《Small Cell in a Huge Ecosystem》 Prologue - Death Stupid, stupid, stupid. I''m the smartest for my class, and am already as smart and athletic as someone who is thirteen. Whydid I just do the most stupidest action imaginable? Trying to impress her, I tried jumping across a six foot wide river. Heh heh, still, I must have looked cool looking at her straight in the eyes and saying "I''ll be fine, Jessica." Ok, I screeched for help while flailing my arms like a chicken, but still, I must have looked like a real cool guy. *cough* *cough* Despite my nonchalant attitude I am scared... I''m being thrown under the water, and the river shows no signs of stopping... Please... someone help. This isn''t funny anymore. Dad, please help me, I''m sorry for using your razor to shave the cat. Mom, please help me, I''m sorry for saying you look like the post-shaved cat. Jessica, please help me, I''m sorry for trying to look like such a cool guy. Someone... Please... Hel...p "Poor child, so young." As my consciousness returns itself to my body, I rejoice in the fact that I am alive. Rivers? HAH! Like some silly little water can hold me back! After my parents rescued me, they must have put me in this room. This room looks so bad, no decorations, no furniture, only white floors, ceilings, and walls. Anyway, there is a man in this room. From my expert deductive reasoning, I conclude that this man is... the doctor! On another note, the doctor sure is... bright... Oh, I don''t mean that in a intelligent kind of way, he is literally exuding light, sort of like how I would picture God to look. I sure hope what I just said isn''t blasphemy. "Hello, my son. You are dead." ... This doctor sure has a twisted sense of humor. "This place is neither Hell nor heaven. This is where you will find out what you will be reincarnated as. Now, I know this news may be tough to deal with for you but..." "Why..." "I''m sorry?" "WHY ME???" I burst into tears, abandoning my tough facade. After several minutes of crying, letting out all my feelings, God pats me on the back. "I understand how this may be hard for you, but you will have a chance at another life." Quickly wiping away my tears, I say "Will I get to see my mom and dad again?" "Possibly. But you will not be the same as you were before. Although you will be born into the same universe, you won''t necessarily be on the same planet. However, you may be able to be born as a creature that will be able to survive in space."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Wait... does that mean? As if he read my mind, "Yes you will be given your memories as when you were born on Larth." "Do I still get to keep my magical powers?" "No, but... your magical powers were never going to grow into something special. Sorry." Oh. I guess I forgot to mention this, but my parents and another 1% of the population were able to control mana, and I was praised as an arcanic prodigy that would become one of the strongest in the world. Although it''s sad that I died, at least I was able to be remembered as a prodigy rather than an absolute failure. "Back to business, you will be reborn as a random creature, ranging from a cell to an almighty dragon! This die here will determine your fate. The numbers range from one to one trillion, and the higher a number you roll, the more powerful you will be!" "I''m sorry, I still have a few questions." "Shoot." "Why am I being reborn? My parents taught me that good people go to heaven and bad people go to Hell. Were they wrong? Also, who are you? Finally, there were no people on Larth that said they had previous memories. Why then, am I keeping my memories?" "Good questions. First off, if a human has not reached the age of twenty-five by the time they die, they are reborn. The reason being? At age twenty-five, a human''s brain is fully developed and you are able to think on your own. As for your next question, yes, I am what your humans call God, but I have many different names. Finally, you are keeping your previous memories because of something amazing I saw in you that day. Willpower. Although you were unconscious, you ended up surviving for two hours despite being submurged underwater. This wasn''t because of magical use, but rather from your power to want to survive. Now that all your questions are answered, please roll the die." With a relieved expression apparent on my face, a magical die that looks like a circle, but I know is a... uh... trillahedron(?) appears in front of me. I grab the... trilliondecahedrond... trilohedronoid... Scratch that. I grab the die, and inhale as I roll it onto the ground. God picks it up and scrutinizes it carefully, and looks at me with a pained expression. "I''m truly sorry. This rarely ever happens." "Wh-what do you mean? Please don''t say I got something less than, like, 1000?" "Yes... you did get a number less than that." "But not less than 100, right?" He shook his head. "Less than 50?" He nodded. "Less than 10?" "...Please don''t say what I think you are going to say." "I''m sorry. You got a one." This is awesome! I''m so happy! I love this day! First, I embarass myself in front of the girl I like, then I die, then I get to reborn as a freaking cicada or something! "Not a cicada but... a prokaryotic cell. You will be reincarnated as bacteria." "A pro-carryotic-cell? Back-tear-ia? Is that some sort of fish?" "No. You will be the smallest organism alive. You have no arms, no eyes, no feet, no hands." Perfect. This day keeps getting better and better. "Ok, ok, I understand how unfair to you this is..." YOU THINK??? "But I will give you some special benefits. First, I will give you the System, which is a holographic display that will be shown in front of you, even if you cannot see anything. From there, you can see your stats, such as agility, strength, mana, etc." "That would be super helpful if I was something other than a stupid cell." "I don''t have to do this for you." "Wait no, I want the benefits." "Secondly, I will have you be born on your home planet." That''s kind of useless... I mean, if I''m the smallest living thing... "Finally, I will give you the ability to grow. Basically- I am giving you unlimited potential. If you even try hard enough, you can evolve into other organisms." "WHAT? Is that fair???" "Not at all. I''m only doing this for you because you are unique. You have a stat that no one else in the universe has. The stat that is called willpower. Good luck, my child. It will be hard, but I know you can do it." And with that, my vision went black. Chapter 1 - The System
Initializing System... Done!
Welcome N/A to Larth! Your race is: Bacteria
Good luck!
Eh¡­ My head hurts¡­ Wait¡­ WHERE IS MY HEAD? Where are my hands?? Who am I?? Alright¡­ I¡¯m starting to remember now¡­ Oh right, that stupid die decided to be prejudiced against me because of my superiority and rolled itself on a one. But what¡¯s done is done. I won¡¯t hold all dice responsible for the actions of one bad die. I¡¯m forgiving like that. So¡­ Judging from the blue boxes which I assume to be the System, I am a bacteria, and my name is N/A? How rude. My real name is¡­ uh¡­ Hold on¡­
Would you like to change your name from N/A to Holden? WARNING: This change is permanent until bestowed a name from someone other than yourself.
Yes No
Oh yes, definitely. I would just love to have my name be something stupid and nonsensical. Good job system.
Congratulations! Your new name is nowHolden!
After several minutes of bashing my nonexistent head against the nonexistent wall, I decided to move on. I mean, what is a name, really? I¡¯m still the same guy. A bacteriaby any other name would still suck. Well, at least now I know that the system doesn¡¯t understand sarcasm. Enough joking around, I think God said I can use this system to check my... Stats! ...Nothing appeared. How about... Status!
Status
Name:Holden STR 1.5
Age:10 minutes AGI 2.2
Race:Bacteria INT 72.0
Planet:Larth Luck -100.0
Sex:N/A END 4.4
Affliction:N/A Magic Resist 4.4
EXP:0/1 Level:1
Mana Regen: .1/hr Mana:1/1
HP Regen: 0/hr HP:5/5
WP Regen:2/hr Willpower:54/100
Abilities:Sentience (Lv: 1)
Titles:The "Prodigy"
Ha. That¡¯s funny. REAL FUNNY! I get a -100 in Luck?? Fitting though. Also, what is this title? You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.I sort of clicked on it? I mean, I know I didn¡¯t really click on it, but I sort of clicked on it in my mind.
The "Prodigy"
Being praised as someone who will achieve great things from a very early age, this being has a very high ego, high levels of sarcasm, and a superiority complex.
... Moving on. I mentally click (from now on, I''ll just say ''click'' because I don''t want to have to justify my actions every time I select something from stats) on ''Willpower''.
Willpower
A unique stat for someone who refuses to give up, even in the most dire of situations. When this being''s HP is at 0, it will survive at the cost of 5 Willpower per second. Unable to regenerate willpower in combat. Max Willpower is 100.
This??? This is what had God give me infinite potential? This useless stat? Oh cool, I get to survive, at MOST 20 more seconds. Not only that, but my WP regen is only 2 WP an hour? Why even add in that I am unable to regenerate willpower in combat if the willpower I regen out of combat is almost negligible?
Due to the statWillpowergetting on your nerves, you now, quite literally, have gained nerves!You have gained the abilityNervous System!
Although the way I got it was pretty stupid, at least having nerves is pretty useful. I guess this means I have to experience pain again? Ugh... But at least I can experiencemy mom''s hugs... If I ever see her again... ...Ok, I am getting nowhere just feeling pity for myself. If I ever want to findJessica and my family again, I need to stop doing stupid things, evolve into something other than a bacteria, and gain abilities. Time to start moving. Hold up, now that I have received a nervous system, does that mean I can move on my own now, instead of me just following the gradient? Well, apparently I am a special kind of bacteria, since I flex my arm, and it moves! Maybe I can use this arm to help propel me in substitution for legs! And God said that bacteria don''t have arms, HA! He clearly hasn''t met THIS bacteria! By the way, what even IS a bacteria? I click on the ''Bacteria'' panel.
Bacteria:The most pitiful of organisms. They do not have any arms, legs, eyes, or anything. They are the smallest living creature. They do, however, have a structure called a flagellum that is used to propel themselves.
Oh... A flagellum... I guess I''m not a special type of bacteria... I''m just a plain, regular bacteria... ... ... Oh, no wonder no one is trying to cheer me up and tell me I''m special. I''m not even visible. Not only that, but there is no one around me. Not only that, but even if there were people around me, I don''t have a mouth to complain. This life of solitude is going to take some time getting used to...
15 Minutes have now passed. Your grace period is now over. You will be subject to taking damage now.
...Wait what?
You are nowBurning. You will lose 3 HP every second.
WAIT WHAT???? Chapter 2 - Archaea
You are now Burning. You will lose 3 HP every second.
WAIT WHAT??? OWWW!! My insides feel like they are being ripped apart!! Why did I have to gain the ability Nervous System? This is seriously painful! I am losing three health every second? But¡­ I only have a maximum of five health! There is no way I can survive this!
You have reached 0 HP. You will now survive off Willpower.
OH! I forgot about Willpower! Maybe I read Willpower incorrectly, and I can survive for a lot longer! Status! Quick!
Status
Name: Holden STR 1.5
Age: 10 minutes AGI 2.2
Race: Bacteria INT 72.0
Planet: Larth Luck -100.0
Sex: N/A END 4.4
Affliction: Burning Magic Resist 4.4
EXP: 0/1 Level: 1
Mana Regen: .1/hr Mana: 1/1
HP Regen: 0/hr HP: 0/5
WP Regen: 2/hr Willpower: 49/100
Abilities: Sentience (LV 1), Nervous System,
Titles: The "Prodigy"
No... I read it correctly. My WP is dropping so fast I will probably die in a few seconds.
You have gained the ability Fire Resistance (LV 1)
Not like that matters. I''m still dying. Well, who cares. I was reborn as a stupid organism. Maybe God will let me reincarnate as something useful this time. And hopefully I won''t be born into fire.
Fire Resistance (LV 1) -> Fire Resistance (LV 2)
Time to brace myself for death... Goodbye world... ... ... ... AS IF!!! I WILL NOT DIE HERE! If I die here, I let the die win (heh)! Who cares if I am just a stupid bacteria! I have an identity! And that identity is someone who would never lose to some stupid burning status!
Due to your intense determination to not die, yourWillpowerwill regen at a rate of5 WP per second.
For the next few hours, I was in a state of utter pain and strife. Every second I felt like termites were chewing my organs, and what little vison I had was clouded by a dark shade of red. I felt my body writhe and convulse in agony. My only thing that kept me afloat was my mantra - "I will not die. I will not die." I repeated that for the next few hours, and the pain became less and less until it, all of a sudden, just disappeared. *pant* *pant* *pant* If I had lungs, I''m pretty sure they would be raisins by now... Despite the redness in my vision the past few hours, I occasionally saw some blue boxes appear, but I just ignored them. Now that the pain is gone, I can finally check what they had to say.
Fire Resistance (LV 2) -> Fire Resistance (LV 3)
Fire Resistance (LV 3)->Fire Resistance (LV 4)
Fire Resistance (LV 4)->Fire Resistance (LV 5)
Fire Resistance (LV 5)->Fire Resistance (LV 6)
Fire Resistance (LV 6)->Fire Resistance (LV 7)
Fire Resistance (LV 7)->Fire Resistance (LV 8)
Fire Resistance (LV 8)->Fire Resistance (LV 9)
Fire Resistance (LV 9)->Fire Resistance (LV 10)
Fire Resistance (LV 10)->Fire Immunity (LV 1)
Congratulations!
Due to your ability,Fire Immunity (LV 1), you are now able to evolve into a different type of bacteria - an Archaea! Do you accept?
Yes No
My first evolution came so soon? Well, it isn''t that big of a jump from a regular bacteria, but still, I will definitely take it!A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. YES!
Congratulations!
You are now anArchaea, a thermophilic type of bacteria who lives in places like extremely acidic hot springs, volcanic cracks, and other extreme places! Your ideal temperature is 250 degreesFahrenheit, or 121 degrees Celcius! Archaea grow by absorbing certain types of chemicals!
Your MP and HP have been restored.
You have gained the titleThermophile
You have gained the titleThe One Who Refuses to Die
Well, not too amazing of an evolution, but all I had to do to get it was go through several hours of extremely painful torture, leaving me with a scar that will remain with me for the rest of eternity. So yeah, pretty fair trade. Anyway, I¡¯m pretty sure I know what Thermophile does, but what does this new title, The One Who Refuses to Die, do?
The One Who Refuses to Die
This organism has an extremely strong will to live, and therefore, their WP regen is doubled. Current WP regen increase: 2 WP/hr->4 WP/hr
That¡¯s pretty dang useful! Although now it is only an extra two Willpower per hour, if I ever manage to raise my WP Regen, it will be extremely helpful. Now that I have the issue of my environment out of the way, I think it is high time I start to gain experience to try to level up. So with my flagelly, I try to wave it around to push myself around. Surprisingly, it actually works. I guess all that flailing around when I was dying in the river actually became useful! Every now and then, I get a notification telling me that my agility has increased, and I am assuming it is around 2.5 now. Not too big of an increase, but hey, I''ll take it. Suddenly... I sense something huge. I shift my body in the direction of it. It''s hard to explain this, but I sort of try to concentrate really hard, and two blue boxes popped up.
You have gained the abilityIdentify (LV 1)
Identify
Name:N?????????/????A???????????? STR???????????? 6.2
Age: N????????/??????????????A?????????? AGI 4.5
Race:A???????????r?????c??????h?????????$???????a?????????????e?????a????????? INT 0.0
Planet: N????????/??????????????A?????????? Luck 32.0
Sex: N?????????/????A???????????? END??????? 8.9
Affliction: N?????????/????A???????????? Magic Resist 4.4
Level:1
Mana:1/1
HP:17/17
This Archaea... IS TOO BROKEN!!! Putting aside the glitchy text, I was able to understand the basics of what the Identify skill was saying- This organism is way to powerful. Despite all that, I "looked" him straight into his "eyes," with a feeling ofstubbornnessand "said," "Hey kid. You best be getting out of here, or else I''m going to hafta destroy you." Then, I lunged at him and destroyed him. ... Honestly though, I ran away as soon as I saw the identify screen. How does a bacteria get that powerful? Am I missing something?? Maybe it has something to do with all the little things that keep trying to attack me... What are they?
Identify
A microscopic piece of sulfur
Wait a second... Didn''t the evolution screen tell me that archaea grow by consuming certain types of chemicals? If I remembercorrectly, sulfur is a type of ingredient used in a lot of different potions... Maybe if I consume these small things I can grow! I sort of, create a mouth with my body? I don''t really know how to explain it, I guess I just allowed the sulfur particles to come into my body.
END +1
HP +1
... Time to do some grinding! Chapter 3 - Jessica I¡¯m such a disgusting human... Having my only friend d-die.. because I am weak and stupid... ¡±AH!¡± ... Stupid wall... no one needed that anyway... I¡¯ve already made twelve holes in the wall... and even all of them combined can not compare to the hole filling me, making me feel like my soul is being torn out... Ever since the funeral, I have holed myself up in my room. After the first day, I felt myself burning... There was a pit in my stomach, feeling like a black hole. It was hard to breathe, even though I had nothing physically wrong with me. The second day, I needed something to get my mind off of him. I decided to leave my room. As soon as I left, I heard a well being pumped from outside. Not trying to blame my parents, but after they decided to get water for me, I had a panic attack. I started screaming his name, telling him to come back. Saying I was sorry... Even though he wouldn¡¯t forgive me... Ever since then, I have been doing whatever I can to forget about the incident. First, I trained nonstop. Results of my training after 3 days: I had broken my left handand both my knuckles were caked in dirty blood. When my parents saw what happened, they were beyond furious. I spent the whole day at the medic¡¯s office, and when I got home my punching bag was gone. Thus, the holes in the wall. But although my body trained like a slave, my mind would always wander back to... him. Such a loser child. Although his ego was huge, his confidence was most definitely not. He was praised by those stupid court magicians as being talented, just because he had lit a tiny fire at age two. What a dummy. If he had never shown his high affinity for fire magic, he would have been able to live a normal life. He always bragged about himself to people he knew closely, but he had never once tried to initiate conversations with others, and I believe, on the inside, that his bragging was just to cover up for his flaws. His physical abilities were completely horrendous. He was so slow, never being able to run a mile in under fifteen minutes. I, on the other hand, had been able to complete a mile at 6 minutes, faster than any of my peers and teachers. Me and him have arm wrestled over 150 times, and he had never once beaten me. His teachers, his friends, the magicians that often came to his house, and even his parents didn¡¯t see what I saw in him. He had a strength far greater than what many of us thought. I¡¯m not talking about his magical strength, and definitely not in his physical strength, but rather his drive. Among the 150 arm wrestles, there was not one match that had taken less than a minute. His hand was always one inch away from the table, and it took me forever to beat him. One week before the incident, he shaved his cat and let out a heavy laugh, tellingme that his mom looked like the cat. Unfortunately, his mom heard him and made him run 3 miles. I thought he would pass out after one, but he just kept running, despite him breathing intensely and looking like a sweat waterfall. After one and a half hours, when he finally had finished running, he just kept standing there. I ran over there to give him a hug, but when I got there, he was completely unconscious, his eyes glazed over. I don¡¯t know for how long, but he had been running strictly on willpower alone. Despite how weak he was, and despite how utterly socially inept he was, I still respected him with my upmost... some might say I even.. uh... lo- Huh? Why am I crying? I thought I had exhausted all my tears... Well whatever. I bury my face into my pillow, and cry myself to sleep... Again.
The next day
As of today, it has been three months since he has died...If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Also, today is offically the day I will leave my room. I¡¯m not moving on from his death.. But he wouldn¡¯t want me to spend the rest of my miserable life inside my miserable room. After all, there is still at least oneperson in the world that I know cares about me. ¡±Oh! Jess! Good morning!¡± ¡±...Morning. I¡¯m going out.¡± ¡±O-ok! B-be careful!¡± No, not my mother. Although I love her, I sometimes doubt her love for me. She just dresses me up as a pretty little girl, telling me never to say anything, just so she can tell her ¡®buddies¡¯ that she has the ¡®perfect daughter¡¯. Despite my tomboyish attitude, she apparently thinks I like being dressed up like a princess. Pretty sure my dad is still drunk from last night, last night I woke up to the sound of him stumbling andlet out a groan of disgust. Really dumb idea, since he took off his leather belt and began hitting me. So if it¡¯s not my parents¡¯ love I receive, then whose is it? ¡°Mew!¡± Speak of the angel! Nikki is... HIS cat. She is so beautiful, even with her fur shaved off. She is a kind soul, and is always rubbing her head against my legs. ¡±Come on Nikki. Please... won¡¯t you help me overcome this obstacle?¡±
As soon as I heard it... The pit in my stomach abruptly came back. I wanted to go back. I really did. But then his face came into my mind. I trudged forward.
After one minute which felt like an hour, Nikki and I finally arrived at the river. I looked in the river. I saw a speck of blood. I jumped back in horror. Clenching my hands, I began to walk back. I sat watching the river, contemplating. The river is flying by me. Before I knew it, thespeck of blood Ihad seen had already been washed far away. Where is the river going? Nowhere special. Does the river have a purpose? Not really, except maybe to kill kids. I hate the river. I hate it. My life is flying by me. Before I knew it, my innocent days had already been washed far away. Where is my life going? Nowhere special. Does my life have a purpose? No, except to... kill... him... I hate my life. I hate it. I contemplated just jumping in the river... but I knew I wouldn¡¯t. I am far too weak and selfish... I felt an awful chill run up my back. ¡°Nikki?¡± I cried out, jerking my head around. This wasn¡¯t for any factual reason... I just felt a sense of dread. A screeching of a cat was heard, meowing louldy for the world to hear. I realized I had been holding my breath, and I completely emptied my lungs, and put a smile on my face. Everything is OK. As I stood up to go back, I saw out of the corner of my eye a tiny head peeking out from over the water, desperately scratching the air. ¡°NIKKI?¡± Without thinking, I jumped in the river. No thought for my safety, all I could think of was saving the only other person who mattered to me. Using my unnatural strength, I propelled myself through the water. My lungs began beggingme to quit. I will not quit. With one hand, I used every bit of my strength to grab hold of Nikki... ...with my right hand. Shi- Can¡¯t do anything about it now, guess I have to save both of us with only my broken left hand. With all my might, I dug my fingernails into the bank of the river. Definitely not my best idea, because the river kept moving and some of my fingernails shattered. Although the pain was searing, I fought through it, and pulled myself onto the bank, along with Nikki. Although my left hand had gotten absoulutelymangled, theonly thing on my mind was saving Nikki. She was breathing heavily, most of her limbs were bending in a completely awkward way, and she was just OOZING blood. ¡±No... Not like this... This isn¡¯t what was supposed to happen... I brought you here, and you are dying... because of me? Just like him? Don¡¯t leave me!¡± I started screaming nonsensically at the poor thing. Talking about how shitty of a human I am. Begging God to take me instead of this beautiful creature. ¡°Please... All I ask... is just... heal this creature... please... just... heal... heal! HEAL! HEAAAAAL!!!!!!¡± A feeling of warmth rushed to my hands, feeling more hot than any fire I could think of... But... It didn¡¯t hurt. It actually felt quite pleasant. I tentatively started to open my eyes, and I saw Nikki, her bones starting to go back to where they were originally, her massive cuts quickly be replaced to scars, and then disappear all together. In that second, I realized what I had done. I had used healing magic. The most rare and sought-aftermagic known to man. I looked down at my left hand. It was still looking like it just got out from being stomped on by an orc, but it was slowly starting to get better. Looking at the cat slowly get up and turn its head towards me, letting off a soft ¡°mew,¡± I realized something... ¡±This. This is my purpose.¡± And with that thought, my conscience fadedto nothing.