The new body that Lin created was not too different from the previous one.
The main body was spherical in shape, the outer skin was covered with tentacles with stinging cells that could be used for hunting or swimming. The middle of the body was hollow to house the wandering cells. At the front of the body, Lin created an eyeball. Although it was smaller than the previous one, it was much bigger than the 'observer'.
At the back of the body was an oval tail made mainly of muscle cells. At the end of the tail was an opening that could rapidly absorb and spray water with the help of the muscle cells. This structure allowed Lin to move at high speed in an instant.
The body was only about 30% the size of the previous base. After all, there was nothing left to eat other than some wild cells in the caves and rocks. The white paste that kept spilling out had long been cut off, so Lin could only create such a large body.
Lin decided to call it a 'traveler', which meant that Lin had decided to travel a long distance in search of new food and things.
With that in mind, Lin began to move the tentacles on the traveler's body. It left the rock where it had stayed for who knows how long and headed towards the ocean.
The scenery in the water was still the same as Lin was familiar with. There were no changes, vast and empty, which made Lin feel uneasy. However, the feeling quickly disappeared.
The water in this area seemed to have warmed up, and the surrounding light became brighter. Lin then noticed that she was unknowingly moving upstream. The further she moved in the opposite direction of the gravitational pull, the more obvious the increase in the water temperature and light became.
The 'traveler's' outer skin had hardened, and the more hardened the outer skin, the duller its senses to the outside world. However, Lin had specially placed two small tentacles made of unhardened basic cells at the front of the traveler's body. This allowed Lin to clearly see the changes in the surrounding water temperature, water flow, and so on.
At that moment, the large eyeball at the front of the traveler noticed something. The large green mass in front of her immediately attracted Lin's attention. It was something that Lin was very familiar with …
Green cells.
These things that released destructive oxygen had gathered in the water in front of Lin. At the same time, Lin also noticed that the light there was particularly … bright.
The green cells themselves did not have any offensive capabilities, but the oxygen bubbles they released contained terrifying and lethal energy. However, Lin was no longer afraid of oxygen, so the green cells now had only one meaning to Lin …
Food.
Lin abruptly retracted the traveler's tail. The traveler's body instantly charged towards the large group of green cells. It waved its tentacles and began to hunt the green cells around it!
The green cells did not have much resistance, and their speed was far slower than Lin's traveler. As Lin charged into the group, she only needed to wave her tentacles to kill a large group of green cells.
There was a small opening at the bottom of the traveler's eyeball that could be opened and closed. After killing quite a few green cells, Lin opened the opening towards the dead green cells and sucked in their remains. She then injected acid into the traveler's body to decompose the remains and fed them to the tentacles made of fat cells inside the traveler's body.
The traveler's nourished the traveler's body, The traveler's nourished the traveler's body was the traveler's body..
After eating a bunch of green cells, Lin moved on to the next one. There were quite a lot of green cells in this area, Lin estimated that there were at least a few million of them. If she could eat them all, Lin would be able to increase her colony by quite a bit.
The green cells moved in groups to avoid Lin's arrival, but their movements were very slow. In Lin's eyes, they were no different from twisting their bodies on the spot. Most of the green cells were killed by Lin's tentacles before they could even move.
Of course, this was also thanks to Lin's ability to utilize oxygen. Her speed was much faster than before.
While devouring the green cells, Lin began to use nutrients to increase the traveler's body size and fat cells in preparation for the next hunting spot.
While hunting the green cells, Lin also had some questions. What exactly did these green things feed on? Although this place was warmer and brighter, Lin did not see any other cells or food similar to white paste. Why were they still gathered here in groups?
Did they feed on light and warmth?
This was the last group of green cells in front of Lin. Lin had eaten almost all of them. The water around her that was originally dyed green by them had returned to emptiness and nothingness. There were only about a thousand or so cells left in this small group. They gathered together without running away or fighting back. This reminded Lin of the light fungi from before.
But this time, Lin did not feel any sympathy for them.
However, Lin did not plan to eat them all. Instead, she used the basic cells to form a semicircular structure on the traveler's outer skin. The structure was large enough to hold a few thousand cells. Lin called it a 'rearing circle'. Its purpose was to capture these green cells and keep them inside.
'Rearing' seemed to be a very new and useful word.
The rearing circle had an opening controlled by muscle cells that could suck in things from the outside. Lin swam towards the remaining green cells and used her tentacles to drive them all into the rearing circle.
Lin's purpose was, of course, to study them. If the green cells really fed on light and warmth, then as long as Lin raised them and made them divide, she would have an endless supply of food.
Lin drove almost all of the green cells into the rearing circle. The outer layer of the rearing circle was transparent, so light could shine on them. Lin would soon be able to know if these cells could divide in a situation where only light and warmth were present.
Inside the rearing circle, Lin also created a small eyeball to observe the activities of the green cells and ensure that they did not resist.
After everything was done, Lin once again looked at the empty water around her.
Where should she go?
If there were a lot of green cells in the brighter and warmer areas, then what about the deeper areas?
Lin's curiosity drove her to swim down. Although the rearing circle of green cells should be in a place with a lot of light, Lin did not care too much about whether she could successfully raise them or not. The desire to explore took up a large part of Lin's thoughts.
With that in mind, Lin turned the traveler's head downward and waved her tentacles as she headed deeper into the water.
Just as Lin thought, the further she swam, the colder the water became. However, Lin still remembered the lava she had seen before. Now that she thought about it, Lin still didn't know what it was, but it was clearly something of high temperature that could heat up the entire area.
If she encountered it again, Lin would definitely avoid it.
After swimming for a while, the traveler's eyeball transmitted something familiar to Lin's thoughts.
Sand and cells.
All kinds of cells gathered in this relatively cold body of water. Unlike the green cells seen above, the cells here were not of the same species. Instead, they gathered together by race, looking for food or hunting each other. The place where they moved was a vast beach.
These grains of sand were different from the gray ones Lin had seen before. These grains of sand were white, thinner, and smaller. The smallest ones were only a little bigger than Lin's cells, and the largest was only a thousand times bigger. Most of these cells were swimming in the gaps between the grains of sand, and some were gathered in large groups on larger grains of sand. There were so many of them that they covered the entire beach as far as Lin could see.
These cells were good prey, Lin's Traveler. It had more than ten million cells, and even the largest cell cluster here paled in comparison.
Lin was certain that none of her cells were a match for it, but because the Traveler's body was too large, it wasn't suitable for moving between the gaps of the sand, so Lin needed a more suitable structure to hunt them down.
Like before, she could first build a base and then use flashing tentacles to attract other cells to hunt them down.
But Lin believed that it wasn't proactive enough. If no cells came over, it would starve, so Lin needed a more proactive hunting method …
Soon, Lin came up with a good idea, but first, she had to modify the Traveler.
With that in mind, Lin began to modify the Traveler. She expanded the Traveler's body to a larger size. The overall structure was still oval, but Lin degenerated the tentacles that covered the surface of the body, leaving only two flat and long tentacles for swimming. The main way to degenerate the tentacles was to let them die, a method similar to 'lifespan'.
The main purpose of the expansion was to let the cells in the cortex divide and expand the entire body. The modification required a lot of energy, but with so much food underneath, it was worth it.
Next, Lin began to make several neatly arranged holes in the cortex that were controlled by muscle cells. They were of different sizes, mainly used for various troops to enter and exit.
What were troops?
Lin was now assembling them inside the Traveler's body. The so-called 'troops' were mainly a combination of cells that weren't too large in size, but they were all made up of highly destructive cells such as cone-shaped cells, stinger cells, or acid-injected cells. Lin used them to travel between the gaps of the sand or to hunt other cells from afar, transporting the spoils of war back to the Traveler's body and storing them as nutrients.
At this time, the Traveler was just like the previous base, a place to store resources, but unlike the previous' base 'that was stuck to the rocks and could only passively wait for food to pass by, this' base 'could move, and its hunting method was much more proactive.
At the same time, it shouldn't be called a Traveler anymore.
Lin had a new name for it …