Transmigrate to another world

- Devour skill has been activated! Agility +10 Speed +20

- Congratulations, the Devour skill has advanced to level 2!

√ Devour

√ Level 2.

- You can become stronger by consuming the flesh of strong enemies.

I love that skill! It's a nice agility boost, but speed? I hadn't even seen a speed stat before. That thing was incredibly fast, so it makes sense. Then I take its beast core and stare at it.

"ITEM."

√ Beast Core

- Quality: medium

Would you like to absorb it? Y/N

"No."

I clean the beast core and then set it aside. Ruby looks at me strangely when she notices it.

Ruby says "You're not going to absorb it?"

"No, I plan to save it for the next time I need to develop a skill."

Ruby says "That's okay. I guess that's a smart move considering how the skills are spent."

"Well, I'm sorry if all my skill work is boring to you."

Ruby laughs and says, "It is, but I don't mind. I understand how you get stronger that way."

"Do you want to try eating this before we head to the cave?"

Ruby says, "Sure, it doesn't look very tasty, but I'll try it with you."

So I cook up some steaks and while they're cooking I clean up camp. Once it's done cooking, we get to digging.

Ruby says "Mmm! Delicious! How can something so ugly be so tasty?"

"I don't know, but now I'm hoping I had friends. seconds?"

Ruby smiles and says, "Yes, please!"

Once we finish eating our second helpings, we get up and head to the cave below the lake. I make sure to bring my pickaxe because I haven't forgotten that there is more armatite ore down there. It takes us about twenty minutes to walk back to the cave and follow the path down to the pond.

Ruby hides in the amulet to avoid going over the waterfall. I crawl through the small part of the cave and summon her to come out once the tunnel opens. We enter the cave under the lake side by side. Ruby is watching the tree, but I look for movement. I quickly head for my gear and start putting it over my eyes as I constantly wander around the cave looking for another basilisk.

Once I have my armor and weapons back, I relax a bit. As I look at the dead basilisk, I feel a twinge in my leg. With Ruby watching my back, I approach the corpse and examine it. It's made of stone, no flesh to speak of. It was a living stone creature as far as I know. I'm not even going to try to eat that to activate the devourer, but I cut it open and pull out the core of the beast.

"ITEM." Your journey continues with M V L

√ Beast Core

- Quality: medium

Would you like to absorb it? Y/N.

"No."

I turn and toss the beast core to Ruby.

"That one's yours."

Ruby says, "Okay, thanks."

I walk along the cave walls looking for openings and making sure none of the rock piles are going to move. Once I know we're alone, I approach the tree for a closer look. The trunk looks like gray stone, but when I reach out to touch it I feel it's bark, plus it's warm to the touch and I can feel life in it.

Ruby says, "This thing is giving off a lot of mana!"

"Do you think this is the reason the cavern is the way it is?"

Ruby says, "I think it would be a safe bet."

"Do you think it would be safe to eat the fruit?"

Ruby says "Who knows?"

At that moment, a rustling echoes in the room, and as I look toward the tree, I see a branch fall. I catch it out of pure reflex. It's heavier than I expected and the branch has two fruits on it.

"I think the tree wants us to eat them."

Ruby says, "How can a tree want anything?"

"Trees are living things, and with as much mana as this one emits, they very well could be sentient."

I pull one of the fruits from the branch in my hand and take a bite. As soon as the juice hits my tongue, I'm in heaven. I quickly pull out the other fruit and toss it to Ruby as I take another bite of my own. I devour the fruit completely in just a few minutes.

- Consuming the fruit of the earth tree grants MP +100!

'Wow, a benefit from eating the fruit?'

So this is an earth tree? I reach out and touch the trunk again and try to convey my gratitude to the tree.

Ruby says, "I gained mana by eating the fruit!"

"Yes, I did too. I think we should leave the tree alone, we don't need anything else down here."

Ruby says, "It's okay, master."

"I thought I told you to stop calling me master?"

Ruby smiles and turns to follow me back down the tunnel. I stop near the middle of the tunnel and look around until I see armatite ore.

"I'm going to do some mining and then head back to camp to do some crafting, you can go rest if you prefer."

Ruby says, "Okay, just try not to hurt yourself this time."

Ruby switches to spirit form and lunges at the amulet before I can come up with a witty retort. I shrug my shoulders, lean the branch against the wall, grab my pickaxe and take my first swing at the cave wall. It only takes me about half an hour to extract the armatite ore.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, the Mining skill has advanced to level 9!

√ Mining

√ Level 9

- Strength +9 Endurance +4

- You are an expert at mining ore.

I seem to have enough ore to smelt into another bar. I pick it up, grab the tree branch and head back to camp. At the camp, I leave the pickaxe and most of my weapons, then grab the ore and the branch and head to the forge room. I place the ore in the crucible and set the branch aside with the pickaxe handle from earlier.

"Ruby, I'm going to need your help."

Ruby says "Okay," steps out of the amulet and takes human form. "What are we going to do this time?"

"I need you to turn on the forge to smelt the Armatite ore again."

Ruby nods and walks to the back of the forge and places her hands on it. Suddenly, the forge bursts into blue flames and I jump back with a curse.

Ruby says, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen!"

"It's okay. I should have known, but I didn't stop to think. It's okay to try again."

Ruby says "It's okay" and reactivates the forge.

Once the blue flames subside, I place the crucible in the forge. This time, the armatite ore melts much faster. In a few minutes it is ready to pour into the bar mold.

⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩.

- Congratulations, the Blacksmith skill expert has advanced to level 12!

√ Expert Blacksmith

√ Level 12

- Fue +14 Fire resistance +14

- You can craft expert level metal items.

Once the ore is poured into the mold, I sit on the stone bench to catch my breath, just being near the forge is exhausting when it's running on blue flames.

"Okay, it's ready, you can stop now."

Ruby lets the forge go back to normal and comes to sit next to me.

Ruby says, "What now, more crafting?"

"No, not yet, how about we finish exploring the cavern first?"

Ruby says, "Sure!"