Prologue: A Life Reforged

Darkness...

Pain...

An inability to so much as blink without unspeakable agony ripping through his body.

Where is he?

What happened to him?

Who is he?

These questions and more ripped through his mind as he tried to recall what happened to have him wind up wherever he is now. His body stubbornly remains heavy and unresponsive to his mind's commands.

Suddenly an agonizing flash of memories rushes through his mind's eye, jolting him back to full lucidity and clarity.

His name is Novak Neumann. Twenty years old. College student. Dual major in both IT and Innovative Engineering. He was just a single semester away from graduating. Orphaned at the age of six due to his parents being murdered. Their killer never caught, but suspected to have something to do with their work. His mother's in particular.

The orphaned son of two unsung heroes, now in a state where he is in unspeakable pain and misery. How did this happen?

It came flooding back to him in waves, along with the agony rushing right behind it. He recalled walking to his apartment after classes were let out. He'd been tormented by the same group of bullies since middle school. He only had to deal with them for just one last semester, then he'd finally get the last laugh. He'd designed some cybernetic prosthesis and artificial organs, decades ahead of anything else on the market. He'd become a billionaire the moment he patented them and got his company up and running.

But that's when it happened.

His primary tormentor, Isaac Dickins, and his usual entourage of four stooges, stereotypical jocks, all jumped him out of nowhere, stole his phone, wallet, and his bag containing the blueprints for his designs, then threw him into a shipping container filled with scrapped electronics. They locked him inside and left him there, right inside of an electronics recycling plant. He banged on the door, screaming to let him out for what had to have been hours before he ran out of energy to keep doing so.

He only hoped they'd at least check to make sure no one was inside before crushing the container with him inside it.

How naive he'd been.

He'd passed out from exhaustion when he's startled awake, by the loud sounds of machinery as the container he's in is lifted, jumbling him and the scrapped electronics around as the container is slowly crumbling inwards. He screamed at the top of his lungs, practically screaming bloody murder, yet no one heard him over the noise of the compacter and shredder's dual engines.

The agony of his body being crushed, the sheer stabbing pain of the scrapped electronics embedding itself into his flesh, the crunching of bone as his skeleton is forcibly pulverized into dust as metal is forcibly shoved into the openings in his skeletal structure. The burnt out electrical components shoved into the places originally belonging to his ruptured organs. The white-hot, mind-shattering agony of having his limbs torn to pieces as the compacted container was fed through the shredder.

And then the electric shock of a loose exposed wire shocked him with enough electricity to resuscitate him after electrocuting him to death. That was when his mind simply ceased functioning for a time. Before he woke up here, at least.

Groaning in sheer agony of the phantom pains still running fresh through his body, he widened his eyes in sheer horror at what became of his body. Entire chunks of his flesh were missing if not outright gone. In place of his limbs were instead what looked like metal scraps in a mockery of human limbs. His eyes simply could not believe what he was seeing. This had to be a nightmare. This couldn't be real!

But then something appeared in his vision. It looked like some kind of blinking icon, like a power button symbol. Focusing on it, it reacted to his mental command, thankfully. As he opened this icon, a new window appeared, dashing his hopes of this being just a very bad dream...

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[Host has died. Initiating resurrection fails-safe. Fails-safe activation successful.]

[Error! New Host Detected. Error! Host body damaged beyond ability to fully restore. Seeking restore through core logs. Error! Eidos Log incomplete. Seeking alternative methods. Searching...]

[Alert: Machine God Primus has taken notice of your circumstances, and has reviewed Host's Eidos Log.]

[The Machine God Primus has seen your plight, and is outraged at the indignities inflicted upon you.]

[The Blessing of the Machine God has been offered to you. Machine God Primus wishes to make you his Champion. Accept?]

[Yes/No]

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Seeing this, I honestly felt a maelstrom of emotions. I felt the urge to cry at the sheer agony I endured. I felt the urge to curse at fate itself for such a travesty to be forced upon me. But most of all, I felt the overwhelming desire to rage at the injustices I'd suffered for years only to be killed in such a cruel and malicious manner. After venting my frustrations for a few minutes, I finally settled back into a cool, calm, and level-headed mindset I always kept while bottling my emotions up and putting them away to deal with later.

So I died. What Isaac did this time went way beyond a simple malicious prank. He committed cold-blooded murder. He will not get away with this. Seeing the offer, I immediately considered my options. On the one hand, becoming a God's champion would have its perks. But on the other hand, it would not come without its share of responsibilities and duties.

Can I at least know what catches there may be to accepting before I do?

Suddenly the message window changes to a message from a different source. Wait, is he-

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[Your Duties and Responsibilities are simple. I will assign you a task every now and then, requesting your help in affairs throughout the multiverse. None will be impossible for you to achieve at the time. But not necessarily easy either. For each task you accomplish, you shall receive a boon from me as a reward. Do these terms suffice?]

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...okay, yeah, those are more than reasonable terms. So long as there's still a chance I can succeed at the tasks in question, then I don't mind having to do a few things every now and then for you. I then decided to accept his aid as a new window popped up into my vision. Before I could read it, a blob of liquid metal suddenly appeared and entered into my body through the missing sections of my flesh as it fused with me. What the fuck?!

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[Due to your original body being destroyed beyond full recovery, the Machine God Primus has offered to help rebuild your body through cybernetics and techno-organic reconstruction, based on the initial boons you pick as part of the deal made.]

[A protoform infusion is part of the deal, thus allowing you to effectively become a Child of Primus with a limited amount of some of his divine authority over machines. The machines and electronics that were embedded into your flesh will be incorporated as part of this process.]

[Please choose which of the following provided boons granted to receive. You may only pick five to start with.

1. MetalSync-The ability to freely integrate machines into your biology and swap between machine and man at will. Can also transform your arms into weapons and back at will. Grants integration and adaptation to different energies even from different and opposed sources and/or systems in a comparable manner.
2. Chakra Circuits-A pseudo-spiritual network of 361 circuits for channeling supernatural energies. Due to your techno-organic nature, this also allows for the channeling of mundane energies, such as electric or thermal energy should you have some form of generating it. Grants access to magic or supernatural abilities that rely on supernatural energies.
3. The Spark of Life-The ability to generate a large pool of energy that can be used to repair any electronic or machine infused with it. Can also be used to gain understanding of any machine used with this power, deriving blueprints and its functions. By overcharging a machine, you can convert it into a sentient autonomous robotic organism that can fulfill any function you require of it.
4. Alloy Body-Your biological flesh has become akin to bio-alloys of different metals. This makes your biological flesh as tough as the mechanical components comprising your new construct body. Your body generates a large amount of heat and can regenerate by reforging your body should it ever be damaged. Your blood itself has become molten metal.
5. Promethean Vitae-You body becomes a human jet engine. By combusting your blood as fuel, you gain the ability to produce directed bursts of propulsive flames from vents located in your ankles, knees, hips, hands, elbows, and shoulders. Your heart itself becomes a jet turbine. You regenerate a large amount of blood up to thrice your body mass to compensate for the fuel burn. Grants the ability Heartfire Mode which overclocks this ability, incinerating everything within 100 meters, and causes you to float by the sheer heat generated alone.
6. Gamer HUD- You can now live your life like a videogame. Specifically, like a Player from the OVERLORD series' DDVRMMO game YGDDRASIL, albeit slightly modified. Different feats and achievements can allow you to grow stronger and can design your build as you please within the allotted skills and classes available to you. Automatically starts with the Mechanic class and a unique race as a bonus from Machine God Primus for agreeing to his deal.
7. Technobrain-You gain the ability to control all electronics through wireless commands. So long as it is an electronic with a wireless capability, you gain the ability to control it. Your brain however becomes vulnerable to virus attacks, so tread carefully. Some cybernetic choices can help mitigate this weakness by providing stronger ICE firewall programs.

Whichever you do not pick can be obtained later if you so desire.]

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Seeing these options, I feel really grateful for the chance. As well as torn. All of these are really good. But it also says I can get them later if I want them, so that helps me out. After careful consideration, I asked myself a very important question: Which ones did I need right now?

MetalSync and Alloy Body were a definite yes. Their synergy would be priceless in my new body's techno-organic reconstruction. Gamer HUD is a definite yes. I was a bit of a game nerd, and the ability to live my life as if it were a game? Yes please. That's practically every game nerd's dream come true. Add to that the unique class and race as a bonus? Hell yeah. Which leaves me with two remaining choices left.

Technobrain is a must-have. The ability to wirelessly detect and hack into electronics? Hell yes, and as a techno-organic construct capable of shifting between organic and synthetic, it would be absolutely mandatory for the sake of survival. The weakness to viruses or hacking can be mitigated, given my own IT and Inovative Engineering background, so those weaknesses are only a minor concern for me. Which now leaves me with the last choice out of the three remaining options to choose from.

Taking a second look at them, I begin to think carefully.

Promethean Vitae sounds like it would be useful, both for combat and mobility. However, there's a big risk there. If I ever need the power up from Heartfire Mode, and I'm too close to someone or something I'm trying to protect, then I could end up destroying the very thing I wish to protect if I'm not careful. Plus I can probably figure out an innovative solution to pulling off a bootleg version of it with the other options if I'm creative enough. So maybe later I'd get it, but not right now.

Next up, The Spark of Life. On the one hand, it offers an instant synergy with the Mechanic class Gamer HUD gives for free, allows me to instantly know and fix machines with a literal wave of my hand and a pulse of energy, and gives me a means to create manpower and assistants, if not outright soldiers to help assist me in combat if need be. But there in lies the Catch 22. It gives me the ability to create robotic allies, but requires me to expend more energy than simply fixing an electronic or mechanical device. But there's also the issue of how and where I'd find such devices, or even what energy or resource limitations such an ability may come with from the get-go. Hence the Catch 22. Plus, I'd rather not rely on others too much before I can at least guarantee their safety and survival by fighting alongside me.

Then there's the final option that's been making me think about this so carefully. Chakra Circuits. It essentially seems like a cross between the chakra network from various ninja anime and games and the magic circuits often referenced within several different fantasy anime and games. It would allow me to channel supernatural energies, as well as mundane energies, so long as I naturally generate them. That got me thinking. Electricity is something I'd generate naturally, whether bio-electricity before my body's reconstruction or mechanical electricity through my new bio-mechanical body. And then there's the thermal energy, since my body produces high levels of heat naturally, thanks to Alloy Body. Also, as a 'Child of Primus', wouldn't that mean I could still use Spark of Life, albeit in a reduced and limited capacity?

I immediately asked about the conditions for obtaining these last three choices later down the line to see if my suspicions are correct, and to my pleasant surprise, I actually got a response.

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[Conditions to obtain specified boons:

Chakra Circuits: Awaken a supernatural ability related to internal energy flow utilizing both chakra and mana flow within the body from two separate systems of power.

The Spark of Life: Obtain and absorb an artifact's energy containing a portion of Machine God Primus' divine essence within it.

Promethean Vitae: Self-modify your own body with a heat vent system after gaining a perfect compatibility for an innate elemental affinity for Fire.

Meet these conditions to unlock and obtain any of these boons later.]

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Seeing this confirmed my suspicions. Of the three, Chakra Circuits is the most difficult to obtain right now. The Spark of Life and Promethean Vitae are relatively easier to meet the conditions later for. The former simply requires finding an artifact of the prerequisite conditions and absorbing the energy contained within it, while the later merely requires modifying my body's mechanical parts after gaining a sufficiently high affinity for Fire.

I then made my decision based upon this information. My final choice being Chakra Circuits for my fifth boon. After locking in my choices, a new screen appears, and a message with it.

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[Chosen Boons selected and locked in. Incorporating choices. Integrating...]

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As the message appeared, I began to feel a dulled ache run through my being as the changes took place. I felt my flesh harden and reform itself as mechanical bits and pieces reformed and reshaped themselves into a facsimile of a human body. The mechanical portions of my newly reforged body slowly reshaped themselves into a generic form resembling human anatomy as I felt the energy network from Chakra Circuits form as well. an electric heat coursing through my reforging body as a distant yet near aching sensation of my new body reshaping itself.

The biological components were not so painless in reforming. In fact, I felt an immense pain as my crotch reformed and felt a sharp pain in my chest as the flesh reformed and integrated mechanical components into my new techno-organic physiology. After a few minutes, the pain receded enough to think clearly and I had to check to make sure what the fuck just happened to make my junk hurt like thousands of needles were ripping my manhood apart.

What I found between my legs made me gape in dumbfounded disbelief of what I saw hanging between my legs. Emphasis on 'hanging'. Now, I wasn't exactly small before, but last I checked, an 18-inch length was way bigger than I was before, never mind two. And last I checked, I was only supposed to have two testicles, not six. Also last I checked, they were walnut-sized, not apple-sized. And within my chest, I could feel two distinct rhythmic thumps. From two different sides of my chest. What the fuck?!

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[Integration successfully completed. Alert: Due to complications and lack of biological material for reconstruction, forced replication of biological matters have caused minor mutations, resulting in extra organs that were not intended, but were added to compensate for stability of physical alterations.]

[Now proceed with Player Avatar Creation to adjust and customize your new body's appearance.]

[Note: Due to previous choices and minor mutations, some choices have become locked in and cannot be changed.]

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....well, shit. That sucks ass.

Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk. At least I have some options judging by what choices I can see here that aren't currently locked. Before this, I was of average build typical to a stereotypical egghead. Scrawny, and a bit above average height-wise, being about 6'4" in height prior to waking up here. Unfortunately, one of the locked options mentioned was height and build.

My new body is going to be exactly 7' in height, and my formerly scrawny body is now going to be well-built due to the bio-mechanical nature of my new construct physiology. Even though I have the ability to freely switch between organic and synthetic forms at will, by using the preview option in the Character creator menu for toggling my two forms, I'll basically have the muscular build of someone like Andre the Giant or the Incredible Hulk to go with said 7-foot-even height.

I also do not have the ability to change my twin shafts sizes or even reduce the number of testicles back to two. Apparently, that's the consequence of my race being locked into the Heteromorph category's unique boon-granted race of a Half-Cybertronian rather than being of the Human or Demi-human category. Basically, I'm not going to be human anymore. Not even subhuman. I'm being reborn as a monster race. The only option allowed was to adjust the texture of my new equipment, such as adding bump-like nodes for texture along the shafts and a knotting gland at the bases, which was the only options I had that weren't weird, since a normal human dick texture was locked out. Sighing as I simply accept I'm not given the choice there, I decide to try to adjust the rest of my new body to be as close to my original one as I am allowed within the restrictions placed upon me.

Mixed Asian and Eastern European/Western Russian features. Bright, baby-blue eyes. Medium neck-length dark black, borderline black hair combed back into a short pony-tail. Although my hair has a tinge of silver highlights and streaks along the edges and sides now and my face has what looks like circuit-shaped scarring with metal diodes shaped like lines running down my cheeks like tear-lines before sharply turning at an angle twice in a manner similar to a box without a top as the markings end towards my jaw, revealing my new cybernetic nature. Lightly tanned skin tone. Not quite pale, but not quite sun-kissed either. A perfect neutral ground balancing the two.

As for the musculature, I decided to hell with it and decided to give myself a ripped look, similar to an Adonis build. If I'm going to be forced to have muscles anyway, then I might as well at least be damned good looking with them. I personally didn't care, but felt anything less would just look weird on my new physique. That settles it for my organic form. Now to adjust for my mechanical form.

As I toggled the synthetic form for the character creator, I noticed there was an option to design it for a 'battle mode'. Out of curiosity, I toggled that to check, and I felt a blush crawl up my face as I saw the result. Oh, what the hell?! It seems my synthetic form can have both a casual and battle mode on top of alternate forms I can switch between. I immediately shifted a few things around and designed it to cover up the mechanical junk it had exposed in the 'battle mode'. Seriously?! Unless I somehow wind up bedding a technophile, I highly doubt I'll be needing to reveal THAT to any ladies. I am not looking to be anyone's living dildo machine, thank you very much!

(I would later actually be thankful for this after getting my retribution upon Isaac and his lackeys for everything they've done to me. Suffice to say, they weren't married anymore after I got done with their wives.)

Adjusting his synthetic form's battle mode to an actual combat form, I adjusted it and only realized my new body did not come with weapon systems included, meaning I'd need to build those myself. Oh well. Although it might seem infuriating, that's only if you aren't already a tech wizard of an engineering savant like I am. I'll just need to design new weapon systems for my body then integrate them using MetalSync to do so. Having an armored faceplate form from the cybernetic scars along my organic face to form a pseudo-helm along with shifting the metal plates to form a mechanical armor plating around my new body, I adjust it to really make my body look worthy of my new techno-organic construct status. I give myself a nod in satisfaction. Now, I look good.~

After correcting that particular wardrobe malfunction, I then decide to add what my clothing in my organic form would take. A simple clothe-hooded leather jacket over a short-sleeved t-shirt(which can change as per my wishes to whatever I decide, even a joke shirt to low-key taunt my enemies) and a pair of cargo jeans. A pair of black leather work boots to finish it up. My typical look and fashion choice prior to my death. Though for some odd reason, my belt had a large buckle that appeared both in my organic and synthetic forms. It took the form of a large circular gear encircling what looked like a round power icon fashioned into a block-styled face in a silver and red color. I couldn't even change it. It was locked and apparently Primus himself did that as, and I quote, 'a symbol as a Child of Primus'. Apparently the guy was already staking a claim over me and was not giving me the option to refuse. Not like I minded. I personally liked it somehow, like it screamed 'me' somehow for reasons I could not fathom.

After finishing up, I then got a new window as the hologram disappeared and my body took the new form I designed.

As it appeared, I couldn't help but ponder onto the next question in my new life...