Gunboat
Dean Henegar
Coast Guard Captain Jesse Watkins is killed in action and wakes up reborn as the living core of a war-ravaged starship. With his system adjunct and AI companion Lani, he must repair, rebuild, and upgrade his vessel - recruiting alien crew, commanding monster MOBS, and expanding his fleet - to survive pirates, hostile species, and the void of space on the journey home.
Progression: Dungeon-core LitRPG in space: the protagonist is reborn as the living core of a starship and advances by repairing, rebuilding, and upgrading his vessel with the help of a System adjunct/AI companion (Lani). Progression is explicit and structural - ship systems, weapons, crew/MOBS (monster units such as Driders and Verminkin), and an armed space station under his command all expand book over book (book 2: building a new, more powerful hull; commanding stations, crews, and MOBS). Marketed as 'A LitRPG Adventure' and a space-based dungeon-core series.
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