"No problem, I'll leave these two super beasts to you. You're the expert in this area, and I still need to focus on improving and cultivating Zetton," said Balt, nodding.
He was quite happy to hand over these two super beasts still in the experimental stage—after all, he wasn't very skilled with them. Instead of raising these things, he'd rather focus on Zetton! Lately, he and Belisarius Cawl had been preparing Zetton's upgrades, using Ace killer weapon metals and regenerative metals to make myofibril coils, and implanting a specially enlarged Belisarius furnace into Zetton.
This was to further boost Zetton's combat power and recovery. They had originally planned to add a Saint Hymn Pituitary, but that was an artifact left over from when the Emperor created the Primarchs—and only half remained. It wasn't meant for giant monsters like Zetton, so they abandoned that idea.
"These two monsters can be infused with some extradimensional energy. I can accelerate their growth into adult super beasts," said Yapool, looking at the nearly-grown super beasts in the giant star cultivation tanks.
He could tell the super beasts had been successfully bred, but they were still far from being battle-ready—it could take years, decades, or even centuries.
Fusing two species is no trivial matter. Even though he had his Super Beast Notebook to solve the core technology, actually getting the Super Beasts moving was very difficult.
There were still a lot of issues to resolve. Without the Super Beast Fusion Machine, artificially synthesized super beasts had a frighteningly low survival rate, often accompanied by various rejection reactions.
If super beasts were easy to make, there wouldn't only be Yapool's kind left in the universe—every other super beast was just something he sold.
To properly fuse super beasts, they needed the Super Beast Fusion Machine powered by extradimensional energy.
"You can mature these two big guys right now?" Rhodes asked, looking at the fusion of Bemstar and Golza, and the fusion of Miklas and Red King in the giant tanks.
These monster combos were chosen carefully—each covered the other's weaknesses or enhanced their strengths.
"If it's just using these giant tanks, I doubt they'll ever reach adulthood. Mr. Balt, you must have noticed—there are strong rejection reactions in their bodies. Fusing cosmic monsters and Earth monsters isn't easy," Yapool said, pointing at Golza and Bemstar's tanks.
Extracting the genes of these two monsters and fusing them was a good idea in theory. But cosmic monsters are on a whole different level from Earth monsters, and even their gene sequences reject each other.
Using his super beast tech, he could just barely graft their genes together, but the result was a weird chimera.
Inside, the monster had both Bemstar's and Golza's heads, their tails were incompatible, and the wings had even regressed—Golza isn't a flying creature, and Bemstar is a space monster that doesn't fly with wings.
"As expected of a master, you found the real problem. That's why I haven't been able to deliver the super beast to the master yet. I've tried many methods, but none can eliminate the rejection," sighed Balt.
He and the Zett had discussed the super beast's rejection reaction for a long time but hadn't found a solution, so they kept dragging it out.
The master had given the order months ago. Several Zettons had been made, but there was still no good news about the super beast.
Rhodes nodded—leave the professional stuff to the pros!
Yapool's specialty was super beasts.
Since he got the Super Beast Notebook, he'd only used it to improve super space marines; making super beasts hadn't progressed.
"Master, these two little ones are still in cultivation—once I finish my Super Beast Fusion Machine, we can put them in and fuse them. Since they're already formed, we can even add a new fusion material, like a species unique to this world," Yapool said.
Arriving in a new world, of course, he wanted to catch some local creatures to make super beasts.
"You mean life forms from this universe?" Rhodes remembered clearly that Yapool once used an Earth blizzard to make a Snow Super Beast in the Ace TV show—it was crazy strong. Random bugs and animals from Earth could be fused to make powerful super beasts; if they used some of the Warhammer universe's bizarre creatures, they'd make even stronger ones.
"Exactly, master. Can you introduce some special species here? We'll pick two to fuse with these super beasts," Yapool said.
"There's a creature called an Antelope in a place called Catachan, and also Warp Chaos Demons, Orks, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Tyranids..." Rhodes started explaining the local unique species.
You've got to think outside the box when making super beasts—no need to remake the ones Yapool already created.
We should look to the Warhammer universe's monsters: stuff from the Catachan jungles, Chaos Demons, Tyranids, Orks, and so on.
There are endless things in Warhammer to use for super beast fusion!
"Master, your idea's great—I'm interested in the Catachan lifeforms and the daemons you mentioned. But there's something else I think is perfect for super beast fusion. You mentioned a thing called a Dreadnought—right? Putting a dead cyborg warrior in a machine to keep fighting seems like a waste. I think we should use a Dreadnought to fuse with a super beast—the result would be amazing," Yapool said.
"You want me to get you a Dreadnought? And with the blood casket still inside?" Rhodes asked.
What the hell?
Rhodes thought he'd pick Antelopes, Catachan creatures, Tyranids, or Orks.
He didn't expect Yapool to immediately ask for a Dreadnought!
"Fusing things like Antelopes and Catachan life forms makes biological super beasts—I've made plenty of those. Their combat power isn't anything special. But Dreadnoughts are much more interesting. Master, go get me a Dreadnought! I'll start making the Super Beast Fusion Machine, and then we can start fusing," Yapool said.
Fusing biological creatures makes lower-level super beasts; using concept-level items like Dreadnoughts is a top-tier fusion method.
"That's a bit difficult!" Rhodes said.
Of all things, you want a Dreadnought?
Your imagination is something.
"Master! The blood-casketed Space Marine inside a Dreadnought could control these mindless super beasts, making them even stronger. You said there should be plenty of Dreadnoughts here," Yapool said.
"I think it's feasible, master. What super beasts lack most is a heart—a fighting heart, a warrior's heart. They're fierce, but in the end, they're just obedient bio-weapons. Fusing a super beast with a Dreadnought and its Space Marine should work perfectly," Balt added, excited.
That gave him some inspiration—maybe he could discuss with Yapool about fusing Zetton into a super beast in the future.
"So, how long will it take you to make the Super Beast Fusion Machine?" Rhodes asked.
He wanted to go fight the Tyranids soon. If this would take a month or two, the super beast wouldn't be ready in time.
"Three days. If materials are sufficient, I only need three days to make the Fusion Machine," Yapool assured Rhodes, patting his chest.
"Alright! Get to work! I'll go find you a Dreadnought." Rhodes nodded and left his two scientists, departing his space fortress.
After Rhodes left, Balt looked at Yapool.
"Yapool, do you think fusing Zetton with other monsters could make an even stronger super beast?"
"Definitely. You could use extradimensional energy to fuse Zetton, or pick some conceptual things to fuse as well," Yapool replied.
Zetton's combat power was already massive—it was the Zettonians' ultimate weapon, and Balt had further improved it. Its power rivaled most super beasts.
He'd thought of improving Zetton before, but lacked the raw materials—now he had them.
"I'll help you build the Fusion Machine first. Then we can discuss the details."
The two mad alien biologists got together, grinning with terrifying laughter.
…
So where could they find a Dreadnought? Should they ask the Ultramarines or Guilliman for help? The Ultramarines had many Dreadnoughts, but those were all honored ancient heroes, not likely to be handed over for use as bio-weapons.
After thinking it over, Rhodes decided to ask Guilliman if there were any Dreadnoughts about to be scrapped. After just fighting Chaos, maybe there were some nearly decommissioned Dreadnoughts.