Liora Valerion didn't summon the guards. Instead, she took a step toward the lowly sweeper, her golden robes trailing over the marble. "A peasant giving advice to a Phoenix? You have either a very brave soul or a very stupid one. Tell me, Sweeper—what do you know of the Fifth Nebula?"
Kaelen kept his head bowed, but his mind was racing. The [Void Core] was analyzing the air around her.
[Analyzing Target: Liora Valerion] [Cultivation: Fourth Nebula (Peak Stage)] [Affliction Detected: 'Solar Overload'. Her core is too hot; it is melting its own containers.]
"I know that you are burning," Kaelen said quietly. "Your mana is like a river of fire, but your 'veins' are made of glass. Every time you try to compress the light, you crack. That 'waste' on the floor? That's your body's way of keeping itself from exploding."
Liora froze. Her secret—the fact that her talent was literally killing her—was known only to the Royal Physician. "How do you see that? Even the High Proctor couldn't diagnose the leak."
"I have a talent for seeing... empty spaces," Kaelen replied.
"Prove it," she challenged, her eyes flashing. She conjured another sphere of Light, glowing with the intensity of a miniature sun. "Fix the leak. If you fail, I'll have your hands for your insolence."
Kaelen dropped his broom. He walked into the radius of her power, the heat singing his eyelashes. To anyone else, this was suicide. To Kaelen, it was a buffet.
He reached out and placed his hand directly under her hovering sphere.
"Don't!" Liora cried. "You'll be incinerated!"
But Kaelen didn't burn. He opened the "pores" of his Void Core.
[Initiating: Precision Consumption...] [Targeting: Excess Solar Pressure...]
The sphere began to stabilize. The jagged, chaotic rays of light smoothed out as Kaelen began to "inhale" the overflow. To Liora, it felt like a pressure valve had been opened. For the first time in months, the stabbing pain in her chest vanished.
"I'm not fixing the light, Princess," Kaelen whispered, the black void in his eyes hidden by the glare. "I'm just... taking the burden."
[Core Capacity: 5.0%... 8.0%... 12.0%!] [Warning: Pure Solar Mana is highly volatile. Void Core is synthesizing 'Nova Essence'.] [New Ability Unlocked: 'Void Aegis' (A shield that converts damage into energy).]
Liora watched in awe as her spell turned from a flickering flame into a perfect, solid diamond of light. She had finally achieved the Fifth Nebula compression, and it was all because of a man with a broom.
"You're no sweeper," she breathed, looking at Kaelen as if he were a ghost.
"For now, I am," Kaelen said, stepping back and retrieving his broom. He felt stronger than he ever had in his life. "And if you want to keep that Fifth Nebula rank without dying, you'll make sure no one else comes into this hall while I'm 'cleaning'."
Liora straightened her back, her royal mask returning, but her hand trembled. "What is your name?"
"Kaelen."
"Very well, Kaelen. You are now my personal Sovereign Attendant. You will report to my private training chambers at dawn."
As he walked away, Kaelen felt the weight of his new power. He had just turned the most powerful girl in the kingdom into his unwitting "battery."
But as he reached the exit, a notification flashed in red:
[Alert: A 'Void Signature' has been detected nearby.] [You are not the only 'Hole' in this world.]
Kaelen's blood ran cold. The hunt had truly begun.