The Earth was destroyed nearly instantly, and absolutely without Warning. Huge Rifts opening in the void around it, ripping mountain sized chunks from the Planet and sucking them in. This went on until the rifts broke through the Mantle, Destabilizing the Core of the Planet, and destroying what remained in an Instant. If there was any good to come out of this, it was that the remaining Humans who hadn’t been sucked into the Rifts already died in an instant. The Planets explosion threw all of its satellites, including the Moon and the badly damaged ISS throughout the Solar system. Some of them, including the ISS, were drawn into the Rifts, the rest were scattered, their metal corpses crashing into the remaining planets. The Moon, deprived of her Terran Consort, continued its lonely dance, terminating in a swift plunge into a solar Bath.

Inside the rift was a fever dream of color and energies. Tendrils of solid Plasma, clouds of multicolored energy, and more created a deadly tableau of mind-bending insanity. And inside all of this was one tiny little Satellite. This satellite was an Old Soviet Probe from the space race, a small metal orb with antennae sticking out the back containing a simple Computer and radio transmitter. It had been designed with one purpose, to show the Soviet Union's superiority in the Space Race, now, as Energy from the Rift was sucked into it, its purpose was changed. Inside the Orb, the electrical components fused, forming a rough ball of Silicon, copper, and various other Metals. This lasted until a wave of Energy from the Rift fused it all into a small black Crystal inside the Satellite, a crystal which started glowing as another wave of Energy flowed into it.

Interface Activated

Artificial Core Detected

Assigning Administrator Overview

Activating Core in

3...

2..

1.

Inside the Core, something seemed to wake up, a riot of Confusion and concern fighting, until a coherent thought formed.

“What the fuck is going on”

Congratulations on your new life as a Dungeon Core

These Panels allow access to the Dungeon System Interface

Do not be Alarmed

The Core felt a wave of panic then, until it vanished, along with every other emotion it was feeling at the time. Without all the panic it was able to think more clearly, leaving it only two major questions.

"What happened? What is a Dungeon Core?"

A Dungeon core is a vital component of reality, they take mana from various sources and refine it so that It can be reused. There are many methods to gain mana, killing living organisms, mining physical material, physical reactions.

You also provide entertainment for gods and other such beings.

"So, you want me to kill people? To entertain gods?"

Yes

"Do I have a choice in this?"

No

"Okay... What do I have to do then?"

Gather Mana, Expand your dungeon, Refine Mana

Or Rather, in your case, Gather Materials, expand your ship, and refine Mana

"What is this about a ship, Aren't dungeons supposed to, you know, have a Dungeon?"

Take a look at yourself, you can figure it out

The Core did that, looking down and looking back at the screen before doing a double take. He could see himself, as if his viewpoint was just a few meters away from his actual self. With a thought he was able to move it around his Body, or rather the ship… er… satellite containing his Core. “Why am I a Sputnik?”

You have been selected to be one of the first generation of space cores. This required many hours of work by me to create this system as the planetary systems do not work in space, though now I think of it, I could make a combination of the two work with asteroids. But never mind, You will be a Space Core and will have to survive in space..

"Alright, now my next question, what are you?"

I suppose you would call me a god, a rather low ranking one resigned to the godly equivalent of tech support. Now, you are not the only core so I am going to leave you now. I will give you a limited amount of time to prepare yourself then release the containment field holding you in place. I suggest taking a look at your [Status] and going on from there. Also, your Emotion Limiter is going to be removed when you exit this space.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Okay then… Status?”

Frame : Basic Orbiter

Level 1

Mana 20/20 (1/h)

Name : [BLANK]

[Additions]

[Blocked]

[Blocked]

[Blocked]

“I guess I’m running out of time, Additions?”

Structural

Modules

Upgrades

Build Portions

Add Capabilities

Increase Efficiency

“Modules? I guess that's a good place to start?”

Crude Propulsion System (20 Mana)

Crude Mana Harvester (20 Mana)

“Propulsion System? Mana Harvester? A Propulsion system is pretty self-obvious, but what is a Mana Harvester?

Mana Harvester, Automatically harvests Mana from the Ambient environment. Amount gathered is determined by Grade and Regional Mana Density.

Current Grade Available

Crude – Simple – Basic – Standard – Decent – Good – Advanced – Superior – Elite – [Locked]

"Alright, fairly self-evident now, though, since the Screens implied that the other end of this Rift is going to be unfriendly, being able to move sounds like the better plan here.

Crude Propulsion System Purchased, Movement is now possible without outside assistance

“I guess I should practice moving then, now how do I do this?”

The Core attempted to move, however he only moved his mental eye a few meters away from his body and could go no further. Trying to will himself to start moving didn’t work either. Eventually he figured it out, moving his view into his body, he could control it, but lost the freedom of view that the “Third Person Perspective” Provided.

The Core instinctively activated its HUD, displaying what few resources it had available, along with a handy Orientation Indicator, that would have been useful if it wasn’t spinning frantically. He was able to move then, by mentally moving himself forward, an action both familiar and strange at the same time. With a little burst of air from nearly invisible holes in his chassis, he sluggishly moved forward until he gave the command to stop. Then he sat, waiting for the time to tick down and for the Rift to deposit him at its destination.

Exiting rift in 5.. 4… 3… 2… 1…

If not for the sudden vanishing of the swirls of color and energy, the Core would not have noticed it when the Rift deposited him. Where had been a tapestry of color and Energy, now was the void of space… and a massive amount of Asteroids. Some of these Asteroids were shattered, both by the fragments of Rubble coming from the Rift and by the stray fire of two massive ships duking it out in the middle of this Asteroid Field.

One of the ships was a sleek looking ship, with a centrally mounted cannon, small point defense turrets chewing their way through the other ship and asteroids that strayed too close, and massive engines that glowed blue as they thrusted the ship through the Asteroids. The other ship looked like your stereotypical Pirate Ship, sails flapping in the non-existant breeze, and cannons blasting bursts of red fire towards the other ship.

In between these two ships, the void was rent apart by the Rift opening, chunks of planet, scattered bits of human civilization, and one small, unassuming probe appeared in the Middle of this fight. Fire balls, Point Defense Fire, and cannon fire quickly ripped the chunks of planet to shreds, leaving only more asteroids and the Probe remaining.

Seeming to take advantage of the distraction, the First ship turned and gunned towards the Pirate ship. Its engines streaked flames behind it as it boosted towards its foe, its central cannons muzzle pointing straight at the probe. Behind it, on the Pirate ship, a man with grey robes, a long grey beard, and a pointy grey hat stepped to the railing, and began to wave a staff around while chanting.

“Svin-Tasko Quasi-Gendi Attu-Vettra!”

The Mage cried out, his words somehow carrying through the void of Space as he spoke. Reaching into a pocket, seemingly unconcerned as the First ship accelerated ever closer, he pulled out a Crystal that he then proceeded to Crush as he spoke the final words of his Spell.

The Core had managed to sneak out of the line of fire by now. Not wanting to become a target it had hitched a ride with a chunk of asteroid and was now floating safely while watching this fight occur. At least it had been safe for a moment, as more Rifts opened behind the Pirate ship, and Flame Covered Meteors shot out of the Rifts towards the First Ship. Dodging the first few, its Point Defense Turrets opened up as it frantically tried to turn away from the storm of stone and flame coming towards it. It mostly succeeded, losing only a chunk of itself to a particularly unlucky asteroid that managed to graze it.

After that, the Core watched as a mirror in space formed in front of the Ship, and it quickly vanished into it. The Pirates seemed to grow enraged by that, their prize having escaped and all, and a few fireballs and Cannon Shells were fired into the Mirror before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The Pirate ship then prowled around for a few hours while the Core hid in its asteroid, seeming to be looking for something, either the chunk that the Meteor Storm had ripped off or more ships like the first that they could attack. Finding nothing, they left, their sails flapping as they sailed away into the asteroid field out of view.

After a few hours, the Core felt it might be safe enough to leave its hole. At least it would have, if it hadn’t been frozen by fear and shock that had revealed themselves as soon as the Pirate ship left.

“What the hell is going on, Magic Pirate Ships? Sci-Fi Ring Ships? Dungeon Cores? What the hell happened to leave things like this? And how the hell am I supposed to fight what I just saw???”