ael didn't sleep that night.
Not because he couldn't — but because he didn't want to.
The sensation still lingered in his body. The faint golden warmth of aura flowing through his muscles, strengthening them, sharpening his senses.
It was intoxicating.
He sat on his bed in the orphanage, staring at his hands.
"So this is what everyone else is born with…"
For the first time, he understood the gap between himself and this world. Aura wasn't just strength — it was a fundamental advantage of existence. A natural blessing granted at birth.
And he had stolen it.
The Hollow inside him was no longer empty.
Not full.
But no longer starving.
Kael closed his eyes and focused inward.
Hollow capacity: 0.31%Stored resources:– Aura fragment (Bronze, damaged)
The black sphere rotated slowly in the depths of his soul, and this time, it responded to his will.
Kael felt it.
A switch.
The aura fragment flowed out of the Hollow and into his body.
His heartbeat quickened.
His muscles tightened.
The world sharpened.
He stood up slowly.
His balance — perfect.
His breathing — steady.
He jumped.
Not high.
But higher than he ever had in this body.
He landed without collapsing.
Kael stared at the floor.
"…This is broken."
Aura wasn't meant to be activated and deactivated like a tool. Normal warriors trained for years to awaken it, and even then, it became part of them permanently.
But for him?
It was just data.
Stored.
Transferred.
Controlled.
"I'm not cultivating power…"
He smiled faintly.
"I'm managing inventory."
The Hollow was not a cultivation system.
It was a devouring system.
And that meant something terrifying.
Kael wasn't limited by talent.
He was limited only by what he could steal.