Fairy Tale Survival with Ability Copying

"You... y-you... I-I..." Barbara stammered, too shocked to form a complete sentence.

"What?"

"How did you break through?" Barbara finally managed to ask after a long moment, staring fixedly at Levi as though she wanted to see straight through him.

Levi shrugged.

"It just happened naturally."

He had followed Barbara's instructions, breaking open the Sea of Souls and confronting the world's origin directly.

The instant the Sea of Souls opened, the world's primordial power surged toward the breach, intent on invading it, tearing apart Levi's consciousness and assimilating it.

At that moment, Earth's Embrace took effect.

Like the embrace of Mother Earth herself, it formed a barrier over the opening, preventing the world's primordial power from entering and buying Levi precious time.

Under normal circumstances, this was when a wizard would comprehend the origin of their magic.

But the window granted by Earth's Embrace was far too short.

Its effect rapidly weakened, and the violent power of the world's origin began breaking through once more.

That was when Levi's cheat ability, Origin Energy, awakened.

It linked together every one of his spell crystals. Countless dreamlike phantoms faintly emerged around them, forming a galaxy-like halo that blocked the world's primordial power while simultaneously guiding Levi toward understanding the true nature of his mana.

It was emptiness.

It was the void.

Within less than one-millionth of a second, Levi grasped the power of the void.

That power spread rapidly, enveloping the entire Sea of Souls and becoming a barrier between it and the world's origin.

It served both as a protective layer and as the elastic framework supporting the expansion of Levi's Spiritual Power.

With its appearance, his Spiritual Power finally surpassed its previous limit.

His original 120 Spiritual Power was continuously tempered by the world's primordial power until it finally stabilized at 150.

At the same time, Levi awakened the Mana Manifestation known as Void Transformation.

Naturally, it wasn't without limitations, but it still greatly enhanced his strength.

He was now officially a low-level Fourth-Ring Wizard.

The entire breakthrough had gone so smoothly that Barbara could hardly believe what she'd witnessed.

After the initial shock, her expression shifted uncertainly as she studied Levi.

She even began to suspect that Levi had been a Fourth-Ring Wizard all along and had merely disguised himself as a Third-Ring Wizard to deceive her.

But that theory made no sense either.

After silently staring at him for a long while, she finally nodded.

"Very good. Since you've become a Fourth-Ring Wizard, it's time for you to fulfill your promise."

Levi nodded in return.

"Don't worry, Ms. Barbara. I will."

Although his Gathering Technique had yet to reach the level of a Fourth-Ring Spell...

...his Spiritual Power had already surpassed that of an ordinary Third-Ring Wizard.

As long as he recovered his Magic Power through meditation and then poured every last drop of it into Gathering Technique, he could push the spell beyond the limits of a Third-Ring Spell and extract the purest part of Serena's mermaid bloodline, using it to create Barbara's Bloodline Sigil.

...

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

Because of Levi's arrival, the story of The Goose Girl at the Well had changed dramatically.

The first change was Mykes.

After wandering lost for a day or two, he eventually found his way back to Blackstone Fork Village, carrying the jeweled casket Barbara had given him instead of, as in the original fairy tale, losing his way until he reached the duchy where Serena's father lived and setting off the chain of events that followed.

Only afterward did Mykes realize that both Barbara and Levi were anything but ordinary, guessing that they were wizards.

But he had received an incredibly valuable jeweled casket.

More importantly, his strength had been raised to the level of a Great Knight.

Benefits on that scale were enough to keep his mouth completely shut about everything he had experienced.

A Great Knight was more than qualified to inherit his father's title.

No one would reject a Great Knight as their heir.

Believing he had struck the jackpot, Mykes even felt somewhat grateful toward Levi, convinced he never would have received such fortune without him.

Little did he know...

...he had been chosen from the very beginning.

Had Levi not interfered, he would have gained far more than that.

At the very least, he would have ended up with a beautiful wife...

...an immeasurable fortune in pearls...

...and, oh right—

A palace.

The palace Barbara had prepared for Serena and Mykes.

She probably knew.

No—she definitely knew that Serena's parents had already divided the duchy between her two older sisters.

Even if Serena returned home, she would inherit nothing.

So, true to her belief in equivalent exchange, Barbara simply gave Serena her own residence instead.

After all, she no longer needed it.

But because Levi had appeared...

...all of that was gone.

Then there were Serena's parents.

In the original fairy tale, they found Serena through Mykes.

The unfortunate girl was finally reunited with her family.

But now...

...they would never find her.

Perhaps they would carry that regret with them into their graves.

Finally, there was Serena herself.

Her fate had also changed.

Since Barbara had failed to marry her off, she entrusted Serena to Levi instead.

Levi already ruled the Floating Cloud Territory, where witches and Half-Werewolves lived together.

One more princess with a mermaid bloodline hardly made any difference.

Levi summoned a Cloud Spirit and had Serena sent back.

As for Levi himself, he remained behind and entered the laboratory with Barbara.

Threads of crystal-clear pale blue light slowly rose into the air, flecked with tiny golden specks.

This was the essence of Serena's Royal Mermaid Bloodline, extracted by Levi after exhausting every last drop of his Magic Power.

It was stored inside a specially crafted crystal vessel.

The container prevented Magic Power from leaking out and blocked energy dissipation, perfectly preserving the bloodline essence within.

The liquid inside was thick and viscous. As it gently rippled, wave after wave spread across its surface, carrying an ancient, boundless, primordial aura of the deep sea, as though an endless ocean had been compressed into that tiny vessel.

Barbara gazed at the crystal container with mixed emotions.

Over the course of three years, she had drawn vast amounts of blood from Serena, yet the bloodline essence she had refined amounted to less than a tenth of what was contained in this vessel.

Levi truly was something else.

The same went for his breakthrough.

Recalling the scene of Levi advancing to the Fourth-Ring Wizard realm, Barbara unconsciously frowned.

Levi had once claimed that a being of almost unimaginable greatness stood behind him.

At the time, Barbara had dismissed it as complete nonsense.

Now...

She found herself believing it, at least a little.

But that was another matter.

Barbara quickly collected herself. Taking the crystal vessel containing the mermaid bloodline essence from Levi's hands, she wasted no time and immediately began forging the Bloodline Sigil.

A massive rune array activated in its entirety.

The formation was built upon a foundation of deep-sea obsidian, engraved with the long-lost ancient runes of the merfolk, and supplemented with rare materials such as thousand-year coral powder, Deep Sea Moon Dew, and Illusory Sea Pearl Marrow. Barbara had prepared them specifically for crafting this Mermaid Bloodline Sigil.

She poured the mermaid bloodline essence into the array, where it settled quietly within the formation.

As Barbara chanted, her aged voice echoed throughout the array. Purple magical power intertwined with the blue power of the ocean's origin, continuously compressing, refining, and tempering everything at the center of the formation.

Purification.

Impurity removal.

Rune engraving.

Imprinting.

Energy sealing.

Each intricate step proceeded in perfect order.

Under the combined refinement of magic and the formation itself, the once-liquid bloodline essence gradually solidified. Its dazzling luster faded away, replaced by an ancient, profound texture.

After forging it continuously for an entire day and night, a Deep Sea Royal Bloodline Sigil slowly rose into the air.

Covered in intricate patterns, deep azure throughout, and shimmering with flowing water-like ripples across its surface, it was a masterpiece.

The mermaid engravings upon it looked lifelike, while within the sigil itself seemed to be sealed an immense power from the primordial ocean. Tiny illusory lights flowed faintly beneath its surface.

The Mermaid Bloodline Sigil had finally taken shape.

Even Barbara had paid an enormous price to complete it.

Her face had turned pale, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

She discreetly glanced toward Levi, who stood quietly in the corner, before withdrawing her gaze.

The two of them were bound by a Dark Contract.

If either violated it, the Lord of Hell would harvest their soul.

That was precisely why Barbara dared to forge the Bloodline Sigil in Levi's presence.

With a thought, the Mermaid Bloodline Sigil floated over and settled onto the back of her hand, forming the mark of a mermaid.

Barbara immediately sensed the water element around her becoming noticeably more active.

Her affinity with the water element had increased, and she estimated that the power of any water-element spell she cast would be enhanced by roughly thirty to fifty percent.

And that was only one of the abilities granted by the Mermaid Bloodline Sigil.

Barbara couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

As expected of the royal mermaid bloodline—the rulers of the deep sea.

At the same time, she knew full well that the Bloodline Sigil owed much of its power to Levi.

Without the bloodline essence he had extracted, she could never have created a Bloodline Sigil of such extraordinary quality.

The Mermaid Bloodline Sigil she had painstakingly crafted over the course of three years had been nowhere near this powerful.

It hadn't even been capable of breaking the Mermaid Illusion.

Levi's origins were mysterious, and his abilities extraordinary.

Bringing him along might prove useful.

Besides, with the Dark Contract binding them together, neither had to worry about the other causing harm.

After pondering for a moment, Barbara finally spoke.

"Levi, would you be interested in accompanying me to explore a tomb beneath the deep sea?"

"The tomb of the merfolk prince who was the source of Serena's bloodline?" Levi asked in surprise.

"That's right. That merfolk prince was a Quasi-Legendary existence. There are bound to be many priceless treasures inside his tomb," Barbara replied.

"Quasi-Legendary?" Levi was more interested in that term.

"It's equivalent to the absolute peak of the Fifth Ring among wizards—essentially someone on the verge of reaching the Sixth Ring," Barbara explained.

She was still somewhat puzzled.

If Levi truly had someone powerful backing him, why didn't he know even such basic common knowledge?

But she kept that question to herself.

"For example, the Queen of the Kingdom of Francis is a Fifth-Ring witch," Barbara said.

Levi's eyes narrowed.

The Queen?

The Magic Mirror Queen?

He had never expected the Magic Mirror Queen to be a Fifth-Ring existence.

She was far stronger than he had imagined.

Levi had originally thought that once he became a Fourth-Ring Wizard, he'd finally have a chance to return and give the Queen the spanking she deserved.

Now that he thought about it...

It would be wiser to wait.

Without the strength of a Fifth-Ring Wizard—

No.

Without the strength of a Sixth-Ring Wizard—he wasn't going back to settle the score with the Magic Mirror Queen just yet.

---

I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar

---