Chapter 19

The other me that I summoned didn't do much. I moved left, and it moved left. I moved right, and it moved right. I attacked and destroyed it, and…

HP -100,000

Shit! I nearly had a panic attack. Checking my status though, I realized that this took away roughly half of my HP.

Name: ???

Evolutionary Form: 6

Evolution Level: 1

Species: Coenobium

HP: 99900/199900

Stamina: 199900/199900

Attack: 199902

Mana: 0

Defense: 199903 (299,855)

Agility: 199902

Skills:

Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion, Endocytosis, Phagocytosis, Pinocytosis,

Attack Skill: Phage Tail, Pilli, Water Jet, Spores

Body Modification Skill: Cellular Growth, Shape Modification, Specialization

Buff Skill: Toxins

Crafting Skill: Adhesion, Cohesion, Glycosylation, Lysis, Transcription

Defense Skill: Encapsulation, Cellular Wall

Endurance Skill: Aerobic Respiration, Chemosynthesis, Fermentation, Glycolysis

Experience Skill: Conjugation

Health Skill: Binary Fission, Homeostasis, Mitosis, Photosynthesis, Regeneration

Knowledge Skill: Nuclear Envelope, Replication

Language Skill: Translation

Movement Skill: Cilia, Flagellum, Pseudopod

Perception Skill: Chemiluminescence, Chemotaxis, Photo Sense, Thermoception

Storage Skill: Endocytosis, Exocytosis, Selective Permeability, Vacuole

Stealth Skill: L Form Switching

Support Skill: Acidify, Mutation

I still wasn't used to my new evolutionary form. The amount of health I lost right now would have completely killed me a level prior. That's when I realized that perhaps the damage I caused wasn't an accident. In the past, Binary Fission created two independent-thinking versions of itself. It was akin to reproduction. However, mitosis didn't necessarily have a reproductive role. It could also relate to the growth of new cells within a multicellular system.

What was I called? A Coenobium? That must be something in between a multicellular organism and a single-celled organism. Perhaps, there were single cells, but they also worked together as a multicellular unit. I had already encountered some of these. The volvox, for example, was a type of protist that consisted of colonies of protists. Every protist was its cell, but they all worked together to create a discernable habitat. Many mold and algae had multicellular associations from a single cell.

I hunted and regrew my body and went through Mitosis once again. This time, I wasn't so quick to destroy myself. This cell consisted of half of my life force. That meant that the two of us together was considered a single lifeform. As for the differences in HP, that could be the damage of severing the tie between us or perhaps he simply had the lion's share of our organelles. Either way, the second me had no mind of its own. It followed me.

I attempted to attack some multicellular organisms, and I was delighted to see that my alternative cell did what I did. Rather than having many versions of me each functioning with their wants and desires, this was more like a pet or something. Unfortunately, I couldn't send it instructions. My only choice was to do stuff and allow it to be copied. It still made things a bit easier, and with my HP now in the hundred thousand range, I didn't feel any pressure from my enemies.

I returned to killing multicellular organisms. Once I cleaned up an area, I moved on to the next area. At this point, prokaryotes weren't even on my radar. I barely even noticed them as I went about my day-to-day actions. For all I knew, some of them could have once been one of my clones, but they didn't evolve as quickly as I did. I had already left them in the dust, and I didn't plan to stop advancing. My focus was entirely on larger organisms.

I had to be selective too. Other coenobiums like me were a waste. Since they individually celled at very difficult to destroy them in their entirety. I didn't get as much experience in partially disrupting a biome as I did in killing an organism. My attacks might destroy a few dozen cells, but they were only cells worth a handful of experience. Meanwhile, one-shotting an organism like a tardigrade, where the death of the organism meant the combined death of all of the cells, was a far better experience. After a short while, I reach my next level.

Congratulations! You have reached level 2.

You have unlocked the skill, Autobiokinesis.

It turned out I had spoken too soon. As soon as I needed something, the evolution system was there with a response. I had started to identify the system here as the evolution system since it seemed to be geared around states of evolution. I was slowly evolving into something else, although I had no clue what that thing would be. Strictly speaking, with the skills I possessed which fit both heterotrophs and autotrophs, animals, and plants, I had no clue what I could be classified as. I was a little bit of everything, a biological conundrum.

Autobiokinesis is a control skill that can be broken up into three parts. Auto- meaning self, such as autotroph is providing energy for self, and an automobile is self-moving, ie a car. Bio- meant life, and the word kinesis was movement. So, the word all together meant self-moving life. I was confused for a moment, but then I started to get a hunch. I reached out through the other me, commanding it to move to the right. The other clone did. I continued with a list of various demands, and the clone of me acted accordingly.

Since I leveled, I decided to try Mitosis again. Just like Binary Fission, I could split myself one more time, and create four versions of myself. Well, it was more like one me and three slaves. Which was the master, and which was the slave? As soon as I thought of myself in one of the other me bodies, my senses shifted to that body. I wouldn't have even been able to tell if my senses weren't wide enough that I could detect some distant eukaryotes. My relationship with them had shifted just then.

After some more experimentation, I realized that all four of me were me. They were worth a bit less HP now. Each cell only accounted for about 75,000 HP of the 300,000 HP I currently possessed. However, one mind controlled all of them, or rather I could control one cell while using Autobiokinesis to send the appropriate orders to the other three cells.

I could only order the cells within my sense range. If the cell left the range of my senses, it immediately fell into dormancy and activated Encapsulation. It made sense, this was the lowest energy and highest defense state, so a cell could probably last in that mode for weeks. Once I was in range again, it would reactivate. I couldn't make another cell beyond my limit, even if I lost a cell.

When I gave a cell an order, it would carry it out within my sense range. Once it was done, it'd fall back into standby mode, which was to say it would float behind me within a formation I gave it. I only had four cells, but I tried playing a bit with their formations, and I found I could get them to follow in a V pattern a square, or even a straight line if I wanted to. All of this fell within the ability of Autobiokinesis.

With my new group of four, I began hunting again. Although I had so much HP, I was still a bit hesitant to attack larger multicellular organisms. Some of them were so large that I could only see parts of their bodies swim by. They moved too quickly to lock down, and I saw little hope in being able to defeat any of them. I considered trying to get on one and parasitize it, but it was hard to decide. If I picked the wrong enemy, it could spell instant death for me.

"Cold…" I shivered internally.

This was another issue I discovered. The deeper I went to find larger multicellular organisms, the colder everything became. My body grew sluggish in the cold. It wasn't like I was dying, but more like I was trying to move through molasses. At some point past the light zone, the water became cold enough that it affected my means of moving deeper. I continued to hunt, hoping that a solution would soon present itself. That's when I finally leveled again.

Congratulations! You have reached level 3.

You have unlocked the skill, Autophagy.

It wasn't what I hoped it would be. Instead, it was a health skill. However, I was confused. Thus, I triggered Autophagy. That's when I saw one of my cells suddenly get jumped on by the other cells. I cringed as the two cells tore the third apart, but then I saw a sign in my eyes.

HP +50,000

I glanced at the status, and my HP didn't advance over my total. However, I had been able to lose a cell without hurting myself. Since auto meant self, the phage part of that word meant to eat, or self-eating. I could eat one of my cells to regain HP in the other cells. It was a way of sacrificing a part of myself to heal the whole. It wasn't the ability I was hoping for, but it was an ability I didn't know I needed until I saw it.

With autophagy, I could add or remove cells at will, and I could even use some of them like health potions. It was really useful, a trump card that might save me in the right circumstances. Feeling pleased with my new ability, I divided with Mitosis once again, creating seven clones. With more of me, I was more confident. Although I couldn't go into the cold zones, I began to hunt everything within the warm zones I could find.