Venerable Tusa grew slightly more strained over time.
The dark miasma had disappeared too quickly.
A greenish mist had taken its place. Abundant life energy had filled the void and began to exert its own form of pressure.
Both people and living mechs yearned to absorb this nurturing form of energy, but doing so came with significant danger!
Tusa could not detect the invisible seeds of poison, but he could vaguely sense the latent threat posed by all of the surrounding energies.
Even his ace mech did not dare to ingest too much at once.
As a living mech, the Dark Zephyr Mark III derived a lot of benefits from life energy, especially when it came in a more universal and unclaimed form.
However, the need to filter out the poisonous seeds that made these energies so deadly significantly impaired his efficiency.
If not for this impediment, the Dark Zephyr Mark III may have been able to swallow enough life energy to trigger a sublimation!
Although the living mech still did his utmost to take advantage of the current situation, the Dark Zephyr had not forgotten about the current threat.
So far, the deathborn leader had been acting surprisingly calm.
The removal of the dark miasma and the mass extinction of his deathborn subordinates had not caused much of a reaction from the enemy powerhouse.
Even though his macabre form had lost its concealment and became a lot more visible, the alien seemed to care little about the Dark Zephyr's obvious observations.
Tusa had a bad feeling about this lengthy period of inaction.
He felt he should be more proactive and take the initiative to attack his former dance partner.
On the other hand, doing so might trigger something prematurely and cause the enemy's threat level to skyrocket.
Without sufficient intelligence on what he was dealing with, Tusa opted to play it safe and do… nothing.
The lack of action unnerved him. It felt wrong to leave his current adversary alone, yet what else could he do?
The enemy was way too powerful to be left unattended!
Just as Tusa thought about contacting the Saint mander for further instructions, the enemy finally made a move.
The possessed greater phase whale did not display any aggression.
Instead, the gigantic carcass began to exude more power.
It was as if this monstrosity was asserting its dominion over the surrounding space!
The death energies that it had managed to retain gradually began to multiply and grow in volume by devouring the dense amounts of life energy in the vicinity!
The deathborn leader… was actually converting life into death!
Tusa's eyes widened as he witnessed this feat.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the alien leader was able to perform this conversion, but what truly shocked Tusa was that the enemy did so without suffering any apparent backlash!
Nothing happened that suggested that the poisonous seeds took effect.
The alien leader did not suffer from the same affliction that had drained the lives of its subordinates!
"HOW?"
The deathborn leader did not deign to issue a response. Instead, it was occupied with its own efforts. A few seconds had already passed and already a veritable cloud of darkness and death had sprung up around its large form!
pared to the previously-ubiquitous dark miasma, this new cloud of darkness manifested in a slightly different fashion.
It was much darker and more concentrated. Under the will of this foreign alien entity, the dark fog suddenly turned into a vortex that absorbed huge quantities of life energy!
This was an alarming change!
Somehow, the deathborn leader pletely managed to neutralize the threat posed by all of the poisonous seeds!
The powerful intangible alien entity's aura grew stronger at a very concerning rate!
Tusa knew he had to report his development right away.
"CASELLA!"
"I AM AWARE."
"WE NEED TO STOP HIM BEFORE HE GROWS ANY STRONGER!"
"I DO NOT DISAGREE, TUSA, BUT OUR HANDS ARE CURRENTLY FULL."
"HUH?"
"ACCIDENTS HAVE OCCURRED. OUR WOODSAP MECHS… ARE LOSING CONTROL. I AM TRYING TO RESTRAIN THEM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, BUT…"
Tusa previously paid no attention to other units. Much of it was because the dark miasma prevented him from keeping track of their progress.
Now that the dark fog had almost entirely disappeared from the battlefield, the Dark Zephyr Mark III was much better able to peer through the green mist.
It soon became clear what Casella meant.
The Woodsap mechs had drunk deeply from the vitality all around them. The life energies converted from the lives of so many deathborn served as a highly nutritious tonic to them, while the poisonous seeds did not affect them all that much.
The biomechs not only replenished their prior consumption, but also began to bee stronger in many different ways!
Certain Woodsap mechs such as the iconic Rosenstorm began to bloom with life. The latter's roses grew larger, redder and more alluring. They gained greater extraordinary traits, though their effects remained unclear.
Their pilots also benefited enormously from the infusion of life energies. The elven mech pilots among them were especially delighted to gain access to so many resources!
Even though they had been warned not to recklessly absorb these life energies, they could not resist the urge to do so. Fortunately, each of them chose to absorb the abundant tonics after it had already been filtered by their bonded partners in advance.
The Woodsap Pact formed between pilot and machine happened to serve as a perfect channel for this operation!
The pilot might die as grievously as the deathborn if he attempted to absorb the life energy directly, but by using his specialized biomachine as a medium, he was able to take advantage of the latter's strengths!
Multiple mech pilots grew rapidly in strength, so much so that they could barely keep themselves under control!
The humans among them were doing relatively fine so far. Their relatively unexceptional talent and physiques meant that they were inherently not as efficient at absorbing this power than other, more suitable beings.
The story was considerably different for the elven contingent among the test pilots!
As post-humans who had been endowed by their creator with inherently high affinities for life and other related phenomena, their ability to absorb and digest life energy was so much greater!
These elves therefore faced a relatively unique problem, and that was that they consciously had to restrain themselves lest they go too far.
The Second Elf especially felt the urge to shout out and transform into a greater version of himself!
Yet for all of the temptations of power, he knew that doing so was not in his best interest!
"Take advantage of this situation, but do not get lost in it! If we absorb too much life energy, we will evolve into foundation builders. Qi cultivators may be proficient in wielding this kind of power, but that is not what we aspire towards being. The true path of godhood for us is the one that leads us to transcending into a god pilot! Only this path allows us to realize our full potential! Once you are close to reaching your limit, do not absorb anything further! If you still insist on doing so regardless of the risks, then do your best to channel the excess energies into your panion spirit or your living mech."
That was good advice. A Woodsap mech pilot was never alone. As elites, they had all been granted their respective panion spirit fruits. This essentially gave them a free vessel that they could freely shape into intangible qi cultivators!
Aside from that, their Woodsap mechs could derive constant nourishment from the extremely abundant supply of life energy.
Their thresholds were set much higher than their weaker and far more fragile human counterparts. Even if it appeared that their prehensive growth began to plateau due to diminishing returns, These Woodsap mechs had grown at least several times stronger in almost every important parameter!
If the changes to the normal Woodsap mechs was astonishing enough, then the plete transformation of the Poison Willow mechs truly shook everyone's expectations.
They had previously sacrificed almost all of their life and vitality to grow their fruits.
Now that their payloads had done their jobs, the fruitless biomechs freely absorbed all of the life energy released by the self-destruction deathborn.
Much like the regular Woodsap mechs, the Poison Willows experienced no danger when absorbing this abundant power.
Out of all of the living mechs in existence, none of them were more capable in neutralizing the threat posed by the poisoned seeds than the Poison Willows themselves!
Each of the thirty sacrificial biomechs experienced a dramatic transformation.
Their wooden frames regained their youth and moisture. They had lost their dry and feeble appearances. Any cracks and other marks of damage soon disappeared as their organic frames healed every blemish.
Soon enough, the Poison Willows appeared just as healthy as the regular Woodsap mechs, with only their long and fruitless branches marking them as variants.
Yet their growth did not cease at this point.
The Poison Willows continued to absorb life energy at a stupendous rate. They behaved like starving refugees who had just gained access to an endless supply of sustenance.
They couldn't help themselves!
The biomechs and their bonded pilots gorged themselves on the life energy without limit.
Energy vortices appeared around each of their wooden frames as they removed every limiter they could just so that they could absorb all of the life energy faster!
"Sir, are these biomechs supposed to absorb so much energy?"
"I do not know the answer, but my guess is no."
Several Terran officers including the Second Elf became frightened by this reckless display.
Caracalla Shuku had not exchanged too much information with Ves, but he distinctly remembered that the latter warned not to fall into excess.
Absorbing too much life energy at once could produce unforeseen consequences!
According to the creator of Woodsap mechs, every living mech possessed a growth limit or sorts. Any growth beyond this boundary could potentially generate more harm and good, though Ves could not provide any details.
"To be honest, I cannot predict the consequences of excess growth and absorption, but I can pretty much guess it will take on an ugly form." Ves told the Second Elf at the time. "You need to keep your men and mechs in check. Do not let them bee drunk with life energy. If the plan works as intended, then this will be a free opportunity for all of your Woodsap mechs to gain several decades worth of growth in an instant. Be happy with all of that progress, but do not succumb to greed. Any further artificial elevation will distort your living mechs beyond recognition. Make sure you and your men never cross this line."
"What if… they cannot control themselves?"
Ves smirked in response. "I have already accounted for this possibility. I have installed numerous safeguards in the Poison Willows. They are subjected to both software and hardware locks that automatically kick in when they are close to reaching their probable limitations."
"How reliable are these measures?"
"No safeguard is absolute." Ves admitted. "My living mechs are more prone to defying their programming and other restrictions. It is an inherent part of their nature. The ability to grow means overing their limitations. If that growth is not directed properly, then they may very well break boundaries that they should have never touched in the first place. If that happens…"
The mech designer did not finish his words, but the Second Elf dearly wished that was the case.
Because what was happening clearly matched the nightmare scenario of unrestrained growth!
The Poison Willows began to show further morphological changes.
Yet this time, they did not appear as benign as before.
They had already reached perfect health, so all of the excess vitality went on to produce more biomass.
Every Poison Willow started to grow in size and stature. Even without access to the so-called Gaia Trees, the biomechs converted huge amounts of life energy into additional TE Wood!
While growing larger was not necessarily a bad development, the problem was that this growth occurred pletely without any guiding hand!
This meant that the expansion in mass and volume was very uneven.
For example, one Poison Willow grew a disproportionately large and bloated right leg!
Another started to bee surrounded by hundreds of increasingly thick and longer branches!
What was even more frightening was that this uncontrolled growth did not stop at the biomechs themselves.
Their pilots also became subjected to this phenomenon!
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