They were traitors and heretics – all of them. Hence, I didn't feel particularly bad about desecrating their bodies. In truth, they should thank me; at the very least, by becoming my experimental test subjects, they'd be serving the Imperium of Mankind one last time. Was it not an honor to serve, even in death? Or was it rather presumptuous of me to think so? Whatever the case, I was going to make use of the remains, one way or another. There had to be at least a thousand kilograms' worth of biomass before me, which meant I had plenty of creative freedom at the moment.
So, what did I want to create?
More importantly, how do I make sure that what I'm creating wasn't tantamount to heresy?
I actually had no answer to that question.
Oh well, unless the God-Emperor himself told me to stop what I was doing, or sent a herald to do the same, then it probably wasn't heresy.
The first thing I did was infuse my blood into every single piece of meat and bone before me, which was incredibly easy to do, now that I've attained a Skill Evolution. Infusing my blood into the Astartes, for instance, had been terribly tedious and difficult, even if it was ultimately a very simple act. Now, it was as easy as moving a limb; it felt natural, even, something that I was meant to do. Once my blood was properly infused into each bundle of flesh and bone and skin and sinew, I rendered all of it down into pure biomass, which I then condensed into a uniform cube. It made things more orderly, I figured, as opposed to working with a bunch of mismatched body parts. The biomass, which the System recognized as just another part of me, instead of an entirely separate entity, quickly responded to my will. I'd connected it to myself with a simple line that continually fed it with some of my blood. No big deal.
The next logical step was the creation of an outer form, so to speak, the shell that would house the internal mechanisms or organs of whatever it was I'd make. I didn't have to think for long, for what other form was there that could surpass the majesty and perfection of the human form?
And, in response to my will, a portion of the biomass block separated – though, not quite separated as it was still connected to the main mass with a tether, through which a constant supply of blood and biomass flowed, which kept the separated piece technically still a part of me. It quickly took on a humanoid shape – not quite male, but not quite female either, just a vaguely human-shaped lump of biomass. It was about the same height as myself. I wasn't short by any means, but I wasn't particularly tall either. I wanted my creation to be as tall as an Astartes. So, I added another two feet of height, proportionally increasing the mass of its entire body to match that of an Astartes.
Alright, next, I'd need an inner frame that would hold all the muscles and organs in place – powerful, durable, but not as limiting as the skeleton of an Astartes. The fused rib cage baffled me, because anything that could pierce through the Power Armor would – more likely than not – also pierce through the bone plate, but – alternatively – it was also pointless for anything else, since whatever couldn't pierce through the Power Armor wouldn't reach the bone plate anyway. It struck me as odd, honestly, which was why I didn't include it in my creation; it must've been a mutation of some kind, a genetic divergence after ten thousand years. I refused to believe that the God-Emperor would design such a superfluous thing. Hence, I kept the ribs somewhat normal. However, the bones themselves were strengthened and thickened, a trait I took from the Genetic Blueprint of the Astartes. I figured I'd be modeling my creation after the Astartes, but they wouldn't exactly be identical.
The first change I enacted, something I've never done before – not even to myself – was to further enhance the bones and the cartilage that connected them. What was that thing that made the bones stronger? Well, I added more of that. And further added fibrous layers of iron on top, just to make them even more durable, harder and more resilient. The downside, of course, was that it made my creation a lot heavier, but that wasn't too much of a disadvantage, I figured. Besides, the increase in weight wasn't too dramatic, just heavy for a human. I did not stop until I was satisfied and by the time I did stop, I had managed to create a skeletal system that was more than twice as strong as that of an Astartes', but also twice as heavy.
It came as something of a surprise that I could, in fact, create iron from biomass. The logic behind it, I mused, was that iron was an integral part of the human physiology and, thus, fell under the purview of [Flesh Shaping], even if iron – as far as I knew – was metallic in nature.
But, hey, I wasn't about to complain.
Next came the muscles, which I simply copied from the Astartes Genetic Blueprint. Curiously, adding the Hanma Genetic Blueprint, something I'd gotten as a reward very early but never quite used, immediately altered the shape of the back muscles. A quick look showed me that the Hanma gene added several muscles that did not exist in humans, not even in Astartes; muscles that were responsible for the strange, face-shaped formation, a pair of eyes and a mouth. The other muscular additions were subtle and hardly noticeable, spread throughout the body. Weird, but the Genetic Blueprint claimed that the Hanma gene allowed for physical growth through repeated trauma. Astartes did not possess such a trait.
Once the muscles were in place, I decided to double the number of muscle fibers. I condensed them as much as physically possible, however, so that the muscles themselves did not bulge out of proportion, which would tarnish the holy human form. Ridiculous energy requirements aside, the new muscles, I figured, would allow my creation to rip apart just about anything it could get its hands on. The hyper-dense musculature, I figured, would grant it immense explosive strength and power, while still maintaining overall longevity. I didn't want my creation running out of stamina during prolonged battles, after all.
I did not bother overly much with exterior features, only giving it a humanoid face that was neither male or female. I was rather certain that both genders would find some level of attraction to the face I created, but I honestly didn't care too much about that. It wasn't important. I didn't bother with sexual organs either, since I had no interest in allowing my creation to propagate; at least, not without my direct intervention. I did, however, infuse iron and calcium formations in the skin itself, forming flexible branching networks of metals and minerals that essentially made the skin sturdier and more resilient to damage.
After that, it was time to turn my attention to the creation of internal organs.
Shrugging, I took every Astartes organ and shoved them inside my creation. They acclimated and connected to the muscles and membranes without much issue, surprisingly. Though, I had to make a few alterations to the hearts, allowing them to pump faster and with more power. And, since that still wasn't enough, I added a third heart. This was the downside to adding doubling the number of muscle fibers, I suppose, alongside the additional muscles from the Hanma Genetic Blueprint. I did the same thing with the lungs, making them stronger and more efficient. My creation needed a lot of blood, but also plenty of oxygen, hence the necessity of a third heart and stronger lungs. After that came the brain and that... was the hard part, because my brain remained the same in all of the bodies available to me. I could alter myself to look like any one of the corpses I've consumed, except for my brain. Therefore, I did not have a blueprint for one.
I... found myself at an impasse. A body, no matter how powerful and perfect it was, was useless without a brain and a nervous system. It'd be no different from a chunk of rock, functionally useless, except as a bludgeon. I couldn't just give it a copy of my brain either; that idea seemed... unwise. But it wasn't entirely off the table. I'd consider it if no other option was available.
Hmmm...
And then, my eyes widened. Was it possible, instead, to create a nervous system, attach it to my own brain, and then use that nervous system to control my creation my connecting it through the pocket dimension that held all my biomass? If so, it'd mean, however, that my creation wouldn't truly be alive; it'd just be an extension of myself – no different from moving and controlling a limb. I tried doing just that and found that... I could not. Sending objects into the biomass dimension had the same effect as the act of consumption, reducing anything I sent into pure biomass, which would then be ejected, because my storage was at maximum capacity. Annoying. That meant I'd have to give it an actual brain. And the only brain available was mine.
Could I, instead, create a copy of my brain, but rebuilt in such a way as to be completely obedient to me? I had... no idea how to go about doing that. My power told me how the biological parts fit and functioned perfectly, told me how to make the body seamless and efficient. But obedience was not a physical concept, was it?
I suppose I could just reshape the brain to make it more susceptible to my commands, but doing so would make it susceptible to every command – not just mine. So, that option was out. The question, then, was how I could reshape the brain?
My eyes narrowed as I considered my options. Idly, my attention drifted towards a nearby Lasgun that was partially disassembled. And then, it hit me. And my eyes widened in realization.
The solution would be to create modular brain with a part that I could take away whenever necessary and implant with built-in commands or instructions, which I could also install whenever I want. That way, my creation would be rendered inert or asleep if I had no immediate use for it. If I needed it to kill something, I could simply input a command into a brain fragment, which I would then insert right into my creation's head, similar to a Lasgun's power pack. I could also make sure that my creation could only follow the commands I'd already implanted and nothing else. It'd have a measure of creativity, decision-making, and critical thinking, of course; it would even be capable of learning and adapting, capable of advanced pattern recognition and calculation, but only as was necessary to fulfill whatever order I gave it.
I suppose that would make my creation closer to machines than any living creature, a drone, but I wasn't quite interesting in creating an actual living thing – not yet, at least. Besides, the Genetic Blueprints I possessed at the moment were rather limited. I'd love to gather more samples, of course, either through the Gacha, Quest Rewards, or just consuming new living creatures, but that could wait. I was certain that, in time, I'd be able to create truly wondrous things.
First, I created an exact replica of my brain and attached it to an Astartes' nervous system, allowing for marginally faster transmission of mental commands across the breadth of the entire body by a factor of a few milliseconds. I then shoved that brain into the skull of my creation, linked up the nervous system to the rest of the body, and waited, for a moment, for the brain to fully integrate into the body. Before I'd remade the body's command center to be somewhat modular, however, I had to make a few changes. First, I took away my creation's ability to feel any sort of emotion; it had no need for that. I then removed the brain's natural limitations, giving my drone full access to its own body, allowing it to access the full power of its muscles. Next, I disabled the flight or fight response system, leaving only the actual fight response, which I followed up by removing its sense of self-preservation entirely; after all, it was only a drone, even if it maintained a humanoid form. Its sole purpose was to fight and die so that others might live, kind of like a Guardsman, actually.
Once that was finished, I simply walked towards it, willed forth its skull to split open, and pulled out the chunk of its brain that acted as a command conduit. As I did, I also severed its connection to the biomass block and, by extension, its connection to me. My first command was simple. This was only a test, after all. "Walk around me three times in a perfect circle."
I then returned the brain fragment. Its eyes snapped open, soulless black eyes staring at me blankly, before it then began walking around me, circling me three times before it stopped, fell to its knees, puked blood, and then died.
"Huh..."
AN: Decided to update early because I'm going to the beach in a few days. The start of the second arc, Chapter 26, is out on !