The Mech Touch

One of the more notable aspects about the OVS was that it featured an expansive 'zoo' of hundreds of different organisms, both natural and artificial.

Many of these beasts were relatively harmless, but there was a small proportion of native exobeasts and artificially cultivated designer beasts that were monsters in their own right!

In fact, one of the secret research projects was explicitly set up to develop dangerous artificial warbeasts that could play a useful role in the upcoming war.

It was not common to deploy giant warbeasts into battle. They were expensive and difficult to develop, grow and maintain.

Transportation was another nightmare as beasts designed to destroy mechs could easily destroy cargo vessels from the inside!

Nonetheless, warbeasts could play a useful role on certain planets with rough terrain and adverse conditions.

Aside from that, designer beasts with powerful strengths and capabilities could also contribute a lot to different research projects.

Here in one of the underground laboratories of the Olena Volkova School of Genetics and Exobiology, Professor Murmillian Granse led an entire research group that attempted to develop artificial phasewater beasts for various purposes.

If successful, Davute hoped to make use of these powerful beasts as an alternative and more disposable form of shield breakers or base raiders.

Although the secret research group already produced a couple of initial successes, they were far from developing warbeasts that could be deployed in battle.

The success of the researchers still earned them a lot of follow-up grants and support, allowing them to expand their personnel as well as the amount of beasts under cultivation.

Right now, the entire lab dedicated to the development of phasewater warbeasts was almost devoid of human presence.

Only automated systems along with a small number of humans supervised the expensive chambers where the artificial warbeasts were being incubated or held captive.

Professor Murmillian Granse sedately made the rounds, as he knew this would be the last time he would ever be able to grace his eyes on the artificial warbeasts that he had brought into life.

Each of them were designed and bred to be as violent and hostile as possible. They possessed a keen sense for humans and had been bioprogrammed to hunt down the largest concentrations of people that they could find!

Most of the monstrous creatures that looked like variations of natural exobeasts did not have a clue that a human had been walking by their holding pens.

Only a few sensitive beasts possessed keener senses than normal. They lifted their heads and sniffed in the direction of Professor Granse as he passed by their holding pens.

The man knew the details of each of the warbeasts. Even though he lived for over 230 years, his advanced implants and augmentations had elevated his memory and mental processing power to an unheard of level.

He even took part in the development of some of his own bioaugmentations!

What excited him more was that the Red Ocean introduced a host of new biological systems that the biotech industry at large had never come in touch with before. The ways in which exceptional organisms were able to merge a small amount of phasewater into their bodies was especially fascinating.

An intact and preferably living phase whale specimen was the holy grail for every biotech researcher!

As the most powerful and iconic phasewater organism of the Red Ocean, the phase whale species possessed unparalleled genetic compatibility with this precious substance.

The theory that phase whales originally produced this incredibly versatile liquid exotic in the first place didn't sound so far-fetched!

Humanity's obsession with phasewater enabled Professor Murmillian Granse and his many fellow biotech researchers to completely reinvigorate their studies.

They had barely explored the tip of the iceberg as far as phasewater organisms were concerned!

Yet instead of following the latest trends and try to become the first biotech researcher to discovering working formulas that combined biology with phasewater, he was on the cusp of performing an action that would permanently burn his reputation, discredit his name in the biotech community and force him to give up on all of his interesting research projects.

Oh, he would lose his life in the process as well.

Professor Granse did not expect any of his current colleagues and friends to understand why he was willing to betray their trust and implement a plan that favored Karlach at Davute's expense.

His face drooped in a complex expression as he briefly stood in front of one of the holding cells.

Nine strange creatures that looked like a mix between a polychromic worm and a dragon lazily napped or burrowed around without much aim.

These happened to be the latest results of his ongoing research. Each of these creatures managed to integrate a greater amount of phasewater than any of his other artificial warbeasts.

Not only that, they also incorporated a few of his best solutions, some of which were so potent that he had to argue with the dean of the school for a long time in order to secure additional funding and resources to create these expensive beasts.

A smirk gradually appeared on his face. "To think they still haven't understood the true depth of my masterpiece for so long. Do they really think that this is the extent of what I can produce after so many years?"

He shook his head. The Davutans were all fools. He no longer studied his most proud warbeasts and slowly ended his tour.

Once he returned where he started, he moved to the side and entered a number of checkpoints and security gates before he entered the central control room that supervised the condition of all of the holding cells.

"Professor." A research assistant respectfully greeted as he turned his attention away from the projection that showed the ongoing parade. "Why are you here? My shift is not yet supposed to end in another two hours."

Professor Granse casually waved his arm and seated himself behind a nearby console.

"I have already inspected the specimens for the day. All of them remain stable. There is little point in doing any research. I may as well sit back and read my backlog of academic journals. I can do that anywhere, so I may as well do it here and relieve you of your duties early."

"You… you will let me go sooner? Is that allowed?" The man who was over two centuries younger than the professor asked.

"I am old, Stevenson. Events like these no longer hold any interest to me anymore." Professor Granse said in an uncommonly weary voice. "Let me enjoy my time in peace. As for you, this may be your only chance to experience a day such as this to the fullest."

"Thank… thank you, professor!"

The two chatted a little longer before the eager and excited research assistant raced off so that he could head to the Commercial District in time.

Of course, the younger biotech researcher also signed off early, thereby passing off much of the responsibility for controlling the holding pens and underground laboratories to Professor Granse.

Once the younger researcher left, the mood in the control room became a lot more somber.

The professor first used his access authority to check the status and positions of all of the other individuals in this underground facility.

Aside from himself, Granse knew that two unlucky research assistants as well as a handful of security guards had been assigned to watch over the underground laboratory.

He confirmed that none of them could hinder his next actions.

Seeing that almost everything was in place, Granse was ready to reveal his true allegiance.

It would be from this moment on that he would truly betray the trust of his government, his employer and his passionate colleagues and his earnest students.

He could still reconsider. Up until now, he had yet to make any blatant actions that directly harmed the interests of Davute. He could still turn his back on the plan and keep living the life of a prestigious, government-supported star researcher and university professor.

However, only Murmillian Granse himself knew that there was no turning back since the time he initially infiltrated Davute.

To think that an award-winning geneticist and beast designer had fallen so low.

Professor Murmillian Granse didn't have to fall so low and besmirch his name forever.

He still had plenty of years to go before he would no longer be able to persist in his research anymore.

With the extensive list of scientific accomplishments in his name, he would be able to retire with great fanfare and continue to live off the profits of his patents, licenses and royalties for the rest of his life.

It was a pity that none of this interested him anymore. Professor Granse was not motivated by selfishness, but by kinship.

"My children…"

By ending his own future, he would be able to boost the lives of his descendants.

Thinking about his offspring made him feel frustrated and helpless.

Despite his best efforts, none of his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren and so on amounted to anything decent, at least by his standards.

Sure, the expensive designer baby formulas and augmentations he provided to them lifted their intelligences to well above average.

However, they were nowhere close to reaching his level. All of the augmentations could not solve a lack of drive and passion for a productive pursuit.

At best, they could become junior research associates or middle-level managers at a company. Their chances of climbing any higher was exceedingly slim based on their projected growth trajectories.

There were still many ways to beat the most promising of his offspring into shape.

However, the most convenient and promising way to do so was to earn an entire planet for his dynasty.

Once his middling and incompetent descendants gained ownership over an entire planet, they could sit back for generations and live off the taxes for as long as Karlach existed.

The income they could derive from running an entire planet vastly exceeded the amount of profits that Professor Granse could make through his work!

"Who knows. Maybe a genius will finally be born among my useless descendants. My dynasty shall truly rise when that happens."

As Granse dreamt about securing a much better future for his bloodline, he finally hardened his resolve.

He waited until he received a hidden signal that informed him that the time had come for him to take action.

His fingers immediately started to input a long and complex series of commands into the central console. He was practically rewriting many different settings and deactivating a lot of security programs without tripping any obvious alarms.

Of course, he would have never been able to avoid the scrutiny of the security AIs that were supposed to watch for suspicious activities. He had already received a notification that this problem had already been taken care of, leaving him free to repurpose the underground laboratory.

"Done!"

After he submitted his final instruction, the facility underwent a complete change.

First, all of the holding pens that held the large and destructive organisms opened up their gates at once.

Many captured exobeasts and warbeasts couldn't believe that the exits became open all of a sudden.

Before the beasts could rampage, a strange influence settled over them, activating extremely well-hidden genetic programming that caused them to remain docile.

Each of the beasts moved out of their holding pens in an orderly fashion.

Apex predators that would have normally savaged each other upon sight remained completely docile as they moved towards a single specific holding pen.

The destination that they were moving towards happened to be the large chamber which held the nine beasts that Professor Granse considered to be his magnum opus.

It was only now that these organic products revealed their true shapes and potential.

After receiving a silent signal, the polychromic wormdragons no longer remained impassive, but instead began to merge together in groups of threes!

"HUFUFEHHAAAA!"

Strange noises escaped from the throats of the artificial warbeasts as their bodies spontaneously merged with each other!

The sight was both fascinating and disgusting. Entire organs and body parts melted into three identical monstrosities that looked greater than the sum of their parts!

Once the super wormdragons took shape, they towered over many of the exobeasts and warbeasts that had slowly entered the holding pen.

"WRRRRUUUOOOOOAAAAA!"

The three superwormdragons cried out once before they activated the brand-new phasewater organ that had spontaneously formed within the depths of their bodies.

The organ crudely imitated the structure and functions of a phase whale organ. Though Professor Granse never gained access to such a valuable high-end biotech design, Karlach somehow managed to obtain it and pass it onto him in total secrecy.

Now, the engineering put into these brand-new organs was put to the test. The hastily-shaped phasewater organ was already undergoing so much stress that they were already close to breaking apart!

This was one of the most sensitive parts of the operations. If the hastily-grown phasewater organs did not last long enough for them to do their only job, then this entire operation would fail!

Professor Granse clenched his fist as he tried to convince himself that his masterpiece was bound to succeed.

After a few more seconds of heavy exertion, the superwormdragon simultaneously let out another roar before they spatially displaced themselves along with every other beast in the vicinity to an entirely different location!

"It's done!" Professor Granse sighed in relief.

Now that he had done his job, he let out a deep breath and activated a few commands that completely scrambled the logs and made sure that the Davutans wouldn't be able to extract any useful information from the systems.

He then pulled out a small vial from his lab coat pocket and stared at its glowing blue contents for a second.

"For Karlach." He whispered and proceeded to swallow the contents of the vial at once.

His body began to melt over a span of a minute. His clothes increasingly drooped and engulfed his diminishing body as he was literally dying in a manner of his choosing!

The smile on his face remained as long as his face retained its shape. Soon, even that faded away as his flesh and bone decomposed into a formless puddle of organic liquids.

Thus the life of a 230-year old professor of genetics and inventor of many impressive warbeast had come to an abrupt and undignified end.