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The Mech Touch (Web Novel) - Chapter 7598: From One Extreme to Another
Chapter 7598: From One Extreme to Another
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As soon as the first Woodsap mech proactively shifted to a weaker but much more energy-efficient configuration, the other surviving Woodsap mechs followed as well.
The adaptations did not remain confined to this single direction.
Other Woodsap mechs began to experiment with other adaptations. Many of them either failed or produced mediocre results, but there were always a handful of solutions that objectively improved their chances on the battlefield.
Some of these successful adaptations rapidly spread throughout the entire cohort, which allowed all of the Woodsap mechs to collectively improve their performance in record time!
Yet not all of them maintained the same overall shape and configuration.
Certain machines that relied more heavily on evasion began to shed even more organic parts while simultaneously strengthening their flight systems.
Other machines that sought to break the tough exteriors of enemy defensive installations discarded many of their integrated weapons in favor of channeling all of their available resources into powering their hardest-hitting guns.
Mechs assigned to swat down fast and agile alien phasefighters evolved in the opposite direction. They maintained much of their mobility while concentrating much of their offensive focus on rapid-fire energy guns or long lances.
Ves manipulated the interface until he was able to call up the evolving state of the Rosenstorm.
The Second Elf’s personal machine looked splendid. Though the living mech’s eye-catching roses caused the organic machine to attract a lot of firepower, the elven commander proved skilled enough to evade a majority of incoming attacks.
Instead of taking on a direct combat role, the Rosenstorm evolved in the direction of a command mech. The biomech still maintained a decent set of armaments, but had discarded a lot of redundant or less important weapon systems in order to strengthen less exciting capabilities such as sensors and communication systems.
All of this improved the Rosenstorm’s ability to direct the other Woodsap mechs with speed and precision!
"I generally do not like to work with biomechs, but even I have to admit that the ability for Woodsap mechs to evolve and adapt on the battlefield is a fantastic boon." Gloriana said with a hint of praise in her voice. "Your Woodsap mechs essentially enjoy the versatility of smart metal mechs but do not inherit their greater fragility. The only major problem that I can think of is that these divergent biomechs will incur a greater logistical burden on their owners. Standardized mechs are the norm across much of our society because they are significantly cheaper and more practical to produce, service and repair. All of the surviving Woodsap mechs that have made it back have all evolved in their own unique directions. Some of them have developed such weird changes and mutations that the Terran biomech technicians and other experts are clueless on what to do. They are treading new ground."
"I can see what you mean." Ves gruffly responded as he continued to study the surviving biomechs.
From his perspective, every Woodsap mech had grown into unique specimens. They transcended the design specifications of the original pattern and became significantly different biomachines.
Their performance was also fairly mixed as a consequence. The pressure of battle ensured that failed or inefficient alterations did not last long enough to spark another disaster.
At the last minutes of the battle, many of the Woodsap mechs that remained operational were already nearing depletion.
In a desperate attempt to withstand more attacks while simultaneously reducing the drain on their energy reserves, the Woodsap mechs began to grab any pieces of broken alloys and other small debris before slapping them onto the surface of their torsos and other parts!
The TE Wood automatically caught and fixed the metal plating as best as possible.
In less than half a minute, the first biomechs that experimented with this wild idea turned into knight-like existences!
Their slender, energy-saving mech frames substantially bulked up as they gained a lot more protection.
The additional mass significantly slowed them down, making it much harder for these armored biomechs to evade incoming damage!
However, these machines managed to resist incoming attacks a lot better and without putting their more valuable biomass in excessive danger.
The field-salvaged armor plating did not last long in most cases. A few hits were usually enough to break them or dislodge them from their holds.
That was fine.
The Woodsap mechs and their human partners never expected for this solution to last forever.
The biomechs simply moved to a nearby collection of debris and picked out other thin but substantial pieces of metal to fashion them into new armor plating!
"I hate whoever devised the idea of using battlefield spoils as an improvisational armor system." Gloriana did not hide her contempt in the slightest. "However, I cannot deny that it was the right decision to make. There are so many broken metal and fallen machines across the battlefield that your Woodsap mechs always had a solution close at hand. Repurposing them in order to serve a better cause is an ingenious means of stretching every available resource within reach. I just wished that the biomechs did not suffer an enormous setback in aesthetics."
As shabby as the Woodsap mechs covered in ’homemade’ armor may look like, they managed to block hundreds of not thousands of extra attacks without compromising their more sensitive organic parts!
This single oddity effectively ensured the survival of the remaining Terran prototype mechs.
All in all, Ves had much to be proud of. His Woodsap mechs exemplified the ideal that he tried to bring to life. These were no static machines that only rigidly adhered to their initial configurations.
Woodsap mechs possessed the capacity to grow and evolve by themselves. They were like the human-controlled versions of mutated beasts!
Yet... not every instance of autonomous adaptation and evolution was benign.
Ves and Gloriana analyzed a few more aspects about the surviving Woodsap mechs before they finally addressed the very large and stinky elephant in the room.
"Tell me about the... Poison Willows."
Gloriana’s expression immediately turned flat. "Your protege Alexa Streon can tell you more about this particular... affair. What happened to the Poison Willows... was ugly. It should have never come to this point. Something had gone terribly wrong, and I cannot tell you why. You know your products better than I. What demonic bargain have you made that caused these variants to go utterly berserk? They inflicted a considerable amount of harm to our own side. From the moment they grew into giant, uncontrollable mutations, they blindly lashed out at the closest targets, which often turned out to be our own mechs."
The projector changed to display a curated playback of the entire incident from beginning to end.
At first, the Poison Willows did as instructed. They plunged into the dark miasma at several different locations before offering up their delectate fruits to the voracious deathborn.
The undead cannon fodder possessed no mind that was capable of recognizing such an obvious trap. The stupid deathborn all fell for it and gleefully devoured the fruits and their hidden payloads!
That was when the poisonous seeds took root and began to alter the sated deathborn.
Parts of their intangible forms went out of control and recklessly started to drain their lives in order to produce more poisoned life energies!
Other surrounding deathborn did not miss what had happened. They overcame whatever instinct that prevented them from cannibalizing each other and ruthlessly bit into the fattened pigs, only to become the latest vectors of a very fast-acting condition!
As Ves had already learned at the time, the subsequent chain reaction and mass extinction of all of the deathborn slaves had completely altered the battlefield.
The dark miasma had been beaten back!
The enemy forces lost a lot of advantages!
The combined fleet under the leadership of the Saint Commander were able to confront the enemy under much more favorable terms than before!
In that sense, the gambit originally proposed by Alexa and realized by Ves succeeded brilliantly!
Unfortunately, neither mech designers put much thought into what might happen afterwards.
While the Poison Willows quietly absorbed the abundant amount of life energies floating in the environment, they not only regained all of their health and vitality, but also began to grow larger and stronger as they continued to feed on the excess!
"They should have stopped this behavior when they reached full satiation." Ves said with a frown as he continued to watch the footage. "Why did they not obey their instructions? I have made it very clear to both the living mechs and their human pilots that they must absolutely pay attention to never exceed their limits. There is too much that we don’t know about this kind of stuff."
His wife snorted and let out a short laugh. "Hah! Do you not realize how drastically these living mechs and test pilots have changed? When you initially modified the Woodsap mechs into Poison Willows, the latter became steeped in death. The loss of life and vitality had drained the biomechs and their human partners of much of their personality and liveliness. Sure, they sounded much more obedient and reliable, but that was when they were in a highly abnormal state. Now think about what happened to them when the Poison Willows switched from one extreme to another."
Ves started to imagine this scenario. His expression darkened as he thought of all of the problems that might occur.
The human pilots had almost turned into zombies at first.
For them to regain their full personality while becoming utterly stuffed with life energy produced such an extreme contrast that they probably failed to maintain their grip on reality!
Their situation was so extreme and unprecedented that it would be a miracle if even a single test pilot managed to maintain their composure!
In such a drastic scenario, Ves could easily imagine that each of the pilots became so drunk with life energy that they instinctively sought to absorb more, heedless of any of the dangers and warnings!
