Garreon stood to the side in silence.
He had originally hoped that Odinson’s importance would make the Chapter Master abandon this nonsensical experiment, but now it seemed his choice had only served to steel the Chapter Master’s resolve.
Only after the two finished speaking did Garreon speak up.
“Chapter Master, I am prepared to begin the implantation surgery.
Please step outside.”
Huron nodded and exited the operating theater, watching the proceedings through the observation window.
After sterilization, Garreon began injecting Odinson—who was already unconscious—with chemicals to adjust his bodily vitality and immune system, aiming to increase the success rate of the gene-seed implantation.
Once Odinson’s physiological markers peaked, Garreon made the incision into his thoracic cavity.
He then carefully withdrew the Tiger Claws gene-seed from its storage canister and implanted it into Odinson’s body.
Once the implantation was complete, Garreon’s focus reached its zenith.
The first great trial was about to begin.
Upon implantation, the gene-seed takes control of the body’s hormone secretion while secreting various new hormones of its own to reshape the host, making the body more suitable for the various superhuman organs.
This process was safest in adolescent boys because they had not yet finished developing.
Garreon had never seen an initiate like Odinson—hundreds of years old and having already undergone rejuvenation surgery.
Consequently, he wasn’t even sure what kind of complications to expect.
“I hope the Chapter Master truly received a revelation from the Emperor.
May the Emperor protect Odinson,” Garreon prayed silently.
Since becoming a Master Apothecary, he had rarely felt this lacking in confidence.
As the gene-seed settled into Odinson’s body, the 50 Political Power Huron had spent began to take effect.
The Emperor, who had been observing from the shadows, once again felt that unknown power.
“As I thought.
I knew it wouldn’t be that simple!”
The Emperor felt he had made the right gamble once again.
This power was guiding Him, drawing Him to cast His psychic will upon Odinson to help him survive the transformation surgery.
He knew the limits of His own power.
Even though the psychic energy He could currently control had dropped to an unprecedented low, its essence remained violent and chaotic.
Furthermore, this was not a high-density warp environment.
He lacked the capacity for delicate manipulation; a raw infusion of His psychic power would likely kill the neophyte even faster.
However, He still cast His psychic will along the path of that power, curious to see what it would do.
If this power was an enemy of mankind, then understanding the enemy was the only way to defeat them—just like the Primarchs He had once bargained for with the Four Gods.
Under the Emperor’s observation, the unknown power enveloped His psychic energy and sank into Odinson’s body.
The psychic energy, which should have been turbulent, was manipulated with extreme precision, gently influencing the psychic components within the gene-seed.
Under the influence of these two forces, the gene-seed underwent a fundamental change.
Its compatibility with Odinson’s genetics reached 100%, as if it had been harvested from his own body.
Simultaneously, Odinson’s body entered a state of secondary development.
His adaptability to the hormones secreted by the gene-seed increased exponentially.
In Garreon’s eyes, this manifested as Odinson’s vitals shifting smoothly toward the requirements for superhuman organ implantation.
It was natural, without a single anomaly—a state that could only be described as ideal.
“By the Emperor…
his genetic compatibility was near zero.
Why is the implantation process so…
ideal?”
For a moment, “ideal” was the only word Garreon could find.
But then, he remembered the Chapter Master’s words and his unwavering confidence.
“This must be the Emperor’s might!”
At this moment, Garreon no longer doubted.
The Chapter Master must have received the Emperor’s revelation and blessing; otherwise, there was no way to explain this unprecedented phenomenon.
Outside the operating room, Huron spoke through the vox-mic.
“Garreon, what is Odinson’s status?
Is he ready for organ implantation?
If so, begin immediately.”
“…He is.
There are no issues at all.” Garreon opened his mouth to speak but ultimately chose to trust the Chapter Master.
Under standard surgical protocols, a gene-seed recipient should be allowed time to adapt, letting the gene-seed properly reshape the body before proceeding with further organ implants.
However, Garreon felt that a Chapter Master blessed by the Emperor likely understood the surgical process better than he did.
After all, both the Astartes and the Primarchs were creations of the Emperor.
He chose to follow Huron’s lead and began the implantation.
Nineteen superhuman organ canisters were lined up.
Garreon began by removing the first stage of organs: the Secondary Heart, the Ossmodula, and the Biscopea.
He then placed them into Odinson’s body together.
While in theory all Astartes were implanted with nineteen superhuman organs, for various reasons, many Chapters actually lacked the technology or genetic stability for some of them.
The most famous example was likely the Imperial Fists.
Only the Black Carapace, essential for operating power armor, was maintained by every Astartes Chapter.
Without it, a Chapter would be on the verge of extinction.
For the industrious and ancient Astral Claws—who were even capable of spinning off three successor chapters—they naturally possessed the technology to implant all nineteen superhuman organs.
As soon as the three organs were implanted, they began to function, working in tandem with the gene-seed to drastically reshape Odinson’s physiology.
Before long, Odinson’s vitals had reached the point where the second stage of organ implantation could begin.
Garreon was left in awe, even harboring a few near-sacrilegious thoughts.
If the Chapter Master had received the Emperor’s blessing sooner, perhaps the Chapter would have already recovered to, or even exceeded, its original size.
They wouldn’t be stuck with a mere 800 Battle-brothers, even including those outside the formal organization.
The Haemastamen, Larraman’s Organ, Catalepsean Node, Omophagea…
Superhuman organs were implanted one after another.
In any other Chapter, doing this would be tantamount to murdering the neophyte.
Yet Odinson showed no signs of rejection.
Every organ felt like it was native to his body, beginning its work obediently and reshaping his physique bit by bit in concert with the gene-seed.
A transformation process that theoretically required years, if not a decade, was completed in just a few hours with the help of the Emperor and the system.
All that remained was a year of development and training, and he would be a standard Astartes neophyte.
When everything was finished, Garreon opened the doors to the operating theater, his face carrying a hint of reverent awe.
“Chapter Master, the surgery is complete.
Everything went smoothly—exceptionally smoothly.
Brother Odinson is now officially a neophyte.”
Huron looked at Odinson, whose body was already starting to show signs of rapid development on the table, and felt a surge of joy.
He kept his face composed, however, merely nodding and offering Garreon a smile.
“Well done.
Even with the Emperor’s blessing, your skills were indispensable, Brother.”
Huron wasn’t just being polite.
If he had tried it himself, he would have likely just cut a hole and shoved things in; whether the Emperor would have saved him then was anyone’s guess.
“It is my honor.” Garreon stood tall, his expression resolute.
In his eyes, if Huron wasn’t the Emperor’s Chosen, no one was.
This surgery had completely overturned his entire understanding of neophyte transformation.
If it wasn’t the Emperor’s blessing, what else could it be?