The pinnacle estate's office.
Eden was reviewing the candidate profiles for the first wave of transformation surgery for the Void Angels and War Angels chapters.
The surgeries were already under intense preparation and could commence at any moment.
Since the recruits from the Loyal Legion Academy had not yet matured, the first participants were all battle-hardened veterans.
The members of the Void Angels were exclusively survivors of the Void Tribes.
Before arriving on Urth, they fought tirelessly against Chaos monstrosities with nothing but their flesh and blood, proving their formidable resilience.
The initial members of the War Angels, on the other hand, were veterans selected from the disbanded Defense Force.
These individuals had participated in numerous wars and accumulated a wealth of experience.
Eden needed to appoint two Chapter Masters from these candidates, making them the first to undergo the transformation process.
The selection for the Void Angels' Chapter Master was undisputed—Duke, the strongest warrior among the Void Tribes, was the obvious choice.
Now, Eden's focus was on choosing the Chapter Master for the War Angels.
As he flipped through the files, none of the candidates particularly impressed him until he reached the last page.
"Plu—combat hero, top of the Chapter Reserve Training program?" Eden raised an eyebrow, puzzled as to why someone with such stellar credentials was ranked only fifth among the candidates.
Delving deeper into Plu's profile, he found an exhaustive account of the man's life, sparing no detail. By the time he finished reading, Eden understood why.
"So, it's because of his questionable origins…"
Plu's early life was far from remarkable. A refugee from the lower hive, he survived on scraps and faced starvation regularly.
That alone wouldn't have disqualified him.
The real blemish on his record was his past as a spy for the Hoffman family.
Plu, a refugee, had stumbled into the upper hive, which happened to be under Hoffman family control. To avoid starvation or being processed into protein extract, he was coerced into joining Joseph's spy network.
The reward? Starch bars made from corpses.
However, Plu never actually participated in the rebellion that the spies were tasked to incite and survived by sheer luck.
With nowhere to go, he chose to stay in the royal court district, adopting a false identity and toiling away in the factories.
Ironically, his diligence as a laborer earned him recognition and special commendations.
Later, in pursuit of tastier food, specifically Type-2 wheat starch bars, Plu enlisted in the Defense Force.
The timing was perfect, as the Defense Force was undergoing massive expansion, and he quickly became a soldier.
Once enlisted, Plu seemed to awaken to his latent potential, earning accolades for his outstanding contributions in multiple battles.
The most notable of these was his role in a decapitation strike against a bandit chieftain.
Plu, as part of a suicide squad, not only survived the overwhelming assault in the hive's underbelly but also blew up a key passage, cutting off enemy reinforcements and saving many comrades.
This earned him the title of Combat Hero.
Later, he participated in the Chapter Reserve Training program, outperforming tens of thousands of recruits to secure first place.
Eden smirked. "This guy's not bad."
He marked Plu's profile with a red circle, finalizing his decision.
As for Plu's questionable background, Eden wasn't concerned.
The Hoffman family was a relic of the past, and anyone who received the blessing was considered part of his fold.
The only downside? The man had a voracious appetite, constantly eager to try new foods.
But that hardly detracted from his qualities as a warrior.
Eden quickly summoned the two candidates for an audience.
Duke, a burly man with purple tribal markings on his face, sat rigidly on a chair, his expression serious.
A fellow veteran, scarred and rugged, approached him with a bag of snacks.
"Hey, want some?" the man asked.
Duke shook his head silently.
"Alright, more for me," the other said with a shrug, munching noisily on wheat starch biscuits.
This was Plu.
Years of combat and grueling training had transformed him from a scrawny youth into a hardened warrior. Yet, he still harbored some nervousness, stuffing biscuits into his mouth as his cheeks bulged comically.
After all, they were about to meet the Savior himself.
Soon, a maid from the pinnacle estate arrived to escort them to the Governor's office.
"Savior!"
Duke and Plu placed their right hands over their hearts, a gesture of reverence mixed with tension, as they bowed before Eden.
They hoped to gain his recognition, receive the blessing, and officially become Chapter Masters.
The blessing, an unparalleled gift, unlocked the recipient's full potential.
Its effects were widely documented in the Holy Codex of Redemption, a text found in every household within the domain. On bi-weekly prayer days, families were required to read and recite from it.
However, the deeper effects of the blessing remained shrouded in mystery.
"Sit down…" Eden removed his gold-rimmed glasses and stepped out from behind his massive desk.
The three of them spent an hour in deep conversation over lunch.
At the end of the audience, Eden delivered his verdict:
"You are the provisional Chapter Masters and will be the first to undergo the transformation surgery. Upon its successful completion, you will receive your official appointments."
"Yes!" Duke and Plu were ecstatic. They had earned the Savior's recognition.
Under the radiance of the Sacred Sun, Eden personally conducted their blessings at the Cathedral of the State Church.
The research institute's surgery chambers were fully prepared.
Designed as state-of-the-art sterile environments, the expansive facility featured multiple sealed compartments, allowing dozens of procedures to be conducted simultaneously.
Equipped with advanced life-support systems, anesthetics, and surgical teams, the chambers were also powered by energy from the Miniature Sun, significantly boosting survival rates.
Eden had no intention of replicating the grim methods of the Dark Angels—conducting outdoor surgeries without anesthetics on mountaintop slabs.
The process of creating Space Marines involved 19 stages of surgical implantation, including:
Secondary Heart: Enables survival under low oxygen or severe trauma.
Bone Fortifier: Strengthens skeletal structure.
Muscle Enhancer: Stimulates growth to produce towering warriors.
Blood Reconstructor: Optimizes blood composition.
... (full details of all 19 stages omitted for brevity, check on the Wiki if you want to.)
Each stage required months of recovery and adaptation, even with advanced energy systems accelerating the process. Completion of the full transformation would take at least a year.
As the veterans filed into the chambers, Eden departed, his mind already turning to the next critical task.
(End of Chapter)
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