"By all the dragons," Ren whispered. "Do you have a mimicry ability?"
Of course. The Jade Mirror Mantis was a new species, created by the unique combination of his beasts with the seed. There was no previous information about it. How had he not considered this before?
’Mooshito’ hadn’t been able to teach him about abilities that didn’t even exist in his knowledge database until after falling asleep.
His newest beast couldn’t just create illusions at bronze level. Now it had elemental control and...
Just as he had taught his companions since first year about cultivation and the hidden abilities of their own beasts.
Now he was on the other side.
He had been using his mantis inefficiently all this time.
He was now the one discovering. The one learning something new about his own beast. The irony was almost funny, if it wasn’t so desperately needed.
"Show me," Ren said with a voice trembling with emotion and hope. "Show me how to use your ability and everything you’ve copied." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
The mantis fused with him. He felt the creature’s presence merging with his system, his senses expanding in ways that were becoming familiar. He searched in the flow for the points the mantis was trying to enhance with its mana, feeling for the connection points where the ability activated.
His body moved.
But this time, it wasn’t Ren trying to remember and replicate. It was the Mantis’s ability, its mimicry capability working through Ren’s body, copying the movement pattern it had observed.
And he watched, amazed, as his beast helped him replicate movements he’d seen for weeks. Movements from Larissa. From Klein. From Luna when she practiced.
The result was...
Ren looked at himself in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize his own posture.
It was perfect.
Exactly like Larissa had done it. Exactly the same angles. Exactly the same fluid grace. Like looking at her reflection rather than his own.
"It works," he whispered, his voice breaking slightly with relief so intense it was going to knock him out. "It really works."
♢♢♢♢
The next two weeks were a complete transformation.
Every time Larissa showed him a movement, Ren observed it with his mantis active. The creature copied the pattern perfectly. And then, when Ren practiced, he partially fused with the mantis and let the mimicry ability guide his body.
It was like magic.
The movements of the political genius became Ren’s. Each gesture, each angle, each subtlety that Larissa had perfected during years of noble education, were now available to Ren through his beast.
"Incredible," Larissa murmured after a week, watching Ren execute a complex sequence without a single error. Her eyes were wide, studying him like he was a puzzle she couldn’t quite solve. "It’s like you’re a different person, as if... are you using some ability from your beast?"
"Maybe," Ren admitted with a small smile.
Luna had been listening too. She observed in silence while Ren executed protocol after protocol with perfection that had taken Luna years to develop. And she’d read the mana, felt the subtle fluctuations that spoke of lies and truths.
’An ability...’ Luna thought, understanding clicking into place.
"How jealous... how unfair," she said finally, crossing her arms. But there was no real heat in the words.
"Well it’s fine... Ren also tried hard during..." Liora began, attempting to defend him.
But Luna interrupted. "We had to learn all this for real. Memorize. Practice thousands of times. And you just... copy without suffering."
’I’m glad the initial unfairness of all this didn’t manage to affect him...’ Luna thought with more sincerity in her head.

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