Transmigrate to another world

When I wake up I feel great, get out of the hammock and stretch before heading to the river for breakfast. After eating I check my gear and then jump across the river, then touch the amulet.

"Ruby, are you ready to go exploring?"

Ruby steps out of the amulet and takes human form before turning to smile at me. I smile back and extend the new sword to her.

Ruby asks "What is this?"

"A replacement for that old sword, it matches the other one."

Ruby says, "Oh, thanks. I guess you found some good stuff in the armory."

"Yeah, pretty good stuff, too bad I can't take advantage of most of it because it's enchanted."

Ruby says, "So, shall we go exploring again?"

"Yes, we can explore to the north this time. I'm pretty sure that's where the rat men are coming from."

Ruby says, "Yeah, a fight! I'm ready, let's go."

I exit the main cavern through the nearest exit. This time, instead of turning, we cross directly into the new hallway, follow it for about ten meters and then turn left to make our way into a room.

We look carefully at the room, it is huge, about fifteen meters wide and forty-five meters long. As we look around, there are vats and strange pipes; I assume this is the imperial version of sewage treatment. On the other side of the room is an area that looks like a camp and we can count ten rat men gathered around it.

"This seems like the perfect time to test your fireball."

Ruby says, "Really? Yeah! Okay, here we go!"

Ruby leans into the room and throws a fireball into the campfire, which explodes right in the middle of the rat men. To the poor rat men, it must have looked as if their campfire had suddenly exploded.

- Killing the rat men 18/30

Only three rat men survive the explosion and they don't look very good, so Ruby and I quietly enter the room and head towards them. The three rat men, instead of trying to run, rush at us. Ruby and I draw our swords and split up, one rat man heads towards Ruby and the other two rush at me.

Ruby eagerly reaches for hers while I calmly wait and let mine come at me. Just as they are five feet away, I move in, with a quick lunge I close the distance and slash crosswise with both katanas. As the two rat men fall, I look to the side and see Ruby already cleaning and sheathing her swords.

- Killing the rat men 21/30

I clean and sheathe my katanas and then set about collecting the ten beast cores from the bodies. I find that the burned bodies smell even worse than normal corpses, but I hold my breath and take the cores. I divide them equally and give five to Ruby and keep five for myself. We both take a few minutes to absorb the beast cores.

- You have absorbed the core of the Lesser Beast. HP +5 MP +5

- You have absorbed the core of the Lesser Beast. HP +5 MP +5

- You have absorbed the core of the Lesser Beast. HP +5 MP +5

- You have absorbed the core of the Lesser Beast. HP +5 MP +5

- You have absorbed the core of the Lesser Beast. HP +5 MP +5

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, your familiar has reached level 2!

"Ah, Ruby, did you just level up?"

Ruby says, "Yes, I did. I have stat points to spend, what should I put them into?"

"Well, Int is better for magic, so that would be my suggestion."

Ruby says, "Okay, I'll do it!"

"Man, I'd love to be able to level up!"

We then set about searching the room, which took us two hours just because of all the pipes we climbed and checked behind. I didn't find anything useful, but Ruby did, she proudly walks over to me and offers me a blue stone the size of my hand. I stare at it.

"MAGIC OBJECT".

√ Cleaning stone.

- Cleans everything it touches.

"So, they used magic for sewage treatment, impressive."

I reach out to take the stone from Ruby, and as I do, Ruby starts laughing. Suddenly, I feel my entire fur bristle and puff up like I've just been blow-dried. Ruby is bent over, laughing so hard she's clutching her sides. I just look down at my fur, which is all shiny and clean.

"Did you know that was going to happen?"

Ruby laughs and says, "I had a really good idea, yes!"

I sigh and tuck the rock in my belt before heading for the only way out of the room. Ruby follows me laughing. We enter a tunnel that runs east for about twenty-five feet before we come to a T-shaped fork. The right hand leads back to the main hallway, so we continue straight ahead into the smaller hallway.

We follow it for twenty feet before another hallway branches off to the left heading north. Straight ahead I can see a door further down. I decide to continue straight ahead and take a look at the door, then head back down the other hallway. Another thirty feet brings us to the door, the door is a pile of rotting wood, so we peek inside.

The room is a chaos of broken glass, rotting wood, twisted and broken metal; it's hard to make sense of it. I doubt we'll find anything useful here, so we turn around and head back to the intersection of the hallways and turn north.

We follow the hallway fifteen meters north, then turn left and walk it another thirty meters before we come to another large room. It is twenty-five meters long by one hundred and fifty meters wide and is divided in half by a large rectangular pool of brackish water.

At the north end of the pool is a raised area with a throne made of bone and odd bits of metal. A rat man sits on the throne with eight others around him. There are also between fifty and a hundred giant rats roaming around that end of the room. The rat men mostly ignore them.

"I'll go in and climb up the right side of the pool, you take the left."

I wait for Ruby to nod, then release the axe from my back and enter the room with determination. I move quickly to the right side of the room with the axe gripped in both hands and begin marching up the right side of the pool, accompanied by Ruby on the left.

It doesn't take long for the rat men to notice our presence and, as I expected, they split up. Four head towards Ruby while the other four head towards me. Ruby rushes forward to meet his. I stop and stand up, preparing for a big blow. I plan to kill the first one in one blow.

They come at me two at a time and I give them a mighty blow. I didn't expect the axe to go through the two rat men, but I'm quick enough to react, turn the axe around and swing it the other way as the next two come at me. Once again, the axe slices through them and leaves me standing over four dismembered bodies.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, Skill Axe Basics has advanced to level 2!

√ Axe Basics.

√ Level 2

- Strength +4.

- You do 10% extra damage with axes.

- Kill Ratmen 27/30

I look over to where Ruby is and see that she has already killed two and is working on the other two, so I continue on to the king who is still sitting on his throne. The king makes a strange noise and all the giant rats run towards him and form a mass between him and me.

I stop as I look at the horde of giant rats, I don't think my armor will protect me from so many. As they rush towards me, acting on pure instinct, I take a big breath of air and then let out a roar that seems to come from deep inside me.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, you've unlocked Bestial's abilities!

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, you have acquired the Bestial skill Lion's Roar!

√ Lion's Roar

√ Level 1

- Damage 10 Range 20 ft.

- Causes fear in a 50 ft. radius.

The roar kills about fifteen rats and causes the rest to run into their holes, I stop in surprise not knowing I could do that.

- Killing the rat men 29/30

Ruby asks, "What was that, that was awesome!"

"I don't know, it just happened!"

Ruby says, "Well, these two turned to look at you, which made it very easy to kill them!"

- Well then there's only the king left!

I turn around to face the king, who is now curled up on his throne looking at me as if I were the devil. I calmly approach and with one swift blow take the king's head and put him out of his misery.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, you've completed a mission!

- Kill the rat men

- Objective: kill rat men 30/30

- Reward: 10 stat points.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, you have completed a mission!

- Kill the Rat King

- Objective: Kill the Rat King 1/1

- Reward: Lionheart helmet.

"Finally!"

The helmet appears before me, floating in the air, waiting for me to take it. I reach out, grab it and smile as I look at the lion design on the helmet.

Ruby says, "What, it just appeared out of nowhere!"

"It's one of my quest rewards."

"MAGIC ITEM."

√ Lionheart helmet.

- Defense +4 Immune to fear

- Durability 300/300

I lay my axe on the ground next to the rat king's throne so I can use both hands to put on his helmet.

"So, how do I look?"

Ruby says, "Majestic and intimidating, though your ears sticking out of your helmet also make you cute at the same time!"

I pick up my axe again and wipe it clean before resheathing it on my back, then pull out the Black Razor and cut the core of the beast from the king's chest.

"ITEM."

√ Beast Core

- Quality: medium

Would you like to absorb it? Y/N

"No!"

Would you like to evolve blacksmithing now? Y/N

"Yes!!!"

As soon as I say yes, the core in my hands turns to dust, but this time I don't feel the surge of power in my body, it goes somewhere else.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, the blacksmithing skill has evolved to the expert blacksmithing skill!

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, the skill Expert Blacksmithing has advanced to level 11!

√ Expert Blacksmithing

√ Level 11

- Strength +12 Fire resistance +12

- You can craft expert level metal items.

"Yes! My blacksmithing evolved!"

Ruby says "Congratulations!!!"

"Since I used the higher quality core, you can absorb the lower eight of the other rat men."

Ruby says "Are you sure? We can still split them up, master."

-Yes, I'm sure. I want you to be stronger.

Ruby goes around collecting and absorbing the cores, while I rummage around the throne area looking for anything that might be useful. I'm having no luck when suddenly there's an explosion behind me.

I turn around expecting to find enemies when instead I see Ruby engulfed in flames with a huge grin on her face.

"What happened?"

Ruby says, "I just evolved from a minor spirit to a half spirit!!!"

"Congratulations!!!"

Ruby says, "This means absorbing cores is even better than I thought! I have more spirit energy now, so I can stay out longer!"

-Good, I like having you around.

Ruby smiles and asks, "So, what's next, master?"

I point behind the throne and say, "Let's see where that tunnel leads."

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