High

Nolan has been munching onto Opal's flesh for some time now.

[Warning! Mild poison has been detected in player's body.]

[Warning! Mild poison has been detected in player's body.]

This screen kept flashing with every bite Nolan ate. 'Poison? Well, Opal was taking heavy doses of drugs. This much should be expected.' He didn't really feel sad or disgust by eating human meat. If anything, he finally satisfied his long-lasted cravings. As for the taste, Nolan didn't have any opinion as it just tasted bland to him. 'Status.'

[Name: Nolan Jones

Race: Greydust Beetle

Species: Insectoid

Current stage: Unfinished Cocoon (Mutated)

Quest: Build the strongest intergalactic empire

Abilities: Strong mind (B-), Golden lips (A)

Mutations: Fragile Wings (E-) -> Chitinous Wings (C), Sharp Vision (D) -> Dulled senses (E-), String silk (C)

Evolution: Mature cocoon, ????, Psychic cocoon.]

'Hmm.' Curious, Nolan clicks on his newly acquired abilities.

[String silk (C): A highly viscous fluid which can be exerted from any part of the player's body. It will solidify if left it for long in the atmosphere.]

[Chitinous Wings (C): Sturdier and better wings made of hollow chitinous limbs. These limbs allow the player to perform sharp movements and better control.]

[Mature cocoon: Eat 20 more humans to complete your nutritional needs and form a complete cocoon to ascend to next stage. (0/20)]

[????: Required conditions are not met.]

[Psychic cocoon: Eat a psyker to develop the nerves to sense psy. (0/1)]

After carefully reading the screen, Nolan became more skeptical. 'These questions marks… They weren't there in the game. After I reach my last stage, evolutions are the one who will carry me in the endgame. They are extremely important, the more the better. As for my mutations, only string silk is worth celebrating. Not much sure about the wings and this body has no hair which degraded my sharp vision skill. This new degraded skill has limited my world to just one meter.'

Suddenly, a force slammed Nolan's body into the floor beneath him.

"What kind of defiled creature are you?" Charlotte asked with a disgusted expression.

'What is she doing here?' Even if Nolan couldn't see his enemy, he knew the only person who could perform such attacks was the female psyker. His mind races to find way to break free.

Ignoring the creature, Charlotte crouched to pick up Opal's rifle. "You killed him?" 

"Do you even understand how much I invested in that moron? Where in the Whiskey Way am I going to find a supplier like Opal?" She talked very dramatically, moving her hands and swaying the rifle.

Suddenly she threw the rifle away and yelled. "HUH! Answer me!" 

Charlotte stood directly in front of Nolan. 

"Ho? Are you some kind of undiscovered species? Hick! I never seen something like you. Something so... bright."

In the psyker's eyes Nolan's ugly and insignificant body was exerting an abnormally large amount of psyche. She knows that lesser beings cannot emit any psyche, yet here she stood. Watching a rock like creature exerting average human level psyche.

"Maybe should I open this shell of your? That might tell me something about you."

ZRR! ZRR!

Sparks crackled from her fingertips.

'Shit! It's an elemental—'

ROAAARR!

Every mouth on the creature screeched in pain as Charlotte's electrical punches struck its hard shell. The fact that the shell didn't explode on impact amused her.

With a smile, she placed her soft hands on its surface.

"Such strong skin… Maybe I could harvest it and sell it?"

Nolan could feel his head getting cloudy which indicated his depleting HP. In Celestia Online, there was no health bar or stamina bar. If the character gets hurts or suffers an injury, the screen slowly turns bloody and controls gradually starts to become stiff on their own. Symbolizing the character's overall health. If the injury is severe enough, entire limbs could be cut off or detached from the body.

The psyker was quite stronger than he had imagined. He was not ready to face her.

'I can't win. Not when I barely know my own capabilites.... I need to retreat.'

While Charlotte examined the shell, a small mouth peeked from the back of the shell and spat string silk straight at her face.

"ARUGH! What is this!?"

Charlotte clawed at the sticky layer covering her eyes.

Nolan flapped his wings with all his might, but Charlotte's gravity spell held him down. Even at full strength, he could only move a few inches.

Frustrated, Charlotte burned away the silk with an electric charge. 

She threw a punch at Nolan. But at that moment, he opened his outer shell, revealing dozens of gnashing mouths. The mouths latched onto Charlotte's arm, tearing into her flesh. Electrical shocks surged through the creature's body, but they had little effect.

The sharp teethes quickly tore her hand apart.

"ARGHHH! FUCK! FUCK! LET GO YOU-" Charlotte pulled her hand and the Nolan didn't let go which ripped her hand in two. 

[Warning! Highly potent poison detected in player's body.]

'Highly potent? Is this fatty high on drugs?'

The gravity spell collapsed as Charlotte reeled from the pain. Seizing the opportunity, Nolan spread his stronger wings and dashed toward the ventilation ducts.

"Not so easily!"

Charlotte grabbed a large chunk of debris with telekinesis and hurled it at him. Sadly, her aim was off because her mental state too unstable.

BOOM! The debris collapsed a large part of the ceiling on the ground. Unfortunately, the man-eating creature had escaped.

Charlotte's face contorted with fury.

She tapped her wristwatch which was directly connected to the main control room.

"ALL PIRATES ON THIS SHIP! THERE IS A MAN-EATING MONSTER LURKING IN THE DUCTS! BOMB IT! PURGE IT! BRING ME ITS HEAD! NOW!" 

Her voice boomed through every earpiece, speaker, and communication device on the cargo ship. Quickly many pirates began shooting and bombing the ducts. The explosions shook the entire ventilation system. Black smoke began leaking into the corridors, labs and various rooms. 

Nolan's partially blind and deaf body couldn't hear it, but he knew.

Hard times were coming.