Barbarus, Northern Mountains, Old Base.
Now.
<+>
A cloud of dust suddenly burst out from the house.
Cough, cough, cough. Damn, why is there so much dust?
Hades, covered in dust, held a broom and began wildly sweeping in the middle of the room.
After all, it was his room, and there wasn’t much furniture anyway.
As more and more dust filled the room, Hades gave up struggling and started waving the broom around aimlessly.
Let the dust settle on its own, Hades thought nonchalantly as he stepped outside, standing there like an old man with his hands behind his back, lost in thought.
After a month of trekking and hitching rides, Hades had finally returned home.
With the southern Overlords subdued, Mortarion and Calas Typhon had led part of the Death Guard back to the north.
Hades had tagged along at the rear of the northern-bound army, moving at his own pace. Whenever he encountered migrating villagers, he shamelessly asked for a ride.
“Old man, give me a lift, give me a lift~ I’ll help keep an eye out for monsters.”
And so, carrying a pile of miscellaneous things he had looted from the south, Hades returned to his little dilapidated house.
It had been five years since he last came home.
The once-small base had developed into the pearl of humanity on Barbarus.
The base had undergone expansion, with heavy walls seamlessly built from rocks carved out of the mountain.
The main road of the city was clean and bright, paved meticulously with black cement.
The initial city plan that Mortarion had sketched out had now been fully realized.
The combat division, medical division, logistics division, communications division, community division, construction division, and craftsman division all had their proper places in the base.
There was even space reserved for a market and gardens in the future.
Not bad, not bad, worthy of being a Primarch, Hades thought, recalling the nights Mortarion had pulled him and Calas Typhon into all-night sketching sessions.
Those nights were exhausting—after all, a Primarch could bounce back after just one hour of sleep.
Every day, people from different regions flocked to this base, renowned for its "resistance." Some came because their homes had been destroyed, others were drawn by the fame of the Death Guard, and some sought a fresh start here.
The residential area expanded rapidly, but fortunately, Hades’ house was so remote that it survived the expansion untouched.
Even if it had been demolished, the construction division would have kindly moved his belongings into safekeeping first.
So considerate, Hades mused.
Once the dust had settled, Hades carefully swept up the dust inside his house.
By evening, he had finally tidied up his home a bit.
Hades lit a gas lamp carefully and then dragged the large bundles he had hauled back from the south into the house.
In the lamplight, Hades opened the bundles and started sorting the supplies.
First, he pulled out the dried food rations he had been chewing on the past few days and tossed them onto the stove.
Then came the herbs he had gathered in the south, along with their corresponding seeds and tubers. Hades had tested most of these herbs and found that many of them were effective in filtering out the toxic gases on Barbarus.
A thick stack of carefully insect-proofed maps also emerged from the bundle. Various sizes of parchment were neatly organized by their content and specifications.
Some of these maps were looted from the homes of Xenos Overlords, while others were designed and modified by Hades himself.
In fact, Hades could already draw most of these designs from memory. But out of caution and for the sake of knowledge sharing, he brought them all along.
Next to the maps were various parts and small components—so many that they jingled and rattled the whole way back.
Despite being crammed full, the parts always found spaces to rattle around in.
Following the parts was the simple protective suit Hades had made from the Xenos Overlord’s hide.
After making a suit in Primarch size, the remaining material was just enough for Hades to make one for himself.
Of course, the protective suit wasn’t finished yet; Hades had his own ideas for it.
But due to his physical limitations, he couldn’t complete the mechanical part for now.
The frustrating part was that Hades discovered if he used the Black Domain to envelop these organic-machine spirits, there were only two outcomes: either the machine spirit would be completely destroyed, rendering the machine useless, or the machine spirit would become displeased.
However, if his Black Domain were strong enough, he could theoretically devour the machine spirit, leading to a real melee fight.
But at Hades’ current level, it would likely just result in a displeased machine spirit.
What kind of power is this?! What kind of cheat code gives you a debuff and buffs the enemy?!
In the southern battles, Hades had gradually become more familiar with his untouchable nature.
Simply put, he could "devour" the souls or Psychic Energy of other beings to make his Black Domain larger, darker, and stronger!
But the downside was that his control over the Black Domain would be further weakened.
For example, Hades’ maximum Black Domain diameter used to be seventy-five meters, with a minimum diameter of ten meters.
During the years in the south, after absorbing the Xenos Overlords’ Psychic Energy, the maximum diameter gradually increased to around one hundred meters.
Logically, the minimum diameter should also have increased.
And it did.
But at the same time, Hades discovered that with continuous use of the Black Domain, increasing his proficiency, he could control the Black Domain to shrink further.
This is why Hades firmly believed that one day he would be able to use all sorts of strange Warhammer machinery.
Thanks to Hades’ persistent use of the Black Domain, he could now compress it to a diameter of one meter.
At this point, the Black Domain was like a pitch-black black hole. Just looking at it seemed to draw in human souls.
But he couldn’t compress it any further, no matter what.
But that’s okay; one meter is already pretty good!
Yes, one meter! This meant that most of Hades’ social interactions wouldn’t be affected!
That distance was already the minimum distance an introverted recluse could tolerate in his previous life.
Currently, Hades used the Black Domain mainly for two purposes: to suppress enemy Psychic Energy and for stealth.
Generally speaking, for the former, Hades only needed to compress the Black Domain to within a six-meter diameter.
As long as the target was within this range, they would experience noticeable sluggishness.
For the latter, Hades only needed to compress the Black Domain to within a ten-meter diameter to completely conceal himself.
And when expanded to one hundred meters, it was primarily used to detect the presence of living beings on the opposing side.
As night fell, Hades finally finished sorting through all this miscellaneous "junk."
Looking at the stuff filling the house, Hades felt a great sense of accomplishment, like a successful junk collector.
Enough thinking—time to sleep! Tomorrow, I’ll go chat with Herila!
Other than the guards at the gate, no one knew that Hades was back.