Chapter 4

HP -1

I had always been cool under pressure. When I had no time left, that was usually when I did my best thinking. It was what allowed me to turn definite losses into wins countless times in my past. I had managed to ace essays with only a few minutes left and diffuse volatile situations in order to keep my skin. The reason I could survive the streets and maneuver the land mine of dating multiple girls all had to do with that quick thinking of mine.

That's why I did the only thing I could. I activated Osmosis and began to bring water in. Unfortunately, the very act drew the chemicals in as well.

HP -1

If I was diffusing a bomb, this would have been the scene where I had sweat running down my face with seconds to spare, where I had to cut the right colored wire. My stamina was about to wink out, and another bad chemical was on its way to destroy me. I dropped my Encapsulation, and, with all the force I had, I expelled my water contents. To add in water movement, I expelled all the chemicals I had been storing as well. Most of them couldn't be used for Chemosynthesis, but something had told me that it might be good to hold onto them anyway, so I'd kept them. However, now wasn't a time to hesitate, and I knew the less matter I had inside my cellular body, the more water I could force out of it.

At that moment, I moved away in an explosive burst. I left behind the danger molecules. I could sense the chemicals I craved with Chemotaxis, but I seemed to hit some kind of wall. Like that, the world around me went dark.

"You're a stupid bitch!"

Slap!

"Don't dare hit me! How dare you hit me again!"

Mom and the asshole were at it again. They were always yelling and screaming at each other. They were in the kitchen arguing. I heard something shatter with a resounding crash. The little girl in front of me winced, covering her ears and eyes like she could make the unpleasant noises go away. I knelt in front of her quietly.

"Psst …" I whispered. "Hey, psst!"

The little girl shook slightly, but she didn't look up.

"Hey, dingus. I brought you a cookie."

The cowlick in her hair seemed to move on its own, twitching slightly. I smiled, leaning closer to her.

"It's chocolate chip. Your favorite," I hissed, waving the cookie in front of her as if it contained a scent that would waft to her nose.

It was a store-bought cookie, and an old expired one at that, but it was the only sweet I had managed to find in weeks. It wasn't that our household never bought sweets, but that my stepdad monopolized them all and would quickly anger if anyone touched his stash. I was planning on enjoying it after we ate dinner, but before Mom finished cooking, my stepdad arrived home drunk and started accusing her of cheating on him.

I didn't know if Mom was cheating. I kind of hoped she was. Maybe she'd finally date someone who wasn't a piece of shit and would beat up my stepdad. It was probably far too much to hope for though. If I ever got the opportunity to have the love of a pretty girl, I'd never hurt her. I'd make her smile every day.

I blinked, realizing that my sister had lifted her head, revealing one eye and staring longingly at the cookie. She still hadn't made a move to uncurl herself from her hidden position though. Pretending I didn't notice her watching me, I slowly began to take off the cookie wrapper. Her eye seemed to glow in the darkness as she watched it unblinkingly.

I started to hold it out her direction. "You wa—"

She lunged and grabbed the cookie, yanking it from my hand and stuffing it in her mouth. I remembered one friend I used to hang with who had a gerbil that used to stuff its mouth like that. I used to hand him peanut after peanut to laugh at his stuffed cheeks. I wasn't allowed over at his place anymore because I was a bad influence, and that friend eventually stopped talking to me completely. He ended up dying from overeating, and then his mom blamed me. 

It went to show you that everything in this world was temporary, even relationships. No, that wasn't entirely true. I reached out and touched my sister's head. She jerked back at first, even when she still had the cookie jutting out of her mouth. I moved slowly and she let me touch her head again. This was my sister. If everything else changed, she would still be my sister. That's why I had to watch out for her.

The memory slowly dissipated like a bubble. I was floating once again in the infinite abyss. Carefully, I used Chemotaxis and Osmosis, bringing material into my body. Once I initiated Chemosynthesis, my mind started to work again and I was able to think clearly. That's how I realized that something had changed. Specifically, I had leveled again.

Congratulations! You have reached level 7.

You have unlocked the skill Photosynthesis.

If all of my previous skills had only given me vague impressions, then this one shocked me into lucidity. Photosynthesis was something that separated the autotrophic kingdom. Some creatures were powered by chemical processes, but a select few developed something stronger: the ability to process the sun itself. I immediately brought up my status.

Name: ???

Evolution Level: 7

Species: Autotrophic Prokaryote

HP: 2/7

Stamina: 7/7

Attack: 0

Mana: 0

Defense: 0 (1)

Agility: 0

Skills:

Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion

Defense Skill: Encapsulation

Health Skill: Photosynthesis

Perception Skill: Chemotaxis

Endurance Skill: Chemosynthesis

Storage Skill: Selective Permeability

Support Skill: Osmosis

A health skill? I couldn't help but feel a bit confused by that. I would have expected Photosynthesis to be the next evolution of Chemosynthesis, but it seemed to be yet another skill criterion. On that note, how many criteria was I going to uncover here? Either way, I could see my HP hadn't recovered after the damage earlier. I was still dangerously close to dying. That already gave me a guess of what Photosynthesis would do. I immediately activated the skill. At first, nothing happened, but after an indeterminate amount of time:

+1 HP

I let out a metaphorical breath. Photosynthesis didn't just convert light to energy, it converted light into sugar, and sugar was the backbone of many biological processes. Life, as we knew it, wouldn't exist without that wonderful little molecule. It looked like the act of Photosynthesis was my regeneration. I continued to use it until my HP was maxed. I continued to use it after, but I found no change after a reasonable amount of time passed and decided to put it aside.

Instead, I started contemplating my previous battle. I had nearly died, but I had managed to escape too. Furthermore, when I woke back up after nearly dying, I discovered that my level had increased. This convinced me that using skills did increase my experience. It was a slow process, but the more skills I used, the faster I would level. So far, I had spent most of my time using Chemosynthesis. This produced stamina, which was continually being consumed just to keep me alive.

I could use Encapsulation, but it increased the drain on stamina. After a little bit of practice, I could confidently say that the rate of draining and the rate of Chemosynthesis were about even. That didn't mean I could remain encapsulated forever, because using Encapsulation prevented me from using Selective Permeability. More specifically, whenever Encapsulation was active, I was stuck with whatever molecules I had in my inventory. That inventory, if I had to quantitate, was about ten items. I could keep ten molecules, or at least ten stamina points worth of molecules, in my internalized storage.

It still meant I could level faster if I sucked up ten units of chemical, and then used Encapsulation to drain my stamina, and Chemosynthesis to retain it. As long as I continued this cycle, I'd increase my leveling rate by about tenfold.

More time passed, and I remained encapsulated while repeating this loop over and over again to get more experience. Other than those skills, I found myself getting better at using Chemosynthesis to track down the chemicals and Osmosis to suck them in. With Selective Permeability, I only allowed the chemicals I wanted to enter, and everything else was denied.

Once in a while, I would run across a new sample. When I did that, I would absorb the new chemical and remember it for later. I didn't know what they did, but my mind seemed to hold a mental memory of the signature from every chemical I had ever tasted.

I even discovered there were differences between the molecules I could use for Chemosynthesis. Some digested faster than others. Some left waste products that needed to be evacuated through Osmosis. Some even provided more energy, giving a net of two stamina, despite having the same number of molecules as the others that only gave one.

Congratulations! You have reached level 8.

You have unlocked the skill Cellular Wall.

When I finally earned another level, I immediately checked my status.

Name: ???

Evolution Level: 8

Species: Autotrophic Prokaryote

HP: 8/8

Stamina: 8/8

Attack: 0

Mana: 0

Defense: 1 (3)

Agility: 0

Skills:

Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion

Defense Skills: Encapsulation, Cellular Wall

Endurance Skill: Chemosynthesis

Health Skill: Photosynthesis

Perception Skill: Chemotaxis

Storage Skill: Selective Permeability

Support Skill: Osmosis

I had obtained another defense skill! It was the first time that I had gained something from the same category. I was beginning to think there were a billion categories without rhyme or reason. This was something akin to Encapsulation though. I tried to use Cellular Wall, only to discover it was a passive skill. At least, activating it didn't appear to do anything. I quickly realized that I had already seen the effect of the Cellular Wall.

I now had a passive defense of one. I had no proof of this, but I was pretty certain that every time I leveled, this passive defense would grow. Furthermore, it seemed to be synergistic with Encapsulation. Instead of one, when I used both, I ended up with a three defense. If I was eaten again, I wondered how I'd do against those toxic digestive enzymes.

I wasn't going to look to be eaten though. Rather, my increase in defense gave me the desire to try something else. Among the chemicals I could permeabilize, not all of them were helpful or benign. Certain chemicals caused me harm. When I encountered these, I would activate Photosynthesis and recover the damaged points. I had a feeling that recovering HP netted more experience than stamina. However, since stamina was constantly depleting, it made more sense to concentrate on that.

With more defense, I was more comfortably putting my health to the test. After all, I didn't want another situation where I was almost killed without knowing why. The only way I could obtain that was by getting more powerful and finding new skills. I mean, it was true that I had already accepted death, but for some reason, in my current life, I no longer wanted to die. After my close encounter, I felt my attitude starting to change. If I died, I died … but if had the power to fight, I would keep fighting. That was my decision.

HP -1

I found a chemical that caused me damage when I allowed it to enter my body. As long as I opened up my Selective Permeability to allow it to enter my body, I could cause a little bit of damage. Then, I used Photosynthesis to repair it.

HP +1

I did this while also continuously using and restoring my stamina, and it wasn't long until things paid out.

Congratulations! You have reached level 9.

You have unlocked the skill Cilia.

I had finally gained a movement skill.