The Mech Touch

Chapter 7551 Stronger Than Expected Feedback

Before Ves could begin his work, he first needed to make an important request.

"Everything I have said about the Poison Willow has remained theoretical for now. As much as I have tried to make its design, I cannot give you any absolute guarantees that it will work out as expected in reality. I need to ask one of you to step forward and volunteer your Woodsap mech for the very first conversion. This will come with many risks because I expect to encounter a lot of issues that may not be perfectly resolved for the first time. This can not only be dangerous for the biomech in question, but also the bonded pilot due to how they are intrinsically connected by the Woodsap Pact. Nonetheless, the setbacks that I will suffer during this conversion process will go on to make the subsequent transformations smoother and less troublesome. Is there anyone brave enough to put their life and the life of their biomech on the line?"

Ves expected a lengthy pause before a Terran pilot finally decided to break the awkward silence, but that was not what happened.

Over a dozen Woodsap test pilots that had been listening to him in a daze hardly hesitated before stepping forward to offer themselves and their bonded partners up for experimentation!

"My Woodsap mech is at your disposal!"

"Choose me! My biomech is the toughest and healthiest in my squad."

"My will is firm. No matter what accidents may occur, I shall definitely endure what comes!"

"Stand down, men." The Second Elf himself took an elegant step forward. "As your superior, I must assume this responsibility myself. The Rosenstorm and I shall test whether we deserve to make use of the new variant."

As brave and responsible Caracalla Shuku may be, Ves immediately shook his head.

"I am sorry, Caracalla, but your application is rejected. I did not design the Poison Willow with elven mechs and mech pilots in mind. You Terrans have done weird stuff to yourselves and my work. This means that there is greater risk of unexpected complications and such. The risks are frankly unacceptable. At most, I will agree to a single conversion of an elven Woodsap mech, but it must not be one as important as yours."

Ves had no time to indulge in the Second Elf's leadership responsibilities. He understood the need to stand up for his subordinates, but this was no joke. If anything went catastrophically wrong, the Terran contingent would be down a critical leader and biomech!

After another minute of wrangling, the Terrans finally settled on an ordinary human volunteer.

He and his Woodsap mech did not experience as much combat in the previous engagements, which meant that his organic machine remained closest to 'factory settings' relative to the other biomechs.

This was a major consideration as pretty much every prototype Woodsap mech had experienced a degree of growth and evolution over the course of the current campaign.

While Ves was very glad to see that his works had truly begun to enjoy their lives, he could not deny that their individual growths and mutations might cause complications during the conversion process.

This particularly applied to the Rosenstorm, which was not only elven, but also experienced the most growth out of this cohort by far!

It made a lot of sense to work on the least changed Woodsap mech first in order to establish a solid baseline.

"Thank you for your service." Ves seriously spoke to the Terran pilot who eventually won the privilege to be first. "Both you and your Woodsap mech will experience many changes that will discomfit or even harm you. I can only ask for you to be attentive and document anything you experience, no matter how small they may be. The risks to your life and health remain significant. I cannot promise you that I can catch any fault in time. Knowing this, do you still agree to go first?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Let's begin."

Alexa had been right about the Terrans. They showed a surprising degree of collective responsibility when asked to make a sacrifice. These test pilots were especially chosen and trained for this trait.

Though Ves had tried his best to emphasize the unknown dangers and risks involved, practically any Terran test pilot would have been willing to step forward.

Fortunately, Ves only had to make due with one this time.

Just as he expected, the first attempt proceeded slowly and with plenty of interruptions.

Even if Ves and Alexa planned out the variant with considerable detail, actually transforming the base version of his Woodsap mech into a strange reimagining demanded a lot of steps that he had never performed in the past.

Fortunately, Ves was not alone in his work. It turned out that the experienced biomech technicians and biomech designers stationed on the Terran combat carriers neatly made up for his relative lack of experience with dealing with these kinds of problems.

To think that he initially looked down on their limited skills and abilities.

Working together with them had become a necessity as they possessed a lot of valuable hands-on experience and expertise that could only be accrued over time.

Even if their advice was not all that correct or accurate, their feedback still helped with pointing Ves in the right direction.

The active conversion process dragged on for over four hours, which was more than he expected.

It couldn't be helped. Ves was doing so much stuff for the first time that he and the Terrans had to think hard to overcome one novel problem after another.

They also had to play it safe. They made changes and adjusted the accelerated mutation process without knowing what would happen at the end. This forced them to wait for a period in order to monitor the changes and step in if anything threatened to go astray.

Their caution and prudence turned out to be necessary.

Three major incidents occurred which forced Ves to put a premature halt on some of the ongoing transformations. Theory had clashed with reality as unforeseen issues threatened to cascade into disaster if left unaddressed!

Fortunately, Ves' attentiveness towards the vitality of his Woodsap mech and the rich experience of the biomech technicians caught these potential bombs in time.

"This Poison Willow of yours is the most insane biomech design that I have ever worked with." One of the low-ranking biomech designers remarked. "No proper Terran designer would ever design an organic machine that is reduced to such a weak and fragile state. This is not a proper combat unit anymore. It goes against everything I have learned."

Ves couldn't help but shrug after hearing this. "Ever since the Age of Dawn kicked off, all of the rules that you are familiar with have changed. Our means of combat has expanded into strange and weird directions. This will not be the last time we resort to weird variations such as this to defeat our opponents. It doesn't really matter as long as it works."

Though Ves maintained a confident demeanor, he felt a lot less certain inside his mind.

The many problems and complications he had to address so far had chipped away at confidence and made him a little less certain that the variant would work as expected.

He constantly had to remain on his toes and be ready to intervene at any moment. He continually had to monitor the condition of the transforming biomech and rely on his own judgment whether the changes were benign or malignant.

Any missteps in this area could easily lead to catastrophe!

During this tense work session, Ves continually became affected by the changing state of his work.

Woodsap mechs were usually filled with life and vitality, so draining them of what defined this particular brand of elemental Carmine mechs felt like agony.

He hated it when he drained them of the power and resources that enabled them to endure a huge amount of punishment on the battlefield.

He hated it when he had to deprive them of the generous buffer that they relied upon to prevent total death.

He hated it when he saw the bonded Woodsap mech pilot growing weaker and showing signs of strange and unexplainable afflictions.

Ves paid especially close attention to the last one. The human pilot mattered the most as far as he was concerned.

Alas, there was not much he could do about the feedback between the two. The Woodsap Pact provided a lot of benefits to the pilot, but that also meant that he had to suffer if his bonded machine experienced any major ills.

While Ves had already anticipated this interaction, he became surprised by the magnitude of changes.

Compared to the ordinary Blood Pacts formed between Carmine mech pilots and the Yellow Jackets, the Woodsap Pacts turned out to be several times stronger and more consequential in this regard!

The lives between the pilots and their bonded biomechs were much more tightly connected to each other than he imagined!

This brought great benefits as long as the Woodsap mechs remained healthy and strong, but also had the potential to bring great harm if the opposite occurred.

Ves felt a little bad about that. He had not envisioned this particular disadvantage when he originally worked on the Arboreal Project.

He questioned whether it was possible for a Woodsap mech pilot to survive the total and irreversible demise of his bonded biomech.

Over the course of this sweaty conversion session, Ves gradually felt more and more relieved as he approached his intended destination.

Even if he had taken a bit more detours than he originally expected, everything was worth it as long as he successfully achieved his goal.

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