Chapter 12

I now have Bob.

…

Oh, context to that? Where do I even begin?

-A few hours ago-

Have you ever been hugged by a bear? No? Oh, well, it felt like that is happening to me. All my insides twisted as they made way for the nucleus. The nucleus itself split as chains from somewhere reached inside and pulled my very being apart. Just as my mind became hazy and darkness started to reach for me, I felt a stabilising force. My cloudy thoughts became clear as two new nuclei formed inside me. Just as I thought the worst was over, I split again. This time my mind remained intact, but my cell self had a gash running from one side to the other. It became wider as a sense of loss overwhelmed my being. It quickly faded as new information was received by my primitive sensory system.

I was now two. Technically.

It felt strange, like discovering a new limb. I could control the other part and even receive weak feedback from the sensory system, but it was not 'me’. I was still shackled to this cell, while the other was like a proxy base I commanded.

So I named it Bob.

What can Bob do? Everything I could, that didn't involve being 'me’. We swam around a bit, as I got used to controlling Bob. I checked up on my status and systems. For the most part, everything was the same. I now had less energy (500), but the lost part, probably, went to the other me. I also noticed a missed system announcement, I don't quite know the content, hence, I said missed, but I now had a yellow box with a green ribbon on it, sitting in my inventory. Would system message log be so hard to implement?

It was another gacha machine.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Guess you can' teach an old dog new tricks.

Spin to win!

=======

/Dev team's hidden easter egg - x1

=======

It's a picture of a cat doing a backflip.

It's not even that funny.

I hate this game.

…

Where was I? Oh yeah, I need to hunt for more stuff so I can make more Bobs. It should be easier now. I expect twice as much biomass gain.

“Let's go, Bob!”

Now we just need to cover lar… Something's not right! I'm losing connection with Bob. It's getting harder and harder to get a feel from him. I can't even make him turn back now.

“I'm coming, Bob! Don't you dare to die on me! I spent too much to make you!”

I rushed in the general direction Bob went. As I grew closer, just like if you slept on your arm for too long, the feeling I was getting from Bob slowly came back. Finally, I was close enough and my control returned.

I still had a lingering feeling of tiredness. After checking, I noticed that my energy had dropped down to 50/500. After experimenting a few times, it seems like I need to spend energy depending on how far Bob is from me. The further he is, the faster my energy drops. While I'm too scared to test it now, I presume that losing all my energy would break my link to Bob. Whether he becomes a new cell on his own or just goes on standby mode, will have to be tested later when I have the resources for it.

Still, while he remains close, the drain is negligible and can be covered by the basic energy regeneration. By close, I mean 3 cell length close. Out here, not much else to compare distance with.

With this out of the way, we can go back to farming creeps.

-10 days later-

Um… I found a bug? A big one at that. I have biomass for the division, but the button just doesn't work. Am I missing something? What do I nee… Wait, do I need max energy for this? I'm currently still missing 2 mitochondria v2.0 (800/920), to bring me up to 1000. Let's try it out.

Ah yes, after crafting them and using cell division, the familiar feeling of becoming brain dead, is back.

“Bob 1,2,3 report for orders!”

This won't work. If I need 10 days to divide, by the time our count has grown enough, I'll become crazy. That's 2x2x2x2…. A lot of times. Each taking 10 days… We are talking about years here!

Solutions, solutions… Kevin, I need solutions! What do you mean - “Ask Susan”? She'll think I'm incompetent if I can't even solve such a simple problem. Alright, stop nagging, I'll ask her.

“Finding solutions in places yet explored.” - What does that even mean? It didn't help at all! What am I missing?

Oh!

I guess I can try that. Still, we need resources for that.

“Team Bob, move out!