With Fulgrim gone, Guilliman announced that the celebration would continue. The venue soon returned to a noisy state of revelry.
On the Ultramarines' side, thanks to the coordinates provided by Zeke, they locked onto the remaining traitors hiding in the city and swept them all away.
The celebration lasted for half a day. Everyone was cheering and rejoicing—everyone, that is, except for the Primarch. As the hours passed, he grew increasingly absent-minded. To his practical mind, spending time on this parade felt infinitely less useful than approving the mountain of logistics documents waiting in his office.
But the celebration was nearing its end, so the Primarch held his tongue.
Guilliman glanced at Zeke beside him. The human's enthusiasm was significantly higher than his own. Zeke was shaking hands with everyone who greeted him with a face full of smiles.
A Librarian? Here? Zeke's eyes lit up as he shook the hand of a blue-armored psyker. Jackpot. Gotta trade for a few more Enchanted Books quickly. Mending, maybe?
While shaking hands and chatting with a middle-aged man, Zeke frantically clicked on his system's trade interface. Macragge had a massive population with "villagers" of every profession. Zeke could trade for every type of villager item here.
Things are looking up. Coupled with the Emeralds paid by the Ultramarines for their enchantments earlier, Zeke's pockets were flush again.
He took out the Resident Manual. After some deliberation, he selected Bela and raised his profession level by one, promoting him to Level 2.
[Unlocked Mod: Botania]
This upgrade unlocked Giant Crops, granting a chance to grow massive versions of vegetables, and incidentally unlocked a major new mod: Botania.
This could be considered the first "magic" mod Zeke had unlocked.
Botania: A tech mod disguised as a magic mod.
It featured various functional flowers, wands, unique equipment, and powerful baubles.
For example, the Hydroangeas, which generated mana when water flowed nearby—essentially a magical hydroelectric generator.
The Loonium, a flower capable of spawning dungeon loot and rare treasures from thin air.
The Hyacidus, which could poison nearby mobs and incite them to slaughter each other in a blind rage.
And the Bellethorne, creating an absolute domain that prevented enemies from entering.
Of course, this was just the tip of the iceberg. The content of Botania was incredibly rich and covered a wide range of utilities. However, similar to other tech mods, before synthesizing these precious functional flowers and equipment, one needed to climb the tech tree and do some tedious collection and construction work.
I'll leave the grinding to Bela, Zeke decided.
He closed the Resident Manual; his mind had already flown to the camp, eager to see what Bela would build.
Suddenly, a mournful wail pierced the air, slicing through the cheers like a knife.
It was utterly out of place.
Below, in the crowd, a woman bowed her head. She covered her face with her hands, her body trembling incessantly.
Guilliman's intuition flared. This was definitely no coincidence.
Another obstacle. Zeke looked at the woman. In her status bar, a debuff pulsed: [Weeping Plague].
This debuff was spreading to the crowd around her at a terrifying speed.
The crying became louder and louder, drowning out the cheers. In moments, the joyous celebration transformed into a scene of deathly cries and resentment.
Calgar then quickly conversed with a medical officer and handed a dataslate to Guilliman. Zeke leaned over to read the information.
It turned out this situation was not happening for the first time. In systems like Drohl and Talassar, this plague had already appeared.
The Weeping Plague.
That was what the populace called it. Those afflicted by this virus would suffer from crushing depression, and thick, viscous tears would flow uncontrollably from their eyes. These tears would obscure their vision, cause their eyeballs to fester and eventually dissolve within the skull.
"No matter how fast it spreads, it's impossible for a disease to reach Macragge from those systems in just one or two days," Calgar speculated grimly. "Someone intentionally transported a carrier into the celebration."
Guilliman read the contents of the dataslate, his face darkening. He realized this was Nurgle's handiwork.
And it was highly likely a "gift" from his own fallen brother, Mortarion.
Guilliman strode toward the weeping woman.
Calgar stepped forward to intercept but the Primarch shook his head. He did not fear this disease; what truly weighed on his heart was the suffering of his people.
He gently pulled away the hands covering the woman's face and saw the tragic scene beneath. Soaked in the toxic tears, her entire face had begun to rot and swell.
The woman couldn't see anything. She could only feel someone gently holding her hands.
Then, a miracle happened.
The tears began to melt away, and the woman regained her sight. She saw Guilliman's noble face and realized who stood before her.
Guilliman's spirit lifted. His special status as a Son of the Emperor—a living demigod—could cure these patients simply by his presence.
He walked to the next weeping person. As he approached, that person was also cured.
However, as Guilliman moved away, the first woman began to cry again. The tears entangled her once more, the rot returning the moment the Primarch's aura faded.
"It's no use. Watch me."
Zeke stepped forward and pulled a bucket of Milk from his inventory.
Plague? Please. In Minecraft, this was just a status effect.
He poured the milk down the woman's throat. Instantly, the crying stopped. The rot vanished. She returned to normal.
Zeke took a few more buckets of milk from his backpack and distributed them to the sick. One by one, the plague was cleared from the area completely, leaving no trace behind.
Zeke called Calgar over. "Didn't Kell tell you about the milk?"
"He did." Calgar checked the dataslate; the records indeed noted that milk had a potent effect on this plague. "It's just that there are so many infected people this time, spread across multiple star systems. We need a massive amount of milk to clear all the infected simultaneously; otherwise, they will continue to cross-infect each other."
"So, the milk production isn't enough?" (TL/N: Poor Cow)
Calgar nodded gravely.
–
The celebration ended hastily. Zeke returned to the Cadian camp through the Nether Portal.
Everything was running as usual. During Zeke's absence, the Cadian camp had developed rapidly. Before he left, this place was just a fortified outpost. Now, as far as the eye could see, it had taken on the embryonic form of a vibrant town.
With the camp as the core, circles of neatly constructed new districts spread outward.
"Zeke, long time no see!" Bela was pleasantly surprised to see him. "I have to show you something."
He took Zeke to the front of the camp, where a lush flower garden now bloomed.
It was filled with various Mystical Flowers from Botania. Zeke hadn't expected Bela to develop this far so quickly.
Nearby, Zeke saw a batch of "generating flora"—flowers used to produce Mana.
Several Hydroangeas were sipping from water sources, and Endoflames were devouring coal to generate magical energy. There were even some Thermalillies absorbing lava.
At this rate, they would be able to craft a Wand of the Forest very soon.
"Have you thought about the subsequent development route?" Zeke asked Bela.
Bela nodded. The moment the mod was unlocked, a clear development path had appeared in his mind.
Bela handed over several bottles of strange liquid—brews from Botania.
[Brew of Sanity] x64
Effect: Grants 10 minutes of Warp Ward upon use, blocking all mental attacks and corruption.
It was equivalent to carrying a personal Null Field. For an ordinary human to cross the Warp in the flesh was no longer a dream.
After discussing the magical flowers with Bela, Zeke finally brought up the main topic.
"Calgar told me there isn't enough milk for the plague?"