The Mech Touch

Ves received daily updates about the Larkinson Biotech Institute's research into the remains of the Emperor Tree.

The enthusiastic research teams managed to produce a lot of empirical data and derive all kinds of interesting conclusions from their analyses.

The Larkinsons understood more and more about the Emperor Tree and how calamity plants worked in general.

The Larkinson Biotech Institute flourished as many scientists made amazing discoveries that enriched the clan's biotech capabilities.

Vice Director Maria Abselon even took advantage of the attractiveness of the remains of the Emperor Tree by using it as a selling point in her recruitment pitches.

By promising newcomers the opportunity to conduct their own private research on the many samples of Emperor Wood, she successfully managed to hire over a dozen first-class biotech scientists hailing from the Terran Alliance, the Rubarthan Pact and other first-rate colonial states.

While the Larkinson Biotech Institute was having the time of its life, Ves was also making greater progress in the development of Woodsap mechs.

Although he was still waiting for the Ebony Everchanger and other samples of Emperor Wood to arrive in New Constantinople VIII, he was able to make use of the LBI's research results to accelerate the refit of the Elegant Rage.

With the help of the information collected by the LBI, the mutated mech no longer seemed as unfathomable as before. Ves was gradually able to figure out its internal logic and mechanisms.

The more he studied the Elegant Rage's seamless integration of metallic and wooden components, the more he came to admire her design.

The additional knowledge that he managed to gain in the last few days reinforced his impression that there was an intelligent direction behind the Elegant Rage's transformation.

The living machine did not spontaneously fill up her cavities with wooden equivalents and called it a day. The wooden components worked on completely different principles and had to be designed around their deviating properties.

Ves had a few guesses of who or what the intelligent direction might be. His biggest suspect was the Red Kingdom.

"There is only one party that is 100 percent certain to be involved in Lanie Larkinson's distorted breakthrough process."

Though Ves did not dare to utter its name out loud, the Red Kingdom still loomed large in his mind!

The Red Kingdom was a massive spiritual construct of unsurpassed scale and power. It held so many different functions that Ves could only scratch the surface of what it was capable of. The current Kingdom in the Red Ocean may be fairly young, but it directly inherited many of the capabilities of the much older Kingdom of Mechs.

At its peak, around a hundred Star Designers collectively oversaw the Kingdom of Mechs!

This effectively meant that the Kingdom was never static! It was able to grow and develop itself continuously over time. The longer its existence, the more it developed, especially when an increasing number of Star Designers arose and leant their own expertise to the grand design.

In the past, Ves had always dismissed the Red Kingdom as a passive actor. It was powerful without a doubt, and it wielded an enormous influence over the lives of mech pilots and mech designers.

However, Ves always took comfort in the assumption that the Red Kingdom behaved like an automated background program.

So long as the Red Kingdom executed its limited set of instructions without any judgment or bias, there was no reason for Ves harbor any fear or suspicions towards this great existence.

This time was different.

If the Red Kingdom did more than the minimum and actively showed more initiative by extensively redesigning the Elegant Rage on a fundamental level, then that meant it was not as passive and unthinking as he always assumed!

A chill ran through his spine. The Red Kingdom was deeply connected to every mech pilot and mech designer. Ves was no exception as his design flame still maintained a connection to the Red Kingdom that was so well-hidden that even he couldn't find any clues!

What if the Red Kingdom went rogue one day?

What if it got hijacked by a bad actor who wanted to enslave or ruin the entire mech community?

What if the Red Kingdom became too smart and started to pursue its own ideas?

Though Ves had no proof that the Red Kingdom was at risk in any way, he no longer felt as reassured by its existence as before.

He frowned. "I can't escape its grasp."

Every mech pilot and mech designer of the first and second major cultivation ranks owed much of their progress to its invisible hand. The Red Kingdom secretly guided their cultivation and helped them advance during critical times.

That caused each and every one of them to become dependent on its proper functioning. The moment it started to malfunction or deviate from its intended programming, the Red Kingdom could single-handedly ruin Ves and many other people's lives!

It would have been great if mech pilots and mech designers had a way to cultivate by themselves.

This was clearly impossible during the Age of Mechs, but Ves was not so sure whether this was still the case during the Age of Dawn.

The biggest problem with trying to make red humanity less dependent on the Red Kingdom was that manual cultivation was prone to error.

This was especially the case for more complicated methods, including the ones that determined the progression of mech pilots and mech designers.

In addition to these concerns, Ves also feared that the mech designer profession would become incomplete if the Red Kingdom was taken out of the picture.

After all, when a professional realized his design philosophy, he made an important contribution to the Red Kingdom. This was such an intrinsic part of the development of a mech designer that Ves could not imagine what would happen if this step was removed!

He shook his head. "There is no point in entertaining these doom scenarios."

Ves may have grown into a rising star within the upper ranks of red humanity, but his low qualifications and lack of hard power meant he had no agency over this matter.

He could do nothing to affect the changes of the Red Kingdom. It remained firmly under the control of actual Star Designers.

Since that was the case, he pushed his fears out of his mind and turned his focus back on reforming the Elegant Rage.

He might not be able to fully comprehend the intelligence responsible for mutating the living mech, but he could at least pick up where it left off and further perfect the Elegant Rage.

As he continued to conduct his research on the Elegant Rage, he occasionally entered into a conversation with the living mech.

"You are a beautiful mech, even with all of the thorns in the way." Ves complimented the machine as he carefully tried to stimulate the growth of one of the pieces of wood embedded to the mech frame. "I really regret that I won't be able to tinker with you anymore after you have left my possession. Once I send you off to the Red Association, the mechers will take over every subsequent development. The only thing I can do to make an enduring of your existence is to convert you into a Carmine mech. Hopefully, the overly clever RA mech designers won't try to ruin that in their eagerness to upgrade you to first-class expert mech standards."

The mech surrounded by wooden and metallic thorns briefly flashed her optical sensors. "I TRUST IN YOUR WORK, PROGENITOR, BUT I AM ALSO LOOKING FORWARD TO GROWING STRONGER BY INCORPORATING STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES. THE MECH DESIGNERS OF THE RED ASSOCIATION MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO DESIGN LIVING MECHS LIKE YOURSELF, BUT THEY WILL DEFINITELY KNOW HOW TO MAKE ME STRONGER, TOUGHER AND FASTER. THAT IS ALL I NEED FROM THEM IN ORDER TO HELP LANIE KILL HER ENEMIES."

Ves was glad that the living mech had a sober perspective on this matter. There was stuff that only Ves could design, and there was stuff that only the mechers could implement. Each of them had their own strengths.

"No matter how the mechers will upgrade and expand your capabilities in the future, don't forget that you will always be a living mech. The greatest advantage that Lanie has is that she doesn't have to bear all of her burdens alone. You have helped to save her life and make a comeback. She trusts you a lot because of that. This is a wonderful relationship, and one that you must always cherish. Don't end up like Zeal who got killed by his own pilot in the end."

The mention of that controversial incident briefly caused the Elegant Rage's thorns to shine in an aggressive manner!

"YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMIND ME OF THAT, PROGENITOR. MY BATTLE PARTNER SHARES NO RESEMBLANCE WITH THE TRAITOR AND BACKSTABBER. ONE DAY, SHE AND I WILL DELIVER THE PUNISHMENT THAT TAON MELIN DESERVES. NO MATTER IF IT TAKES A DECADE, A CENTURY OR A MILLENIUM, WE SHALL NEVER REST UNTIL WE HAVE KILLED THAT PATHETIC LITTLE CRETIN."

Fortunately, the living mech quickly controlled her temper and clamped down on any dangerous activity.

"YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMIND ME OF THAT, PROGENITOR. MY BATTLE PARTNER SHARES NO RESEMBLANCE WITH THE TRAITOR AND BACKSTABBER. ONE DAY, SHE AND I WILL DELIVER THE PUNISHMENT THAT TAON MELIN DESERVES. NO MATTER IF IT TAKES A DECADE, A CENTURY OR A MILLENIUM, WE SHALL NEVER REST UNTIL WE HAVE KILLED THAT PATHETIC LITTLE CRETIN."

Ves inwardly winced. He had hoped that the Elegant Rage would be a little more sane about this vendetta, but it turned out that she was just as fanatical about it as her battle partner!

The two were completely of one mind on this issue. This negated the advantage of having two minds in control over a single mech.

Ves had always been a strong believer in the idea that the mech pilot and the living mech had to be of slightly different minds. The lack of diversity of thought may cause Venerable Lanie to develop extreme thoughts without anyone able to rein in her more insane ideas.

It would have been great if the Elegant Rage was able to function as a more sober and rational companion, but it appeared that Lanie would gain an enabler instead.

Oh well.

"What do you think about becoming a Carmine mech?" Ves asked a different question. "You should know what that entails. I am pretty sure you would be ecstatic if you can form a permanent pact with Venerable Lanie, but are you willing to spend the rest of your life by her side?"

"I AM. THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE FOR ME AND POSSIBLY MANY OTHER LIVING MECHS. I AM MOLDED BY LANIE. I KNOW NO OTHER PILOT, AND I HAVE NO DESIRE TO ACCEPT OTHER USERS. IF THE WORST HAPPENS TO LANIE, I WILL FOLLOW HER IN DEATH. THERE IS NO MEANING TO MY EXISTENCE WITHOUT MY FIRST AND ONLY BATTLE PARTNER. SHE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF MY LIFE."

Those were not the thoughts of a human. Ves felt rather conflicted about the third order living mech's unreserved trust and commitment towards Venerable Lanie.

Living mechs differed from humans in that they were all designed and built to fulfill specific purposes.

These goals dominated their own lives and forever changed the way they valued their own lives.

Living mechs were symbiotic by nature. They existed for their mech pilots rather than themselves. The thought of living and fighting by themselves never crossed their minds.

To be fair, Ves was responsible for shaping them like this. They were designed to function as war machines under the control of humans.

It would have been a huge risk if Ves ever released a mech that did not try to serve its human pilot to the best of its ability!

In this regard, forming an elemental Blood Pact with Venerable Lanie was no big deal for the Elegant Rage.

From the living mech's perspective, she was merely fulfilling her purpose to a more extreme degree than before.

"I think that Lanie will definitely be thankful that she is able to depend on you for many years to come." Ves smiled as he continued his work on the thorny mech. "Make sure to take advantage of your different perspective on matters. Try to be her friend rather than her sycophant. She will have a much greater chance of surviving what may come if you act as a second opinion to her. Always try to keep her in check."

"I SHALL TAKE YOUR ADVICE UNDER CONSIDERATION."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!