The screen appeared without warning.
Seraphina Vale noticed it because everyone else stopped moving.
People froze mid-step, mid-conversation, mid-breath. A woman dropped her phone. A man swore loudly. Somewhere down the street, glass shattered.
Sera stood still and read.
World Awakening Confirmed
Status Initialization Complete
Her heartbeat slowed instead of spiking. Panic wasted time.
The text shifted.
Name: Seraphina Vale
Age: 17
Affinity: Spatial
Skill: Short-Distance Teleportation
Spatial.
That alone was enough to draw attention. Teleportation existed only in fiction—until now. For a brief, dangerous moment, Sera imagined distance becoming meaningless. Escape routes. Control.
Then the details filled in.
Range: 10 meters
Mana Cost: High
Physical Stats: Below Average
Reality reasserted itself.
Ten meters was not freedom. It was an inconvenience disguised as promise.
She tested it that night in an empty parking lot. Focused. Stepped forward.
The world folded—and snapped back.
She reappeared ten meters ahead and immediately dropped to one knee, lungs burning, vision tunneling. Her status screen flashed warnings as her mana plunged.
It took her fifteen minutes to stand again.
Others learned to fight monsters. To conquer gates. To profit.
Sera learned something more useful.
She learned that effort did not guarantee results.
And weakness was punished without hesitation.