkness, Lox was still disappointed that humanity had lost its drive to advance.
"The events at Calth proved that the Warp contains a form of corruption. Human intelligence, and even machine creations, are at risk of being corrupted. The Adeptus Mechanicus's practices are not entirely unreasonable. At the very least, machines that have been blessed, anointed with sacred oil, and fumigated with holy incense truly are more reliable."
As a survivor from the past, he had to constantly adjust his way of thinking. Though he could not emotionally accept modern humanity, from a practical standpoint, the existence of the Mechanicus was inevitable.
The universe had never been kind to humanity. The treacherous tides of The Empyrean constantly influenced mankind. This had nothing to do with science; it could even be described as mysticism. Humanity could therefore only use mysticism to fight mysticism.
"But blindly refusing food for fear of choking is also unacceptable, especially in such a crisis. We must cast aside those taboos and liberate productive capacity to the greatest possible extent," Lox told the technicians and workers on Mustafar.
Even if weapons produced on assembly lines were indeed more susceptible to corruption than weapons handcrafted by the Adeptus Mechanicus, before absolute numbers, it was all worthwhile.
He would never allow his warriors to die on the battlefield from insufficient equipment before their weapons even had the chance to become corrupted.
He would rather put the finest weapons in everyone's hands and teach those damned Warp daemons exactly what absolute firepower meant.
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