Fairy Tale Survival with Ability Copying

The originally violent dragon blood seemed to freeze in place, then gradually became docile.

The entire Mother Cloud Spirit swelled and contracted as it slowly absorbed the power contained within the dragon blood.

The magical patterns deep within it grew brighter and brighter, until they shone with a brilliance akin to a star exploding.

Finally, after the drop of dragon blood had been completely absorbed, the light reached its peak before suddenly dimming.

The magical rune became blurred. In the next moment, a somewhat simpler rune split away from it and shot out from beneath the Mother Cloud Spirit, taking a small portion of the cloud mass with it.

After separating from Levi's transformed Mother Cloud Spirit Form, the cloud mass continuously absorbed moisture from the surrounding air, rapidly forming a Cloud Spirit that covered more than one hundred square meters.

It was a First-Order magical lifeform possessing simple intelligence, and as time passed, its awareness would continue to grow stronger.

It felt an intense attachment to the Mother Cloud Spirit Levi had transformed into.

As for Levi, he discovered that he could completely control it and freely command it to do anything.

The feeling was rather strange.

It was as though... he had given birth to a child.

'But I'm a man!' Levi's feelings were complicated, especially when the newborn Cloud Spirit circled around him like a child and even rubbed against him with its own body.

Only after quite some time did he calm down. With a thought, he returned to his human form.

Levi could sense that the Cloud Spirit he had created seemed somewhat confused, but it quickly resumed circling around him.

He also discovered that even in human form, he could still control the Cloud Spirit.

For Levi, that was good news.

However, a single Cloud Spirit was far too little. It was still an immeasurable distance away from the Sky City he wanted to build.

So Levi transformed into the Mother Cloud Spirit once more, consumed dragon blood, absorbed its power, and split off new Cloud Spirits.

One Cloud Spirit after another appeared in the sky.

Under Levi's will, they naturally gathered together into a single mass, forming an even larger cloud bank.

...

The Kingdom of Valeria.

Royal Palace Garden.

The middle-aged king, renowned throughout the continent for his knowledge, wisdom, and steady temperament, was currently frowning deeply.

The Frostfang Pass Allied Army had suffered a crushing defeat!

That, in itself, was nothing.

After years of management under his rule, the loss of merely ten thousand soldiers was still within his acceptable limits.

That was not why he was troubled.

Rather, it was because the birds he had raised for many years had never returned after being dispatched during the war to gather intelligence.

As a result, he had learned of the defeat through ordinary channels.

Several days after it had already happened.

Because of that delay, he had been unable to react immediately and had missed many valuable opportunities.

Otherwise, turning defeat into victory might not have been impossible.

Now, he could only watch helplessly as Hornreach's soldiers occupied the entire Silverclaw Peninsula and secured its key strategic positions.

Once the other side fully consolidated control over the peninsula, they would become a genuine threat.

Not to mention, they also possessed a Sky Knight.

That made the threat even greater.

His dream of annexing the Duchy of Silverbrook, defeating the Kingdom of Amtyr, and establishing an empire would likely die before it could ever be realized.

Of course, what troubled the middle-aged king even more was the matter of those missing birds.

He had sent out so many carefully trained birds, yet not a single one had returned.

Such a thing had never happened before.

It filled him with unease, as though someone had discovered his secret.

Who could it be?

Several figures appeared in the king's mind.

The alchemists behind Hornreach who supplied the lord with alchemical firearms?

Probably not.

Who would pay attention to crows on a battlefield?

Could it be that attendant who had traveled far away and married a princess in a foreign land?

Or perhaps that woman's illegitimate son?

The king's expression shifted as the image of a smiling young girl surfaced in his mind.

He remembered standing inside a cathedral filled with guests and solemnly swearing to her:

"If I did not have you, I would never wish to keep living."

Later, she fell gravely ill and passed away.

He was buried alongside her.

Within that dark tomb chamber, he remained beside her pale body.

Even when a white snake slithered in, he refused to allow it near her, drawing his sword and cutting it into several pieces.

That incident had later become the reason he discovered the effects of the Snake-Leaves and white snake meat...

The memories shifted again.

This time to a stormy night at sea.

That woman had tricked him into drinking a deadly poison before throwing him into the ocean.

At the moment he closed his eyes, he saw the once innocent and cheerful girl wearing a face full of hatred.

She sneered and said:

"You really think your daughter is your daughter?"

"Every single day I spent with a filthy commoner like you made me sick!!!"

Words could wound more deeply than the deadliest poison.

At that moment, his heart died completely...

As those memories resurfaced, the middle-aged king's gaze became cold and sinister.

In the later memories, he was rescued by a servant, who used The Three Snake-Leaves to bring him back to life.

Afterward, he returned to the royal palace ahead of them and used the influence he had gained through the ability to understand the voices of animals granted by the white snake meat to make the old king uphold justice on his behalf.

Before obtaining the white snake meat, if the old king ordered him to be buried alive as a companion in death, then he had no choice but to obey.

But after obtaining the white snake meat, the old king had been forced to place righteousness above family ties, execute his own daughter, and hand over the throne to a man who shared not a single drop of blood with the royal family.

Of course, the old king had one condition:

That the bastard child be allowed to live.

At the time, he had agreed.

Which led to the situation today...

At that thought, the middle-aged king's eyes darkened with unreadable emotions.

Combined with the current situation on the Silverclaw Peninsula, his mood became even worse.

...

The Duchy of Silverbrook.

The capital city, Aetherlan.

By the time the Duke of Silverbrook received the intelligence reports from the Silverclaw Peninsula, Hornreach's soldiers had already completed their effective occupation of the entire former Silverclaw Territory.

All of his balancing measures had become meaningless in the face of that reality.

He remained silent for a long time.

Finally, under the gaze of his youngest daughter, he wrote out a decree of commendation for Levi. He granted him the former Silverclaw Territory and elevated his title, promoting him from Baron of Hornreach to Count of Silverclaw!

A count!

How many counts were there in the entire Duchy of Silverbrook?

For an ordinary viscount's family, reaching such a position often required the efforts of several generations spanning hundreds of years, and even then success was not guaranteed.

Yet Levi had achieved it in only a few short months.

It was a rise rapid enough to shock the entire noble class.

However, no one dared voice any objections.

Because Rune's strength as a Sky Knight had been exposed.

With the loyalty of a Sky Knight behind him, Levi's position as a count would be extremely secure.

No noble would regard Levi as some upstart nouveau riche.

On the contrary, many nobles sent invitations to Levi.

All of them wanted the friendship of the new Count of Silverclaw.

After all, with a Sky Knight at his side, it was not impossible for Levi to one day become the ruler of the Duchy of Silverbrook itself.

And that was precisely what worried the Duke of Silverbrook.

More than anyone else, he knew that Levi possessed not only a Sky Knight subordinate but was also a powerful wizard in his own right.

With such strength, overthrowing the Duke's rule would be a simple matter.

Everything Levi had done since arriving in Hornreach had only intensified those concerns.

So he turned to his beloved daughter and said, "Milissa."

"Father, I'm here."

The young princess's expression grew serious as she responded.

"I need you to go to Hornreach and personally deliver this decree of commendation to the new Count of Silverclaw."

"At the same time, I need you to remain within the Count's territory."

"Milissa, do you understand what I am asking you to do?"

The Duke's tone was far more serious than during their previous conversation.

Milissa was silent for a moment before nodding.

"I understand, Father."

"I'll do my best."

"Thank you, Milissa. I love you, my child."

The Duke's eyes became slightly moist.

"The family will provide every possible form of support to help you get close to the Count of Silverclaw."

Milissa gave the Duke a mature and understanding smile.

She gently shook her head before giving a slight nod.

...

The Kingdom of Francis.

The royal capital.

The Magic Mirror Queen had been in quite a good mood lately.

Ever since she had strangled Snow White with a magical artifact, she had once again become the most beautiful woman in the world according to the Magic Mirror.

It was then that news arrived from afar that Hornreach had decisively defeated the allied forces of the Kingdom of Valeria.

Only then did the Magic Mirror Queen remember that little insect named Levi.

So she paid an even greater price to learn about his current situation.

Third-Ring Wizard!

Master of multiple Third-Ring Spells!

The information left the Magic Mirror Queen completely stunned.

How much time had even passed?

How had Levi, an ordinary person, become a Third-Ring Wizard?

How was that even possible?

Even the Magic Mirror Queen herself could not turn an ordinary person into a Third-Ring Wizard within half a year.

Not even the woman known throughout the wizarding world as the Raven Queen could accomplish such a thing.

Could there be an even more terrifying existence standing behind Levi?

Or was he hiding some incredible secret?

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became.

If she truly offended a being of that level, she feared that a single slap delivered across countless miles would be enough to kill her on the spot.

So she paid another enormous price and asked the Magic Mirror how Levi had reached such a level of power.

The Magic Mirror's answer was simple.

Levi had reached this level through normal training, while using a few magical potions along the way.

The Magic Mirror Queen clearly did not believe that answer.

Instead, she became even more convinced that some unimaginably terrifying existence was backing Levi.

And for the first time, she felt afraid.

As a result, she no longer dared continue using the Magic Mirror to investigate Levi's current situation.

The Magic Mirror Queen had frightened herself.

What she did not know was that this cautious and hesitant mindset was giving Levi additional time to continue growing stronger.

And in a place even farther away—

Within the Papal Palace.

The Pope, who had fallen into a weakened state after presiding over the Holy Descent, had also taken notice of the events unfolding on the Silverclaw Peninsula.