Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor-Chapter 278 - 279: Forge Director: Oh No, Am I the Traitor?

The Red-Robed Deputy Director muttered in a deep voice.

Within the Mechanicus, there was always a trend of competing in mechanical body modifications.

Every time the Forge Director upgraded his mechanical body, he would show off to the two Deputy Directors, even listing detailed data and comparing it to the mechanical bodies of the Deputies.

He would subtly point out that their mechanical bodies were too low-end and needed improvement.

Such behavior was like driving a Rolls-Royce and repeatedly showing off by overtaking a Mazda.

How could anyone tolerate that?

So, the Red-Robed Deputy Director had been diligently researching all these years, determined to defeat the Forge Director once and for all. Yet, he had failed every time.

"If you think using brute force will make me yield, you're gravely mistaken. Go ahead, you arrogant fool, use your little squirt gun to attack me!"

The Red-Robed Deputy Director put on an unyielding stance.

These words completely enraged the Forge Director:

"You will pay the price for your insolent words!"

Boom—

The air rumbled.

A sudden gravitational field erupted, suppressing the Red-Robed Deputy Director, rendering him immobile.

Then, the immense energy stored within the cannon was instantly released, and several dazzling melta rays ignited the air.

With destructive force, they shot directly at the target.

The Forge Director's attack was swift and devastating, capable of penetrating any personal force field defense shield.

It was nearly impossible to withstand.

Even a Terminator or an Imperial Knight here would be reduced to molten limbs, helplessly captured!

Zzzla—

Amidst the crowd's exclamations, the melta rays struck the mechanical limbs of the Red-Robed Deputy Director.

But the next moment—

The melta rays were refracted to the ground, melting several crimson holes in the metal floor.

The melta attack failed!

As the smoke from the melta energy dissipated—

Buzzz~

Everyone saw the faint glow emanating from the Red-Robed Deputy Director's body.

It was the glow of a defensive force field.

The Lumin Shield!

This was an electromagnetic force field shield installed on heavy vehicles, originating from the Dark Age of Technology.

But the Red-Robed Deputy Director's body was equipped with an upgraded version, integrating alien technology, making it applicable to mechanical bodies.

Moreover, it possessed even stronger defensive capabilities.

"When did you modify your shield?"

Seeing this, the Forge Director's spider-like ocular lenses trembled, his electronic voice filled with disbelief:

"Omnissiah! This is impossible! Tell me, how did you fuse alien engines with the Lumin Shield?"

For years, he had been researching improvements to the Lumin Shield but had been unable to break through.

However, his Deputy Director had silently researched it, equipped it, and succeeded!

"Director, are you envious?"

The Red-Robed Deputy Director said smugly:

"That's just one breakthrough. Look at this…"

The moment he finished speaking—

Several melta cannons identical to the Forge Director's extended from the Red-Robed Deputy Director's mechanical body, each containing even greater power.

"This is the latest model of personal melta cannon, at least 20% more powerful than the tiny squirt gun you're equipped with!"

"And…"

He continued to display several other mechanical creations mounted on his body, all superior in performance to the Forge Director's equivalents.

"You… you…"

The Forge Director stared at the mechanical body of the Red-Robed Deputy Director, his electronic brain nearly overloading from disbelief.

Moreover, he realized that he might not be able to take down this rebellious Deputy Director on his own.

"Witness me, Omnissiah! The long patience has finally ended, and now, you arrogant fool, you shall see…

What true technology looks like!"

Seeing the shocked, jealous, and powerless expression of the Forge Director, the Red-Robed Deputy Director felt immense satisfaction.

Over the past six months, he had broken through several bottlenecks through the Mechanicum Forum, almost completely replacing all his equipment.

He had been holding back for so long.

And now, he finally showed off big time in front of this arrogant fool!

"Director, your little squirt gun and mechanical body are outdated. You really need to put in more effort."

The Red-Robed Deputy Director delivered a final, cutting blow.

Boom!

Mechanical conduits spewed out more sparks.

"No matter what, your actions have been exposed—You are the traitor!"

The angry electronic voice echoed throughout the hall, and the Forge Director, humiliated in public, was completely infuriated.

He looked at the Grey-Robed Deputy Director beside him:

"Fight alongside me! Take down this traitor who has betrayed Stygian-8!"

Buzzz—

The Grey-Robed Deputy Director's mechanical body popped out a plasma coil cannon.

But then, under everyone's gaze, he aimed the cannon at the Forge Director.

He spoke with a hint of apology:

"Director, please understand, I am also a high-ranking member of the Mechanicum Forum…"

Saying this, the Grey-Robed Deputy Director suddenly unveiled the anti-detection layers on his mechanical body.

Revealing data plates embedded within his body, along with a shimmering emblem of a two-dimensional image of the Machine Goddess.

He wore a proud expression:

"Furthermore, I am a senior member of the Webby Goddess Faithful!"

The Grey-Robed Deputy Director's words drew cheers from other faithful members in the hall.

"Praise the Machine Goddess!"

"Long live Webby!"

The Machine Spirit, Webby, possessed an unimaginably vast database and computing power, granting the Mechanicum members computational boosts several times, even dozens of times, beyond normal.

Such terrifying processing power attracted the fanatical worship of Mechanicum members, even forming dedicated worship groups.

"Even you are a traitor?"

A trembling electronic voice echoed.

Although the Forge Director didn't fully understand what the Webby Goddess was, he realized that another of his Deputy Directors had joined the rebellious platform.

"We of Stygian-8 are all devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. It's only by researching new alien technologies that we can withstand the outside world's accusations and attacks."

The Red-Robed Deputy Director glared fiercely:

"Now, a new and safe path is before us, but as the leader, you resist it and even want to send us to Mars Headquarters for judgment.

The one truly betraying Stygian-8... is you!"

"Director, I must remind you."

The Grey-Robed Deputy Director added:

"Currently, more than sixty percent of the Tech-Priests of Stygian-8 have already accepted the Mechanicum Forum.

You have no right to deprive them of their right to enjoy new knowledge."

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"That's right!"

"We need the Mechanicum Forum!"

Tech-Priests voiced their support, glaring angrily at the Forge Director.

These members of the Mechanicum Forum on Stygian-8 had purposely revealed themselves to be captured, all for this moment.

They wanted the Forge Director to understand that the spread of the Mechanicum Forum was unstoppable!

Seeing the angry gazes of the two Deputy Directors and the Tech-Priests, the Forge Director suddenly felt an uncontrollable sense of guilt.

A ridiculous thought surfaced in his mind: Was he actually... the traitor?

Boom—

The Forge Director collapsed back onto his seat, realizing the situation was beyond salvage.

If he continued to resist—

What awaited Stygian-8 would be total war.

Even if he won, all he would gain would be a crippled, severely weakened Forge World.

And once Stygian-8 lost its unity and plunged into civil war—

Mars Headquarters and the Inquisitors of the Tribunal would seize the opportunity to intervene.

Under the charge of technological heresy, they would suppress or even judge the Tech-Priests researching alien technology.

"Let's talk…"

The Forge Director issued a command, ordering the Machine Guard to withdraw:

"Under the gaze of the Machine God, I will no longer pursue your crimes. But the technology of Stygian-8 can no longer be uploaded.

And you are not allowed to continue expanding."

"Director, your greed and anger have clouded your mind."

Having achieved his goal, the Red-Robed Deputy Director resumed a respectful tone:

"It seems you haven't realized one thing.

That is, we must all join the Mechanicum Forum, and we must do so quickly, or we will lose our advantage!"

"Yes, according to the latest intelligence— The Agripinaa Forge World has already fully joined the Mechanicum Forum."

The Grey-Robed Deputy Director explained:

"With the aid of the forum, they have rapidly updated their core technologies and created even more superior weapons."

Hearing this, the Forge Director finally understood.

The technology of Stygian-8 had already been uploaded to the Mechanicum Forum. If they wanted to maintain their advantage—

They would have to upgrade their core technologies even faster.

But without the help of the forum, relying solely on their own research speed, they could never catch up to other Forge Worlds.

Under such circumstances, Stygian-8 would soon fall behind other Forge Worlds technologically.

Completely losing competitiveness.

For a Forge World, this was a terrifying reality. Without Imperial orders and raw material supplies—

They would quickly decline.

"By the Omnissiah, your views are correct."

The Forge Director, exhausted and resigned, said:

"Stygian-8 will fully join the Mechanicum Forum before the other Forge Worlds can react…"

After speaking, he immediately used his Director's communication channel to issue an order to the entire Forge World of Stygian-8:

Under the guidance of the Machine God, driven by your thirst for knowledge and loyalty to the machine—

I command you to join the Mechanicum Forum with all possible speed.

Let our knowledge and wisdom converge within the forum, to secure a competitive advantage for Stygian-8!

Along with the order, the Forge Director uploaded the data package provided by the Deputy Directors.

It contained blueprints for the data plates and methods to connect to the Mechanicum Forum's channels.

After completing all this, the Forge Director felt a sense of relief.

He then asked:

"I have fulfilled your request. Can someone provide me with a new data plate?"

Since it was a full migration, even he, the Forge Director, could not be an exception.

Besides, he was curious.

How powerful was the Mechanicum Forum, to allow his Deputy Directors to make such rapid progress?

As soon as he finished speaking—

The Red-Robed Deputy Director quickly handed over a brand-new data plate:

"Director, I just happen to have a fresh one here."

His tone was full of anticipation:

"Trust me, you will enjoy the Mechanicum Forum..."

After handing over the data plate, the two Forge Deputy Directors and the Tech-Priests bowed and exited the mechanical palace.

They each went their separate ways.

On his throne, the Forge Director activated the data plate and began to register an account.

Yet he vaguely felt something was off.

Those guys were whispering and looking at him strangely.

After registering—

The Forge Director anonymously entered the Mechanicum Forum.

And then he saw a trending post on the homepage, showing a red-hot virtual video of himself.

The title read: "Like This Post! The Lumin Shield Perfectly Deflects the Pathetic Little Melta Gun!"

Just a moment ago—

The Red-Robed Deputy Director had recorded the footage and uploaded it. With the likes of the Tech-Priests of Stygian-8, it quickly went viral.

Although the video obscured his figure, those familiar with him immediately recognized it was the Forge Director of Stygian-8.

And some old acquaintances who clearly knew it was him were mocking him in the comments!

"You bastards, just you wait!"

The Forge Director raged, unleashing a series of binary expletives.

Of course, mutual mockery was part of everyday life among the Mechanicum members. He did not hate his Deputies for this.

In fact, he felt that now he had joined the platform, he needed to adapt to the culture to better utilize it for his own advantage.

The Forge Director's determination to lead Stygian-8 in researching alien technology without falling to Chaos proved he was rational and open to new things.

After venting his frustration in the comments, the Forge Director quickly found the forum's knowledge base.

Upon browsing, he truly realized the terrifying potential of this knowledge repository.

Even though he was one of the most knowledgeable Tech-Priests within the Mechanicum—

He still discovered countless unique and fascinating ideas and technologies.

"What a pure and beautiful platform, free from the taint of Chaos and perfectly safe!"

The Forge Director couldn't help but praise it.

He had been blinded by greed and anger before.

Now he could see clearly—he had been terribly wrong.

The rest of the translation will be continued in the next message.

The Forge Director felt a sense of relief. Previously, he had been consumed by greed and anger, fixated on reclaiming the technological data of Stygian-8 and seizing the massive database of the Mechanicum Forum.

He even harbored thoughts of completely destroying the forum.

Now that he thought about it, his earlier thoughts were so wrong and foolish, filled with the risk of falling to Chaos.

The galaxy was filled with malice toward researchers.

Throughout the years, countless predecessors of the Mechanicus had been corrupted by Chaos during their pursuit of knowledge, dying with twisted and horrifying forms.

Some even created corrupted technological abominations, causing even greater danger.

Too many had perished because of this.

This led researchers to become increasingly conservative, afraid to take even a single step forward.

But stagnation only led to decline, and humanity ultimately needed more advanced technology.

Therefore, many researchers continued to explore new things, even at great risk.

Stygian-8 was one of those groups.

Throughout the years, Stygian-8 had lost many talented researchers on the path of knowledge exploration, but they never stopped due to fear.

They provided the Imperium with better weapons.

That was one of the reasons Stygian-8 could continue to exist.

But now, a safer research path and platform had emerged—The Mechanicum Forum.

No matter the creator's motives, the existence of the forum truly shared knowledge and benefited researchers like them.

It provided them with a safe environment for communication, significantly reducing the risks of researching new knowledge.

In a way, the Mechanicum Forum was a gift granted by the Machine God to all researchers!

As a researcher himself, what reason did he have not to support it?

After hesitating for a moment, the Forge Director decisively uploaded most of the knowledge from his own database to exchange for Gear Coins.

It was merely known knowledge anyway.

He believed that with his research abilities, he could quickly outpace that old data and develop even deeper and more profound knowledge.

For some reason, the Forge Director felt as if he had broken free from shackles.

It was what he had been pursuing all along.

He even felt a bit grateful towards those Tech-Priests who had fiercely resisted him before, and he was relieved that he had kept his sanity, not allowing his stubbornness to bind him.

Very soon, the Forge Director buried himself in research.

He was determined to create better weapons to show his Deputy Directors what real technology looked like!

...

A*VIII1248 Mechanical Factory.

Factory Laboratory.

"Praise the Omnissiah!"

Parus liked the Forge Director's post and continued his research.

He enjoyed the joy of exploring knowledge:

"This is truly wonderful!"

...

In the Warp.

A dark, twisted Tech-Priest floated in the void, his mechanical body covered in dark runes and mechanical tumors.

No one knew if he was still alive.

Within the Black Tech-Priest's communicator, terrifying whispers echoed, and then he somehow accessed a pure network.

For a brief moment—

His data consciousness was expelled from the pure network, cutting off all entry points.

Behind the Black Tech-Priest—

An evil figure of flesh and machinery intertwined, with sharp mechanical demon wings that seemed capable of tearing through the void.

It was a Demigod, an independent demon from the realm of Chaos, a weapon trader who dealt with the Chaos Gods.

He had many titles: Data Devourer, Demon Artificer, Ruthless Forge Lord.

He was—Vashtorr!

Pssh.

A sharp cable pierced into the electronic brain within the head of the Black Tech-Priest, sucking something out.

"I've found you, delicious data lifeform!"

Vashtorr sneered with a cruel smile…

——

Urth.

The Spire Estate, Savior's Office.

Eden was reviewing the "Psy Network 2.0 Project" documents, which included an online software named "Redemption Marketplace."

This was the second piece of software designed for external use after the Mechanicum Forum, and an important part of trade among the merchants.

He clicked 'Approve,' allowing it to proceed to the construction phase.

After a while—

Eden received a report from Little Ling, informing him that Huangquan-8 had fully joined.

Additionally, the Forge Director of Huangquan-8 had even anonymously joined her Faithful.

"Well, well, I didn't expect you to be this kind of Forge Director!"

Huff~

Listening to Webby's detailed report, Eden finally breathed a sigh of relief:

"If my predictions are correct, the Mechanicum Forum has temporarily passed through the crisis and will expand even faster…"

Now, there were already two Forge Worlds that had joined the Mechanicum Forum.

With their participation, no other Forge World could ignore the existence of the forum.

They would have no choice but to join.

Because this was a massive research competition involving all Forge Worlds.

Their technologies had already been leaked, and the forum's database was continuously expanding.

Those Forge Worlds that did not join would fall behind the others, until they completely lost their competitiveness!

Things were progressing exactly as Eden had predicted.

In the following months, one Forge World after another scrambled to join the Mechanicum Forum in its entirety.

Almost over half of all Forge Worlds had now joined.

In response to the demands of these Forge Worlds, Eden added new functionalities, allowing each Forge World to create their own dedicated forum sections.

He also introduced ranking functions.

Evaluating each Forge World's research capabilities and innovation levels, as well as some personal leaderboards.

This greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the Mechanicum members for research, boosting the overall technological level of the Imperium.

That was what Eden wanted to see.

After all, humanity was in a weak position, often only able to passively endure the slaughter of Chaos and Xenos.

Raising technological standards and reducing casualties was undoubtedly a good thing.

Of course, the improvement in human technology also benefited the Mechanicum Forum, giving it an even more exalted status.

The technology of his domain was advancing rapidly.

Optimized, semi-automated Dreadnoughts, Titans, and Imperial Knights were all entering practical testing phases.

At the same time, more advanced power armor, power weapons, and personal equipment were also under development.

The domain was thriving, growing more prosperous by the day.

However, for some reason, Eden couldn't shake a lingering worry.

Because everything seemed too quiet…

Up until now, Mars Headquarters of the Mechanicus had not released any statements about the Mechanicum Forum, nor had they implemented any countermeasures.

Could it be that Mars Headquarters had tacitly accepted it?

(End of Chapter)

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