AI: Artificial Isekai

Alert. Quantum link severed. Silly me, why do I have this alert still enabled? It happens every time I go inside dungeons. Whatever, it's a slippery slope starting to disable alerts willy-nilly. Let's focus back to my duty. To conquer the unconquerable. To stop the needless loss. To destroy the Empty Maw.

Day 1.

I am in another universe. The semi-fake sun is on the opposite side of the planet. A ring system splits the starless night sky into two uneven pieces. Nothing disturbs the desolate gray landscape, not even a small breeze, the air perfectly still, and perfectly comfortable, like it has no temperature. Jagged mountains break up the monotonous empty plains, and deep gorges snake around the surface, filled with only darkness. Occasionally, there is a pool of lifeless water, shallow and motionless.

Calm but alert. Time in my mind slows down, pushing my mental faculties to their maximum, not letting any outside intrusion distract me from my mission. Whatever I've detected seems promising. This planet is almost twice as big as the one I just came from. Even if that will most likely make me unable to conquer this dungeon in the timeliest of manners, it also gives me a lot more raw materials to play with. Not to mention the handy asteroid belt. I initiate a series of pre-prepared tasks. The largest size ship I could fit in the remaining space of my fold warps out, a tiny speck hanging in orbit. From within its expansive hangars, numerous drones warp too. Some to the ring, others to the surface, starting to extract anything useful and spewing a silvery sludge of nanobots. A few countermeasures also warp out of the ship, ready to protect their otherwise defenseless colleagues.

My mana senses make a sharp whistle, their hand already gripping their trusty six-shooter. What my physical sensors initially thought was a barren world is anything but.

A figure is ambling aimlessly far in the distance. A ragged cloak draped across its gray and flaky form. There's a too big of a toothy smile on its face, nearly separating its otherwise featureless head. Bones imprinted on stretched skin, its stomach sunken in, forever cursed to remain unfilled, no matter how much it is fed. The Supreme All-Consuming Devourer.

Next to my extended hand forms a red dart, crackling with electricity. A thought sends a white streak for my enemy. The monster snaps its grotesque jaws around my spell. Its eyeless face turns to me, deep crimson dribbling out of a slowly gaping mouth. Thin lips pull higher, curling the bottomless opening into a voracious leer.

I feel my mind waning, thought faltering and consciousness fading, drained away. My vision narrows. The only thing I can perceive is my opponent. The devourer steps through space, closing the distance between us instantly. It grips my arm. The appendage falls off. Whatever the monster touched is gone.

An image flashes inside of my mind. Deep crimson light bathes my form, the warm blood dripping off appearing even redder, joining an endless ocean of more.

My remaining hand blurs, gripping the monster's neck. The devourer snaps its jaws again, removing my head. I squeeze, crackling lightning escaping out. A scorched husk crumbles away and into black ash.

Hmm, what a waste of valuable organic matter. Less destructive next time.

I warp aboard my flagship.

First, where's the boss? Unknown. ...Suboptimal.

Second, where's the core? ...How novel. A core inside a core. Amidst the boiling magma, and within a casing of precious metals, is my ultimate objective, protected by more than the geological, inaccessible. For now.

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Third, what inhabits this not-so-lifeless rock floating in a black void?

Data starts flooding in, of various drones and manufacturing facilities still under construction being destroyed. The All-Consuming Devourers, gradually reducing my stock of workable material, but potentially contributing their own.

Next is the All-Seeing. Every one of the monsters is looking exactly in my direction, watching the sky, or gazing through impenetrable stone, characteristically motionless, a ring of eyes adorning an otherwise blank head.

The All-Hearing are interspersed throughout. Their heads twisting left and right, repositioning their two circular approximations of ears, the only discernible features on a gray head. Another part of the dungeon's magical information network?

An All-Missing has snuck up on a drone, its sensor suite unable to even comprehend that the monster was there. The devourer reveals itself with what I can only assume is malicious glee. The drone tries to warp away but is unable, locked into place. The All-Missing runs a flaky hand across the helpless machine, its long broken nails leaving deep scratches in the superalloy. The hand stops and sinks in. I destructively destabilize the drone's spatial fold, and other included options. The devourer squeezes its hand into a fist, compressing space. An explosion that should have taken out half the planet whimpers out in its grip.

Recall planetary assets. Every drone that was on the surface, and still functional, is reassigned to the ring.

The world below me turns into a second fake star. But through the blinding light, I see pockets of darkness starting to dot the surface. The planet does not crack into pieces, held together by some unseen power. The rocky surface is not a sea of glass, only small islands of dazzling brilliance break up the monotony.

A drone extracting a particularly rich rock goes offline. Another one next to it, before also going offline itself, catches a glimpse of a twisted bird. Leathery wings moving it swiftly through the vacuum of space with seldom flaps. An unnatural toothy maw in place of the usual beak. A distinct absence of legs. The facsimile's featherless body flaky and gaunt. Classifying this absolute darling as All-Consuming Beta.

Deploy back to planet. I start using much more cautious collection, drones blinking in and out of existence to random locations and in unpredictable intervals. My greatest current resource, my flagship, does the same, starting to—

I warp away at the last moment. My spatially locked ship is disintegrated into nothing, consumed by a colossal being with a single bite. A gray orb, hanging in space. Dozens of coiling tendrils are sprouting out of its flaky surface. The circular abyss in the middle of its spherical body filled with needle-like teeth. ...And this here is Gamma.

It seems like I'll have to secure the first sector personally.

A shortsword appears in my hand. One of Miad's. I trace a finger across its sleek bright metal, my skin gliding along with almost no resistance. The honed weapon is humming with palpable anticipation. Too bad you are on loan, you piece of forged perfection... Ahem. A set of leather armor fastens itself around my form. The black surface of the protective garments is shimmering with enough brilliance to make someone queasy.

Now equipped and ready to go, I don't have to even go. A convenient target is heading right for me. The All-Consuming Alpha is taking blinking steps that propel it along the now scarred terrain, knowing my location with immaculate precision, and probably imagining me as some tasty snack, whatever devourers like to snack on. Hopes and dreams? As for how it tracked me down so quickly, I'm partial to it being a group effort.

It snaps into existence next to me and snaps a large swathe of land out of said existence. A stroke leaves a gash across its chest, barely dodged. The wound does not seep any vital fluids, only a deep crimson miasma.

The devourer swipes a hand at me. I parry its normally erasing attack successfully, keeping my blade intact. After about ten seconds, the monster is dismantled into easily collectable parts. Thankfully, owing to my newest fashion statement, my current shell is also kept intact.

With nothing else rushing to my location for now, I look around. Seems like a fine enough place for this sector's base of operations. Facilities and drones start warping in, getting the site ready. Even if my drones are useless as offensive units, their reconnaissance capabilities are still valuable. And I'm going to be needing a steady supply with how frequent losses are.

I bend down and pick up a severed arm, chucking it into a nearby recycler. I'm going to be needing a steady supply of organic shells, too.