First traits

It has been two hours or so since Nolan gained consciousness. It took him some time to digest the fact that he actually entered Celesta Online, at first he thought that this was a mere nightmare. But sadly it was not.

He simply watches as the human pierces his fragile skin with the same electrical pincer for the 34th time. The old, dark-skinned scientist turns to read the data from the terminal. Suddenly, the tiles on the wall start to move, and a door opens. Another tall, dark-skinned scientist walks into the lab.

"Mark! Are you experimenting on the insects?" The bald scientist groans as he looks at his colleague.

"Luke…. Hey, I was just examining the properties of this Greydust beetle. He is quite big for his species; it made me think that we have a rare mutated one. Hahaha!" Mark makes up an excuse, but Luke doesn't believe his words. He is well aware of Mark's secret experiments on multiple organisms.

"Captain would throw you into a black hole. Do you even understand how expensive these bugs are? And you are killing them for your own amusement?" Luke shouts at Mark.

"Ehh. But I am not killing them. See, it is alive." He points at Nolan's barely moving body.

"You call that alive? Remove those metal pieces and spray some medication on that beetle. After that, report to my office now." Luke orders before leaving the lab.

Nolan opens his eyes and focuses on Mark. He is typing something on the terminal, his arm trembling too much.

"ARGHH! FUCK THAT!" Mark smashes the terminal into pieces. "Why don't they understand me? Humans should start harvesting genetic traits from every intelligent species; that way, we can truly kill space rifters. Why don't they understand?" He starts to mumble gibberish. Nolan observes the human with great interest. Frustrated, Mark walks out of the lab without taking the metal pieces out of the beetle's body.

Left alone, Nolan opens the status again.

[ Name: Nolan Jones

Race: Greydust Beetle

Species: Insectoid

Current stage: Larval

Quest: Build the strongest intergalactic empire

Abilities: N/A

Mutations: N/A

Evolution: N/A ]

'Nice. Very nice.' Nolan is experiencing a mental breakdown. 'What the hell? How the fuck am I supposed to build an empire when I am a literal insect? Not even an adult. A larva. Just nice.'

Insectoids are one of the most hated and useless starter species of all. Not only are they extremely weak at the start, but they are largely harvested for various ingredients. Almost all insectoid mains are mocked or looked down on by the entire community. The only good part of being an insectoid is the evolution and mutation chart. They are arguably the only species still being explored by the players. Nolan himself has very limited knowledge about this species because, in higher ranks, players always choose their species according to the meta. In the ranking, the strongest insectoid player was placed at 2301, which is insanely good for this dumb species. Now Nolan himself has been cursed with this species.

'Alright. Whoo! Be optimistic.' He tries to be calm, his body wiggling at his will. 'Eww! I feel disgusting.' The feeling of having no limbs and being covered in slimy liquid didn't fit Nolan's tastes.

Currently, he is wiggling on a small glass plate. Above him is an advanced microscope used by Mark to observe the small beetle. The small metal piece is pierced deep into Nolan's body, hindering his movement. But he doesn't really care, as he knows if he remains here for long that mad scientist will kill him. Nolan pushes his body with all six of his true legs. With much force, his lower body rips off like paper. Without a glance, the larva runs off the table.

'Thank God I am a larva. Otherwise, this would have hurt a lot.' Once at the edge of the glass plate, Nolan actually understands how small he is. Staying in the open like this would be the end of him. He slowly glances down and slithers back before jumping off the plate. He lands on the white table, his body rolling up on impact. In front of him is the dead body of a mantis-like insect. Another victim of that bald scientist. The body is brutally smashed into small pieces, its head missing. Just as Nolan sees the body, his animal instinct kicks in. He opens his small mouth and begins eating the remains.

After half an hour of continuous eating, Nolan is full. The taste is neither good nor awful. It is just bland.

[TING! FIRST PREY HAS BEEN EATEN! NEW MUTATIONS GAINED!]

This message pops up. Nolan opens his status once more, and the mutations column is not empty this time.

[Fragile Wings (E-), Sharp Vision (D)]

'Wow, traits from the first meal itself.' Nolan takes a look around and sees that nothing much has changed despite having sharp vision. 'How do I open my wings—'

Suddenly, his back slightly opens up, and two wings spurt out. The wingspan is considerably large, and they look very strong despite having the name 'fragile.' He moves the wings and notices that they cannot properly close. 'Is it because I am injured?'

To answer his question, Nolan turns to the left and stares at a table, around a foot away from him. He rapidly moves his wings and launches himself forward. Like a ping-pong ball, he bounces off the table only to slide off the edge.

'Hoho! That was fast.' He thinks as he wiggles on the cold floor.

The tiles beside the small insect move as the door opens up. Mark walks in and stares at the empty glass plate.

"What the- where is the bug?."

With a fit of anger, the dark-skinned scientist storms out of the lab, while the larva watches him from the sidelines.

'I need to leave this place.' Nolan looks up and sees a big duct for ventilation attached to the ceiling. The small larva quickly rolls up his body with his head facing the ceiling. He opens his wings and flies toward the ceiling. Like a crazy moth, Nolan hits every wall but cannot reach the ceiling.

'Ugh. Why is it so hard to steer my own body?' He straightens his body and tries one more time. Luckily, this time, he manages to somehow steer into the AC duct. Inside, it is covered in complete darkness and an insidious aura. Nolan turns to look around. Even though he can't see much, he can sense the walls.