Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 771

Chapter 766: Blood Shark Regained His Heart

System’s recognition of the Dragon King’s Spear brought Gu Hang the greatest benefit, namely, an additional 2,000 gene-seeds to exchange.

Each Chapter recognized by the system and under Gu Hang’s command would provide Gu Hang with a maximum of 2,000 gene-seeds.

Regardless of the source of these seeds, whether they were exchanged by him or split from existing Space Marines, once the number of these seeds reached or exceeded 2,000, Gu Hang could no longer exchange for new ones—he could exceed this limit by splitting himself.

The Dragon King’s Spear’s gene-seed was called the ‘Giant Dragon Legion Gene-seed.’ It wasn’t inferior, but it wasn’t like the Phoenix Seed, which had been renamed due to differences from the parent Chapter’s Phoenix Seed.

After all, their army wasn’t established that long ago.

This wasn’t a bad thing, as the Dragon Seed was quite useful.

The Dragon King’s Spear itself had already taken up 1,000 of these, and the extra 1,000 meant that if Gu Hang wanted to, he could have formed a new Chapter.

But he didn’t. He couldn’t

afford it.

Moreover, as long as he had the seeds, he could now rapidly spawn Space Marines. As long as he was willing to spend the bounty points, he could even spawn

them on short notice when needed. The only remaining chapter, the Blood Sharks, was in a unique position.

During the war, they were very good comrades. Historical events had revealed this chapter to be quite unruly, but in actual contact, it was found that as long as their traditions were fully respected, they were quite good and obedient, rarely disobeying orders. Even when tasked with the most difficult and extraordinary battles, they had no complaints. This

didn’t quite match the rumors, and it was unclear whether the rumors were inaccurate or whether the new Chapter Master, Ewing, had effectively reformed the Blood Sharks and transformed the chapter’s ethos.

Gu Hang tended to believe the latter,

and there was evidence to support this.

Many of the Blood Sharks’ members, and the new recruits they had recently received, were Alliance members.

Aside from those chapters with specific requirements for where they sourced their troops, the fleet-based chapters, which recruited extensively, rarely refused the Alliance’s offer of new recruits. The reason was simple: the Alliance’s recruits were incredibly high-quality. From the success rate of gene-seed implantation to the combat effectiveness and future potential displayed after becoming full-fledged recruits, everything was impeccable.

Even though Ewing initially took precautions, subtly suppressing the Alliance’s new recruits’ standing within the Chapter, he couldn’t quite keep them in check. These Alliance recruits were simply too strong. If they were just a little stronger, that would be easy to suppress; if they were significantly stronger, that could be forced down. But if they were all significantly stronger, what would happen?

Even if there was no fairness or justice, it would be difficult to silence them. Even some Blood Shark veterans, admiring the new recruits, would speak up for them.

Naturally, these Alliance recruits heard a lot about the Blood Sharks’ own leadership,

and then told the Alliance.

Whether this constituted disloyalty to the Chapter… these Alliance-born Blood Shark warriors didn’t see it that way. They had all undergone commissar training, and in their hearts, their highest loyalty was to the Alliance, a fact that had never changed. Furthermore, they didn’t see this as a negative for the Chapter; on the contrary, they considered it the most loyal to have the Blood Sharks fight under the Alliance banner.

They also kept things relatively secretive, never actively seeking information. They passively learned a lot of news within the Chapter, then, using the safest means, leaked information whenever possible, but never resorted to force.

In short, Ewing probably hadn’t discovered it yet.

And Gu Hang, therefore, had a relatively clear understanding of Ewing’s thinking.

The Blood Sharks weren’t completely united. Led by Chapter Master Ewing, they were actually a group of reformists. It was they who insisted that the Chapter end its millennia of wandering in the Dark Outlands. Why shouldn’t the Chapter walk under the light?

The Dark Outlands were simply too dangerous. Even with the Blood Sharks’ extensive experience and millennia of experience, survival would only become increasingly difficult if the situation remained unchanged. In fact, the Blood Sharks hadn’t been fully staffed for a long time.

His ideas gradually became mainstream, forming a unified force within the Chapter. The conservatives were either purged or relinquished their oppositional ambitions and went along with the crowd.

Now, the Blood Sharks’ leadership, from the Chapter Master to the Librarian to the Head Chaplain, was entirely reformist.

But there were still a few traditional veterans.

Of course, they didn’t cause much of a stir; at most, they would recount some of the past in their usual grumblings, as the veterans conveyed their so-called Chapter traditions to the new Alliance recruits.

From this glimpse, Gu Hang understood that all of Ewin’s motivations stemmed from this: to brighten the Chapter’s future.

It was also for this reason that the Blood Sharks became less than compliant after the war. They didn’t reject the Alliance’s offer, but they also didn’t readily accept it, maintaining an ambiguous attitude.

In the later stages of the war, they continually contacted various external forces.

Ewin himself even accompanied them to Holy Terra, hoping to see if there were better options out there.

After all, the Blood Sharks had demonstrated considerable combat prowess during the Iron Armor War, proving their worth, and therefore naturally, they could be sold at a higher price.

Indeed, some forces offered Blood Sharks a relatively good price.

As far as Gu Hang knew, the highest bidder was none other than Prime Minister Zibodu.

A planet with a development level of 3 and a population of 40 billion could serve as the Blood Sharks’ homeworld.

This price tag was comparable to that of the Phoenix.

More crucially, the reason Koroja III was given to the Phoenixes was because it originally belonged to the Alliance. For the Empire, this was effectively a reward for Alliance soldiers, effectively costing them 14 billion in taxes.

However, giving the Blood Sharks a planet of comparable size would mean more than just a tax deduction. The planet’s overall wealth was also highly valuable. Within the Prime Minister’s faction, the planet’s additional output, bureaucratic positions, and political influence were all transferred to the Blood Sharks.

The price was considerable,

but it didn’t satisfy Ewing’s bottom line.

He came for better treatment for his chapter. Could controlling a planet with 12 billion in annual tax revenue sustain or even strengthen the Blood Sharks?

Probably not.

If he accepted the offer, he would have to follow the same path as any other chapter, spending a long time expanding its influence. He would have to establish a sphere of influence centered on the home planet, radiating across half, or even an entire, star system. Many of these planets would have to pay tribute to the chapter.

Only by achieving this level of income could the Blood Sharks’ profits be considered sufficient to satisfy their demands.

Of course, having a developed planet with an annual tax revenue of 12 billion as its home planet was a particularly good starting point on this path.

However, compared to the benefits of continuing to join the Alliance, it seemed insufficient.

The Alliance would provide sufficient funds directly, far exceeding 12 billion per year, and they wouldn’t have to struggle to expand their influence, which could lead to conflicts with other chapters or become embroiled in various political disputes.

Add to that the Alliance’s robust productivity, excellent manpower, and the fact that the Alliance’s army could directly serve as an ally in battle, eliminating the need to maintain a large auxiliary army…

After carefully weighing all these factors and probing further, Ewing discovered that Zipperdur showed little interest in raising the price. With any additional funds, Zipperdur could directly use his authority to form several new chapters. Why would he bother supporting a Blood Shark?

Under these circumstances, Ewing finally decided to stop fickle-minded and stick with the Alliance.

By then, the Blood Sharks’ name had finally appeared in Gu Hang’s system.

That meant Gu Hang had an additional two thousand Space Marine seeds to redeem.

The Blood Shark Chapter’s gene-seed was named ‘Blood Shark’. Like the Phoenixes, they had evolved independently for a long time, becoming somewhat different from their parent Chapter. Their seed quality was also quite excellent, at least on par with the Phoenixes,

if not better .

Their maternal lineage wasn’t just the ‘Bat Legion’ of their Chapter’s historical records; they also had half the blood of the ‘Secret Guard Legion’,

a traitorous Legion.

(End of Chapter)