Jacob lay on the surgical altar. He looked up and saw the pharmacist's face pale because of the long absence of sunlight. He could hear the blurry sound of nearby machines. The servants made strange chants, and the screams or howls from time to time, or the sound of scalpels cutting into their bodies.
The table beneath him was covered with blood that had condensed, its scent and many chemicals rushed into his nose, fingers moving uneasily on the metal handle on the edge of the operating table.
Then he took a deep breath and kept himself calm.
After the battle group returned from the battlefield of Pai Shangxing, they, as the fourth batch of recruits of the battle group, finally began the transformation surgery.
First, the pharmacists performed many strange medical rituals on him, and then everyone was put into many technical engines to scan. The pharmacist poked him with a sensing device, put on a sensing helmet, and connected a surveillance patch on his limbs.
Before this, their diet had been changed to some kind of synthetic product, which contained a strange chemical smell caused by many drugs, but he guessed that these things were all for his own good, so he was not worried.
And worrying is useless, because he knows that everyone lives completely under the compassion of fate.
At least he is still alive, but not all candidates survive.
Many of his friends, the boys from Amyddoton, will never come back.
Some people call the orphans of the fallen soldiers taken away by these Astral Knights from Amydodon as "Amydodon Orphan", but he prefers the term "Son of Amydodon".
Soon, Jacob forced these distracting thoughts behind his head, and he didn't want to think about it anymore.
After early transformation, his body has become a perfect fusion of genetic technology and can continue to make him the next step in becoming one of the Astarts.
He is ready to implant something they call genetic seeds.
Death or sanctification is the only step left.
Jacob took another deep breath and tried to keep calm.
He instinctively dislikes these things, hates being bound, imprisoned, and influenced by the will of others.
But now he can't do anything about it.
When he turned his head slightly, he saw a pharmacist coming over. He held a glass with respect with both hands, and there was a ball of meat, with many warts and tissue tubes highlighted on it.
At this time, the singing of the servants around him became louder and more rhythmic as the pharmacist approached.
That is the gene seed.
Jacob remembered what he learned the other weeks, the most important component of all Astart possesses, able to keep him transforming into a complete superman.
Although it looks a bit hideous and terrifying on the outside, it is really a sacred thing. This bloody mass of flesh was born from another glorious Astarte, and it is also a direct connection with the god who became the primordial in ancient times.
Jacob was excited to think that soon there would be a part of God in his body.
The pharmacist got closer and Jacob felt a needle piercing into his arm, and under his enhanced senses it felt like he was stabbed by a sword.
After a brief burst of pain, the cold flowed into his blood vessels and spread from where the needle was pierced.
This thing may be anesthetic, but it doesn't seem to be because the pastor once said that they would not inject anesthetic drugs when they were remodeling, which could have adverse effects.
After a moment, he relaxed and numbed, feeling that his body seemed to be a distant thing, and his soul seemed to float on a cloud of frost, watching what was happening on his body.
Soon, he felt his skin start to tremble, and a gentle pressure appeared on his chest, and the pharmacist reached out and cut him with a saw.
In an instant, the muscles separated and blood flowed out.
Jacob suspected that even axe would not be more serious than this, but he felt only a slight discomfort now.
Finally, he saw the pharmacist making a complicated gesture above the container where the gene seeds were placed, and then he pulled out the ball of meat with an armored hand.
When the gene seeds were placed in his chest, it made a strange sucking sound, and it began to connect into his nerve vessels and muscles.
This strange feeling was different from anything he had experienced before, like a living thing crawling in his chest.
He imagined tentacles stretching out from that thing, blood vessels grow like roots in seeds, and nerves connect with themselves.
The next second, some images filled his mind as another needle pierced in, pain began to flow through his body, beyond the cold, and his consciousness fell into the abyss of darkness.
Only one echo remained in his last consciousness.
It's not anesthetic indeed
A few days later.
Jacob kneeled in the meditation room, and he felt better now, and his chest no longer felt uncomfortable because of genetic seeds.
Although only a few days have passed, the scars caused by the ceremony have begun to fade away, and he only felt a little sensitive when touching the soft places.
He found himself tempting with his fingers every day, just like a man licking the cavity of his teeth with his tongue. He still couldn't believe that these scars and soft places were marks of the emperor's favor, but he knew that this must be.
Then he pushed these thoughts away and focused on the podium.
The pastor stood before the candidates again, tutoring them to start the ceremony, Jacob cleared his mind as he learned, and began to recite the strange prayer silently.
He felt himself relax and reached for the knowledge crown, a strange and ancient thing made of brass and steel, connected to the knowledge engine with brass and glass cables.
The priest told them that this knowledge crown was the first time the group was used by the recruits. It was a very advanced and efficient device. The huge machine it connected to recorded all the history of the group and many older stories.
In fact, these are ancient equipment that just brought out from the Legion flagship. They were used for rapid recruit training in the past and were very different from existing brainwashing equipment. Soshiyan decided to put it into trial after thinking about it for a while.
By wearing a crown of heads, knowledge can flow into the recruits' heads at an extremely fast speed, faster than anyone can remember them with ordinary methods - which can save them a lot of time spent in the library.
Jacob found this process both terrible and magical. After wearing the crown and the pastor recited the correct prayer, knowledge emerged.
Not only in words and memory, but also in sound, images and emotions.
He felt that he was being changed drastically by machines, but he didn't care: it was worth the price to acquire this knowledge.
Jacob learned so much in just a few days, and this thing itself is of great significance.
And the more he learns, the more he can understand the Space Marines, the more he can understand the battle group, the more he wants to truly be a part of them - but this obviously requires time to settle down.