Chapter 15: The Sovereign's Conduit
The morning after the greenhouse felt like walking through a live minefield.
When I entered the Great Dining Hall and took my usual seat beside Rolf, the shift in the squad's dynamic was palpable. Nyssa arrived a moment later. Instead of taking the seat across the table, she sat directly to my right, her shoulder hovering mere inches from mine.
She didn't say a word, but she didn't have to. Her emerald eyes were bright, and her fingers traced the silver locket at her throat with a rhythmic, nervous energy. Every time I reached for my water goblet, her gaze darted to my hands, then to my lips, before she quickly looked down at her textbook. Her logical mind was desperately trying to quantify the kiss as a "transfer of arcane resonance," but her flushed olive skin told the real story.
Kaelith sat across from us. The Shadow-Knight was unnervingly silent, even for her. She didn't touch her food. Her silver eyes flicked back and forth between Nyssa's flushed face and my neutral expression. The stoic, impenetrable wall she usually hid behind was fractured. I could practically see the gears turning in her head, fueled by a dangerous, foreign emotion: jealousy.
"Are you three... okay?" Rolf asked, pausing with a piece of boar meat halfway to his mouth. Even the dense werewolf could feel the suffocating tension. "Did someone die?"
"Just reviewing some tactical variables, Rolf," I said smoothly, standing up from the table. I had let them stew in the tension long enough. "I need to hit the training grounds early. I'll see you in class."
I left the hall, feeling the heavy weight of two pairs of eyes burning into my back.
I didn't go to the training grounds. I retreated to the absolute privacy of my tiny cell in the Scholarship Wing, locking the heavy oak door behind me. I sat cross-legged on the straw mattress and took a deep breath.
It was time to spend my capital.
System, I commanded mentally. Open the Lust Shop. Filter for mana utilization and core reinforcement techniques under 400 LP.
[Lust Shop Accessed]
Current Balance: 395 LP
[Skill Book: Infernal Combustion (Lvl 1)] - 250 LP: Converts ambient mana strictly into volatile fire magic. High damage, zero physical reinforcement.
[Skill Book: Beast-King's Breath (Lvl 1)] - 300 LP: Forges mana into a dense, physical Aura that coats the skin. Increases Strength and Agility, but seals Arcane casting.
[Skill Book: The Sovereign's Conduit (Lvl 1)] - 350 LP: A lost, universal conversion technique perfectly suited for Mutable Cores. Allows the Host to inhale ambient mana and instantly shift its frequency, converting it into either Martial Aura (Physical) or Arcane Magic (Spellcasting) at will. Passively tempers the Host's biology during circulation.
My eyes locked onto the third option. That was the cheat code. The nobles were restricted by their bloodlines—Orcs couldn't cast spells, and Elves couldn't forge Aura. But my F-Grade core was a blank slate. If I bought this, I wouldn't just be a tactician; I would be a hybrid.
"Purchase The Sovereign's Conduit," I ordered.
[Transaction Complete. -350 LP. Current Balance: 45 LP.]
[Integrating System Knowledge: The Sovereign's Conduit (Lvl 1)...]
The change wasn't painful like the core awakening. It was a flood of absolute clarity. A complex, multi-layered breathing technique burned itself directly into my muscle memory. I suddenly understood the exact rhythm required to pull the heavy, ambient mana of the Monster Continent through my lungs and into the muddy spark in my chest.
Breathe in. Compress. Shift the frequency.
I closed my eyes and engaged the technique. The tiny, F-Grade core in my sternum flared to life. It didn't generate its own power; it acted like a hyper-efficient turbine, violently sucking in the mana from the room.
I pushed the energy down into my physical muscles, shifting the frequency to heavy, dense Aura.
My scrawny green arms suddenly bulged, the veins turning a faint, glowing silver. I gripped the wooden frame of my bed and squeezed. The solid oak groaned, splintering under my fingertips as a surge of raw, physical strength finally flooded my frail, base-goblin body.
Breathe out. Shift.
I released the bedframe, pulling the energy back into my core, and instantly shifted the frequency to volatile Magic.
The silver glow in my veins turned a chaotic, crackling purple. I raised my palm, and a sphere of highly condensed arcane energy snapped into existence, hovering inches from my skin. It wasn't a pathetic spark anymore. It was a loaded gun.
[System Alert: Host has successfully circulated 'The Sovereign's Conduit'.]
[Physical Tempering Initiated.]
Strength (STR): 5 -> 8 (Grade: F- -> F+)
Agility (AGI): 8 -> 11 (Grade: F- -> E-)
Vitality/Endurance (VIT): 15 -> 18 (Grade: F+ -> E)
[System Note]: Continued use of this technique will slowly overwrite your low-tier Goblin biology, paving the way for your first Species Evolution.
I dispelled the magic, letting the purple sphere dissolve into the air. I looked down at my hands. They were still green, still clawed, but they no longer felt fragile. I could fight Kaelith with Aura, and I could match Nyssa with Magic.
I stood up, adjusting my black Academy coat. The 72-hour timer had reset, my stats were definitively climbing, and I finally had the teeth to back up my Rank 10 intellect.
The first-year ranking tournament was only weeks away. It was time to show the noble bloodlines exactly what a tactician could do when he didn't have to hold back.