Leo had several ideas on how to advance his mastery of [Mirror World] beyond the Intermediate grade, but he wasn't certain if any of them would succeed.
The initial spark of the idea began to take root in his mind during his practice with [Shadow Bind].
The technique of manipulating shadows was quite similar to controlling illusions, as both shared a fundamental underlying principle.
Hence, Leo believed that with some trial and error, he could perhaps give his illusionary doppelgangers a real physical form, turning them into actual physical clones that he could control with his mind.
If successful, it could add a whole another level of dimensionality to his fighting style and could perhaps help him surpass even the genius of his master, who was yet to reach this stage.
But the question was how? As athough giving illusions a physical form seemed to be similar to giving shadows a form, there were many nuanced differences that Leo had to figure out first.
Regardless, Leo decided to take the challenge head-on and started to experiment, making wild attempts to bind his mana with his illusions to try and make them solid.
Drawing on his experience from mastering [Shadowbind], he began to integrate the concepts he had learned into his attempts with [Mirror World], hoping to give his illusionary doppelgangers a real, tangible form, but the first few days of his attempts were rough as nothing seemed to work.
During the first few days, Leo found himself struggling to apply the same principles he had used with shadows to his illusions, as while shadows were tied to physical surfaces, grounded in reality, illusions were purely constructs of the mind, with no tether to the physical world, making his first attempts at trying to infuse mana into them fail miserably.
No matter how hard he tried, the illusions he created remained insubstantial, flickering in and out of existence, with no sign of becoming real.
Hence, Leo decided to change the goal and aim small, as for the first week, Leo focused on trying to simply make his illusions hold some kind of weight.
He infused mana into them, just like he had done with shadows, but without a tangible surface for the mana to interact with, the results were inconsistent at best.
The doppelgangers would flicker, showing signs of solidity for a moment, only to dissipate the next.
It felt as if the illusions resisted the infusion, as unlike the shadows, which had at least allowed themselves to be shaped into a physical form, illusions did not seem to react to mana in the same way.
Regardless, Leo did not lose hope and kept trying out new things everyday.
*******
By the end of the second week, Leo realized that his initial approach was too simplistic.
He wasn't just dealing with shadows anymore—he was manipulating pure illusion, something that didn't even exist in the physical world to begin with, and to deal with such a thing, he needed a different strategy.
Recalling his success with [Shadowbind], where he had created an internal mana framework to support the structure of the shadows, Leo decided to attempt something similar with his illusions.
He theorized that if he could build a mana skeleton inside the illusion, like he had done with the shadows, it might give the doppelgangers the support they needed to maintain a physical form, and thankfully for him, his intuition was indeed the right method to proceed, as delving down that path, he soon found a breakthrough
At the start of the third week, Leo managed to create a doppelganger that didn't immediately dissipate.
It stood rooted to its spot, flickering at first but then holding its form steady in what was a first.
In the end, the doppelganger remained solid for a whole three minutes, which was a massive improvement to Leo's previous record of 4 seconds.
It wasn't a complete success, but it was the first real sign of progress.
Encouraged, Leo doubled down on his efforts. He focused on stabilizing the mana framework and circulating the mana within the illusions, just as he had learned to do with the shadow chains.
He could see the similarities now—as just like shadows needed a consistent flow of mana to stay in their three-dimensional form, so too did the illusions, which required a steady stream of mana to maintain their physical presence.
Enlightened with this knowledge, Leo continued with his experiments, with the weeks soon turning into a month as Leo's experimentation became more focused.
He slowly improved the strength of his mana framework, reinforcing it and weaving the threads of mana more intricately, making the doppelgangers stronger and more stable with each attempt.
At this point He could now create doppelgangers that lasted for several minutes before collapsing, their physical forms gradually becoming more solid and tangible.
By the end of the first month, Leo had reached a point where he could create a doppelganger that not only had a physical presence but could also move.
It wasn't perfect—the movements were slow, clunky, and unnatural, but it was a huge leap forward. The clone could walk, lift objects, and interact with the environment around it.
At this point, Leo knew he was on the verge of another major breakthrough, as with a few adjustments, he could finally turn his vision into reality.
Over the next week, his focus on perfecting the clone was razor-sharp, his mental capacity was stretched to its limits, but he could feel that he was close to mastering this new ability.
Finally, after nearly two months of intense trial and error, it happened!!
Leo stood before his illusionary doppelganger, watching as it moved with fluidity and purpose.
The clone had a physical presence—it could walk, run, and even mimic Leo's fighting movements with precision and it was as if a real person was standing before him, created entirely from his mana and willpower.
The satisfaction was immense. After months of hard work, Leo had finally succeeded in giving his illusions a physical form, and while he could still not create more than one clone at once, creating even one was a major milestone for him.
Unfortunately for him however, the system still did not consider his mastery over [Mirror World] to have progressed, as even though he was very satisfied with the clone that he had created, he received no system notification that acknowledged his progress.