5431 Stuck in Darkness

The lightning tribulation disappeared now that it had accomplished its objective.

The powerful force originating from Messier 87 had deemed the Elemental Lord to be a forbidden existence.

Ever since Ves had brought this miraculous elemental drone mech to life, he had violated a forbidden rule and attracted the ire of this distant but all-encompassing force!

The severity of the punishment had to fit the crime.

Given how quickly and dramatically the lightning tribulation as it progressed, it became clear that Ves had committed a massive crime from the perspective of this alien authority!

Ves' mind became filled with regrets and doubts after the shocking event had come to an end.

His eyes grew dull as they continued to track the ash particles that continued to fall from above.

These were the remains of what could have been one of his greatest mechs to date.

As humble as it might appear on the surface, the Elemental Lord had the potential to match the performance of an expert mech shortly after its completion.

This was a mech that could have transcended its roots and could have evolved into a mechanical god-like entity!

If Ves had been able to buy more time for his nascent masterpiece, it might have been possible for the Elemental Lord to grow quickly enough to keep up with the escalating lightning tribulation.

However... he had ultimately failed. He had resorted to several measures to give his potent living mech a fighting chance.

From using up one of his precious gems to pushing Major Simon Jankowski into breaking through, he had gone all-out in order to give the five brothers the strength they needed to continue their struggle for survival.

Ves found it difficult to accept that all of his efforts had gone to naught. Every single physical and spiritual trace of the Elemental Lord had disintegrated into ash and scattered energy.

There was nothing to salvage from the remains. The tribulation lightning possessed a capacity of destruction that was unsurpassed.

Ves had faintly hoped that the lightning tribulation would be sloppy enough to miss a few broken parts. It might even leave a few of the living fey alone given that they were not a part of the main body.

Alas, the punishment from the heavens was too thorough. The self-destruction of the earth warrior not only wiped out all of the living fey, but also burned their spiritual foundations until there was nothing left to salvage!

A part of Ves wanted to gather up as much of the ash particles that were dropping onto the lighting-scorched ground, but he recognized that there was little point in doing so. The ashes contained nothing that held any practical value to a mech designer.

Ves had been able to bring back certain entities from the dead. He had hoped that he could reproduce this particular miracle again, but the lightning tribulation clearly did not leave anything to chance.

"Even if I brought the Elemental Lord back from the dead, that damned lightning tribulation would just come back so that it could finish the job." He cynically guessed.

The oppressive storm clouds may have cleared from the skies, but Ves saw no discernable light. His vision still remained clouded in darkness.

It did not take more than a minute before the forces of the Bluejay Fleet arrived to secure the site.

The Terrans did not gain any chance to get involved from beginning to end. The Devos Ancient Clan was not pleased about the mechers shutting everyone else out. The fact that the culprit who triggered the anomalous thunderstorm was not a citizen of the Terran Alliance made it easier for the Red Association to monopolize whatever gains could be derived from this explosive event.

The news could not be blocked, however. The eccentric young tier 3 galactic citizen had become galactic news once again for conducting a mysterious experiment that apparently generated an accidental weather phenomenon!

The vast majority of the public were completely unaware of the truth behind this incident. The common folk hardly paid attention to the implications and merely assumed that the young mech designer had been too reckless in an attempt to sustain his explosive success.

They were not necessarily wrong, but only the highest and most knowledgeable leaders understood the true meaning behind the act of triggering a lightning tribulation!

A lot of parties that paid attention to Ves had quietly increased their evaluation of this controversial mech designer once again.

Even if his attempt had crashed and burned, he had demonstrated enough ingenuity and courage for making it this far. So long as he was able to develop his potential further, he could accomplish much greater feats in the future!

It was conceivable that a lot of different parties developed a greater desire to cooperate with him. His shallow foundation and his volatile personality no longer became as significant as before. His potential outshone many of his negative qualities, making it so that a lot more people were willing to take a gamble and invest in this supernova of a mech designer!

All of that were concerns for the future.

The Larkinson Clan had more important issues to worry about. The Premier Branch had unwittingly attracted a huge amount of attention. It had too little manpower to handle all of the inquiries and deal with all of the powerful Terrans that insisted on obtaining answers.

In the absence of Ves, Gavin Neumann quickly became overwhelmed by all of the demands.

It was not wise to ignore or offer a perfunctory denial to any of these requests!

The Terrans could be quite touchy about etiquette and propriety. Gavin began to sweat as he tried to figure out the best way to word a rejection to a rather invasive proposal from one of the ancient clans.

"Let me help you handle these matters." A female voice spoke. "1 know these clans the best. As a former member of an ancient clan, these Terran dignitaries will still consider me as one of their own. That should make it much less challenging to keep them at bay."

Alexa entered Gavin's office within Diandi Base and calmly took over dozens of the most difficult and sensitive cases.

With Alexa helping the Premier Branch handle a portion of the aftermath of the anomalous weather event, the culprit who triggered it in the first place was resting in an entirely different place.

Ever since the Bluejay Fleet teleported Ves away from the surface of the planet, he had removed his Unending Regalia and gone through an extensive health inspection.

The state-of-the-art medical facilities and scanners most certainly became confronted by a lot of shocking discoveries as they analyzed the properties of Ves' radically altered physique.

From finding out that his phasewater concentration had skyrocketed to realizing that his actual body mass had grown far more than was apparent on the surface, the doctors and biotech experts serving on the Tarrasque grew excited at the prospect of gathering invaluable research data on an actual human phase lord!

It was hard for Ves to share in the joy and excitement of all of those RA doctors and researchers. Their smiles and laughs completely slid away from the gloom that surrounded him like a forcefield.

If these crazed biotech resesarchers had their way, they would have kept Ves in their labs for weeks!

The more they studied Ves1 radically altered body, the more they gained insight into how a human version of a phase lord truly operated!

However, it was impossible for all of these brilliant scientists to have their way. Their studies may be of incredible value to the Red Association, but it was more important to preserve the rights and dignity of a tier 3 galactic citizen.

As such, it only took a few hours for the 'health inspections' to come to a regrettably early end.

Ves did not even register the looks of dismay of all of those doctors who deeply wished that he could serve as their test subject for at least a few more days.

He ended up in a cozy and familiar lounge in another section of the flagship of the Bluejay Fleet.

A bot had delivered a cup of warm and soothing hot chocolate, but Ves had not touched the floating container once since it arrived.

The cup still made sure to keep the beverage warm at the most optimal temperature, so the hot liquid continued to steam in front of the paralyzed mech designer.

"Here."

The sudden interruption forced Ves out of his fugue. He blinked his eyes and focused on the high-tech gadget that Jovy held out with his arm.

Ves slowly raised one of his tired arms and picked up the object. He could sense the water element becoming more active around this brand new device.

"The lightning tribulation has completely drained the reserves of your old shield generators." The liaison from the Survivalist Association explained. "While it is technically possible for us to restore them to as good as new, they are too weak and outdated for a galactic citizen of your stature. I have taken the liberty to retrieve this from our stores and present it to you as a gift. It is one of our latest personal azure shield generators. It is powerful enough to withstand at least one or several attacks from a first-class multipurpose mech, though 1 do not advise you to test this claim. It is particularly effective if it is given time to reinforce itself with water-attributed E energy."

The cost of a first-class personal shield generator of the hyper generation was insane, but it was nothing to one of the most powerful organizations of red humanity.

Though Ves did not want to deal with anything aside from his own thoughts, he was too much of a cheapskate to reject this freebie.

"Thanks." He answered in a gruff and exhausted voice.

He did not treat this expensive life-saving gadget like a treasure. He cared so much about the Elemental Lord that nothing else could rouse his interest.

Ves simply placed the new personal shield generator underneath his patriarch uniform and allowed it to settle onto his body.

A minute of silence ensued as Jovy sat on the couch opposite to Ves and silently ordered a drink for himself.

Jovy's knowing eyes seemingly pierced straight through Ves' facade.

"Do you understand what you have done?"

II !>

"You surprised everyone when you managed to trigger such a spectacle. It is not impossible for a Senior Mech Designer to provoke such a response, but it is so unlikely that no one expected you to make it happen. I admire you, Ves. I truly do. It takes a special sort of mech designer to devise and produce a mech so powerful that it has pushed past a limit."

,11,

"Do you know why this event is so rare to the point where it is unheard of among most Seniors and Masters? It is because this is a phenomenon that often precedes the creation of a grand work. Not every lightning tribulation leads to the formation of a grand work, but even if your amazing Elemental Lord fell short of that impossible standard, it would have excelled in a different way."

The mention that the Elemental Lord had the potential to become a grand work was so shocking to Ves that he finally pulled himself out of his daze!

"Are you kidding me, Jovy? Are you actually claiming that the Elemental Lord had skipped straight past the second rung and reached the third rung of Senfovon's Ladder of Craftsmanship?"

Jovy responded with a smile. "You do not have to take my word at it. You might not have noticed it, but several Star Designers paid close attention to how the lightning tribulation unfolded. They have personal experience with these sorts of events, as their greatest creations are always subjected to the same treatment. The Xenotechnician lias personally conveyed to me that your Elemental Lord had the makings of a grand work, though the Polymath is not as confident in this conclusion. Regardless of their differences, both of them have become highly impressed with your attempt to break the boundaries of what mechs are capable of. This is what mech designers should truly be working towards."

Ves felt mixed about the fact that his 'modest' mech had managed to attract the attention of at least two Star Designers. His failure weighed so heavily in his mind that he could not even feel proud for this accomplishment.