Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

So instead of wasting time lecturing her over something I had no right to criticize, I simply pushed the issue aside and activated [Analyze] to properly inspect her status for myself.

Name: Ariel

Title: Four-tailed Ember Fox

Race: Ember Fox

Level: 37

Status: Bonded

Loyalty: 020 / 100

Skills: [Azure Mirage], [SoulFlare Quills], [Azure Tornado], [SoulFire Recovery], [Fox fire Domain], [Soul Burn], [Astral Step]

[Beast Bond Information]

You have been bonded to this beast under the Ember Clan law, making you partners forever with this beast. Until death do you part.

[Bond Benefits] ~ These benefits can only be unlocked by improving your relationship with your beast.

Essence Share: You gain a fixed 20% of the essence this beast earns from killing monsters, and she gains the same from you. The percentage can only be adjusted each time loyalty crosses a 50-point threshold.

Skill Share: When loyalty reaches 50, you can read the description of your bonded beast’s skills and utilize them as if they were your own.

Fusion: When loyalty reaches 100, you and your beast can merge temporarily, combining your power to create a stronger whole.

She was now a four-tailed fox.

Even her presence felt subtly different now. Sharper. More refined. Like the evolution hadn’t only affected her appearance but something deeper beneath the surface as well.

And her level...

My eyes widened slightly the moment I saw it.

Level thirty-seven.

”How the hell did you even manage to reach that level?” I muttered in disbelief, but the answer immediately clicked in my head.

Right. Ariel had been getting a portion of the essence I received whenever I killed monsters. Twenty percent. Which meant that while I had been constantly fighting, leveling, hunting Chosen, and clearing powerful enemies, Ariel had also been steadily growing stronger alongside me the entire time.

Honestly, when I thought about it that way, her current level suddenly made perfect sense.

Though something else immediately confused me afterward.

Because the connection worked both ways. I also received essence from her kills. Yet I had never suddenly leveled up randomly without realizing it.

But after thinking about it for another second, that confusion disappeared too. Because the answer was obvious.

I was rarely inactive. Either fighting monsters, handling crises, or dealing with Chosen one after another, nonstop. Any additional essence Ariel sent my way would’ve naturally blended into the constant flow of experience I was already gaining.

So I probably had benefited from it before. I simply never noticed.

Still, while looking through her status, another thing quickly caught my attention. And it was her skills. Not only had several of her previous abilities evolved, but she had also gained four entirely new, upgraded versions.

[Azure Mirage] had evolved from [Blazing Mirage], [Soulflare Quills] had evolved from [Quills], [Azure Tornado] had evolved from [Infernal Tornado], and [Soulfire Recovery] had evolved from [Ember Heal].

They had all evolved.

Just from the names alone, I could already tell the abilities had become significantly more lethal than their earlier forms.

And considering how dangerous her abilities already were before evolving, the upgraded versions were probably on an entirely different level now.

I wanted to check out every single one of the upgraded abilities, along with whatever new skills she had gained after evolving. But there was a problem.

I still couldn’t properly inspect the full details of her newer abilities unless her loyalty rose above fifty. Which was unfortunate.

I doubt she was going to tell me what she could do with the new abilities anyway, so I didn’t bother asking.

Still... I wasn’t exactly disappointed about any of this. Confused maybe. Curious definitely. But disappointed? Not really.

If anything, I was more surprised than anything else.

Because, despite everything, Ariel’s loyalty hadn’t decreased. It had actually increased. By a lot. 10X what it was before.

I stared at her.

That made no sense to me.

If anything, I felt like I had done more than enough to lower it instead.

Because after all the neglect, the fact that I kept disappearing for long periods without explanation, and how often we argued, I genuinely thought her loyalty would’ve dropped instead.

’So why had it increased?’

Was it because we’d survived dangerous situations together before? Because of the bond itself? Or had she simply started viewing me differently after everything that happened recently?

I grimaced.

I thought she hated me. Up until now, I’d genuinely believed Ariel viewed me as nothing more than an irritating burden forced onto her life---the feeling was mutual by the way--So what was this?

While I remained lost in thought, Ariel seemed to notice the way I kept looking at her, so she turned slightly away from me as though trying to shield herself from my gaze.

”You’ve been staring at me for a while now,” she muttered suspiciously. ”What? Is there something on my fur?”

Her tails shifted slightly behind her while she spoke, almost like she was unconsciously on guard.

I slowly shook my head.

”No,” I said. ”It’s just...” I paused briefly while looking at her. ”You’ve changed.”

Ariel immediately frowned.

”What exactly do you mean by that?”

I leaned back slightly before answering.

”You don’t seem to hate me as much anymore,” I explained. ”At least, not in the same way as before.”

I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully.

”And you don’t really speak to me like I’m beneath you anymore either.”

The moment I said that, Ariel’s pupils visibly widened.

Then she immediately turned away from me and started walking toward the door.

But right before leaving the room, she suddenly stopped.

Without looking back at me, she spoke sharply.

”Don’t misunderstand things,” she said. ”I still hate you for placing a shackle on me.”

One of her tails flicked irritably behind her.

”And I still think you’re pathetic.”

Despite the harshness in her words, the response somehow felt less venomous than it would’ve sounded before. Almost like she was trying harder to maintain the hostility than actually feeling it.

”But...” Ariel paused.

Her eyes lingered on me strangely after that, a faint gleam reflecting within her pupils as she stared directly at me.

And for some reason, the moment our eyes met, I suddenly felt a strange fluttering sensation in my stomach, accompanied by an oddly hollow feeling that I couldn’t properly explain.

It caught me so off guard that I immediately frowned.

”But what?” I urged.

Ariel lowered her chin slightly before finally answering.

”You’ve become more competent.”