(No chapter title provided — reproducing body only)
The current had temporarily stabilized in the form of a sphere.
The moment it shifted into the shape of a spear, its stability plummeted, causing the electricity to rebel and slip beyond control.
That was the phenomenon that had just occurred.
From the instant the spell changed from a sphere to a spear, the timer had already been set.
The near-miraculous computational ability to predict the outcome and harness a predetermined phenomenon at the exact moment she desired.
The terrifying spell control that could bind only the terrorists while sparing the hostages, then burn the former alive.
Even the brief moment of bewilderment at an unexpected situation passed quickly.
The police shook off their confusion and moved to subdue the terrorists.
"Rapid entry!"
"Go, go, go!"
"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"
The standoff was over.
The situation wrapped up at breakneck speed.
Since she had adjusted the power, the terrorists probably hadn't died.
Ransel had never intended to kill them in the first place.
If she had, there was a chance she herself would end up branded a serial killer instead.
Ransel watched the officers move swiftly to restrain the terrorists and free the hostages, then turned her gaze toward the remaining ones.
What entered her field of vision were the terrorists who had escaped the range of her thunderous roar.
They were attempting to flee in a vehicle they had prepared behind the building.
Ransel quietly moved her index finger.
She gathered the lingering traces of mana left at the scene and forged them into a single streak of current.
With a sharp crack, it pierced straight through the fleeing vehicle's engine.
Ransel's own residual mana never changed, no matter where or how far away it was.
It remained unmistakably hers.
As long as enough mana remained in place, she could use her talent to gather the scattered fragments and reforge them into spell form.
The vehicle whose engine had been pierced exploded in an instant.
The entire chassis flipped over and tumbled across the road.
From between the burning wreckage, one surviving terrorist crawled out on all fours.
He looked utterly bewildered by the sudden explosion.
The desperate will to live and the disorienting shock of the blast combined, making him whip his head around frantically as he scanned his surroundings.
Then his eyes met Ransel's, where she stood on the rooftop.
"…!!"
"Ah."
The terrorist screamed something at the top of his lungs.
Ransel simply smiled silently in return and extended her index finger toward him.
A current carrying a blue glow rose from her fingertip.
"Bang."
She pulled a single coin from her pocket and flicked it along with the current.
A simple act—flicking a coin.
Yet the result tied to that act was not merely simple; it far surpassed all expectations.
With a sharp ping, a small ripple burst out behind the flicked coin.
The space itself seemed to fold and stitch together as the coin instantly closed the distance and slammed straight into the terrorist's forehead.
Ransel, watching the fallen terrorist, tilted her head slightly.
It melted.
She examined the gang member's brow where he lay sprawled on the ground.
The coin she had fired from roughly three hundred meters away had melted mid-flight.
What struck the gang member was only an extremely small fragment of that melted coin.
It could hardly even be called a coin anymore—just a sliver of Ransel's will given form.
He would suffer fractures and burns, but nothing fatal.
He would probably suffer some minor short-term memory loss as well.
Having finished her work, Ransel turned and leisurely left the scene.
As always, she booked a room and lay down on the bed.
With her face buried in the pillow, Ransel began searching on her terminal.
Because she had no legal identity, opening a personal terminal like in her previous life was impossible.
However, using a dead bounty hunter's terminal was perfectly feasible.
There was no telling when it might stop working now that its owner was dead, but at least it had remained usable so far.
What Ransel was looking for now was a place where she could observe magic firsthand.
The moment she thought of it, only one location came to mind.
The Mage Tower.
The Mage Tower was literally a tower where mages researched magic.
But even they could not spend all their time on research alone.
The Mage Tower was, after all, an organization that ran on money.
To continue their research, they needed sponsorship and talent.
That was why the Mage Tower periodically published research results in monthly journals or held public demonstrations to gather both funds and promising individuals.
Of course, since these demonstrations were open to civilians, they would not reveal powerful spells or secret arts.
Even so, it was an undeniable fact that the demonstrations represented the perfect opportunity for her to learn magic.
Elistea Mage Tower… This one seems to focus on daily-life magic.
The more magic, the better.
Even if a spell offered no direct combat benefit, it could prove useful somewhere.
Besides, it was not as though such spells were entirely useless in battle.
The more spells one knew, the easier it became to modify or fuse them.
Even a spell meant for daily life could become combat-viable after repeated modifications.
Take Bolt, for example.
It had started as nothing more than a spell that wrapped the body in electricity.
Now it could be fired directly.
Ransel looked up several more demonstrations beyond the Elistea Mage Tower.
There were a total of five demonstrations scheduled for this month, including Elistea's.
Excluding those whose deadlines had already passed, three remained.
For Ransel, who had time to spare, there was no reason she could not attend.
The vibration of mana echoed through the grand hall.
Mana gathered and dispersed repeatedly, drawing magic circles.
Above those circles, spells took form.
The Elistea Mage Tower's demonstration, held in the central plaza of District 31.
Ransel watched the tower's daily-life magic with an expression of genuine interest.
Spells to maintain body temperature in extreme environments, weight-reduction spells, and others that offered no direct combat help were being demonstrated through various preset environments.
They were useful for daily living or survival.
Magic circles filled the demonstration hall, overlaid with characters and mathematical symbols she had never seen before.
Meaningless words she could not understand drifted from every corner of the venue.
These were things Ransel had never learned since arriving in this world, yet when it came to anything magical, there was nothing she could not comprehend.
She understood the magical domain first through intuition and instinct, and simply watching caused her understanding of magic to accumulate.
"…by adding mana in this manner… it is also possible to cut…"
The man standing on the demonstration stage drew up mana and shaped it into a spell.
She reinforced her eyesight with mana and took in the entire process, then unconsciously worked backward from what she had observed.
The art of already knowing the answer and deducing the problem from the solution.
She performed on the spot the kind of reverse calculation that even mages who had learned spells of the same school would find difficult.
Ransel reflexively gathered mana at her fingertips.
She decided on the answer first, then followed the man's process in reverse.
Crack! Between the short burst of electricity, formless mana carved out a sharp slice through the space at her fingertip.
A cutting spell belonging to the category of daily-life magic.
After confirming that its glow matched what was being shown on stage, Ransel immediately clenched her fist and dissipated the mana.
I thought only useless spells would appear… but there are quite a few practical ones.
She had assumed daily-life magic would consist of things like cleaning up trash or keeping the body clean—purely household utility spells.
Contrary to her expectations, the magic presented at the demonstration was far more useful than she had imagined.
Especially the cutting magic that could slice through objects.
It could already be used for killing without any further research or modification.
The Elistea Mage Tower had explained it as a means to cut through obstacles and escape, but… well, it all depended on how one used it.
Considering that daily-life magic included spells useful for survival in extreme environments, the word "daily-life" clearly carried a double meaning.
Why had they chosen the term "daily life" instead of "survival"?
It was a topic worth pondering, but Ransel's thoughts did not extend any further.
A man who had been sitting beside her for some time kept stealing glances at her.
His gaze was so blatant that she could feel it even in the darkened demonstration hall.
Have I been caught?
She was not sure whether stealing magic by observation counted as a crime.
In martial arts novels, learning someone's secret techniques in secret made one a criminal.
It was possible.
But for now, it should be fine.
Unless the man was affiliated with the Mage Tower, he would have no way of knowing whether she was or not.
She could simply brush it off.
The demonstration was nearing its end.
She seemed to have seen every spell that could possibly be shown.
Having already achieved her original goal of learning magic, there was no longer any reason to remain.
The moment the magical demonstration concluded, a brief lull followed.
Ransel did not miss the opportunity and rose from her seat.
When she stood, the man stood as well, but he hesitated to take a step.
He looked back and forth between the demonstration hall and her, then sat back down in his original seat.
After confirming that, she left the central plaza without hesitation.