The Mech Touch

Ves finally managed to make a lot of progress after he gained access to the Ebony Everchanger along with other remains of the Emperor Tree.

Although he was not able to communicate directly with the Ebony Everchanger, he spent enough time with the alien wooden construct to form a tacit relationship with it. He simply turned himself into a known presence who always tried to be attentive to its condition.

Familiarity bred friendship, or at least tolerance.

While Ves mainly conducted studies on the Ebony Everchanger itself, he agreed to transfer samples of ebony wood to the Red Association in order to develop an upgraded version that was useful for high-end mechs.

"Don't worry, Ves. I will personally pay attention to this matter and ensure that our research team will produce results as quickly as possible." Jovy Armalon said. "Any gains we make will end up improving the Elegant Rage, which will soon turn into our asset. We have no reason to disregard its importance."

It only took a few days for Jovy to get back at Ves. "It is done."

"That quickly?"

"Your demand is not too onerous to our biotech researchers, Ves. We have conducted extensive studies on organic materials. The wood produced by the Emperor Tree has a number of interesting advantages, several of which are unique. The scientists were particularly fascinated by how extensively Emperor Wood is able to evade many forms of detection due to the integration of Solus Gas. It is regrettable that Emperor Wood must be supplied with Solus Gas in order to reproduce the wood with the same capabilities."

Ves nodded in understanding. One of the most critical materials that Task Force Solus shipped to Diandi Base was a tank filled with highly concentrated Solus Gas. It became a lot harder to produce more Emperor Wood with all of the advantages of the original materials without adding this special material!

"Since the output is dependent on the input, our scientists have combined dozens of organic and non-organic materials that are already utilized for other demanding purposes. They have found the right combination that preserves the advantages of ebony wood while also offering superior performance. I can promise you that the new wood variant is significantly stronger and more difficult to destroy."

"I take it that it is also more expensive to produce, is that correct?"

"That is an unavoidable consequence. Mind you that this is hardly the only version of ebony wood that our scientists can develop. They settled on this outcome because it is what they can develop with a minimal time investment. The researchers essentially adapted existing wood solutions to ebony wood and selected the first one that produced a successful result. There is still much more room for refinement and optimization, let alone more qualitative improvements."

"I understand. I appreciate the fact that they have been able to present acceptable results in such a short time frame. This will help me form a more solid and stable foundation for the Elegant Rage as a future expert mech."

Soon enough, the mechers would take possession of the mutated mech, which meant it was up to them to develop more powerful and sophisticated ebony wood variations.

Ves just wanted to make sure that the Elegant Rage got off to a good start as a Woodsap mech.

The mechers also encountered hindrances when they grappled with the slow production rate of ebony wood, but they had a lot of solutions.

The Association already possessed the means to form pockets of space with highly concentrated E energies. The research team simply applied to use one of those chambers and took advantage of the huge concentration of wood energy to more quickly produce pieces of improved ebony wood.

The cost of producing superior variation of ebony wood on an expedited basis was not cheap!

Fortunately, the mechers did not think about letting Ves pay the bill. They already considered this research would be helpful to the Association and one of its latest expert pilots.

Ves only had to wait a few more days before the Red Association finally shipped enough improved ebony wood to begin the replacement process.

He went down to his private workshop and greeted the Elegant Rage once again.

Several containers filled with lots of pieces of improved and phasewater-resistant ebony wood had just been transferred over the private workshop.

As a powerful third order living mech that had recently enjoyed a significant growth spurt due to Venerable Lanie's breakthrough, the Elegant Rage was able to detect the much more powerful wood variant.

"IS THIS THE IMPROVED EBONY WOOD THAT YOU HAVE PROMISED TO UPGRADE ME WITH?" The thorn-covered mech asked.

"Yup." Ves smirked. "You can feel how much better it is compared to your own wood, right? There is no need to feel too sentimental about your inferior material composition. As long as you can swap out your old wood with this new variation, your foundation will become a lot stronger. This will allow Venerable Lanie to enjoy a good start in her career as an expert pilot."

After confirming that the Elegant Rage did not object to assimilating the new wood, Ves quickly started to begin the process of wood material substitution.

This was probably a much more difficult process if Ves worked with a regular mech made out of wood, but the Elegant Rage was different.

It was a mutated third order living mech that had received a lot of empowerment from Lanie's recent breakthrough.

It was rather magical to see this change taking place over a relatively sedate pace.

The Elegant Rage couldn't help it. She wasn't able to channel a lot of wood energy, so she could only absorb the ebony wood at a very slow rate.

Even if it wasn't being piloted, the Elegant Rage was still able to leverage a limited amount of power by herself. Her strong thorn imprint and integration of wooden components granted her the ability to channel a limited amount of wood energy.

Utilizing wood energy was necessary to power the living mech's instinctive wood replacement process.

It was rather magical to see this change taking place over a relatively sedate pace.

The Elegant Rage couldn't help it. She wasn't able to channel a lot of wood energy, so she could only absorb the ebony wood at a very slow rate.

Ves watched on as the process took place. It would have required exponentially more energy to produce ebony wood from scratch, but since the Red Association already produced plenty of it in a hurry, the Elegant Rage did not need to work too hard in order to upgrade herself.

Seeing the Elegant Rage grow stronger by absorbing superior materials reminded Ves of the Devil Tiger.

Veronica never managed to get a good look at the most current state of the Devil Tiger.

Perhaps that should change.

Ves came up with a lot of innovations related to living mechs. It was high time for him to apply them all to his very first masterwork mech.

He idly entertained the idea as he observed the gradual transformation of the Elegant Rage.

Once the living mech fully assimilated the available ebony wood, Ves only had to implement targeted modifications to the partially wooden mech frame in order to convert her into a Woodsap mech.

Ves already figured out the technical design of a Carmine System based on Emperor Tree Sap after borrowing help from the Larkinson Biotech Institute.

As far as he was concerned, the mech was never the issue.

The real problem was with the mech pilot. Ves still felt reluctant to demand so many sacrifices from the mech pilot, but he believed it was necessary to do so in order to bring out the full potential of his elemental Carmine System.

Seeing that it wouldn't take more than a few more days before he could ship the upgraded and converted Elegant Rage to the Red Association, Ves decided it was finally time to contact Venerable Lanie.

Ves first called his friend Jovy.

"What do you require this time, Ves?"

"I need you to get me in contact with Venerable Lanie Larkinson." Ves stated. "I am sure you know why I need to talk to her directly over a secure communication channel."

Jovy was doubtlessly aware of Ves' recent work and nodded within a second. "That can be arranged. Given the sensitivity of this conversation, we will have to ask you to teleport back to the Tarrasque in order to make use of our most secure communication facility."

"That's not a problem."

It only took three hours before Ves was able to contact Venerable Lanie. Once he was teleported onto the flagship of the Bluejay Fleet, Jovy led him to the secure communication chamber before leaving him alone.

Ves was under no illusion that the conversation would be truly private. The most he could expect was that the Survivalists and the Transhumanists would do their best to prevent mechers from other factions from gaining access.

As he sat down on a chair, the environment around him changed to display a slightly different projected chamber.

"Hello again, Lanie. You look… a lot better than before."

"I have already received the first round of augmentations." Venerable Lanie said as she wore a training suit that outlined her strengthened and thickened physique. "I have several more months to go, all while I am expected to study history, regulations, mech piloting theory and more. It is… exhausting, but also fulfilling. I miss my living mech, though."

"Don't worry about that. I am almost done with upgrading the Elegant Rage." Ves said with a smile. "However, before I make the final modifications, I need to know how far you are willing to go to pursue greater power. Your answer will largely determine how extensively I will upgrade your living mech."

He proceeded to explain the basics of his experimental Woodsap Carmine System and what it demanded from a mech pilot.

The female exile initially looked troubled, but soon schooled her expression.

"That is… not what I expected to hear. I cannot say that I am comfortable with the need to turn myself into a half-plant."

"That is not actually correct." Ves quickly corrected. "I am sure the clever mechers can develop a body modification program that can make your body compatible with Emperor Tree Sap without literally turning a part of your flesh and organs into plant matter. It is just that the domineering properties of this powerful tree sap will still result in drastic modifications that will further distance you from your humanity. The psychological impact this will have on you is much greater than many other forms of augmentation."

"It's okay, sir."

Ves blinked. "Really?"

Venerable Lanie gave him a rueful smile. "Ever since I broke through, I have already left my old life behind. I don't really care about holding on to my human sentiments. I have a great need for power, and if you think your Woodsap mech invention can make me stronger than ever, then I will gladly turn myself into a plant hybrid. The only thing that makes me hesitate is that you haven't actually proven that your Woodsap Carmine System is stronger."

"That is true, but I have strong reason to believe it is worth it." Ves tried to reassure her. "I have already worked on a secret project that is based on similar principles. The results far exceeded my initial expectations. While I cannot say that a Woodsap mech will become ten times stronger than a regular mech, my work should at least produce a degree of amplification that will satisfy you. If that does not happen, I will promise you that I will continue to iterate on the Elegant Rage until it truly lives up to my expectations."

Though Venerable Lanie had good reasons to be skeptical about the Woodsap Carmine System, she always looked up to Ves. She trusted her former patriarch, especially when it came to topics related to mechs.

She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, even if he asked him to undergo extreme body modifications in order to use Emperor Tree Sap as a substitute for blood!

"I'll do it." She said in a firm voice. "If this change will bring me closer to the Elegant Rage than ever, then I will gladly embrace this change. It will be difficult for me to pass the Mace of Retaliation's tests and outperform my many rivals in the RA if I can't count on this advantage."

"Good. I will be in touch with the mechers who will be responsible for developing a suitable augmentation suite for you. Hopefully, they can still change your current augmentation plan to take the new demands into account."

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