Morning light spilled over the stone ridge, pale gold and quiet.
Kael stretched, his muscles sore from sleeping on rock and branches, and stepped out into the open with a single goal: understanding Minor Teleport.
He knelt in the grass and placed a stick beside a flat stone.
"Teleport," he whispered, focusing on the stick.
It vanished, reappearing one foot to the right.
Same as yesterday.
But today, Kael did not stop there.
He placed five pebbles in a line.
Focused on the middle one.
He visualized it shifting forward instead of right.
Pop.
It moved forward.
Next, left. Then diagonally. Then backward.
Kael grinned. "So I can choose the direction."
He repeated the test with a berry, visualizing it appearing above the others, upward, one foot into the air.
It hovered for a blink before dropping into the grass.
But something strange happened.
Tiny black dots had scattered around it. Seeds.
He crouched closer and realized they had fallen out when the berry teleported.
"Seeds count as alive," he muttered. "And the skill won't teleport living things without consent."
The berry had teleported, but its seeds had been rejected. Forced out mid jump.
His grin faded, replaced by a thoughtful frown.
It meant he had to be careful what he chose to move.
Next, Kael tested precision.
He picked up a pebble and visualized it shifting just a sliver to the left. Maybe an inch.
Pop.
It moved.
Two inches.
Pop.
Four.
Pop.
Ten inches. Still worked.
Kael's smile returned. "So it is not just one foot or nothing. It is anything up to a foot."
That meant he could nudge objects. Tiny shifts. Sudden displacements. Traps. Redirections. Deceptions.
Then came the real test: movement.
He picked a stone from the slope nearby and gave it a soft push. It began to roll.
He watched it closely, timing his breath.
"Teleport."
The stone blinked one foot to the right and continued rolling, as if nothing had happened.
He blinked.
It worked.
He tried again with another stone, this one bouncing down a short ledge. Mid fall, he activated the skill.
The stone vanished midair and landed a foot to the left of where it would have hit.
Kael exhaled, his heart pounding.
"So long as I can see it and focus..."
He crouched, mind whirling.
Direction. Distance. Movement.
He did not need to wait for something to land. He could change its path before it did.
And if he ever needed to dodge...
Kael picked up a small branch, tossed it gently forward, and teleported it midair.
His grin returned.
Minor Teleport was not just useful.
It was dangerous.
In the right hands, his hands, it could change everything.