Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

If I continued to upgrade this skill in the future, would it eventually evolve into something similar to what the alpha had been using?

The possibility was certainly there.

After all, many of the skills I’d acquired had changed dramatically from their original forms after enough advancement.

Regardless, the skill was going to be useful. Not necessarily for me. I already had Warp, and for most situations, it accomplished a similar purpose while being more flexible.

The real value of Shadow Leap lay elsewhere.

My gaze shifted toward Ariel, who was still perched on the branch above.

More accurately, it lay with the rest of the clan.

Once I shared the skill with them, our combat strength would increase significantly. A goblin capable of appearing from one shadow and emerging from another without warning was dangerous enough.

An entire clan capable of doing it?

That was a completely different matter.

With everyone being able to use [Shadow Leap] at night, we’d be close to unstoppable.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. Then another notification appeared before me.

My eyes widened immediately.

[You have received the title: Alpha]

A title?

I quickly opened it.

[Alpha]

Description:

You have slain the reigning Alpha and claimed its authority through conquest. As the recognized Alpha of the pack, surviving members will instinctively acknowledge your dominance, becoming more receptive to your commands and leadership. Wolves belonging to the defeated pack will regard you as their new leader and, unless influenced by a stronger authority, will obey your orders.

”Really?” I gasped. ”That’s actually amazing.”

My excitement only grew as I reread the description.

The rewards from this hunt were turning out to be far better than I’d expected.

First, there was [Shadow Leap]. Now this.

I immediately thought back to Caius’ clan and the wolves they used as mounts.

If the surviving wolves accepted me as their Alpha, then there was a good chance they could be integrated into the clan as well. And unlike ordinary mounts, these creatures were special.

They could travel through shadows. That alone made them valuable.

Combined with [Shadow Leap], their usefulness would increase even further.

The more I considered it, the more ridiculous the whole thing sounded.

Creatures all over the world became stronger at night. Nighttime was supposed to be when monsters held the advantage. Yet if every member of my clan gained access to [Shadow Leap] and had shadow-traveling wolves as mounts...

I snorted. Yeah. Forget monsters becoming stronger in the dark. We’d become the things that owned the night.

I rubbed my hands together and grinned, unable to contain my excitement.

In fact, I already had a name for the squad I was going to form.

”The Night Riders.”

I nodded to myself. Yeah. That sounded pretty good.

The only problem was that most of the wolves were dead.

My smile faded slightly as I looked around at the battlefield littered with corpses.

Between Ariel and me, we had wiped out a large portion of the pack.

Hopefully, there were still enough survivors inside the cave to form a proper squad. It didn’t need to be a large one. Even a handful of wolves with the ability to travel through shadows would be valuable.

My gaze drifted upward. Ariel was still perched on the tree branch where she had been watching the battle.

For some reason, she was staring at me with a rather strange look on her face.

I frowned. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

Normally, she’d have already jumped down and made some sarcastic remark by now, but instead she remained where she was, unusually quiet.

She looked... tense. At least, that was the impression I got.

Thinking she was still worried about the fight, I waved a hand casually and said,

”It’s over now. You can come down.”

She frowned immediately, clearly taking offense at my tone.

”I’m not over here because I’m afraid.”

”Yeah, right.”

I waved her off dismissively.

Whether she admitted it or not, she had looked pretty tense a few moments ago.

Not bothering to argue further, I turned my attention back to the alpha wolf’s corpse, or rather, what remained of it.

The thing had been cut apart so thoroughly that calling it a corpse almost felt generous.

Forming a makeshift blade from blood, I crouched beside the remains and carefully cut into its chest.

A few moments later, I located what I was looking for.

The [Manacore].

I pulled it free and held it up in my hand.

Immediately, the difference became obvious.

Compared to the manacores harvested from the regular wolves, this one was significantly larger. The crystal was darker as well, with dense streams of energy swirling beneath its surface like liquid trapped inside glass.

Even without an appraisal, I could tell it contained far more essence than the others.

I rotated it slowly in my hand, studying it from different angles.

This thing was valuable. Very valuable.

Most likely, Talia would be able to turn it into something incredible.

Just imagining her reaction when I returned with an entire collection of wolf manacores made me grin. She’d probably lock herself inside her workshop for days.

And this wasn’t even the end of it.

If Ariel’s information was accurate, there should be more manacores inside the cave.

My gaze drifted toward the dark entrance.

The alpha was dead. The pack had been crushed. Which meant everything inside now belonged to me.

Ariel finally jumped down from the tree and made her way over to me.

I turned toward her as she approached.

”What happened earlier?” she asked. ”You suddenly disappeared.”

Before I could answer, she narrowed her eyes and added,

”There’s no way you didn’t sense that was a trap. So why did you go in anyway?”

I smiled.

”Because I was certain of the outcome.”

And I meant it. There had never been any real doubt in my mind that I would walk out of that encounter alive.

Sure, I hadn’t known exactly what the alpha wolf was capable of. I hadn’t known about its strange realm of darkness or the tricks it could pull once I was dragged inside.

But that hadn’t changed anything.

At this point, I had...