( Leo's POV, Mount Faulkner )
"My third core skill is my most treasured one. It's not a skill passed down to me by my father, but rather my own creation.
I've named it 'Mirror World' and its applications are endless" Ben said as he prepared a demonstration for Leo to witness.
"This move takes the concept of light, darkness and reflection to the extreme and needs you to learn a very precise control of external mana to perform" Ben said as he stood approximately 20 meters away from Leo as he began his demonstration.
"Mirror World-" he said, as immediately the single body of Ben that Leo's eyes were trained at, divided into at least a dozen doppelgangers who spread out across the entire nearby field.
A total of 14 Ben's looked at Leo from different angles, their bodies moving in perfect synchronization as they reached for their pocket and pulled out a dagger.
"Dodge-" All fourteen of them said at once, as Leo could hear Ben's voice coming from all sides as 14 daggers came flying his way, targeting parts all over his body.
Reflexively scrunching up, Leo protected his vitals, however, although all the illusionary arrows looked real and made the same sound while moving through the air, they were not actually real as upon impact against Leo's body, they passed through his body without doing any harm.
*Shua*
*TRR*
Only one of the daggers was real, which Ben seemingly purposefully aimed to fly by beside his ear as it notched itself onto the tree behind Leo.
"This….. is Mirror World" Ben said, as all his fourteen forms re-merged with his true body, ending the illusion.
" Woahhh!" Leo said, mesmerized as he never expected Ben's final technique to be an illusion.
In principle he understood how it worked.
Ben was creating a 3D hologram of himself through precise light reflection, taking the concept of a 2D mirror and implementing it to the third dimension, however, he did not understand the nuances of it, as the detail on the technique was insane.
The fake doppelgangers all had shadows, their eye positions all looked towards Leo, with each doppelganger having their pupils perfectly trained in the direction Leo was standing, giving the illusion a higher level of realism.
Also when Ben spoke, his voice seemed to be coming from all the doppelgangers and not only one which made the illusion indiscernible to the naked eye.
Not only that, but he could also use the technique to replicate daggers and moving projectiles as apparently there was no end to what this technique could mirror.
It was undoubtedly a technique of the highest order and Leo had no doubt in his mind that it was going to be incredibly difficult to learn it, but he could also see its possible applications in a wide range of situations.
" This technique can help you retreat, it can help you break through the defense of an opponent you just can't seem to break through with your technique and it can add a layer of unpredictability to your style of combat.
If the kill strike is my great equalizer.
The mirror world is my move to turn the tide of any battle in my favor" Ben said, as he looked at Leo with a proud expression on his face.
He had developed the mirror world from scratch, it was a move he had created on his journeys as an independent adventurer and was the move that eventually allowed him to kill the crown prince.
Now, Leo was going to be the second person in the world to learn the move if he could grasp its nuances.
" How do I learn this technique?" Leo asked Ben, who fell into deep contemplation as to how he should explain to Leo the process of learning this technique.
Since it was a technique he created himself, he did not remember any training that he underwent to practice it with his father and hence he had no proven methods to pass it down to Leo.
Instead he now needed to rely on his own intuition as a teacher to guide Leo, as he began explaining the thought process that went in his mind as he perfected this technique.
" Well to master this technique the first stage is definitely you learning to create 2D images of yourself, like a mirror reflection.
Don't add any depth to it yet, but learn how to manipulate light in a way where you can create multiple projections of yourself" Ben said, as he explained the first step to learning the mirror world.
"Then you need to give it depth, you need to understand the process of adding that dimension and realism to an object creating a true illusion" Ben said as he stroked his chin, contemplating.
"Then the next step would be to perfect the illusion, learn how to add individual details to it like shadows and independent pupil locations".
" Finally, learn how to duplicate moving projectiles to grasp a basic mastery of the technique" Ben said as he laid out a four step process for Leo to master the move.
" You will need to control a lot of ambient mana in the surroundings to learn this move and it will be extremely taxing on your mana reserves to learn it.
While I would usually have allowed you to deplete yourself and wait for hours to replenish to build up your mana reserves, since you seem determined to make it to the grand tournament, I will help expedite your training through mana potions.
However, even with mana potions this won't be easy.
I had a natural knack for figuring out this move. It was something that was constantly in my head. Something I refined a little daily.
I don't know if it will come naturally to you, so don't be discouraged if you don't grasp it as fast as the other techniques" Ben said, as Leo nodded his head and thanked him for his teaching.
Failure now was not longer an option for Leo. He did not have the luxury to not perfect this technique in a short time.
As if he could not make a big impact on the grand tournament to clear his name, he would be a dead man.