Their brainstorm session did not yield any better ideas than they had already e up with. After an extensive discussion, Ves and Alexa finally decided to settle on the image of the predatory tree.
Ves found himself unsettled by this course of events. His eyes fixated on the projected draft design as if it was a monster about to swallow him whole.
"What is wrong, sir?" Alexa quietly asked as she sensed his disfort. "Are you… dissatisfied with our choice?"
"I really wanted to stick to the image of a farmer." He softly responded. "It might not be a good match with the bative role of a Woodsap mech, but… it would have made this whole business right in my opinion. The fact that we have decided to go this particular route is disturbing because… it reminds me far too much of my mother. She is the embodiment of predation. Nobody knows more about this concept than her in my opinion. Predation has bee so deeply rooted in her that she practically treats everyone else around her as prey. Even her own family is not exempted from her callous perspective."
"I see. Are you… afraid you will e to resemble your mother?"
Ves slowly nodded. "I suppose so. As a mech designer, I have long held the stance that power should be used for productive pursuits whenever possible. I take great pleasure into designing mechs that go on to form symbiotic relationships with their pilots. I am all about creating win-win relationships where both sides benefit from each other. While our current work does not violate this principle, I still feel that I have taken another step down the slippery slope. The more I engage with predation, the more I will e to resemble my mother in all of the ways I hate."
His direct disciple frowned for a moment, but soon softened her expression. She raised her hand and caressed him on the shoulder.
"I have heard about your mother, but never had the pleasure of meeting her in person. From the limited amount of information available to me, I think your fears are overblown. Your ego is strong. You are surrounded by people who love you and respect you. The mechs that you have designed and the organizations that you have built are the embodiments of the mutually beneficial relationships that you have championed for much of your life. You may be your mother's son, but you are not her heir. If you truly followed in her footsteps, then you would have never wasted your time and resources to breathe life into the Golden Cat, a spirit whose primary role is to strengthen trust and reinforce the bonds of family."
Ves couldn't help but smile after hearing that. He became encouraged by her words. His heavy mood lifted after he identified with her description.
"You are right, Alexa. I am definitely not my mother's heir. She has never tried to make me resemble her in any way. In fact, it is very much the opposite. She has tried to keep me separated from much of her affairs. Thank you for reminding me of that. Just because my mother excels at predation does not mean that she can claim exclusivity on it. Right now, we are just making use of it to solve a specific problem. As long as we do not read too much into this, everything will be fine."
At least he hoped that this would be the case.
Now that he had restored his posure, he began to work on the variant alongside Alexa.
A couple of days passed as the pair of mech designers quietly solved the problems that followed after they had found their design direction.
None of them posed any major hindrances, though the involvement of so many new and abstruse theories made it difficult for the two mech designers to maintain absolute confidence in their work.
Nonetheless, they tried their best to grapple with the situation by limiting the scope of their design and making reasonable assumptions about how the processes will work in reality.
Ves and Alexa's prehension of the principles of the Last Defiance Technique slowly rose due to their labor.
While they did not get to enjoy any major breakthroughs, actively trying to leverage them in their latest design forced them to dig deeper into what they learned.
At the end of their design session, they had managed to stay close to their original vision and ended up with a biomech design that possessed a distinctly different vibe from the existing Woodsap mechs.
Though Ves felt somewhat satisfied with the results, he couldn't get rid of the twinge of doubt in his mind.
During the multi-day design process, he had made numerous design choices that somehow caused the variant design to adopt more traits that he found concerning.
The appearance of the variant design made that very clear.
Ordinary Woodsap mechs of the Arboreal Project may possess an ebony exterior, but the Terran designers added enough specks of green to create a more heroic and uplifting bearing.
This made sense as the Terrans intended to treat the uping biomechs as the prestige mechs of the current age.
Their populace needed to take great pride in these unique and resilient elemental Carmine mechs.
Due to their nature as biomechs, the Terrans knew they had to put in serious effort to make them appear friendly and approachable to the mon citizens.
They could not acplish this if the Woodsap mechs looked too ugly or terrifying.
That made this situation so difficult for Ves to accept.
pared to the upright appearances of the normal Woodsap mechs, the variant that he and his apprentice worked on somehow got warped to the point that it would feel right at home inside a nightmare!
From the sickly exterior to the drooping branches, the variant design did not look like they belong to the good guys in the slightest!
The heavy fruits dangling from their protruding branches amplified this contrast.
In order to strengthen their role as bait as much as possible, Ves tried to design them to look as appealing as possible.
Unlike the rest of the biomech, the fruits did not look wrong at all. They resembled particularly large, bright and shiny pears. Their plump green skin carried a strong hint of sweet and juicy fruit.
Much of the charm of the fruit did not just lie fresh and attractive, but also the strong concentration of vitality locked inside.
In fact, one of the reasons why the Woodsap mechs appeared so macabre was because they needed to channel a great amount of their life energy into their fruits!
The contrast between the two was vital.
The deathborn needed to bite and devour the fruit, not the biomechs themselves.
As long as the Woodsap mechs had no chance of outshining their fruits, then the deathborn should not even bother with them. All of their attention should solely be locked onto the bright and life-filled fruits!
In fact, the giant pears looked so appealing that anyone would find it difficult to restrain the urge to take a bite!
Ves couldn't do much about that. The fruits had to be genuine enough in order to serve their role as bait. The fact that they might also possess an allure that was difficult to resist for other life forms such as humans and Ascended Giants couldn't be helped.
In any case, he did not intend to make widespread use of this variant. As long as he controlled its proliferation, then no accidents should occur.
"It is not necessary for us to go this far, Ves. If you think the life energy differential is too extreme, we can adjust the levels so that the Woodsap mech no longer appears as ominous."
Ves shook his head. "No. We can't. The Woodsap mechs need to blend into the local environment as much as possible. Draining them of life and bringing them closer to death is a necessary camouflage measure. Their safety margin will disappear if we introduce more life into them. Besides, maintaining the current image is vital to reinforcing their current roles. The symbolism of an evil tree turned out to be a lot stronger than I expected. My confidence level in this gambit has risen by at least 20 percent for this reason."
It was not without reason that Ves had ended up designing his variant in this manner.
From the moment he began to shape his biomech design in this direction, it was as if he had inadvertently stepped onto the fast track.
He found it several times easier to drain the life out of his Woodsap mech and make it seem as if it was deep into its decline.
Ves not only drew upon his insights on the concepts of life and death, but also tapped into the concepts of withering and predation.
Even if he felt reluctant to make use of the last one, he truly found it impossible to leave it out of his latest work entirely!
The entire variant design had morphed from an honorable soldier into a shameless predator!
Instead of defeating its adversaries through honest bat, his variant sought to exterminate its prey through a bination of deceit and disease!
His nature as a mech designer felt a strong aversion to this approach towards bat. Even if it promised to be a million times more efficient at its job than the alternatives, the Ves that grew up with the idea of mechs as the steeds of honorable soldiers could not make peace with his latest work.
Strangely enough, Alexa did not look bothered in the slightest. She had always maintained an open-minded attitude about their macabre-looking work.
"You are ascribing too much of your values and biases into your works." She explained her own perspective on the matter. "That is not necessarily a weakness. The fact that you pour so much of your passion and beliefs into all of your mech designs is one of your characteristic strengths. No one can accuse you of releasing generic products. The issue that you are struggling with is that you rightfully feel concerned about the wellbeings of their bonded partners. It is foreseeable that converting existing Woodsap mechs into this predator variant will inevitably impact their Woodsap mech pilots."
Due to the Woodsap System, which could basically be described as a wood E energy-flavored Carmine System, the biomech formed a permanent soul bond with its human pilot.
This meant that any drastic changes to the former had a high chance of bleeding through to the other side of the connection!
Ves already witnessed numerous instances of this feedback mechanism.
He did not have many reasons to feel concerned about the health of the soon-to-be-modified Woodsap mechs. They were designed to be incredibly resilient and tolerant from the beginning. They could withstand a huge amount of abuse and still bounce back. It should not be too much trouble to convert the predator variant back to their original configurations.
The same did not apply to their human pilots. They had always been the more fragile and vulnerable side of the equation. If they became affected by any adverse changes, it might not be as easy to restore them to their healthier states!
"Do not underestimate Terran soldiers." Alexa told him. "They are both professional and patriotic. There is no sacrifice they are willing to make as long as you can convince them it is for the good of the Terran people and nation. The deathborn are a scourge to all life. If the prototype Woodsap mech pilots can stop these extragalactic specters from taking root on this side of the new frontier, then they will gladly put their lives at risk."
Ves sighed. He knew that she was right. That did not make him feel much better.
"Mech designers shouldn't ask their clients to make a sacrifice in the first place. I have done so a few times in the past, and they have always left a foul taste in my mind."
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