Chapter 121: The Ascension
With the agreement parameters logged into the Forge World's core database, Joric's Magos Ascension protocol was initiated.
This was no public celebration. It was a secret rite, strictly adhering to ancient liturgy, conducted within the sanctified depths of the Mechanicus.
The ritual took place in the "Data-Sanctum," deep within the primary forge-spire zone.
It was a vast, circular hall, its walls formed of cooled magma and embedded data-conduits, where countless indicator lights twinkled like a nebula in the darkness.
The air was thick with ozone, incense, and the scent of superheated metal.
In the center of the hall lay a recessed ritual-circle, its floor etched with complex binary-prayers and cog-patterns.
The participants were few: Fabricator-Magos Vhorx, three of the most senior resident Magi, and Joric, the supplicant.
All wore their most formal red vestments, their mechadendrites and optical lenses gleaming coldly in the dim light.
Archmagos Vhorx presided from the primary station, his tracked chassis hardlined into the floor's data-ports, serving as both officiant and witness.
There were no stirring speeches, no audience.
The entire rite proceeded in near-absolute silence, broken only by the faint whir of hovering servo-skulls, the low, distant throb of the forge, and the subtle hiss of data flowing through cables.
The core of the ascension was the "Knowledge Examination" and the "Authority Transfer."
The three senior Magi connected directly to Joric's core-logic via data-cables. They interrogated him in high-speed binary, testing his comprehension of Mechanicus dogma and his grasp of technological ethics. They subjected his report on the "Ancient Logic-Core" to a final, rigorous scrutiny, probing for technical flaws and potential risks.
Joric's logic-engine ran at peak efficiency. He responded with precise, rigorous data-streams. His answers adhered perfectly to doctrinal frameworks while skillfully concealing the true nature of the Rogue AI beneath the guise of "unique ancient architecture."
The examination lasted a full standard hour.
When the final Magos severed the data-link and transmitted a single, green verification-code to Vhorx, the critical moment arrived.
Archmagos Vhorx slowly raised his primary mechadendrite. Clutched at the tip was a metal staff, roughly one and a half meters long.
This Explorator's Omni-Scepter was forged from dark metal, its shaft etched with fine circuitry and motifs of exploring the unknown void. At its apex sat a slowly rotating, complex gear-assembly, with a soft-glowing blue crystal embedded in its center.
"In the name of the Omnissiah, and by the authority vested by the Martian Parliament," Vhorx's synthesized voice echoed in the sanctum with unprecedented solemnity. "Whereas Tech-Priest Joric has achieved distinction in the path of exploration, recovered lost technological relics, and infused Nexum with new vigor and possibility... his knowledge, his will, and his dedication to the Machine God have passed holy scrutiny."
He extended the scepter toward Joric.
"Today, we grant him the rank and authority of Magos Explorator. May you bear this scepter, lead the path of inquiry, parse the logic of all things, and open unknown frontiers for the glory of the Machine God."
Joric extended his augmented right hand, firmly grasping the shaft of the scepter.
At the moment of contact, he felt a faint energy flow from the staff into his systems—the symbol of activation.
Simultaneously, a massive deluge of data flooded his logic-core: higher-level database access keys, statutory qualification to independently lead research projects, authority to mobilize significant cohorts of Skitarii and resources, and the foundational codes to requisition and command interstellar vessels.
"Duty calls, and I obey. The path of knowledge is endless," Joric responded with the standard liturgical acceptance, his synthesized voice clear in the silent sanctum.
The ritual concluded.
There were no cheers, no congratulations. The three senior Magi nodded silently to him, then turned and departed in sequence, their red robes sweeping the cold floor.
Archmagos Vhorx gave Joric one final look—his human eye flashing with a complex emotion, perhaps expectation, perhaps warning—before engaging his tracks and disappearing through a side archway.
Joric stood alone in the center of the sanctum, holding the Omni-Scepter that symbolized his status and power.
The cold metal touch registered on his sensors. The gear-assembly at the staff's tip emitted a barely audible whir.
He knew this scepter was not merely a symbol. It was a key, an interface, formally beginning his career as a mid-level commander of the Mechanicus.
But this was only the beginning.
The Lunar-class Cruiser he had secured would be his future mobile base and laboratory, the key to breaking his shackles, traversing the stars freely, and connecting two worlds.
And his relationship with Nexum, and with Fabricator-Magos Vhorx, had entered a new phase, bound by mutual interest.
Leaving the Data-Sanctum, Joric stood on a high observation platform overlooking the main forge-spire zone. His gaze moved past the vast, weary ring-factory below, up to the magnificent, incomplete Star-Ring hanging in orbit.
His optical lenses quickly locked onto and magnified a specific sector—the construction dock housing hull designation NXS-07.
There, silently floating, was his future flagship, the skeleton of a Lunar-class Cruiser.
From this distance, NXS-07 looked more like the picked-clean carcass of a leviathan than a warship.
Its five-kilometer-long hull outline was formed, the keel forged from high-purity Adamantium acting as the beast's spine, glinting with a cold, expensive light under the local star—a testament to the ambition and resource-investment of the Imperium's peak during the Great Crusade.
However, upon this solid skeleton, work had abruptly ceased.
Most of the hull remained "open," its massive internal structure exposed to the vacuum like an anatomical diagram.
The massive mounts reserved for macro-cannon batteries and lance arrays were empty, black holes like eye sockets. The flanks, which should have been covered in layers of heavy armor plating, were merely a crisscrossing structural frame, like ribs without flesh. Kilometer-long power conduits and data-bundles hung like severed nerves, their ends exposed, drifting around the hull.
Around the ship, abandoned giant construction equipment could be seen—gantry arms still, welding platforms frozen in their final pose.
Temporary airlock doors used for construction were open, revealing dark, unfinished spaces within.
Micro-meteoroids and cosmic dust had draped a grey veil over this "skeleton" during its decades of idleness.
No void-shield generator shimmered. No engine-nozzle glowed. No identification-lights blinked.
It was anchored silently, lifelessly in the dock, a forgotten dream, a sunk cost that had consumed vast resources without return.
It was both proof of past glory and a silent declaration of current stagnation, its massive bulk continuously draining the Forge World's already strained maintenance budget.
Joric's logic-core spun at high speed, analyzing the ship's status.
The Imperium's future was clouded, the Forge World's troubles obvious.
But his own path, with the confirmation of his Magos status and the acquisition of this high-potential hull, had become clearer than ever.
This unfinished cruiser represented a challenge, but also an unparalleled opportunity.
Its "incompleteness" gave him maximum design freedom.
Next, he would closely monitor the progress of NXS-07's foundational refit, restoring it from a skeleton to at least a mobile hull. Simultaneously, he would begin preparations for his return to the Cyberpunk world, and for the deeper trans-dimensional research that would likely require this ship as a platform.
The cold touch of the Explorator's Scepter in his hand was real. The road ahead was filled with challenges, but because of this ship waiting to be given new life, it was also filled with unprecedented possibility.
(End of Chapter)