Chapter 6157 The Suppression of Light More and more high-level observers interrupted their schedules and tuned in to the restricted feeds that displayed the ongoing fight that had overtaken New Constantinople VIII. They had good reasons to pay close attention to this special occasion. The battle between the krelion judge and the Elegant Rage represented a struggle between two completely different combat systems. The Elegant Rage fought like a living mech endowed with experimental hyper tech and E-tech. Even though the cybernetic mech diverged a lot more from ordinary mechs that people were accustomed to seeing, the Woodsap mech was still a product of human technology. There was a good possibility that mechs like her may turn into the mainstays of human civilization in the future. The tribulation manifestation that took the form of an exoskeleton-covered humanoid alien fought completely differently. The only recognizable 'tech' utilized by this powerful fighter was the staff in his hands. The lightning-forged appearance of the staff did not do a good job at reproducing its details, so it was unclear how much of its power was based on engineering rather than material quality. Nonetheless, the krelion judge fought in a way that was similar to all of the other tribulation manifestations that had shown up in similar events since the start of the current age. Almost every alien warrior relied on their bodies and their extraordinary cultivation to fight. They only made rudimentary use of external technologies such as simple-looking weapon artifacts. Of course, many people theorized that the fighters simulated by lightning tribulations were much more restricted than their actual counterparts. Perhaps the storm clouds were unable or unwilling to reproduce all kinds of other auxiliary equipment such as medicines, combat armor, combat vehicles, subordinate soldiers and so on that was part of their comprehensive strength. However, the amazing combat power displayed by Messier 87's qi cultivators already presented enough clues to conclude that the inhabitants of the energy-rich galaxy prized their personal combat ability over every other factor! Therefore, the fight between a low-to-mid ranking alien official from Messier 87 and an experimental second-class mech from the Red Ocean represented a rare but incredibly valuable comparison between two completely different civilizations! Master Laila Rebecca Devos frowned as she stood in front of a large projection. As one of the high-ranking Devosans on the planet, she not only had access to all of the visual feeds transmitted by hundreds of cloaked observation bots, but also kept an eye on highly informative data readings. "The damage to the regional ecosystem is escalating quickly." An unknown exobiologist spoke over a secure communication channel. "The damage to the forests will reach a point where the climate is severely disrupted. Preliminary examinations of the dead trees and soil have painted a disastrous image. Nothing less than digging out the nutrient-deprived soil and filling the terrain with fertile soil imported off-planet will allow us to restore the planetary ecosystem as soon as possible. The expense is not too great at the current scale, but if that mech continues to drain more forests, the urgency will become greater, thereby giving us less time to take corrective actions." "Cost is not an issue." Master Laila Devos calmly spoke as she continued to track the performance of a very curious mech that was made of both metal and wood. "The Larkinson Clan has already offered to compensate us for the damage their experimental mech is doing to the planet-wide ecology." The planetary governor sounded relieved. "That is good news. This gesture indicates that the Larkinsons are aware of their responsibilities and wish to maintain good relations with us. We can answer with our own gesture of goodwill. The attention that this incident has attracted from a wide range of circles will stimulate our trade and commerce activities in the next months or year. Our budget will not become strained if we extend them a discount on the total bill." Master Laila Devos shook her head. "Money is one of the most dispensable assets in the Red Ocean. We will not demand repayment in the form of cash. We can generate it ourselves well enough. We have an opportunity to gain access to new and cutting-edge mechs and tech from the Larkinson Clan. If we can set the repayment terms to give us access to similar mechs as the experimental machine that is currently damaging our ecosystem, then the Larkinsons are free to destroy as many arboreal habitats as they want. At worst, we can temporarily dome all of our colony settlements to guarantee that our guests and citizens can continue to breathe the most optimal air mixture." The Devos Ancient Clan was not the only group that developed an interest in the first Woodsap mech. Many other ancient clans as well as foreign organizations expressed similar degrees of interest. However, before they could make any further inquiries, they soon learned that the Red Association had already dug their tentacles in Professor Larkinson's secret project. The Survivalists and the Transhumanists both used various means to make it clear that the tech behind this highly destructive but also absurdly effective cybernetic mech was not yet ready for large-scale use! While all of these leaders grew interested in getting their hands on the new mechs or the tech to make them, the creator of the current iteration of the Elegant Rage had no time to think about the future. He was very worried about the present! Many of his hopes and dreams related to Woodsap mechs were tied to the Elegant Rage. If the living mech fell in battle today, then that would be a major setback in his plan to develop and propagate similar mechs! More than that, but the fall of the Elegant Rage would also deprive Venerable Lanie Larkinson of her best battle partner. For the sake of his trueblood cousin, Ves tried to do his best to figure out a way for the Woodsap to gain the upper hand! Unfortunately, Ves couldn't think of a practical solution. He had already exhausted his strongest option. The Elegant Rage had become more and more proficient in drawing in the power of earth to amplify all of her moves. Yet instead of making the Woodsap mech stronger, it only made the machine more vulnerable against her opponent! The Elegant Rage had been struck by light beams and irradiated by the krelion judge's radiance so many times that much of the exterior of her mech frame had been damaged and restored multiple times. This caused the Elegant Rage's exterior wood-and-metal exterior to take on an increasingly darker tint. Her negative karma continued to pile up, causing the living mech to become more susceptible to her opponent's attacks! It took more and more plundered wood energies to forcibly restore the damaged components quickly enough before the krelion judge had time to take advantage of the gaps in the mech's defenses. Yet doing so required the Elegant Rage to fly to other forests before subsequently launching a lot of thorns to drain the trees of all of their vitality. This cycle could not persist! So long as the Elegant Rage had fallen below a certain threshold, Ves had no doubt that the Woodsap mech would get scorched entirely by the punishing light of the krelion judge! "We need to go on the offensive." Ves spoke. "We are only prolonging our defeat if the Elegant Rage continues to fly away all of the time. She is completely disadvantaged in ranged combat. The ebony seeds have failed to shake the enemy's light energy shield, and any thorn vines spawned from charged projectiles always burn up before they can do any significant damage. Only the mech herself is strong and resilient enough to get close and exhaust the enemy's defenses." Major Jankowski gritted his teeth. "We can't get close. We already tried, but we got our butts kicked by this tribulation manifestation. The constant light released by the alien will burn the Elegant Rage even stronger than before now that she has become burdened with greater guilt. I am already apprehensive at the thought of fighting the enemy at point-blank range. Furthermore, the alien's light energy shield has never shown any sign of collapse, and his staff fighting skills are more than adequate to block my tonfas." In other words, whether it was specs, skills or energy, the krelion judge effectively enjoyed an advantage in every aspect! What was worse was that the enemy alien's advantage was only growing over time! The existence of this lightning manifestation completely negated the Elegant Rage's advantage in attrition warfare. This was also why Ves urged the expert candidate to no longer bother with dragging out the fight. Ves grew depressed when he thought about how terrible the Elegant Rage looked from an outsider's perspective. If people didn't know any better, they would have thought that the Elegant Rage was the evil villain that had committed reprehensible crimes, while the krelion judge was the hero that enforced justice on behalf of the heavens! The fact that the latter could actually be taken literally added an extra layer of absurdity in this setting! Ves turned away from all of the projected graphs and data readings and placed his hand on Major Jankowski's shoulders. "Believe in the Elegant Rage. This living mech had almost died, but managed to recover from that ordeal. She is no stranger to suffering. Where do you think her thorns come from? Pain is a punishment as well as a source of power to her. As long as you can ensure that the Elegant Rage does not get destroyed or crippled in an instant, she still possesses the capital to resist. Fighting up close is the most reliable combat approach for this mech. Only then will she be able to utilize her thorns according to their original purpose." Though Major Jankowski was rational enough to agree with Ves' logic, emotionally he felt anything but confident. "I… am sorry, but I do not think it will work. The alien's light will burn up all of the Elegant Rage's thorns before they can do much stinging. The entire mech frame will burn from the outside, making it increasingly harder to attack and defend against this opponent. I… I will try if there is no other choice, but I strongly advise against this course of action." Ves inwardly shook his head after hearing this. He had faint hopes that the intensive combat so far may have allowed Simon Jankowski to experience an explosive amount of growth. Perhaps he did grow a lot further as an expert candidate, but it was clear that not all of his aspects had reached the standard! At the very least, an expert candidate not only needed to feel incredibly desperate, but also possess great courage and mental fortitude in his ability to overcome a seemingly impossible challenge! Major Jankowksi completely failed this test, so Ves could completely forget about hoping that he would break through somehow. It wasn't his fault. Not entirely. The krelion judge's overall combat capabilities resembled that of a weakened version of an ace mech! An expert candidate that was nowhere near as strong as an actual expert pilot could not escape the fate of feeling suppressed by the enemy's aura. If Venerable Lanie was piloting the Elegant Rage, then many of the advantages such as the alien's oppressive domain would never be so effective. Her willpower should be strong enough to resist a lot of qi cultivator shenanigans! Ves frowned as the Elegant Rage continued to evade confrontation as much as possible. Was there a way to reduce or negate the krelion judge's insane suppression effect? As long as the Elegant Rage was able to resist the pseudo-domain field of the tribulation manifestation, she would be able to brawl with much fewer scruples than before! There had to be a solution. Ves refused to accept the fact that he had exhausted every possible option to upgrade the Elegant Rage further. "What can I do?" Ves frantically wondered.