A harmony of mana pierced through the air, thumping on the ground, creating more obstacles for Levi to dodge for his life. The constant firing of spells targeting Levi in every space he landed, or was about to go to, made it difficult for him to understand if this was training to learn a magic art or just to increase his agility.

Irina kept firing those spells, impressed by Levi's speed and dodging skills. The faster the spell, the quicker Levi weaved and danced around it. After thirty minutes of relentless bombardment, Irina stopped casting the magic and approached a sweaty Levi.

You almost-*Huff* killed me there."

Levi caught his breath and stretched his back. Irina hit his head with a karate chop.

"Don't call me Irina, you call me 'sensei' from now on."

Irina didn't know what the word meant, but she liked the sound of it, and it made her feel like an actual mentor. Just like how her teacher could have felt.

"Do you know why I fired all those spells at you?"

"To obliterate my whole existence."

"No."

Irina shook her head and fell into deep thought.

"You see, whenever we think of magic art, we think of flames flying through the air, wind cutting through space, water captivating life itself, and earth moulding us to its root. That is also magic, but my sensei said that was only 1% of what magic was made for. Our magic too falls under that category but it makes up 3% of what actual magic is."

Most magic arts in this world were mainly for offensive purposes or for healing. Some used it for alchemy and to perform miscellaneous tasks. Common people used wind spells to dry clothes, fire spells for cooking, and for other daily activities. That too is magic.

Irina turned her palm to the sky, and slowly a flower started to emerge from her magic circle. The flower didn't have any colour and looked like a mirror, not something brand new, just an imitation. The spell looked beautiful but it didn't possess any presence, aura, nor an aroma like that of a real flower.

Magic is said to be living; Irina's spell didn't have even a sparkle of life inside it.

"Your magic… it doesn't feel magical."

Levi couldn't sense mana inside it. Any spell required mana to be created and to maintain its form. Even the strongest of barriers placed in a dungeon would wear out if not constant mana is passed through it. The flower denied the theory humans and other magical creatures have used.

"This is what my teacher called true magic, but in hindsight, it really isn't magic we know of; he used another term for it."

Irina's hand glowed, and more objects started appearing out of it—a vase to keep the flower, small particles of soil filling the vase, without any colour or any magic.

"He called it Mirror Magic."

Irina said in a proud voice as her creation started turning into dust and disappearing, carried by the wind. Levi felt his body tingling, but he himself was not impressed.

His mouth automatically opened to portray his fake amusement.

"Cool, right."

"Yeah… really cool."

Levi still wondered who was the creator of such kind of art and who actually taught Irina such spells. A spell of such kind would definitely be in the game because every gamer liked cool stuff, so why did God choose not to include this magic.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Seeing Levi deep in his thoughts, Irina karate-chopped his head again.

"Don't go into your spiral of thoughts, make sure to focus and remember what I am about to say."

Levi, touching his head, nodded as a blue-coloured mana around Irina's body moved from her heart to every part of her body and then to her mind, disappearing right there and a magic circle appearing on her hand. She was trying to teach the art's mana flow to Levi, and he too followed, but unlike Irina, no magic spell appeared in his hand or anywhere else.

"You are really quick at learning. Instantly being able to copy my mana flow is impeccable."

Irina, again impressed by Levi, decided to compliment her. His talent really made her question if he really was just a normal guy.

"The key ingredient to this art is your imagination and the power to imitate nature and life or just a form of life itself."

Irina sat cross-legged on the ground, and then Levi too followed her; both closed their eyes and now a sense of tranquillity spread over them and their atmosphere.

"Imagine yourself in an empty world with nothing inside it, you and the canvas of your mind."

Levi started working as Irina instructed. His mind was blank enough for his artistic mind to start painting on it. Irina could feel the sense of calmness oozing out of Levi. Impressed she decided to proceed to the next step.

"Next, imagine a mirror next to you, the size won't matter, just imagine it, in your mind, create an object you want to manifest right in front of that mirror; then the object will slowly appear in your hand."

Irina opened her eyes and noticed the magic circle appearing in Levi's hand. She didn't say anything further and kept on observing him.

'A rose.'

Levi imagined a rose levitating above him as he felt mana getting sucked out of his body.

At first, the stem and some thorns appeared, and slowly the petals on the flower were forming, but before it finished, the flower cracked, propelling Levi out of his imagination.

'I almost made it.'

Suddenly Levi felt fatigue as his lungs started working in overtime for air and mana. Only a portion of such a small spell emptied his mana tank.

'Sensei must be disappointed.'

He looked at Irina, and she had the opposite look of disappointment.

"How did you do it?"

Irina asked in a squeaky voice still shocked at how proficient Levi was.

"Was it really that impressive?"

"Of course it is."

Irina remembered the first time casting this art. It wasn't particularly a fond memory; she too chose to create a rose, but as she had hoped, she didn't create a single piece of thorn.

'You aren't quite the prodigy I thought.'

Her sensei's harsh but motivating words still rang in her mind.

'Is he really a commoner?'

Irina wasn't trying to demean Levi's birth nor any commoners because commoners usually don't have such mana movement and mana talent unless they have been trained for this since their birth like some nobles, but even those kids would find this art impossible. Every human has an imagination, but creating a blank mind on the spot is hard. Stopping the monkey mind for her was harder than fighting an actual dragon.

Pulling her out from questioning Levi's feet, she patted his shoulder and gave him a big smile.

"You did better than I could have imagined. Your mana control and flow are good but used too much on the output, so much you are empty."

Levi too faked a blush and shyness as he brushed his hair.

"Thanks."

"Do you now understand why the magic, after manifesting it, didn't have mana?"

Irina asked if creating the flower brought him some sort of knowledge about this technique.

"Yes, but just a bit. The art needs mana to create stuff but doesn't have mana after its creation. Probably because it's just an imitation."

"You got it right, a mere replica cannot create life, no matter what you create, it won't have any sort of essence inside it. That is its weakness and strength at the same time."

Irina then created more mirror spears in the air and fired them at nearby trees; some managed to go through thousands of trees while some got destroyed by hitting one tree.

"If there is no mana inside the mirror weapon, then all you need to do is cover it and compress mana around it, and it can handle any amount of mana you provide it."

Any mirror weapon was like a grenade that could handle an infinite amount of firepower. Levi never thought he would receive such art.

'This might even be better than learning any archery arts.'

This power meant Levi had the power to create multiple weapons in thin air, further aiding his arsenal, though he faced one problem, its mana usage. Just before, it was his mistake that caused his whole mana to deplete, but still, he would be using a large amount of mana despite it.

Creating silk every day already took a toll on his mana. Though his pure mana cultivation did its job, having extra mana would be crucial.

"Now, start creating a new mirror creation, and for every time you fail, I will send ten spells at you."

"Wait… I don't even have any mana left."

Levi didn't even bring any mana potion with him. Forget creating a flower; he won't be able to make even a seed.

"Not my problem."

Ten swords appeared from the circles, all aimed at Levi. Deja vu hit Levi as he again started running for his life.