Leo concluded that for now, he had to use the shield as it is since increasing its size was out of the question for now. He was 5% of the way to level 2 so he would not reach there soon.

Leo placed the ‘Atomic Water Manual’ in the boulder and kept a rock on top of it to prevent it from flying away in the wind. After that, he took out one of the two scrolls kept in his dress.

Removing the two blue threads and opening the scroll revealed the heading which had a bold and black ink writing that read ‘Water of Deception’.

‘Deceive enemies with water for it is what makes us.’

‘This is a Tier 2 skill, hence it has two levels: Level 1 and Level 2. Once at Level 2 the clone can take the image of its user.’

‘To activate and use this spell, a person requires control over water without it, this spell would not work since without control over water controlling the clone would be difficult also the mental strain would be greater. It is recommended to practice this skill every day to get a better control over the clone and to reduce the strain exerted onto the brain.’

‘To begin, imagine yourself standing in front of a mirror facing your reflection. The image you see is a replica of yourself with no change. Think of what you are about to create as a part of your own body, not as a separate entity.’

‘Now that the image is on your mind channel the ‘Pure Element’ inside your Crystal outwards. Now image the replica is standing in front of you without the mirror use the water to cover it slowly. Start from the feet and work your way up towards the head. There is no need to focus on anything else, such as the bones and veins only focus on the outer layer by covering the replica.’

‘Remember to keep your focus and never lose sight of the replica as it is being covered because if you do then it would fail.’

‘After the above process has been complete place the palm of the clone onto the scroll to reveal the next step.’

Use the ‘Enchantment’ to aid you at the start.’

Leo moved closer to the river and stopped at its edge keeping the scroll on the ground. Then he remembered the contents of the scroll and as he prepared to execute the skill.

Leo first closed his eyes and thought of a mirror, then he imagined himself staring at it. He saw his own reflection staring back at him as his eyes were open in the vision. Then he removed the mirror and stared at his own replica.

Moving onto the next step he channeled the water inside his Crystal to the outside through his palms. Then Leo made the water move towards his replica as he controlled it to cover the replica starting from its feet.

As this happened in his mind in the real world the water took the exact shape it did in the vision, however, it covered nothing but merely followed what Leo covered in his mind.

Soon a figure became visible. It started off with its feet, then its legs after that came the abdomen, then the chest and finally its head.

As the figure came into shape, the scroll rose from the ground as symbols appeared on it. The words written on the scroll in black ink disappeared as soon as the symbols came. These symbols combined to take the shape of a man and a woman, but only their outline was visible as everything inside was empty. After that, the woman disappeared and only the man remained. Then the figure of the man rose from the scroll and broke apart as half of it flew towards the clone while the other half flew towards Leo’s Crystal.

When the symbols contacted his Crystal, they got absorbed by it as his Crystal shook. Leo felt the pressure exerted on his mind from maintaining the clone decrease as the symbols got absorbed.

While this was happening inside his body and his Crystal the other half that broke away from the figure spun around the clone. After one minute the symbols fell onto the clone. The symbols lit up with a black light as they slowly got absorbed by the clone. After the absorption, the clone which previously looked like it could fall apart anytime was now much more stable and had a proper body with no water falling out of it.

The clone had no face or any skin of that matter, it was just a figure made from water held in position by Leo.

Now came the hard part which was controlling the clone. Leo also knew moving the clone would increase the pressure on his mind also controlling the clone and fighting would be a challenging task.

Leo decided he would use his clone to open the next part of the scroll only after he got a better control over it.

Leo used the Crystal to make the clone move its hand. Leo could not telepathically control the clone using his mind he had to use the Crystal to transfer his commands onto the clone. This was both a bad and a good thing. It was good because he could leave the clone to fight by itself if he got attacked and he could make the clone cover his blind spots. It was bad because the clone without his commands would have its fighting capabilities, reduced significantly as it could barely move by itself without Leo’s commands and Leo could not command the clone and fight because the pressure it brought to his mind was excessive.

So now Leo had to first make the clone be able to function by itself, then only would he be able to fight alongside it. This meant the more training he gave the clone the better it would get at fighting on its own.

Leo trained for one hour with the clone. He used his dagger and fists to fight it. The clone still could hold nothing so he also had to work on increasing the pressure inside the clone as this would allow it to hold objects.

After training for one hour using both his dagger and fists the clone could barely function on its own, It could dodge but it would freeze mid-battle which was a bad thing. Increasing the pressure inside the clone was necessary now more than ever as it could hold nothing both these combined to make the clone useless in a fight. The fighting ability of the clone was close to a beginner.