The passage made of light continuously extended before the ship's deck, its flickering pale yellow light woven together like linen, both dazzling and ethereal, almost causing one to lose their sense of direction and distance.
Or rather, within this passage of light, the concepts of distance and direction never existed from the start.
The Aeldari warship, extended from Wraithbone, drifted in this light passage. This type of ship did not use roaring, crude plasma engines, but instead unfurled solar sails, navigating the void by light pressure, much like the sailing ships on the vast oceans that Reyna had seen in fairy tale books.
However, Reyna had never seen a real sailing ship, nor had she ever seen a real ocean.
Ashford only had endless wilderness.
Cadia did have an ocean, but Reyna began training and fighting as soon as she arrived at Cadia, so she never had a chance to see it.
The solar wind blew against the sails, causing a slight ripple and vibration.
Reyna actually felt a sense of peace and tranquility on this elegant alien ship.
Alexander, sitting next to her, shook the blanket on the ground, and a pile of food appeared.
Reyna had witnessed the power of this blanket yesterday.
Alexander had used this blanket yesterday to conjure a large amount of food for the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Regiment.
However, the food at that time mainly consisted of compressed biscuits, some kind of instant noodles that required soaking in water, and vacuum-packed braised eggs.
Although Reyna had never seen them before, she could generally identify them.
Most of these foods were completely unheard of by Reyna.
Roasted meat from an unidentified bird, plump bunches of purplish-red grapes, and apples and pears as big as Reyna's fist.
There was also a bag of melon seeds from an unknown crop.
These foods were absolutely impossible to find, even in the Upper hive of a hive city.
Alexander handed the bag of melon seeds to Reyna, chuckling softly, "Here, have some melon seeds."
"..I suddenly remembered the large melon seeds we ate back in Ashford," Reyna said, taking the melon seeds, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
She pried open a melon seed with her teeth, and the slightly oily seed was crushed between her lips and teeth. The greasiness from the plant fat brought a small sense of satisfaction to her body.
Although not as large as the melon seeds from Ashford, the flavor of Alexander's conjured ones was clearly superior.
Then, Reyna suddenly remembered.
Alexander seemed to have told her that in his hometown, people would offer melon seeds to fools...
Reyna quickly shot Alexander an angry glare, accusing him of teasing her.
Alexander's lips couldn't help but curl into a smile.
Then his gaze slowly swept over Reyna, landing on the wound on her face.
There was a two to three centimeter long wound on Reyna's cheek, deep enough to break the skin.
The first sentence of the Holy Word Records had originally been tattooed there.
"What have you been through since leaving Ashford?"
Alexander asked with a hint of curiosity.
Reyna was silent for a moment, organizing her thoughts, then slowly recounted her experiences to Alexander.
General Drost's invitation, joining the Cadia 184th Regiment, the Thirteenth Black Crusade, fighting Abaddon's Black Legion and the daemons from Chaos.
"..At that time, the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Regiment was attacked by the Dark Prince's servants."
"A Greater Daemon performing a bloody dance was slaughtering the warriors of Cadia and Ashford. I tried to fight it with my psyker, but I was defeated almost instantly."
"That Greater Daemon originally tried to take my life directly, but perhaps the Emperor protected me, or perhaps my accumulated caresses left a little psyker power in this tattoo."
"The Holy Word on the tattoo burst into light, scorching that Greater Daemon of the Dark Prince. Enraged, it slashed my cheek with a sword, destroying the tattoo."
"If General Drost's heavy firepower support hadn't arrived to temporarily hold back that Greater Daemon, I would have died directly."
As she spoke, Reyna gently reached out to touch the scar on her face:
"But that sword seemed to carry some kind of corrupting and blasphemous power, throwing me into hallucinations and a high fever."
"But just then, the Blackstone Fortress crashed into Cadia, the stars trembled and roared, and the Eye of Terror unfolded in the void."
"Amidst the constantly fluctuating tides of the Warp, I suddenly woke up, and the corruption and blasphemy at the wound were burned away by my own psyker."
"Then I instinctively wielded my psyker, tearing that Greater Daemon of the Dark Prince into pieces."
She was enhanced... Alexander stroked his chin slightly, scrutinizing Reyna from head to toe.
"There are no signs of corruption. It should be that the Great Rift's opening and the Dark Prince's corruption happened to stimulate her psyker talent."
"Her psyker talent had already undergone subtle modification by the Emperor. After being stimulated, it reawakened, reaching an Alpha level."
Sanguinius' voice resounded in Alexander's mind. He understood Alexander's concerns.
The Holy Word Records tattoo on Reyna's face was destroyed, and before her psyker was strengthened, she was harmed by the Dark Prince's Greater Daemon, which made one worry if she had been corrupted.
"That's my situation," Reyna said. "It's you, though..."
Reyna slightly opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to ask Alexander what exactly was going on and what he had experienced in Baal.
But Reyna ultimately didn't ask. She could sense that Alexander clearly held extremely profound secrets.
Since Alexander hadn't spoken about it proactively, Reyna wouldn't ask.
As an psyker who had awakened her psyker from a young age, Reyna knew that excessive curiosity was not a good thing.
Seeing that Reyna didn't ask further, Alexander nodded slightly.
He was just about to ask about General Drost's situation when he saw a hand stealthily reaching for the New Orleans next to him.
The portable pyramid Alexander carried flashed, and his arm was enhanced.
At the same time, the Phantom Thief DX Suit also increased Alexander's speed.
But he didn't have time to attach the Speed-up Clockwork, and the hand's speed far exceeded the limits of the human species.
"Ah!!!!"
The Lockheart Scarab instantly electrocuted Sylandri Shadowseer's neurons, causing her to let out a scream, and her speed immediately dropped a notch.
Alexander's hand was able to catch up, quickly snatching the New Orleans back from Sylandri Shadowseer's hand.
Caught red-handed, Sylandri Shadowseer let out an awkward but polite laugh.
"Oh my, isn't this Master Alexander? Are you well?"
"Oh, are you eating?"
Sylandri Shadowseer crossed her arms, subtly shifting her slender body back, and bowed to Alexander.
Alexander, slightly dazed, stuffed the New Orleans into his mouth.
Sylandri Shadowseer looked at Alexander's expression, then scratched her head somewhat blankly.
"Is what I said not authentic?"
"I saw it in the Black Library, you local old Terrans talk exactly like this!"
"Listen to my accent, it's absolutely authentic!"
As she spoke, Sylandri Shadowseer gave a thumbs-up and made a large single-arm swing.
While speaking, she silently reached her hand towards another box of roasted wings in Alexander's blind spot.
Alexander rolled his eyes at her, picked up the roasted wings, and handed them to her:
"The stinky outworlder Aeldari are begging before us old Terrans."
Sylandri Shadowseer chuckled. She lifted a bit of her mirrored helmet, revealing her lips, and quickly devoured the roasted wings.
Alexander slightly shook the gourmet tablecloth in his hand, and hundreds of bottles of wine instantly appeared on the tablecloth.
"Give these to the brothers of the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Regiment to drink," Alexander said, looking at Reyna.
The gourmet tablecloth could indeed conjure food out of thin air, but this also required consuming Alexander's savings.
For example, the wine that just appeared, although considered relatively low-grade, still cost eight hundred per bottle. A hundred bottles instantly consumed over eighty thousand, a price that could buy a Denkōmaru.
In Alexander's eyes, the Ashford warriors of the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Regiment were undoubtedly his own people.
They had fought genestealers and Tyranids with him in the hive city, then fought Chaos with Reyna in Cadia, and went on an Expedition in Krasus' cold mist.
And when they left Cadia and evacuated from the Iron Soul, they only carried essential ration packs and protein bars.
They had given so much, and Alexander believed these old brothers deserved to eat better.
But what made Alexander a little guilty was that even with the gourmet tablecloth, he could at most provide the Ashford people of the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Regiment with compressed biscuits, instant noodles, braised eggs, and cheap wine.
After all, an entire regiment had too many people, and the cost of supplying food in large quantities was too high.
However, the warriors of the One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth Regiment were quite happy eating.
Especially when they discovered that these foods not only tasted quite good but also didn't actively attack them when opened.
Compared to the extremely bad-tasting ration packs, or the tasteless protein bars, and the ant-beef cans that had a chance of killing the chef after opening, the food Alexander provided them seemed so human-like.
Alexander pondered that perhaps he should exchange for some tools that would allow them to cultivate crops and raise animals themselves. After all, there were still some old Lyttin in the team, and their cooking skills were enough to turn any normal or slightly abnormal food into a delicacy.
Reyna nodded slightly, using her psyker to lift the hundred bottles of wine and walk towards the lower deck of the Wraithbone warship.
Alexander, meanwhile, turned his gaze to Sylandri Shadowseer.
"When is Cegorach coming to redeem you?" Alexander asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"..The Laughing God, his old man, is now read but not responding," Sylandri Shadowseer let out a dry laugh.
Sylandri Shadowseer's consciousness could connect to the Black Library and feel the Laughing God's will.
But... but the Laughing God ignored her, not responding to Sylandri Shadowseer at all.
Listening to Sylandri Shadowseer's words, Alexander felt a little strange. The Laughing God didn't reply?
He casually took out the Truth and Falsehood Divination Machine from his four-dimensional pocket to confirm.
He found that the Laughing God indeed hadn't responded.
Alexander couldn't help but stroke his chin.
Could it be that Sylandri Shadowseer alone wasn't enough for Cegorach to care about?
There were quite a few Harlequin in the nearby Wraithbone ships.
Should he tie them all up?
Just then, the Wraithbone spaceship suddenly let out a brief tremor.
At the front of the fleet, the Webway made of light began to change.
Yvraine, standing at the bow, raised the old crone sword in her hand, and a burst of Psyker fire erupted from her sword, tearing open a rift in the void.
Dry highland winds blew from within.