The Third Legion's Primarch, Fulgrim, upon meeting the Emperor, immediately recognized him as his father, swearing loyalty immediately and becoming yet another Primarch to return to the fold.

It was worth noting that, upon rejoining his Legion, this Primarch delivered an exceptionally passionate and moving speech right in front of the Emperor and all the warriors of his Legion.

Even the Emperor himself was deeply moved by it, and so he granted the Third Legion the honorific name "Emperor's Children," showing his great appreciation and confidence in Fulgrim's future.

The Emperor firmly believed that Fulgrim would become a pillar of humanity, fighting for the Imperium, and even shared this with Chancellor Malcador upon returning to Holy Terra.

"Malcador, do you know? In that child, I saw the light of human perfection.

"His appearance is extraordinarily beautiful, his manners are noble and graceful, he is the very embodiment of perfection," the Emperor said.

The Emperor was unusually fond of this Third Primarch.

"Let's hope he lives up to your expectations, shining for humanity and fighting for our species," Malcador replied with a faint smile, not adding further comment, after all, he had never met Fulgrim himself and couldn't judge.

"He surely will. His speech even moved me! By the way, how is Axis's recent transformation and training coming along?" the Emperor asked.

"Very well. His body's endurance is miraculous. In fact, I've adjusted the pressure inside his gestation pod to more than ten times that of Holy Terra, just as he requested.

"It seems that under this tenfold gravity, he develops even better," Malcador replied, glancing at Axis, who stood over two meters tall and whose features were stern and cold within the pod.

"Logically, his height should have reached more than three meters by now. Why is he only just over two?" the Emperor wondered aloud as he looked at Axis in the gestation pod.

They had been cultivating Axis for ten years.

At this rate, even the average Custodian would have reached two and a half meters tall!

And Axis, having undergone the Primarch transformation, should be at least three meters tall by now.

But at just a little over two meters, it was puzzling.

"I find that strange as well! But when I asked Axis, he said that among his people, once they reach adulthood, their appearance, physique, and even physical functions never change, unless they grow old. Not even their hairstyle changes," Malcador explained.

The Emperor nodded at this, what a peculiar minority of humanity, he thought. After adulthood, their looks, even their hairstyles, would never change!

During the eleventh year, Axis continued to develop his artistic talents, but this time Malcador focused on cultivating his military instincts.

In the twelfth year, Malcador began assigning Axis tasks in military command, leading soldiers in simulated battles against human enemies.

At first, Axis commanded troops whose numbers, equipment, and weapons were equal to those of the enemy.

Once he could consistently win battles with even odds, Malcador upped the difficulty.

Axis's army would be at a disadvantage, whether by terrain, intelligence, or numbers.

That year, the Emperor once again departed Holy Terra, heading for a place called Nocturne.

There, he met the Eighteenth Legion's Primarch, Vulkan, the most physically imposing of them all, nearly four and a half meters tall.

The two engaged in a hunting competition.

In the end, the Emperor, in order to save Vulkan, threw his own game into the magma.

Although he lost the contest, his actions moved this Primarch deeply.

The Eighteenth Legion's Primarch, Vulkan, returned to the fold, and named his Legion after the salamanders they had hunted together.

In the thirteenth year, Axis received even more advanced tactical training, leading small teams in decapitation strikes and covert assassination missions.

By the fourteenth year, Axis began learning how to pilot spacecraft, studying the duties of a qualified captain and how to cooperate with Navigators while traversing the dangerous realms of space and the Warp.

After a year of intense study, Axis became comparable to a reasonably competent captain in the Imperial Navy. Malcador assigned him a new challenge, commanding a warship in simulated void combat against enemy forces.

That same year, the Emperor once again left Holy Terra, this time journeying to the frozen world of Inwit. There, he recovered yet another Primarch.

The Seventh Legion's Primarch, Rogal Dorn, was entrusted with command of the Imperial Fists Legion.

At the same time, Dorn also presented the Emperor with the Phalanx, a colossal fortress-ship dating back to the Dark Age of Technology.

For the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth years, Axis continued to train in simulated space warfare, practicing boarding actions, close-quarters ship-to-ship combat, and assault operations.

During this period, the Emperor traveled to Macragge, where he found the Thirteenth Legion's Primarch, Roboute Guilliman.

Thus, the Ultramarines Legion received its name and was finally reunited with its Primarch.

The Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar had long been a highly developed, industrially advanced region, exceptionally well-preserved.

Its inclusion greatly enhanced the Imperium's industrial capacity, allowing its strength to soar yet again, and the Great Crusade surged forward with renewed vigor.

By the nineteenth year, Axis had completed all the academic tasks assigned by Malcador two years ahead of schedule, practically becoming a master in every field.

Over the following years, thanks to his superhuman intellect, Axis's rate of learning became almost terrifying.

By this point, his physical augmentation was also nearing its final stage.

In his twentieth and twenty-first years, Axis began studying some of Malcador's own techniques in biological synthesis, commonly called bio-alchemy.

This was also the key technique the Emperor used in creating the Custodes.

By the twenty-third year, Axis had learned almost everything Malcador could teach, save for a few secrets the old man kept to himself.

It was also in that year, in 842.M30, that the Imperium encountered a powerful xenos race unlike any seen before, the Rangda.

The evil Rangdan invaded the young Imperium's frontier.

Wielding corrupt technology to rival the Imperium and possessing ruthless ambition, they were foes with powerful psychic control abilities.

Within just a few months of their first clash with the First Legion, five thousand Astartes of the First Legion fell.

During this same period, an incident occurred that infuriated the Emperor: the Second Primarch betrayed him.

The Emperor awoke Axis, whose transformation was now largely complete.

After twenty-four years, Axis finally awakened, slowly opening his eyes and taking command of his own body.

"Axis, here's your first mission: eliminate the Second Primarch."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com