The Mech Touch

Ves did not want to expand his collection of design spirits too much.

He preferred to surround himself with a network of intimate and committed spiritual friends rather than an army of strangers that could go rogue at any time.

If he desperately needed a specific kind of power or domain that his existing design spirits did not cover, then he could conduct a focused search for a specific kind of mutated beast that met all of his criteria.

Mutated beasts used to be rare in the past, but now they were popping up like mushrooms all across the Red Ocean.

Many of them originally used to be ordinary exobeasts. They minded their own business and tried to survive in their own exotic environments, when suddenly E energy radiation caused them to grow stronger, smarter and weirder at a rapid rate!

No one had a coherent explanation why this was the case, and why it only happened to creatures that were originally non-sapient.

Whatever the case, people quickly found out that naturally evolved exobeasts mutated at a much higher rate than artificial designer beasts.

Perhaps there were a lot of mysterious factors behind these differences, but one obvious explanation for this divergence was that designer beasts possessed optimized genes.

There were much less useless junk genes in their DNA. Many of their biological processes had also been strengthened to the point where the rate of ordinary mutations had dropped to a minimum.

This ensured that any artificial species remained constant over the generations.

All of the natural exobeasts lacked these optimizations, so they had a much greater capacity towards mutation from the onset.

This effectively meant that hunting preserves such as Ocanon VI had suddenly become a lot more interesting to many industries!

From biotech institutions that wanted to turn a uniquely mutated exobeast into an entire species to development companies that wanted to reproduce a special E energy interaction through technological means, the demand for all of these creatures had increased by a massive extent!

Even hunting grounds under the management of the Hunting Association could not escape this craze.

More and more hunting teams accepted highly prized commissions to hunt down any mutated beast that had attracted the interest of these big companies.

Since the Hunting Association strictly prohibited these greedy and ambitious organizations from sending down lots of mechs from the air and capturing the desired mutated beasts with overwhelming force, it was up to the professional hunting teams to do the job!

It was a win-win-win-win arrangement for the most part. The carefully managed ecosystems did not get messed up. The local economy received a greater influx of outside money. The hunting teams earned much greater income to support their more personal hunting activities. The Hunting Association gained more authority and importance as everyone played by its rules.

This was why Ves was not allowed to command the Bluejay Fleet to send down a squad of first-class multipurpose mechs and hunt any of the mutated beasts that caught his attention.

"We do not have anything on this planet that can restrain your actions." President Oscar Tarich calmly explained as he led the Larkinsons on a trip to the most dangerous and exotic Chasseur Continent. "If you insist on sending down your mecher troops, we will not stop you from taking away our natural treasures. That does not mean we will forget what you have done. Our Hunting Association will condemn your actions and deny you and your clan any further services. This will have grave implications for you. At the very least, none of the hunters who rely on our Association will frequent the mech store operated by the local branch of your Larkinson Clan."

The unspoken message was that the Hunting Association refused to extend special treatment to Ves!

With the backing of a god pilot, there was no reason for the Hunting Association to bow down to the special requests of anyone, including a tier 3 galactic citizen!

Ves never had any intention of breaking the rules. He just wanted to explore whether it was possible to retrieve his desired specimens in the most efficient and convenient manner.

He quickly raised his palm in surrender. "There is no need for you to worry whether I will break your rules. I have great respect for your customs and traditions. The Swordmaidens that are stationed on this planet will be more than eager to set out and hunt down the prey of my choosing."

President Tarich relaxed and smiled. "That is best. It is not that I am unwilling to give you a favor. You certainly deserve to be rewarded for the massive contributions that you have made to red humanity. The real issue is that we must be fair to others. No hunter should be denied their opportunity to hunt down our most valuable exobeasts. Your hunting team can only compete fairly with other ones if they are all chasing after a highly prized beast."

Ves smelled a sense of ritual behind these rules. The Hunting Association most certainly had concrete reasons to set up their hunting grounds this way.

Of course, greater competition also made it easy for the Hunting Association to charge for various different services.

Hunting teams had to pay fees to enter a hunting ground. They had to pay a fee for any collateral damage they inflicted on the environment. They also had to pay a fee to cover the cost of cleaning up any artificial debris or remains that they had left.

Most importantly of all, once these hunting teams came back with their valuable prize in tow, they needed to pay huge tariffs that were proportional to the market value of their prey if they wanted to ship their catch off-planet!

The income earned from this export business had skyrocketed as of late. Ocanon VI and many other hunting planets profited so much from charging so much tariffs. This was sorely needed as the infrastructure needed to keep all of the mutations under control had skyrocketed as well.

All of this sounded fair to Ves. Hunting planets had to be carefully managed in order to continually produce powerful mutated beasts at a steady rate. Their evolution was not actually free, so some people had to be the ones to pay the price.

The conversation soon turned on what they were about to encounter on this aerial safari trip.

"The Chasseur Continent is the most natural and least-regulated landmass of Ocanon VI. We have demarcated numerous large hunting grounds, but our light interference made it so that many exobeasts are able to migrate outside of their original territories with no restraint. Huge exobeasts that can only be hunted by mechs occupy the same spaces as smaller exobeasts that you can comfortably kill with a rifle in your hands. Multiple huge beasts are also allowed to stay together, making it harder to challenge a collective. It is only in the most extreme situations that our Hunting Association is forced to take direct action."

"So you're breaking your own rules." Ves couldn't help but remark.

"That is so, but it is only because a single calamity beast has the power to defeat an entire mech company. If we allow such a giant to evolve even further, it will not take too long before this monster can defeat an expert mech or escape the gravity well of this planet. Before any mutated beast can reach this stage, we will encourage hunting teams to preemptively eliminate these future threats. We cannot afford to wait until a calamity beast has already emerged."

Calamity beast. That was a new term that the Hunting Association tried to promote.

It was a simple and unpretentious label for a mutated beast that had reached a more advanced stage in its rapid growth.

The strength between different calamity beasts differed enormously, but the common consensus was that it had the ability to crush a typical mech company in direct combat!

It just so happened that Ves expressed the greatest interest in calamity beasts or ones that were approaching this stage.

Other mutated beasts were too young, too inexperienced and sorely lacking in greater intelligence.

The eight-legged bird-grounding monster happened to be a calamity beast in the making.

If not for the fact that its special ability posed so little threat against mechs, it would have already attracted a lot of hunting teams eager to absorb the power of a worthy prey while also earning a huge amount of monetary profit in the process!

The shuttle slowed down to an extent as it was about to enter a hunting ground.

The bottom of the shuttle turned transparent, allowing all of the passengers to gain an augmented view of the terrain below.

"Ohh..."

The children all knelt onto the floor and manipulated the interface to zoom in on any areas that caught their interest.

"The #390 Sorara Hunting Ground is dry, arid and rocky. It is located at a higher altitude as well, which has caused the local species to evolve in different directions. Right now, we are approaching one of the few major bodies of water in this interesting region."

The shuttle stopped above a sizable lake.

What struck Ves the most was that a lot of exobeasts, big and small, restrained themselves from getting into conflict and peacefully quenched their thirst without any issue.

"Contrary of what you may think, predators have no qualms about ambushing their prey at watering holes." President Tarich explained. "This is a universal phenomenon that applies to lakes and rivers on practically any life-bearing planet. However, this lake is one of the few that is an exception to this constant."

"The only reason for these all of these hostile exobeasts to restrain themselves is because they are being suppressed." Ves spoke. "They are much more vigilant towards what is hiding underneath the lake."

It took a few minutes for this extraordinary beast to reveal itself.

In one moment, everything looked peaceful.

In the next moment, flexible tree branches poked out of the edge of the lake and randomly grabbed four different exobeasts!

The caught alien beasts panicked while the rest quickly turned around and retreated from the water!

None of these fleeing creatures spared any thought towards the ones that had become entangled.

No matter how much they struggled, the captured prey failed to break the thin but surprisingly strong branches!

Soon, the prey disappeared beneath the surface of the lake, returning the area to a strained state of calm.

Ves waved his hand, causing the view to shift. The surface of the lake turned from a reflective white surface into a transparent layer that clearly exposed what had been hiding underneath all along!

"That's... that's a tree!" Andraste gasped. "It's an underwater tree!"

The sight became much more horrible now that they were able to see what happened to the captured prey.

The poor exobeasts not only drowned after being submerged in water, but they also started to get drained of their nutrients as multiple strong and penetrating tree branches stabbed into their bodies!

The demonic tree seemed to sway in the water current as it gained enough nutrients to support itself and further its own growth.

What was even more significant was that the lake slightly started to grow in size! More water had appeared, and it came in such quantities that it should have been impossible for all of it to appear through natural means.

The Sorara #390 Hunting Ground had not seen any rain in decades!

It only took a few minutes later for other exobeasts to return. No matter what, it was vital for them to top off their water reserves if they wanted to survive in these dry and arid lands.

"How close is it to becoming a calamity beast?" Ves asked.

"We estimate that it will take approximately 70 days for its evolution to reach a stage where it can handle attacks of mechs at long range. We are already aware of several hunting teams that have put the so-called Evil Lake Tree into their hunting lists. If you want to prevent it from being claimed by others, then your clan should send out its hunting team quickly."