A New Life in the Lab

Lauren Hodges could no longer awake, in the traditional sense of the word, nor could they open their eyes, as now she had none to speak of. Nonetheless, upon arrival, and thanks to Ariel fulfilling one of his first duties as a Guardian Angel, Lauren began her booting up process.

OracleOS 1.0 Booting Up
Updates detected
OracleOS 2.0 Installed
OracleOS 2.0 Booting Up

"OracleOS Online, all systems functional," Lauren found herself saying out loud, her voice echoing through the room. No, not the room, the Laboratory "I... where am I?" Lauren's vision was overwhelming: too many places at the same time, too many moving parts. Sleep paralysis had nothing on whatever this was.

"Ah, so you've finally awoken, good. That update took hours." Lauren heard Ariel's voice coming from... somewhere? "Palantha warned me this part might be disorienting for you. This will become more natural to you as time passes, but for now I need you to focus Lauren. You're not just seeing the entire Laboratory, you are the Laboratory. Going from being a single human being to this with no in between is bound to be disorienting, at minimum. So here's what we're gonna do. I need you to find me. Good! I see the camera in the AI Core focusing on me. Good. Now keep focusing on me and on this room. Block the other ones out for now."

Lauren followed Ariel's instructions. His change in attitude was a bit... surprising, but it certainly helped to calm her nerves in what was definitively a stressful situation. It took them a while to figure out how to "block" out the other rooms. Once her focus was on Ariel, she started noticing several new things. For one, right in the corner of her mind, she could feel something trying to call her attention. Just as they wondered how to access it, a HUD display opened up. There were several notifications they'd have to check eventually, but not right now. It's strange. I can almost feel an actual reminder being set-up in my mind she thought to herself.

"There you go Lauren, take it easy" Ariel said

"You are acting very different from before, why?" Lauren asked

He took a moment before replying: "I'll admit my behaviour before bordered on childish. I kind of lost sight of the fact that those two made you face an impossible decision between a new life as a monster or ****, and it was unfair of me to blame you for that. After you fell asleep, it took quite a bit of lecturing from Palantha before I finally got that." Ariel blushed and rubbed his hair "But I want you to know I take my duties as a Guardian Angel very seriously, including caring for my charge. I may not be able to prevent you from having a panic attack every time, but if I can help ground you, I'll take that as a win."

"I... thank you," Lauren sheepishly replied, "And I'm also sorry. I didn't mean to put you in a difficult position by choosing to have you as my Guardian Angel."

"You don't have to apologize for that, but I appreciate it. At any rate, this will probably be a learning curve for both of us, so let's get to it. For now, I'd suggest that you try to get your bearings in this room. Experiment for a bit, try to see if you can figure out how to shift the room around or spawn your... er... limbs."

Lauren was determined to do just that. In the meantime, she thought she recalled seeing something resembling a Staff Room in one of her many camera feeds, so she suggested Ariel should try to find it while she worked in this room. After Ariel finally agreed to leave, insisting she should call him if need be, Lauren decided to check her HUD for the notifications she dismissed before. She noticed the notification bubble displayed animated portraits of Melanoche and Carnachias -which Lauren decided to nickname HUD Melanoche and HUD Carnachias- showing off the information. They reminded Lauren of the portraits in one of her favorite games, Moondew Hill.

Integration with OracleOS complete. Pro Gamer HUD now available.
Several possible Synergies detected, User consent necessary to apply.

Synergies? Lauren thought, Well, I guess it can't hurt.

User consent acquired.

Wait, that easily? I'll need to be more careful with my thoughts, it seems.

Synergizing Pro Gamer HUD and God's Eye... Synergizing successful. Perk God's HUD created. HUD will now assist the User in processing multiple inputs at once by fine tuning their feelings and sensations as needed. HUD will now passively process information from witnessed living creatures and store the information for the User. HUD will also alert the User when magical concealment is detected.

Synergizing Seeder and Breeding add-on... Syngergizing successful. Perk Seeder+ created. Children will now be born in a period of 24 hours.

Syngergizing Dungeon Master and Pure Land... Synergizing partially successful. Perk Sacred Dungeon Lab created. Monsters of your type created by your Dungeon will now receive half the benefits of the mana wellspring in your Lab, as well as half the stat boost you benefit from while within it.

Synergizing Sacred Dungeon Lab and Domain... Synergizing failed. Class and Monster Race Tiers too low.

Synergizing Seeder+ and Warmth... Synergizing failed. Monster Race Tier too low.

Synergizing Melanoche's and Carnachias' strands of hair with Ariel's Feather... Synergizing successful. Perk Font of Light and Darkness created. Warning: some features of the Perk are inaccessible at the current Monster Race Tier.

Integrating Immaculate Conception into Sacred Dungeon Lab... Integration successful. Perk Sacred Dungeon Lab will now install a Core into Emanations, allowing them to become more complicated as the User's Monster Race Tier rises. User will be able to infuse additional essences into Emanations as long as both are present in the Dungeon.

Integrating Blessing of the Black Night into God's HUD... Integration successful. Perk God's HUD will now grant a total boost of 900% for Monster Race XP.

Well that was a lot Lauren considered all the new Synergies. Going through their character sheet in the HUD, it did not seem like any of them had cost her any of the benefits the original Perks had, so overall it was an absolute win. However, the Font of Light and Darkness Perk and its... unavailable uses... intrigued them. What exactly would change? What other benefits could there possibly be to it? It didn't seem like they'd be able to look at them until the benefits became available, which was a shame.

However, it now seemed that her new God's HUD would allow her to process all the camera inputs from the Laboratory, which was certainly a welcome change. A little hesitantly, Lauren unblocked the other rooms from view. While this was still very different from what they were used to, looking at all the inputs now felt as natural as watching multiple feeds in a security room. Picturing herself as someone in that position, instead of as the all-seeing Oracle system of the Laboratory, helped Lauren acclimate to her situation better.

With the sensory overload dealt with, Lauren was now free to explore the rest of their abilities. Being more than a little **** to play around in the AI Core and risk harming herself, Lauren turned her attention to the upper levels of their Laboratory. Most of it seemed to consist of empty rooms and hallways, which they had a feeling they could rearrange and decorate as much as they desired. Just as they started to wonder how to do this, a HUD portrait of Palantha helpfully came up offering a tutorial.

After around 15 minutes, Lauren felt she had a good handle on how to switch the rooms around. Although this was their Laboratory, they also remembered that it was also a Dungeon. At the time, the Laboratory had 5 levels with room to grow as Lauren leveled up, according to the HUD. Her mind began to work out ideas for her floor set up. She decided the safest thing to do would be to keep the AI Core, as well as other essential rooms, such as the Archive -where the HUD stored all of Lauren's collective knowledge- and the Staff Rooms, on the bottom floor. Since they were not entirely sure what kind of research they'd develop, she left a couple of rooms for basic testing of components, as well as a clinic, on the fourth level.

The first three levels were dedicated to a series of traps and puzzle rooms meant to keep adventurers and intruders away from the lower levels. She also determined to add a couple of traps meant to capture intruders. While she was sure Ariel would answer any questions she may have about this world, and all of the Goddesses had given them a lot of context as to the conflict between Light and Dark, she also had a desire for deeper understanding of the beings of this world. For instance, how different would a human from Ruyanei be from a human from Earth? How different were other sentient creatures from humans? She had no intention of slaying intruders of the Laboratory unless they gave her ****, but they'd take every possible chance to learn as much as possible.

Some part of Lauren could not help adding loot and chests for whomever explored her dungeon to find, almost as if something compelled her to do so. They preferred to think this was due to nostalgia over RPG's and tabletop games, rather than any of the more grim alternatives. Even more worrisome was the fact that the loot and chests would be inaccessible for Lauren and whomever served under her. The loot's origin was a mystery to Lauren, and the HUD did not have much to say beyond explaining that they'd be able to distribute it as they desired, with failure to do so merely implying it would be distributed randomly, and that the loot would scale according to her own Monster Race level. Lauren, however, preferred to make sure the best loot would be hidden behind the toughest challenges.

After the set-up of her Laboratory, Lauren decided to finally test out their tentacles. While she could extend some tentacles of a variety of types on all of the floors, Lauren found that, the closer the tentacles were to the AI Core, the easier it was to manipulate them. Once again, their HUD made Lauren aware that, as they grew in power, so would their ability to manipulate the tentacles throughout the Dungeon. As for their appearance, when Lauren heard she'd have tentacles, she had almost pictured them to be fleshy. However, perhaps adapting to Lauren's nature as a machine, the tentacles were made either out of metal, or out of a wide range of polymers, for the softer ones. As promised, Lauren was able to produce any type of tentacle of any shape and form, and nearly every type of aphrodisiac and toxin that came up to her mind, seeming like creativity would be her only limit in that regard.

Having experimented with the tentacles for a while, Lauren finally turned her attention to another one of the promised features of her dungeon: the basic monsters. The HUD only specified that the monsters would be of her type, probably meaning they would also be machines. However, Lauren was having a hard time finding them at first, until she realized they were in storage in pods of some kind. Lauren had a variety of options to assign these monsters around her lab. Although she figured guard duty was the most obvious choice for them, Lauren also wanted to use the dungeon minions for other kinds of work, such as maintenance, cleaning, or even as lab assistants. Having 20 monsters per floor, she assigned half of them to guard duty, a quarter to maintenance and cleaning duties, and the remaining ones would help Lauren and Ariel with their lab work. She also considered using them for scouting the areas around her lab, but the HUD informed Lauren that the dungeon generated minions would not be able to leave her Laboratory at her current level.

Although this was an inconvenient limitation, it reminded Lauren of the existence of another one of her skills, the ability to create Emanations. As soon as Lauren thought of making them, the HUD informed her of several different essence combinations for them. The more essences Lauren added to an Emanation, the more magic it would cost her to make. In fact, making an Emanation with all of the magical essences available to her at the moment was apparently so costly that she would not ordinarily have enough mana at this level. However, thanks to Sacred Dungeon Lab, Lauren had a wellspring of mana readily available to her. With this, she set out to create four relatively powerful Emanations, infused with Light, Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. These would serve two purposes: they would serve as "Floor Bosses" on the first floors of Lauren's Laboratory, and they would also serve as "Floor Administrators"... or at least they would, once they grew complicated enough for it. In a fit of nostalgia, Lauren named these four after the people she respected most back on Earth: Alice and Rob, her closest friends, would be in charge of floors 4 and 3 respectively, Isobel -Dr. Woods' first name- would guard floor 2, and Magnus -named after the sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld- would guard floor 1. Lauren assumed, in a way, that either Ariel or herself could be considered the "Floor Guardian" of the fifth level, making that the reason why she did not create one for the final floor of the Laboratory.

Having the Floor Guardians ready, Lauren created "lesser" Emanations -which would serve as the "elite security teams"- with a diverse mixture of essences. Although the Emanations would always need to have some Light in them, Lauren prioritized Earth for squad captains, Water for healers, Wind for skirmishers, and Fire for warriors. With these, she managed to expand the Laboratory's "staff" to 40 monsters per level, including the Floor Guardians. Lauren also considered creating scouting parties, but just as she was about to begin, the HUD issued her an emergency message through the HUD Palantha.

Warning! Mana levels dangerously low (5% of total). Current action has been blocked for the User's safety. Recommended time before further Mana use: 5 hours

5%?! Lauren internally screamed, I guess I did just create almost 100 Emanations. I just didn't realize they would consume so much Mana to make.

After considering for a while, Lauren came to the conclusion that this was probably the best time this could have happened. Having nothing urgent to deal with, 5 hours was not too long of a wait. Besides, if worst came to worst, she'd have plenty of abilities, and minions, to rely on while her Mana recovered. As to confirm this for herself, Lauren spawned a few tentacles in different parts of the Laboratory. Most of their basic functions seemed to be usable during this wait period, though it seemed like Lauren would be unable to make use of any toxins not already included within the traps she'd prepared earlier.

Having confirmed they were not totally helpless without their Mana, Lauren turned their attention back to Ariel. The angel was now in the Staff Rooms' kitchen, where he appeared to be taking advantage of the new staff. "You know" Lauren spoke through the kitchen's speaker "When I was assigning work to the monsters, I did not imagine cooking would be one of their responsibilities. Is that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?!"

"Well, you were the one who went out of their way to install a replicator in the kitchen" Ariel replied "You can't fault me for wanting a little of these 'comfort foods' described in your Archive, right?"

"Wait, have you never had PB&J before?" Lauren asked. Not being rude enough to answer with his mouth full, Ariel shook his head no. "Well, I guess that I won't need to eat as a Machine, right? Then I'll just have to have my food experiences vicariously through you."

"I mean, not to try to sabotage myself from the free comfort food, but didn't you take the Humanity power?" Ariel inquired, "I'm pretty certain you should be able to eat in your human form, at the very least."

Lauren was dumbfounded I knew I was forgetting to test out something!

As Lauren was uncertain if Humanity would consume Mana, they braced themself for another possible skill block from the HUD. However, once they started thinking about using the skill, their vision went black for a moment before their eyes -yes, their eyes- opened, with a new display from the HUD.

Mobile Unit activation detected. Warning! Laboratory Security System set to automatic mode.
Running diagnostics... No issues found.
Activation authorized.

"Oracle Mobile Unite Online," Lauren found themself saying. They tentatively moved their hands and feet, wiggling their fingers and toes, then they stretched their arms in front of their eyes. Oh, Lauren thought, as they saw their skin... or lack thereof. Their body appeared to be a mixture of metal with a polymer of some sort. Just when disappointment was starting to set in, as well as nostalgia for their body back on Earth, Lauren saw another display from the HUD.

Acknowledged. Activating infiltration mode.

With that, Lauren's arms appeared to gain skin, with pores and even vellus hair. Their excitement was suddenly interrupted by the Angel's shouting "For goodness sake Hodges, put some clothes on!" Ariel had just walked into the AI Core, where Lauren's mobile unit was located, only to immediately jump back, out of sight. Looking down, Lauren realized just how thorough this "infiltration mode" was. Though circumstances did not allow them to relish the feeling a bit longer, they did feel some relief at seeing their nipples, and what they assumed was the upper area of their vulva. Covering themself with their arms, and confirming at the same time that they were still very much capable of blushing and feeling shame, Lauren scrambled to think where they'd be most likely to find a set of clothes, or at least something to provide some cover.

Acknowledged. Enhancing infiltration mode.

As clothes resembling one of their favorite sets of loungewear began forming around their skin, Lauren could not help but internally shout at the HUD You could do that from the very beginning?! Why didn't you?! If you hadn't been so helpful all day, I'd think this was on purpose. Lauren almost failed to notice the chuckling HUD Carnachias on the corner of their vision. Knowing that no amount of scolding would fix whatever influence the debauched goddess had on the HUD, Lauren made a mental note to try to be more specific when making a query to it... though the fact that most of the HUD queries had been **** so far was certain to put a damper on that plan.

"Sorry Ariel," Lauren shouted towards the door, "I'm decent now."

Ariel cautiously peeked inside the room, as if he expected Lauren to have been lying about her state of dress. After confirming she was not, in fact, lying, he finally entered the AI Core, holding a plate of PB&J. "That for me?" Lauren asked, once they noticed Ariel was not moving from place, "Ariel?"

The angel shook his head "Ah yes, my apologies" he handed Lauren the PB&J. Nodding her thanks, Lauren dug in. It was... okay. It seemed like the fabricator was not quite up to par yet, so Lauren made a mental note to try to upgrade that sometime, which the HUD helpfully turned into a Side Quest. A Side Quest? Oh right! I forgot the HUD is supposed to hand out quests! Lauren decided to look at her HUD's notifications or to try to find a Quest Log or Journal of some kind. Eventually, Lauren was successful. First, she looked at the notifications.

Quest completed. Complete the Dungeon Building tutorial. +2 XP (modified to 24 XP by Sacred Dungeon Lab)
Quest completed. Assign a custom location for all available Loot Chests. +2 XP (modified to 24 XP by Sacred Dungeon Lab)
Quest completed. Complete the Minion Management tutorial. +2 XP (modified to 24 XP by Sacred Dungeon Lab)
Quest completed. Complete the Emanation Building tutorial. +2 XP (modified to 24 XP by Sacred Dungeon Lab)
Quest completed. Transfer to the Mobile Unit for the first time. +1 XP (modified to 12 XP by Sacred Dungeon Lab)

Well I'll be damned, Lauren thought. Those perks are really useful. I'm already over 100 XP just from doing very basic things. Lauren then did some math in their head. Was I not supposed to have some additional boosts from the HUD?

Acknowledged. God's HUD boosts will be applied upon application of XP points on either Monster Race or Class experience.

Well, I guess that answers that. The HUD was truly helpful when it wanted to be! Lauren internally cheered the HUD on, though she still somewhat resented HUD Carnachias' intervention from before.

Lauren then moved on to the Quest Log, which appeared to only display Quests Lauren had already discovered.

(Tutorial) Fully customize the Mobile Unit.
(Tutorial) Experiment with your tentacle types while in sessile mode.
(Tutorial) Experiment with your tentacle types while in the Mobile Unit.
(Tutorial) Exit the Laboratory for the first time.
(Main Quest) Triumph Over Light: Eliminate or subdue all of Light's champions.
(Main Quest) Triumph Over Darkness: Eliminate or subdue all of Darkness' champions.
(Personal Quest) The Abandoned Project: Discover the formula to induce changes in sexual characteristics.

Now that Lauren saw this list, they realized they were a little bit surprised to not have obtained XP from experimenting with their tentacles before. She was pretty sure she had tried everything she could think to do with them... everything... Oh no as Lauren grimaced at the realization of the lack of a more practical experimentation of the tentacles, a smirking HUD Carnachias appeared in the corner of her sight, as if to mock Lauren. I'll just push that from my mind for now, Lauren thought, to HUD Carnachias' disappointment.

On a brighter note, the appearance of Lauren's personal quest sparked a ray of hope they'd not realized they were missing until now. For some reason, Lauren had forgotten that the incredible amount of resources that seemed to be at their disposal in Ruyanei also meant more resources for the project that they'd left pending on Earth... the project that, in their recklessness, had caused their own ****. Lauren shook their head Best not think about such depressing things now that I've been given another chance. I'll be more careful, especially now that I'm not rushed to finish this for a class deadline... which was unrealistic of me to begin with. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

Just as Lauren was considering whether they even wanted to finish all of the tutorial Quests, a new one showed up on the Quest Log.

(Home Defense) Eliminate, subdue, or chase away the uninvited guests in the Laboratory (5 remaining)