I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 180: Changing the World

"Aaaarrghhh!" Maeve screams at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly, the tulip light orbs shoot laser-like beams toward the wasp haelions, killing all of them instantly.

The other four freeze.

Maeve squeezes her eyes shut, bracing herself, expecting the haelions to strike her at any second.

But the buzzing stops.

Silence.

She cautiously opens one eye.

The first thing she sees is Julian, lips pressed into a thin line, clearly struggling not to laugh.

She opens both eyes and notices similar expressions on the others, except for Claudia, who is staring at her with her mouth hanging wide open.

"Congrats, Maeve. You killed them with a single strike," Theo says, smiling from the sidelines.

"I..." Maeve trails off, finally realizing what she’s done. Heat rushes to her face.

"There’s nothing to be embarrassed about," Theo continues, still amused. "You’ve been trying to find an attack move, right? You’ve been feeling useless, remember? Now you know you can kill them with your light magic."

Maeve shakes her head, still flustered.

"I hate insects. I can’t stand them."

"Yeah, we noticed," Julian chuckles.

Arthur clears his throat, hiding a smile. "Another batch is coming. Maeve, you want the honor?"

The three men step back, giving Maeve space.

"But—" Maeve panics. "I don’t know how. I was scared and suddenly—"

"The principle is still the same," Theo says calmly. "Use your imagination. See it in your mind first, before making it real."

The buzzing grows louder.

Maeve’s breathing turns erratic. "Thea! I really don’t know!"

The haelions surge forward, more than before.

"No!" Maeve screams, squeezing her eyes shut again, palms thrust outward in rejection.

Once more, the tulip light orbs fire, wiping the haelions out in a blink.

Julian laughs outright. "This is way better than that sci-fi movie!"

Maeve opens her eyes. "I did it again?"

Theo nods, smiling.

Maeve’s smile slowly spreads. "I want to try again."

She forms a finger gun. "Can I do this too?"

"Do whatever helps you visualize it," Theo replies.

Maeve grins and tries again, Julian stepping beside her to help her focus.

Arthur and Liam sit down on a nearby rock.

"Well," Liam says lightly, "looks like we’re useless."

"Wait—wait a minute!" Claudia suddenly shouts.

Everyone turns.

"What?!" she demands, looking at all of them.

"What the hell did I just see? What did you do? You all knew this? That—that—Maeve girl is shooting lasers from floating light orbs shaped like tulips, and nobody thinks this deserves a discussion?!"

"Why aren’t you all saying anything?!" Claudia screams.

"Well, there’s nothing to discuss, Sis," Liam says, then casually summons a water orb, floating beside him.

"What the actual—?!" Claudia’s eyes widen to the size of saucers as she stares at the floating water.

She staggers backward when the orb breaks apart into several smaller water spheres, all still hovering around her older brother.

Theo steps closer, steadying her before she can fall.

"Liam," he admonishes quietly. "You’re not helping."

Claudia slowly turns her head toward Theo. "You... knew about this?"

"Sit down, Claude," Theo says gently.

"Thea, did you know about this?" she repeats, refusing to sit.

Theo nods. "Yes. Now please sit down and let me explain."

Claudia looks on the verge of tears. "Sit down where? There’s nothing to sit on."

She turns around as if to prove her point, only to freeze when a chair made of rock rises smoothly from the ground.

Claudia yelps and clings to Theo for dear life.

"Claudia, please sit down. It’s okay," Theo says softly.

She looks at him, then at the rock chair, then back at him. Then back at the chair.

After a long moment, she finally lowers herself onto it. Very slowly. As if afraid the chair might bite her. Even then, she only perches on the edge, barely sitting at all. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Theo sighs and flicks his wrist again.

Another rock chair forms beside hers.

Claudia watches the whole thing.

"You—you—you too?" she whispers.

Theo smiles and begins his explanation.

Several batches of haelions later, Claudia is fully seated, leaning back against the rock chair. She looks like someone who has just had her entire worldview shattered.

Arthur approaches. He had been watching them from a distance, as Liam watching the other two, ready to step in if Maeve or Julian needed help.

Seeing Claudia sitting there in stunned silence, and Theo no longer speaking, he approaches and raises a brow.

"I take it the explanation is over?" Arthur asks.

Theo nods.

"And now she’s trying to wrap her head around it?"

Theo nods again.

"Okay," Arthur says, nodding along. "We should give her time to process. It’s a lot."

Theo chuckles. "Yes. I know."

He glances toward Maeve and Julian, who are busy blasting haelions apart, with Liam occasionally joining in by firing water bullets.

"I don’t see the challenge of this dungeon," Theo remarks. "Are you sure this is level eight?"

Arthur laughs. "Yes, it is. This dungeon appeared in another part of Altheon, in the Zarathun Desert, about six months ago. It took four teams of fifteen Sentinels each to clear it."

"Even then, ten were badly injured, three died, and nearly twenty suffered various injuries," Arthur adds.

He watches the others again. "Seeing this... I still can’t believe it’s an eight. It’s nowhere near Mt. Helene. That one was a mutated eight."

He sighs. "Looking at this makes me want to make magic available to all Sentinels. Imagine how many lives could be spared."

"I agree," Theo replies, "but we must proceed very carefully."

"If this is handled poorly, the systems that exist now will collapse. People will start attacking each other with magic. Humans are greedy creatures. I can’t emphasize enough how cautious we must be."

He looks at Arthur. "What we’re doing now is already moving in that direction. We can’t hide magic forever. But Altheon isn’t ready yet. Mana is still scarce. More magi would mean more fighting over mana. Another resource war would be inevitable."

"We need to move forward with extreme caution," Theo concludes.

"Can anyone learn magic?" Claudia suddenly asks.

Theo and Arthur shift their attention to Claudia.

She still looks shaken to the core, but her eyes are no longer blank. There’s something else there now. Focus. Curiosity.

She lifts her hand and points toward the others.

"Can I do that too?"