As soon as the Monolith activated, the three knights were teleported to a dark place underground.
The air was still and cold, as expected from a place beneath the earth. And the lack of light sources made the knights helpless in the darkness.
"Hey, can someone turn on the light? I'm not too fond of the dark."
"I will cast something."
The sound of sparks was heard, and soon after, three fire orbs were formed from the sparks, illuminating the dark cave.
As soon as they were formed, the orbs glided and hovered over the knights's heads respectively.
Seeing the light from the orb was a little dim, Alphonso complained, "What? Why is it dim?"
"Sorry, I need to preserve my magic," Eliana said, adjusting the power of her and Alphonso's orb.
"But I can make yours brighter."
After that, the fire orb brightness level on Alphonso turned brighter, but in turn, Eliana's orb started dimming.
"There you go."
Alphonso raised his eyebrows.
"How are you able to adjust the brightness level? Isn't it a fire, not light?"
"Neither regular fire nor fire magic work like this, but it's a different story if skills are involved."
"What skills? Is it Perk [Magic Control]?"
Eliana shook her head, "No. It's far superior to that. It's [Perfect Magic Manipulation]."
"What is that? I've never heard of that Perk before."
Niveus's ears twitched when he heard Eliana's skill name.
In the original game, where the format system was simpler, the character's skill was told through the story. However, it had a feature that summarized the character in the story.
For example, when a player accesses a character list menu and opens, say, Eliana's profile, the game provides necessary information about her.
For an important character, it will have a character portrait on the left side, and the right side is filled with information like names, birthdays, descriptions, skills, etc.
In her skills segment, "Skilled Fire Mage" was written. Also, throughout the story, Eliana always showcased her high mastery of control over her flame.
Having [Perfect Magic Manipulation] as her skill to summarize her expertise was very fitting. On the other hand, it also brought the memory that had long been forgotten.
'That reminds me of another character in my comic.'
In the comic, there was a villain character who had a skill with a similar name to Eliana's innate ability.
[Perfect Skill Manipulation].
The skill made them one of the hardest opponents the protagonist had to defeat.
It basically enabled them to manipulate skills, whether theirs or other people's.
With [Perfect Skill Manipulation], they could turn their initial basic-grade skill powerful.
One time, they manipulated their [Fireball] skill and transformed it into a meteor shower by extracting and combining the magic from their fireball and their opponent's [Earth Armor].
Or when they reanimated corpses by manipulating [Summon], [Divine Healing], and [Mind Control].
'But that's a skill manipulation. Eliana's magic manipulation might only work for magic spells, not Forte,' Niveus mused, looking at Eliana as he checked her status.
>>[8th Class]<<
Name: Eliana Eos Solias
Race: Human
Forte: [Phoenix Incarnation]
Boons: [Phoenix Flame], [Perfect Magic Manipulation]
Perks: [Fire Immunity]
Redux Skills: [Phoenix's Blessing]
===
'So it's her Boon. Anyway, she said she almost never go out but how is she Class 8 already?'
Eliana gestured to the orbs, one glowing brightly above Alphonso, the other dimmer above her.
"By focusing more magic into one orb, I can make it shine brighter. But because I have to divide my power between the three, making one brighter means the others will dim. It's a balancing act."
Eliana paused, glancing at the orb above her head.
"Think of it as a lamp with a dimmer switch. The fire is just a vessel; it's the magic inside that controls how much light it gives off."
Alphonso still looked puzzled. "But why not just create one large, bright orb instead of three smaller, dim ones?"
Eliana looked at him with a knowing smile.
"Because I'm using my innate ability. Just like I said, it's a superior version of [Magic Control]. It lets me do more than just create fire; I can manipulate the magic I have."
She held up her hand, and the orbs seemed to pulse in response.
"Adjusting the brightness is one thing, even transforming this into a spear..." Eliana's finger motioned as the orb began taking the shape of a spear. "Like this!"
Awed by Eliana's control over her magic, Alphonso applauded her.
"No wonder the commander didn't hesitate to give you your first mission after only a few months of coming here."
Canceling the orb transformation, Eliana gestured around the cave, where the light from the three orbs was evenly spread.
"Creating three orbs allows me to cover more ground and ensures that each of us has our own light source. And with my innate ability, I can fine-tune them to balance the light just right as we navigated through this place."
"One large, bright orb might give us a clearer vision, but it only lights up a small area. Three small, dimmer ones, though, give us better coverage and flexibility."
She paused, her gaze shifting to the orb above her head.
"It's also about conserving energy. If I create a regular fire orb and then enhance its brightness, my magic will deplete faster. But, by spreading the magic of the regular one and reducing the magic usage, which is lowering the brightness, I can keep it all lit longer. Plus, if we encounter any trouble, I have the flexibility to adapt quickly."
After hearing Eliana's long explanation, yet only understanding some of them, Alphonso was thinking of dropping the subject and just went along with whatever technique Eliana used.
After all, it was she who knew her own capability and limitations.
"Okay, I get it," Alphonso complied. "Anyway, we're taking too long talking about this, so let's get moving."
Alphonso slapped Niveus's back. "Lead the way, leader!"
Niveus frowned at Alphonso. Thankfully, Alphonso couldn't see his face.
"You... only in moments like this, you really act like a subordinate, huh."
Tilting his head, Alphonso responded shamelessly. "Ey, what do you mean? Haven't I always been like that?
Niveus shook his head, "Never mind."
Then he looked at Eliana.
"About your innate ability, can you also manipulate the magic of the others?"
Surprised by his question, Eliana quickly fell into thoughts for a moment before answering, "I think, no? I don't know, I've never tried it. That was a nice idea, honestly."
"Hmm, it just slipped my mind after hearing your explanation. But it's fine if you can't do it, so don't push yourself."
Niveus turned around.
"Like Alphonso said, we've wasting too much time here. Let's get moving."