The Magos discussed and decided to each use their connections to gather intelligence from the Temple so they wouldn't be so passive.
Gamma was once again sent away by Magos Lauster, leaving his "loyal legion." He smiled outwardly but cursed inwardly at not being allowed to participate in "archaeology."
Days passed, and the former industrial zone, under the transformation by Gamma and the Priests, became a large settlement of over a hundred thousand people, arguably the only peaceful and stable area in all of Thedan.
Of course, such a large settlement could not be hidden from the Archmagos and the Temple. Both sides were no longer just verbally notifying Gamma to surrender weapons and resources as they had initially; they were now sending people to take over the settlement.
Gamma cunningly arranged for personnel from both sides to be received in the same building near the Temple, then began his performance.
"Oh, Magos, you've finally arrived! If you didn't come, those rioters below would have torn us apart!" Gamma wailed, tugging at the robe of the leading Magos from the Archmagos's faction.
"Where is the Magos in charge here? Have him come out and see me."
Gamma continued to wail, "Magos? The Magos don't care about us at all! They only focus on their research and don't care if we live or die!"
The Magos from the Great Foundry Temple didn't doubt Gamma's words; aren't senior Tech-priest all like that?
"Since they're not managing things, from now on, this place will follow my orders. I now command you to immediately begin transferring personnel and supplies to the Great Foundry Temple."
"Yes, Magos, but... but..."
"But what? There are no 'buts'! Understand?!" the Forging Priest (a common term for a Great Foundry Temple Magos) commanded forcefully.
Gamma, trembling, pointed to the "legion" that had appeared on the street outside the window at some unknown time, preparing for battle, and said, "Magos, look outside!"
"Hiss! They want to..." The Forging Priest flinched, hiding behind the wall away from the window, and asked Gamma with a horrified expression, "Do they want to rebel too?!"
Gamma explained, "Not yet, but..."
"You..."
"It's not me, it's really not us. If it were us, why would I be here with you?"
"Then who's out there?"
"Ever since the rumor spread from who knows where that the Archmagos was making corpse starch from living people, the workers have been like frightened cowards; they don't trust us at all. At the slightest disturbance, they just..."
Gamma didn't finish his sentence, but the Forging Priest already understood his meaning. He was now both surprised and scared, feeling like he could meet the Omnissiah at any moment.
"Go out and tell them that the Archmagos has plenty of food to feed everyone, and that those things were done by the Temple. As long as they remain loyal subjects of the Archmagos and serve him, the Archmagos will absolutely not mistreat them."
"But Magos, the rumors have spread for so long. Even if I tell them now, they won't believe it, unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless you can provide a quantity of food that will reassure them. That way, they'll have no choice but to believe."
"What if they turn hostile after getting the food?"
Gamma pointed to the other side of the building and whispered, "We'll have them..." As he spoke, he made a downward cutting gesture with his hand.
The Forging Priest looked at the sinister-looking young man in front of him and thought he should find an opportunity to eliminate this brat in the future; he couldn't be allowed to live! So young, yet already looking like a treacherous minister.
However, due to the current situation, he could only follow Gamma's suggestion for now: use a batch of food to gain the obedience of this settlement, and conveniently eliminate some enemy personnel—killing two birds with one stone.
While the Forging Priest was using an encrypted line to arrange for food delivery, the Temple Magos had a secret visitor—Jacob.
As Jacob crawled through the ventilation shaft, he constantly recalled the mission Gamma had assigned him. He knew that the success or failure of this mission directly affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people here. It was time for him to risk his life.
Jacob struggled to crawl out of the exhaust vent and saw the Temple Magos already waiting. The Temple Magos looked at the disheveled Jacob and said, "State your purpose, Priest?"
"Magos, I have important intelligence!" Jacob knelt before the unfamiliar Magos.
"Oh?"
"Magos, you must have seen the rioters outside the window, right?"
"Of course. Don't beat around the bush. Tell me what you know."
"Magos, those rioters have long ceased to be subjects of the Omnissiah. We can no longer control them."
"Hmph, continue!"
"The Magos are now hiding in their safe laboratories and have long abandoned us, which is why we had no choice but to collude with these rioters."
The Temple Magos scornfully said of the Magos Jacob mentioned who armed the rioters, "They don't deserve to call themselves Priests of the Omnissiah. It's a blasphemy."
"The rioters arranged for you and the people from the Forge Temple to be together to extort more benefits."
"They don't deserve it, despicable organics."
"Yes, Magos, but now the Great Foundry Temple has promised enough food to feed them."
"What?!" the Temple Magos exclaimed in shock.
"Not only that, the Great Foundry Temple also spread rumors that the Temple would use all of them to make corpse starch."
Temple Magos: "..."
"These rioters are now terrified. They are already planning to surrender to the tyranny of former Archmagos Will and are plotting against you!"
"They dare?!"
"They dare too much, Magos. You don't know how many blasphemous things they've already done."
"What blasphemy!"
"Yes, what blasphemy."
"You just said they 'plan to,' meaning they haven't actually defected yet, right?"
"Yes, these rioters also don't trust the former Archmagos and his people, so they want the other side to provide a batch of food as a sign of sincerity. After receiving the food, they will also express their sincerity..."
"Their sincerity? The rioters want to..."
"Yes, they want to use your life as their sincerity!"
The Temple Magos furiously said, "Arrogance! Blasphemy! Betrayal! Becoming raw material for corpse starch is too good for them!"
...Jacob.
"Priest, you are very good! To risk danger and tell me the news in advance, very good. I will not mistreat you. Is there a safe way to leave now?"
"Apologies, Magos, it is our incompetence that has implicated you. The outside is already surrounded, but my companions and I have devised a plan."
"You and your companions?"
"Yes, there are still loyal believers of the Omnissiah here. We constantly look forward to returning to the embrace of the Omnissiah."
"Very good, you are all loyal gears of the Omnissiah. Your figures shall surely be in the glory of the omnissiah. Now, tell me your plan?"
"We plan to attack the people of the Great Foundry Temple to create chaos, hoping you will have a chance to escape from the confusion."
"The Omnissiah will remember your sacrifice."
"However..."
"However what?"
"Magos, we are all just low-ranking Priests. Our strength is probably insufficient to harm the Forging Priest, and we also worry that the rioters, if provoked, might directly attack you!"
"This..."
Jacob waited quietly. He knew the plan had reached its most crucial and unpredictable point—making the prey walk into the trap and strangle itself.
The Temple Magos's mechanical brain calculated the probabilities of various outcomes. After a moment, he asked Jacob, "Can you stabilize the rioters during a conflict here so they don't act rashly?"
"Hmm... I can delay for a while, but not for too long!"
"That's enough."
"Magos, are you thinking of..."
"If the rioters want to play hard to get between two choices, then we will turn this 'two' into 'one,' leaving them with no choice."
"Magos is brilliant! I'll go back and contact my companions now."
"No hurry, no hurry. You are a loyal Priest, but you still need to learn patience. Only with patience can you gain more."
"Thank you for your teaching. When do we act?"
"Isn't someone going to give them food? The moment they receive the food! When they all think the plan is about to succeed, that's when they are most complacent!"
"Magos is brilliant!" Jacob offered another compliment.
"Hahahaha, I'll give you this relic weapon as a reward for your loyalty for now."
Jacob's face showed surprise and greed, which were his true emotions. The treasures left from humanity's glorious ancient era, no Tech-priest could dislike them. He had thought it would be a near-death experience, but he didn't expect such a pleasant surprise. However, he still feigned refusal, saying, "I cannot accept this treasure. These are all things I should do."
"Hahaha, what a good 'should'! Too many people have forgotten the word 'should' nowadays. You are very good, take it!"
Jacob saw that further refusal would be impolite, so he knelt and took the relic pistol with both hands. After hanging it on his waist, he continued to greedily caress it with one hand.
Seeing Jacob like this, the Temple Magos's doubts slowly dissipated, but he still needed to...
The first thing Jacob did after crawling back through the ventilation shaft and returning the way he came was to find Gamma.
Gamma was discussing the next step of the "Driving Tigers to Devour Wolves, Little Odely Plan" with its core members, Leia and Louis, and the other two, while anxiously awaiting Jacob's return. He was also afraid that his sudden ingenious scheme might put Jacob in danger.
Seeing Jacob return safely, Gamma, Leia, and the others all breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he returned safely, whether the plan succeeded or not was no longer important. It was a shot in the dark anyway.
Just as Gamma was about to greet Jacob, he was stopped by Jacob's gaze. At the same time, Jacob spoke first:
"The Magos has already received the news. He wants us to abandon the plan to attack the Forging Priest for now. The Magos has his own plan, and we just need to cooperate with him."
As he spoke, Jacob specifically showed the relic pistol on his waist to Gamma, Leia, Louis, Ed, and Paul.
Seeing Jacob with weapons they had never seen before, Gamma and the others immediately grew wary.
"Praise the Omnissiah! Of course, we should follow the instructions of the Temple Magos," Gamma said, giving everyone a look to cooperate with Jacob's performance.
Louis immediately understood Gamma and Jacob's intentions. He cried out tearfully, "Finally, the omnissiah's light guides us again! These hellish days are finally coming to an end!"
"Yes, this blasphemous and disgraceful life is finally ending. Boss Jacob, what are the Magos's instructions?" Paul asked in a fawning tone.
"The Magos plans to directly kill those blasphemous Priests, cutting off any possibility of cooperation between the rioters and the Great Foundry Temple," Jacob said.
Ria, like an evil witch, cackled, "Hehehe, turn all those rioters into corpse starch blocks and feed their bodies to their own kind, hehehe."
Only women can act so well, the others thought simultaneously.
While Gamma was acting, the Temple Magos also received data from the spy device placed inside the relic weapon. This data included not only their conversations but also information about their surroundings and their body movements.
Only after confirming that Jacob had not lied to him did the Temple Magos completely relax.
Thanks to Gamma and the others' early rehearsal, Tech-priest understand Tech-priest best. They know exactly what the Magos with their black technology like to do. Gamma and the others didn't know, but Ria did. After all, her father was also a Magos who liked to peek.
Gamma: I knew that old man Lauster had been peeking at me a lot. The last time I found that Adeptus Ministorum shrine, I suspected it was him. Now I have the evidence, you peeping tom, Lauster.
Gamma's plan was not perfect and had many flaws, but as the 'leader' of this settlement, he had ways to ensure that the deceived had no time to consider these flaws.
For example: blowing up a few warehouses scheduled for demolition to create the illusion of a worker riot within the settlement, then arranging two groups of people to shoot at each other from a distance, and incidentally firing a few 'stray' shots towards the 'guesthouse' to scare the people inside.
Then, having people drag the bodies of those who died from hunting injuries past positions visible from the 'guesthouse.'
Organizing people with rifles and shotguns to shout "We want food!" in front of the 'guesthouse.'
Creating the illusion of a chaotic and uncontrolled settlement for these visiting Magos and Priests, making them feel like they could be dragged out and torn apart by 'rioters' at any moment.
These Magos, Priests, and their guards indeed possessed strong combat capabilities, but they were still powerless against the heavy firepower arranged by Gamma and the sheer number of workers.
Who wouldn't tremble when dozens of cannons are pointed at them simultaneously? Gamma's goal was to make them lose their judgment in fear, then cut the Gordian knot quickly and make them fight each other. It didn't matter if they didn't follow Gamma's plan; his 'cannons' would help them fight, would force them to fight. The moment they entered the settlement, their fate was sealed.
The purpose of these 'performances' was merely to have excuses and reasons for plausible deniability, to avoid directly falling out with these two major factions, as one of them was destined to rule Thedan in the future.
Just as Gamma was losing patience with his performance and starting to consider using 'force,' the food promised by the Great Foundry Temple finally arrived.
However, the Forging Priest was no fool; he only sent a small batch of food to the settlement, with most of it being guarded by his men outside the settlement. He wanted to see the 'rioters'' sincerity and ensure their retreat was cut off before he would allow his subordinates to deliver the rest.
What he didn't expect was that the moment the food entered the settlement, the attack targeting him began.
What he also didn't know was that at the same time he was attacked, the food storage location he had arranged outside the settlement was also attacked. Gamma had 'dispatched' his strongest force—the "Magos Commando Squad."
As for how Gamma persuaded these Magos, who were immersed in 'dragon-seeking and treasure-hunting' underground, to emerge from the depths, the reason was simple: he said that with this batch of food, more people could be freed up to help the Magos 'dig graves,' and they, of course, could not refuse.
There was not a trace of smoke at the food hiding spot. The Adeptus Ministorum guards responsible for watching over it and the data that commanded them, upon discovering the "Magos Commando Squad," had their brains scorched by a combined 'null-code' attack from several Magos. The remaining Adeptus Ministorum were also controlled. The battle lasted only a few tenths of a second from start to finish.
"Sigh, I never thought I'd live to be commanded by a young brat!" one of the Magos complained while skillfully disassembling the already deceased Data-Artisan into parts.
Another Magos, while surveying the mountain of food piled up there, monitored the Magos who was 'disassembling a person,' to prevent him from secretly stashing loot. He said, "Heh, you'd best watch your words, lest that brat hears you. Otherwise, one day you might end up like those two in the 'cage.'"
"Hiss, deciding the fate of two high-ranking Magos just by tapping his head, that's truly terrifying. We used to curry favor with those two, and they wouldn't even bother with us fringe people."
At this moment, another Magos interjected, "Isn't that right? When I came out, I specifically took a look. From the heavy firepower surrounding them, that kid never intended for them to leave alive from the beginning."
"I really don't know where Lauster found such a little monster?"
"The Great Foundry Temple assigned him," Magos Lauster said.
"..."
"Do we need to fake the scene?"
"No, once the food is taken back, Gamma will arrange for someone to blow this place up."
"Heh, I don't see this kid acting like a Tech-Priest at all; he's more like those Imperial nobles."
"Otherwise, why would there be rumors that he's Will's offspring?"
"Is Lauster really not his father?"
Magos Lauster said impatiently, "How many times do I have to tell you!"
"..."
Meanwhile, Gamma was holding a camera, filming the real firefight at the 'guesthouse' in the distance. Truly worthy of a High Priest, the full-throttle display still made Gamma, even from this distance, feel his heart pound.
"The Temple Magos has such good martial arts. I never thought our mechanical axe wasn't just a symbol of status," Louis, who was observing the situation from afar with binoculars, exclaimed.
Ed, who was also watching the show, said, "The Forging Priest isn't bad either. I counted, and he's changed at least six weapons in this short time."
"Boss, when this is over, you have to give us a few. I still don't have a single decent weapon," Paul said, wiping his saliva while watching.
Jacob, caressing the relic pistol at his waist, felt as if he no longer liked it as much as before. He said, "The disparity is too great. How many Priests in their lifetime might never obtain even one."
"Don't just look at what's exposed. The true treasure is the knowledge stored in their memory banks!" Ria reminded them from beside.
Truly the Magos's own daughter, taught by example. Unlike Louis, Ed, and the other bumpkins, she instantly pointed out the most valuable treasure in 'murder and plunder.'
The awakened bumpkins collectively thought: That's right, if I learn it, won't I become a Magos? No wonder a true teaching is a single sentence, while a false teaching fills ten thousand books!
While Gamma and the others were watching the show from afar, the Magos' fierce battle also reached its climax.
The Temple Magos swung a mechanical arm with a power axe, chopping at the Forging Priest's mechanical head, while cursing, "Die! You blasphemous thing!"
The Forging Priest dodged while retaliating with the annihilation ray gun, giant hand cannon, incendiary demolition gun, and other weapons on his back mechanical arm. At the same time, his mechanical voice replied, "Despicable Traitor, only capable of shameless sneak attacks and betrayal! Wait until my people arrive, and you'll be torn to shreds!"
"Your people? You're not talking about those rioters, are you?"
"You!"
"Don't be surprised. How could you, who only seek profit, understand the greatness of faith, the weight of piety? Take this axe!"
The Forging Priest, whose prosthetic limb was severed by the power axe, felt an intense pain in the flesh part responsible for controlling that limb and cried out, "Ah!"
The Temple Magos, whose mechanical arm was also destroyed, reacted impassively, continuing to attack his exposed opponent, not forgetting to mock him:
"Those who indulge in pleasure will never comprehend the true meaning of flesh's weakness and machine's eternity. The flesh you preserved for pleasure is the abyss that will bury you."
"Hmph, just wait! From the sounds outside, you should know you're finished!"
The Temple Magos didn't respond, because he had long heard the sounds of fighting outside, heard Priests shouting "For the Omnissiah!" and heard the rioters shouting "Charge in and protect the Magos!" From the way they spoke, the Magos they referred to certainly wasn't him.
The Temple Magos had already made up his mind; it was time for him to use his trump card and end all this!
The commotion outside was, of course, also arranged by Gamma. You have to put on a complete show, right? What if they fought halfway and felt something was wrong and stopped? Then he, Lord Gamma, would have to take action. A single-shot video evidence is more convincing, isn't it?
"For the Omnissiah!"
Gamma shouted the slogan and operated his mech, firing at the "rioters" hiding behind cover. Of course, he wasn't the only one responsible for defense; Jacob and the others were there too. But when it came to happily shooting his own people, he was the only one.
"You guys fire! Make it a good show, it's so much fun!" Gamma complained to his perfunctory companions beside him. He was very busy right now, having to fire at the "rioters" while controlling one mechanical arm of the mech to film the firefight behind him.
"Gamma, you..." Ria looked at Gamma, who was acting like a "mischievous child who wants to cause destruction," and didn't know what to say.
"The 'rioters' on the other side aren't putting in effort either, not professional at all. Their slogans are weak, and if they raise their muzzles any higher, they'll be shooting stars," Gamma continued to complain.
At this moment, Jacob, who had been focused on the "guesthouse," shouted loudly, "There's a result!"
"Any results? Who won?"
Gamma stopped and picked up the binoculars hanging around his neck to look at the "Guesthouse," but it was filled with smoke and dust, and he couldn't see anything clearly.
"The Temple Magos, he pulled out a strangely shaped device that emitted a purple light, and then the Forging Priest's body began to lose control. The Temple Magos took the opportunity to cut off his head," Jacob explained to Gamma.
"Oh, this old guy has quite a few treasures on him. Forging Priest, couldn't you have tried harder? I was hoping you two would perish together, but now I have to bother myself," Gamma said, shaking his head and criticizing the dead Magos for not being strong enough, which made Jacob and the others grimace.
After speaking, Gamma pulled out a remote control from his body and, without any hesitation, directly pressed the button. Less than a second later, a towering blaze shot straight into the sky from inside the "Guesthouse," accompanied by a massive explosion. The "Guesthouse" turned into a pile of rubble in the flames.
Paul, who had already considered the dead Magos's belongings as his own, looked at the towering flames of the former "Guesthouse" and worriedly said, "It won't blow up the good stuff, will it?"
"It shouldn't, right?" Louis, sharing the same thought, also said worriedly.
Gamma: "…"
"Gamma, you could at least hesitate! What if the Temple Magos was at the end of his rope!" Leia also complained, also worried about damaging the loot.
"Exactly! We might not have been unable to defeat him without this move. Aren't there still so many of us! It would be such a shame if it was damaged!" Ed said, his heart aching as if he were the one being blown up.
Jacob didn't speak. He was still touching the relic phone at his waist, feeling nostalgic again.
Gamma: "…"
Gamma angrily spat at these Tech-priest who weren't afraid of overeating:
"You guys are enough! Didn't you see how fiercely that Tech-Priest was swinging his axe just now? If he had a teleportation device hidden on him, would all of us tied together be enough for him to cut down? Get your heads straight! Who told you he was definitely dead?!"
The few people who had been silenced by Gamma all lowered their heads, not daring to speak. They all knew themselves well enough to realize that Gamma was telling the truth.
The fire didn't burn for long, as Forge World buildings inherently didn't have much combustible material. Gamma sent out his servo-skull to investigate, and sure enough, the Temple Magos, who had little flesh left on his body, wasn't dead, but he had been crippled by the explosion and needed Gamma to send him off.
He didn't approach to deliver a villain's pre-victory speech. Instead, he simply adjusted his mech's laser cannon to maximum power from a distance and sent the opponent away with a single shot, claiming his first kill in this lifetime.
Once Gamma confirmed that there were no more life signs from the other side, Leia, Louis, Ed, Paul, and Jacob frantically rushed into the rubble of the "Guesthouse" to search for the dead Magos and Priests. Gamma did not move; he was savoring the feeling of killing, only to realize he felt nothing at all. He concluded that he might be a naturally cool… a cold-blooded killer.
(Who would feel anything about shooting a robot from eight hundred meters away, huh!)
Cold-blooded Killer Gamma looked at the Tech-priest and "Oil Girl" rummaging through and disassembling the corpses of their kind in the rubble like vultures with disdain. It was definitely not because he felt a slight urge to urinate when he saw Leia directly pulling a person's spine and head, bloody, from the dead body. Such dirty work was not for a "big shot" like him.
It proved that the weapons and equipment left in the hands of high-ranking Priests were not only powerful but also of excellent quality, with most of them being perfectly intact.
Regarding the distribution of these spoils, Gamma decided to keep all the damaged items himself and divide the intact ones equally among the five of them, letting them discuss the specifics. Leia and the others opposed this decision because it was too unfair to Gamma. Regarding this, Gamma said he had already obtained what he wanted most, and he didn't care about the rest. Finally, unable to dissuade them, he took the Temple Magos's strangely shaped equipment—its appearance clearly indicated alien technology.
Regarding the Temple Magos, a loyal believer of the omnissiah, using alien technology, which is an explicitly forbidden and obvious heretical act within the Adeptus Mechanicus, Gamma commented: This perfectly fits the stereotype of Tech-priest.
Why wasn't Gamma interested in those intact, powerful weapons and equipment? Of course he was interested, but there was something he was even more interested in among the damaged items! Two broken "castellan robots"!
Yes, they were the robots from Magos Lauster's warehouse, the robots Gamma had asked for several times but never "borrowed."
This time, he obtained two at once, which made Gamma so happy he stomped his feet. He would never tell anyone that he only started figuring out how to kill these two Magos after seeing these two robots. That wouldn't fit his "magnificent" image at all.
Of course, the reason for formulating this plan was also due to the circumstances. He couldn't possibly really act as cannon fodder for them as they demanded. However, because of the robots, Gamma, who had originally planned to just string them along, started figuring out how to kill them, and began to consider whether the risks and benefits of stringing them along were greater than those of killing them.
After thinking it over, Gamma realized that while stringing them along carried less risk, it offered little benefit, and a single mistake could backfire, leading to a direct confrontation that would leave them completely passive.
However, if he found a way to kill them, although the risk was greater, the reward was also substantial. While it would lead to a direct confrontation, as long as he had a plausible reason to shirk responsibility, neither the Temple nor the Archmagos would have time to investigate such matters at this critical juncture.
By the time they finished fighting, he would have evidence, and there would be no one left to contradict him. This matter would most likely be treated as a muddled account. If they wanted to settle scores with him and his group after the war, they wouldn't be able to escape it regardless of this incident. However, such matters were for the Magos to consider; at that time, the main targets for settling scores would also be them.
This plan was implemented only after considering the current situation, making predictions about the future, and discussing it with the Magos. Otherwise, if Gamma had simply come up with the idea on a whim, the Magos wouldn't have agreed to such a major undertaking without question.
The real difficulty of the whole matter was how to make them fight among themselves so that Gamma and his group would have evidence to shirk responsibility. Fortunately, the plan went smoothly: the food was obtained, and the evidence was also secured.
According to the information gathered by the Magos, the Temple's full-force attack was due in the next few days. Both sides would soon be too preoccupied to bother with them anymore. Now, they could safely sit back and watch the tigers fight.
Speaking of these two "castellan robots," they actually had an even more imposing name: "Starfall Combat Robots," and a nickname: "Big White."
To be honest, if it weren't for Magos Lauster's three robots as a fallback, Gamma wouldn't dare to think too much, because these robots, which stand nearly twice the height of a Space Marine, are simply too powerful. Gamma couldn't even imagine the cost his "militia" would have to pay to fight against these castellan robots, which were specifically designed for combat.
Magos Lauster's three robots were ambushed and waiting not far from the "Guesthouse." If the plan went awry, these three robots would rush forward to block the front, allowing the "militia" behind to safely use heavy firepower.
The only thing Magos Lauster did unethically in this matter was not to hand over control of the castellan robots to Gamma, but to Leia.
Gamma immediately said: Magos Lauster discriminated against him.
Magos Lauster also immediately stated: Yes, I do discriminate against you.
And he also told Leia in front of everyone: No matter what method Gamma used to beg her, she must not hand over control to him. Who knows what this kid would do once he got his hands on the castellan robots he had coveted for so long.
This is also why Leia and the others didn't include these two castellan robots, which were damaged but still extremely valuable, when calculating the spoils just now. They knew all too well how much Gamma coveted these two castellan robots. Letting Gamma get the robots he had longed for was an unspoken understanding among the few of them.
As for their biggest gain this time: the knowledge stored in the Magos' and Priests' memories, Gamma suggested that they jointly decipher and share this knowledge. Although this did not quite conform to the Tech-priest' usual practice of hoarding knowledge, Leia and the others did not object.
Firstly, Gamma had been the leader of this matter from beginning to end. Secondly, the gains this time were simply too great, so great that given enough time, they would inevitably become Magos in the eyes of others. They would spend a long time in the future deciphering these encrypted knowledge and learning these decrypted knowledge. Cooperation could greatly reduce their deciphering time, of course, this is if Gamma does not participate, if he participates, hehe, who told him he has a cheat.
What is Gamma doing now? He is now climbing up and down on those two castellan robots that perished together. After careful inspection, Gamma concluded that they were thoroughly damaged. In the hands of others, without spare parts, they would basically be considered scrap. Of course, that's for others; Gamma is someone who can have "cheats."
When Gamma stared at his "battle-damaged" castellan robots, he couldn't be happier. With two such behemoths standing behind him, who would dare to speak loudly to him, Gamma!
Hmm! What are you looking at! If you keep looking, I'll pound you into "biscuits"! Hmph!
In fairness, Magos Lauster's strict guarding against Gamma was correct. The reason for this was not just Gamma's somewhat "attention-seeking" personality; more importantly, "Intelligent Control castellan robots" as a technological creation were also a controlled item within the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Yes, you read that right. In the Adeptus Mechanicus, where Tech-priest can legally and legitimately possess "building-level firepower," "Intelligent Control castellan robots" are also controlled items, because these robots constantly push the red line of artificial intelligence—the crimson accords—and can easily be deemed in violation of the crimson accords.
The Adeptus Mechanicus has only one punishment for all transgressors—death!