The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

Chapter 23: Preaching

The last scene of the mural is a group of Felynx armed with stone spears, using their size advantage to fight against the Explosive Dragon, which can no longer fly.

Although the Explosive Dragon was seriously injured and not good at close combat on the ground, its brute force was still far superior to that of the Felycats. Soon, more than twenty Felycats were lying on the ground.

Just when the situation was becoming critical, an Ailu cat found Leon, who was unconscious not far away, and the plasma pistol on him...

The mural ended abruptly here. Apparently, they had not had time to paint the following content, but Li Ang knew what would happen next.

Seeing this, Li Ang realized that this party was not only a celebration of the hunting victory, but also a commemoration of the deceased.

The Felynes made such a great sacrifice to hunt the Blastoise not because they cared about the survival of the entire species, but to prove their ability - they were not limited to living in fear under the drive of various monsters, they also had the ability to rise up and resist and defeat the powerful enemies of the species!

This kind of spiritual encouragement is much more important to an intelligent species than pure survival. If one loses the goal and direction of living in spirit, then even if one survives, one will be nothing more than a walking corpse destined to destruction.

These Felts had triumphed over their enemies, and over themselves. Their sacrifice paved the way for the future and hope of the entire tribe. That's why they'd organized a grand party here, using chunks of Dynamax's flesh, where all the Felts got drunk. After this night, they, and indeed the entire tribe, would usher in a new beginning.

Leon felt that what he saw was not a hunt, but a great expedition of the Felyns. He was not only attracted by the Felyns' desperate spirit to win the future in the murals, but also felt a spiritual resonance.

Although this group of warriors won spiritual encouragement for their own tribe, Leon was still not optimistic about whether they could continue.

Although monsters are rampant in the original world of Monster Hunter, there are also humans, dragon people and other intelligent races that are equally strong in military power. They have developed a relatively safe living area and systematically organized hunter guilds to fight against monsters.

Needless to say, the Felyns who have integrated into human society are also quite capable. Those living in the wild can also survive in the relatively safe wilderness where large monsters are regularly cleared out by the Hunter's Guild. They can also simply exchange materials with humans in settlements.

But this planet was different. With no other intelligent species, the frail Felynx were far too isolated to survive. From an evolutionary perspective, without a stable source of high-energy meat, the potential for intelligent evolution was minimal.

Although their omnivorous nature ensures that they will not starve to death due to lack of meat, how can a population evolve if they spend all day collecting low-calorie wild fruits, lacking the energy to reproduce and expand, and having no time to study the use of tools?

You have to know that humans on Earth were already advanced predators at the top of the food chain in the Stone Age, and this group of Felynx have been stuck in the Stone Age for so long and have not made any progress. Leon really doesn't think that with only about a hundred cats left, they can complete the leap in the next period of time.

But then again, these Felynx were truly exceptionally intelligent. Just by seeing me blasting a Scaled Dragon with my plasma pistol in mid-air, I was able to borrow my weapon, even unlocking it and firing...

Leon pondered, thinking about the possibilities of the Felynx population.

By the standards of the Human Empire, these creatures, already possessing the rudiments of civilization but still far removed from humanity, were undoubtedly aliens. However, the level of civilization of the Fey-cats was far too low, and Leon knew that Fey-cats were highly dependent and could form a good partnership with humans. If he could recruit these Fey-cats...

Just as Leon was thinking, several Felynx came over with buckets and crude brushes made of feathers. Leon took a look and found that the buckets seemed to contain primitive pigments made from ore. They first greeted the cat grandmother respectfully, and then began to paint on the rock wall with feathers dipped in pigment.

Leon watched with interest this primitive yet capable method of recording history and depicting cognition. Then he saw a little figure in a red robe holding a blue pistol pasted onto the wall. Realizing that the cats might be drawing him, Leon's eyes widened.

He observed carefully and found that there was also a handsome black dragon painted on his image in the mural. Based on the description in the mural, Leon felt that in the understanding of these Felynx, it seemed that the black dragon spread its wings and used the airflow from its wings to blow itself in front of the Felynx.

What the hell is this?

Leon pointed at the black dragon on the mural and began to ask questions. He found that the Felyne cats were respectful and pious towards the black dragon.

A group of Felyns, led by Granny Cat, led Leon to a crude shrine where a figure resembling a black dragon was enshrined. Seeing the Felyns bowing down to the shrine, Leon's eyes widened, realizing that these Felyns had already developed a primitive religious belief.

In the world of Monster Hunter, ancient dragons are a term for dragon-like creatures beyond human comprehension, with the black dragon being the most legendary. They often possess powers beyond human control, and their appearance can have an immeasurable impact on the environment.

But here, in the eyes of these Felynx, the Black Dragon is the embodiment of natural forces and the god of this planet. He maintains the balance of the planet's ecosystem. Leon, who descended from the sky and assisted the Felynx in defeating the Blastoise, is the chosen one given to the Felynx by the Black Dragon.

Leon was a little amused by the Felyne cats' thoughts. Since he didn't speak the language, he didn't bother to explain it to the Felyne cats. He just picked up the black dragon's shrine and planned to look at it carefully in his hands.

But as soon as he took the shrine in his hand, he felt a faint resistance from the shrine.

Li Ang was stunned for a moment. He was familiar with this feeling. When he, as a soulless person, touched some objects with psychic power, the psychic objects would have such a repulsion towards him.

But this feeling appears here now... Does it mean that this shrine has spiritual power?

But why? Could it be that this thing is like the yellow fox, squatting on it and worshipping the cats with its empty divinity?

No, that's not right. Even the ethereal power of faith can ultimately be understood as a form of psychic energy in a different form. If that's the case, it can't be directed towards something that doesn't exist. It must at least be a psychic creature or some Warp entity...

While Leon was thinking, the shrine in his hand began to be unable to withstand the pressure of the mutual repulsion between the soulless and the spiritual power, and fine cracks appeared on the entire wooden shrine.

Leon wanted to put it back to its original place, but the quality of the old wood was questionable. After fighting against the soulless and exhausting the spiritual energy on the shrine, the shrine could no longer maintain its existence and broke into two halves directly in Leon's hands.

Leon was stunned, and so were the Felyne cats. They looked at Leon in fear, not knowing whether he, the "chosen one", had destroyed the shrine or whether the gods were dissatisfied with them.

Looking at the group of confused Felyns in front of him, Leon paused and quickly realized that this was also an opportunity.

He simply crushed the shrine in his hand, then stood in front of the place where the shrine was originally placed, raised his hands high and preached to the Felyne below.

“You don’t have to be afraid of the dark.”

The expression on Li Ang's face became sacred and solemn: "Because the glory of the Divine Emperor has arrived!"

PS: The update will be slower in the next two days, so I will update one more chapter today

Chapter 24 Return to Camp

When Leon and the Felyns pulling carts and carrying large and small bags appeared at the gate of the Astartes camp, the brother on guard was obviously a little confused.

He looked at Leon and the Felyne cats hesitantly, wondering whether he should let Leon and his group of "aliens" in directly.

Fortunately, Amidel arrived at the scene quickly. When he got the news, he couldn't hide the joy in his eyes, but this joy turned into surprise when he saw the "alien" beside Leon.

Leon was wearing the red robe of the Mechanicus, his face solemn and dignified, looking rather like a red-robed bishop of the state religion. Seeing Amidel coming, he nodded slightly to him and raised his hands high:

"Angels of the God-Emperor, I am back!"

If there was an Inquisitor present, Leon would likely be taken for a purity test to determine if he was possessed by a demon. However, Armidale wasn't someone who had fought in a major rebellion. So, he simply let Leon and the Felynes in, instructed his brothers to keep a close watch on these "aliens," and then pulled Leon aside to ask:

"The brother who came to inform me said that you were captured by the aliens. They held you and another seriously injured brother hostage at the gate of our camp and planned to negotiate with us... So what's going on? Why did you suddenly bring a group of aliens back?"

"This isn't an alien, it's a cat."

Li Ang pointed out righteously, "This was once one of humanity's best companions on Ancient Terra, but it disappeared due to the mass extinction after the Dark Ages. I never thought I'd see a genuine cat on this planet today. Even the Emperor would probably sigh, 'My youth is back!'"

"Cats?" Amidel glanced at the group of Elu cats walking upright, then looked at Leon and confirmed again: "Ancient Terra creatures?"

Leon nodded without hesitation: "Even the Emperor himself kept cats, and this is also recorded on the electronic equipment of Ancient Terra."

Amidel could tell Leon was talking nonsense, so he simply stopped pursuing the cat's question. "Then what's with all that charlatan attire? Why do you look just like that recorder who used to come into our company every day and keep saying the Emperor was a god?"

"Be respectful, I am the Divine Emperor's messenger." Leon solemnly scolded, "The Divine Emperor has chosen the Felyne cats as his chosen people. Even though you are the Emperor's angels, you must not be disrespectful!"

The Felyne cats in the distance, though unable to understand the language, erupted in a small cheer at Leon's overwhelming presence. Armidale hesitated to speak, but after seeing Leon's glance, he agreed.

He turned around and pulled Leon to a corner where the Felyne cats couldn't see him. Leon relaxed all of a sudden, no longer playing the grimace he had before.

"So what's going on?" asked Armidale.

Leon shrugged. "I was being chased by two monsters when I encountered these little creatures with basic intelligence. They rescued me and helped me kill one of the monsters. I felt they had potential as experimental assistants and legion servants, so I brought them back."

"What about your missionary demeanor?"

"It's just a small job."

Leon pulled out a statue he had carved himself from behind his back. It showed the Emperor seated aloft on a golden throne, a cat cradled in his arms. "And a few techniques I borrowed from my colleagues in the Ecclesiarchy when they were preaching to the indigenous people."

Many people tend to overlook the word "God" in the Mechanicus, and also forget the meaning of the word "Priest" in the Mechanicus. In fact, in addition to their thirst and greed for knowledge, the members of the Mechanicus have never forgotten to spread the teachings of the Om Messiah.

Although Leon did not believe in the Mechanical God, he was well aware of the process of spreading the doctrine.

"Grafting?" Armidale was puzzled.

"It's about transferring their original faith to faith in the Emperor. I tell them that cats are originally loyal companions of humans, and the Emperor is humanity's savior. As angels of the Emperor, we will naturally share His glory with humanity's loyal companions. I have to say this approach really works."

"I'm not sure what the human empire is like now, but I'm sure it won't accept them."

Armidel emphasized his tone and said firmly, "This has nothing to do with whether they are loyal to the Emperor. They even have their own culture and language. According to our standards, they are aliens!"

Li Ang shook his head. "Once they integrate into the human race, these problems won't arise. Until then, we just need to prevent the other brothers or anyone else from knowing that they once had their own culture."

Amidel wanted to say something, but Leon pointed at the group of Felynx.

"And I'm afraid it's not up to anyone else to decide, you see."

Amidel followed Leon's instructions and found that the group of Felynx had already knelt on the ground and started praying.

As they prayed, a golden light gradually emanated from them, a scene that left Armidel and the other Astartes stunned.

"What is that?" asked Armidale in surprise.

"Faith... or perhaps a special kind of psychic power," Leon replied. "You should have seen it before. It's basically the same thing when the Librarians use their psychic powers to assist their comrades."

"Faith? Whose faith?" Amidel looked at the statue of an emperor holding a cat that Leon had taken out earlier. "Could it be..."

"It's just what you think."

Looking at Amidel's expression as if he had seen a ghost, Leon felt secretly happy.

In fact, when he saw this scene last night, he was no less shocked than Amidel was now. Now that he saw that Amidel was as shocked as himself, Leon felt that he was not alone and naturally felt a lot more comfortable.

When he raised his hands high and announced the Emperor's faith to the Felynes who originally worshipped the black dragon, most of the Felynes were still skeptical. Leon could only carve out the Emperor's image with his own hands and let the Emperor hold a cat in his arms.

He declared that the Felines had been good companions to humans since ancient times, but their tribe had been separated and forgotten their past history. He also created a mural titled "The Emperor and the Great Crusade of Cats," explaining their past "history" to the Felines.

Considering that some apocryphal books recorded that the emperor had a marshal of the imperial guards nicknamed Kitten, Leon felt that his "history" was not completely fictional.

Leon's confident expression quickly swayed some of the Felynx, who began tentatively praying to the Emperor. Feeling this was a good start, Leon didn't rush into anything further. He planned to gradually instill the Emperor's faith in the Felynx tribe, then bring them aboard his future ship as pets and assistants.

As a result, as more and more Felynx began to pray, the golden psychic light belonging to the Emperor actually began to shine on their bodies.

Such an effective prayer instantly swayed the Fey cats' faith, and almost all of them became believers in the God-Emperor without hesitation. Only Leon, realizing he was just trying to trick the Emperor, could not help but gasp.

He checked the group of Felynx inside and out, but he found nothing.

If the blessed are always watched by the blesser, then why did Old Man Huang go to so much trouble to bless these Felyns? It couldn't be that he was just here to take a look, right?

Unable to understand why the yellow-skinned man would bless these Felynx, Leon could only shift his thoughts to the direction where it was the Emperor who had thrown him to this planet.

He had previously wondered whether the Emperor had ever played Monster Hunter. Now, speculating further, he felt that the Emperor might have had such a deep affection for the Felyns when he played Monster Hunter nine out of ten times.

But no matter what the reason is, the blessing that is similar to the psychic energy of the cold sun in the warp cannot be faked. Leon can only speed up the pace by taking advantage of this fake show that really works.

The next morning, he set off with the unconscious Astartes and the packed Felynx. Besides the materials for the Explosive Dragon that the Felynx had already collected, Leon also went back to pack materials for the Rumble Dragon, and had the Felynx take them with him. Finally, they returned to camp with a full load.

Leon picked out some parts that he could talk about and recounted the general events to Amidel. All Amidel could do was gasp.

"So is it any use for us to pray now?" he asked tentatively.

"You want to pray just because you know it's useful. Are you so utilitarian?"

"If prayers truly are answered, then it's not feudal superstition, but something that exists objectively," Armidale said righteously. "To return to the galaxy and continue fighting for humanity, what's wrong with being a little utilitarian?"

"Unfortunately, as far as I know, most human prayers go unanswered. That's why I was surprised that Felyne's prayer was answered so easily."

From the moment he was thrown onto this planet, although Leon, as a soulless being, didn't feel anything, the behavior of the Felynx always made him feel that there was a mysterious existence observing him through the hands of believers.

If Amidel and the others started praying to the Emperor at this time, they would probably get a response from Old Man Huang, but Leon didn't want this group of warriors to be exposed to more state religion ideas, so he implicitly expressed his denial.

"Okay," Armidale shrugged, not feeling bad about it. "So what are you going to do with these aliens?"

"It's Cat Elu."

Leon corrected Amidel's address and said, "Just keep them in the camp. Even if they are recognized, they really don't have much visibility in the empire. I plan to have them take on some logistical positions to assist us."

"So this is our little secret?"

"Hey! Where did this little secret come from?" Li Ang's face changed: "I don't believe this!"

"Why such a big reaction... Anyway, we will temporarily accept these aliens... Felynx into our camp."

Amidel said, "Whether my brothers can accept these aliens is not up to me. It all depends on the performance of the Felynns. But I still can't understand why the Emperor's psychic power descended upon them."

"I'm not talking about any races or aliens, but the Emperor is currently on the Golden Throne of Terra. How can he transmit his psychic energy to this planet from such a distance?"

"When the Emperor ascended the Golden Throne, the entire Imperium changed a lot. But there's no rush to explain now. You'll learn about it later. For now, let's focus on the present. Our goal remains how to leave this planet."

Armidale nodded. "Although we were unexpectedly chased by other monsters along the way, according to what you said, after hunting down the Boom Dragon, all we have left is a decisive battle against the Rathalos that's taking over the space wreck. Has the plan changed?"

“The plan hasn’t changed, but we still have to do a little more preparation.

Li Ang touched his lower handle, remembering the Black Dragon Shrine that had shattered in his hand last night. "It's just like when I was chased by two other monsters after hunting the Boom Dragon. Even if what we're going to do doesn't change, the variables we'll encounter along the way will definitely be far more numerous than we imagined."

"Is there something behind this?" Armidale responded quickly.

"That's right." Leon nodded and said, "Amidel, have you heard of the Soul of the World?"

Chapter 25: Soul of the World

Amidel looked bewildered, clearly having never heard of this title. Leon wasn't in a hurry, however. He planned to patiently encourage him to think for himself.

"When Sergeant Arlo and Lieutenant Vigan's team returned, they reported the situation to you, saying that I was being chased by two monsters?" Leon asked.

"Yes, they said you were being chased by two monsters about twenty meters long. Judging from their size, their strength was no less than that of the Boom Dragon."

Amidel shook his head. "To be honest, we've seen those two monsters before, but we've never fought them. No one expected them to appear together after we finished hunting the Boom Dragon. Even after living here for so long, the ecosystem here still surprises me."

"You're right to be surprised. According to a normal ecological system, it's impossible for two monsters, both apex predators, to cooperate with each other. The higher the ecological position of a creature, the more energy it requires. If these two different species of monsters can cooperate, how will they divide their prey?"