Day 9.
"How's it going?" Demiurge inquired of the petite elf, whose nimble fingers danced across an array of biochemical compounds. Scraps of flesh from various lifeforms were scattered across the workshop, their pungent aroma filling the air, yet it seemed to not affect the unfazed elven transmuter.
"Ah, Cosmagus, your timely arrival couldn't be more convenient." She set aside her work and turned to face him. "I seek your wisdom. Could you explain the necessity of these organs?" She retrieved a design proposal from one of the stacks of documents, unfolded it, and indicated a specific illustration.
Mordred took the paper and examined the notes she had jotted down. "The Melanchromic Node?" he inquired. "This organ empowers the Space Marines to alter their skin's melanin content, granting them protection from a variety of radiation hazards. Additionally, it enables the epidermis to secrete a viscous substance resembling sweat that safeguards them from extreme temperatures, both high and low, as well as microscopic threats like viruses and spores."
"Isn't this redundant? I've reviewed the specifications of the Power Armor they'll be wearing. The Melanchromic Node would only drive up the cost of each Space Marine. If we eliminate some of their superfluous organs and strive for simplicity, we could produce a greater number."
Demiurge shook his head. “Sound argument, but no. I don’t want the Space Marines to be useless without their Power Armor. We aren’t quite sure yet what we’ll be fighting inside the quasi-rank 4 Dungeon, the Garden of Lies, so having more trump cards will be better. Mass-produced garbage won’t cut it, we need as many ‘heroic units’ as possible, so don’t skimp on the product requirements.”
Lyriel scratched her head, “To be honest, it's easier for me to manufacture chimeras instead. Those creatures don't have to be in the shape of a humanoid, so I can just slap more organs while letting the biochemical compounds balance themselves.”
Demiurge's brow furrowed, his disapproval evident. He needs more than just beasts who can fight with their bodies. Rank 4 beings cannot be defeated by a mass of rank 3 garbage, at least not with the quantity that he’s comfortable with. Moreover, he harbored a deep-seated aversion to entities that lacked aesthetic appeal. It might be considered a personal quirk, but Lyriel's chimeras were simply too jarring for a non-combatant like Demiurge. In the long run, investing in the creation of Space Marines proved to be a more effective and efficient strategy.
"I'd like to show you something," Demiurge declared, gesturing for Lyriel to follow him outside her workshop.
“We’re going to walk?” Lyriel remarked, her eyebrows arched in surprise. Everyone has gotten used to Demiurge’s teleportations because his mastery was so profound that it wasn’t wrong to call his accuracy 100% as long as the target coordinate is still within the Seven Kingdoms. It is uncharacteristic for Demiurge to not teleport away.
“No.” Demiurge leads her towards the underground warehouse where all the resources that are being delivered by the couriers are stored.
When both entered the underground warehouse, Lyriel could feel they had passed through some sort of invisible, protective membrane. The environment was somewhat different, but she couldn’t put a finger on what.
“What are those?” She inquired as her gaze tried to identify the large amount of puppets with all sorts of shapes and sizes transporting all sorts of goods. The white light, white floor, and all-white puppet seem out of place. It was as if they had entered another world.
“Those are robots, you can consider them as a type of golem.” Demiurge smiled smugly.
For someone who came from a civilization with at most middle-aged technology, seeing a robot might shock them, but fortunately, the civilization level of the Seven Kingdoms has Magic Arts and Reinforcement Arts that allow people to have supernatural strength. Seeing a humanoid hunk of metal walking by itself does not surprise her.
The two quickly reached a door, “This is an elevator, we’ll be going deep down.”
While descending, Lyriel asked, “Why don’t we just teleport? Isn’t this a secret facility that you don’t want the Seven Kingdom to know about? Why bother telling me where the entrance is?”
“I can’t. This underground facility is where I experimented with my Dimensional Anchor technology, it blocks my space-attribute Arts as well. The prototype isn’t ready for deployment yet, so it cannot be moved until it is completely ready.” He told the partial truth.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
When the elevator stopped and opened the door, there was a large hallway with a sign that separated the two wings of the facility.
“Biochemical Wing and Mechanical Wing…” Lyriel read the sign embedded on the pure white wall. The whole facility seems sterile as the pure white color theme for an underground facility is a new concept to Lyriel. However, she felt that it fit Demiurge’s pale white hair and apparel so much. “I assumed we’re going to the biochemical wing?”
“Correct.” Demiurge led her towards the left wing where all research regarding biochemistry is performed. The hallways are empty except for the robotic puppets that look awfully close like humans but give off a sense of uncanny valley. Sometimes, they carried crates or boxes, but Demiurge’s hurried gait did not allow her to ask unnecessary questions.
“This is a facility that I’ll show you after producing a passable Space Marine prototype, but letting my cards out now might help you understand the scale of this project.” When he opened the door and let her come inside, it revealed an extremely wide hall. Unlike the unnaturally sterile hallways, here, the lights aren’t blinding white. It was bright enough for anyone to see, but sufficiently dim to save power.
The most noticeable feature of the hall is the copious amount of 3-meter tall glass tubes, filled with all sorts of biological matter submerged in semi-translucent liquid.
“What’s this?” Lyriel approached one of the tubes. Each has a console with a screen and a lot of buttons underneath that allow interactions with the subject inside the glass tubes, but the language used is completely foreign to the Grand Transmuter.
“This is a Clone Vat, and this hall contains 500 of them.” Demiurge smiled with pride. ‘I have spent three hundred years trying to convert the Imperium’s technology so they worked in this world…’
The Grand Transmuter isn’t an idiot. The moment she heard the name and saw the various experimental subjects inside the gigantic glass tubes, she immediately became aware of what these Clone Vats are used for. “I see, so that’s why you rushed me to make the best Space Marine prototype. By the way…” she pointed at the fetus-like subject within, “What’s that?”
“It’s one of my experimental subjects,” Demiurge admitted candidly. “I want to make an army of Replicants to serve as the primary army, but biochemistry isn’t my forte. I can’t seem to make sense of the biochemical balance of a clone, therefore all of them always have some deformity or major flaw in one way or another when they mature.”
‘I need more time to completely replicate the brunt of the Imperium’s army, but showing her the Clone Vats technology this early might motivate her to not only complete the Space Marine project, but she might also be able to finish recreating the Replicants that suited this world’s Dimensional Laws. Hmm, I should probably do the same with Thorun.’
“Replicants… I like the sound of that.” Lyriel licked her lips in excitement. Her expression was like a child who had found a new toy to play with. “Can you elaborate?”
Mordred beckons Lyriel to follow him into the central terminal. There, he tapped and clicked a lot of buttons before the monitor revealed something that she could read. “You should learn how to operate a computer as soon as possible since my secret facilities heavily rely on them. As of now, you are given Tier-12 Clearance. Tier-13 and above materials are completely confidential and have not been translated into the common tongue of the Seven Kingdom.”
“Hehe, you’re acting as if it was a language from another world.” She joked as her attention was fully absorbed by the document containing Replicant manufacturing methods.
“Cough.” Demiurge glossed over it, “The faster you learn how to use a computer, the more things you can do.”
“Alright, Grandpa.” The elf waved her hands, gesturing him to fuck off.
Mordred rolled his eyes since she was even older than himself. “Anyway, don’t forget that completing the Space Marine is your priority.” He left her since it seemed like it would take her a while to consume all the information contained within the computer.
…
The next day.
“This hall is called the Manufactorium,” Demiurge explained. “As long as we have the prototype, we can mass produce them through this facility.”
Thorun glanced at the signs on the walls which are written in alien language. “So you’re telling me you have this facility underneath your demesne, but you refuse to tell me anything remotely about this?”
“And let the Seven Kingdoms repeat the Karlin Blackhand incident all over again?” Demiurge shook his head. “Please, I thought you were better than this.”
“No…” Thorun was lost for words. He cannot elaborate on his points concisely. “With this facility, there’s no need for me to repeat the tedious labor of experimentation…”
“That’s… the point of a Manufactorium.” Demiurge shrugged. “In any case, you are granted Tier-12 Clearance of this facility. You should learn how to operate a computer as soon as possible, my underground facility heavily relies on them.”
Leaving Thorun with a similar treatment to Lyriel, Demiurge left the underground facility in a rush. Now that the two are aware of the underground facility underneath his demesne, he had calculated that it should be able to expedite the Space Marine and Power Armor project.
Because of that, there’s a need for Demiurge to prepare the ultra-high-end materials for refining them.
“Are you ready?” Demiurge reached an armory where all sorts of top-tier quality weapons and artifacts in the territory of the Seven Kingdoms are stored. Within the armory, the Dragonblood Berserker and the Celestial Arcanist are standing by, armed to the teeth.
“Let’s go.” The two answered with a smile.