The Mech Touch

The power of a World Tree Seed was enormous.

It could do so much stuff. Unlike other superweapons, its organic nature meant that its ability to create was just as powerful as its ability to destroy!

A World Tree could extract any planet with resources to produce a multitude of wooden biomechs and bioships. It could also be used to terraform the entire globe in a hurry. It could further be used to create entire settlements, either on the ground or inside its enormous trunk.

So long as Ves had a World Tree Seed in his possession, he would never have to be afraid of lacking a means to erect a colonized planet!

Depending on how extensively Ves was willing to drain the ecosystem and resources of a planet, he could instruct his World Tree to build enough settlements and basic infrastructure to house millions if not billions of people.

If he did not care about preserving the ecosystem of the planet, he could use the World Tree to drain every scrap of highly valuable resources from the globe and use it to produce a large amount of biomechs, bioships and other manufactured goods.

Would the stuff grown by the World Tree be as good as properly fabricated products?

Nope.

However, it was by far the most effective way to plunder a planet to such an enormous extent that Ves and his clansmen would be able to enrich themselves beyond their wildest dreams so long as they conducted a raid on the right planet.

Growing a World Tree did not come without a heavy price. Its rapid growth characteristics came at the cost of efficiency. This meant that it was very much possible to waste its enormous potential and end up with less value than before.

If Ves ever obtained a World Tree Seed, then he should only plant it on resource rich planets or highly industrialized hubs.

This would not only allow the World Tree to produce larger quantities of high-quality biomechs and bioships, but also concentrate enough resources to form another World Tree Seed!

"Wait." Ves frowned. "Can a World Tree reverse its growth and return to its seed form once you are done with plundering a planet?"

"It depends." Master Laila Devos responded. "The original World Tree Seeds are capable of doing so. They are miracles given life and form. They are also much more efficient than their less perfect counterparts. The Dryad Queen has worked hard to impart them with the ability to regress back into their original seed forms. As long as we do not lose physical possession of them, we can continually reuse the original World Tree Seeds on as many planets as we wish."

That… that was incredibly powerful!

These original World Tree Seeds were perfect for plundering a huge amount of resources from resource-rich planets!

As long as the owners of the seeds did not care about taking over the planets and using them to house their own populations, the Terrans could scale up their forces so quickly that they may become unstoppable to the native aliens!

Perhaps only ancient phase whales and enemy superweapons could stop these World Trees from draining world after world.

However, Ves noted a very important distinction.

"The second generation World Tree Seeds are incapable of regressing back into their seed forms, is that correct?" He guessed.

Master Devos nodded. "That is regrettably the case. Derived World Tree Seeds are all copies of the original. They lack the unique and exquisite qualities that the Dryad Queen herself has imparted in her grand works. All second-generation seeds, third-generation seeds and so on are slower, less efficient and lack multiple capabilities, the most obvious of which is to return to their original seed forms. Once you plant a derived World Tree Seed onto a planet, the resulting growth is permanent. A second-generation World Tree can only produce a third-generation seed if it has access to an abundant amount of energy and high-grade resources. If you are concerned about this, you can prepare the necessary resources beforehand."

The derived World Tree Seeds were clearly inferior to the originals in every way. Not only would Ves have to use them as consumables, every cycle resulted in a degradation of the quality of seeds.

Second-generation seeds were produced by the best variations of World Trees, so they were not too shabby.

Third-generation seeds were spawned from second-generation World Trees, which meant that they were missing out on even more stuff.

Fourth-generation seeds were spawned from significantly inferior third-generation World Tree, which meant that they were massively inferior compared to the originals!

Fortunately, Master Laila Devos mentioned a way to stop or reverse this degradation cycle.

Every World Tree Seed could still be modified and upgraded. The most basic way to do so was to substitute lower quality materials for higher quality materials. A seed that was comprised of superior materials performed better in many ways.

A more advanced way to upgrade the seed was to alter or improve its bioprogramming. This was incredibly difficult and required a lot of manpower as the complexity of each World Tree Seed exceeded most people’s imaginations.

The most difficult but rewarding way to upgrade a World Tree Seed was to augment it with new or improved organic modules and systems.

Doing this would not be able to turn a derived seed into an original seed.

It was instead a way to mutate a derived seed into a more unique product that had deviated from its original scope.

Many different biotech institutions were capable of adding useful new functions to a derived seed that reflected their strengths and specializations.

Ves wondered what he and the Larkinson Biotech Institute could add to a derived seed. Perhaps they may be able to infuse life into the seed, allowing it to gain its own form of intelligence!

"So what is your decision, Ves? If you agree to an exchange of knowledge and resources, your clan can become the owner of a second-generation World Tree Seed."

The price that the Devos Ancient Clan expected from the Larkinson Clan was anything but light.

Master Laila Devos most definitely wanted to obtain large amounts of superdimensional matter. Armor-grade and weapon-grade superdimensional ore ranked high on her list of priorities.

She not only wanted enough of them to fabricate at least a dozen fully superdimensional mechs, but also supply it all within 2 years!

If the Larkinsons failed to meet this demanding deadline, then the Larkinson Clan would have to provide heavy compensation in other forms.

In addition to that, Master Laila Devos wanted to obtain extensive knowledge on living mech design from Ves. She wanted to acquire knowledge that exceeded the scope of the basic lessons he taught at the Eden Institute of Business & Technology.

It was not that difficult to understand why she desired to learn the more advanced applications of living mech design.

She and her fellow Terrans wanted to design their own Carmine mechs. At the very least, they wanted to gain a lot more leeway into developing more divergent variants of the Yellow Jacket model and the upcoming Arboreal Project.

The Terran mech designers would face an uphill battle if they tried to copy Ves’ design philosophy without the support of the Red Kingdom.

However, it was not impossible for them to do so. If they had excellent rational mech designers on hand that had already made a lot of preparations, they may be able to pull it off.

Ves was not too worried that sharing his trade secrets would cause the Terrans to overtake him.

He had already imparted much of his design philosophy to Alexa Streon, but she was still not able to reach his level. It was out of the question for her to build up on his work and beat him at his own game. The most she could do was to pursue her own research direction.

Even so, Ves did not want to sell his expertise on living mech design so easily.

This was not because he wanted to maintain his monopoly on living mechs. At this point in his career, he benefited a lot more if more mech designers joined his side and expanded the market presence of their product category.

From that perspective, Ves should actually be more willing to help the Terrans acquire the capability to design their own living mechs.

It would be even better if they were able to design their own Carmine mechs, though Ves did not believe that any third party could acquire this capability so easily.

Still, Ves would be a fool to underestimate the Terrans. They were incredibly competent and the Terran Alliance clearly had a huge stake in the development of Carmine biomechs.

The Red Ocean’s mech market was far too big for Ves to cater to the needs of so many customers.

Even now, there were lots of norms who disdained the use of the Yellow Jacket models and its many variants.

Customers who possessed greater ambitions clearly wanted to form Blood Pacts with more powerful Carmine mechs!

While Ves was already working on the Arboreal Project, it was far from enough to satisfy every norm, especially those who lived outside the Terran Alliance.

If the Terrans started to design and publish their own living mechs, then the consequences would be vast.

The LMC would instantly lose its monopoly on living mechs. This would most definitely lead to a reduction in the amount of revenue and profits it could earn as many customers would turn away and spend their money on other products that fit their needs better.

However, Ves expected that his new competitors would mostly focus on the markets and product categories that he and his clan neglected.

The first-class and third-class mech markets were currently heavily underserved by the LMC.

Demand remained skyhigh, but the Living Mech Corporation was unable to meet the needs of so many customers due to the limitations of the Design Department.

This was bad not because the LMC was missing out on a lot of sales, but because a lot of market segments simply had no chance of getting their hands on their own living mechs.

Ves already figured out that he could progress his design philosophy if it achieved better market penetration.

It was not entirely necessary to accomplish this with his own mech designs alone. The works of other mech designers could contribute as well so long as they propagated at least a part of his vision on mechs.

The swordsman mechs designed by Ketis were a good example of this form of propagation!

Despite the swordmaster’s clear attempts to differentiate her works and realize her own vision of mechs, the fact that she always made her mechs alive represented a continuation of his own design philosophy!

In short, the more the mech industry adopted his living mechs, the more his design philosophy gained validation, thereby enabling it to progress faster than what Ves could accomplish by himself!

This deal was a good opportunity for Ves to convince the Terrans to join the living mech hype train. Explore stories on

Since they were willing to trade away a derived World Tree Seed for the secrets of living mech design, then the Terrans would definitely work hard to get their money’s worth!

From this perspective, this demand was not a big deal for Ves.

It was the other demands that made him reluctant to commence this trade.

"I admit that I am tempted to pick up a World Tree Seed, but since the one you are offering is not an original one, I am not inclined to meet your extravagant asking price. For one, we can’t possibly supply so much high-grade superdimensional matter to you." Ves said. "We have a need of it ourselves, and I doubt that Ketis can open up a portal to the Blue Dimension often enough to meet either of our needs. I also do not want the entire Terran mech industry to become my competitor. There is a limit to how much I am willing to teach you about the finer points of living mech design."

Master Laila Devos smiled in response. "Do not be so quick to turn away. Everything can be negotiated."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!