AI: Artificial Isekai

I start taking off my thin jacket, storing it safely in my trusty spatial storage pouch, revealing a short-sleeved shirt. Not forgetting about my newest and most precious possession, the crocheted hat is stored as well. Next up, I pull out my sword and loop it around my waist. No need for armor today.

The other two beastfolk shed their thin outer layers too, stuffing them in much more compact spatial storages, simply incorporated into their other clothing as pockets. Neither of them pull out any weapons, though Khi has a ring and a necklace that radiate a fair bit of power, most likely some manner of defensive enchantments.

"How do you want to do this?" Khi asks me.

"You find 'em and then poke 'em. After that, we can take 'em together."

"Alright."

Khi shifts her gaze to the jungle, scanning between the vegetation. Her breathing gets deeper and steadier. I can sense some magic usage but can't quite distinguish its exact functionality. Probably some enhancement spell. She starts walking, slowly and silently, stalking through the dungeon. I follow a bit behind her and to the side. Kor'To leaves more distance, giving us our space.

The princess gently pushes a vine out of the way. The next moment, she snaps her head to the side, focusing on something around ten meters away. She extends her arm, and a brilliant streak of electricity connects it to a large green frog.

The frog, still smoking from the attack, inverts and grows in size, transforming into a monstrosity with too many limbs. Exposed muscles, not from Khi's spell, contract and propel the monster with great speed. While still in the air, another lightning spell connects, continuously shocking it during its flight. A metal dart punctures through the exposed and charred meat. The Mimic sails past us, already dead.

Khi lets out a frustrated sigh. "Tough... I'll put in more power next time."

"You were pretty close. It was half-dead when I finished it off," I say.

Khi nods and continues onward. Her traversal through becomes faster, dropping some of the caution. After a few minutes, she looks in a direction and stops. A bolt of crackling electricity starts forming near her relaxed arm. Once the bolt fully gains its shape, she lifts her arm up. The bolt zips through the air, easily tears through some leaves, and strikes at a chirping bird. The scorched corpse drops to the jungle floor, hitting it with a soft thump. The colorful bird explodes into a cloud of feathers and gore, revealing another dead mimic.

The space around us grows silent, the sounds of the animals slowly disappearing. Khi conjures a few bolts. She unleashes the attacks around us, striking charging birds out of the air and conjuring even more bolts. I can feel her preparing another spell as electricity starts arcing out of her form. When no more birds and lightning bolts are left, she discharges the lingering magic into the ground. Joining the rain of morphing birds are the aftermaths of numerous dirt explosions—soil, plant matter, and gore.

As we start moving again, the temperature in the dungeon starts gradually decreasing. The light of day, even if stopped by the dense vegetation, appears to lose its intensity. Sound returns.

Khi is shifting her gaze, growing frustrated again. "I can't sense them anymore."

After employing mana for a moment, I raise an arm, stopping her with the gesture. I point at a faraway brush, just settling down from being disturbed. "That one. Can you hear it?" She follows my finger, both looking and listening. She nods. "Can you smell it?" She nods again. "The heat distribution is wrong."

She turns to me in surprise. "What?"

"If you want to get more technical, the thermoregulation of that Dweller is inconsistent with any other of similar type and size."

Kor'To breaks his silent observation, asking in surprise himself, "You can sense that?"

"I can. Wouldn't have brought you here if I couldn't. Try to compare the differences, Khi."

She focuses, her eyes unblinking. A sharp inhale and a blink breaks the concentration. "I guess C-rank isn't just for show. I don't think I would have felt it if you didn't tell me, though."

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I grin at her happily. "Now you can practice." She chuckles in response, focusing again.

It is quite interesting how mana indirectly interacts with my many, many sensors. While an enhancement spell of this complexity would be impossible for me at my current pitiful skill level, supplying the magic with some conceptual help contributes greatly to its success. Not at all perfect as it is, it still sells my keen senses adequately. Too bad my enhancement spells can't improve my sensor readings, yet. That might be able to let me bypass some magical protections when— The impact of another crackling bolt interrupts my thoughts.

A gangly monkey tumbles down a tree, transforming into a gory mimic.

Khi jumps in celebration. She then turns to me and exclaims, the excitement evident in her voice, "I did it!"

"Good job," I say.

"Well done, Your Highness," Kor'To praises her as well.

Khi waves off the congratulations, resuming her traversal, but still appears appreciative.

With the dispatched mimics starting to pile up, the artificial sun goes down, soon dipping under the fake horizon. The darkness enveloping the loud jungle is no problem for the beastfolk, not even slowing Khi's progress. As the dungeon changes to night, the mimics start being more aggressive. They are no longer passively hiding but are now using their concealment to ambush us. Though none of those ambushes are successful, as Khi swiftly electrocutes them before they can even strike.

When we approach a relatively clear area of the jungle, both beastfolk stop at the same time and whip their heads to something on the other side.

An arm pushes away some vines. Its owner steps into the clearing and starts looking around aimlessly. Handsome fellar, that one.

Khi whispers, "Is that you?"

I whisper back, "I'll engage first. Back me up?" She nods.

Kor'To crosses his arms and settles on observing.

Unsheathing my sword, I confidently walk into the clearing. My copy senses me, locking its eyes onto mine. When I don't stop my slow walk toward it, it also unsheathes its sword. I can still feel magic in its weapon, but it's not an enchantment, just an extension of the boss itself.

The boss' face twists into hostility. It rushes for me, readying a fairly telegraphed sword slash. As it executes its attack, I make no moves to parry or dodge. Right before the hit connects, a bolt strikes the monster's elbow, tearing out a chunk. I sidestep the interrupted slash and skewer myself through the heart.

My copy looks down at my sword piercing its chest. It smiles. Instead of an explosion of exposed muscle, the mimic collapses in on itself. In the span of less than a second, it's almost gone. But right as it gets smaller than can be seen, the monster's form near instantly balloons, propagating faster than I can react. Passing trough me as if intangible and covering my already limited vision with total darkness.

When the darkness recedes, I find myself somewhere else in the jungle.

A savaged and bloodied Khi runs out of the dense vegetation, heading straight for me, wailing in panic. A metal needle passes through her head. The beastfolk falls to the ground and shimmers out of existence. Yeah, I am not doing that again. Even if I knew it was an illusion, it felt wrong. No problem mortally poking myself, though. Funny how that works.

An uncharacteristically animated Kor'To receives a forceful shove, removing him from my path. An attacking Khi is easily avoided. A few 'me's' are permanently taken care of.

"Lucius?" Khi's voice calls from a bit ahead.

"Over here! The illusions can't talk. And I know that's what an illusion would say, but it's true."

I hear a laugh come closer, and then a Khi, trailed by an expectedly brooding Kor'To, emerges. The princess says, "I know where the boss is."

"Lead the way."

She starts running with purpose. On the way, Khi, sensing my unease, handles hers and Kor'To's illusions, while I take care of my own. We soon arrive at the same clearing. What greets us is not me, but a revealed mimic. One significantly larger than the others.

Just as it rushes for us, Khi conjures a spear of lightning in her reared back hand. Her throw produces a thunderous roar as the spear shoots through the air. The spell strikes the mimic and burns a hole straight through it. The running monster stumbles and falls. A mana crystal materializes on top of its body and rolls down, settling in the thick grass.

I turn to a heavy breathing Khi. "Nice spell. Packs a lot of power."

She meets my gaze, putting on a strained smile. "Tiring too." After taking another deep breath, she continues, "Doesn't work that well if I'm alone."

"You should work on your endurance," I say. Kor'To wordlessly agrees with me.

Khi slowly starts taking her breathing under control. "Well, now that I have a lot of time on my hands, might as well." The princess looks around for a moment and then settles on a direction. "Core's over there." She points. "You can grab the crystal. Practice is enough for me."

As we start ambling for the core, I levitate our prize to my hand, offer it to her, and say, "Nonsense. You got the kill. You get to lug the bounty."

Khi regards me for a moment and accepts the crystal eventually. She then addresses me, but there's something in her tone I can't quite place, "Thank you." I nod.

The core is soon found, nestled inside the hollow of a thick tree. A bolt crumbles it into dust, and as that dust fades into nothing so does space around us, twisting into the outside world once again. The three security nod at Kor'To, indicating that nothing occurred during our absence. Instead of teleporting, Khi requests we cool down with another run, the short time it would take not really an inconvenience.

Another four security that also got spit out of the dungeon remain stealthed, waiting for us to gain some more distance before following back to the city.