The battle raged on for a full day and night, plunging the world into a chaotic darkness.
The Tyranid swarm was repeatedly repelled, only to adjust its tactics and launch fresh, relentless offensives.
Yet, no matter how hard the swarm tried, they simply couldn’t breach Vane’s mobile fortress.
Instead, they were absolutely butchered by the Iron Golem army and the fortress’s multi-layered defense matrix, leaving rivers of blood and mountains of corpses in their wake.
Eventually, the Tyranid Hive Mind had no choice but to temporarily call off the assault.
“We actually won!” A staff officer watched the swarm recede like a fading tide, a profound look of relief washing over his face at having survived.
“It probably realized its current tactics are useless against the mobile fortress,” Dhrost mused.
“The Hive Mind will likely bio-engineer specific new counter-units and tactics before launching another offensive.” Another officer nodded in agreement with the General’s assessment.
“We still need to fall back to Helios Spaceport.
The Blood Angels will definitely send reinforcements.
Holding the spaceport will ensure they have a secure beachhead to deploy their forces.” After issuing a command for his Iron Golem army to clean up the battlefield, Vane strolled over to Dhrost and his men.
“Well?
Do you believe I’m your Forefather now?” The group exchanged awkward glances, utterly unable to come up with a single word of rebuttal.
Dhrost stepped up to Vane and solemnly rendered the sign of the Aquila across his chest.
“We still find it a bit hard to believe.
Are you truly a forefather of humanity?” “One hundred percent genuine, completely authentic,” Vane replied with absolute confidence, not feeling an ounce of guilt.
“Would I lie to my own descendants?” “In that case…
are you a Perpetual?” Dhrost asked in a hushed tone.
Perpetuals were a highly unique, deeply classified subset of humanity, each born through wildly different circumstances.
They possessed true immortality and could continuously resurrect from death.
Even being dismembered, decapitated, or completely vaporized wasn’t enough to put them in the ground for good.
The only way to permanently kill a Perpetual and prevent their resurrection was to use astronomically rare weapons imbued with deep symbolic power.
“Ding ding ding!
Too bad there’s no prize,” Vane grinned.
Going by standard Warhammer lore, Vane technically did qualify as a Perpetual right now.
“Wait, if you’ve really lived for forty thousand years, doesn’t that mean you were born back in the Second Millennium?!” A staff officer did the mental math and instantly sucked in a sharp breath.
The Second Millennium!
This guy had to be a great-great-great-something grandfather to the absolute extreme.
Back then, humanity had barely even stepped off Terra to start exploring the stars.
The others looked on in sheer shock, breaking into hushed whispers.
“Does that mean…
Forefather, are you originally from Terra?” another officer gathered the courage to ask.
“You bet.
Your Forefather here is an authentic, born-and-raised Terran.” Vane rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Speaking of which, back in the Second Millennium, I owned a condo and a sweet plot of land on Terra.
I wonder if the Imperium of Man still respects my property rights.” “Also, I’m pretty sure the Imperial Palace was built straight over my family’s turf.
By all rights, I should own a massive slice of that real estate.” Back before I transmigrated, I was a certified citizen with proper housing rights.
Now that literally everyone else from my era is dead, I should technically be the sole inheritor of all of it.
The Imperial Palace was built straight across the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau!
They didn’t even give me a relocation buyout!
This is straight-up illegal land seizure!
My blood is boiling!
Once I finally make it to Terra, I’m tearing down the Big E’s Golden Throne as a down payment for my compensation.
Dhrost and his men couldn’t help but twitch.
Are you seriously worried about your Second Millennium property rights right now?!
It’s been tens of thousands of years!
There’s zero chance anyone is honoring that deed!
“Forefather, let’s put a pin in your Terran real estate portfolio for now.
We desperately need to figure out how to deal with Hive Fleet Leviathan,” Dhrost interjected, aggressively steering the conversation back on track.
“Fair enough.
I’ll just have to visit Terra later and ask your Emperor in person if he’s going to honor my deed.
Let’s handle the Leviathan Fleet first.” Vane shrugged, putting the matter to bed for now before asking Dhrost about his next move.
“We plan to fall back to Helios Spaceport.
If the Blood Angels are coming to reinforce us, that will be their primary landing zone,” Dhrost explained their original plan before extending an invitation.
“Forefather, why don’t you come with us back to the spaceport?
If we fail to defeat the Leviathan Fleet in the Cryptus System, you can evacuate on a Blood Angels strike cruiser.” “Not going to happen,” Vane shook his head.
“The Cryptus System is where the Leviathan Fleet comes to die.” “But if you guys are heading back to the spaceport, I can give you a lift.
Saves you from getting chewed up by Tyranids halfway there.” Since dropping into this universe, I’ve been grinding so hard I haven’t spoken a single word to anyone.
Now that I’ve finally run into actual people, I definitely need to shoot the breeze before I go insane from isolation.
Plus, I’ve practically secured my status as a perpetual ancient human now.
I have to take full advantage of this to troll them and spread absolute misinformation.
Dhrost’s face lit up with surprise.
This Forefather is actually a pretty nice guy, offering to escort us all the way back.
“Then we deeply thank you, Forefather.
We should move out immediately.
We’ll push for the spaceport, and if we link up with any air support along the way, we can readjust our plans.” Vane casually strolled over to Dhrost’s battered Imperial transports, tapping them one by one.
[Congratulations, Player!
New Crafting Recipe Unlocked: Leman Russ Battle Tank] [Congratulations, Player!
New Crafting Recipe Unlocked: Chimera Armored Transport] […] To get the master crafting list for literally every single item in this universe, Vane needed to hit one hundred percent conquest progress.
Once he hit that cap, assuming he had enough resources, he could literally recreate the entire universe block by block.
But prior to that, he could still unlock individual crafting recipes manually, just by touching the items.
Since he had been forced to grind non-stop the second he transmigrated, he hadn’t had any chance to touch Imperial gear and unlock their blueprints until now.
“These junky clunkers have probably been in service for hundreds of years.
Just ditch ’em.
Your Forefather will hook you up with some fresh rides.” Before Dhrost or his men could even process what he said, Vane whipped out a portable crafting table.
Using the raw materials in his inventory, he literally hand-crafted several brand-new Leman Russ Battle Tanks and Chimera Armored Transports right on the spot.
Vane had a highly practical portable crafting mod installed.
As long as he had the blueprint, the crafting recipe, and the necessary raw materials, the system could instantaneously synthesize the parts and auto-assemble them.
Clank.
Clank.
With heavy metallic thuds, the massive battle tanks and armored transports materialized out of thin air, their sheer weight sinking their treads slightly into the dirt.
“W-w-what…” Staring at the factory-new vehicles parked next to Vane, Dhrost was so shocked his brain short-circuited.
If the Mechanicus Cogboys were here right now, they would be sobbing hysterically and screaming that the Omnissiah had manifested in the flesh.
The rest of the staff officers and guards were wide-eyed, completely dumbfounded.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What the hell just happened?
A couple clanks, and out pop fully functional armored vehicles?
Is our Forefather an actual god?!
“Let’s move.
Chop chop, we’re burning daylight.” Vane clambered up onto the roof of one of the new tanks and found a comfortable spot to sit.
Dhrost and his men slowly walked over and climbed inside the brand-new tanks to inspect them.
They couldn’t find a single flaw.
Relying on his muscle memory, the driver murmured a quick prayer to awaken the machine spirit and hit the ignition.
A second later, the massive engine roared to life, a deep vibration thrumming through the hull.
“It actually runs?!” “Is our Forefather a man or a god?!” “Were ancient humans all this insanely overpowered?!” Seeing the dashboard dials fully light up, Dhrost and his squad were completely and utterly convinced, a profound sense of awe and reverence welling up in their chests.
From this moment on, if anyone dared to claim Vane wasn’t a genuine Forefather of humanity, they would have to get through this squad first.
“Let’s get a move on, stop wasting time.
Also, I’m not a god.
I’m just a completely average, Minecraft-loving human ancestor.” Vane hurried Dhrost and his crew along, telling them to pick their jaws up off the floor and hit the gas.
Suppressing a million burning questions, Dhrost ordered his men to mount up, and the convoy set off at full speed toward the spaceport.