There were just too many things Ann needed to find out. From the most confusing game-like pop-up boxes to the ‘magic’ of this world. Even so, she wanted to find out in order to have fun and satisfy her curiosity, not with the intention of doing something to try changing the future. She still thought of letting everything flow with the assumption of her imminent death. That way, she wouldn’t fall into despair when whatever she might try to change her fate doesn’t work and she still has to die...so yeah, it was all part of her ‘living as I like’ plan.
The setting of the otome game she played—yes, the otome game’s title was exactly “Saving the Kingdom, Snatching the Beauty”—it was closely related with magic. The heroine was someone who was blessed with the rare holy magic. Though the plot ran due to this rare holy magic, the otome game didn’t really have anything to do with how the magic worked. It was just suddenly “BAAM” the heroine used this magic, that magic...there was nothing written about how one learned magic.
Meanwhile, she herself, as the villainess, possessed the contrast magic of darkness...nope. Unfortunately to Arlea’s dismay—as far as Ann remembered, Arlea really disliked the magic she had and never really used it—Arlea’s magic wasn’t dark magic that could rival the heroine’s magic. As Ann saw in her body’s pop-up box, it was Pure Water magic instead.
In order to better understand everything and perhaps have fun with her magic—something that she never had in her boring previous world—Ann went to read some magic books after having her lunch.
As for her meals and table manners, because of the right meal choices, Ann didn’t cause yet another ruckus in the servants’ gossiping channel. Though it might be unsatisfactory, but Ann was so-so. Ann was probably eating like she would normally do, like what the commoners of this world do, but her body’s muscular memories made her action better than what it should be. Hence, the ‘so-so’ or ‘hmm, okay’ rating.
“Let see...Magic elements...,” Ann flipped through the pages of ‘Basic Magic: Even Dummies Can Understand!’ book.
She said no to the books that seemed boring and looked like textbooks as she wished to live happily. So, even though the title of the book she was holding seemed insulting, the content was good and simple, so she couldn’t complain.
...Perhaps the title should be ‘Even Simpletons Can Understand’ instead of using such offensive word as ‘Dummies’...
She was lucky that she had no problem with the language here. She would commit a suicide right away if she couldn’t understand a single word spoken or written upon transmigrating here...
Ann flipped the page from the very basic ‘feeling your mana/magical power’ into ‘tutorial on how to use magic’.
It seemed that the magic in this world worked by imagination rather than using certain spells or patterns to invoke a set magic form.
Hahahaha, thank you, god! You make my limited second chance so easy!
Ann was very grateful for that. Her imagination was vivid and her knowledge? No need to be questioned! As a modern person, her knowledge and imagination might exceed the others here.
Then, Ann turned the page to the explanation about magic elements.
[Common Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind.
Special Elements: Light, Dark]
So, there are six magic elements.
Let see...
[The less elements someone can use, the stronger and rarer they are. Those who can use all four elements are a lot and the weakest. Single element users are the strongest and the hardest to encounter.
Special elements are magic whose users are really rare to manifest. Holder of these elements are usually single element users.]
Hmm, so it’s a world where ‘purity’ of power reigns instead of a world where the more elements one can do, the better it is.
Then, Ann remembered something that caused her body to jolt in surprise.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
She patted her chest once to prompt open the information box.
> ~SAVING THE KINGDOM, SNATCHING THE BEAUTY~
>
> CHARACTER INFORMATION
>
> Name: Arlea Pristine Claritianta
>
> Race: Human
>
> Gender: Female
>
> Age: 18
>
> Birthday: 02/12
>
> Magic: Pure Water
>
> Occupation: Duchess]
Pure water magic...!
She was a single element user!!
Ann was about to rejoice as she excitedly flipped through the pages detailing the elements.
[Fire – best used for craftsmanship such as blacksmithing
Water – best used for magical power inheritance and purification
Earth – best used to build
Wind – best used for support]
Huh...
Huh, huh, huhhh??
Ann was shocked silly.
Who the heck decides these things?!
But as Ann read the information, she came to understand why such information had become facts. There were already people working on magic researches. Though Ann wanted to disagree because with her modern life imagination and knowledge, each magic could be used to fight equally.
There was also an interesting section about element mutation. For example, earth magic could be used to control plants as well, but there existed a mutation that could make it into plant magic, granting the user to have stronger control over plants. Wind magic could mutate into thunder magic that was suited for fighting. Fire magic could mutate into blue flames magic with greater destructive forces. However, it was still unknown what could cause the magic to mutate.
Water magic could mutate into ice magic, which was more suitable to fighting. Water magic users could also use ice magic, the same as earth magic being able to use plant magic. But the usage would require magical power conversion, causing the delay in output and lower strength than the mutated counterpart.
Ann continued to read.
Water magic could be used in a purification, in a collaboration with light magic. Then, a special characteristic for pure water magic users that were females was that...the child in their wombs would be able to inherit the power of their male parent. Let’s say that the father was a pure fire user, then the child was almost guaranteed to inherit the pure fire magic, and the power would be equal or greater than them.
Ann gulped.
It is easy to be targeted as a female pure water magic user, then...
But in the information book, the statistics said that pure water magic users were the rarest out of the four common elements.
Closing her eyes as well as the book, Ann heaved a long sigh.
Using the knowledge of a modern person, Ann could rationalize how it was possible for that. Water was very flexible and it could adjust to whatever container it was put on. Perhaps due to the soft nature of the water, nobody in this world found out how water could be the deadliest weapon...
Ann focused herself on her surroundings to feel the magic around her. The odd new sensation startled her at first that she almost jumped, but for some reason, there was also a tinge of familiarity. It seemed like Arlea’s body was already used to doing magic, so it would be just her ‘soul’ or ‘mind’ that needed to familiarize itself.
The excitement gradually rose, causing her heart to beat faster. Knowing that her excitement would just disturb her efforts, Ann tried her best to curb it and stay calm.
What’s important now is to test out my pure water magic.
Ann focused on testing her magic in simple way such as producing water balls and directing the droplets of water she created.
Out of curiosity, she also tasted the water that was made of her own magic.
“What, it doesn’t taste the same as natural water...,” Ann said in her disappointment.
Natural water is still the best, it seems!
After gaining a better understanding on how the magic worked, Ann finally decided to carry out her experiment.
My hypothesis is that there is no need to ‘convert magic power’ from water to ice. I can just control the water’s temperature to below freezing and...
A block of ice formed on her hand.
Then, Ann manipulated the ‘water’’s temperature, causing the ice to melt into water before the water evaporated further to thin air.
Ann gulped. It was also easy to produce water out of ‘thin air’ because she could just control the water vapor that was in the air...With that, she could cast more and more water magic without being too exhausted. Well, long concentration might cause her some fatigue...
But the issue on hand wasn’t just that.
She knew that living beings composed mostly of water. Blood was also water, in some sense.
All in all, pure water magic could be the most dangerous out of all. It made sense why it was so rare to have pure water magic users.
And this knowledge of hers—perhaps it would be better to keep this way of manipulation as secret. She didn’t want to try using her magic to kill someone or something by dehydrating them. It would be too cruel.
At the same time, Ann shivered.
The old Arlea—she hated her own magic power because it wasn’t a strong one. What would happen if the old Arlea knew how to use her power in its fullest potential?
Anyway, if people of this world were to make some more advancements in science and try to think out of the boxes in terms of magic manipulation, the pure water magic users would no longer be hunted for their inheritance power. They would all be hunted to be molded into a living weapon.
They should be thankful it’s me who’s transmigrated here! If it’s Adolf Hitler or anyone else, they wouldn’t be content with just this!
Also, she could probably use her magic to fight back if she were to be killed later on as the ‘plot’ progresses, but...
But she doubted she could win as she was a very law-abiding citizen and had good moral. Killing others would be a no-no to her. People of this world didn’t seem to view murder in the same way as she was. This was her biggest disadvantage.
What about living the remainder of her life as a fugitive? That seemed to be plausible...
Anyway, she should just enjoy her life to the fullest right now, think about bothersome matters later on as they come!