With the support of Cloud Control, Signal Transduction, Metamorphosis, and Differentiation, I could now create an army of different cells. Each cell had a different purpose. I began to realize that it didn't make sense to target everything on the big fish. It was true that they held the most experience, but I had so many cell bodies that I could allocate different cells to different cell types.
Mutation served a big role too. Originally, I had been frightened to use Mutation because it altered how skills worked. I realized I could apply Mutation only to specific cells. I could create experimental cell bodies, and through careful practice, I'd change how different skills worked. If I liked the change, I'd lock it in by multiplying them through Mitosis. If I didn't like the change, I could always destroy them with Apoptosis.
These created cells that were even more different from each other. Some were barely recognizable from my original form. They had been specialized for specific tasks. One such example of this was Photosynthesis. Through playing with Mutation, I managed to create a cell type that Photosynthesized far better than any of my other cells.
These cells were sent to the light zone where they focused on Photosynthesis. Photosynthesis created certain compounds that I found in short supply among the fish population. I only started to notice a problem when I found myself no longer consuming plant-like autotrophs and focusing on heterotrophs. There were pathways to get around such shortages, but in the end, since I had a collective shared storage that seemed to defy spatial laws, I found it easier to have a specialized class of cell bodies that were dedicated autotrophs, producing energy. It meant my hunters didn't need to work on fathering resources so much.
I also used Mutation to develop a larger-than-normal cell whose function was to eat prokaryotes and protozoa. Its Phagocytosis was developed to the point that it was essentially a vacuum that could sweep an area of cells. I had found that if too many smaller cells appeared, they could disrupt my network or even cause one of my cells to die. They needed to be maintained, so I tasked these cells with the job of culling and farming the local population of troublemakers. I called these guys macrophages since they were large cells tasked with eating small invading cells. I liked to imagine they were similar to the macrophages a multicellular organism used for very similar reasons.
Congratulations! You have reached level 2.
You have unlocked the skill, Calcification.
Calcification allowed me to convert biomatter into calcium. I thought it was a defense skill, but when I checked my status I realized it was labeled as attack. I was confused at first, but when I used it, I realized it worked a bit like petrify. I could target something and cause part or all of it to turn to stone. This restricted fish heavily, but on smaller organisms it was an instant death. I excitedly added such a thing to my attacks, and along with a million cell bodies, I continued to spread my domain.
My domain finally reached the ground. That was to say I reached the bottom of the sea. It had started when I followed after the sinking calcium I had created when I petrified a small fish. The fish continued to sink until it eventually landed in a pile of muck. There was a sudden spike of biomatter as I came closer. The floor was brimming with life, although it was hard to see how far down I was. With a million cells, I almost had to stretch them into a straight line to reach the bottom.
Curious to see it, I sent out waves of acidic and toxic bursts of water to quickly carve a path. I finally found the rock bottom. The ground was covered in massive boulders. I felt like I had finally accomplished something. As I was admiring the bottom, I let out a cry. Something swam through and disrupted my body, nearly cutting it in half. It didn't hurt. It was more a shock than anything.
I had to abandon my body and recover. By the time I recollected myself, I found a few thousand cells had been destroyed in an instant. There were still things larger and more powerful than me. My line to the bottom had been disturbed by such a thing. I couldn't do anything about these beasts though. Most of them were too large and too fast to even get a proper look. I went back to my localized takeover. I needed more cell bodies. I needed more skills.
Congratulations! You have reached level 3.
You have unlocked the skill, Mutagens.
Mutagens immediately excited me as soon as I heard the name. A mutagen was anything that could damage DNA. Radiation was mutagenic, although many chemicals had earned the name too. I could now create mutagens in the same way that I could use Acidify and Toxins. The difference between Acidify, Toxins, and Mutagens was that Mutagens was a bit more specific. Strictly speaking, a toxin could be a mutagen, but mutagen didn't necessarily need to be a toxin.
If Mutation was my way to changing myself for the better, then Mutagen was my way of changing others for the worse. It was still a gamble of skill, but if I was aggressive enough to damage their DNA, they would end up self-destructing. It was a powerful addition to my arsenal, and I used it aggressively.
Congratulations! You have reached level 4.
You have unlocked the skill, Crypsis.
How many years had passed? I had begun to lose count. So many days and nights had passed by I had stopped keeping track of them. I knew that I had long since transcended what it meant to be human. My skills alone made it so that if my pathway ever led to human, I'd never be normal. I didn't even want to know what my ridiculous stats which sat in the millions meant.
The ability Crypsis stood for hidden. It was where the term cryptid came from, a name for creatures that are unknown to the world, like bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. If humans did exist in this world, and I interacted with one, wouldn't I be a cryptid? It was only suiting that I gained the skill associated with it. This skill was camouflage, to keep it simple. It allowed me to hide within my environment.
It was only upon activating this skill that I realized countless creatures had been fleeing me. Now that I could hide by cell bodies, I was able to see a whole new population of larger fish. I supposed a massive cloud of death would alarm anyone. These fish were large enough and self-aware enough to flee before me. That's why I had only ever seen glimpses of them before. I could see them now because I could hide from them. Furthermore, with my numbers over four million and my senses ever-expanding, I could see farther than I ever could before.
These fish I coined great fish were dozens of times larger than what I had been feasting on before. It was the difference between a bluegill and a dolphin. With Crypsis along with my Mutagens and Toxins, I moved up on them and attacked. As soon as I attacked, they'd all scatter, but I managed to grab one. It was slowed down enough by my initial attack that I was able to create a web around it. My cells exploded to create a hole in it, and then I sent millions inside of it. This was all-out warfare.
The fish itself could barely fight, but it was mounting an immune response. My cells were battling a fleet of enemy cells leaking from their wounds. After battling for a few hours, it finally succumbed to the toxins and died. I managed to kill my first great fish.
Congratulations! You have reached level 5.
You have unlocked the skill, Decomposition.
I didn't hesitate to try out Decomposition on the fish in front of me. I wasn't sure how it worked, but my cells began to quickly bring it apart. Where it used to take countless times to eat a bite and then break it down, the fish began to fall apart into the individual chemicals as if by magic. The entire process only took a single day and night, and by the end, there was nothing left. I had a boundless amount of chemicals as a result within my luminal space.
This was good because every vision required that much more biomatter to achieve. Going from four million to eight million cells required a lot, and the decomposed fish gave me everything I needed to achieve it. While I was finishing off storing the parts absorbed from the great fish, I felt a disturbance. I instinctively sent my senses out as something came swimming from the deep.
It only passed by briefly, but I felt a slight shiver as I saw it go past. It was much larger than then the great fish, the size of a whale. It also seemed to have a certain degree of intelligence. I felt it look at me, almost like it was aware I was present in its space. It left not because it couldn't destroy me, but because it disdained to do so. My destruction of the great fish had disturbed it because I realized the great fish must be its food.
I had finally encountered it. The largest thing within this sea. The great white whale, the kingfish, whatever term worked, was the leader here. This was the kingfish's territory, and I was just in it. If I ever wanted to rule these waters, defeating the kingfish was the only way.