Chapter 36: The Birth of "Omega the Genius"
After Magos Laust's stern warning, Omega understood one thing: as long as he was under someone else's watch, it was best to be honest. He held no grudges against Laust for it; he wasn't incapable of telling the difference between a warning and a threat. He could hear the concern in the Magos's voice.
However, he was puzzled as to when he had acquired the image of a troublemaking "little cog-head" in Laust's mind. He considered himself quite timid and honest.
Repairing the two severely "battle-damaged" robots was a massive undertaking. He was also the "boss" of a settlement of over a hundred thousand people and had too many things to attend to. The robots were in his possession now. He would work on them when he had time, and let them be when he didn't. They weren't going anywhere.
Besides, there was a war going on. If he, all by himself, repaired two Battle Automata without any spare parts and started parading them around, the other Magi here wouldn't protect him like Laust did. They would likely use all sorts of underhanded methods to uncover his "secrets."
This also served as a wake-up call for Omega. He needed to find a plausible explanation for the technological knowledge he gained from his system. Although the weapons and equipment he carried had long been exposed, they could still be explained. After all, they were all repaired from broken items. People could say he was a genius, that he had a talent for it. As long as no one saw him fabricate something from scratch, even if he claimed to have mastered the root of these technologies, no one would believe him.
And now, he had the perfect cover for any future technological revelations: the data-slates in his and Rhea's possession. The combined technological knowledge of two Magi and a host of priests was more than enough to cover for him.
So, in the following days, Omega spent all his free time after managing the settlement's affairs on deciphering the knowledge in the data-slates. Or rather, he would just stare at them, and the knowledge would pry open his skull and drill itself into his brain.
Omega intentionally let the news of him being a "super genius" spread. He shared the technological knowledge he acquired with Rhea, Louis, and the others in an orderly and planned manner. This caused them, who had been pouring their hearts and souls into the work without deciphering a single word, to frequently utter blasphemies and cry out, "Omnissiah, you are unjust!"
Omega's thought: Hah! How dare you question the Emperor's gender?
(The Emperor: Hmm?)
To spread his "talent," he couldn't just limit it to Rhea and her group. So, his second move was to frequently go underground. He would find a Magos and ask them to check if his deciphered work was correct. No cog-head could refuse such a freebie. After a few of these interactions, where Omega would also offer his own insights, the name "Omega the Super Genius" quickly spread.
Several Magi now praised him whenever they saw him, saying he had an aura of genius emanating from his very skull, that it couldn't be contained. They would hint that he should kick the "talent-blind" Laust to the curb and join them. Omega would always play dumb. He didn't trust these Magi one bit.
Magos Laust's thought: You're all being fooled by this kid. If you take him in, you'll be implicated by Mars one day.
Besides deciphering knowledge and spreading his fame, Omega also took the time to compile the basic knowledge of "physics, chemistry, and mathematics" from his past life into textbooks for the school's students. He also traded some of his less important technologies for the free time of some priests to lecture the apprentice-teachers, allowing them to continue on their path to the priesthood.
With the large amount of food he had secured, the settlement's resources no longer needed to be so carefully managed. Omega increased the workers' rations, reopened a few factories to produce daily necessities, and organized teams to collect abandoned or forgotten weapons, materials, and stray workers. These newcomers had to be quarantined and checked for mutations and cult markings before they were allowed to interact with the settlement's population.
This series of measures earned Omega immense prestige in the settlement. Now, whenever he went out, people would kneel before him. Some workers even called him "Omnissiah." The former made him a little embarrassed; the latter terrified him. Such an act of establishing his own cult within the Adeptus Mechanicus was no different from suicide. Omega had to select a few pious believers from among the workers to lead the others in studying the doctrines of the Cult Mechanicus, and he strictly forbade anyone from calling him "Omnissiah."
Omega's daily routine now included a new task: maintaining communication with both the Temple and the Archmagos. This communication channel had previously been in Laust's hands, but the Magos had now given it to him. Why was Omega sending them messages? That requires an explanation of the current relationship between the settlement and the two warring factions.
After his plan had succeeded, Omega had immediately sent the story and video evidence of the Temple Magos attacking and killing the Manufactorum Magos, only to die in the latter's self-destruction, to both sides. He had also expressed his unwavering loyalty, stating that he and the other priests were their faithful lapdogs, but that the settlement was now in chaos with various worker-led armed groups fighting amongst themselves. The priests were too few in number compared to the workers and were being swept along by the tide. He hoped that their "masters," seeing their loyalty, would quickly send troops to rescue them.
Whether they believed him or not, Omega didn't know. He himself believed it.
Whenever they told him to join the battle, he would say the settlement was in chaos and request support. No matter how harsh their replies were, he would always say, "I am loyal! Master, don't speak nonsense! No matter what you say, I am loyal!"
After a few rounds of this, both sides' attitude towards the settlement was now "as long as they don't join the other side." They were helpless against this stubborn, uncooperative settlement. Because the Temple faction's final assault had begun.
So now, Omega and his people had a nominal subordinate relationship with both of the bloodthirsty factions on the battlefield and could contact both. One of Omega's daily tasks was to express his loyalty to both sides every few days.
"Aedus, what do you think they'll do to us after they're done fighting?" Omega asked, rubbing his chin after his daily loyalty report.
Aedus shrugged. "At worst, we'll just leave this planet."
"That's right. The galaxy is a big place. We can make a name for ourselves anywhere," Jacob said, words that seemed uncharacteristic of him. The Jacob of today was no longer the man who had kowtowed himself into resignation. He was now Jacob, the future Magos. Omega's "old comrades," with the exception of Rhea, had all undergone a significant change in mindset. Knowledge was the foundation of a Tech-Priest's confidence, and they were now all brimming with it.
"Sigh..."
Louis, who was helping to organize documents, saw Omega sigh and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Omega? Why the sudden sigh?"
"I was just thinking, we can leave, but these workers..."
"Don't worry," Louis said. "No one will make things difficult for them. Whoever wins will need them to resume production."
Omega looked up at the ceiling and said to himself, "How can someone who has seen the light be willing to return to the darkness..."
The others heard his words and said nothing. They all understood what he meant.
"I suddenly regret letting them..." Omega's expression was complicated, and he didn't finish.
Paul spoke up. "Boss, no one blames you for this. On the contrary, everyone is grateful to you. They're not stupid. We who have lived here for generations know very well what the past was like and what the future will be. So, Boss, don't be like this! This is a request from me, on behalf of everyone living here!"
Omega looked at the sincere Paul, and the faces of all the people who had thanked him flashed through his mind. The stone in his heart grew bigger and heavier. He knew very well that the underlying color of this universe was madness, pain, suffering, and cruelty. But with those four conceptual Chaos Gods, what could he do? Everything would ultimately be a reflection in a mirror, a moon in the water. Even with his "system," could he be stronger than the Emperor?
(The Emperor: Get up, you sissy!)
He even had to carefully plan his own death! What right did he... err... wait a minute...
Omega's thought: I'm already planning to have my bones ground to dust and my soul scattered to the winds. What the hell am I afraid of?! The most deadly thing is overthinking. 'Heresy grows from idleness.' That saying is so true.
Having broken free from his mental spiral, Omega's spirits immediately lifted. Paul, thinking his words had worked, was about to say a few more words of thanks, but Omega didn't give him the chance.
"Paul, go get a few of the foremen and bring them to me. I want to ask for the workers' opinion."
"Of course, Boss, you..."
"Hah! As if we don't have guns and cannons of our own. Why should we be the ones to leave? When they're done fighting, they might not even have as many men as we do."
"Omega, you're not thinking of..." Jacob looked at Omega with a bit of horror, thinking he wanted to play the fisherman again.
Omega waved his hand, cutting him off. "It's not what you think. I'm well aware that the power gap between us and them can't be closed with numbers alone." He paused and looked at the equally frightened Rhea and the others. "But we can reveal our true strength in the final stages of the war. To secure a greater victory, they will certainly try their best to win us over. We won't have to make any demands; they will offer us a price themselves."
Rhea, Aedus, Louis, Jacob, and Paul listened to Omega's words, their expressions thoughtful.
"So, I'm calling the worker representatives to ask for their opinion. To see if they are willing to fight for a better life in the future. A price in blood will have to be paid, that's for sure."