The Mech Touch

Chapter 6058  Solus Gas Isolation

The account of Captain Wilton Larkinson and his men provided Venerable Joshua with crucial intelligence.

The Emperor Tree had not remained static ever since the Larkinsons touched down on the surface and erected Chimera Base within its sphere of influence.

Ever since they touched down, the Larkinsons attempted to test the Emperor Tree in many ways, but the bots and listening devices launched in its direction only yielded limited data.

It was only now that the Larkinsons dispatched real mechs that the Emperor Tree not only demonstrated the capacity for higher logical thought, but also demonstrated a wealth of new capabilities that happened to be remarkably effective against mechs!

As the damaged and partially crippled Flagrant Vandal mechs started their journey back to Chimera Base, the four living mechs that remained all looked poised to initiate a difficult fight.

"You've heard it, guys." Joshua said as he made an effort to project greater calm. "The Emperor Tree's ability to manipulate and dominate minds has improved. That, or the plant has stopped holding back. Dise and I should be able to shrug off any attempts at manipulation, and the same goes for our living mechs. I cannot say the same for you two. Lanie, Taon, do you think your willpower is strong enough to resist the Emperor Tree's manipulation?"

"...I can't say." Lanie replied.

"It is irresponsible for me to say yes." Taon regretfully said.

Each of them understood what expert candidates were like. They had broken through the initial shackles of their mortality, but only opened up a relatively tiny gap.

Expert candidates possessed a hint of extraordinary power, but it was a stretch to call them superhuman.

Perhaps the only reason why expert candidates existed was to prepare them for a much more massive transformation down the line. They were not really supposed to wield great power at their current stage.

That made this mission so risky for Lanie and Taon. If they could not guard their minds well enough, the Emperor Tree might cause them to make a mistake at a critical moment!

The expert candidates all felt conflicted. They had no idea if they would turn into liabilities during the mission. The safest and most logical course of action was to call off the mission or have them retreat just like the Flagrant Vandals.

However, that would defeat the purpose of their participation. As expert candidates, they were just one step away from taking their first true step towards greatness. Retreating now when the threat did not appear to be unbeatable would cause them to lose momentum and replace their confidence with timidity.

These were not the qualities that an expert pilot should possess. Expert candidates were expected to embody the courage, the skill and the overwhelming belief in one's own strength that characterized true heroes.

The dilemma that every expert candidate faced in this was that they lacked the corresponding strength. Without the extraordinary willpower of an expert pilot and a powerful expert mech to resonate with, expert candidates were like paper tigers.

They shared superficial characteristics with expert pilots, but they were much weaker than the real deal!

This puts expert candidates in a tough situation.

Going all-out on tackling the toughest challenges may very well cause them to get killed. It was not unusual for articles to show up on the galactic net that reported on the unfortunate passing of expert candidates that overestimated themselves.

On the other hand, trying to play it safe and relying on the steady accumulation of time and the constant improvement of skills also did not work. Expert candidates whose passions remained cold and always thought before taking action lacked the decisiveness and hotbloodedness that characterized every expert pilot!

Even the more thoughtful and intellectual individuals of their kind such as Commander Casella knew when it was time to take decisive action.

"We will not fault you if you retreat." Venerable Dise said in a nonjudgmental tone. "Being an expert candidate is not an obligation to commit suicide. The two of you are still fairly young. There are plenty of chances in the future. You should know that Joshua and I cannot fully take care of you when we approach the Emperor Tree. It is too massive and possesses too many ways to attack its enemies for us to guard you all of the time. You will need to learn how to take care of yourselves."

Joshua mentioned another complication. "Don't forget that the Emperor Tree rests upon one of the biggest Solus Gas deposits on the surface of this planet. We still don't know what this gas actually does, but we know that it suppresses pretty much every signal, no matter whether it is mundane or special. One of the things I have noticed is that my intuition isn't really telling me much about the threat posed by the Emperor Tree. All of this Solus Gas is throwing all of our judgments off. It will be even worse if the calamity plant actually managed to absorb and incorporate this exotic gas into its body. You cannot rely on your intuition to give you warnings in time. You need to rely on your mind and your reaction speed to make the correct responses."

That made this situation even more dire. Every good mech pilot had come to develop their intuition into a finely tuned instrument that could reliably detect and warn them of any imminent threats, even if they did not consciously perceive anything dangerous.

Intuition was one of the invisible and intangible qualities that set mech pilots apart from AIs. The latter may perform vastly superior to the former in terms of reaction speed and making the most logical decisions in the heat of combat, but skilled and experienced mech pilots always found ways to beat these formulaic algorithms by behaving illogically and relying on their intuition.

Now, the heavy presence of Solus Gas deprived the expert candidates of this critical tool!

In fact, the expert pilots also suffered from this problem, but they had many more means to compensate for this adverse condition.

Both Lanie and Taon felt profoundly uncomfortable at the thought of confronting a powerful calamity plant while subjecting themselves to numerous handicaps.

Was it really worth it for them to proceed when it started to look like an increasingly worse idea for them to stick around?

"Oh yeah, there is another problem. The Everchanger and I tried really hard to see if we could forcibly make a connection to Lufa and borrow his glow, but we haven't been able to do so. The Solus Gas concentration at this location is already very thick. Since the concentration will be even worse over at the Emperor Tree, my battle partner won't be able to channel the transcendence glow unless I fly high enough for the concentration of Solus Gas to drop. Even then, the two of you will have to follow me in order to benefit from its effects."

That was not realistic for the Zeal. The heavy artillery mech's mobility relied entirely on its heavy lifter platform, which could keep the machine at a stable altitude, but struggled to climb any higher under 1.3 g.

" It is better to rely on yourselves to trigger your apotheosis. Don't put your fate in other people's hands." Venerable Dise spoke with a bit of steel in her voice. "You do not need to feel like a freeloader if you manage to break through with assistance, but you must never feel entitled about it. Expert pilots are expected to face all adversity alone if need be. Don't develop any expectations towards the transcendence glow."

That depressed the confidence of the expert candidates even further.

The absence of glows and the unfathomable powers of the Emperor Tree already caused them to feel more uncertain about their participation in this mission.

Hearing that Solus Gas might actually dampen their intuition was another major setback!

Yet… the two had waited too long to break through. The fact that they had remained stuck as expert candidates for years frustrated them and told them that it wouldn't be as easy for them to undergo apotheosis as some other mech pilots.

They envied the likes of Saint Tusa who had overcome the much more difficult bottleneck that barred his way to becoming an ace pilot outside of an actual battlefield!

There was no point in complaining about the unfairness of the cosmos. Some mech pilots were simply luckier than others. Other mech pilots made the right decisions that sounded brilliant in hindsight.

"I will not back off." Lanie firmly spoke as her Elegant Rage began to radiate a bit more determination. "My living mech can't punch as hard as the others, but she is fast and agile enough to evade most attacks."

"What about you, Taon?"

The male expert candidate took a deep breath. "I don't know what will happen in the future, and that frightens me if I am being honest. Knowing that I cannot depend on Ylvaine's prophecies and foresight is disturbing me more than I thought. This is exactly why I cannot back down, though. You have all told me that one of the reasons why I haven't been able to break through is because I cannot pilot a mech without Ylvaine holding my hand. Now that I am in an environment where that is impossible, this is exactly what I need to test my own limits. I am not too worried about my Zeal. He is a tough and well-armored machine. He can take a lot more hits than practically every other standard mech in our task force."

The expert candidates made their decisions. They committed to going forward and subject themselves to the ire of the Emperor Tree.

From this point onwards, it would be too late for regrets. Whether they lived or died, the expert candidates had to stick by their choices!

"Let us move out." Venerable Joshua instructed. "Maintain a medium altitude from the ground. The Zeal and his lifter platform absolutely cannot afford to get struck by those fast and sharp root spikes. The fact that they strike from below can quickly scrap the only means of levitation for the heavy artillery mech. We must never let that happen."

As the four mechs launched from behind the hill and proceeded to move forward at a steady pace, they also climbed higher and higher in the air.

The Solus Gas concentration steadily increased as they approached the Emperor Tree, but decreased as the mechs flew higher above the ground.

It became much more difficult to navigate through all of the obscuring gas. If not for the fact that the two expert mechs were equipped with superior sensor systems that were empowered by true resonance, they might not even be able to track their own routes anymore!

"We are getting closer. We should be crossing the red line very soon. Can you feel it?" Venerable Joshua asked.

"My Decapitator is looking forward to cutting through the branches of the tree." Dise spoke.

"My living mech and I are completely lost." Lanie admitted.

"Same."

"Get ready!"

The four mechs boldly crossed the red line. Nothing happened at first, but the four pilots still felt a lot more nervous than before.

Surprisingly enough, the Emperor Tree did not launch any immediate attacks, even though it had most definitely noticed their approach.

The four mechs slowed down and began to prepare for battle.

The Everchanger held the Heartsword in one hand and the Vitalus rifle in the other hand.

The First Sword held the Decapitator in preparation to chop through anything made out of wood.

The Elegant Rage held her pair of plasma tonfas at the ready, though it was not certain whether they would be of any use in the coming confrontation.

The Zeal had already prepared his massive Devora Cannon to launch an attack that would likely make the Emperor Tree hurt, if only to a small extent. His four heavy artillery cannons had also beeen prepared for sequential fire in case there was need to suppress a swarm of exobeasts.

The four mechs faced the thick gas and peered at the very faint silhouette of a massive tree beyond.

"Careful!"

All four living mechs suddenly came under bombardment by a torrent of human-sized seeds!