The Marvelous Adventures of a Tech-Priest, Starting in Warhammer 32K by SMZ
Do you believe in the Imperial Truth?
I admire the first person to make a deal with Chaos Gods / The Four Gods; they might end up paralyzed on a toilet.
Yellowskins, once I build a Warp pump, I'll make sure you awaken!
Humans are, after all, destined to descend from the Golden Throne.
And one last time: technology is about to accelerate!
"Solar Axe"
"Thunder God Mech"
"Arc Generator"
"Hyperspace Lane"
"Warp Drive"
"Cyberclops"
"Aether-phase Engine"
"omnissiah Reborn"
Having said all that—
"Made in Stellaris!"
Formal Version:
Transmigrating to the M32 era of Warhammer, a time with no villages ahead and no shops behind, Li Ang, an Untouchables, carries knowledge from many other sci-fi works from before his transmigration. He transforms into an Adeptus Mechanicus Priest, reproducing technologies from other worlds within the Warhammer Universe. Simultaneously, in this cesspit of a universe, he begins to spread the Imperial Truth and the light of reason brought by technology.
Punching greenskins, kicking Chaos, gathering traitor Legions, reshaping humanity's future... Theoretically, that's how it should be.
Gazing at the tightly shut gates of the Terra Imperial Palace, Sage Li Ang wanted to cry:
"Open up! I'm really here to save the Emperor from the toilet!"
PS: Ads may affect reading.
Chapter 1: Armed Grave Robbery, Then Chased by Abaddon
What's it like to be hit directly in the face by a boarding torpedo?
Li Ang had experienced it, but he couldn't quite describe it. When that massive black iron rod pierced through the armor, grazed his face, and slammed into the ship's hull, he had already passed out from the immense tremor and the piercing shriek of air rapidly venting from the damaged compartment.
But the next moment, Li Ang was forcibly awakened by the equipment on his body. A stimulant, following his steel spine, directly stimulated his central nervous system. As one of the few remaining pieces of flesh on him, his brain keenly received the stimulation and sent a mandatory feedback to his body, pulling Li Ang's consciousness back from the depths of darkness after less than half a second of unconsciousness.
The now conscious Li Ang suddenly looked up, just in time to meet the first black-armored Space Marine emerging from the boarding torpedo. The Space Marine raised his Bolter and fired, the muzzle spitting out fierce tongues of flame. In an instant, deadly Bolter rounds were upon Li Ang!
Li Ang grunted, but he didn't panic. The Bolter rounds in front of him were swallowed by a pale blue translucent barrier. Before his oxygen mask dropped over his face, he even pulled his lips into a mocking expression at the black-armored Astartes. This clearly enraged the Space Marine, who unhesitatingly lowered his Bolter and charged at Li Ang with a chainsword. But when his swinging chainsword was also blocked by the pale blue translucent barrier, an expression of surprise inevitably appeared on his face.
"Not a deflector field?" he asked.
"Energy shield, kid!" Li Ang grinned. He kicked the opponent away, then drew the Solar Axe from his back. This weapon, originating from starcraft, was powered by an Aeldari Soul Stone and looked quite formidable.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, the black-armored Astartes turned his body sideways, trying to block Li Ang's counterattack with his thickest shoulder plate. But Li Ang simply adjusted a button on the Solar Axe. The suddenly glowing Solar Axe was swung like a whirlwind in his hand. The immense force, combined with the decomposition field on the axe's edge, sliced the black-armored Astartes in front of him from shoulder to waist, like a hot knife through butter.
"And the Solar Axe," Li Ang kicked the half-corpse blocking his way to the ground. "You know, I'm always ready to embrace the glory of battle."
Having lost the half-second opportunity of Li Ang's initial unconsciousness, the remaining four Space Marine, who were only now emerging from the boarding torpedo, posed no threat to Li Ang. A plasma gun automatically unfolded from the mechanical backpack on his back. The Space Marine attempting to counterattack from the boarding torpedo were picked off one by one by the loyal, fully automatic plasma gun.
The fifth and final Space Marine lunged out from behind the boarding torpedo only when the plasma gun overheated, rushing straight for Li Ang. But as the Servitor behind him pulled the trigger, a large hole was melted into the chest of this last Space Marine, and he fell to the ground, lifeless.
"The sudden change in air pressure caused you to lose consciousness for 0.43 seconds, and you also displayed many useless emotions during the battle. These all slowed down your combat efficiency, Sage Li Ang," the servo-skull recording data coldly reminded him. "I still recommend further modifications to your body, especially replacing your fragile human brain."
"But having a human head is what shows the difference between me and them, isn't it?" Li Ang stepped on the corpse of the black-armored Space Marine, disdainfully spitting at the eight-pointed star of Chaos symbol on its forehead.
He changed the subject: "Show me the current status of my Craftworld. That son of a bitch Abaddon, what business is it of his if I steal Fabius Bile's stuff, that he's going to such lengths to board and chase me?"
"Strictly speaking, that wasn't just Fabius Bile's property, Sage Li Ang," the Servitor at Li Ang's side helpfully pointed out the issue. "If you hadn't stolen Abaddon's father's DNA, I think he would have been happy to watch Fabius Bile's antics instead of personally leading a team to hunt you down."
"He didn't clean up properly when he destroyed the clone Horus and recovered Horus's body, allowing Fabius Bile to keep Horus's DNA sample. I wasn't interested in Horus's body; I just took Horus's DNA that Fabius was hoarding. And Abaddon blames me for it?" Li Ang grumbled. Without looking back, he asked, "What's the situation with the mechanical Craftworld now? How much time do we have left?"
The servo-skull floating beside Li Ang's shoulder projected an overview of the Craftworld. The condition of the mechanical Craftworld was displayed in detail before Li Ang, with dense red warning signals indicating its precarious state. The Servitor beside him dutifully explained:
"Mechanical Craftworld Truth was boarded by the Black Legion. After several advance Terminator squads were teleported onto the mechanical Craftworld and damaged some plasma engines, the enemy launched dozens of boarding torpedoes into different parts of the hull and deployed landing craft against Truth, which lacked anti-boarding defenses."
"Currently, about two hundred Chaos Space Marine are systematically clearing our resistance forces on the mechanical Craftworld floor by floor and tightening the encirclement. Considering that the enemy is continuously reinforcing, according to calculations, the existing Skitarii can only maintain effective resistance for about three more hours. And one hour, ten minutes, and twenty-three seconds before the Skitarii collapse, we will find ourselves in a predicament where we will encounter Chaos Space Marine no matter which passage we take."
"What about the gene-vault where Horus's DNA is stored? I need to get there first."
"Proceeding in that direction will lead to a direct encounter with three Black Legion Space Marine squads, including one Terminator squad."
Li Ang's steps halted. His gaze passed through the damaged porthole of Truth, looking outside. There, a grim black Battleship hung silently not far from Truth. Its macro-cannons, pointed directly at Truth, seemed to mock Li Ang's overestimation of his own abilities.
He was confident he could deal with the three Chaos Space Marine squads, including the Terminators. But the Warmaster Abaddon was on that Battleship nearby, observing Li Ang's mechanical Craftworld with a hunter's eyes. The Battleship, with its macro-cannons aimed directly at Truth, was the Sword of Damocles hanging over Li Ang's head.
Abaddon had only sent people to board now because he still wanted to capture this mechanical Craftworld to achieve a greater victory. If the Chaos Space Marine who boarded went missing one after another, he had no doubt that the topknot would directly use the macro-cannons to blow this mechanical Craftworld to smithereens.
As the owner and captain of the mechanical Craftworld Truth, Li Ang clearly knew that this monkey-model mechanical Craftworld, modified from a Luna-class Cruiser, simply couldn't withstand the main guns of a Battleship.
Speed was originally Truth's only advantage against a Battleship... But when this Chaos Battleship suddenly teleported in front of Truth in a bizarre manner that violated Warp rules and damaged some of Truth's plasma engines with a teleportation boarding action, death for this Craftworld was only a matter of time.
As an Untouchables, Li Ang, who wasn't worried about his soul being tormented by the Four Chaos Gods after death, was never afraid of sacrifice. He even carried a melta bomb on his person as his glorious last resort. Assuming Abaddon would personally board and confront him, he would not hesitate to detonate the melta bomb and take Abaddon with him to see the most beautiful fireworks. But that wasn't the situation now.
Horus's DNA held many possibilities for Li Ang, but it wasn't worth his life. Li Ang wasn't prepared to meet Huang Lao Han just for Horus's DNA; even if no one reminded him that he had many things to do, he didn't plan to rest with Huang Lao Han just yet.
"Abandon the gene-vault. We're changing course for the escape pod bay," Li Ang calmly decided. "Abaddon wants Horus's DNA, so let him have it back. There's more to value in this universe than just that."
"Instruction received. Proceeding to escape pod bay," the servo-skull flickered. "Calculating from current position, estimated arrival in thirteen minutes and thirteen seconds."
The Servitor beside him, however, had strong objections to Li Ang's decision: "Sage, there are many valuable things on this Craftworld besides the DNA, including what we've acquired through archaeology and your proprietary inventions that you haven't yet reported to the Forge World. Are you sure you want to abandon this mechanical Craftworld directly?"
"The truly valuable thing on this ship is my head," Li Ang tapped the only remaining human part of his body. "As long as I'm alive, the knowledge we've gained isn't lost."
"But there's a possibility those things could fall into heretical hands. They might decipher the intricacies of your unique inventions and bring more disaster to the loyal citizens of the Imperium."
"They can, at most, use them. They won't be able to decipher the manufacturing methods."
Li Ang weighed the Solar Axe in his hand. This was also one of his proprietary "inventions." For a reason he couldn't disclose to others, he was quite certain that Abaddon couldn't decipher it.
He looked deeply at the Servitor, his experimental assistant. When he modified him, he retained a significant portion of his autonomous consciousness as a human, and he indeed displayed a subjectivity as a human that Li Ang himself found hard to imagine. "Come with me to the escape pod bay now. There's a small escape craft there, enough for the two of us."
The Servitor was silent for a moment, as if his human thoughts and the programmed logic implanted when he was modified into a Servitor were clashing. But in the end, he lowered his head and humbly said, "Your will, master."
The two hurried through the combat zone on the mechanical Craftworld, heading for the escape pod bay. After killing several obstructing Chaos Space Marine along the way, Li Ang and his Servitor finally reached the area where the escape pod bay was located. There, a small escape craft, personally modified by Li Ang, was docked, awaiting its users.
"This escape craft has been modified by me. It has a special small Warp engine and a Gellar field, enough for us to make a short-range Warp jump," Li Ang told the Servitor, opening the escape craft's hatch. "You disconnect the escape craft's safety connection to the mechanical Craftworld from outside, then get in. We'll leave here together, understood?"
The Servitor nodded and began operating. Li Ang climbed into the escape craft, checking all the equipment—especially whether the Gellar field was still functioning normally. Once he confirmed everything, he raised his hand to signal the Servitor to enter the escape pod. But the Servitor outside shook his head at him and closed the escape pod's hatch.
"What are you doing!" Li Ang was a little annoyed. He tried to directly manipulate the Servitor's underlying code, but the Servitor stopped him.
"Sage Li Ang," the Servitor said earnestly to Li Ang, "although you never named me, I believe you still remember our first encounter. I am grateful that you saved me from the Ecclesiarchy and transformed me, who was condemned to thoughtless servitude, into a Servitor with some capacity for thought.
I often wonder what purpose there is in retaining some human consciousness. Of course, I am your Servitor, your experimental assistant, but at the same time, I also hope to make a greater contribution as a human, for example, to offer my life to stop the enemies of Chaos."
"The structure of the Craftworld is unique; there are no Navigators or Captains on board. Only you have the authority to activate the self-destruct system once the control room is reached on this Craftworld.
I hope you can give me an opportunity, the honor of dying gloriously as a human, by granting me self-destruct authority for the Craftworld. I will go to the control room to initiate self-destruction and overload the engines. I will destroy any possibility of the enemy seizing any of your creations and bring a complete end to the enemies still on the Truth."
Li Ang pressed his lips together. He looked at his Servitor, and sadness spread through his mind. His rationality, including every computational device on his body, reminded him that keeping this Servitor would be beneficial for his actions after escaping.
But he possessed more than just rationality. Unlike other Tech-Priests who had uploaded their consciousness to computers and simulated human emotions with mood regulators, Li Ang, still retaining a human brain, could taste this human emotion.
He chewed on this bitter feeling and nodded to his Servitor.
The Servitor did not smile; previous modifications had long since deprived him of the ability to express emotion, but Li Ang could feel his satisfaction. He disconnected the safety link of the escape equipment and sent the small escape pod into the launch bay.
At the very last moment in the launch window, he did not perform the Adeptus Mechanicus gear-rite for Li Ang, but instead crossed his arms and performed an Aquila salute.
"May the God-Emperor protect you, Sage Li Ang."
"I do not believe in the Emperor, but I believe in human wisdom and courage," Li Ang replied softly. "Go and do what you want to do, as a human."
The escape pod ignited its engines, propelling Li Ang inside into the vast universe. The Servitor gradually disappeared from Li Ang's sight, replaced by a panoramic view of the battle-scarred Truth.
His servo-skull told Li Ang that the probability of a Servitor reaching the control room and detonating the Craftworld under such circumstances was infinitesimally close to zero. But deep down, Li Ang felt certain he would succeed.
"There are always things in this world that probability statistics can't account for," Li Ang mocked, tapping his servo-skull. He connected his cables to the Cogitator system inside the escape pod and began calculating the data required for an emergency Warp jump.
Even for an un-directional emergency jump, not heading to Mandel Point, the data required still needed a certain amount of calculation time to avoid being lost forever in the Warp.
Li Ang believed Abaddon would give him this time, and indeed he did.
When the Diviner-Chief on the Chaos Battleship reported to Abaddon that a small escape pod signal was detected on the divining instrument, he was met with the Warmaster's displeased reprimand.
"An escape pod? Where can he escape to! An escape pod without even interstellar navigation capabilities will eventually just drift forever in space, or make an emergency landing on a nearby planet."
Abaddon sneered, "I think this Sage is merely desperate. Ignore it. Tell the warriors on the Craftworld to proceed to the control room at all costs and seize control of this Craftworld!"
His gaze lingered on the Craftworld, his eyes filled with greed. The Black Legion had only recently been formed and was in a period of recovery. The continuous campaigns to subjugate various warbands had already depleted the Black Legion's reserves.
Now, a Craftworld was delivered to their doorstep—even if it was just a small Craftworld modified by a minor Sage—the technology and various production facilities on it would surely alleviate the Black Legion's immediate needs.
This foolish Tech-Priest, in order to steal his father's DNA from Fabius Bile, had actively delivered all his worldly possessions into his hands. And now, this Sage had fled in a panic before even having a chance to detonate the Craftworld.
This cowardice, identical to that of the Sages who stood by idly on Mars during the Battle of Terra, filled Abaddon with confidence. He would undoubtedly seize this opportunity and lead the Black Legion to another victory!
But victory did not arrive as promised.
The porthole reflected the scene of the Craftworld suddenly erupting in a brilliant shower of sparks, then being annihilated in an explosion, and also reflected Abaddon's astonished eyes.
He suddenly rose from his throne and quickly went to the porthole. Suddenly, he turned around and walked to the trembling Diviner-Chief.
"Where is that Tech-Priest's escape pod! He must pay for this!" Abaddon roared.
"Its escape pod is still showing on the divining instrument; it has barely moved since just now," the Diviner-Chief stammered, pointing to the divining instrument. "Now... oh no, my God!"
Abaddon roughly pushed aside the Diviner-Chief and personally looked at the information displayed on the divining instrument. He saw that intense Warp fluctuations had appeared on that escape pod, and then there was nothing left on the divining instrument.
Such a significant signal pointed to only one possibility: that this escape pod, which could not possibly carry a Warp engine due to its size, had now escaped by means of a Warp jump, slipping from Abaddon's control.
The Warmaster was silent for a moment. He slammed his fist onto the divining instrument with such force that it shattered completely.
Iskandar Khayon, the Thousand Sons Sorcerer who had been resting after casting a spell to teleport the entire Battleship, hurried to the bridge. Seeing the current scene, and understanding what had happened, he walked to Abaddon's side and whispered, "We have already won, Abaddon, there is no need to be so angry."
"Won?" Abaddon turned to look at Khayon. Even though the other party was a "brother" he had personally recruited, he could not put on a good face right now. "The Craftworld is destroyed, and that Tech-Priest has escaped.
Besides those hastily trained cannon fodder, I also lost two Terminator squads—those were brothers who fought alongside me since the Legion era! You call this outcome a victory?"
"Yes, victory!" Khayon raised his voice slightly. "Although we paid a price, we gained leverage over Fabius Bile, thwarted the plot to steal Horus's genes, displayed the authority of the Chaos Warmaster, and told everyone that no matter the cost, the dignity of the Black Legion will not be challenged!
Your increased prestige will help you better organize the Second Black Crusade you anticipate!"
"Abaddon, this is a victory! A victory that looks to the future, disregarding immediate gains! A typical Abaddon-style victory!"
Abaddon watched Khayon's impassioned speech, his clenching and unclenching fists revealing his turbulent emotions. But eventually, he accepted Khayon's words: "Yes, my brother, this is a victory."
Hearing Abaddon's words, the almost frozen air on the bridge began to flow again. The Mortals crew members all breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that they would not be executed for failure.
"I will announce to the outside world that this is a victory, but I do not wish for any knowing Mortals to leave here, to prevent the spread of rumors," Abaddon said coldly. "Nothing but victory will remain here."
Khayon nodded, psychic flames coiling around his hands: "As it should be."
Abaddon left the bridge without looking back; the wails of the Mortals behind him would not improve his mood in the slightest.
In the distant M32.540 era, the great Chaos Warmaster, Abaddon the Despoiler, once again tasted a bitter victory.
He did not yet know the name of the Tech-Priest who had escaped, but he would one day. For Li Ang's story was about to begin now.
PS: No crossing into other worlds, just putting other art styles into Warhammer 15
Chapter Two: Looking Back
Li Ang was a transmigrator.
In an era where web novels about transmigrators were commonplace, such an identity seemed unremarkable. But what if the world was Warhammer?
At least Li Ang had never thought about transmigrating to Warhammer. He loved all kinds of hard and soft sci-fi works, knew about Warhammer, painted miniatures, and had even jokingly agreed to the Warhammer conscription agreement written in the user agreement while playing Warhammer games.
But when he was truly sent to Warhammer by a mud truck, the only thing he thought about was escaping.
Are you kidding? Who would want to jump into a cesspit!
But coming to such a place was easy; leaving was difficult. After confirming that he did not have a login/logout system like in games and being unsure if dying again would return him to his original world, Li Ang could only accept the fact that he had transmigrated to Warhammer.
Fortunately, his origin was not bad. It wasn't some primitive planet with only medieval technology and no prospects. Instead, he transmigrated to the famous Forge World, Huangquan Eight's Hive City. And the timing was precisely after the Horus Heresy, a time when Forge Worlds and indeed the entire Imperium of Man were in a period of reconstruction.
Although it wasn't a grand or turbulent era, it was just right for Li Ang. After all, the Imperium of Man, in its revival after the Horus Heresy, was in a prosperous period that needed various technical talents, offering ample room for advancement while being relatively safe.
Relying on the golden finger that every transmigrator seemed to possess, Li Ang, who had infiltrated the Adeptus Mechanicus, started as a Mechanicus apprentice, his status rising steadily with his contributions.
After achieving the rank of Tech-Priest, Li Ang unhesitatingly used all his savings to purchase a Luna-class Cruiser and modified it into his makeshift Craftworld, beginning a universe-wide archaeological excavation.
Such behavior was not uncommon within the Adeptus Mechanicus, who sought ancient STC templates. However, Li Ang's purpose differed fundamentally from those Sages pursuing STCs. His actions were more to serve his golden finger—the knowledge of other universes that filled his mind.
After transmigrating to Warhammer, Li Ang discovered that the design blueprints for various products from the sci-fi works he had once been obsessed with had materialized in his mind.
They seemed to have transformed from virtual concepts extracted from works into things that could genuinely be manufactured.
Li Ang had also suspected whether this bizarre knowledge originated from a "gift" from some blue bird-headed person, but the Untouchables trait he possessed initially dispelled his doubts.
Upon joining the Adeptus Mechanicus, Li Ang immediately set about using the resources at hand to directly reproduce the contents of these blueprints, but every attempt ended in failure.
As experience accumulated, Li Ang gradually realized that due to different rules between universes, the blueprint designs from other works were not directly applicable to the Warhammer Universe.
However, by excavating and mastering similar scientific technologies within the Warhammer Universe, plus a little WAAAGH! Power, Li Ang could use "Warhammer's way" to reproduce the technological equipment of other universes into the Warhammer world through his hands.
Although the production lines thus created could operate normally in anyone's hands, the process of reproducing the blueprint technology from other works into Warhammer had to be done through Li Ang.
Li Ang had once tested drawing the blueprints, preparing the materials, and inviting another Sage to create the equipment from the blueprints, but that Sage could never grasp the manufacturing Ideas, and even by following the blueprints step-by-step, would ultimately fail.
Only when Li Ang personally completed this "design from another world" and then taught it to others, could others learn the intricacies of it.
This was very strange, as if these blueprints and designs simply did not exist in this world until they were personally made and given concept by Li Ang.