With [Vanish] and [Kill Strike] already honed to an advanced level, Leo shifted his focus to the third and final core skill in his repertoire: [Mirror World].
Unlike [Vanish] and [Kill Strike], [Mirror World] was an unusual skill for Leo, primarily because, unlike the other two, he had never seen a more refined version of this ability from his ntor, Ben.
At present, the key difference between Leo’s [Mirror World] and Ben’s lay in the number of clones they could generate. While Leo could conjure a maximum of 12 clones, Ben’s capabilities extended to producing well over 100.
Despite this nurical disparity, the quality of the clones remained identical, suggesting it was purely a matter of quantity.
Drawing from his experience in mastering skills, Leo knew that when a skill’s mastery advanced from [Interdiate] to [Advanced], it underwent a significant qualitative transformation.
This led him to believe that even Ben hadn’t yet achieved [Advanced] mastery in [Mirror World], aning Leo would need to figure out that part on his own.
Thankfully, after practicing [Shadow Bind], Leo could already see a potential path to improve [Mirror World] beyond its conventional boundaries. However, for now, he needed to raise the mastery of [Mirror World] to [Interdiate] grade first.
Leo knew that to achieve interdiate mastery, he needed to increase the number of clones he could summon from 12 to 100— which was a daunting challenge in itself.
For his first step, Leo decided to push the boundaries of his current skill by trying to summon more than 12 clones.
Standing in the silence of his manor’s garden, his temporary training ground, Leo focused on using [Mirror World] and tried to create as many clones as he could.
One by one, illusions of himself appeared around him, each a perfect reflection.
He counted carefully, with the first 12 clones coming quickly, as always, with little strain, however, from that point, Leo began pushing further, consciously willing himself to create more.
13…14…15. The air shimred as additional clones erged, flickering montarily before stabilizing, until he reached 20.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he concentrated, but the effort to maintain the extra clones was evident.
His mana reserves were draining faster than expected, and the clones felt less stable, with their forms looking less convincing than usual.
After a minute, the strain beca too much. The clones flickered out of existence all at once, leaving Leo alone in the garden, breathing heavily.
“I’m wasting too much mana,” he muttered, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
“There’s no way I can summon 100 clones like this.” Leo said, as he realized that the problem wasn’t just the amount of mana he had, but also how he was using it.
Each clone was taking more energy than necessary, leaving him with little mana to summon additional illusions.
To reach 100 clones, he had to figure out how to be more efficient with his mana control, which he felt was key to reaching the next step.
Hence, over the next few days, Leo focused on refining his control over the flow of mana into each clone.
He practiced summoning small numbers of clones repeatedly, paying close attention to the energy each one required.
Soon, he discovered he had been channeling too much mana into each clone, making them overly solid and wasting energy.
By lightening the mana flow to each illusion, he could maintain their appearance without depleting his reserves too quickly, and with this realization, Leo tried again, pushing himself to summon more clones.
This ti, he reached 25 without feeling the overwhelming strain that had stopped him before, and to his joy, the clones felt stable, their forms less solid but still convincing enough to deceive an opponent.
Encouraged by his progress, Leo continued practicing over the next few days, increntally increasing the number of clones he could summon.
******
(One week later)
After a week of focused training, Leo reached 50 clones—half of his goal.
The difference was night and day. Where before he had struggled to maintain 20, he now felt a sense of control over the illusions that he hadn’t experienced before.
His mana flowed smoothly into each clone, and while the energy drain was still significant, it was no longer overwhelming.
However, Leo soon realized another challenge. Summoning 50 clones was one thing, but controlling them all at once was another, as while he could summon them, directing their movents simultaneously required a level of focus he hadn’t anticipated.
As Leo attempted to maneuver his clones around the garden, sending them in different directions to simulate a real combat scenario, he realized they were nothing more than empty puppets.
With his attention split among 50 clones, his control wavered, and half the clones disappeared mid-movent as the strain of managing them all proved too much.
“This is harder than I thought,” Leo sighed, wiping his brow.
“This is undoubtedly the most challenging skill to master yet,” Leo mused, realizing that [Mirror World] was on a whole other level compared to his other skills.
********
(One more week later)
Leo spent the next few days focusing not just on summoning the clones, but on controlling them effectively.
He started small, summoning 20 clones and practicing moving them in sync.
As his control improved, he increased the number, gradually working his way back up to 50.
Had it not been for the strengthening effects of the mind ditation scroll, Leo doubted he could handle the ntal load of controlling over 50 clones. But thanks to his mind’s conditioning, he slowly beca accustod to the demands of managing so many illusions at once.
The process was grueling, requiring intense concentration, but Leo persisted.
Over ti, he began to feel more comfortable managing the illusions, and his ability to direct their movents beca second nature.
By the end of the second week, Leo found himself capable of consistently summoning and controlling 75 clones at once, but he knew he still had a long way to go before reaching 100.
********
(A couple more weeks later)
After more weeks of training, Leo finally crossed the 92-clone threshold. Determined to hit 100 that day, he decided to push himself to the limit.
He had spent weeks honing his mana control and improving his focus, and now it was ti to see if he could summon 100 clones.
Taking a deep breath, Leo stood in the center of the garden, closing his eyes as he focused on the flow of mana within him.
Slowly, he channeled the energy into the skill, visualizing the clones in his mind.
One by one, the illusions appeared, surrounding him in a circle. 12…20…30. Leo pushed further, his mana flowing more smoothly than ever before. 50…60…70. The air shimred as the number of clones grew, each one a perfect copy of himself.
80…90…100.
Leo opened his eyes, staring at the sea of illusions that filled the garden. He could feel the strain of maintaining them, but it was manageable—nothing like the overwhelming pressure he had felt before.
He moved his hand, and the clones moved in unison, responding to his command with ease. For the first ti, Leo felt fully in control.
And right on cue, the system notification chid, confirming his success:
[System Notification: Congratulations to player ‘TheBoss’ for improving your skill [Mirror World] to (Interdiate) mastery.]
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