146: Chapter 146 Galactic Situation

Before entering the training space, Xia Xingchen had one last thing to handle.

Xia Xingchen walked over to Katrus, who was currently taking inventory of the goods.

"Katrus, is all of your cargo accounted for?"

Katrus bowed hurriedly upon hearing this: "Respected Archon, all goods are undamaged."

Xia Xingchen nodded and asked again: "What good things did you bring me this time?"

Katrus immediately reverted to his shrewd Rogue Trader persona, enthusiastically introducing his merchandise.

"My lord, in addition to the standard military supplies and population, I have something special to introduce to you: a Sail-class armed merchant vessel."

Xia Xingchen looked at the warship on the optical screen and recognized it immediately.

It was a specially modified armed freighter that was extremely popular in Rogue Trader circles, featuring decent firepower and a large cargo capacity.

Xia Xingchen was stunned when he saw this; he hadn't expected Katrus to actually be able to procure a warship for him.

To be honest, he had only mentioned it in passing before. Moreover, looking at the numbers and the latest manufacturing date on the optical screen, it was clearly a newly built batch. He didn't know what method Katrus had used to get his hands on it.

"I like this ship." Xia Xingchen pointed at the screen. "Alright, I'll buy this ship."

Katrus smiled at this, but hurriedly waved his hands: "Respected Archon, you don't need to pay for this ship."

Xia Xingchen was taken aback. One doesn't receive a reward without merit; if Katrus refused payment, it must mean he had a request more valuable than money.

"What do you want?"

"Could you lend me an army?"

Xia Xingchen understood immediately; Katrus wanted to borrow troops to retake his family's world.

He pondered for a moment and countered: "If I send troops, what scale would be required?"

He couldn't rashly mobilize a large force just because of a word from Katrus. After all, if it escalated to the scale of the Troy War, even a thousand trades with Katrus wouldn't cover the losses.

Katrus knew his limits and said immediately: "My lord, you would only need to dispatch one warship and a crack force of ten thousand men at most."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchen nodded in agreement.

Katrus bowed respectfully: "Thank you, Archon! Please wait for my news."

After Xia Xingchen agreed to provide troops, Katrus stayed on Lanshan Planet for two days before setting off. It was said he was going to contact old subordinates and prepare supplies to get ready for the recovery of his family world.

Xia Xingchen calculated the time; there were only ten years of preparation left before his grand expansion plan.

Xia Xingchen intended to continue entering the training space over the next ten years to hone his martial arts, and he didn't forget to bring Cassandra and Hecuba along.

Before calling the two of them over, Xia Xingchen first opened the Transmigrator chat channel.

Ever since the threat of Chaos was contained, the conflict between the Transmigrator factions and the Empire had intensified.

The Taiping Sector was the first to bear the brunt.

In the first ten years, the Rim Alliance and Fortress Federation only had small-scale frictions with the Empire. In the last ten years, however, local wars had broken out between the two sides.

To what extent had the war escalated? According to news leaked in the chat group, the Rim Alliance and Fortress Federation had already committed nearly 3 million military personnel to the war against the Empire.

And the Empire was not to be outdone; it was said that the Empire had deployed nearly ten million troops from the Planetary Defense Force and Astra Militarum, stationed on important Imperial worlds to halt the expansion of the Rim Alliance and Fortress Federation.

However, the Transmigrator factions fully utilized guerrilla tactics, specifically targeting the Empire's weak points, and adopted siege tactics against the Empire's Fortress worlds and Hive City worlds, causing the Empire endless headaches.

Logically speaking, the Taiping Sector was considered the Empire's rear area, where many important warship production bases were located, and the Empire should have organized a massive army to quell the rebellion.

But that was exactly where the problem lay.

The Empire simply could not spare the manpower, material resources, or financial capital to launch an expedition.

Ten years ago, the Segmentum Obscurus had just finished a major war, committing hundreds of millions of troops, and the massive consumption had not yet been recovered from.

Furthermore, the Rim Alliance and Fortress Federation in the Taiping Sector were located in remote areas without direct Mandeville jump points; the Imperial Army could only assemble in neighboring sectors first and then slowly sail over using conventional engines.

It would take an unknown amount of time and burn through countless resources for a round trip.

And don't think that only the Taiping Sector had friction; in reality, wars between Transmigrators and the Empire had broken out in many sectors.

Not to mention the Segmentum Obscurus; although Chaos was defeated, it had seized a world.

Subsequently, using this as a base, it launched constant harassment attacks against other Imperial worlds.

Amidst the turbulent situation, many human factions were expanding slowly, spreading like tentacles to other territories of the Empire.

Those planets once abandoned or left desolate by the Empire were instead being snapped up one after another by the Transmigrators.

The Ultima Segmentum was even less worth mentioning; Warp communications in remote sectors were intermittent, and each world was either becoming independent or rebelling. Except for the still-stable Ultramar, the vast majority of the Far East had become a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.

Sure enough, as the momentum of Chaos was gradually suppressed, the internal contradictions among humanity—specifically between the Transmigrators and the Empire—began to gradually surface.

In the chat channel, most of the content consisted of dissatisfaction and complaints about the Empire.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock on the door sounded suddenly.

"Come in." Xia Xingchen closed the channel.

Cassandra and Hecuba pushed the door open and walked in.

"Let's go, someone wants to see you."

Xia Xingchen took the two of them into the bedroom and drew mourn-bane from its scabbard.

A powerful wave of Warp energy instantly permeated the room, enveloping the entire bedroom.

Although Cassandra and Hecuba were somewhat uneasy, they still stood tightly by Xia Xingchen's side.

The surrounding light and shadows twisted and changed rapidly, transforming once again into that magnificent throne space.

Cassandra and Hecuba were looking around in shock, and before they could recover, a crisp sound of metal boots hitting the ground came from the front.

Xia Xingchen reacted extremely quickly, instantly drawing mourn-bane and holding it horizontally in front of him.

Clang!

The crisp sound of metal clashing exploded, and Xia Xingchen turned sideways to block the Custodian's surprise attack.

"Big brother Custodian, can you stop with the sneak attacks? I'm almost developing a conditioned reflex."

The Custodian took a step back, sheathed his blade, and did not launch another attack.

Clearly, there was other important business today.

"Remember, the enemy will not negotiate with you about whether to launch a sneak attack. You must treat every day as a day you might be ambushed."

After the Custodian finished speaking, he turned to look at Hecuba and Cassandra beside him.

"You are the two people the Master wants to find."

Xia Xingchen, Cassandra, and Hecuba could clearly feel that the black-robed person holding the book in front of them was emitting terrifying psychic power, like a nuclear bomb.

After the words fell, a person wearing a black robe walked out from behind the Custodian, with the leader holding an ancient and heavy tome in their hands.

The black-robed person motioned for Cassandra and Hecuba to step forward and said in a calm voice: "Now there are two choices. One is to completely suppress your power and be an insignificant mortal forever, living a stable life;

Two is to learn to control your own power and become the right-hand assistants to your Archon."