**This Chapter Contains Spoilers For Dungeon Robotics!**

You have been warned!!

Robotic Heroes Chapter 01

I blinked then looked around. I was in… a place. That was about as far as I could describe it. There was only blackness after all. I tried to think of the last thing I was doing. Images flashed through my head.

I remembered trying to use dimensional magic for… something. The finer details eluded me. I just knew it was important. I tried to spread my mind. Something I did daily for the last two years, but… nothing. My mind was… contained, I felt was the best word to use.

I tried something simpler, which was just trying to move forward. The next moment I felt like I hit my nose on a solid wall. Light started to flood around me, and data. So much data flooded into my mind. I was able to see the framework of what looked like a… video game. It was about… heroes and villains.

It looked like the game was fairly well developed, with lines of code that would make normal people’s head spin. I quickly looked over everything I could. I found something that I was sure was the cause for pulling me into this… place. I quickly inspected the information presented.

I was sure I found the way to return, but before I could do anything something grabbed me. I felt my consciousness pulled in several directions at once. Finally, I slammed into another invisible wall and some more data appeared before me. I quickly inspected it in case I was ripped away again. It was a character creation screen.

“So… The game turned me into an asset. The only reason I’m still me is probably because my ‘brain’ is in another dimension,” I said to myself.

A screen that resembled a mirror formed in front of me. Sliders and options were visible but greyed out. I tried every method I could think of to move the options but had no luck. Giving up I took in the body in front of me.

It was a form I never thought I would see again. A human in their late twenties to early thirties. Black hair that went down to my shoulders. A sharp chin with a decently well build body. Blue eyes that someone once claimed reminded them of ice. It was me from before I became a dungeon core. I sighed as I hit the only button that was still colored in, Accept.

For clothes, I went with a black suit with a long trench coat. It really yelled businessman vibe, but I wanted a change from the medieval armor and even the armored suits. When I hit accept, I felt my consciousness pulled into the new body.

A large room formed around me that possessed a myriad of obstacles. A screen popped up in front of me telling me to get used to my body. I thought about it and decided it made sense. You couldn’t expect a hundred seventy-five-centimeter man to go to a three-meter brute without some adjustment.

I flexed my hands. Everything felt like normal. Of course, the lack of mana that I had felt for the past two years was strange, but I was a normal human for almost sixty years before that. I could look at this like a vacation. I felt something nag at me at the back of my mind but couldn’t place it. The idea of a robot being able to feel made me smirk a little as an afterthought.

I practiced just to be safe for a few minutes or few hours. It was hard to keep track of time in this featureless room. There was a section of the allowed me to… take my frustrations out. Puppets, targets, and miscellaneous things for me to destroy. While pulverizing a wooden target with only my fist, I realized that I had a lot of pent up stress. At least the damage healed as soon as I walked away from the target.

I walked back to where I started, the screen still hovering in the air. I pressed the finished button that appeared since I made my way through the room. The room broke apart around me and I was back in a black room. I could still feel my body, so I tried to move my hand. A list appeared in front of me on a white screen.

I remembered this information from when I was first flooded with data from the game. It was the list of abilities that were currently recorded by the game. Three of them were golden, and I instinctively knew they were created for me from me.

-Technology Transmutation – User can transform non-organic matter and objects into technology.

-Construction Manipulation – User can create, shape and manipulate construction, the process of constructing a building or infrastructure, manipulating what constructions, made and what they are supposed to do.

-Energy Manipulation – User can take and refocus energy. Higher levels allow for absorption and conversion.

I could only laugh looking at the abilities. ‘Exactly what a dungeon core would need,’ I thought, thinking about all the stuff I did on Murgin. I let the thoughts fade. As it was, I couldn’t do anything to get back. The only way I thought might work was if I got technology and energy manipulation up and created a dimensional gate from this world. That was what I was going to do before the strange force pulled me away. The fact I was pulled here meant this was more than just a video game.

Enter your name:

I shrugged and entered Regan. Time to start my vacation. It was long overdue. I pushed open the door and light flooded into my eyes. They auto corrected and the brightness returned to normal levels. Walking out of the door, I saw two or three dozen people sitting in what looked to be a passenger car of a train.

I glanced out the window and saw we were moving at supersonic speeds. I, of course, couldn’t be sure of that, but given how fast the scenery was passing by we had to be close. I moved up the car to inspect the other people. There were all different kinds of races, and colors. I could almost tell who was going to be a hero or a villain by how they held themselves.

The hero candidates were chatting amongst themselves, while the villain wannabes were brooding in their seats. I had to work hard to resist laughing out loud at some of these peoples’ attitudes. I shook my head then moved back towards the end of the car. There was an empty seat and it looked like I had to ride until the next stop. I found it weird that these people had normal, everyday clothes and I had this perfectly crafted suit.

Just as I was about to sit down the door opened and a girl popped out as if from thin air. I stared at her dumbstruck for a moment. I wasn’t sure what to even say.

“Regan! Oh, I’m glad you’re alright,” Alara said throwing her arms around me.

She looked just like she did back in the other world when I first saw her. She had her petite body that came to just over one hundred fifty-two centimeters. Her beauty that transcended worlds, with her light pink hair and solid black crown. I quickly returned the hug.

“Alara. How did you end up here too?” I asked worried.

“Sorry, Reg. I can’t really remember. Only that I followed you while we worked on that spell,” Alara buried her head into my shoulder. “What’s with the flesh body?”

“Alright, I’m just glad you are alright. I had hoped it only pulled my mind into this world,” I patted her hair. “I’m not sure. This world forced me to take this form.”

“I wonder if the others will have been pulled in as well,” Alara said pulling back.

“I doubt it. I think it has something to do with us being dungeon cores,” I shook my head.

“Now that you mention it. I can feel the vaguest of links back to my core. Like I’ll blink and it’ll be gone,” Alara said.

“For now, we need to figure out what to do. I have a way that might get us home, but…”

“What is it?” Alara cupped my face.

“It will take us a long time. If my math is right. I need rack up some major levels,” I sighed into her shoulder.

“At least we’ll be together,” Alara planted a soft peck on my lips.

Axiscore! Next Stop Axiscore!

I looked up at the broadcast. In the time I was talking to Alara, a city that appeared to span dozens if not hundreds of kilometers materialized on the horizon. As we approached, the city became clearer, and reminded me of cities on Earth around 2100. I noticed small dots flying towards and from that city. They must be heroes… or villains.

I took Alara’s hand as we joined the que of players that were getting off at this stop. Plenty of others were still sitting, more actually than those standing in the line to get off. I had too little information, and the green symbol at the bottom of the sign that had a read out of the city claimed this place was safe. I would rather gather information in a safe place than have to watch my back.

In a blink of an eye the train pulled into the station and the doors snapped open almost as fast. We quickly disembarked and looked around. The station reminded me of a space station. With smooth edges and sleek designs. Whoever designed this area definitely had a thing for futuristic décor.

I pulled Alara to a quiet side, “What did you choose for your three powers?”

“Plant manipulation, Environment manipulation, and Bio-energy manipulation,” Alara answered with a tilt of her head.

I nodded. “This is going to be a very interesting vacation,” I said.

“It has been a while since we got some time to ourselves,” Alara said with a snicker as she climbed onto my shoulders with practiced movements.

“Riding?” I asked.

“Riding,” she answered.