NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2: Cell Life, Hell Life.
Chapter 2: Cell Life, Hell Life.
*Celia’s POV*
Haha… ha… is it because I have “Cel” in my name? Is that it? Huh!? This is just like those reincarnation novels that I read in my youth… Well, I actually still read them, or at least, I did… But, why, of all things, do I reincarnate as a fucking cell!?
At least erase my memories… Wait… I don’t even have a brain at the moment… Why do I remember my name, and everything else? If Goddesses and demons exist, does that mean that souls exist as well? And they carry your memories?
Hell no! I mean, they might carry over your memories, but that would be a nightmare. Look, yada yada, you would so LOVE to be immortal. But, in reality, that shit would fucking suck! What would suck more, is living multiple different lives and keeping the memories of each life.
Assuming that the afterlife exists, and so does souls, and that your memories get wiped, did I somehow just skip right over that process? Just to be a fucking cell…
Look, I love Sp*re just as much as everyone else, but this shit is a brand new nightmare for me. I am even worse than the starting cell of that game…
I have no mouth, or ways to move at all… I am literally just floating around in the soup of life. How I can even see, I have no idea. What sins did I commit to have to live out this hell?…
*Hours of Floating Later.*
Annoyingly, most of the other cells avoid me like the plague. So I haven’t had anything to eat at all. Do cells even need to eat? Yeah, yeah, I was a college teacher. But I will have you know, I was an ENGLISH teacher.
I flunked out of pretty much every other subject… So, I really don’t know much about how a cell’s life goes. My only information was from an old game that most people probably don’t even remember anymore…
While I was lost in thought, which was weird, since I didn’t have a brain, I floated over to a dead cell. I had no mouth, but I was able to absorb it into my body.
Ah, I feel so much better now! I guess cells really do have to eat. But that doesn’t really solve my problem. If I only rely on randomly floating to dead shit, I will end up just like said dead shit…
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*Ding!*
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Huh!? The hell do you mean “Ding!”? Ah… it was in my head as well. Was this a so called System from those novels? I sure hope so, otherwise, I am pretty much fucked… The next second, even though I couldn’t normally see, a holographic screen popped up in front of me.
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System: “User, Celia, has killed her first enemy! She has gained one level from the EXP of this kill!” A robotic feminine voice exclaimed.
What? That thing was still alive? Did I just accidentally kill one of my siblings? Oops… Well, whatever. Now, what do I do with this System? Do I really have to say, “Status!” or something? Once I thought that, a new screen appeared.
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:Status:
Name: Celia.
Race: Unknown Cell.
HP: 10/15.
Hunger: 2/10.
Level: 1.
Current EXP: 0/10.
Skills: None.
Self Improvement Points: 1.
Upgrades Available: 5.
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Oh! That’s kinda cool! If I have something like this, surely, I can get out of this stupid situation, right? Anyway, how do I choose an upgrade? Huh… show upgrades?
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Upgrades:
Flagella: 1 SIP Required.
Cilia: 4 SIP’s Required.
Basic Mouth: 2 SIP’s Required.
Strong Mouth: 6 SIP’s Required.
Basic Eyes: 10 SIP’s Required.
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Well… I only have one option with my current SIP points, so I thought about purchasing the Flagella upgrade, and then I blacked out…
When I woke up, there was now a little tail thingy behind me. And I could use it to move around decently well. So, I guess that solves my whole movement problem.
My latest problem is that I have no idea if I can evolve… I mean; surely, I can eventually evolve, right? I won’t be stuck as a cell for the rest of my life, right!?
If I just continue to worry about this, I will just end up either going insane, or being super depressed. From college teacher, to cell, my new life finally starts now…
Still annoyed, I swam over to some other dying cells. I guess that when they fail to get food, they just completely give up. To be fair, I was about to give up as well…
Thinking that my path to getting a better living situation would be easy, I ate, or rather, absorbed all of the dying cells that I could find around me. I didn’t hear a ding at all, even after eating like 15 of them. Uh… Status?
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:Status:
Name: Celia.
Race: Unknown Cell.
HP: 15/15.
Hunger: 10/10.
Level: 1.
Current EXP: 0/10.
Skills: None.
Self Improvement Points: 0.
Upgrades Available: 4.
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My hunger is full now, but I didn’t get any experience from eating all of those cells… Did I just get lucky with the one that I ate, which was still in the process of dying?
Does that mean that I HAVE to kill the ones that are still actually alive? But that one I first came across, it was incredibly lucky for me that it was still alive. What the hell do I even do now?…
*Some Time Later.*
Ah, yes, a brand new, and huge problem. Just what I wished for! Currently, there is a huge cell thing near me. It hasn’t noticed me yet, but is feasting upon other cells like candy. I wish that I could see what these things even are, and how strong they are…
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*Ding!*
System: “User, Celia, gained the Inspect Skill! To use, just say, “Inspect.” When looking at a being or object.” She said with the same robotic voice.
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Okay… cool! Thinking about using this to my advantage, I look at the big cell, and think, “Inspect.” In my head.
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:Status:
Name: None.
Race: Random Cell.
Level: 10.
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Huh!? Is that ALL the information that it’s going to give me? That really isn’t much to go on… At least I know that it is a far higher level than me.
Will the inspect skill always suck? If so, what was the point of even getting it? Thinking this, I checked my Status once more.
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:Status:
Name: Celia.
Race: Unknown Cell.
HP: 15/15.
Hunger: 10/10
Level: 1.
Current EXP: 0/10.
Skills: Inspect: Level: 1.
Self Improvement Points: 0.
Upgrades Available: 4.
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Ah, so it is only level one, got it. Like a game, I guess that it will only get better as time goes by, and as I use it more and more.
That big cell is really a messy eater… Well, I guess that it does make sense that it works on instinct, rather than thoughts. Why did I bring that up?
That is because, this idiot! He, or rather, it, leaves half dead cells in its wake! Hell yeah! Free food! Even better than free food, free experience!
Now I just have to wait until that big one leaves, and hope that the ones that he half finished, stay alive long enough…
*More Waiting Later.*
If you haven’t realized, telling time in this situation, is damn near impossible, and I have completely given up on being accurate with telling time. Regardless, it took, maybe, forty minutes of waiting, for that big one to leave.
Slowly swimming up to the half dead cells, I start a feast. It took me around ten or so minutes, to finish eating them all! Now, I did hear a “Ding!” but, I don’t have the time to check my Status at the moment.
Why? Well, you see, with how my vision works right now, I can only really see a few feet… huh, maybe actually, micrometers, ahead of me. And why does that matter? The big cell is right in front of me once more. And it looks like it wants to eat the recently fattened up me, on a silver platter…