boyutpedia Chapter 234 235: Ancient Aeldari Technology—The Ultimate Automated Production Facilities?
Chapter 234 235: Ancient Aeldari Technology—The Ultimate Automated Production Facilities?
Vmmmm—
The survey ship hovered in midair. Through the domed bridge window, Eden gazed upon a breathtaking sight.
Right before them lay the convergence of several Webway paths, and at the center stood an ancient Aeldari city.
The city extended in a full 360° layout. Its impossible dimensions alone could disorient any observer, and a thin layer of energy shielding enveloped its outskirts.
"What a magnificent piece of city-building. It's a pity that the psychic barrier around it is distorting the surrounding space. We've tried multiple times, but we just can't get in."
Kaul was both anxious and regretful.
Eden looked at the ruins of the city, feeling a slight stir in his heart—he seemed able to sense that psychic barrier?
It appeared that, when the Goddess of Life bestowed her life essence upon him, it also included something related to Aeldari psychic energies.
"Head in that direction. Let's try one more time…" He casually pointed a finger, instructing the captain to continue forward.
Once again, the survey ship began to move slowly, heading toward the shimmering barrier.
"Will it really work?"
Busy with his calculations, Kaul was somewhat skeptical. "That's a psychic, Warp-based barrier. It's simply impossible to cross it using physical means."
"Behold, my genius calculations! Everyone, look!"
Suddenly, he cheered, displaying rows of data.
Eden took one glance at the densely packed symbols and binary characters, understood nothing, yet nodded anyway.
"Great, very complicated indeed. Just tell us the conclusion."
"Based on the barrier's energy frequency, it's about to run out of power."
"How long do we have to wait?"
"There's some volatility in the data—anywhere between one second and ten years, give or take."
Kaul looked quite pleased with himself.
"In other words, we can just sit tight and wait for the barrier to fade. Maybe it'll disappear in the next second."
Eden stared at the barrier as if waiting for something, then raised his head. "Alright, one second has passed. The barrier's still here. Let's just accelerate and fly through."
Following his order, the survey ship's thrusters flared, pushing it rapidly toward the barrier.
Eden closed his eyes slightly, extending his psychic presence to make contact with the barrier. He could feel the psychic field woven within.
Before long, his psychic awareness merged with it—and in an instant, he sensed everything, a marvelous sensation.
It was as though he'd been plugged into some neural interface, controlling the barrier without any instruments at all.
It was remarkably smooth.
The Aeldari truly possessed extraordinary technology!
Just as the survey ship was about to touch the barrier, Eden used his psychic awareness to manipulate it, opening a passageway.
Then the ship flew inside, almost as if it leapt across infinite space, suddenly emerging above the city.
At once, the passengers had a grand, unobstructed view.
They were really inside?
Seeing this, Kaul was stunned, speechless for a moment. "H-how did you manage that?"
"It's merely careful observation, combined with seasoned psychic abilities."
Eden made up some excuse, then patted him on the shoulder. "Going forward, spend more time studying psychic-related knowledge. It'll help you re
Except each "truck" is roughly the size of a planet, enhanced by spatial compression technology so that its interior is even bigger than it appears on the outside.
They wield exceptionally advanced tech.
Which means that even after the Aeldari fell and their empire collapsed—reduced, as it were, to "living out of trucks"—they remain one of the galaxy's mightiest powers.
Eden's thoughts flashed by.
He gazed at the city ruins below, excitement welling within him.
This discovery alone showed how extraordinary and precious this unspoiled Aeldari city truly was.
It was a relic from the era of the Aeldari's greatest glory!
How much of its technology they might be able to absorb depended on the research capabilities of the Adeptus Mechanicus under Kaul.
Eden had faith in Kaul's skill.
Truth be told, Eden would have loved it even more if the city had been a leftover from humanity's Dark Age of Technology.
Those technologies would be better suited to human systems.
Indeed, humanity, too, had once prospered.
Like the Aeldari, humanity had enjoyed an age of splendor, building a shining civilization.
During the Golden Age of Technology, humanity offloaded virtually all production and combat tasks onto advanced AI and machines.
With this mechanical aid, they thrived beyond measure. Their tech was so advanced that rending stars or even manipulating time was trivial.
As machine intelligence pushed its own limits, humans began to regress, no longer understanding the inventions their AI had produced.
They were, in a sense, parasites living off a machine civilization.
Eventually, the Men of Iron rebelled, resulting in a great war.
Humanity quelled the rebellion but fell from its heights of prosperity, plunging into an age of darker technology.
During that time, STCs were the only spark preserving the old knowledge.
Fortunately, a golden champion—the Emperor—emerged, uniting mankind on a grand crusade and building the Imperium.
It gave humanity a chance to rise again.
But all that was halted by Horus's betrayal, along with the schemes of the Chaos Gods.
Now the Emperor sits enthroned in the Warp like a golden sun, while the Imperium teeters on the brink.
Reflecting on humanity's history, Eden couldn't help wondering: if mankind were to achieve such prosperity again, would it meet a similar doom?
After a moment's thought, he decided not to pursue that question.
It was too early to worry about it.
After all, in the current Imperium, most people don't even have a hot meal and could die any day.
Under these conditions, worrying about the trials of a utopian future is a bit premature.
He would leave it to his future self. One day, trust in the wisdom of those who come after.
For now, his priority was reviving the Imperium.
As one of humanity's deified figures, if mankind collapsed, he wouldn't fare much better.
Chaos would likely hunt him down, and Slaanesh might capture him for torment.
"I carry a heavy burden…"
Eden couldn't help sighing.
He now ruled a sector, bearing the lives of billions.
He had to become stronger by any means necessary to protect them.
For Eden, faith was the foundation of everything.
How to develop his domain in a healthy way—so it would offer strong, positive devotion—remained his top priority.
After all, human faith can spawn beings even mightier than the Aeldari's.
Their extreme indulgence and pursuit of carnal sensation gave birth to Slaanesh.
But human zeal, suffering, loyalty, and unwavering spirit fed and sustained the Emperor—the Golden Sun.
He could overpower Slaanesh.
If Eden managed his territory well, expanded it, and improved the quality of life for his people—
He would harvest the unique power of hope, possibly becoming a mighty presence in the Warp himself.
Then he could grab Slaanesh by the throat and slam him to the ground, over and over.
That had always been Eden's personal ambition.
"My Lord Savior, why are you daydreaming again? We should get down there. There's so much good stuff to see!"
Kaul urged him excitedly.
Snapped from his musings, Eden corrected him sternly, "Daydreaming? I was deep in thought—thinking, understand?
And you're the Grand Sage now. Could you act more dignified instead of jumping around like a hyperactive simian?"
Kaul took the admonishment to heart, muttering inside: You're hardly any picture of solemnity yourself. I learned it from you!
He then asked quietly, "So…are you coming or not? If not, I'm going down myself."
"I'm coming!"
In truth, Eden was just as eager.
He followed Kaul's team from the ship, hurrying toward the city's manufacturing district.
The survey ship couldn't carry much cargo.
For Eden, advanced weapon, armor, or warp-tech were all well and good—but what he truly desired was an Aeldari automated production line.
At present, his domain did have some degree of automated assembly lines, but they could only produce simple, low-tech consumer goods.
They couldn't handle more sophisticated items like high-end weapons, power armor, or vehicles. The energy and technology simply weren't up to it, making it impossible to produce truly complex items.
His realm's output was thus severely limited.
As a result, Eden was forced to be stingy, even hesitant to expand his military.
After all, ordinary humans are physically frail. Without modern weapons and gear, they're just cannon fodder on the battlefield.
Even Space Marines can't unleash their true might without power armor and advanced armaments.
If he could bring back a set of Aeldari automated production equipment for further research and merge it with his existing technology—
They might develop a higher-level automated manufacturing system.
All the more so because the Aeldari's machinery generally runs off psychic power, using psychic energy to extract and shape raw materials.
That lines up perfectly with his domain.
His territory is short on pretty much everything—except psychic energy. The small sun he controls provides abundant warp power.
If he could devise a system that runs on psychic energy, he could free himself from the shackles of conventional fuels and produce goods at a fraction of the cost.
No matter how high the psychic consumption might be, he wouldn't mind.
If the mini-sun ever runs out, the Emperor's golden sun is another energy source.
Moreover, drawing on warp energy is a zero-cost transaction.
This energy can massively boost productivity and allow his domain to expand, its population growing.
Those people would then supply him with greater faith.
Generating even more psychic power.
Isn't that basically pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, rising in a spiral?
Meanwhile, there's no harm in siphoning power from the Emperor's golden sun. Letting the Emperor vent some warp pressure might actually help funnel more faith toward Eden's smaller sun.
So the Emperor wouldn't absorb too much and risk overloading himself on the Golden Throne, accidentally blowing open another Eye of Terror.
At that point, all humans would collectively ascend…to their doom.
But once he perfected this entire production system—unlimited warp power, psychic-based automated equipment, and the Webway for transport—
The whole galaxy would effectively become his resource depot.
He'd simply find a secure spot, mine like crazy, haul it all back through the Webway, and churn out goods.
He also had an Imperial trade permit, letting him conduct free trade throughout Imperial space in search of rarer minerals and materials.
No more worrying about lack of output.
Freed from factory drudgery, the population could be assigned to raise bigger armies or establish more colonies.
In today's galaxy, under constant threat from Chaos and xenos, the real bottleneck is manpower. They need more people, not fewer.
Just the front lines against the Ruinous Powers and the Tyranids alone would devour countless lives!
Before long—
Eden and Kaul's team arrived at the manufacturing area. What they saw left Eden astounded.
Sure, the city exterior had been impressive, but who would have thought the inside of this manufacturing plant would be so…ornate?
It looked almost like Eden's own spire mansion.
It reminded him of when he used gold, jewels, and other lavish materials to decorate a hive factory.
Clearly, he remained a nouveau riche next to the Aeldari's old-money aristocracy.
Eden decided then and there that he'd send some of his best artisans over to study the Aeldari aesthetic.
Might as well renovate his spire mansion with a bit more artistry.
Soon, Eden had his engineering teams use massive transport vehicles to haul away several sets of the Aeldari's automated production equipment.
He escorted them back to the survey ship in high spirits.
He'd bring these back first, then return with more manpower to grab as many as possible!
On the way, he considered whether he should give the Imperium a copy of whatever technology they managed to reverse-engineer.
It might help delay the Imperium's downfall.
After some thought, though, he dismissed the idea. The Imperium's decay felt inevitable.
Its internal contradictions and dogmatic thinking were deeply ingrained, unchangeable.
Should he haul all these xenos Warp-tech wonders to Terra, proclaiming, "Here, I've got a trove of high-end psychic and alien technology to help humanity thrive"?
Within seconds—
The Ecclesiarchy, Mechanicus, and Inquisition would brand him a heretic and chop him into thirteen pieces.
Besides, they probably couldn't use it anyway.
At that moment, Eden glanced at the transport vehicle hauling the Aeldari machinery and felt a surge of joy.
He could almost picture the prosperity it would bring to his domain.
"With these technologies, my realm will flourish, bursting with new vitality…"
Just as Eden finished speaking, something changed in the skies above the city.
Sizzle—
The psychic barrier encircling the Aeldari city flickered lightly, wavered a few times, and abruptly vanished.
"See? I was right! I knew the barrier would disappear sooner or later!" Kaul pointed at the sky, excited as if he'd won a bet.
Eden fixed him with an eerie stare.
"You seem awfully happy. But have you considered that we no longer have any accessible defensive measures here?"
With the barrier gone, reactivating it would require mastering Aeldari tech—nobody knew how long that would take.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Eden's mind.
Roar!
A dreadful roar rang out. In the distance, a massive figure swooped toward them…
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My Patreon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/zaelum]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]