Holly became aware of her surroundings slowly. She couldn’t see or feel anything around her but she wasn’t uncomfortable. A screen popped up in her awareness accompanied by a soothing voice.

  Dungeon Core is now online.

  Dungeon Integration Core System starting integration process.

  Please try to remain calm while the integration process is completed.

  The Dungeon Integration Core System appreciates your patience.

  Integration into Pallimore’s Magic Interface System process:

  (3%)

  (5%)

  (7%)

  Holly’s mind felt slow and sluggish as she watched the numbers go up.

  She was in some kind of cave, there was light but that's not how she was seeing. She could feel the damp cave around her like it was her own body. There was something floating in the middle of the cave. A crystal structure encasing a metal orb about the size of a softball was shining with an intense light. Around the middle of the crystal is a metal circlet like a crown. The circlet was floating like the crystal, not attached to anything. Holly knew on some instinctive level that this was her, her body, her Dungeon core.

  (42%)

  (69%)

  (100%)

  Integration complete. You are now a part of the Magical Interface System of Pallimore. The Dungeon Integration Core System thanks you for volunteering to be a Dungeon Core and for your patience during the integration process. Any further questions can be directed to your Dungeon Familiar. Enjoy your new life!

  When whatever process was occurring seemed to finish, her mind became clear and sharp, like she had just taken a shot of espresso the morning after staying up half the night.

  “Wha…what's going on? Where am I?” Something about her voice sounded wrong. It was too tiny.

  “Classic first words,” snorted a voice from the darkness.

  Then a multi-colored cat stepped into the light. It was the size of a dog but had the build of a house cat and its fur was shifting colors, pink and purple stripes in some places, blue and gray in others, and lastly black and white covered the rest, the color and style of its fur constantly changing.

  “I’ll do my best not to overwhelm you with information, but you have a lot of catching up to do. You’re in the medium leagues now kid.” Watching the cat talk was unnerving. Cats' mouths weren’t supposed to move like that. It was almost like it was animated but with an uncanny effect. He also sounded British.

  Holly was still trying to process the absurdity of the situation and her new bizarre senses. She considered the possibility that she’d lost her grip on reality, or that she was dreaming, but dismissed it just as quickly—she wasn’t imaginative enough to invent something this alien to her life.

  She could feel the water dripping down the walls like a light spring shower on her skin but she didn’t feel cold. She could feel the cat walking on her floors as clearly as she could see him. She didn’t even understand how she was seeing considering she didn't seem to have eyes anymore. Fortunately for her, that cat started talking again interrupting her from her impending panic attack.

  “I’m supposed to kind of ease you into this so I’ll answer your questions as much as I can. What’s going on is rather complicated. You died, my condolences by the way, then you chose to sign up for the Dungeon Core Program and were reincarnated as a dungeon core. The reason you don’t remember your death is because dying tends to be traumatic. So we suppress those memories to make the transition easier. The reason you don’t remember anything about being dead is for a completely different reason that isn’t really relevant to your current situation. You can opt out of being a dungeon core at any time but it means you will die again and your life as a dungeon core will be over.”

  The cat sat patiently, their tail twitching and multi-color fur swirling lazily. They were clearly giving her time to process the new information.

  She tried to think about the last thing she remembered. It had just been another day. She had worked and then gone to the pharmacy. She had still been mourning the recent death of her cat from liver failure. Once again the cat interrupted her train of thought. It was starting to become a pattern.

  “As for where you are. You are now on the planet of Pallimore, on the lost continent under Thaine mountain," the kaleidoscopic cat said.

  The cat made a motion as though pulling something out of their pockets, but the cat didn’t have pockets and just pulled a small orb out of nowhere. The prismatic cat manipulated the small round device with surprisingly dexterous paws. Turning it and pressing buttons until it projected a map onto the wall.

  The map was of a planet with one large continent and two smaller ones. The map zoomed in on a continent that was more of a large island, about the size of Texas, off the shore of the main continent. It was marked as The Lost Continent/The Fallen continent.

  The map zoomed in even more to a single solitary mountain. Which seemed wrong to Holly. She didn’t remember much about geography but most mountains were supposed to be part of ranges and solitary mountains were supposed to be massive or volcanic. This one was small, she supposed it could have been volcanic but if she was under the mountain then it didn’t feel very volcanic.

  “To cover some of your follow up questions. I am Cheshire. I will be acting as your dungeon familiar and guide. I’m a tulpa, which means I’m not literally the character from Lewis Carrol's story. I am a manifestation of the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the Cheshire character and that's all I would like to say about my origins.” Cheshire introduced himself.

  Holly found the revelations of other worlds and a talking cat who claimed to be a manifestation of a character from her favorite children's book much easier to accept than she should have. Why wouldn’t this be her reality? Given everything going on back home, this new insanity was pretty straight forward.

  She had read plenty of isekai manga and litRPGs. If she really was dead this would be what she would have chosen if given the option. Being reborn into a world with real magic as someone who could control her immediate surroundings and create to her hearts content sounded like a dream come true.

  Then she had an idea. She focused and a screen popped up. It was as easy as thinking, like reaching for water when she was thirsty. She knew she could do it with just an absent thought.

  Welcome to your Dungeon Integration Core System

  Please acknowledge that you have read and understand the conditions of your contract. (Your soul resonance signature has already been accepted on this contract.)

  The mountainous amount of text that accompanied the message was intimidating, even to someone who was used to reading contracts and user agreements. She could just imagine the thick stack of papers this would make if printed out.

  Although something about the introduction caught her eye.

  “Cheshire, why is this a dick system?” She said apprehensively

  This order of the words had to be on purpose. Dungeon core integration system sounded better and made more sense.

  The cat gave a heavy sign before answering.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Because Bas, the god who oversees the dungeon core program, has a childish sense of humor, doubly so when he gets to pull one over on the other gods.”

  Holly wished she could still face-palm.

  “You're not exactly filling me with confidence for this god or his dick system”

  “Please stop saying dick system.” The tulpa said

  “Honestly if i knew it would stick i never would have helped him.” He muttered.

  Unfortunately for him, Holly was in the room so she picked up every word. She chose not to say anything though. Starting off by sassing her new feline mentor over something that was clearly supposed to be a harmless prank that had gone too far, wouldn’t be the best foot to start off on. But why did it have to be a dick system?

  Once again she found herself wanting to rub her temples to soothe a headache she couldn’t have. Being a core would take time to get used to… or, she wondered, could she find a way to make herself a human avatar?

  A thought she tucked away for later before turning her attention back to the screen in front of her. It didn’t interfere with her sight at all. She “saw” everything in the room all at once, but couldn’t perceive anything beyond it. Pretty classic dungeon core set up from the litRPGs she had read.

  “So it says I already signed this contract with my “soul renaissance signature” What exactly does that mean?” Holly asked.

  "Of course you already signed the contract. They wouldn't have put you in a core and integrated you into the system if you hadn't already signed the paperwork. The S.R.S. is just an imprint of your soul frequency. It’s like a finger print or retina scan, but more you. Basically we have your DNA on file to make sure it’s you. We can’t have souls trying to run off with our cores or try to pretend to be someone else.”

  “Wait, that's possible?” Holly asked, "Spiritual identity theft?”

  “No, that’s why we have security in place, to make sure that doesn’t happen.” The cat answered dryly.

  “I can show you how to pull it up again, so you can read through it later. However, we have a lot to get through and not a lot of time before someone figures out there's a new dungeon core in this area.” He continued

  Holly was forced to acknowledge that Cheshire had a point. Yet some small paranoid part of her mind told her she should be more skeptical about the situation. She was accepting all of this way too easily. But the feeling was snuffed out almost as soon as it formed.

  Dungeon Core System

  Name:Holly Rose Penhaligan

  Roll: Dungeon Core Administrator

  Admin Level: Dungeon Core

  M.I.S. Knowledge Engine Tutorials Library

  Well at least they had the good sense not to put D.I.C.S. right in her face. Then she paused and wondered why her soul self ever agreed to this.

  The newly formed core turned her attention back to her dungeon familiar, who had started floating around the room while she wasn’t paying attention. He was still fiddling with the orb in his paws.

  “So what is all of this and how do I use it?” She asked.

  “If only there was a tab marked tutorials that could potentially give you some idea what you’re supposed to be doing. You’re a smart girl, I’m sure you can figure it out.” The kaleidoscopic cat shot back as he started tossing the ball up and catching it. There was something disturbing about looking at his paws, since feline paws weren’t supposed to move like that.

  “Well if I can figure it out myself then why are you here?” Holly said, finally letting her anxiety and frustration bleed out.

  “Oh I’m here for companionship, to try to keep you from doing anything too stupid, to monitor your mental health, and to report back if you start going off your rocker like trying to take over the world or something.” He said catching the ball in his paw and gripping it somehow.

  The Dungeon Core who was once a woman didn’t have a spine anymore. But a shiver still ran down her non-existent spine at those words anyway.

  Cheshire flipped over, stood in mid air as all color bled from him until he was just black and white. She realised he was standing right in front of her crystal, staring at her core. With her new decentralized perspective she hadn't realized how close to her core he had gotten.

  “Holly, I need you to understand something. I will do my best to fulfill my obligation, to care for you, and be a friend to you. But I am not a person as you understand them. I am a living concept and I am old. Older than the book that is my origin on your planet. I have to report back to Bas if you break the terms of your contract. It is part of my contract and I don’t have as much freedom to break my contract as a mortal does. Even one reborn as a core. “ The cat spoke earnestly, which felt completely unnatural from the Cheshire cat. As he stared at her he blinked slowly and deliberately twice.

  “Why.. Why are you telling me this?” Holly finally choked out, which was much harder to do since she no longer had a throat.

  “Because there are no rules telling me I can’t.” The cat’s signature grin split his face, but he blinked deliberately once.

  “Cheshire, I can trust you right?” She asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

  “Of course you can.” He answered still grinning but then he blinked once.

  Holly suddenly felt the weight of the mountain she was under. Wanting to distract herself, she opened up the tutorial tab. It had a similar set up to the training courses at some companies she had worked at. There was a side bar labeled “Classes”. They had names like: “Your Mobs and you” or “Leveling!? How's that work?” with thumbnails of the videos in each class.

  The first one was open and took up the main part of her screen. It was titled “How to be a Dungeon Core”. The first video “M.I.S. Information”, she could just see the title of the next video “Dungeon Building for Beginners".

  ‘Cute’ She thought to herself as she focused on picking the video.

  “M.I.S. stands for Magic Interface System and is how you will interact with the world of Pallimore. All the sentient beings of Pallimore have access to their own form of the Magic Interface System.”

  “Hey before you get started on those tutorials you should start expanding your influence.” Her “completely trustworthy” familiar interrupted.

  But it was a good idea. Once he said it, the cliché was inescapable: first you're a dungeon core, then you're a landlord.

  “How exactly do I do that?” She asked.

  “It should be in your MIS tab, then go to ‘Dungeon Builder’. It should be one of your starting abilities.”

  The dungeon builder tab pulled up a 3D model of her dungeon, which was just this one cave.

  Dungeon Name: Holly

  Type: Magic

  Subtype: Magic Craft

  Admin level: Dungeon Core

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  She soon found the expanded influence option and started the process. Her mana bar started dropping fairly quickly. The feeling of what amounted to her body growing rapidly was an odd sensation. Then, a concerning thought struck her.

  “I won't die or anything if my mana bottoms out right?”

  “No, but you will get the mother of all migraines.”

  “Blink on it.” she shot back suspiciously.

  The cat, whose other colors had returned, rolled his eyes dramatically then blinked twice. Satisfied she looked back at her Dungeon interface, it looked like her surroundings were mostly made of solid stone except for some smaller tunnels and caverns. The top of the interface caught her attention again.

  “Cheshire, what exactly is a “magic craft” Dungeon?”

  “There should be a video on your type in the beginners course, but I can give you the short version. Your core is specialized to make things with magic, enchantments, potions, constructs and stuff like that.”

  Turning her attention back to her mana bar that was still dropping.

  ‘I wish I could see it while watching videos.’

  No sooner the newly reborn core had the thought than her mana bar moved from her dungeon interface to the top under her admin level.

  ‘Oh that's going to be useful’

  She stopped the expansion of her influence for now, letting her core regenerate mana as she went back to watching videos. This pattern repeated for the next several hours and Holly entered study grind mode from her university days. Learning more about her new world as she expanded the space she could use for her dungeon.