Child of Destiny

“This is also not limited to the mirages! I can also apply this to the mentalism formations!”

Shin felt excited as a flood of new ideas entered his mind.

He also seemed to recall how those spatial constructs and mentalism constructs that Elder Zhi from the Void Tribe and Grandmaster Benn used against each other during their battle in the Sun-Moon Continent.

He also seemed to have realized what he was lacking when compared to his Mentalism Teacher when using illusion techniques.

Shin was not much lacking when it came to his overall combat abilities, particularly in offensive and defensive areas. Even his movement techniques were not that bad when compared to others.

What he was lacking right now were auxiliary abilities that could further boost his overall combat performance and even enhance his already existing abilities.

What Grandmaster Benn had shown Shin and the others during that time was one of the peaks of Mentalism Methods.

It was a special method that seamlessly combined and fully utilized the unique traits of Mentalism Runes, Mentalism Techniques, and Mentalism Formations to their highest potential.

Just creating a life-like construct made by a series of Mentalism Formations linked with one another, which could also use and cast a variety of Mentalism Techniques, was already way out of what the other Mentalism Methods could achieve.

Shin might still be very far from reaching that level, but he at least had a decent clue right now. As for how he would proceed, it would all depend on all his methods.

“Mentalism focuses on sharpening and toughening the mind while also honing the spirit,” mumbled Shin while looking for a way to incorporate those mental techniques into the game.

“If I want to re-create something similar here inside the game, then I must expend more mental strength,” he continued, understanding that he could not afford to save his concentration in this matter, unlike before.

Swoosh!

This time, he was planning to expand his mind energy, splitting it between the Phantom Apparition and its nine phantoms.

He wanted to control them completely, as if he were moving nine bodies all at once.

He had been doing this before, when he still did not have that many cards that required his mental strength. His clones and phantoms were one of his signature moves at that time, which he minutely controlled with his mind alone.

Given his overwhelming willpower that could not be exhausted that easily, achieving such a feat was a walk in the park for someone like him.

Unfortunately, when he started using the different sword forms of ‘Mondi’s Style’ and learned about the Elemental Possessions, achieving a similar feat had become extremely challenging even for him.

After all, his extremely powerful Elemental Spirit Companions required quite a lot of energy and concentration whenever they came to possess his sword forms.

Even with his overwhelming willpower, which was supposed to be inexhaustible, maintaining those forms had become extremely demanding for his mind.

This was the reason why he barely used his Clones and Phantoms during battles these days.

Moreover, adding that the state of Reality Manifestation was another mentally exhausting mechanic within the game, Shin would always have extra burdens when fighting in his strongest states.

The stronger his willpower, the more demanding these techniques became.

After all, the stronger his mental strength, the more it consumed his concentration whenever using these kinds of techniques.

The stronger his willpower, the more advanced and accurate his moves became under the state of Reality Manifestation, which would become more demanding for his concentration in return.

Shin would not use such an exhausting method to overstrain his mind during a battle. This was also why he only kept his clones and phantoms under the control of their respective AI.

However, inside this tower, most of his skills and abilities were greatly restricted.

It was only limiting him to a specific area that he wanted to improve, while also being tested.

Now that his elemental powers and most of his skills were temporarily inactive, Shin could focus on this specific area that he had rarely explored.

Along with the clues that he had just gotten, he felt that he would be able to improve in this area by a huge margin once he exited this place.

His initial thought when dealing with the current situation was to move the ‘pieces’ on the board by himself.

It was as if he would be splitting himself and granting those phantoms a ‘life’.

This was his initial idea of making those phantoms more lifelike.

…

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Bang! Bang!

Just like this, Shin continued possessing the Phantom Apparition while fighting the sand soldiers.

He was also giving extra effort by manually controlling all the phantoms, making them look more independent and lifelike whenever they were moving.

This time, Shin did not rely solely on his martial prowess to completely overwhelm the opposing side. Instead, he was using his unique battle formations when facing them.

He seemed to be ‘working together’ with the nine phantoms that he had scattered in different parts of the battlefield.

From a third person’s point of view, these phantoms seemed to be moving like a true person, even executing unique martial movements to further trick the opposition.

The longer he stayed in this state, the better his control over the Phantom Apparition and its phantoms became.

It might also be quite demanding for his mind, but it was nothing compared to activating all his combat states at once and keeping his strongest form possible.

In comparison, what he was doing right now was just a simple exercise to sharpen his mind and hone his fundamentals when it came to this area.

It did not take that long before Shin regained his battle instincts with this aspect and mastered it once again.

However, the more he trained in this method, the more he felt that there was something missing in his techniques.

“Mirage is not just about creating illusion and complicating my attack patterns or making my illusions more realistic,” he mumbled, looking for what he was missing. “I need to do something else to make them even more alive.”

Reaching this point, Shin changed his approach a little.

This time, he would not just control those phantoms to move differently. He wanted to make their movements more complicated and gain more essence in them.

With that in mind, he controlled each phantom to execute the same moves all at once, synchronizing it with the movements of the Phantom Apparition.

He started with basic movements at first, making sure that everything was on the same timing and accuracy before proceeding to the fundamental arts.

He felt like returning to the time when he was still studying martial arts and mentalism methods under Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn’s tutelage.

Returned to the most basic movements and fundamental techniques of his current arts, which also allowed him to re-examine himself.

By returning to these roots, Shin was able to find a few things that were restricting his improvements, particularly a few habits that he had created and accumulated over the years.

Even though he had already fixed most of them during his training, a few new ones were bound to appear if he did not regularly do these fundamental exercises.

Since he was training alongside nine phantoms, Shin felt like he was training right in front of multiple mirrors that were clearly reflecting him.

Through this method, he was able to fix all that needed to be fixed and improve those needed improvements.

As if coordinating with him, the sand soldiers adjusted their battle formations accordingly, which made this training method more effective in return.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The Phantom Apparition and all its nine phantoms moved uniformly despite their distance from each other.

Even though the attacks of the phantoms did not deal any damage or even cut through the sand soldiers, they continued to move to mirror the movements of the main body.

After reviewing all his arts for quite a while and fixing the things that needed to be done, Shin gradually increased his pace while also proceeding to his more advanced techniques.

The sand soldiers responded accordingly, adjusting their battle formations and combat methods to match the pace and combat prowess that Shin was showing.

They were mostly focusing on the Phantom Apparition, which Shin mainly controlled. They were trying to trap him and attack from all angles, forcing him to break his concentration.

They seemed to be doing everything them have to break his current state, particularly when Shin was slowly gaining what he was looking for.

In response, Shin kept his mind sharp and focused despite all the factors around him that were attempting to break this trance.

Along with this pressure, Shin was slowly getting better at controlling everything while also honing all his techniques.

Moreover, he began using a few more tricks in the process, particularly when drawing on the Phantom Apparition’s variety of skills.

He started incorporating his swordsmanship, particularly the sword principles and forms that he had learned from Old Ryong, into these sneaky and stealth techniques.

During the entire process, Shin felt like a butterfly that was about to break through his cocoon and gain a whole different form.

…