Unlocked

Leus went to the library, greeted Felix, Robert, and Arno, then entered his training room

'I'm really excited ..... I'll unlock my first Elemental Abstract soon'

He picked up one of the two remaining white Mana Crystals and stood on the Magic Circle, he was about to activate the Barrier but then he remembered

'Oh right .. The blindfold'

Leus picked up the blindfold from his desk and activated the Barrier

He wore the blindfold, put his right hand on the Crystal, and willed it to release all of its mana.

Light Mana instantly filled the Barrier, and once again, Leus felt the warmth course through his body.

Leus enjoyed the peace and tranquillity for about a minute then quickly shifted his mindset toward training.

'Now I want to begin with creating a hand'

Leus focused on manipulating the mana around him;

He began by creating a hand, then an arm, then a torso, then a face.

'Creating a face is more complicated, The more details there are the harder it is to keep the illusion displayed'

But Leus didn't give up, he kept training and progressing.

During this session, he only slept a single time.

After a considerable amount of time passed, Leus felt that he would be able to create a full body soon.

'I'm about to unlock it'

'Just a bit more'

'Soon ...'

It all happened so suddenly.

Leus felt his mind getting enveloped by the brilliance of Light, and then he seamlessly comprehended the Abstract.

For an instant, his consciousness faded. But when it returned, it returned with a newfound clarity, sharper than ever before, as if a curtain had been lifted. 

'It's like I became smarter in some way'

He was still unable to see, but he sensed it, he sensed that he was now easily capable of creating any illusion he wanted.

He decided to experiment with his new power before coming out of the barrier.

First, he created a mirage of himself, then another one, then another one.

'That's it ... I can't create more, I just know that it won't happen'

Then he tried to display an image of his family

'Mom, Dad, and me.'

He wanted to add both Amethyst and Merlin, but he knew that he simply couldn't create more illusions than this.

He tried creating rings and ...

'100?'

A ring is really simple, small in size and has very few details, he was able to create as many as he wanted.

Finally, Leus decided to try and create a scene.

The first thing that came to his mind was the library, But

'It doesn't even take shape, The library is too big'

He tried creating his house but he faced the same problem

'How about something small and with little details'

He created the metal pot that he and Scar drank from, Then he created a small pit of water like the one the Water Foxes were hiding inside.

'So I can create up to 3 illusions of humans, and any scene that's small or with not many details, but I can't create anything big.'

Leus was satisfied with the results

'I'll ask Arno how to make it better, but as it is now, it's amazing, Like a superpower that I can use anytime I want just by thinking about it ... It's perfect'

Abstracts are mind powers, once the person unlocks an Abstract he can use it anytime for very little cost, but it has its limits based on the person's level and power.

'Its only drawback is, as Arno said, Abstracts are a bit weaker than the person's level ... I'm not certain exactly what that means since I do not understand levels that much, but I assume that if someone like Dad used this Abstract on someone exactly as powerful as him, then it wouldn't work. He can only trick people a bit weaker than him.' 

Leus deactivated the Barrier and once again, the library lit for just a second

Leus sighed

'I'll miss the feelings of peace inside the Light .....'

He felt wistful for a couple of seconds but quickly moved on

'I have things I want to ask Arno about and ... I really hope I didn't take an entire month inside again'

He removed his blindfold and placed it along with the now empty Mana Crystal on his desk, then went to take a shower.

After Leus was done, he came out to find Arno sitting behind the desk waiting for him

"Oh? Hey .. How did you know I was done?"

Arno snickered

"When you deactivate the Barrier the entire library shines for a second, it's pretty hard to NOT notice it."

"I didn't know that"

"Doesn't matter, show me"

After Arno said that, his eyes shone brightly.

Leus had a plan in mind, so he asked Arno

"Can you turn around for 5 seconds and then look back?"

Arno smirked and turned around

Leus created 3 illusions of himself and stood between them, waiting for Arno to turn around

As soon as Arno turned around he pointed at Leus

Leus sighed and deactivated his illusions

"How?"

"Your illusions have no aura, it's a nice trick, but it tricks only the eye.

A Domain won't even sense your illusions as it's just that .. an illusion, a trick of the light.

While an Elite will see it as an aura-less image"

Leus' expression became sulky

"You can't be serious ... people can counter my Abstract by just closing their eyes?!"

Arno nodded

"Yeah, but don't be so disappointed.

First, almost no one below Elite can counter it.

Second, it will work against Elite Mages as most of them don't have a Domain.

All you have to do is, instead of creating an image of yourself, create an illusion of your attack, that way, they won't be able to tell the difference between the real attack and the fake one, as they depend on their eyes to see attacks, unlike knights who literally sense attacks."

Hearing that, Leus cheered up a bit

"But how can I make it work against those with a Domain?"

Arno shook his head and replied

"You can't.

Your Mana Qulaity increased a bit after unlocking this Abstract, but not by much.

When you unlock more Abstracts it'll increase more, making you stronger, but even then, you won't be able to trick those with a Domain, for that, you need to evolve."

"Evolve?"

"Yes.

Your Abstracts will evolve with you when you do.

The Abstract of Illusory will evolve to become The Abstract of Mimicry.

The Abstract of Mimicry is stronger than the Abstract of Illusory, instead of creating illusions, it creates replicas, Which can have their own aura."

Leus scratched his head

" ... Sounds complicated, how do you even remember all these things, Master?"

Arno looked at him blankly, so Leus quickly asked a question

"So, Abstracts are affected by the quality of my mana? and by my level as well?"

Arno confirmed Leus' suspicions

"It does, but not exactly.

The quality of your mana is merely an indicator of how powerful you are, so the higher the quality of your mana, the more powerful you are and the stronger your mind is, thus making your Abstracts more effective.

That indicator is mainly used to compare you to other individuals in the same Realm.

As I said, your Abstracts WON'T work against those on the same level/with the same quality as you, only those weaker than you even if slightly. 

Regardless of that, when you evolve, your Abstracts will evolve with you, and they will become fundamentally different.

That's why I told you to unlock all the Abstracts first and then unlock your Skill.

If you'd unlock the Abstracts after you evolve then you'd get a very mediocre result that would need years and years of experience and practice to get better. In your case, it's faster to just evolve since you're only a Mage."

Leus was finding it difficult to understand everything Arno was saying, but he understood the main points, or at least he thought he did, and he had a question

"If that's the case then why doesn't everyone unlock Abstracts first?"

Hearing that, Arno smiled bitterly.