"Whoosh!"
As the spirit ring rose above Bai Mu's head, familiar information once again surfaced within his mental world—
[Successfully absorbed the 5,512-year Mirror Shadow Beast spirit ring. Second Spirit Ability acquired: Mirror Shadow Copy (Using blood as a medium, it can copy the target's abilities, adapting to 80% of the opponent's spirit power when both are at the same Rank; without blood, it only reaches 50%).]
[Resonance-replaceable Pokémon moves include: Double Team, Mirror Coat, Reflect Type, Mirror Shot, Protect, Reflect, Light Screen, Substitute, Barrier…]
"That's it?"
The Mirror Shadow Beast's Spirit Ability effect was fairly decent, and there were plenty of resonant moves.
Yet after reading the information, Bai Mu frowned.
Although Mirror Shadow Copy allowed him—a powerless "Beast Master"—to gain combat ability, it was actually of little use to him.
In life-or-death battles, he would never personally enter the battlefield. Instead, he would always hide in the safest possible place.
He absolutely could not cause Zygarde any trouble.
As for the resonant moves…
"Why didn't that move resonate?!"
The reason he chose the Mirror Shadow Beast as his second spirit ring was to resonate with one particular move—Transform.
With that move, he could transform into a target and perfectly copy part of their information and power.
In the real world, it could even transform into various items, pushing its utility to the extreme.
If he could truly learn it, causing chaos would be unbeatable.
At that point, if he transformed into Grandmaster Xiaogang, stood behind Bibi Dong or Liu Erlong, and said—
"Dong'er / Erlong, don't turn around. It's me, Xiaogang."
Neither Bibi Dong nor Liu Erlong would suspect him at all!
What a pity—it failed to resonate.
"The Mirror Shadow Beast can copy abilities and create reflected shadows… among spirit beasts in the Douluo world, it's one of the most likely to resonate with Transform."
"Did I choose the wrong spirit beast? Should I have gone with a shapeshifting slime instead?"
"Or is this move simply special and impossible to resonate with?"
Bai Mu scratched his head, completely baffled.
Fortunately, he had already prepared himself for the possibility of not obtaining Transform.
The current moves were still very practical.
Double Team creates illusions to confuse enemies.
Mirror Coat reflects special attacks.
Reflect Type temporarily changes one's attribute.
Reflect and Light Screen halve physical or special damage.
But in the end, his focus settled on Protect and Substitute.
Protect completely blocks a single incoming attack, though repeated use has a high chance of failure.
Substitute consumes one-quarter of the user's maximum spirit power and stamina to create a substitute that blocks damage and effects. The substitute can last up to five hours and disappears early if its HP or spirit power is depleted, if Gigantamax is triggered, or if dismissed voluntarily.
Both were life-saving divine skills.
In the game, combined with Toxic, they formed the classic Substitute–Protect–Toxic strategy.
"Protect is good, but Substitute has much greater flexibility."
"Which one should I choose?"
Bai Mu's gaze quickly hardened.
As everyone knew, Protect didn't guarantee safety, but Substitute offered far more room for maneuver.
Therefore—
"I'll use Mirror Shadow Copy to replace Substitute!"
——
Inside the Icebound Forest.
Water Cloud Heart and Water Ice guarded Bai Mu closely.
A five-thousand-year second spirit ring was simply too shocking. Even though Bai Mu seemed to be absorbing it smoothly, they didn't dare relax in the slightest.
"Awoo—!"
Suddenly, Zygarde—who had been guarding Bai Mu while casting Jungle Healing—let out a long howl toward the sky.
Green light burst from its body, and its aura skyrocketed.
"Swish!"
Bai Mu snapped his eyes open.
Spirit power surged through his meridians like a raging river!
The spirit power he had accumulated over half a year, combined with the massive energy of the five-thousand-year spirit ring, caused his Rank to climb wildly.
With unstoppable momentum and no resistance at all, his strength soared straight to an unprecedented peak.
"How do you feel?"
Water Cloud Heart asked with concern.
"Amazing. Better than ever!"
Bai Mu steadied his mind and carefully sensed his condition—then froze in shock.
He forced down the excitement in his heart and spoke as calmly as possible.
"I feel like my current Rank is definitely not below Rank 25."
That was a lie.
From pure intuition, he knew his true Rank was probably as high as Rank 28.
Even so, it was enough to leave the mother and daughter completely stunned.
"Rank 25?!"
Water Cloud Heart recalled how it had taken her nearly a year and a half to go from Rank 20 to Rank 25 back then.
And Bai Mu… had done it with just one spirit ring.
"So I've been surpassed already?"
Water Ice couldn't hide her shock either.
She was only Rank 24 herself. Bai Mu, who hadn't even become a Spirit Master a year ago, had already overtaken her?
"Well, it is a five-thousand-year spirit ring, after all."
Bai Mu didn't explain further.
He released his aura, and two spirit rings—one yellow and one purple—rose and fell beneath his feet.
The thousand-year purple ring radiated an especially mysterious aura.
"Second Spirit Ability: Substitute!"
As the spirit ring lit up, Bai Mu felt a portion of his spirit power and stamina instantly drain away.
In the next moment, a figure identical to Bai Mu appeared before him.
Its appearance, aura, demeanor, gaze—everything was indistinguishable from the original.
From looks alone, it was impossible to tell which was the real body and which was the substitute.
"It's actually a clone-type Spirit Ability?"
Water Cloud Heart said happily. "These are extremely rare. Coordinating with a clone in battle often produces excellent results. Xiaomu, your luck is incredible."
"That's great—your second Spirit Ability is a clone."
Water Ice smiled faintly, genuinely happy for him.
"No. This isn't a clone—it's a substitute."
Bai Mu shook his head with a smile. "It can attack, but it only has one-quarter of my main body's power. Other than being extremely realistic, it can't compare to a true clone Spirit Ability in combat."
"That's right. I can take hits, but if I attack, I'd probably only be able to defeat a Spirit Master."
The substitute Bai Mu spoke out loud.
"Oh!? It can even talk!"
A strange glint flashed through Water Ice's ice-blue eyes. Unable to resist, she reached out and touched the substitute, finding it shockingly lifelike.
Its body temperature and texture were identical to a living person.
"Well, when Heaven closes a door, it always opens a window."
The substitute Bai Mu grabbed Water Ice's hand, placed it on his face, and let her pinch it.
"How is it? Real enough?"
"Mmm… exactly like a real person. Completely impossible to tell it's fake."
Water Ice withdrew her hand, her pretty face flushed as she spoke softly.
"It's actually this realistic!"
Seeing this, even Water Cloud Heart couldn't help reaching out to touch the substitute, immediately astonished.
Clone-type Spirit Abilities were rare. Most were phantoms or illusions with attack power, and even those with physical bodies could usually be identified at a glance.
But a substitute like Bai Mu's—one that invested everything into "realism"—was truly unique.
She couldn't help asking, "A Spirit Ability this realistic must have serious limitations, right?"
"Yes. It consumes about one-quarter of my maximum spirit power and stamina, but it's much easier to control than expected."
Bai Mu felt as if the substitute were an AI perfectly simulating himself.
They could communicate telepathically. As long as he issued commands in his mind, the substitute would mimic his actions.
He could also manually fine-tune its movements for even greater precision.
"Xiaomu, this Spirit Ability of yours… is very special."
Water Cloud Heart chose her words carefully. "If you develop it properly, it could become one of your core combat strategies in the future."
"Just imagine it—during a fight, with the real body and the substitute standing apart on opposite sides, the enemy won't know which one to attack."
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
A bright smile spread across Bai Mu's face.
In battle, he could remain hidden and let the substitute fight openly.
If the enemy poured everything they had into an attack—only to realize they'd destroyed nothing more than a substitute—their mentality would completely collapse.