Chapter 11 · What Battery Means

"Don't touch her hand." Selene caught my wrist before my fingers reached the mirror.

Her grip was hard. Warm. The silver contract wrapped around both our wrists gave one sharp pulse, and pain snapped up my arm.

I jerked against her. "Get off me."

"You heard me."

"I heard Nima call me a battery. I want to know why."

Across the cramped black-market room, Nima leaned against a table covered in cracked spell lenses and illegal mana chips. Her joke-smile was gone.

"Because that is what the label says," Nima replied. "VESSEL. HARVEST CORE AT ZERO. Pretty clear, sweetheart."

"Clear to you, maybe."

"It means the kingdom didn't summon a hero. It summoned a power source."

Selene stepped between us and the mirror. Her shoulder brushed mine. The contact should have been nothing. Instead, the contract tightened like a second hand around my wrist.

"Nima," she said, low and sharp, "you have ten seconds to explain without making this worse."

"You brought me a walking royal secret and want me to be gentle? That's adorable."

"Nine."

Nima glanced at the silver mark. "The system gives summoned people a core. Mana, skill growth, class potential.