Chapter 388: Test Successful
The Proxima Centauri system, approximately 4.3 light-years away from the Sol System, was currently also shrouded in a silent, tense atmosphere.
As the gateway into the heartland of the Imperium of Man, this ancient star system had always possessed solid defensive fortifications and a strict monitoring system.
Massive orbital defense platforms stood like silent sentinels, the shadows of their macro-cannon and lance arrays appearing exceptionally grim under the starlight.
Within the star system, several planets—either terraformed or hosting massive space stations in their orbits—formed a defense-in-depth network.
The Imperial officials here had long received the highest-level notifications from Terra, knowing that a vitally important test related to this place would occur today.
Being so close, it was difficult for major movements in the core region of the Sol System to be completely hidden from them.
However, the specific contents of the test and the consequences it might trigger were like a mystery shrouded in a nebula; no one knew for sure.
On the planetary surfaces, those ancient hive cities—established before the Dark Age of Technology and continuously layered and expanded over tens of thousands of years—mixed with the magnificent cathedrals and command buildings newly built in the Imperial era, forming a bizarre landscape spanning a long epoch.
At this moment, deep within these structures, officials waited with complex feelings.
They did not know what was coming—was it a gospel heralding the Imperium's rebirth, or the beginning of another turmoil?
Was it an internal tear like the Horus Heresy, or the increasingly frequent Chaos incursions of recent years?
The unknown brought deep unease, as well as an instinctive awe toward the Imperium's will.
And in the orbits on the outskirts of the star system, several Ark Mechanicus vessels that had arrived ahead of time formed another scene.
Graia's Immortal Forge, Lucius's Paragon of Artifice, and the giant ships of other Forge Worlds were like steel mountain ranges suspended in the void.
They were not as overtly aggressive as the defense platforms, yet they exuded another kind of suffocating, oppressive aura.
All of these Arks had currently pushed their own detection capabilities to the limit.
Their massive augur arrays were completely unfurled, like giant beasts opening all their sensory organs, not scanning the interior of the star system, but casting all their "attention" toward a specific direction several light-years away—the Sol System.
These powerful sensor arrays possessed multiple modes and functions, their detection range and precision far exceeding those of conventional Imperial Navy warships.
At this moment, they were adjusted to long-range, high-precision spatial situational awareness mode, their targets pointed straight at the predetermined airspace near Martian orbit.
They were not waiting for a signal, but intending to witness it with their "own eyes," using direct data to record the exact moment the test ship dropped out of its warp state and appeared at the edge of the Proxima Centauri system.
The core processors of every Ark Mechanicus were operating at high speeds, analyzing the near real-time spatial readings from the distant star system.
They were tracking the theoretically extremely faint but genuinely existing spacetime ripples left behind when the test ship entered its warp state, attempting to use this to predict its exact arrival coordinates and time window.
The entire Proxima Centauri system, whether the anxious officials in the surface hive cities or the Arks in orbit pushing their detector power to the peak, fell into an almost solidified state of waiting.
Time ticked by minute by minute, second by second, each second seemingly elongated.
Suddenly—
On the main detection array screen of the Immortal Forge, spatial parameters underwent a drastic, unnatural change near a preset coordinate point.
Almost at the same moment, the highly sensitive spacetime chronometers of the Paragon of Artifice captured perfectly consistent anomalous readings.
The next second, at the edge of the Proxima Centauri system, in that patch of void firmly locked onto by all detectors, space twisted and rippled violently like the surface of water after a stone is thrown in.
There was no deafening boom, no blinding energy eruption, only the silent wail of space.
Immediately following, that test ship with sleek lines and a bizarre engine installed at its rear abruptly and without warning "surfaced" from the center of that twisted space, as if it had always been there and had merely just deactivated its stealth state.
It was a success!
Almost the instant the test ship materialized, a pre-prepared, encrypted confirmation signal was emitted from its interior, simultaneously captured by all the Arks and the star system's defense network.
At the same time, the psychic spire set up inside the main Astropathic sanctuary of the Proxima Centauri system received the psychic beacon confirmation code from the test ship.
The Astropath presiding over the ritual dared not be the slightest bit negligent. Immediately pouring all his spirit into it, a psychic shriek carrying the concise message "Test successful, arrived safely" pierced through the veil of the Warp, shooting precisely toward the direction of Holy Terra at a speed far exceeding light.
The waiting in the Proxima Centauri system had ended.
The results were already revealed.
—
This confirming astropathic message from the Proxima Centauri system was captured by the psychic receiving arrays within the Sol System almost the instant it was sent, and was immediately presented to the Martian Parliament and the Eternal Crusader.
In fact, relying on their powerful augur arrays, Mars had detected the spatial signal of the test ship successfully dropping out of its warp state almost synchronously with the observers in the Proxima Centauri system.
But the impact brought by cold observation data was starkly different from this psychic message crossing the Warp and unequivocally declaring "success."
"It succeeded..."
This phrase was like a spark falling into boiling machine oil, instantly igniting all of Mars.
From the giant shipyards in orbit to the deepest Forge Temples on the surface, from the highest-ranking Archmagi to the lowest menial servitors, all entities connected to the data streams or information channels perceived this result at the exact same moment.
An uncontrollable binary cheer spread through the data networks at a near-viral speed. Countless mechanical tones expressed shock and ecstasy in their own ways, and even those eternally unchanging, rhythmic, low mechanical rumbles seemed to take on a passionate beat.
This was a technological breakthrough sufficient to overturn ten thousand years of navigational history; it was clear proof of the manifestation of the Omnissiah's glory!
At the same time, Holy Terra also set off invisible, monstrous waves after this astropathic message arrived.
The Senatorum Imperialis, the Adeptus Administratum, the Departmento Munitorum... all centers of power received this brief report in an extremely short time.
This was not merely the successful verification of another new technology; it meant that the Imperium's power structure, military logistics, and paradigm of territorial control would all face a fundamental reshaping.
Some saw hope, some felt threatened, and even more began frantically calculating their own positions in the new chess game.
This violent emotional fluctuation sweeping across the material universe, along with the challenge to physical laws posed by the technological breakthrough itself, was like tossing a mountain into the surging tides of the Warp.
A malicious Warp storm, aimed at the Imperium and this successful test, began to brew and gather at an unprecedented speed. The roiling blasphemous energies attempted to break through the veil of reality, bringing curses and chaos down upon the celebrating Mars and Terra.
However, in the very instant this chaotic power was about to form a substantial impact—
That cold sun eternally burning in the Warp, guiding humanity's way—the source of the Astronomican, the incarnation of the Emperor's will—abruptly erupted with a blazing light far exceeding its usual state, like a supernova explosion.
This light was not warm, but carried an absolute, unquestionable majesty and power.
It was like an invisible giant sword, or an indestructible dam, sweeping across with crushing momentum, instantly dispersing, flattening, and obliterating that newly formed, yet-to-take-shape Warp storm into nothingness.
A few faint, indistinct roars filled with anger and frustration came from the depths of the Warp, subsequently retreating rapidly and hiding within the endless chaos.
Clearly, certain indescribable entities had attempted to interfere with or even strangle this technological breakthrough that could change the fate of humanity. But the Master of Mankind, sitting upon the Golden Throne, used His supreme will to once again shield His subjects, and the future of the Imperium, from the malice of the Empyrean.
The revelry and tremors in the material universe continued, while the brief clash in the Warp had already settled into dust.
But all the powerful beings who sensed this invisible confrontation understood that this was merely a beginning.
The success of the warp engine was like lighting a new campfire in a dark forest. The light could guide the way, but it would inevitably attract more, and more dangerous, predators.
The tide of revolution was already unstoppable, and what followed would surely be even more severe trials.