From Slave to King: My Rebate System Built Me a Kingdom With Beauties!-Chapter 237: Magic Skills Available!

Mazga had blasted a massive hole through the ground with a single punch, the display of raw physical power leaving a crater approximately eight feet deep and six feet wide. The earth had simply exploded outward from the impact point, soil and shattered rock spraying in all directions like water from a broken dam. The casual ease with which she’d accomplished this feat was almost more disturbing than the result itself, she didn’t even look like she exerted herself, just drew back and struck.

But something else had happened in that moment that only Byung noticed. When he had placed his hand on the ground before Mazga’s devastating blow, he’d felt something unusual pulse beneath the surface. For some strange reason that defied logic, Byung had felt stronger the moment he took his hand off the earth, like he had just downed an energy drink.

He didn’t immediately notice this enhancement at first because he genuinely had no practical way of knowing about his increased strength unless he was actively engaged in combat or attempting to lift something heavy. The change was internal, subtle, the kind of improvement that only became apparent through direct testing or comparison.

But his system informed him of exactly what had occurred.

[Ding!]

The familiar notification sound echoed in his mind, accompanied by text that appeared right in front of him.

[Minor Drain used!]

[Mana Absorption complete!]

[The host can now use basic spells!]

Byung’s attention snapped to full focus as more information flooded his awareness, his system providing detailed breakdowns of newly acquired capabilities:

[Night Vision: Temporarily enhances the caster’s ability to see in darkness by drawing on dark magic. Eyes may glow faintly while active, revealing the spell’s use.]

[Upgradable: No.]

[Minor Drain: Absorbs small amounts of life or magical energy from living things or things with magic through touch. The absorbed energy provides slight healing or temporary stamina boost.]

[Upgradable: Yes.]

Byung stared at the information with growing excitemen. He realized that he now had these two distinct skills at his disposal, functional abilities he could consciously activate rather than passive traits that simply existed in the background. And importantly, these were fundamentally different from his base mental skills that allowed him to read surface thoughts or protect his own mind from being read by others.

These were actual spells, real magic that he could cast deliberately, that consumed mana and produced tangible effects on the world around him. This must mean he was genuinely getting stronger in ways that went beyond simple physical evolution, developing capabilities that put him in an entirely different category from typical goblins or even most other intelligent races.

Byung quickly focused his attention inward and asked his system directly what the specific requirements were for upgrading these newly acquired skills, particularly the one marked as upgradable. He needed to understand the progression path, the investment required, the timeline for improvement.

If he could ask, why figure it out on his own?

And what the system told him in response genuinely shocked him to his core.

[Ding!]

[Magic skill(s) upgrade requirement: The host must have sex with the one who granted him the skills five times to earn an upgrade point!]

The system informed him that he needed to have sex with Velara exactly five times to be eligible for the first upgrade point specifically in terms of his magical development. This didn’t apply to his other skills but actual sexual encounters with the corrupted dark elf who remained by his side.

Byung stood there processing this information for several long seconds, the implications flowing through his mind. In that moment, he realized with absolute certainty how genuinely important the elf attached to him actually was. She wasn’t just a mysterious presence following him around or a source of stalking syndrome. She was literally his pathway to magical advancement, the key to unlocking powers that could make the difference between survival and death in the conflicts ahead.

The dwarf had somehow known this, had engineered this connection deliberately, had created a situation where Byung’s growth was tied to fucking a corrupted being whose agenda remained unclear.

He watched the three orc sisters beginning to make their way into the hole Mazga had created, their bodies disappearing into darkness with the confidence of warriors who had faced worse dangers. But Byung hated to admit it, even to himself, even in the privacy of his own thoughts but the dwarf genuinely frightened him in ways few other beings had managed.

If Byung was to take even a single step inside those tunnels, he knew with certainty that the dwarf would become aware of the intrusion. That creature had demonstrated abilities that suggested he could track movement and presence through means Byung didn’t quite understand. Walking into his territory was like announcing your arrival with a damn trumpet.

But what was potentially worse than confronting the dwarf was the complete uncertainty about Kraghul’s current state. Was the orc even still alive down there? Had the dwarf kept him breathing for whatever twisted purposes motivated that creature, or had Kraghul died days ago from his injuries and captivity? What if they descended into these tunnels only to find a corpse, or worse, nothing at all?

If Kraghul was actually dead, there was absolutely no way these three orc sisters would let Byung simply walk away from this situation. They would blame him for leading them on a pointless mission, for wasting their time, for getting their hopes up about rescuing their brother only to discover he had been dead all along. And three angry orcs with his physical capabilities were not opponents he wanted to face regardless of his new magical abilities.

But despite these very valid concerns, Byung found himself feeling oddly confident in his current abilities, more so now that he had confirmed access to actual magic rather than just enhanced physical traits and mental defenses. If he could read their surface thoughts with reasonable accuracy, he should theoretically be able to predict their movements and intentions to a significant extent. Mind reading provided tactical advantages that went far beyond simple combat power.

The sisters had already begun their descent, trusting him to follow. Byung took a steadying breath and jumped into the tunnel after them, his evolved body handling the drop with ease that would have been impossible for his original goblin form. He immediately moved to the front of their group, taking the lead position as they began navigating the darkness.

The orcs followed behind him without complaint, apparently content to let him guide despite being in unfamiliar territory. Their footsteps echoed, creating sounds that would definitely alert anything paying attention to their presence.

But Byung noticed something troubling as they moved deeper into the tunnel system. The dark elf, Velara, whose importance he had just grasped, didn’t follow him into the hole. Her invisible presence that had been constant throughout their entire journey was suddenly absent.

He couldn’t feel her presence, couldn’t sense her proximity, couldn’t detect any indication that she had descended with them.

She had stayed on the surface for reasons he couldn’t determine but Byung had enough knowledge to know it had to do with the elves relationship with the dwarves.