Chapter 345: Farming Greenskins

Chapter 345: Farming Greenskins

But when all the warships, including Lucan's and the Imperium's, concentrated their fire on it, the massive Necron warship finally reached its limit. Zardathusa and his flagship were annihilated in the void. And with his death, this dynasty had come to its end.

"It's over."

Watching the fireball of the exploding Necron warship and receiving the reports from his troops in the tomb world, Lucan knew that the Cryptus System campaign had come to a close. A relatively intact tomb world would likely attract a large number of personnel from the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Lucan, however, looked at the Grand Prism in the distance. This had been his greatest objective and harvest of the entire trip. He did not let his troops rest for a moment, immediately ordering his engineering corps to begin dismantling the giant Necron construct. Since they didn't need to worry about its integrity, the progress of the work was extremely fast. As for the future energy supply of the Cryptus System, that was not a problem Lucan needed to consider. He had already paid enough for this system. The rest was for Guilliman and Dante to worry about.

At this moment, the operational and manufacturing technology for Trazyn's Grand Prism had already been stored in the Stellar Pioneer's servo-system. There was no longer any point in staying in the Cryptus System. Lucan couldn't wait to take this equipment back to the location of the Synaptic Lathe and power it up.

Another month passed.

The Grand Prism that had supplied energy to the Cryptus System had completely disappeared. Under Lucan's crude disassembly, all the important core components had been stuffed into transport ships and brought back to Agathos. Leaving with them were Lucan and all of his subordinate forces.

At this time, Guilliman, after formulating a plan to encircle and destroy the remaining forces of the Leviathan tendril, had also arrived in the Cryptus System aboard the Macragge's Honour. With Lucan's departure, Dante was now left to clean up the mess. The post-war reconstruction for a population of tens of billions was no easier than the battle itself.

But Dante was full of vigor. The various successor chapters that had received his message had almost all gathered here. After Dante provided them with the solution to the Red Thirst, the prestige of the Blood Angels among their successors reached an unprecedented height. There was even a faint sense that they were re-condensing into a Legion. Dante knew that if he kept this technology in his own hands, he could truly achieve it. But even he did not dare to do so, and the arrival of Guilliman made him completely abandon the thought. It was Guilliman, after all, who had broken the Legions.

Although the Cryptus System had survived, its infrastructure had been almost completely destroyed—what hadn't been wrecked by the Tyranids had been converted into defensive fortifications by Lucan and Mellen. How the surviving hundreds of billions of people would continue to live here was also a major problem. Building is always much harder than destroying.

Left behind by Lucan were Ferrus and his Iron Hands. They had their own unique insights when it came to construction, and Ferrus's presence could also stabilize morale.

Guilliman's crusade fleet's hunt for the fleeing Tyranid forces was also very fruitful. Although there were certainly some who had slipped through the net, because of the quantum communication network that had been established in the nearby systems, the moment a surrounding system discovered or was attacked by these sporadic tendrils, the fleet's support would immediately arrive. These scattered bio-fleets could no longer make any waves. As long as they were not given a chance to grow, they posed no threat.

And through the information provided by Lucan, the approximate location of the Ancient Ship was also known. Guilliman had already sent reconnaissance forces to the relevant sector and system, attempting to find it. If he could eliminate the Tyranid threat, the pressure on the Imperium would be much lighter. However, the Ancient Ship had also discovered its exposure and had hidden itself once more, leaving Guilliman's probes with nothing.

What Lucan did not know was that the threat Kerrigan had posed to the Hive Mind was far more profound than he had imagined. From outside the galaxy, guided by the Ancient Ship, even more Tyranid Hive Fleets were now heading for the Milky Way.

When Dante met Guilliman, he was even a little nervous.

"Great Primarch, Dante of the Sons of Sanguinius, greets you."

"Dante, you have worked hard. I hear that Lucan has found a way to cure your Red Thirst?" Guilliman's tone was clearly probing. He obviously knew how great the impact of curing the Red Thirst would be.

Relying on Lucan, he had already used the cure of genetic flaws as a condition to make many maverick Chapters obey his commands. Even now, with his return and the Imperium more stable than ever with Lucan's help, he had no intention of restoring the Legion structure. At least, not openly. After all, the numbers of many Chapters, such as the Blood Ravens, had already exceeded the scale limited by the Codex. The post-traumatic stress from the Great Betrayal still lingered. Guilliman, likewise, never mentioned a word about the numbers of his own Chapter.

"Yes, Lord Guilliman. I am willing to hand over the method for this serum to the Imperium..." Dante, after an intense internal struggle, still chose to hand over the production method to Guilliman to avoid suspicion.

Guilliman did not refuse. Even though he believed that Dante would not do anything to betray the Imperium, the methods of Chaos were still too many. He could not afford any accidents. However, Guilliman only took the production method. The matter of production and distribution he still left to Dante. The Imperium was too large. Even he needed someone to help share his administrative pressure. And Dante was the perfect candidate.

"Is Lucan still in the Cryptus System?"

"Lord Lucan left with his fleet five days ago." When he said this, there was a hint of regret in Dante's voice. He hadn't even had a chance to properly thank him.

"He's gone?! That guy moves too fast..."

At that moment, Ferrus also walked up to Guilliman. "Guilliman, Lucan asked me to give you a message. He said that in one year at most, the warp drive will have a technological breakthrough."

"Really?! That's excellent!" This news made even Guilliman excited. If the warships could be successfully installed with these engines, then the entire, vast human Imperium would be truly connected.

In the star system where Char and Aiur were located, the disassembled Grand Prism had been reassembled. The supporting mechanical equipment and systems had also been quickly repaired by the SCVs. The Grand Prism was now operational.

The presence of the Grand Prism had also once again improved the defensive capabilities of the Synaptic Lathe. The energy of the two stars in this system, when weaponized, produced a power far greater than that of the Spear of Adun's Solarite Beam. In two nearby star systems, new Grand Prisms were already being built. When the time came, they could use the stellar energy connection system to gather the energy here.

And now, Lucan, accompanied by Pavian, was touring a massive mechanical facility on the planet. This planet, which had already undergone a certain degree of ecological construction, was now dedicated to farming Greenskins. The entire Ork breeding process was under the strict surveillance of the Cult of the Holy Machine.

After posting the bounty, it hadn't taken long for Lucan to gather enough Orks for the initial breeding stock. And these feral Orks were systematically killed in a closed facility. Lucan had no need for this first batch of Orks, who already had an understanding of various technological equipment. At the same time, this also ensured that the spores they produced after death would not leak out.

The newly produced Greenskins would then repeat this process. With the Orks' reproductive speed, they quickly reached a terrifying scale. And these Orks, who had grown up in a closed facility, had no contact with any technology or any opportunity to build things.

And most importantly, they would never live long enough to develop an understanding of various technologies.