The Elegant Rage vanquished the alien swordsman.
The Woodsap ch 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 beca amazed at how much more powerful the Woodsap ch had beco!
In terms of performance, the Elegant Rage still perford like a well-made second-class ch in most aspects. Her parts did not mysteriously increase the strength, speed or even the defenses of her cybernetic ch fra.
The ch pilot also did not beco 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 ti and effort in advancing his swordsmanship.
In the end, the spontaneous improvent 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 mont 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 rely confined to a forest that the terraforrs working for the Devos Ancient Clan planted with little effort, people were still concerned about the implications.
The damage done by a single ch to an entire region was too great. A second-class ch shouldn't possess the capacity to inflict so much collateral damage.
What if more strange chs like the Elegant Rage beca available?
What if more powerful first-class versions of such a ch beca common?
If each of these partially wooden chs 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 mbers of high society grew a lot more concerned about Ves had been doing as of late. Why did he invest his ti, resources and effort into developing such a destructive machine? Did the Red Association truly condone the developnt of a ch that had already proven to be an ecological weapon of mass destruction? However, there were also those who believed that the end justified the ans. "Mr. Neumann."
"Yes, Mada Gloriana?"
"Please contact the Devos Ancient Clan and tell them that our clan will compensate for the damage done by one of our chs. We will fully reimburse the cost of replanting new trees and restoring a thriving ecosystem."
"I will get on it, mada. 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 ssage that we are not damaging the environnt because we can." Gloriana explained to Ves' personal assistant over the comm. "We must assu a stance that unambiguously explains that we do not support widespread destruction. The damage is only occurring because one of my husband's experintal projects has t with an accident. The appearance of the lightning tribulation should serve as sufficient proof."
"I see. Very well. I shall convey this sentint 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 ch 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 Agamnon Upper Zone.
It was extrely 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 imnse value allowed him to get away with these deeds, his reputation was bound to take a hit after this incident ca 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 ch 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 ch pilot should be able to defeat the four-ard 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 ch. The Elegant Rage simply could not run out of energy. My greatest frustration was that the ch did not possess the corresponding equipnt 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 ch.
Sure, superior materials and tech also played major roles in distinguishing third-class, second-class and first-class chs 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 ch fra.
From the mont the Elegant Rage deployed her thorns across the environnt, 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 environnt!
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 segnt 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 ch'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 beco 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 beca 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 ch 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 ti 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 beco more upset with the living ch. The storm clouds grew stronger and more active. The ninth and final tribulation manifestation was bound to beco more powerful as a reaction to the Elegant Rage's desecration of nature!
Though Ves knew that the next and hopefully final wave would beco even
more difficult to overco than before, he grinned as he felt a lot more
onfident about his Woodsap ch 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 ch!
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 ch 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 chs, not just the Elegant Rage.
So long as similar living chs 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 ch should be able to compete against an
expensive quasi-first-class ch!
A quasi-first-class Woodsap ch should be able to fight a low-tier first-class multipurpose ch to a standstill!
In fact, the Elegant Rage could have perford 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 ard with an energy sword, it would have been
possible for the Woodsap ch to dump an astronomical amount of wood energy into the weapon.
As long as the lee 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
equipnt that ca to mind was the Sprout Rifle, but the alien swordsman never gave the Woodsap ch enough room to draw a ranged weapon. Ves already decided to make sure he redied this shortcoming for his future
Woodsap chs.
All future Woodsap chs and maybe other elental Carmine chs 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 elental Carmine chs possessed the ability to absorb the power of earth from the local environnt, 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 ch and ch 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!
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