Nareth used his Warp Insight to observe Rosicky's emotional fluctuations. He was visibly conflicted.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Hearing this, the Tech-Priest no longer hesitated. He knelt on one knee in the traditional Vostroyan manner and spoke solemnly:
"Rosicky Cech pledges his loyalty to King Nareth."
Nareth did not immediately accept the oath. Instead, he began to use a psychic spell he had learned from the fra'al data crystal, attempting to read Rosicky's mind.
His consciousness, subtle like an unremarkable insect, crept toward the Tech Priest. At the same time, he posed a difficult question to distract Rosicky and force him to focus on how to respond.
"Why did you suddenly choose to swear allegiance to me?"
With the help of Warp Insight, Nareth's awareness extended toward Rosicky and found the "door to his mind" amid a whirlpool of emotions.
The mental door wasn't the cold, steely structure Nareth had imagined of pure, iron-gray logic.
Instead, it shimmered with vibrant hues of desire and pulsed with crimson, relentless ambition.
Nareth's consciousness hovered briefly, then sent out exploratory "tentacles" from the insect form, cautiously probing the vibrant door.
The moment the tentacles touched Rosicky's mind door, Nareth noticed the Tech Priest's brow twitch slightly.
He realized Rosicky was more perceptive than expected. Since this was his first attempt at mind reading and his technique was still crude, he decided to abandon infiltrating the heart of Rosicky's psyche and instead opted for an easier region.
"My king, the Cech family has had close ties with the Fender family for generations. I've long been acquainted with Howard. He frequently praised you and urged me to join him in pledging our loyalty to you," Rosicky replied.
Nareth withdrew from the attempt at deep mind reading and redirected his awareness toward Rosicky's brain instead.
Compared to the sensitive mind, the brain was easier to infiltrate. Minds were generally purer, and even a drop of foreign presence caused ripples like water disturbed on a calm lake.
Brains, on the other hand, were chaotic seas of thought, where intrusions blended more easily.
"I've witnessed your many miracles firsthand, my king, boarding xeno' warships, conquering the Symphony of the Sea. I've never heard of anyone achieving such feats," Rosicky's thoughts continued.
Nareth's consciousness entered Rosicky's brain and saw countless multicolored arrows of varying sizes darting about.
According to the master aether theorists of the Fra'al race, at any given moment, one thought usually dominated a being's mind.
This dominant thought reflected their conscious intent at the time, while others were peripheral, arising from fear, reason, instincts, etc.
For example, fear might dominate in a dangerous situation and lead to thoughts of surrender. But if fear is suppressed by courage or rationality, the person may not even notice it, although it might still trigger muscle tension or a burst of adrenaline.
Nareth's awareness quickly locked onto the thickest, most vibrant arrow flying through Rosicky's mind. He preemptively positioned his consciousness near its path and, as it passed, latched onto it.
He immediately understood Rosicky's thoughts:
"Even if I climb the ranks of the Cult Mechanicum, the best I can hope for is becoming a Magos—after another 56 years of service, assuming everything goes perfectly, with full support from my family and mentor. But serving King Nareth? That's a different path entirely. His ambition is colossal, far beyond just the Vostroyan system, and he only has one Tech adept, Wojciech. With him, I won't just have a place, I'll have space to grow, to rise, to become something far greater."
Having read Rosicky's mind, Nareth understood clearly and pulled his awareness back.
The process, while highly taxing for beginner psychics, only caused mild fatigue for a genetically enhanced Primarch with powerful mental faculties.
Reflecting on his first successful mind-read, Nareth thought:
'As expected, my sensory acuity extends into psychic abilities. The psychic path is perfect for me. It only took five work cycles for me to master the basics and complete my first mind-read, and my target wasn't even unguarded.'
A faint smile appeared on Nareth's face. He didn't mind Rosicky's ambition.
"Rosicky Cech, I accept your loyalty."
That one second of silence felt unbearably long for Rosicky. He bowed deeply.
"My king, I shall devote myself fully to carrying out your every command."
Nareth gave a slight nod, then spoke after a short pause:
"Wait outside. Come back in five minutes."
"At once, my king."
Rosicky followed the instruction perfectly, returning exactly five minutes later.
Nareth pointed to several STC fragments he had just recovered from the Kingdom of Disorder on the table.
"Immediately duplicate the construction template data on the table."
Rosicky stepped forward and saw five different storage media: two dataslates, a chip, a data crystal, and an optical disc.
One of his mechadendrites picked up the nearest rectangular chip. The etched circuitry was familiar.
He inserted the chip into the neural interface port at the back of his neck. Streams of data flooded his electronic eye.
'As I thought—it's part of the sacred standard template construct, held by the Fender family. Howard must have given his full loyalty to Nareth; no wonder he's so valued.'
One cycle later, Rosicky's mechadendrite put down the data plate.
"My king, I have copied and backed up all the data."
"I need you to immediately draft an implementation plan to roll this out across all twelve hives under my control," Nareth instructed.
"Especially the maglev trains, I want them installed in every hive and between them. Then on every battleship."
Rosicky was stunned. The first task given to him was already a massive undertaking, nothing like it had ever been attempted in Vostroya.
His remaining organic heart pounded. From Nareth's words, he sensed overwhelming power and bold ambition.
"As you command, my lord."
After the Tech Priest exited, Nareth sent a message to Yelena, instructing her to implement Tizca's system across all hives and have Buksa rebuild the garrison forces.
He temporarily paused further conquests; his current territory needed time to stabilize. He would wait until all regiments were replenished and the garrison forces of the hive cities restored before expanding further.
Meanwhile, in the underhive of the Naryanmar Hive City, in a dim passage, fur-clad Bukayo turned to Company Commander Gregorz and asked:
"So, you're saying Mrozek is leading a team down here to wipe us out because his businesses were repeatedly attacked?"