"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."

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."

But her tone wasn't really angry. There was relief in her eyes.

Relief that Ren didn't have to suffer the same brutal process she had experienced throughout her entire childhood. The years of corrections, the endless repetitions, the feeling of never being quite good enough.

And actually...

'I'm glad the initial unfairness of all this didn't manage to affect him...' Luna thought with more sincerity in her head.

"I'm sorry," Ren said, genuinely meaning it. He knew it wasn't fair. Knew his solution was a kind of cheating that others didn't have access to.

"Don't be sorry," Luna responded, sighing and her expression softening. "Just don't waste it since you have it... make sure it works in the exams. Please."

"I will."

And so it continued. Two weeks of copying every movement Larissa could show him. Every protocol. Every gesture. Every subtlety. Building a library of perfect forms in his mantis's memory, accessible whenever he needed them.

Aldric, confident that Ren had "reached his wall," hadn't tested the boy further and suspected nothing. Ren kept showing up to few of his classes, kept executing the basic movements Aldric expected, without using the ability.

Only Ren's closest circle knew the truth.

They knew Ren had found a way.

All of them knew the exams were going to be... interesting.

And none said a word.

♢♢♢♢

Back in the present...

In the stands, Aldric Galehart thought he had been completely played.

A wrong understanding was crystallizing in his mind, each piece of his own made 'belief' clicking into place. The casual confidence. The sudden transformation. The perfect execution. None of it was luck.

It was strategy. It was deception. It was his own tactics turned against him.

In the student stands, Min stopped holding back his huge smile… pride on all his face. His friend, his brother in all but blood, had pulled off another big sweep.

And somewhere inside Ren, his Jade Mirror Mantis waited patiently, ready to copy and execute every movement Larissa had taught him during those two intense weeks.

Ren had learned something fundamental during these three months.

He didn't have to be naturally the best at everything. He didn't have to blindly trust authority figures. And he definitely didn't have to play fair when others had already broken the rules.

He just had to find creative solutions.

And take advantage of his resources.

♢♢♢♢

The first nine exams had passed like an unstoppable wave.

Ren executed each protocol with perfection that made the evaluators exchange looks of astonishment. Disbelief. The kind of expressions that said they were witnessing something that shouldn't be possible.

EXAM 2: Precedence Management at Events: perfect.

EXAM 3: Territorial Dispute Resolution: exemplary response.

EXAM 4: Official Mourning Protocol: without a single error.

EXAM 5: Official Documentation Etiquette: concise and professional.

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