?Chapter 6154 The Power of Earth The Elegant Rage vanquished the alien swordsman. The Woodsap mech successfully managed to defeat an opponent that was previously objectively superior in every way that mattered. It did so by gaining an entirely new ability that had massive consequences. Every observer of the ongoing lightning tribulation became amazed at how much more powerful the Woodsap mech had become! In terms of performance, the Elegant Rage still performed like a well-made second-class mech in most aspects. Her parts did not mysteriously increase the strength, speed or even the defenses of her cybernetic mech frame. The mech pilot also did not become a lot more skilled and capable. The intense duel may have polished his fighting skills to an extent, but Simon Jankowski never managed to outfight the alien swordsman that obviously dedicated a lot more time and effort in advancing his swordsmanship. In the end, the spontaneous improvement applied by Ves made all of the difference. Even though few outsiders had a way of understanding what was happening inside the cockpit, it was fairly obvious that the Elegant Rage suddenly gained an entirely new ability. From the moment she launched her thorns into the surrounding forest, everything changed. The surrounding air grew dryer, colder and increasingly more devoid of life. Every tree, plant and critter that got caught under the influence of a nearby thorn began to lose their lives at a rapid pace! When people started to notice that an entire forest was getting drained, they began to grow frightened. This was especially the case when all of the clues identified the Elegant Rage as the culprit of this ecological extinction event! Even though the damage was merely confined to a forest that the terraformers working for the Devos Ancient Clan planted with little effort, people were still concerned about the implications. The damage done by a single mech to an entire region was too great. A second-class mech shouldn't possess the capacity to inflict so much collateral damage. What if more strange mechs like the Elegant Rage became available? What if more powerful first-class versions of such a mech became common? If each of these partially wooden mechs possessed the capacity to drain all of the energies that sustained life on the surface, how many planets would get utterly ruined by machines that initially looked as if they were guardians of nature? Nobody expected that the thorns of the Elegant Rage possessed such a diabolical purpose! Many discussions broke out among certain circles. These members of high society grew a lot more concerned about Ves had been doing as of late. Why did he invest his time, resources and effort into developing such a destructive machine? Did the Red Association truly condone the development of a mech that had already proven to be an ecological weapon of mass destruction? However, there were also those who believed that the end justified the means. "Mr. Neumann." "Yes, Madame Gloriana?" "Please contact the Devos Ancient Clan and tell them that our clan will compensate for the damage done by one of our mechs. We will fully reimburse the cost of replanting new trees and restoring a thriving ecosystem." "I will get on it, madame. Personally speaking, I believe that the Devosans will not mind the damage. We did not put actual people at risk, and no one outside of the ancient clan holds a claim to these lands." "I agree with you, but our clan must send a message that we are not damaging the environment because we can." Gloriana explained to Ves' personal assistant over the comm. "We must assume a stance that unambiguously explains that we do not support widespread destruction. The damage is only occurring because one of my husband's experimental projects has met with an accident. The appearance of the lightning tribulation should serve as sufficient proof." "I see. Very well. I shall convey this sentiment to the Terrans." "Oh, before I forget, tell them that this incident is not over yet. The Elegant Rage may be forced to destroy more flora and fauna in the next wave. Please ask for a list that designates which nearby forests the Elegant Rage is allowed to damage. We do not want our new mech to stumble into an area that holds secret bases or has turned into a hiking destination." The Devos Ancient Clan graciously hosted the Premier Branch of the Larkinson Clan on the capital planet of their host system. If New Constantinople VIII belonged to the Larkinsons, then Ves could do nearly anything he wanted on his own planet without needing to account for himself. However, the Devos Ancient Clan not only had a legal claim on the planet, but invested a huge amount of money, resources and manpower to transform it into a thriving Old Earth-like planet that could serve as a prosperous living space and trading hub for Terrans in the Agamemnon Upper Zone. It was extremely rude and also illegal for any guest who settled in the territory of another to recklessly damage the ecological landscape of a planet on such an exaggerated scale. Even if Ves' high status and immense value allowed him to get away with these deeds, his reputation was bound to take a hit after this incident came to an end. The only thing the Larkinsons could do was to engage in damage control. While Gloriana concerned herself with the negative impact of this incident, her husband held no concerns about the many negative repercussions of the Elegant Rage's plundering behavior. As far as he was concerned, the modifications made to the Woodsap mech resulted in a complete success! "You did it, Jankowski! You finally managed to beat that dual-wielding bastard!" Although the expert candidate clearly looked jubilant, he did not delude himself into thinking he earned much credit for this victory. "I am not responsible for this win. The Elegant Rage deserves much of the credit, and so do you. Even a third-class mech pilot should be able to defeat the four-armed lightning manifestation after having so much energy at his disposal. There was so much power under my command that I developed the impression that I was piloting a quasi-first-class mech. The Elegant Rage simply could not run out of energy. My greatest frustration was that the mech did not possess the corresponding equipment to channel most of the excess energies." Ves looked thoughtful as Major Jankowski shared his earnest feedback on what he experienced as a pilot. There were good reasons why the Association primarily paid attention to energy level to determine the class of a mech. Sure, superior materials and tech also played major roles in distinguishing third-class, second-class and first-class mechs from each other, but none of them would be able to stand out if their power supply could not keep up with the rest of the mech frame. From the moment the Elegant Rage deployed her thorns across the environment, she and Major Jankowski were no longer fighting alone anymore. The alien swordsman, with the support of the lightning tribulation as well as a fraction of the power of heaven, had actually entered into a fight against the Elegant Rage and the local environment! In cultivation terms, the energy and resources derived from a planet and whatever was present on it used to be called the power of earth. In other words, the last segment of the previous bout could actually be regarded as a contest between the power of heaven and the power of earth! The situation was a lot more complex in reality. The sources of all of that excess wood energy did not voluntarily support the Elegant Rage. The living mech's plundering behavior was an abuse of the power of earth. The consequences were many, but not all of them were obvious. The most obvious sequela was that many of the parts of the Elegant Rage that got repaired in haste had become tainted with dark stains that reeked of sin. The evil committed by the Elegant Rage even went on to stain her spiritual foundation, causing her personality to distort a little further. As Blinky carefully studied the Elegant Rage's physical and spiritual condition, the cat saw other clues. For example, it became harder for the Elegant Rage to harness the power of heaven. By engaging in behavior that violated the rules set by the heavens, the Woodsap mech began to get repelled by the energies with heavenly origins. Of course, the effect was not too noticeable since the Elegant Rage only massacred a lot of plants for the time being. Ves frowned as he stared upwards. He could feel that the tribulation storm had grown a little stronger and more hostile than before. Regardless of the severity of her transgressions, the Elegant Rage had crossed a line, and did so when under the full view of an active lightning tribulation! This was a clear provocation that caused the tribulation to become more upset with the living mech. The storm clouds grew stronger and more active. The ninth and final tribulation manifestation was bound to become more powerful as a reaction to the Elegant Rage's desecration of nature! Though Ves knew that the next and hopefully final wave would become even more difficult to overcome than before, he grinned as he felt a lot more onfident about his Woodsap mech than Imparting a new technique that Ves had designated as 'Nature's Benediction' had successfully expanded the Elegant Rage's potential! It made Ves understand the usefulness of treating life as a resource. By giving the Elegant Rage the capability to draw upon the power of earth as fuel to all of her hyper tech, she was finally able to give full play to her advantages of a partially organic mech! The performance of the Elegant Rage during her wood energy-saturated state was completely different from before. What stood out to Ves was the incredible display of tenacity and endurance. The Woodsap mech might not be invincible, but she was able to take a lot of hits and keep going without any concern due to her insane regeneration factor. As far as Ves was concerned, endless tenacity and endurance should be the defining trait of all Woodsap mechs, not just the Elegant Rage. So long as similar living mechs fought on lush planets with plenty of greenery, these machines should all be capable of demonstrating combat power that was at least half a class beyond their conventional levels! A cheap second-class Woodsap mech should be able to compete against an expensive quasi-first-class mech! A quasi-first-class Woodsap mech should be able to fight a low-tier first-class multipurpose mech to a standstill! In fact, the Elegant Rage could have performed at an even greater height if Ves had made the corresponding preparations. The Elegant Rage lacked modules and features that possessed high energy scalability. For example, if she was armed with an energy sword, it would have been possible for the Woodsap mech to dump an astronomical amount of wood energy into the weapon. As long as the melee weapon was capable of containing so much wood energy, then it had the potential to unleash an empowered strike that inflicted as much damage as a first-class weapon! Unfortunately, the Elegant Rage lacked such a feature. The closest piece of equipment that came to mind was the Sprout Rifle, but the alien swordsman never gave the Woodsap mech enough room to draw a ranged weapon. Ves already decided to make sure he remedied this shortcoming for his future Woodsap mechs. All future Woodsap mechs and maybe other elemental Carmine mechs for that matter had to be designed with high energy scalability in mind. They were no longer confined to the power supplied by their static energy reactors and fixed rate of exotic radiation anymore. As long as these elemental Carmine mechs possessed the ability to absorb the power of earth from the local environment, they all gained the potential to succeed in winning leapfrog challenges! The best way to verify this assumption was to witness the Elegant Rage's performance against the next lightning manifestation. The overall threat posed by the final wave should far exceed the tolerance of mech and mech pilot in isolation! Only by taking advantage of Nature's Benediction did Major Jankowski and the Elegant Rage possess a realistic chance of overcoming the tribulation!