Chapter 411: Return to Terra! The Aether Resonance Engine Project! Arrival!
To ensure humanity's interstellar voyages were more stable and secure—and to reduce the influence of the Warp—the Emperor had no choice but to initiate the top-secret "Webway Reboot" project.
At the same time, he knew full well that the Chaos Gods and daemons of the Warp, who fed off all emotions and beliefs, would never take this lying down. The Imperium had to be prepared.
Ever since the Imperium had laid claim to the Milky Way and launched the Great Crusade, human civilization had flourished once again.
But this resurgence also came with explosive population growth—giving the Chaos Gods and daemons even more emotional and spiritual energy to feast upon.
To prevent these entities from feeding off the psychic echoes of humanity, the Emperor even went so far as to destroy his own statues and spread the secular dogma of the Imperial Truth.
There were never any so-called gods above mankind—those were mere lies meant to deceive the people. Only through their own strength could humans change the world!
While the Imperial Truth did reshape the worldview of part of the population, truly purging Warp influence required the discovery of new interstellar routes.
The Emperor had no way of knowing where humanity's destiny would lead—but he did know that his own time was running out.
"The universe beyond the Stargate… Could it be that humanity, before the Golden Age, had already crossed into multiple universes, only to circle back here?"
The Emperor's gaze was piercing. He did not believe Guilliman was speaking nonsense.
If the Imperium could acquire stable FTL technology from the Universal Megacorp, there would be no need for the Webway Project at all.
Then, the daemons of the Warp would be left to rot in that dark dimensional prison, awaiting humanity's vengeance!
"Bring Guilliman to me."
At the Emperor's command, his attendant bowed in acknowledgment and disappeared into the night.
Meanwhile, the emergence of the Universal Megacorp had sent shockwaves through the upper echelons of the Imperium.
Some were thrilled—others, deeply uneasy.
Many noble families that had risen to prominence by exploiting Warp-based navigation were in a state of panic. They feared that if the Imperium adopted alternative methods of interstellar travel, their entire industry would become obsolete.
Their prized Navigators and Astropaths—who'd built their livelihoods around Warp travel—would be left with nothing.
Without that path, they'd all starve!
Unfortunately for them, under the Emperor's iron rule, they could do absolutely nothing.
At this time, the Emperor was still in his prime. No one could stop the reforms he intended to push through.
The Great Crusade, the Imperial Truth, the lavish investments into arcane projects, the restructuring of the Council of High Lords on Terra—every one of his initiatives offended scores of vested interests.
Yet he accomplished them all with ease.
This power stemmed from the protection of his twenty Primarchs, and from his own overwhelming strength.
Any hardliner who dared defy the Emperor's will would face swift retribution and severe punishment.
As political intrigue bubbled within the Imperium, Paul and his party had finally returned to the Imperial capital—Terra—alongside Horus.
Terra, of course, is the name for Earth in the Warhammer universe.
Returning from the depths of the galaxy to the Sol System was no short journey.
The Imperium's interstellar travel technology was notoriously unreliable: the same route that might take one month under optimal conditions could, at other times, stretch to six months or more.
The Warp was like a maze in constant flux, riddled with hidden traps and monsters. Every journey was a gamble—a life-or-death dungeon crawl.
In the Warhammer universe, such mishaps were routine.
An Astartes Chapter might respond to a distress call from a human world, launching into action with a full battlefleet—only to arrive and find the locals holding a centennial martyrdom ceremony… or that the planet had been taken over by xenos who now shouted patriotic slogans at them.
So while Guilliman had already completed a round trip, Horus and Paul were only just now making their way back to Terra.
The vast distance, combined with primitive travel tech, was enough to sever any number of connections.
"Your technology is fascinating—no, miraculous might be a better word."
Watching the serene expanse of the Warp from a viewscreen on the bridge, Horus couldn't hide his astonishment. During this entire voyage, his fleet had not encountered a single daemonic attack.
That had never happened before.
"That's exactly why we're open to friendship," Paul replied, his tone layered with meaning.
A civilization without powerful technological backing would naturally be anxious in all its dealings—lacking a sense of security.
Calm confidence came from genuine strength.
Without sufficient military power and technological sophistication, the Universal Megacorp would never have treated the Imperium with such courtesy.
They'd have struck first instead.
To guarantee a safe return to Terra, the Megacorp had assigned Paul and company a special escort fleet.
This fleet carried no weapons—only massive exotic-space devices.
Once activated, these devices created a "Warp void bubble" around the fleet, warping the local Warp currents and causing them to flow around the vessels.
Though they still had to travel through the Warp, the shielding effect of these exotic devices made it so that ordinary daemons couldn't even see Horus's fleet.
Combined with the Megacorp's advanced engines and navigation systems, the whole trip felt like a smooth ride down a familiar highway—treating the Warp like it was just another backroad.
Thus, thanks to the efforts of Guilliman and Paul, the Megacorp and the Imperium established brief but meaningful contact. Their relationship began to warm.
---
Main Universe – Wanjie Base Headquarters – Council Chamber
"Based on our recent investigations, it appears the Chaos Gods and daemons of the Warhammer universe's Warp pose a very real and imminent threat."
V displayed the intelligence he'd gathered on a hardlight screen and began his report. "They originate from the ancient war between the Old Ones and the Necrons, formed from a massive convergence of psychic energy."
"We can think of them, simply, as higher-dimensional energy beings. They feed on all forms of emotion and wield psychic power as their primary means of attack."
"…."
After V's brief summary, Jack Wells couldn't help but speak up.
"Should we just wipe out all those higher-dimensional entities? Stop those damned daemons from ever making trouble again."
Having read up on the Warp gods, Jack had zero interest in dealing with such vile creatures. If they could be killed off entirely, so much the better.
But Morgan Blackhand shook his head and said:
"I don't think the boss will act so rashly against the Warp entities."
Based on his years of working with Li Ang, Morgan suspected that Li Ang's first instinct wouldn't be to destroy the Warp daemons—but to exploit them.
At the very least, he'd find a way to turn them into power sources.
"Imagine how much electricity you could generate from just one Chaos God!"
"Killing them all would be such a waste."
"Exactly. I think we should conduct experiments and begin developing weapons specifically designed to counter Warp entities—just in case."
Alt Cunningham also shared her opinion.
According to her research, while the Warp entities in the Warhammer universe were indeed formidable, they weren't invincible.
Even among the currently known civilizations, there were already several examples of beings and factions that Warp daemons struggled to contend with.
For instance, the Aeldari, who could manipulate Warp energy themselves; the Necrons, who used black pylons to create anti-Warp null fields; and the Tyranids, who were nearly immune to all forms of psychic influence.
Coincidentally, the Zerg swarm that the Universal Megacorp had just assimilated from the StarCraft universe also showed potential for deployment here.
"Alright then. I'll submit today's council report to the boss. The rest of you, make your arrangements accordingly," V said, signaling the end of the meeting.
There was no doubt the daemons and Chaos Gods of the Warp would need to be dealt with—but the how would depend entirely on Li Ang's stance.
"Understood. I'll begin organizing a research initiative into anti-Warp biological and energy weapons," Alt Cunningham nodded.
With the Megacorp current level of technology, building a weapon that could harm energy-based lifeforms wasn't impossible—but whether it would work still needed to be tested.
"Thank you for your efforts."
V looked at Alt seriously and added, "Oh, and one more thing—we need to speed up progress on the Aether Resonance Engine Project. That's another top priority."
Thanks to the relentless mining efforts of the Heavenly Armaments, a third of the required dark matter had already been collected. However, the theoretical breakthrough needed to build the engine had yet to be achieved.
That was because the engine touched upon some of the most esoteric concepts in higher-dimensional cosmology. To construct one, they first needed to build a working model.
And the data required to build such a model… had to come from observing the destruction of entire universes.
Yes—literally blowing up universes to gather experimental data!
The problem? The Megacorp wasn't yet at a stage where it could casually sacrifice an entire universe just to help the Science Nexus build a theoretical framework.
Every multiverse the Megacorp controlled was a vital resource—an irreplaceable piece of production capital.
And with someone like Li Ang, who was fanatical about controlling costs, there was no way he'd allow Alt to casually destroy a universe for the sake of data modeling.
"I'll do everything I can to push the project forward," Alt replied, lips tightening.
The Megacorp's centennial anniversary was only a few years away, and everyone was eager to make headway on their respective projects—to offer up their loyalty and value.
The Aether Resonance Engine was the Science Nexus's grand tribute.
Unfortunately, the project's difficulty was staggering.
Currently, the Nexus's core team included the Transformers universe's Creators, led by Quintessa.
Unicron and Primus—two slumbering cosmic deities—contributed to the theoretical foundations but never participated in actual experiments. Were it not for Li Ang's Matrix keeping them in check, the two would probably ignore humanity altogether.
There were also specialists from the Halo universe contributing via Think Tanks and Neurophysics, scientists from the StarCraft universe including the Protoss, along with assistance from Kerrigan and Amon.
The mid-tier team was composed of human scientists like Dr. Halsey, Dr. Hanson, and Chisaji Fox, plus various scientific groups from other civilizations within the Trade Ring.
V could see the pressure in Alt's eyes. He patted her on the shoulder and encouraged her:
"With great power comes great responsibility."
"The Science Nexus has always received the highest budget allocation across all departments. You have unlimited resources."
"You are the future of the Megacorp."
V's words were sincere. War and politics were always entangled with schemes, power plays, and deception.
Only science stood with truth.
Those who dared reach for truth often possessed hearts of gold—pure souls untouched by the temptations of wealth and power.
They bore no burden of worldly ambition. Their only task was to advance humanity and bask in the glory of eternity.
"Thank you. I know what I need to do."
Alt Cunningham exhaled slowly. V's encouragement had indeed reassured her—but she still couldn't shake off the weight pressing on her mind.
The Aether Resonance Engine project's biggest obstacles were twofold: one critical experimental data point, and the final piece of a unified theoretical framework.
In other words: data on universal annihilation, and the completion of the Grand Unified Theory model.
At present, the Megacorp had already completed over 90% of the modeling needed for the Grand Unified Theory. But the last sliver required further theoretical breakthroughs and technological support.
To make progress, the Science Nexus researchers had been burning their minds around the clock.
Meanwhile, Li Ang continued optimizing the Megacorp's internal structure, accelerating the unification of multiverse civilizations.
Only by freeloading more scientific knowledge from conquered universes could they ease the burden on their own researchers.
---
Warhammer Universe – Sol System
"So this is the capital of the Imperium…"
Paul and the others stared in awe as Horus's fleet slowly docked at Terra's orbital port.
As the nerve center of human civilization, Terra's orbital defense network was extremely well-developed—comparable even to Li Ang's palace-complex on Kaitain in the Dune universe.
Fortunately, Paul's group had pre-registered identification codes. Without them, they might have been executed on sight by the Astartes upon landing.
"The Emperor's psychic power is immense. Make sure your extra-dimensional jammers are activated at all times. If not, he'll read our thoughts in an instant."
Before leaving the ship, Paul issued a stern warning to his team.
The Warhammer universe was a textbook example of the "Material Universe ↔ Warp Realm" model.
The physical universe and the Warp were deeply intertwined—sometimes even indistinguishable. In certain places, it was impossible to tell which side was reality and which was Warp.
A true paradise for someone like Li Huowang.
Within the Warp, psychic energy (or "soul power") was the dominant force.
Humans gifted with strong psychic potential could tap into the Warp to wield abilities resembling magic in the physical realm.
But with power came a heavy price.
Because of the overly intimate connection between reality and the Warp, every thought, every psychic impulse, left behind echoes and imprints in the Warp.
Creatures with strong psychic sensitivity could easily follow those echoes to locate their targets—and even possess them outright through soul takeover.
As veterans of the Warhammer universe, Paul and his team knew well: the Chaos Gods and daemons had significant advantages when it came to "game mechanics."
That was why they had to exercise such extreme caution. No one could be allowed to extract information from their minds via Warp projection.
If not for the Science Nexus's invention of dimensional-shielding devices capable of blocking Warp influence, Paul's team would never have dared set foot in the Warhammer universe.
Otherwise, they'd be possessed and corrupted in minutes.
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