A Custodian Guard drew his chainsword and sliced it against his companion's armor.
With a screeching sound, the chainsword chipped a little, but when they followed up with a boltgun shot at close range, the combat suit remained undamaged after both tests.
The Custodian Guard then switched to higher-powered weapons, meltaguns and plasma weapons, to continue testing.
Still, none of these could damage the combat suit.
Afterwards, the Custodian Guard removed the suit and placed it on a dummy, then performed a cutting test with a power sword.
Only then was the suit finally breached.
Seeing this, Axis couldn't help but smile.
After all, Saiyan battle armor could withstand attacks up to a thousand power units, anything under 500 couldn't even scratch it.
Currently, among the Imperial human arsenal, only power weapons could break through this armor.
After all, power weapons disrupt molecular bonds, a type of damage even the battle suit couldn't defend against, nor could power armor, for that matter.
But power weapons were exceedingly rare in the Imperium, not something you'd see everywhere.
Only elite warriors were issued them; the majority of melee weapons were monomolecular daggers and chainswords.
"This battle suit's defensive capabilities are particularly good, but it does have its drawbacks. Unlike power armor, it doesn't boost the wearer's strength or running speed, nor does it provide full-body protection or have an internal oxygen recirculation system, so it can't be used for combat in a vacuum."
After watching the test results, the Emperor offered a very fair evaluation.
Its defence was indeed impressive, but its flaws were also glaring.
In the Emperor's view, this battle suit was actually less valuable than that energy weapon.
"Cracking its manufacturing process will take a lot of time, and this suit can't replace power armor," commented a nearby Tech-Priest.
"It could serve as an underlayer, worn beneath Space Marine or Custodian armor," Russ suggested.
"I'll be taking this battle suit to Holy Terra for reverse-engineering. Magos Kriski, our ship still needs maintenance, and you need to craft a brand new suit of power armor for my gene-progeny, so get to it! What comes next won't be weapons testing, and you won't be needed here." The Emperor waved them away as he spoke.
The Emperor intended to issue this battle suit to the Custodian Guard.
Holy Terra already had dedicated weapons divisions to produce all Custodian gear, so there was no need to hand this over to the Martian Mechanicum.
Moreover, the Emperor had a hunch that what would be shown next was not for too many eyes to see.
The Mechanicum adepts nodded to the Emperor, packaged up the power level detector and an energy gun, and collectively left the training ground.
They'd gotten more than enough today, it was quite the harvest.
As for the battle suit, the Mechanicum wasn't particularly interested; it wasn't made of metal, and it didn't fit with the Omnissiah's creed of the Machine God.
"All Space Wolves of the 6th Legion, as well as all tech-sergeants, withdraw. Only the Custodians, Leman Russ, and Axis are to remain," the Emperor commanded once more.
Soon, fewer than ten people remained in the entire training ground: the Emperor himself, four Custodian Guards, Russ, and Axis.
"Tell me, Russ, what's the purpose of this ship?" The Emperor walked up to the eyeball-shaped small spaceship, reached out to touch it, and asked.
The material it was made from was a metal even harder than ceramite, possibly on par with adamantium, and it was an entirely unknown substance to him, something he had never seen before.
"Father, I was saving this as the final surprise for you! Don't you want to see a special med-pod as well?" Russ replied.
"Med-pod? Where is it?" The Emperor gave Russ a strange look.
The eyeball-shaped craft wasn't even big enough for a full-sized Astartes to sit in, how could it possibly contain a med-pod?
Russ grinned, pulled a capsule out of his pocket, and tossed it onto the ground.
After a puff of smoke, a massive med-pod, about 3.5 meters high and 6 meters wide, appeared before the Emperor and the Custodians.
"This is spatial technology! Some kind of space compression and folding storage tech?" The Emperor's expression changed as he turned to look at Russ.
This kid really could surprise him, good thing he'd just cleared out the Martian Mechanicum personnel.
Even at the height of humanity's Golden Age, civilian-grade miniature spatial technology like this had never been fully mastered.
As for his own fledgling Imperium, they were starting from nothing, this kind of miniaturised space compression tech was simply unthinkable.
"That's right, Father! It's spatial technology. If you like it, just take it, it's yours anyway!" Russ said.
"As long as someone isn't killed outright, this med-pod can heal them as long as you put them inside. It only takes 24 hours to recover," Russ added.
Upon hearing this, the Emperor fell into thought.
As long as they weren't dead, they could be healed? If they used this med-pod for Astartes or Custodian surgical modifications, the success rate would skyrocket!
And thinking even further, could it be used to repair those Space Marines or Custodians who had been interred inside Dreadnoughts?
"Can it regenerate severed limbs?" the Emperor asked.
"That, it can't do," Axis shook his head.
It was a standard medical machine and it couldn't regenerate lost Limbs.
"Then its value is much less. Send it to Holy Terra. But this little device with spatial compression tech, that's the real treasure here." In the Emperor's view, it was the object containing space-folding and compression tech that was the most priceless.
If it could be mass-produced, the benefits would be unimaginable.
For example, when transporting goods in the future, with this tech, a single war barge could carry as much as a thousand, even ten thousand, ships could before.
A single Space Marine could carry far more ammo, more weapons, more supplies. The advantages were countless.
"Now, can you tell me what's so special about this little ship?" the Emperor asked.
He had previously thought it was just an ordinary escape pod or landing craft, but with tech like this on board, there had to be more to it.
This little ship was no simple matter.
"Father, this little ship is an interstellar spacecraft; it's not an escape pod or something like that. It's a ship capable of faster-than-light travel!" Russ said.
The moment these words left his mouth, the scene fell silent. The Emperor spun around, instantly closing the distance to Russ, looming over him as he questioned:
"What did you say? This little ship is capable of faster-than-light travel?!"
Even the Emperor's voice betrayed his excitement.
This was too much of a surprise.
Faster-than-light travel! this was the very thing he had dreamed of.