Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

I froze at the revelation.

The words left my mouth almost on their own.

”...I’m Drugar’s weapon against the Order?”

”Not just you,” Mordra replied. ”Every Chosen within this world. And every Chosen across the countless worlds Drugar has created.”

I let out a slow, heavy breath.

Some part of me had always known there was something bigger hiding behind the Chosen, the System, and the King’s Game. None of it had ever felt like it existed for entertainment or some meaningless competition. There had to be a purpose.

I just hadn’t expected it to be this.

I looked down at my hands.

”So...the reason I’m here...” I said quietly. ”The reason I’ve been fighting, leveling up, surviving all this time...”

I looked back at her.

”...was simply to become a weapon Drugar could use against the Order and the Eternal Assembly.”

”Yes,” Mordra answered without hesitation.

The simplicity of her response somehow made it even harder to accept.

”There are many worlds like this one,” she continued. ”Worlds shaped by Drugar for the same purpose.”

”Each operates under its own program, though the details vary depending on the world.”

”And each is overseen by a single individual responsible for guiding that program from beginning to end.”

”An Overseer,” I murmured.

She nodded.

”You may think of it as a long preparation. A trial or refinement process.”

”Those who survive it prove they possess the potential Drugar seeks. Only then are they permitted to leave the confines of their world and enter the next stage of his plan.”

A chill ran down my spine.

All this time, I’d believed the King’s Game was the finish line.

Now I was discovering it was only the beginning.

”So what happens next?”

I swallowed before asking the question that had suddenly become far more important than the King’s Game itself.

”After the tutorial...what happens?”

Mordra answered without the slightest hesitation.

”You lose your will.”

The words struck harder than any weapon.

”And with it, your sense of self.”

”You become a puppet.”

I stared at her.

My mind refused to process what she’d just said. For a moment, I genuinely thought I’d misheard. But Mordra’s expression remained unchanged.

”The Chosen who complete the program surrender their individuality. Their memories remain. Their skills remain. Their experience remains.”

”But the person they once were no longer exists.”

A cold chill crept down my spine.

”What the hell...”

The fact that she spoke about it so calmly only made it harder to accept.

I raised a hand to my forehead, trying to make sense of everything I’d just learned.

So...everything I’d been doing...every battle, every level I’d gained, every risk I’d taken, building the clan, preparing for the King’s Game.

All of it had been leading toward that?

I had thought the King’s Game was my path to freedom. That if I won, I’d finally escape this world. But there was no freedom waiting beyond the finish line. Only another prison.

No...something worse.

The stronger I became, the closer I moved toward losing the very thing I was fighting to protect. Myself.

A bitter laugh almost escaped me.

How cruel was that?

To reward every victory by bringing me one step closer to becoming someone else’s weapon.

”I can see that you are troubled,” Mordra said.

I let out a dry laugh.

”I have every reason to be, don’t I?”

”Indeed.” She didn’t try to deny it. ”But it is not all bleak.”

I raised an eyebrow.

What was that supposed to mean?

She watched me for a moment before continuing.

”While Drugar devoted himself to creating these tutorials and raising an army, the Assembly did not simply stand by and accept it.”

Her voice regained that calm, measured tone.

”We could not oppose him directly without violating the very laws we had sworn to uphold.”

”So we searched for another path.”

I found myself sitting a little straighter.

”Since we could not wage war ourselves, we created a way for the inhabitants of the worlds Drugar targets to resist him instead.”

”And by ’way’...” I said slowly, trying to fit all the pieces together. ”You mean...”

”The System?” Mordra replied. ”It was designed as our answer to Drugar’s program.”

I stared at her.

”The Order created the System?”

Mordra nodded.

”Indeed.”

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

The thing that had followed me since I arrived in this world...the thing I’d cursed more times than I could count...had been created by the very people Drugar was trying to overthrow.

”It wasn’t originally intended for war,” Mordra continued. ”It began as an educational tool.”

She folded her hands together.

”When a world first discovered magic, its people often lacked the knowledge to wield it safely. Countless lives were lost to accidents, uncontrolled spells, and reckless experimentation.”

”The System was created to guide them.”

”It helped them regulate their mana, identify weaknesses in their techniques, understand their affinities, and measure their growth. Rather than spending decades mastering the fundamentals through trial and error, a mage could receive structured guidance from the System itself.”

I slowly nodded.

That...actually made sense.

”So when Drugar rebelled...”

”We adapted it.”

There was a trace of reluctance in her voice.

”The System was no longer limited to teaching.”

”It began rewarding those who resisted Drugar’s influence. It granted skills that would normally require years, sometimes decades, of study. It accelerated physical and magical growth, strengthened the body, and provided abilities that allowed ordinary individuals to stand against opponents they otherwise could never hope to defeat.”

”So long as they continued opposing Drugar’s forces...the System continued investing in them.”

”But...” Mordra said quietly. ”We miscalculated.”

I furrowed my brow.

What does she mean by that?

Her expression darkened.

”We underestimated Drugar’s intelligence.”

What did he do this time?

The question lingered in my mind.

Mordra’s expression remained calm.

”He studied the System.”

”Studied it?” I repeated.

She nodded.

”He understood its underlying principles, found weaknesses within its structure, and gradually learned how to interfere with it. And in time, he corrupted it with techniques of his own.”

”And once he understood it well enough, he repurposed it.”

I slowly looked down.

”And...the result of that...is this damned world?”

”Exactly.”

I let out another long sigh and leaned back into my chair.

It made sense. More than I wanted it to.

The Chosen. The King’s Game. The constant pressure to grow stronger. The endless rewards for killing.

Everything she’d told me fit together without contradiction.

Mordra continued.

”When intelligent life dies within the world, he targets; a portion of those souls are intercepted before they can continue their natural journey.”

”They are redirected to newly created worlds under his control. And upon arriving, those souls are granted the System and a second opportunity at life, though rarely in the form they once possessed.”

My gaze drifted to my green hands.

”...As goblins.”