"Eleonora," Leonar began, his tone firm. "Let's do it. Fuse with me."

Obeying his command, Eleonora merged with him again as he adjusted his shorts. A chill coursed through Leonar’s body, leaving him with a faint shiver that quickly subsided.

"Done," Eleonora murmured.

Leonar activated the ability in his eyes, focusing intently on the tunnel. As he suspected, the hole Eleonora had created with her attack was leading directly toward the source of the golden light.

The glow was so intense it seemed to pierce through even the layers of rock that separated them.

Was it getting closer?

"Looks like we can postpone climbing," Leonar commented, crouching to pick up the lava sword he had set aside.

However, as he held it in his hands, something caught his attention. The sword, while imposing, was irregularly shaped. The blade wasn’t as sharp as it should be, and its surface was covered in small imperfections.

"Eleonora," Leonar said, raising the sword to examine it more closely. "Do you think you can turn this into a pickaxe? It might be more useful to carve a way through."

There was a brief silence before Eleonora responded with a thoughtful "Hmmmm."

The pause stretched long enough for Leonar to raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"It’s possible," Eleonora finally replied, though her tone was cautious. "But I’d need to push beyond my current power to make it happen..."

Leonar frowned, trying to process her words.

"Beyond your power? What exactly does that mean?"

Eleonora let out a soft laugh, as if the question amused her.

"It means that my power is capped at the moment due to my current level. However, I can force myself to go beyond that limit to amplify what I can do. It’s dangerous, but not impossible."

Because of the anger Eleonora had felt earlier, she had activated that ability without much thought to the consequences.

Luckily, Leonar’s body hadn’t exploded, and she hadn’t suffered any significant damage.

Leonar tilted his head, still confused.

"Why would you need to do something like that just to change the shape of a sword you created yourself?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Eleonora’s voice was tinged with amusement, though there was a trace of fatigue in it. "Did you forget how hard it is for me to manipulate water into specific forms? And water is my primary element. Now imagine what it takes to manipulate this lava."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Leonar swallowed hard, recalling how Eleonora now directed his body and consciousness to that mental training space where she practiced controlling water with the system’s help.

‘Damn,’ Leonar thought as he scrutinized the sword again, this time more carefully. Its shape was crude, as if it had been hastily created without much attention to detail.

"Alright, I get it. But if you were to push your power further... would there be any side effects?"

Eleonora let out another thoughtful "Hmmmm," this time with a more pensive tone.

"Probably."

A chill ran down Leonar’s spine.

"Define ‘probably.’"

"Well," Eleonora began with a nonchalant tone, "it’s possible that either my body or yours could suffer severe damage. But nothing to worry about—thanks to my regeneration ability, we’d recover... sooner or later."

Eleonora’s regenerative ability was still something Leonar didn’t fully understand.

Why did she trust that ability so much when it had taken her quite some time to heal the arm she had injured last time?

Did that ability improve that much with each level up?

"Severe damage?" Leonar raised an eyebrow, feeling it harder to breathe under the growing pressure around him. "How severe are we talking?"

"Depends," Eleonora replied, her relaxed tone unshaken. "If it’s minor, you might suffer fractures or muscle tears. If we’re talking extremes, you could... explode."

That would be a guaranteed, gruesome death!

Had she seriously used such a dangerous ability before?

Leonar’s jaw dropped, terror flashing in his eyes.

"Explode...? And you’re saying that like it’s no big deal?"

Eleonora chuckled lightly.

"Why worry? As long as we’re fused, I can regenerate you from scratch. It’s just a matter of time."

How overpowered was Eleonora’s regeneration ability!?

And if that was the case...

Why did she make such reckless decisions if his life was never really in danger?

Leonar shook his head in disbelief.

"What if someone devours me?"

"Oh, well... then we’d have a problem," Eleonora admitted, as if discussing the weather.

Leonar let out a nervous laugh, though his expression betrayed his unease.

He wanted to keep debating this ability further, but Leonar genuinely felt like he might lose consciousness at any moment.

"You’re something else, you know that?"

"I just make the best decisions to save this world," Eleonora replied with a hint of pride.

Finally, Leonar shook his head.

Apparently, even if he were to explode right now, that wasn’t an issue anymore. But...

"Alright," Leonar said, taking a deep breath. "Do it. Possess my body, but use my eyes’ ability to find the quickest way to that golden light. Use whatever method you think is best. We can’t keep wasting time."

"That’s the spirit," Eleonora said cheerfully. "Good luck with the training."

This last remark caught Leonar off guard, as he hadn’t told her he was training in his mind with the system. Before he could say anything, he blacked out.

Eleonora, now fully in control of Leonar’s body, saw a system message appear before her:

[Eleonora’s Power Released to 124%]

It hurts.

Lacking the same motivation as before, it was much harder for her to handle the amplified power coursing through every part of Leonar’s body.

Even though Eleonora knew her current limits well, she didn’t want to waste time.

If Leonar’s body exploded or was defeated in battle, those were injuries she could heal, but it would take far too long due to the low level of her regeneration.

‘Breathe... control it...’ she repeated in her mind, trying to adapt to her newfound strength.

The first time Eleonora unleashed her full power in Leonar’s body, she felt it almost break, barely managing to withstand the strain for five seconds. Thanks to him allowing her to level up by killing monsters, she could now handle the full force for a decent duration. But...

Amplified power was a different story.

Eleonora, who had believed she had grown used to the agony of handling power far beyond what the body could bear, found herself overwhelmed this time.

But she wasn’t about to stop.

‘How did I do it?’ The question echoed in her mind as she struggled to manipulate the lava sword in her hands.

It had been so easy before, but now...

Now it was an entirely different challenge.

And the worst part was the nagging feeling that Leonar’s body might explode at any moment.