Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

Chapter 400: Integration

I already knew Zarah and Talia were close. The two had spent enough time together that their friendship wasn’t surprising in the slightest. But Nira and Sheera, especially Sheera, had only recently joined the clan. Yet Zarah referred to them as friends without the slightest hesitation.

That was... unexpected.

I’d honestly assumed it would take her much longer to open up to new people. Zarah had always seemed more comfortable keeping her circle small. Apparently, I had been wrong.

The realization was oddly pleasant.

A clan wasn’t just walls, weapons, and numbers. Relationships mattered too. Seeing the four of them getting along better than expected was a good sign.

"Did you find the crystal?" Zarah asked.

The question pulled me out of my thoughts.

I nodded. Then I opened my inventory and summoned one of the crystal shards I had harvested from the corpse of an Inferno Wolf.

The blue crystal materialized in my hand.

Without ceremony, I tossed it toward Talia. She let out a startled noise and fumbled for a moment before catching it with both hands.

"Is this the crystal you wanted?"

For a few seconds, Talia didn’t answer. She simply stared at the shard. Then her eyes widened.

The usual calm expression on her face vanished almost instantly, replaced by barely restrained excitement.

"Yes."

She looked down at the crystal again as though making sure it was real.

"Yes, this is it."

Her grip tightened around the shard.

"This is exactly it."

The excitement in her voice was impossible to miss.

Even Sheera and Nira leaned forward slightly, curiosity evident on their faces.

Meanwhile, Talia was completely focused on the crystal in her hands, turning it over and examining every inch of its surface.

For someone who usually kept her emotions under control, the reaction alone was enough to tell me just how valuable the crystal actually was.

"Good," I said. "Because there’s more where that came from. I found an entire cave full of them."

Talia’s eyes widened.

"A cave?"

For a moment, she simply stared at me. Then excitement flooded her face.

"Oh my God. That’s incredible."

The crystal shard in her hands suddenly seemed forgotten as her mind raced ahead.

"Do you have any idea how much material that represents? The tools, weapons, armor..."

She stopped herself, but the grin on her face remained. Clearly, she was already planning a dozen projects.

"And that’s not all," I added.

That immediately got everyone’s attention. Talia looked up.

"There’s also a pack of wolves."

"A pack of wolves?" Zarah asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes."

I pulled over a nearby chair and sat down.

"They made the cave their home. From what I can tell, generations of exposure to the crystals caused them to mutate and become much stronger than ordinary wolves."

The room grew quiet as everyone listened.

"I managed to kill their Alpha and ended up becoming their new leader."

Nira blinked.

"You became the leader of a wolf pack?"

"When you say it like that, it sounds strange."

"Because it is strange," Sheera replied.

I couldn’t really argue with that.

"Anyway, the situation is a little complicated now. The Matriarch accepted me as the new Alpha, which means I’m currently responsible for her and about two dozen wolf pups."

The room fell silent again. Then Zarah spoke up.

"Why do we have to take care of them?"

"I’m thinking of using them as mounts."

That immediately changed the mood.

"Mounts?" Sheera repeated.

"Yes." I nodded in response. "These wolves are intelligent, naturally powerful, and capable of moving through shadows. Once they mature, they’ll be far more useful than ordinary beasts."

A thoughtful look appeared on Talia’s face.

"Shadow-traveling mounts..."

"Exactly."

A unit of riders mounted on Inferno Wolves would be able to move quickly, operate at night, and launch attacks from unexpected directions.

It wasn’t something we’d benefit from immediately. But in the long term? The value was obvious.

"I see..." Talia muttered.

I turned towards Sheera.

"I saw that your former clan had something similar," I said. "Do you have any idea how to raise a litter of wolf pups?"

"Leave them to me," Sheera replied confidently. "I know how to handle animals."

"That’s great news."

One less problem for me to worry about.

Not long afterward, Narg arrived. I quickly explained the situation and instructed him to assemble a group of miners. Since the crystal vein was too valuable to leave untouched, I wanted extraction to begin as soon as possible.

Narg didn’t waste any time.

Within minutes, a mining team had been gathered and equipped for the trip. Then came the annoying part.

Transporting them.

Since [Warp] only allowed me to move a limited number of people at a time, I was forced to shuttle them back and forth between the settlement and the cave repeatedly. By the third trip, I was already tired of it.

I really need some kind of portal skill. Something that could connect two locations permanently would save an absurd amount of time. Unfortunately, wishing for a skill didn’t magically make it appear. So I continued transporting people the old-fashioned way. Trip after trip.

Eventually, everyone had arrived.

The mining crew immediately began organizing themselves while one of Bundi’s associates, Gruff, stepped forward to oversee the operation.

The moment so many goblins started appearing, the atmosphere around the cave noticeably changed. The young wolves became restless, and the Matriarch kept growling, her posture tense as she observed the growing crowd. Although she didn’t attack, it was obvious she was on guard.

I couldn’t blame her. A few hours ago, most of these goblins would have been considered enemies. Now they were roaming in her home casually.

I walked over to her and rested a hand against her neck.

"It’s fine."

The Matriarch’s ears twitched.

"They’re not here to hurt you."

The goblins got to work immediately.

Using pickaxes and axes, they began chipping away at the crystal deposits protruding from the cave walls. Every strike sent fragments scattering across the ground, while other goblins moved behind them, gathering the harvested pieces into large baskets for transport.

The operation progressed smoothly.

At least until the noise started affecting the pups.

The constant sound of...