The Mech Touch - Chapter 6090: Tree Heart

Ves remained in a subdued mood hours after the sendoff.

The Larkinson Clan only lost two members, but the impact was greater than that.

Both Lanie and Taon had become prominent in the clan in different ways.

The former had proven herself to be a courageous trueblood Larkinson mech pilot who appeared to herald a new wave of heroes among the Larkinsons.

The latter acted as the representative and standard bearer of the Ylvainan contingent within the clan.

Both of them used to be earnest and loyal Larkinsons who made many contributions to the clan. A lot of people used to look up to them. They enjoyed such renown that their sudden downfall affected the Larkinsons in profound ways.

Perhaps the impact on the clan would be less if Lanie and Taon died on the battlefield.

At least they would have died with honor rather than live on in disgrace.

“Well, they are not exactly doing worse at this time.” Ves reminded himself.

Both Lanie and Taon arguably managed to step up. The Red Association and the Rubarthan Pact were massive employers that every space peasant dreamed of joining. The two exiles arguably managed to secure massive upgrades to their lives and careers!

Though Ves still felt conflicted about that, he did his best to set this matter aside and resume his old routine.

He needed to allocate his time on several difficult design projects. He also had to start his research on developing a Woodsap mech.

Considering that the Red Association wanted Venerable Lanie Larkinson to get back in action in a timely manner, Ves decided not to stall his research on a potential improvement of the Carmine System.

“Let’s check out the Elegant Rage.”

Now that Ves was no longer plagued by immediate distractions, he should have all the time he needed to examine and tinker with Venerable Lanie’s mech.

The mutated melee mech had already been shipped to New Constantinople VIII. During the journey, the living mech remained obedient and still, though she also kept her systems running at a higher activity level than what was typical of dormant machines.

As Ves moved further underground and approached the workshop where the mech had been deposited, he began to sense the Elegant Rage’s presence from afar.

“Interesting.”

He could already feel the enhanced vitality and life of the Elegant Rage from afar. It reminded him of the Everchanger to an extent.

There were still a lot of differences between the two mechs. Aside from the obvious, the Elegant Rage possessed a very different character from Joshua’s expert mech.

Though the mutated mech did not exude any active hostility at the moment, her rage was still simmering beneath the surface. The machine had clearly incurred just as much trauma as her battle partner.

“It’s just as I thought. The word ‘elegant’ does not fit the current mech anymore.”

When Ves entered the workshop that held the mech in question, he came face to face with a mech that embodied the more primal rage of nature and a woman betrayed.

“So this is what it is like for a living mech to get contaminated.”

Ves could never design and produce a mech that could match the current state of the Elegant Rage.

A deviant product like this could only arise from extreme growth conditions!

It was powerful, as expected of a mech that absorbed a lot of power from Lanie’s breakthrough.

“Mrow.”

Blinky emerged out of Ves’ head and approached the Elegant Rage. The companion spirit was able to perceive a lot more details about the mutated mech’s spiritual foundation.

It was powerful, as expected of a mech that absorbed a lot of power from Lanie’s breakthrough.

However, what truly caught Ves and Blinky’s attention was how the Elegant Rage had clearly managed to assimilate traces of other known sources!

There were strains of energy that reminded him of Venerable Joshua and the Everchanger.

The Heartsword had clearly rubbed off on the Elegant Rage. The mutated mech actively embraced as much energy from Joshua and the Everchanger as she could in order to integrate random bits of discarded wood into her mech frame.

Ves did not know how, but the Elegant Rage managed to transform all of the absorbed wooden matter into functional organic components that seamlessly operated alongside non-organic components.

Although the current internal layout of Venerable Lanie’s mech looked like a disorganized mess due to the lack of central direction, somehow it all worked out. Ves had seen from the battle footage that the mutations did not cause the Elegant Rage to lose much of her flexibility and other strengths!

This was an amazing outcome considering that the mech reached her current state through a torturous and haphazard process.

“Is the Elegant Rage truly a product of Lanie’s forced resonance?”

Ves couldn’t help but doubt this assumption. Lanie knew nothing about mech design. How could her willpower reshape her then-broken machine into a functional machine consisting of both conventional and organic components?

He refused to believe that the current iteration of the Elegant Rage was a product of wishful thinking backed up by a lot of willpower!

If this was truly the case, then ace pilots and god pilots could put a lot of mech designers out of business!

This was an absurd notion. Ves would rather favor the idea that a mysterious entity spontaneously reformed Lanie’s mech into a functional machine by taking advantage of the resources in the immediate environment.

The more he looked at the Elegant Rage, the more he had the feeling that it was the product of intelligent design.

The only problem was that Ves was unable to define the style or logic behind all of the design choices that he could identify.

As Ves continued to ponder about this mystery, another mech designer entered the underground workshop.

“Sir.”

“Ah. It is good that you have come. Have you completed your cursory examinations of the so-called wooden mech as well as the fragments of the purple mech?”

“I completed my inspection of the two samples that Task Force Solus has shipped over yesterday.” Alexa Streon replied before using her cranial implant to transmit a bunch of data files to Ves. “Here are my reports along with the raw scans. The products are certainly… intriguing, although I would not call them mechs at all. The Emperor Tree has imitated the form of our machines, but it has failed to understand their underlying essence.”

“We can call them wooden constructs I suppose. It’s not important. What can you tell me about their material composition?”

“The materials that comprise the… wooden constructs… are rather interesting, sir. The Emperor Tree does not have access to large deposits of high-quality exotics, but it is able to make good use of the materials it has available. My examinations have even discovered many traces of organic tissues belonging to many different exobeasts.”

“Did the Emperor Tree produce its wooden constructs out of the organic matter of exobeasts?”

“That is a possible theory, but I favor another one. My personal theory is that the Emperor Tree produces the prototype of a wooden construct by shedding it from its main body. Once the initial form of the wooden construct has emerged, it is fed with a mixture of exobeast matter. So long as there is enough sustenance available, the wooden constructs can quickly absorb and digest both energy and organic matter. That will rapidly fuel their growth and prepare them for serious combat.”

That sounded interesting!

Ves immediately went through the implications of what he just heard. “Does that mean that the Emperor Tree is able to raise an entire army of wooden constructs so long as it is able to lure over enough exobeasts?”

“That is most likely the case.”

“Damn. You better pass on your findings to Ketis and the rest of Task Force Solus. Who knows whether the Emperor Tree is throwing tens of thousands of exobeast bodies into its growing army of false machines.”

“I have already taken the liberty of doing so, sir. Task Force Solus should not be caught off-guard by this possible ploy.”

The Larkinsons over there should have the situation well in hand if that was the case.

The two mech designers continued to talk about the properties of the wooden mechs. The Emperor Tree may be ignorant about human science, but it managed to develop its own form of wood-based biotechnology that presented a number of interesting possibilities.

“So how are these wooden constructs able to run on tree sap?” Ves questioned.

“According to the examinations and research conducted by the Larkinson Biotech Institute, the sap is a multifunctional organic liquid substance that is responsible for both energy and data transfer. It also promotes rapid regeneration and healing when they are exposed to the proper stimuli. What is interesting is that it contains traces of Solus Gas. In fact, this substance is also found all across the wooden construct. It is not entirely clear how the assimilation of Solus Gas affects the operation of the organic products.”

“I am sure we will be able to find out in time. Let’s talk about the sap. Is it toxic to humans?”

“That goes without saying.” Alexa responded. “The biotechs have found out that the sap keeping the wooden constructs running should be a weakened and more diluted variant of the sap that circulates inside the Emperor Tree itself. Even then, there are heavy concentrations of toxic metals and other substances that should never be injected in a human body.”

That caused Ves to frown. “We will need to develop a non-toxic version of the sap, though even then I am not sure whether I can use the resulting product as a substitute for blood for my next variation of Carmine mechs. People are not made of trees.”

“Is it truly necessary for you to make use of tree sap for this project of yours?” Alexa skeptically asked. “You can do the reverse instead. You can keep using human blood, but transform the wooden components into a variation that is compatible with our life fluids.”

That actually sounded like a viable suggestion.

Ves still shook his head.

“That would defeat the purpose. I need to develop a Carmine mech that possesses a strong affinity with the wood element. It should be able to regenerate quickly from any damage. This tree sap plays a vital component in it all. I do not think it is right to get rid of it and thereby move away from my intention of designing a mech that is partially made out of wood.”

If Ves insisted on sticking to this course, then he would have to figure out a way for human mech pilots to circulate tree sap through their circulatory systems without causing them to collapse from getting poisoned!

He decided to think about that problem later.

“What is responsible for circulating the tree sap in those wooden constructs?”

“The LBI has managed to uncover a central organ that is somewhat reminiscent of the power reactor of one of our mechs.” Alexa smiled and explained. “This ‘tree heart’ is a key organ to the wooden constructs. It is not only responsible for circulating tree sap, but it also functions as an intelligent control system. It can function as the pilot of the construct if the Emperor Tree has withdrawn its attention. The tree heart also functions as a source of energy. So long as it is fed with exobeast flesh, the tree heart can power many processes. It can produce more sap. It can upgrade existing organic parts so long as it absorbed a large amount of exobeast remains.”

The more Ves learned about the tree heart, the more he understood that it would likely play a central role in his future Woodsap mechs!

“We will need more samples if that is the case.” Ves judged. “What I find curious is that the Elegant Rage possesses two ‘reactors’. There is the conventional power reactor, which has since received random improvements and modifications. There is also the tree heart, which solely appears to be responsible for feeding and regulating the organic parts embedded into the Elegant Rage. Lanie’s mech is essentially powered by two separate and parallel power reactors.” That was highly unusual for mechs!