Chapter 26

I kept walking, lost in my thoughts as I passed my classmates. I considered greeting them, but they didn’t seem to notice me, too caught up in their own discussion.

“Maybe another time then,” – I thought, moving past them.

There’s currently too much on my mind to deal with the social awkwardness of trying to insert myself into an ongoing conversation.

Ugh, that bitch! There was never enough for her. ****** do this, ****** do that. Worst of all, I couldn’t tell her no. She had me eating out of her hand just because she had some dirt on me. Granted, finding out I’ve been secretly visiting cyber café instead of going to school, is a great blackmail material, but at this point, I was just about ready to face the fire and confess my crimes.

“Fuck, mom’s going to kill me. Yeah, I’m not brave enough to do that.” - I shook my head in denial.

I look up to see even more shelves of products. Now, where is that coffee she ordered?

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The past few weeks were horrible. I was either in constant pain or getting ready for it. No amount of experimentation fixed this ‘shocking’ situation, and on top of that, I became aware of a new underlying problem - I was getting too fat.

Alright, that's simplifying the issue a bit, but I think it fits the symptoms. My current module count is way above 100000, as even with fixing all the damage, my hunting brought more than enough for expansion. The downside was the loss of mobility as, currently, my singular flagella, couldn't keep up. The more I grew, the slower I became.

I would buy more of them, but as with all upgrades, except ‘more modules’, it disappeared after the initial purchase. Well, modules and the energy upgrade which now increased its price to include the mystery element and ten times the crystalline molecule cost. My only hope at this point is the advanced version upgrades. Unfortunately, they require the mystery material I've yet to find.

Alright, it’s not that I have no immediate solutions. It’s just that it requires me to…well… I look at the dark expanse underneath me, for what seems like 100th time today. Fuck my life.

There was a major problem with living this close to surface, I needed a larger prey to have a better chance of gaining new materials or upgrade. For better or worse, there are none to be found up here. I've outgrown every organism near the surface and while this safe environment is awesome, it also means that my drops are still within the range of biomass and occasional crystal.

Why state the obvious thing at this point? It's because I’m trying to convince myself that the thing I’m about to do is the right path towards the future and not just insane manifestation of my twisted sick fetishes.

I look at the carcass that lies next to me, in comparison, enormous body. For the past hour, I’ve been using my workers to drill holes all throughout its body. I imagine it resembles an ant colony at this point. This was my newest creation, which I dubbed v167 or ‘Vick’ for short. Yes, I might have failed a few times making this thing. The first few models were shredded before I managed to reign in the little warriors. It took way too long to learn to blindly control them with enough grace to not destroy the host, and even now I’m struggling. Thankfully, Susan’s been a great help. As soon as I gave up most of my control and she took the reigns, I’ve been seeing great improvements in every new prototype. This one might be good enough for a test drive.

I hear her issue a simple move command and my mind hurts in response, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. The wreck slowly tilts and moves to my left. A huge success!

We spend the next few hours completing simple manoeuvres, and just like that the first part of our plan is completed.

The next part is a little bit insane though. I steady myself for what’s to come. Then order the attack. Sharp pain blossoms as a huge chunk of my flesh is torn out. I can see it slowly floating away from my body, slightly glowing with the luminescence upgrade. Despite it once being a part of me, my control over it is gone. I order my drones to intercept and pull it back. The pain in my side keeps pulsating, almost overshadowing the damage the energy burst left, however, if this succeeds, it’s a small price to pay.

I send some biomass towards the damaged side and start my work on remodelling the cut-off flesh. My aim is to make it into multiple small balls of glowing light. At least, as small, I can make them without their light disappearing. Armed with our trained finesse, Susan starts working towards stuffing the small light globules into the dead husk. I’m so tempted to make a sexually themed joke, but I’ll refrain for now. There is nothing funny about stuffing my balls inside another body.

A few minutes later and I’ve finally completed my goal. It's a re...

"A glowing remote-controlled teddy bear substitute for the boy who is afraid of the dark. " - Kevin interrupts.

…

Okay, I hear you snickering Kevin, and I can’t say that I blame you, but if you don’t stop in the next few seconds, I swear - heads WILL roll.

There was a perfectly good reason why I was desecrating the dead and cutting myself like some kind of emo kid. Like almost every person, I tend to deal with my problems by treating the symptoms and not the root of the cause. I tried to think of a way to get myself enough courage to visit the deep dark and this is what I came up with. I needed something nearby that I could see. A reminder of my progress, a reminder I’m not back to how I used to be. My own luminosity did nothing when there was no reference point around me, so I needed to create one. Thus, Vick was born. He is going to be my companion in this escapade.

I was ready to go down.