Five ship-time hours later, Nareth returned to the "Kingdom of Disorder" again. He found Santiago had returned to his quarters.
With no one around, he pulled Santiago into the "Kingdom of Disorder."
Santiago was swallowed by black mist. He was stunned for a moment before regaining his senses.
As a daemonology psyker, he could confirm the power that pulled him into this mysterious space was unrelated to the Warp.
'This is the power of the Black Emperor.'
He looked towards the throne high in the depths of the black mist and bowed. "My Lord."
"You were injured?"
Hearing the Black Emperor's concerned inquiry, a surge of warmth flowed through Santiago's body, as if bathed in sunlight.
"Thank you for your concern. I am not seriously injured."
"What happened?" Nareth asked.
"My Lord, I followed your command to reactivate the Kalium Gate." Santiago replied.
"After using psychic detection equipment, I found that reactivating two opposing space stations could awaken the dormant Kalium Gate, allowing ships within at least five hundred light-years to complete Warp travel."
"After inspecting all the ring-shaped space stations, I determined that the upper and lower opposing stations were in the best overall condition, so I prioritized repairing that pair."
"After repairing the stations, I commanded a frigate to enter the Kalium Gate for a trial voyage. Inside, I encountered a massive creature."
"What kind of creature?" Nareth asked.
"The ship's scanners indicated its overall shape resembled the whales of ancient Terra."
"Scan results showed its length was actually 3,200 kilometers."
Nareth knew of two enormous whale-like creatures. One was the Sky Whale encountered by the future Commissar Ciaphas Cain on Blesia.
It lived in the atmosphere, and locals tamed these gentle creatures as beasts of burden.
A length of thirty-two hundred kilometers could only be that of a Void Whale. Compared to it, a Sky Whale was like plankton.
Nareth's deepest memory of Void Whales was from the future "Plague Wars," where Nurgle used seven Void Whales, which He had dragged into the Realm of Chaos during the "Ruin-storm," as plague arks, crashing them onto Axe, the world He saw as blasphemous.
He knew Void Whales swam through the darkness of space and sometimes rode the supernatural waves of the Warp.
'Could it be a Void Whale drifted with the currents, "swimming" into the Kalium Gate and getting "stuck" there?'
"We had just completed the scans and were figuring out how to deal with this behemoth when countless winged creatures suddenly flew out from its body, attacking the ship."
Nareth nodded slightly. He knew that due to their immense size, these Warp creatures possessed their own ecosystems, inhabited by various insidious beings.
He thought to himself, 'If it truly is a Void Whale, no wonder Lion El'Jonson had to personally enter the Kalium Gate to deal with it.'
Although he knew that in 877.M41, a terrifying mutated Void Whale emerged from the Warp, and Wolf Lord Krakendoom fought his way through the whale's body, planting thermal charges on its vital organs, igniting the gas sacs and causing it to explode.
But that method would trigger Warp turbulence, which clearly couldn't be used in the Kalium Gate.
Santiago's psychic power wasn't strong enough to teleport a Void Whale elsewhere.
"I will set course for the Kalium Gate immediately." Nareth gazed at Santiago, noticing the colors in his astral body were balanced and stable.
For most Sequences, after digesting the potion, the radiance was a pure single color, but "Trickmaster" should be different.
"You have mastered the power of 'Trickmaster'?"
Santiago pondered for a moment before replying.
"Yes, My Lord. Ever since you bestowed power upon me again, I have been diligently practicing tricks."
"Moreover, similar to when I was an 'Apprentice,' a month ago, I felt something shatter within me."
"I believe I am now a true 'Trickmaster'."
"After you return, perform a prayer. I will bestow new power upon you." After speaking, Nareth sent Santiago back to the real world.
He flashed to the first layer of the space.
Nareth ordered the Jokaeros to make the Sequence 7 "Astrologer" potion using Starfall Stone and other materials.
As the Jokaeros worked swiftly, whispers sounded in Nareth's ears.
Concentrating, he could clearly hear the prayer from Santiago: "Black Emperor of the Shadows of Order..."
A short while later, holding the diamond-like "Astrologer" potion, he returned to the fourth layer of the space.
Nareth's spirituality extended again. He saw Santiago had gone outside his bedroom, where he had set up a small altar.
Although he didn't need such solemnity, a simple prayer would also receive the Black Emperor's response.
On the altar's twin stone platforms lay a copy of Iron Laws of Monarchs, asymmetrical candle flames flickered around it.
Santiago happened to be reciting, "I beseech your bestowal..."
Black mist surged in his vision, and a sudden gust of wind blew through the cabin.
The black mist quickly dissipated. Santiago saw a potion vial before him, the potion inside shimmering like a diamond.
"Thank you for the bestowal, My Lord. Praise to you."
Santiago whispered, then picked up the vial and drank the contents.
As the potion slid down his throat, countless starry lights flickered before his eyes.
At the moment Santiago became an "Astrologer," Nareth also returned to the Shadow of Sovereignty and ordered the fleet to set sail.
Since no Teleportarium had been built in the Ganfall System yet, the fleet first spent two ship-standard weeks reaching the Veridia System.
Subsequently, it took twelve weeks to emerge from the Teleportarium that had just been completed at the Kalium Gate.
The 1st Chapter, which departed simultaneously, was still en route.
Navigators calculated that traveling via the Teleportarium to Vostroya, then to Necromunda, and finally to Elysia, would take longer than direct travel.
Araneus Gate only slightly shortened travel time, measured in weeks.
They couldn't shorten travel time by tens or hundreds of times like the Kalium Gate.
Their greatest advantage was being unaffected by Warp turbulence, not having routes disrupted by Warp storms.
Upon arriving at the Kalium Gate, Nareth, accompanied by Arsena and led by Santiago, boarded a gunship heading towards the Kalium Gate.
On the destroyer's central bridge, the Primarch looked through the viewport at the Kalium Gate.
A series of interlinked space stations, connected by massive bundles of cables kilometers long, lay spread out like an unfurled necklace.
The gate was vast, once activated was sufficient to allow an entire Expeditionary Fleet to travel through it.
Warp Insight revelead the ring surface within the "necklace" shimmered with dazzling light.
Tracing the source of the light, the Primarch saw it emanated precisely from the two opposing space stations, one above, one below.
The stations' ether generators operated at high speed, injecting energy into the Warp Gate.
In the Baron of Corruption's vision, the Kalium Gate was varied and chaotic in colors region crisscrossed with countless lines.
The protective shutters closed as the bridge entered the Warp Gate.
A massive behemoth blocked the entrance, barring the path forward.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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