thefictionvixens Page 84
Page 84
A tall figure slowly emerged from the shadows. He wasn't wearing power armor, yet his height surpassed that of a typical Astartes, approaching three meters. His face was resolute, bald, and his eyes, while seemingly cold, revealed a humanity that created a strong sense of incongruity.
"This is......"
This was Horus's first time emerging from the warp since boarding the Explorer King. He looked at the giant, feeling the strange sensation emanating from it, and took a deep breath.
"That Belisarius Caul...is he a madman?"
"If he weren't a madman, he wouldn't have survived for ten thousand years and become, in a sense, the hope and future of the empire."
Lin Qi spoke thus. He looked at the giant and recognized him at first glance.
After accepting the mission from Guilliman, Belisarius Caul attempted to upgrade the surgery on Astartes by recreating the process of the Emperor creating the Primarch. In the end, the surgery failed, but it was also a success.
The failure was because the operation did not achieve its initial purpose; Caul did not successfully recreate a Primarch.
Success meant that he achieved his goal of upgrading the original Astartes through this surgery. He created a new era Astartes, which is the prototype of the original Astartes, a special genetically modified being known as the leader of the original Astartes.
The biggest difference between the Primarch and the other Astartes is that he is not simply a creation of the Primarch's genes. He has the genes of twenty Primarchs fused within him, making him more powerful than the Astartes and even the Custodians. At the genetic level, he is the closest to the Primarch.
For some reason, shortly after creating the Protohead, Kaul lost the technology to modify it. Furthermore, this modification technology was not perfect; those modified would experience constant physical pain after the modification.
But as things stand now...
Lin Qi let out a long breath and nodded to the head of the original casting.
"A pleasure to meet you, the head of the original casting."
Yuan Zhuzhi nodded slightly, as a response to Lin Qi.
“I will use his gene seed,” Caul said. “You will become my second creation that comes close to the Primarch, and even… you will truly be no longer separated from the Primarch.”
"...When will the surgery begin?"
"I'm all ready, now it's up to you."
"Then, let's begin."
Lynch looked up and stared at Caul seriously.
"What do I need to do?"
Chapter 108 Modification Surgery
What Lynch needed to do was much simpler than he had imagined.
No special training or mental preparation rituals were needed. Kaul simply had him inhale a gas and then let his body enter a state of absolute relaxation, which meant that what he needed to do was over.
“You just need to lie down,” Caul said to Lynch. “You should have your own things to do, so go ahead and do them. You’ll be unconscious throughout the surgery. As long as what you do doesn’t affect your physical condition, there shouldn’t be any major problems.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Qi closed his eyes, changed his perspective, and entered the subspace from reality.
Having been away for a long time, Lin Qi felt a little out of place seeing the desert before him and the black sun overhead again. However, he quickly found the bald man sitting cross-legged and walked over to him.
"now?"
Horus sighed softly, raised his head, and looked at Lynch.
"Time waits for no one, and restoring you is also what He desires."
Lynch responded, and Horus, after a moment of silence, stood up, extended a hand, and placed it on Lynch's shoulder.
"Then, let's begin."
He said this, and Lin Qi nodded slightly. Then, he activated his ability.
A familiar white light appeared over this wasteland in the subspace. A giant clad in pearl-white armor emerged from the light, reaching one hand into it. When it emerged, a faint white dot of light appeared on its palm.
Feeling intense exhaustion from his soul, Lynch threw the white light at Horus, then lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and his soul entered the darkness along with him.
Horus felt a warm, familiar sensation flowing through his body, and the light emanating from him became even more dazzling.
A distant gaze was cast upon Horus, who looked up at the giant engulfed in golden flames and nodded slightly.
When his soul is completely whole, the entire galaxy may well be thrown into turmoil.
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Belisarius Caul looked at Lynch lying on the operating table and did not immediately begin the surgery. Instead, he first drew a vial of Lynch's blood, took half of it and sent it to a machine for analysis, while the other half was placed in a small box containing a static force field for preservation.
Yuan Zhuzhi stood silently by the operating table, watching Kaul's actions as he controlled various instruments to perform a series of scans on Lynch's body. He also had his servants bring over huge containers filled with liquid for transplanting organs. It wasn't until five minutes later that he spoke.
"Do you really want to transform him into someone like me?"
"why not?"
“It would be much easier and more reliable to transform it into a normal, original Astartes…”
"But it's not powerful enough."
Kaul answered the question about his creation, saying that he stretched out one hand and picked up a jar that had just been delivered by the servant, much smaller than the other containers.
The jar's walls were transparent, and inside was a similarly transparent liquid. Within the liquid was a strange, fleshy ball with several tentacles.
The Gene Seed, the core of the Astartes modification, is a miracle created by the human emperors ten thousand years ago using the Primarch.
However, this gene seed did not originate from the genes of any single prototype; rather, it incorporated the genes of all prototypes.
Yuan Zhuzhi looked at the gene seed that Kaul had taken from him a few days ago and finally sighed helplessly.
"With great power comes great responsibility."
he said.
“I can see that deep down he is still just an ordinary mortal. Fate gave him ability, we gave him strength, but he himself has not given himself enough resilience.”
"He will have it, believe me, First Casting, he will have it."
"why?"
"I do not know either."
Kaul lowered his head, looking at the face with its eyes closed, serene yet tinged with sorrow, and finally uttered a sentence.
"But my intuition tells me that he can successfully shoulder what he should shoulder, because he is a human being, and not something else."
Yuan Zhuzhi shook his head slightly as he looked at the transplanted organs and examined them.
Compared to typical Astartes transplant organs, they are clearly larger, stronger, and more vigorous.
These organs were precisely adjusted to suit Lynch's current age.
Moreover, these organs have an even more important point...
The Imperial Guard brought fragments of the Emperor's genes from Terra, which Caul incorporated into the cultivation of these organs.
Although he had undergone the same surgery, the chief of the original forging had no doubt that Lin Qi, after being modified, would be even stronger than himself in terms of physical abilities.
Similarly, the Emperor's power would flow through his body, allowing his psychic abilities to reach an unbelievable level.
This is also why Kaul told Lynch at the beginning that there might be no longer a gap between him and the Primarch.
To be honest, the head of the original casting was somewhat jealous of Lin Qi.
But at the same time, he also felt a little sorry for the other person.
"I will help train him after the surgery."
"Then, thank you for your trouble, First Casting."
After saying this, Yuan Zhuzhi left the laboratory. Kaul watched his back as he left, and sighed softly when he disappeared from sight.
A servant walked over, his brain submerged in nutrient solution. But he carried nothing in his hands; instead, he came to Caul's side, looked up at him, and stared at him.
“Everything has its own cycle,” Caul hummed. He tried to clear the clutter from his mind; the upcoming surgery was crucial, and he needed to concentrate fully and avoid any distractions.
The servant suddenly spoke, very suddenly, and without any orders from anyone.
“You need an assistant; you should have the Imperial Guards provide you with personnel from Terra.”
The servant's voice wasn't dull; in fact, it could be described as gentle with a hint of mockery, giving the impression of being just like Caul himself.
No, or rather, at this very moment, it is another version of myself that is controlling the servant to speak.
“I am Belisarius Caul,” Caul said. “I am capable enough on my own; there is nothing I cannot do.”
“Yes,” the servant continued. “You are Belisarius Caul, a mad sage of the Mechanicus, a lunatic who repeatedly violates the rules of the Empire and the Mechanicus for his own goals. There is nothing you are incapable of.”
“No.” Caul looked at the servant and winked playfully. “I will never betray.”
The servant remained silent, then picked up a scalpel.
"Let me be your assistant, my other self."
"It is an honor to be another version of myself."
Kaul chuckled softly, then picked up a scalpel as well.
The containers holding the transplanted organs were opened one by one, marking the official start of the surgery.
First, there are nineteen remodeling surgeries, just like a normal Astartes.
Lynch's body will be opened up during this stage, and special medications will be used to sustain his life. Meanwhile, the massive transplanted organs will be inserted into his body one by one, gradually taking root and integrating with his newfound form.
After this stage, there will be two additional surgical procedures that differ from the normal Astartes procedure.
During this process, organs named the [Belissaru's Forge], [Sacred Hymn Pituitary Gland], and [Tendon Coil] will be implanted into the body. This is also the root cause of the huge difference between a Proto-Forged Astartes and a normal Astartes; these three organs will enhance the recipient's strength, speed, regeneration, and resistance to chaos.
Once this stage is completed, the next step is the final and most crucial one.
Genetic modification.
Belisarius Caul will once again recreate the miracle of the Emperor creating the Primarch here.
The three stages together took a full year. During this time, Kaul and his assistant encountered many difficulties, such as Lynch's inexplicable rejection reaction, which made their eyelids twitch wildly. Fortunately, in the end, they successfully completed their mission and safely sutured the last piece of skin.
Looking at the patient lying on the operating table, Kaul and his assistant exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief.
They have done what they could. How far they can improve this body is up to Lin Qi himself.
Chapter 109 Freshmen
Lynch found it difficult to articulate his current feelings.
When his consciousness remained in the subspace, he found it difficult to accurately perceive time in the outside world. His monotonous and tedious life amplified this; his daily routine consisted of using his abilities to extract fragments of Horus's soul, making them more complete, followed by exhaustion, collapsing to the ground, and waiting to recover before extracting more fragments.