The 'torture' from the Primaris Astartes Captain Albert lasted for nearly seven days, making Emrys realize early on that being a noble also came with unspeakable pain!
From the moment he opened his eyes each day, he was dragged to the training ground by Elsa, where Albert's sword training, firearms training, combat training, and more awaited him.
Once the training finally ended, Emrys could breathe a sigh of relief and immediately asked Elsa for permission to go out.
Elsa wanted to follow, but he sternly refused.
After all... this matter was somewhat shady.
Fortunately, after Elsa consulted Arthur, she reluctantly agreed to Emrys' request to go out, but on the condition that he was not allowed to leave the upper hive and needed to carry a positioning device.
It wasn't for monitoring; the main purpose of the positioning device was to allow Emrys to immediately deploy a teleportation beacon when in danger, enabling rescue by the Astartes in orbit.
After leaving the planetary governor's mansion, Emrys deliberately circled several times, confirming that no one was following him, before arriving at a foundry.
Deep inside the foundry, a servo-skull floated out of the shadow, emitting a red scanning light: "Visitor confirmed... Merlin Emrys, please follow me."
The servo-skull led the way, with Emrys close behind.
Led by the servo-skull, they arrived in front of a very secluded room. After verification and opening the gate, inside was a laboratory.
Emrys strode in and met an 'old friend'. The Archmagos of the Dark Mechanicum, Lord Rosales.
"Good afternoon, esteemed Archmagos."
Emrys bowed very elegantly, a standard noble etiquette.
In these past few days, besides being tormented daily by Albert, he made time to learn a lot about noble etiquette from Elsa.
"I heard about the assassination," Rosales put down his research work, turned to look at Emrys, and after confirming he was unharmed, his tone softened considerably: "To think that Chaos would send a Daemon assassin, I truly didn't misjudge you."
This alone proved Emrys' value was definitely much higher than that damn planetary governor!
"I should be thanking you. If it weren't for the gift you gave me, something might have really happened this time," Emrys recalled the assassination that day, still feeling a lingering fear.
If it weren't for the 'Armor of Oaths' blocking the assassin's first wave of attack, he probably wouldn't have even had time to react before meeting the Emperor.
Thinking about it now, it was a good thing he didn't give up the Armor of Oaths because of the 'cross-dressing' issue!
"I like fair trades. An unused armor for knowledge of the Necrons, in my opinion, is well worth it."
Rosales gripped his staff, letting out a chilling laugh, then said: "There's something I think you might be interested in. I explored the Necron tomb you mentioned, but unfortunately, I didn't find the hyper-dimensional space. Presumably, the Master of that tomb is still in slumber."
Good, good, as expected of the oil-man, he really knows how to court death in different ways!
Emrys couldn't help but give him a thumbs up. It was lucky that the Necron tomb hadn't awakened, otherwise, there would have been another battle!
"Don't worry, I know what you're concerned about," Rosales looked at Emrys' strange expression, naturally guessing his thoughts, and smiled grimly: "I'm not so foolish as to provoke an unknown overlord, at least not until I'm fully prepared."
That's good. Emrys breathed a sigh of relief. He was so afraid that the oil-man wouldn't be able to control himself and would wake up the Necrons.
Heaven knows what level of Necron was slumbering in that tomb?
If a 'Dynasty' was awakened, things would get really interesting!
"When I had my servitors explore the periphery, they discovered something interesting."
Rosales said meaningfully, waving his staff to project an image: "It seems this bastard is plotting to awaken this slumbering Necron tomb."
In the video, Emrys clearly saw a very familiar figure: Galarion Hadley!
After that bastard escaped from the Ecclesiarchy's holy temple, he had been pursued by the Astartes without success. Who would have thought he'd run off to a Necron tomb!
And, it seemed he was trying to find the entrance to the hyper-dimensional space to awaken this slumbering Necron tomb!
Emrys gritted his teeth, staring intently at Galarion, and said through clenched teeth: "Thank you for this, Lord Rosales. I'll have someone deal with him!"
"Don't thank me. As a collaborator, I don't like unstable factors," Rosales also disliked Galarion very much.
After all, he had been fooled by this guy for half a day, getting nothing in return and even losing two Daemon Engines. He was eager for someone to get rid of this trouble!
"Esteemed Archmagos Rosales, thank you very much for the information you provided." Emrys took out a small, fingernail-sized glass container from his clothes, carefully handed it over, and said with a smile: "As a token of my gratitude, I hope this item... will satisfy you."
"This is?"
Rosales used his bionic arm to pick up the tiny container, holding it close to his eyes for careful observation. Inside was a thick, black liquid, and his voice suddenly became urgent: "Where did you get this... thing?!"
Something that could excite an Archmagos of the Mechanicum so much was naturally from an alien world, the pinnacle of biological technology from the Engineer race... black water!
Rosales scanned the liquid in the container, discovering with shock that the substance contained... extremely complex biological gene programming. According to the servo-skull's calculations, just one drop was enough to alter a creature's genes!
This was absolutely 'forbidden' in the current Imperium!
It was no exaggeration to say that although his expertise in biological genetics wasn't deep, if he took it back to the Dark Mechanicum and gave it to an Archmagos specializing in genetic biology, it would definitely yield astonishing knowledge!
"Esteemed Lord Rosales, this item is called 'black water'. Its greatest effect is its ability to modify biological genes."
Emrys' lips curled into a smile. He had cast the bait. Now... it was just a matter of waiting for the fish to bite.
Rosales obviously guessed Emrys' intentions, but he didn't mind taking the bait. So, suppressing the fervor in his heart, he looked at Emrys: "What do you... want?"
"This black water is a gift for you."
Emrys wasn't in a hurry, he said with a smile.
"No, you understand what I mean." Rosales was not satisfied with just this tiny bit of 'black water'. He wanted more to gain greater benefits within the Priesthood, so he stated directly: "I need one hundred milliliters of 'black water'. In return... what do you want?"
"I want..."
Emrys paused slightly, then, under Rosales' eager gaze, slowly said: "Ten uncontaminated gene-seeds, and the data for Astartes augmentation surgery!"