Transmigrate to another world

Ruby thinks, "Angry?! I'm not angry! I'm angry at you and I'm giving you the silent treatment!"

"Okay, yes, I took a chance and it's going to happen again. Living safely won't make me stronger or bring me out of here to the surface. I took a calculated risk, it was a risk, but the odds were in my favor. If the odds are against me, I won't do it or think of a way to improve the odds. That's just the way I am and I'm sorry you're stuck with me."

Ruby quickly exits the amulet and takes her human form, only to turn around and slap me. I'm surprised, to say the least, and I look at her with wide eyes as if to say "what did I do?".

Ruby says, "I chose to be attached to you! Don't ever say I'm stuck with you again!"

"Oh, right, sorry. I guess it was a bad choice of words."

Ruby says, "Okay, so what did you mean?"

"Basically, that that's just the way I am. Sorry, but I guess it takes some getting used to."

Ruby looks like she wants to punch me again, but then takes a deep breath and calms down a bit. Luckily, my stomach chooses that moment to growl loudly, making her laugh.

Ruby says, "You skipped a meal to work on something again, didn't you?"

"Um, I guess. I'm not sure how long it's been."

Ruby says, "Okay, let's go to camp and you can explain things to me after we eat."

"Okay!"

So the two of us head back to camp together. Once there, I quickly prepare some alligator steaks and mushrooms and we sit by the fire to eat. We finish eating and Ruby turns to look at me, she has a much less angry look on her face.

Ruby says, "Can you explain to me why you were so reckless? I know you say it was a calculated risk, but normal people don't take those kinds of risks."

"Well, I haven't really thought about it, but it's probably because of how I lived my previous life. I never took any real risks, I lived a pretty boring life, but I still died screaming and crying in pain. I think this time I'd rather take risks and not live in fear, if I'm going to die in pain anyway, I'd rather it be because I was doing something worthwhile."

Ruby says, "You don't talk much about your past life. Maybe if you tell me about it, it will help me understand you better."

As we sit comfortably by the fire, I tell Ruby all about my past life. Of course, this involves explaining all sorts of things to her, like technology, anime and manga.

Ruby seems fascinated and interested, and I don't get the usual feeling that she's pulling my leg. She seems to be really listening to my long, boring story. By the time I finish telling her everything I can think of to help her understand me, I'm yawning after every word.

Ruby says, "Thank you! I have a lot to think about, I still don't understand much about your former world, but I think I understand you quite a bit better. I'm going to rest and think it all over, why don't you get some sleep before your jaw goes slack?"

Ruby's laughter echoes around me as she transforms into spirit and enters the amulet to rest. I agree with her and climb into my hammock to get some sleep.

I end up sleeping for about twelve hours and when I wake up I'm hungry again. It's only when I'm eating breakfast that I realize I didn't even have time to give Ruby her new swords. I finish eating and then clean up the camp and myself before touching the amulet.

"Ruby?"

She comes out of the amulet and circles around my head before landing and taking human form.

Ruby says, "Good morning, master!"

"Good morning, would you like me to fix you some breakfast?"

Ruby says, "No, thank you. I'm not hungry, so you should save it for yourself and delay your return to fishing a little longer."

"Haha, well, thanks for being mindful of my diet."

Ruby says, "So, I did a lot of thinking and now I understand some of the things that drive you. I don't promise not to hit you when you do something stupid, but I will try to keep in mind the reasons behind some of the things you do."

"I do. Even though sometimes they scare the hell out of me."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry I scared you."

Ruby smiles and says, "Apology accepted! What's the plan for today?"

-Actually, I made something for you.

Ruby says, "Oh, yeah? For me? What is it?"

"Follow me and you'll see."

With a smile, I turn and lead Ruby back to the forge room, where I take the swords from behind the forge and offer them to her. She takes them with a smile, but looks a little confused.

Ruby says, "What kind of swords are these? I've never seen a sword shaped like this before."

"In my world they were called scimitars, they are for a flowing style of sword like the ones you use."

Intrigued, she pulls out one of the swords and gasps as she sees the blue flames crawling along the blade.

Ruby says, "What the hell is this, I've never seen blue flames before! And I was a fire elemental, so I've seen a lot of fire!"

"Blue fire is more intense and hotter than normal flames."

Ruby says, "Don't get me wrong, the sword is beautiful and I love it. I just want to understand exactly how you did this. I was pretty sure you didn't have enough mana to cast any of the enchanting spells yet."

"Uh... Are there enchanting spells?"

Ruby frowns and says, "Yes, of course there are! Wait, if you don't know them, how did you enchant this? And with a new kind of fire, no less!"

"How about you put the sword away before I tell you?"

Ruby says "Why?"

"Because, you hitting me is one thing, with that sword you could inadvertently kill me."

Ruby sheathes the sword and sets both aside as she looks at me as if debating whether to hit me just on principle before I explain something.

"So, I enchanted them similar to how I modified my own core and mana channels."

Ruby says, "You mean you manipulated the pure mana of the swords, that's dangerous! But what about the blue fire?"

"It wasn't that dangerous, I did it slowly to be safe. And the blue fire came from my fire beam spell that I evolved and then fused it with the sword core."

Ruby says, "So you created an object core, which I didn't think was possible, and then fused a spell with it, which should be impossible. Did you even stop to think that it might have exploded in your face? Not to mention evolving a spell that should have exploded in your face!"

Suddenly, Ruby sits down on the stone bench. I sigh quietly, relieved, as I was expecting it to hit me. She seems to be breathing deeply and her eyes look a little wide.

"I was as careful as I could be, I promise. And it wasn't so much about developing a spell as it was about applying physics to it."

Ruby looks up and says, "What, physics? What's that?"

I then give Ruby a basic explanation of what physics is, but I stop myself before I get too technical because she looks a little overwhelmed.

"Think of it as a set of rules that allow you to understand how natural things work and why they work that way."

Ruby says, "Stop. Stop for a moment. I feel like my head is too small."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that you don't have a frame of reference for some of the things I say."

I sit on the floor and wait quietly for Ruby to organize her thoughts. She stares into the void for almost half an hour, while she is distracted, I enjoy just sitting and watching her. When her eyes come back into focus, she stands up and stretches, then takes the old swords off her back and hands them to me.

She reaches over, picks up the scimitars and puts them on her back before unsheathing them. I watch as she tries out the swords to familiarize herself with them. Once she does, she does a full practice routine with the swords; her graceful, fluid form is truly a pleasure to watch.

Standing, she is beautiful, but when she moves she becomes really impressive. I admit that I spend the entire time she is practicing watching her, luckily for me she is engrossed in the swords and doesn't notice. When she finally stops, I quickly look at her face as she turns to me.

"So, what do you think of them?"

Ruby says, "They're perfect! They feel like part of me! I love them! Thank you so much, teacher!"

She runs up to me and hugs me tightly, she is so excited that she doesn't even sheathe the swords. Being very careful with the swords, I hug her back.

"I'm so glad you like them. Now you'll never have to worry about not being able to hurt an armored opponent ever again."

Ruby says "They are amazing swords, sorry for getting mad at you."

"That's okay. Even in my past life I had a talent for pissing off women."

Ruby smiles and says "Oh yeah, is that so? You'll have to tell me about it someday."

"If you're going to smile at me like that, please put away the swords!"

Ruby blushes and says, "Whoops! Sorry, I forgot I had them ready."

She quickly and smoothly sheathes both swords as if she's done it a thousand times before. Except for the color, they really look like a natural part of her.

Ruby says, "Master, can you teach me this new fire magic?"

-I can try, but not here. It might be a little dangerous near the forge. I know a good place where we can practice. Come with me.

Ruby says, "Yes, master!"