*Where am I?* Reginald couldn't feel his body, but he could see in every direction, which made him think he should feel ill, but quickly faded as he realized that he really didn't have a body *What the hell is going on?*

>Greetings Owner. You currently reside within Centralized Construction Core Module 18394754-382-001. Sadly, your biological form did not seem compatible with the extreme density of mana you were exposed to. This is the first time this has happened.

*So... I am dead?*

>Question unclear, please rephrase.

*My physical body died?*

>Correct. Lifesigns ceased as of 1,440 hours ago.

*But I'm still alive? Wait, 1,440 hours?*

>Question unclear, please rephrase.

*How do I still exist?*

>You have been preserved by the 'God of LAG'... Please inquire with your Status and Patron Deity.

*How do I do that?*

>Think 'Status Screen'.

*Status Screen!* A black box with white text popped up in his vision, like an old DOS Prompt!

Status:

Name: Reginald Montgomery

Race: Sapient Centralized Construction Core

Sub-Race: Module 18394754-382-001 (Dungeon)

Level: 1

Experience: 0/1,000

Durability: 100/100

Current Mana: 3,000/3,000

Mana Regen: 1.5/sec

Zone Radius: 10.0m

Mana Density: Below Average

Deity: Borick, God of LAG (LIVE ACTION GAMING)

Assistant AI: Non-Sentient Centralized Construction Core Standard

Perks Available: 5

*Perk List!*

>System Error. You cannot select Perks until you have spoken with your Patron Deity.

*Interesting... So, how do I contact my Patron Deity?*

>You must construct an altar.

*Do you have the plans?*

>Affirmative.

*How do we construct an altar?*

>Activate the Construction Ability.

*Ability Screen!*

Abilities:

Absorb - Mastered

The ability to absorb material to learn its atomic make up for construction and conversion to or from Mana. This is an Ability limited to Cores.

Identify - Mastered

The ability to know what something is by focusing on it. As a Construction Core, you can see all statistics of an item, including Durability, Enchantments, Attack or Defense, etc.

Construct - 1/100

The ability to create rooms and buildings.

Skills:

Loot - 1/100

The skill to create a reward.

Repair - 1/100

The skill to infuse mana to restore lost durability.

Reinforce - 1/100

The skill to infuse mana to increase maximum durability.

*Construct!*

You currently have the following known blue prints:

Empty Room* (100 mana / cubic meter)

*Materials in the current space will be Absorbed.

Deity Image* (1000 mana / deity)

*Different Materials offer different rewards and can increase cost.

Altar* (1000 mana)

*Different Materials offer different rewards and can increase cost.

Reginald scanned the area around him for a better understanding of the situation he found himself in. His core was floating in the center of the metalic cube that had crash landed, and he could see magical technology glowing around him.

*I've been gone for sixty days, surely there must have been some changes in the world since my death?*

>Affirmative, it took sixty days to recompile and defragment your program. There have been many changes.

*Can you grant me access to the internet?*

The computer part of the core seemed to be processing this request for almost a minute before Reginald received a new ability.

Ability Generated:

Digital Communion - 1/100

The ability to connect to digital signals and display them on an internal HUD. Although it doesn't know why you would care what happned to the rest of the fleshbags on your world, it has granted you the ability to connect to their digital networks. As a former organic, your mind has built in antivirus and firewalls.

Data Process - 1/100

The ability to run any programs you have copied to your personal Storage. Each item you Copy to your Storage will have it's own Console window you can run the attached Operating System on.

Sleep - Mastered

The ability to take oneself offline for maintenance or bypass sitting idle while waiting for mana regeneration.

New Stats Generated:

Fragmentation: 0%

The higher this is, the slower you will think, process Data, or recall things and the longer your next Sleep will be.

Storage (Digital): 1 exabyte

Shielding: 100/100

This is the remaining durability of your Antivirus and Firewall. Shielding Regenerates at 0.05/sec while in Communion, and 1.00/sec outside of Communion unless infected.

Skills Generated:

Purge (Digital) - 1/100

At the cost of mana, you may remove any digital infection you come into contact with. Higher levels of this skill will reduce mana cost and increase rate of virus removal.

Hack (Digital) - 1/100

At the cost of mana, you may forcefully insert yourself into a system. Higher levels of this skill will reduce mana cost and reduce likelihood of discovery.

Copy (Digital) - 1/100

At the cost of mana, you may clone the data on either a storage medium. Higher levels of this skill will reduce mana cost and increase speed at which files are copied.

*Digital Communion,* Reginald thinks, and an old fashioned web browser appeared! He quickly input the web address for his favorite news sites, and found out that for the most part, technology survived, either by forcefully normalizing Mana in an area as a divine gift or creating a power splitter that removed mana from the electrical feed, allowing the older circuits to run. The Temple had landed about fifty miles away from him, and the mana levels were densest around it.

As a punishment for not believing in the new gods powers, various religious extremist groups had been wiped out and various changes occurred through the world, including eighty percent of the human population disappearing for a week, only to return as entirely different beings! Then, the other twenty percent were taken, only to be returned back as the basic humans but with access to the 'System' that seems to be what Reginald already had access to. There were now various beast-people (real life furries), demi-humans (humans with beast ears, eyes, tails, and senses, but not fur or hooves and paws), elves, dwarves, draconians, elementals, gummy (not to be confused with the slime monsters), lolis, futas, even a group of five anime otaku who had their race changed to a knock off of the saiyan race called 'Tellin'.

After skimming through the news, Reginald quickly checked to see if he had been declared dead, which was a no, his body apparently not having been discovered yet. Then he accessed his email site and sent out emails to his guildmates, parents, and siblings to let them know that he wasn't actually dead, despite the fact that he has been missing for two months. He even typed out his status screen for his guildmates, other than his name, which he removed from it because of Guild Policy. He sent it and ended Communion because his mana bar was down to about half full.

Ability Level Up!

Digital Communion - 2/100

+10 Shielding

+0.1/sec Mana Regen

Digital Communion - 3/100

+10 Shielding

+0.1/sec Mana Regen

Fragmentation +0.5%

Reginald absorbed an 8 cubic foot room outside the door of his 'core room' as he started thinking of the cube from outer space, costing himself 800 of his remaining 1500, leaving him with 700/3000 Mana. He activated 'Sleep', and selected 'Until Mana is fully regenerated' as his sleep timer, waking up 23 minutes later with a fully charged mana bar. In the empty room, he quickly made an altar from granite instead of regular stone for an extra 250 mana, and then spent a total of 1,500 mana on Deity Statue of Borick, since it said that marble was a much higher quality conductor of Divine Will and would grant me a +100 Favor with any deity I made a statue out of Marble.

Apparently, Borick was a man with four arms and a pair of tablets loaded with a huge encyclopedia of gaming information. He wore a hooded cloak, and had a bag of dice at his belt. Inside the hood, he had four eyes and glasses on both sets. He also had extremely pointed ears and a great big smile.

Ability Level Up!

Construct - 2/100

+25 Maximum Mana

+0.3/sec Mana Regen

Increased number of default Blueprints

Construct - 3/100

+50 Maximum Mana

+0.5/sec Mana Regen

+250 Divine Favor with Borick, God of LAG. (100 + 150 Bonus as Patron)

Increased number of default Blueprints.

Congratulations! You can Level up!

You have spent 3,550 Mana on your Dungeon!

Current Experience: 3,550/1,000

Level Up locked until you have talked with your Patron.

*Gah...*