Chapter 3

Bring in chemicals, process them, lose the waste. I couldn't actually bring in the materials myself; this all occurred naturally. It was more like Selective Permeability allowed me to store them. I simply allowed the right ones in and kept other chemicals from getting in the way. The result was that I could build up extra chemicals rather than use them only when they were immediately available.

I couldn't even tell you what chemicals I was working with. My familiarity with them was like someone's familiarity with air. A baby couldn't tell you what air was, and likewise, I couldn't tell what exactly I was using; I just knew what it was. I was something that produced energy, and that energy kept me going. I had hoped I could stop from time to time, but I found every time I stopped, my energy levels quickly began to drop. If I didn't consistently maintain my meditative state known as Chemosynthesis, I had a feeling that my HP would start to drop and I might die.

Furthermore, because my mind was more awake, the time didn't seem to just fly by like before. A day passed by with me continuously working, and then another. Well, that was subjective. I couldn't see light. I couldn't feel anything. I simply existed. A part of me told myself that, at any given moment, some larger organism could swipe by and eat me. In that respect, I was in danger. Yet, even if there were dangers, I couldn't feel them. Perhaps I was a single cell in a world without cells. I had no clue what a world of cells was even like. The closest I had ever seen one was under a microscope.

Congratulations! You have reached level 3.

You have unlocked the skill Osmosis.

Osmosis, huh?

I knew what that was. It was the ability to move water. Any living being needed osmosis to live. Water tended to move, and that movement could create pressure which could cause a cell to swell or shrivel up. It was the mechanism that allowed plants to stand, kidneys to work, and certain organisms to move. I checked my status right away.

Name: ???

Evolution Level: 3

Species: Autotrophic Prokaryote

HP: 3/3

Stamina: 3/3

Attack: 0

Mana: 0

Defense: 0

Agility: 0

Skills:

Stamina Skill: Chemosynthesis

Storage Skill: Selective Permeability

Support Skill: Osmosis

Hmm? Support?

I would have thought that Osmosis was a movement skill, or maybe a storage skill. I should have guessed that it would be a support skill. What did it even mean to support using Osmosis? Did Osmosis support my ability to use those other skills? I shook my metaphorical head. I was clueless.

Instead of fretting, I decided to practice my new skill. I found I could suck water up into me. It was a strange feeling, sort of like drinking a carbonated beverage. I started to get a bloated feeling, and I knew that it'd be bad if I brought any more water in. More interestingly, I was bringing chemicals in through passive diffusion, and, since I could use Selective Permeability, that meant that I could bring in the chemicals I specifically needed for Chemosynthesis.

Whenever I sucked in water, the flow of water and the diffusive nature of my body allowed me to bring in the chemicals with it. Thus, I would fill myself up to the brim, perform Chemosynthesis, and then expel it once again. When it was expelled, I'd make my body impermeable to the chemicals left behind. In that manner, storing chemicals became much faster, using Osmosis as a drive to increase my chemical production.

Osmosis also had another effect, and it was that I moved. I couldn't feel myself moving, but I understood Newton's laws. Every action had an opposite and equal reaction. Newton's third law. So when I shot water out of me, my little single-celled body was also propelled forward. The only difference for me was my access to chemicals. I was able to find differing amounts of them. When I reached an area that had a lot of chemicals, I absorbed them quickly. If I reached an area with fewer chemicals, my absorption would slow, and I would quickly move on to a new area.

I once again sped up my rate of Chemosynthesis. I felt a surge of energy, and with it, I felt an expansion in my thinking. Regrettably, that extra energy seemed to be getting used by the act of pushing water in and out of my body. Yet it was only another day or two, by whatever worked as my internal clock, before that familiar information flooded its way into my mind once again.

Congratulations! You have reached level 4.

You have unlocked the skill Active Diffusion.

Yes! Finally!

I might have done a little fist bump if I was anything more than a single cell. I had been waiting for Active Diffusion. Active Diffusion meant that I could force chemicals into my body now. Rather than allowing the chemicals to collect passively, I could push them against their concentration gradient. I realized the cost shortly after attempting it a few times. Active Diffusion cost energy. Every time I tried to use it, I felt my stamina drop.

I had more stamina now that I was a level four, but that was still a minuscule amount. I also found that Active Diffusion was labeled as an 'absorption skill'. I didn't know what an absorption skill was, or how many more skill types there were. I could understand stamina, storage, and even support, but now there was absorption as well. Did this hint at other ways I could use the abilities I was unlocking?

More time passed, and I got to experiment with Active Diffusion. I started to find that I could combine it with Selective Permeability to bring in only the stuff I could use with Chemosynthesis. It cost stamina, but, since Chemosynthesis restored stamina, I was able to break even, while still processing about ten times the amount of material I could before.

It was tricky at first and it all took a lot of practice. The big thing was that I didn't know what anything looked like. I could select for size, and I slowly experimented with shrinking my pores until the chemical substances I needed were no longer absorbed. I then tried to come up with others to select specifically for the chemicals I wanted. I couldn't even guess how much time passed as I played around with these things. Although my thoughts worked more smoothly now, it was still difficult to denote time without any of my senses. I did know it wasn't long after increasing my Chemosynthesis rate before I leveled once again.

Congratulations! You have reached level 5.

You have unlocked the skill Chemotaxis.

My mind overflew with new information. It wasn't like I suddenly gained the ability to see or hear, but I instinctively became more aware of the external environment I was in. My body had previously been introverted, and I could only guess what was happening externally based on my internal sensations. Now, I had an awareness of the outside world. I could vaguely recognize that I was suspended in some kind of matrix filled to the brim with a variety of different chemicals.

Where before I could only absorb the chemicals and see if they were present or not, I could suddenly recognize and differentiate between them, even a short distance away from my membrane. I could also compare the density and get an idea of where there might be more substance, thought I still couldn't perform a controlled movement. I tried using Osmosis a few times to go to highly concentrated areas, and, more often than not, my movements overshot or even went in the wrong direction.

I checked my status once again, not able to help myself.

Name: ???

Evolution Level: 5

Species: Autotrophic Prokaryote

HP: 5/5

Stamina: 5/5

Attack: 0

Mana: 0

Defense: 0

Agility: 0

Skills:

Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion

Perception Skill: Chemotaxis

Stamina Skill: Chemosynthesis

Storage Skill: Selective Permeability

Support Skill: Osmosis

I had five skills now, and every skill was in a different category. I again wondered how many skill categories there were. I imagined I was going to encounter a lot. After all, I hadn't even unlocked attack, mana, or defense yet, let alone agility. I was still just a sitting duck, but using Chemotaxis did provide me with some comfort. Knowing the outside world was calm was reassuring.

I continued day after day, using up and then replenishing my stamina. This seemed to be the only means I had to level up. Instead, my only option was to continue to break down chemicals. It was a long process, and I was vaguely aware that, had I been in my old life, I might have gone mad from the isolation of it all. To have all of my senses all but rubbed out, and then have to repeat a monotonous task over and over again, it had the makings of driving a man mad.

Yet I found my mental health to be fine. Time passed by, and I felt no particular worries. If I was a single-celled organism, I shouldn't even be having these complex thoughts in the first place, so why would I go about having an identity crisis now? It had to be whatever allowed me to retain my memory and also allowed me to endure this environment. Of course, there was also the possibility that all cells had complex thoughts, or that everyone who died was reincarnated as a single cell.

I didn't know the answer to those questions, but if I met another cell in this seemingly infinite matrix of goop I was floating through, I would ask him.

Congratulations! You have reached level 6.

You have unlocked the skill Encapsulation.

At first, I didn't quite understand what this meant. It wasn't until I brought up my status that I noticed the first major change.

Name: ???

Evolution Level: 6

Species: Autotrophic Prokaryote

HP: 6/6

Stamina: 6/6

Attack: 0

Mana: 0

Defense: 0 (1)

Agility: 0

Skills:

Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion

Defense Skill: Encapsulation

Perception Skill: Chemotaxis

Stamina Skill: Chemosynthesis

Storage Skill: Selective Permeability

Support Skill: Osmosis

It appeared to be a defense skill, but perhaps more importantly, my defense stat had gained a (1). It was still zero, but since I had a defense skill, one must mean I'd have that much defense if I used Encapsulation. I could already guess that the skill Encapsulation built a protective coating around my body, like a biological force shield, otherwise known as a capsule. I just had to wonder what I was supposed to be defending myself against.

As if the universe heard my question and wanted to give me a passive-aggressive response, my Chemotaxis immediately detected a disturbance. The chemicals around my immediate area were suddenly greatly disturbed and displaced. I felt a strangely ominous feeling. In a panic, I initiated Encapsulation. I felt a thickening around my body. My Selective Permeability couldn't work in this state, but in exchange, I now had a defense of one.

At that moment, I felt myself being whirled up in a whirlwind. When the disturbance ended, I could no longer detect any chemicals nearby. Instead, I was surrounded by a completely new host of chemicals I had never felt before. They gave me a strange, dangerous feeling, and as soon as they touched my hardened casing, my entire body shivered.

HP -1

I had never seen a more horrifying thing in my life. -1 HP might have been laughable in a video game, but this was real life for me, and I only had 6 HP to begin with. If I lost five more, I would be dead. I'd hate to imagine what would be happening to my cellular body if I didn't have any defense. A single strike might have already killed me. That chemical was everywhere too, and it wasn't long before another touched my capsule.

HP -1

That wasn't my only problem. Encapsulation also appeared to have a heavy stamina cost. If I could do Chemosynthesis, I could restore stamina, but there were no nearby chemicals to absorb. I could already guess what happened. I had been eaten by a bigger cell, and now it was trying to digest me. Either my stamina would run out and the next hit would kill me, or I'd be struck four more times and die anyway. It was a race to see what would kill me first!