I received the rewards immediately afterwards. The Gacha Token was sent directly into my Inventory, while I ignored the basic driving skill. Both of those things were amazing boons, of course, but both of them paled in comparison to the glimmering reward before me, one that – I believe – would alter the Imperium forever if the cog-heads ever got around to making proper use of it. My mind was fixed upon the STC, a candle of hope against the dark.
I could not claim to be well-versed in the realm of technology, but the brief description of it was enough to make me understand just how powerful this item was and what it could possibly mean for humanity.
Starlight Bridge Sender/Receiver, Mark 1 STC – Designed at the tail-end of the Iron Rebellion by a team of brilliant scientists, the Starlight Bridge was meant to be humanity's trump card against the Men of Iron. It is capable of instantaneous transfer of data between two or more units, regardless of distance, allowing multiple star systems a means of real-time communication across a network of units or for fleets to communicate with planets and other fleets from across the galaxy.
However, the original blueprints were destroyed in a freak accident that also resulted in the deaths of all the scientists who worked on the project, ensuring the technology would never be found or replicated.
This was... ridiculous. The ability to communicate in real-time, regardless of distance, would be an advantage to the Imperium at a scale I can't even begin to comprehend. I knew, however, that the order of importance just shifted. This wasn't about me, after all. I turned to my Inventory and eyed the STC for a moment. It was the size of a small fruit, barely larger than my fist and yet it held within it the hope of humanity. I didn't take it out, of course; it was too precious a thing for me to risk such an action, especially not in a burning hangar bay that might just fall apart at any moment. Now, more than anything, I had to find a Tech-Priest.
P.S. This is M, your admin, just trying to let you know that this shit normally can't be replicated with current IoM tech, but physics can go fuck itself. Consider this a boon for being mildly interesting; you're the first native gamer and everyone's excited. I also made sure to store the data in a very simple format so the Mechanicus monkeys won't be left scratching their heads for the next hundred years on what to do with it. White thought it'd be funny to send you a prank item, but Black convinced him otherwise. Hurray for you. Whatever the case, continue being interesting; the Guild is watching and a lot of us are rooting for you. So, expect a few boons here and there, but also expect a few curses, because you don't get to become a Gamer by being a nice guy.
I blinked and eyed the post script for a moment. Ominous, indeed. This was... the second time the "admin" of the System has spoken to me; the first time had been when I first received the System – an entirely accidental event, apparently. To suddenly know that there was, in fact, a whole Guild of them, watching me, was a little disconcerting. But I didn't care for such things – not when there was a literal STC in my Inventory now. I'll deal with whatever the Guild threw my way when and if it became necessary. There was no point in worrying about it for the moment.
Shaking my head, I willed myself back into my lowly human form, absorbed the remains of the Obliterator – just its armor and the weapons sticking out of its body, because my bio-mass reserves were full. The warp energy I absorbed was... weak, actually. I expected more, but it was not that much brighter or more intense as opposed to any of the other souls I'd already devoured. In the end, what was left on the floor was a grotesque, mutated mass of hideously misshapen flesh that might've looked somewhat humanoid once upon a time.
The flames were growing stronger and stronger with every passing moment. A haze of smoke and ash was slowly covering the hangar. A deep and powerful rumbling told me that Olly and Mira had successfully awakened the Leman Russ Demolisher and were driving it out of the flames. They likely assumed I was already dead, which was a fair assumption, given that I couldn't imagine how an ordinary guardsman might've defeated an Obliterator. The flames roared around me; it was becoming dangerous. Fortunately, the hole on the wall, courtesy of the foul creature on the floor by my feet, was not yet touched by the fires. I rushed towards it and walked through, promptly finding myself in an office space of some sort. I glanced around for a moment, finding the place mostly empty, save for piles of metallic junk and broken machinery. Nothing of note. I turned and ran into a random direction, not particularly caring. The fires wouldn't spread beyond the hangar itself, but I couldn't be too sure. If the vehicles started exploding, one by one, then this facility would likely just collapse. I needed to escape.
I made my way out of the facility by following the emergency exit. On my way out, I passed by the corpses of several comrades, now pale and lifeless and rotting, their bodies mangled and ravaged by bolter fire or torn apart by some other means. I emerged from what must've been the far eastern entrance of the facility, the opposite side of where Olly and Mira would've emerged, which was fine. The only problem was that the presence of one enemy usually mean the presence of others. That Obliterator could not have been here alone. There had to be others close by. An entire legion of traitors and heretics had overrun this place, after all; it made little sense to assume there wouldn't be remnants of their forces skulking about in the dark.
Luckily, I was not greeted by a firing squad when I emerged, no.
The creature that awaited me looked like an Obliterator. However, guns did not sprout from its body. Instead, it was the host of what seemed to be hundreds and hundreds of melee weapons – blades and hammers and all sorts of things meant to kill up close and personal. There were so many weapons across its form, in fact, that it seemed rather impractical; I can't imagine moving would be comfortable with a body that was covered in spikes. It was also bigger and bulkier than the Obliterator, but moved with greater fluidity and grace.
It charged right towards me, roaring as it did. Its every step shook the ground at its feet, cracking the pavement. For a moment, I had immediately thought of donning the form of an Astartes, wearing a suit if Power Armor and wielding a Power Sword. I was probably fast enough to take this creature on and win, though not without suffering several injuries first, but that hardly mattered. As the thought passed, however, I discarded it. Doing so would be... repetitive. I needed to grow stronger and following the same pattern again and again would do me no good.
I had other skills that could use some polishing and some actual usage.
Didn't I recently gain that martial arts skill, Water Streaming Rock Smashing Fist? It claimed to be the ultimate defensive martial art, though – at level 1 – I could only use its most basic form. I figured I'd level it up. The thing that was charging right at me seemed like a good target practice. It was slower than an Astartes, but faster than a human. It had plenty of weapons, but all of its weapons were of the melee variety, which the Water Streaming Rock Smashing Fist could somewhat counter at its basic form.
I breathed in and decided that I would be doing just that. At level 1, there was very little that I could actually do. However, I knew – somehow – that, like my other abilities, it would level up with proper continuous use.
So, I stood in place and waited for the dreadfully mutilated giant to reach me.
It didn't take long.
The giant raised an arm, the limb covered in a chorus of melee weapons – so numerous it was impossible to tell where one ended and another began. I took a stance, the one and only basic stance used in the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist – legs spread and knees bent, one arm forward and the other held back, both hands open and waiting. The roaring, lumbering behemoth of a beast brought its limb down. I moved my hands up to perform one of the most basic maneuvers of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, meant to divert an enemy's attack to the side, redirecting force and energy.
The limb came down, a horror of mismatched melee weapons looming overhead. Time seemed to slow down, though only barely. I breathed in and raised my hands to meet the offending limb. The move was simple.
It failed.
Both my hands exploded from sheer trauma as the giant's arm crashed down and squashed me into a bundle of broken bones and torn muscles. Fortunately, enough of my brain survived that I was able to quickly reform myself, absorbing the rest of me in the process and saving some biomass. I noted the subtle widening of the horrible creature's eyes – some shock at my regeneration, though it quickly faded a moment later.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] level up!
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] is now level 2!
Alright, let's try that again. The giant thing didn't care, it seemed. It roared and attacked again. At level 2, I realized what I'd done wrong, but I had no idea how to rectify my error. In essence, I was too stiff and my enemy was too fast, which meant I was not able to properly absorb and redirect any kinetic energy, hence how I became puddle on the ground. Another attack came, a horizontal arc this time. Once again, I briefly settled into the basic stance, which – at level 2 – I did with greater ease and fluidity. My hands did not immediately disintegrate this time – at least, not on contact.
They did disintegrate eventually, however, after about a moment, leading to the destruction of both of my arms and most of my torso and most of my head – only my cranium remained, alongside a bit of my legs. Was it painful? Oh, yes, very; it was, in fact, agonizing. But I was doing this for mankind and the Emperor and, compared to our lord's suffering upon the Golden Throne, this was nothing. It also happened so fast that I barely had time to feel the pain before my body was shredded. Clearly, level 2 was not enough, but what I was doing – I figured – was a step in the right direction.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] level up!
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] is now level 3!
Once more, I willed the pieces of my body back into place and stood up, not even bothering to wait for the creature before me to react. The difference between level 2 and level 3 was staggering; I was certain now that no ordinary human could possibly best me in hand to hand combat. But my enemy was so above an 'ordinary human' it wasn't even close.
However, it was also insane, because it didn't seem to learn from the first or second time it killed me. It was either that or it was so blinded by its own rage to realize that it couldn't kill me with melee weapons.
The process repeated itself... numerous times. I lost count, in fact, of how many times I was eviscerated or otherwise torn to bits by the humanoid armory before me. Each time, however, came slower and slower as my knowledge of Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist grew with every level. Though, it also became harder to gain levels the more I leveled up, which meant – at times – I had to die several more times gain a single level, which was fine.
[Self-Shaping] level up!
[Self-Shaping] is now level 4!
It was a welcome thing, an upgrade to my most basic, yet most powerful ability. The level up told me that I could now incorporate traits from other genetic templates into whatever form I happened to be wearing; meaning, I could now splice Astartes organs into my human form, though I didn't do that just yet. I wanted to win against the creature before me as an ordinary human – as ordinary as I could be, at least.
So, on and on it went until. I must've died a hundred times in the span of several minutes, before the battle finally shifted in my favor.
The giant roared – both in anger and annoyance – as it brought down its bladed limb. I breathed in, held out both hands and – at the lost moment – deflected the beast's arm aside. For a moment, it almost stumbled forward, suddenly losing balance as the full force of its attack was swept into an entirely different direction. It'd recover quickly, of course, but not quickly enough. With the kinetic energy I'd absorbed from its attack, I spun my body in a rotating motion, meant to distribute power from the limbs, into the torso, and back into the limbs. I took a step forward, shifting my stance, and sent forth an open-palm strike into the brute's mutilated torso.
Its armor cracked and the massive creature was sent flying into a nearby tank. I knew I hadn't done much damage; in fact, I probably didn't do any damage at all, except maybe its pride. But I couldn't help but be overjoyed. No ordinary human being was capable of that. Not even an Astartes, I figured, was capable of that.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] level up x7!
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] is now level 10!
The grin that stretched my lips could not have been any wider. It felt as though something just clicked in my head. I felt light – lighter than I've ever been. More than that, I felt powerful. In fact, as heretical as the thought seemed, I felt as though I could defeat an Astartes in hand-to-hand and not break a sweat. The ultimate defensive martial arts at my disposal and this wasn't even its highest level – oh no. In fact, I hadn't even broken out of the 'basics' just yet, barely scratching the surface of what I could eventually be capable of. I shifted my stance again, my limbs swaying and flowing like water as I waited for my enemy to stand. When the brutish chaotic traitorous thing crawled out of the wreckage not a moment later, I held out my left hand and gestured it to come towards me.
"Come at me, heretic," I said, grinning. In that moment, nothing could stop me. "If you dare."