The Mech Touch

5956 Emperor Tree

Hovering in orbit of Reticula Corein V, the Wild Torch occupied the center of a modest second-class fleet.

The fleet carrier was one of the prides of the Larkinson Clan. While the vessel had fallen behind the times, she performed well in relation to her circumstances.

The presence of the Wild Torch bestowed the Larkinsons assigned to Task Force Solus with a lot of confidence.

This was an effect that the Dragon's Den, the other capital ship in the task force, could never accomplish.

The reason for that was because the Wild Torch hosted one of the most important members of the Larkinson Clan.

Many outsiders assumed that the young clan was entirely propped up by its legendary founder and patriarch.

They were mostly correct about that. His contributions could not be denied by even the most skeptical observer.

However, those who spent years in the clan knew that they had plenty of other talents to count on. Ketis had already made a lot of strides in stepping out of the shadow of her patriarch!

Many clansmen saw her appointment as the leader in charge of Task Force Solus as vindication of their belief that she could be just as great as Ves one day!

The Swordmaster herself stood in her private design lab. The horned woman wore a white lab coat over an armored training suit. This produced an odd contradiction in style, but Ketis wore her outfit with confidence.

"Sharpie! Sharpie!"

The Bloodsinger cheerfully floated up and down as the weapon soared through the air. The personal greatsword that accompanied Ketis for years had grown even more powerful than before.

The reformed CFA greatsword had grown sharper and stronger than ever. Constant exposure to Sharpie's growing willpower and exotic radiation caused it to shine with deadly glean that could make anyone fall into the illusion that the blade could easily sever the thread that kept them alive!

At this time, she spoke with a physical projection of Vice Director Maria Abselon of the Larkinson Biotech Institute.

Since Director Ranya Wodin still had a few years to go before she completed her EdNet training, Maria Abselon had been doing an excellent job at keeping all of the biotech researchers in check.

It helped that she was a fairly young but brilliant Terran biotech researcher herself!

What she lacked in age and experience, she made up with it with passion and an unusual zeal for studying exobeasts!

Everyone assigned to Task Force Solus knew that it was impossible for them to establish full or even partial control over a planet as wild and untamed as Reticula Corein V.

The effects of Solus Gas and the hegemony of multiple powerful calamity beasts had caused the planet's ecosystem to turn into a savage environment.

This led to a myriad of issues, not helped by the daring strategy chosen by Ketis.

"...under the current circumstances, Chimera Base is still at great risk until we have completed construction of all of the planned defensive works." Vice Director Maria Abselon explained. "We have gathered enough evidence to confirm that the Emperor Tree is a rare calamity plant. It is an exoplant that has not only gained sentience, but is also able to command wood energy at levels unmatched by any recorded calamity beast. If not for the fact that its favorable location is engulfed by Solus Gas released by a major deposit, many first-

class biotech research institutions would have tried to claim this planet for themselves. We are lucky that no one else has discovered this exceptional plant ever since it managed to evolve to its current level."

A calamity plant!

Even Ketis heard about how much the biotech industry coveted them. Just like exobeasts, exoplants also had the ability to mutate and surpass their limitations as a species.

However, the mutation rate of exoplants was much lower. Mutated plants also grew at a slower rate. Their lack of mobility also caused them to become prone to accidents. Far too many of them inadvertently got crushed or torn apart by rampaging mutated beasts.

Only a few of them ever managed to complete a second evolution that turned them into calamity plants.

That was when these powerful organisms truly gained the power to defend their foothold.

Larger and more resilient than calamity beasts, these extraordinarily powerful plants not only gained enough sapience to think for themselves, but also displayed greater prowess in manipulating E energy.

Fortunately, most calamity plants that red humanity encountered up to date tended to remain rooted at their original locations.

The so-called Emperor Tree located a fair distance away from Chimera Base was one of them. The Larkinson Biotech Institute had not managed to discover why the plant managed to survive long enough to be able to evolve to its current height on top of a major Solus Gas deposit.

Solus Gas at these concentrations was lethal to all organisms, including the indigenous exobeasts and exoplants!

The Larkinson Biotech Institute became excited at the prospect of studying the Emperor Tree for this reason!

It was rather unfortunate that Ranya Wodin was attempting to fast-track her promotion to a first-class biotech researcher. The opportunity to study the Emperor Tree was a dream come true for the exoplant specialist!

"Have you figured out whether Emperor Tree can move?" Ketis asked the projected figure.

"We are still in the process of gathering data, ma'am. Our ability to do so is limited due to the interference of Solus Gas and the frighteningly effective detection capabilities of the tree. The entire area surrounding the Emperor Tree is under constant monitoring. Our best stealth probes cannot get closer within a handful of kilometers from the calamity plant before being destroyed by wood splinters or other violent responses."

"That is disappointing news." Ketis responded. "I am receiving daily reports about the beast waves that are frequently attacking Chimera Base. They are doing so much damage that the construction work has slowed. It doesn't take a biotech expert to figure out that those suicidal exobeasts aren't throwing their lives away at us because they care about humans settling on their planet. Have you at least been able to confirm that these beasts are solely attacking us due to the instigation of the Emperor Tree?"

The vice director shook her head. "We have yet to gather any hard evidence that indicates that this is the case, ma'am. We have only managed to gather circumstantial clues. The Emperor Tree does not rely on spreading pheromones to control the beasts that roam the regions surrounding the major Solus Gas deposit. There are sources that claim that some calamity beasts are able to dominate the minds of weaker exobeasts. This is usually the case for calamity beasts that do not excel in personal combat. They seem to have channeled their evolution into improving their ability to conscript an army of beasts."

The reason why the Larkinsons referred to the Emperor Tree in this fashion was because it possessed the most outrageous ability to dominate exobeasts!

Its domination range was extremely high, allowing the powerful tree to form entire beast armies up to hundreds of kilometers away!

"So you are certain that the Emperor Tree is actively responding to the presence of Chimera Base by flooding it with beast tides?"

Maria Abselon grimly nodded. "It is safe to assume so. The Emperor Tree remains rooted in one location. Even if it has gained the ability to move, it clearly does not wish to do so unless it is absolutely necessary. This is the main reason why our task force established its first harvesting site on a minor deposit that is close to this calamity plant. While we are fortunate enough that the Emperor Tree has not seen fit to take direct action, it is clearly hostile to our intrusion into its territory. The beast waves will not stop for that reason. More exobeasts are constantly converging from elsewhere to occupy the rich lands around us. The Emperor Tree will subsequently take them over and throw them into the walls of Chimera Base."

Ketis frowned deeper when she heard that. She glanced over at a projection that displayed a partial map of the planet.

There were 27 major Solus Gas deposits on the surface of Corein Reticula V. Each of them were occupied by calamity beasts or powerful mutated beasts.

It was already bad enough that these powerful creatures occupied the best Solus Gas deposits.

What was worse was that the minor Solus Gas deposits were all located in the surroundings of those major deposits!

This meant that if the Larkinsons wanted to harvest Solus Gas on an acceptable scale, they had to establish a harvesting operation in the territory of at least one powerful beast!

It would be much easier to decapitate one of the calamity beasts and claim one of the major deposits.

Ketis knew better than to initiate such a reckless action.

While it was possible for the mechs of Task Force Solus to defeat one of these calamity beasts, doing so was not that simple.

There were plenty of stories on the galactic net where other groups had tried to eliminate every calamity beast on a planet by defeating them in detail.

However, the movements were so big that all of the calamity beasts on the planets became alarmed. The powerful creatures spontaneously dropped all of their animosity towards each other and converged upon the battlefield.

Suffice to say, very few mech forces were able to survive after getting besieged by dozens of calamity beasts that wielded extraordinary power!

Incidents like this occurred so often that people learned the hard way that the calamity beasts instinctively possessed a common identity that was tied to their own planets.

They might wish to kill each other in order to stimulate their evolution and devour the nutrients of the defeated, but when they were confronted by a powerful external opponent, they were smart enough to understand that it was better for them to unite their forces!

This made the conquest of any untamed planet a lot trickier than normal.

A human force could either deploy so many mechs that they could roll over the calamity beasts through sheer quantity, or it could try to defeat the powerful beasts without making too much noise.

Task Force Solus did not have the numbers to pursue the former strategy, and it did not have enough intelligence to employ the latter strategy.

For now, the Larkinsons had little choice but to leave the calamity beasts alone. This was fine as their primary mission was to begin a Solus Gas extraction operation.

Yet just because the humans wanted to leave the powerful indigenous life forms alone did not mean that the opposite was true!

"Is there a chance we can reconcile with the Emperor Tree?"

Vice Director Absalon did not look supportive. "No. Calamity beasts have always been hostile to humans, especially since we are not native to any of their planets. They rightfully regard us as invaders who are trying to steal their home planet's resources. The beast waves will continue to assail us until we have begun to exhaust all of the adult beasts in a very large radius around the Emperor Tree. Once we have slain enough exobeasts to impact the population, the calamity plant will not be able to threaten us as much as before."

"That should be the best time for us to negotiate with the Emperor Tree." Ketis proposed.

"Just because the Emperor Tree is sapient does not mean it is willing to entreat with us. You should prepare to initiate an assault with the goal of eliminating it. Fielding too many mechs at a time or employing excessive firepower will draw the attention of every other calamity beast, but if you send a smaller force of elite mech units, you can challenge the Emperor Tree for control of the region. This is much less likely to provoke a collective response as the calamity beasts believe that their own will not fall in a fight against a weaker and more inferior force."

That had a lot of implications for Task Force Solus. Ketis already had a bunch of names in mind for a possible assault force.

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