Chapter 9

“Oh, you are so funny, Susan. Kevin told me you had excellent humour, bet he didn't really do you justice.

What's that? You have to leave for now? Ah, you had lot of work piled up. Well, if I do say so, I'm kind of hard worker as well.

Why yes, it was a pleasure talking with you. See you soon, I hope?”

Oh pity, I kind of liked her. No, I was not crushing hard on her, Kevin! You saw wrong!  Bah, what do you even know about feelings? That's it, I have work to do, stop distracting me!

Okay, back to business. We now have both, the Advanced cell membrane and Toxin production, up and running. We are ready to leave and it only took us 2 weeks to get here. Thankfully Susan was here to pass time with, else I might have gone mad if I had to spend even more time in this sausage fest. Kevin is a nice guy, but our relationship is only friendly at best.

“Alright, activate FTL capabilities! All hands brace for ludicrous speed!”

So we are officially off! It took few tries at first to get me out of the hole I've dug myself into, but we are currently heading… somewhere in front of us.

I'm kinda expecting some random encounters. They do have those in games. Wonder how many steps I have to take to start one.

Oh, by the way, the first thing I try to craft with the resources was not the advanced cell membrane, but primitive sensory systems again. Maybe they stack and boost the effect - was my thought. Turns out you can't even buy it anymore. The option just stays there to taunt you. They didn't even grey it out or something. At this point, I'm not even mad, just disappointed.

I also started researching extracellular transport system. Mostly because all the other options open, were kinda lame. Not planning on glowing or visiting surface this soon. Could get upgraded spirals, but I want to try out things I don't have yet.

“Display status”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

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-Showing status screen

/Name: ??? -name not selected

/Race: Mutated microorganism

/Title: The little cell that could; Antibiotic

/Age: 11 weeks

/System skills:

Inventory

Crafting

Research & Development

/Current mods:

Mitochondrion

Miniature movement spirals

Basic mutation chamber

Primitive sensory systems

Advanced cell membrane

Basic inner cellular defence

Toxin production

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Hey, not bad for a cripple! Mom must be so proud right now.

Jokes aside, the - I didn't do anything to get this far - part, is mostly true. Seems like all the encounters up until now, I survived based on luck. Well, no more, I say! It’s time to grab destiny by its proverbial balls and get my life back on the track! So, about bloody time, I caught something!

-1 day later-

How is it so empty? I swear they are avoiding me.

-Another fucking day later-

Finally, we have a catch!

“Reel em in, boys! Let's give gunners some work.”

“Take no prisoners!”

“Quick, they are trying to outmanoeuvre us! Deploy the torpedos!”

“We have a confirmed hit! Those poor bastards didn't even know what hit them.”

“All hands, brace for impact!”

“Boarding party, when they go to meet the maker, make sure they remember our smiles as we carve them!”

“Good job, lads. The ship is ours!”

It wasn't really that interesting.

Okay, here we go. I felt something impacting the membrane and slide off. I had few precious seconds of stupefaction, as I realised that the advance cell membrane, was, probably, responsible for it. I quickly tried to move in the general direction that the target escaped while willing the membrane to become more porous (a control granted by upgrading it). It took 10 seconds of intense waiting before I felt the impact again. This time, it didn't bounce off but stuck to me. I could feel the membrane working and pulling parts of the target inside. I felt no struggle, as the other cell, probably, didn't have conscience defending it and was fully automatic.

The parts pulled inside, became a huge protein and lipid bubbles, carrying the good parts inside. My toxic body quickly went to work and degraded the protective shell to a pitiful amino acids soup. While my antibiotic swarm went to work on the core, pulling it apart and integrating its contents into my own structure. It went on and on until I had nothing more left to take and the cell outside was fully assembled into my own being.

I didn't get anything for crafting tho…

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/Enemy absorbed:

-Biomass - x1

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It didn't let me down? What's this? Is it my birthday already?