Elytra. A world of heroes, might and magic. Where the common man may one day need to rise above his peers to battle the forces of evils and the nastiest monsters the world can throw at him, and the next, return to his peaceful village as a farmer.

Those who make battle their calling however, those few who would brave the wilds, the mightiest of foes, that would rise in strength and live a life full of danger as they go forth throughout the land, are known by only one (good) name.

Adventurers.

“Bad idea Elaine. I’m telling you, this can only lead us into trouble.”

“Really Karie? Ya been harping out about how ya don’t want any more party members but before that ya were harpin’ about how it’s “too dangerous for us to do this”. Ya know we can’t have it both ways right?”

Karie, the rogue who had spoken, looked over to Trex with a glare.

“And do you think I’m wrong? Going off on this quest is going to get us all killed and accepting a stranger into our group isn’t any better. My knife isn’t the only one that can end up in someone’s back.”

“And that is why,” Elaine had decided to speak up “we must make a strong judgment of their character and overall abilities. It’s not simply enough for us to trust them, they must be a good fit for us. Ah, Mary is back.”

Mary, carrying four pitchers of ale in her arms that threatened to spill, had returned with a gentle smile on her face.

“A self serving adventurer bar is quite a place. Ah, are we still talking about the adventurer’s notice we put in?”

“Hah. “trust them” and “still.” We shouldn’t do much of any of the first and a lot more of the last. I’m just saying, trusting our lives to someone we just met is incredibly dangerous. And make no mistake, that’s exactly what we’re doing by inviting someone to adventure with us.”

“Well, we will just have to see what kind of person our notice attracts and you can personally vouch or veto them.”

That satisfied Karie enough that she only lightly complained and bitched as she tested and drank her ale.

As they settled into their tankards, there was a similar thought on each of their minds.

“How long will it be until we find our 5th party member?”

They would not have to wait long.

...

Marcus Michelangelo entered the bar.

He was a curious fellow. Young, brown hair, thin build, clearly early 20’s, wearing what seemed to be traveling clothes consisting of a T-shirt and loose pants. He had an easy smile on his face that some would say made him look cocky or too assured of himself. But no one could deny, he had confidence in himself.

He looked around the bar for a little while, eventually finding the group he was looking for.

There sat his future party. He had noticed the lovely quad of beautiful elf women when he was returning from a routine quest. Their notice of needing a 5th member in the adventure guild was surprising, as were the qualifications. For starters, with four women, he had immediately expected that they would be harshly against any kind of male presence. Clearly they had a thing going on, after all, and adding a guy into the mix would’ve been odd.

And yet surprised he was, for multiple reasons.

The qualifications we’re not asking for light members in any way, shape, or form. They were directly asking for someone of considerable power. That means they themselves were probably not too far below that level or were equal with it at the very least. There was also no type or limit in any other way. Power was purely the name of the game. That reeked of needing someone and needing someone now, rather than later.

Well, Marcus always did love a challenge.

He took the time to examine his party as they talked.

The second tallest immediately drew his attention. It was something in the way she held herself. Her face was a little hawk-like and her bearing was ... nobility? It was just something in the way she moved and sat, like she was at a fancy party then in a rowdy inn. She almost seemed fragile, like how elves were portrayed in novels. She had long straight hair, wearing a leather top and skirt, with a bow strapped around her and a quiver on her back. A true archer through and through then. Marcus took a guess she was the leader and that was mostly because of the other members.

Next was the healer, the looks between her and the Archer were extremely easy to see. Sister’s without a doubt. But where as the Archer looked like a classic example of what elves were, the priest was taller, curvier, and generally more filled out. She was wearing heavy robes but even through that, you could tell she was not slacking in certain sizes of things. She had a gentle, peaceful look on her face, and was shorter than her sister, which made her look even more stacked comparatively. She had a short bob cut hairstyle and a staff attached to her back through a strap. If there were only a few words he could use to describe her, he would use “gentle” and “supple.” Clearly a priestess judging by her gear.

Now if he had seen their ranged damage dealer and healer, his 3rd party member was the fighter. And she was pushing what should be possible for elf biology, for sure. She was a fighter through and through and she wore very little clothing. A shirt that didn’t cover her 6 pack abs or stomach, shorts that barely got past the waist before they stopped, she was absolutely stacked. Muscular, athletic, fierce. She was a fighter through and through and the lack of armor was probably not a concern at all considering her build and class. She had long wavy hair, big breasts, thick thighs, was the tallest one there and most frighteningly, she had no weapon. A pure hand to hand fighter. Her punches could probably put holes in plate mail. She was the tallest on here and currently drowning herself in ale it seemed and laughing all the while.

The last, but certainly not least, took him a while to find. She was hidden behind the Fighter. Judging by the darker clothing and almost unnatural way she blended in with the surroundings, she was definitely the rogue. She was cute, in a particular way. She was the shortest and the word coming to mind when looking at her chest was “flat.” But that didn’t make her look any less lethal. Far from that. She had two daggers on each side of her, in clear view, and possibly more knives hidden. Her face was extremely cold and she looked like she was flat out glaring at her drink. Marcus could tell that this one was going to be the problem child. If anyone had a criticism of him, it would be her.

His scouting (staring) done, he went to introduce himself before someone else could take the party slot.

He heard the Rogue mumble something and the party turned to him.

“Hello! Nice to meet you all. I’m Marcus and I saw your post up in the adventurer’s guild. Was hoping I could join up with you lovely ladies.”

“A pleasure Marcus. I am Elaine, leader of the Stalwart Defenders. What qualifications do you bring to bear?”

“I’m a silver rank mage.”

They all looked at each other for a moment, before the fighter spoke up.

“Aye, that’s all well and good but we’re looking for strong allies yeah? We can’t be protecting both you and Mary while ya send out your little bolts or charge up a fireball. We need someone who can keep up with the rest of us too, we ain’t going to any easy dungeons or anything of that sort.”

Ah, the old Mage prejudice. Not entirely unwarranted. The easy smile never left Marcus’s face.

“Ah, I should have clarified. I am a Battle-Mage. I am perfectly capable of protecting myself while in the thick of it without support. I have experience, and frequently fight, alone.”

The Rogue openly scoffs and the other party members don’t seem very convinced. Lot’s of eye movement between them, mostly to Elaine, seeking her judgement on the matter. It’s not like Battle-Mages are common. It’s like having a Battle-Scholar. Nothing is stopping someone who studies all day, every day, from learning how to fight like a soldier, but it’s not usually what those types of people do.

Elaine soon speaks up.

“Well, I feel it would be in all of our best interest to test your capabilities going forward. I propose you have a duel with Karie, our rogue. As for other late introductions, this is Mary, our priest and Trex, our fighter.”

“Nice to meet you all and a duel with Karie sounds fine to me. It’s getting late as of now but how about tomorrow around mid-morning?”

“Works for me.” Karie said with an absolutely frigid expression on her face.

With that, Marcus left his future party to their slow night of drinking and prepared for tomorrow. There wouldn’t really be a need for much preparation, but a good night’s sleep and time, heh, to think of some fun ideas to do tomorrow would be worthwhile.

...

Early the next morning, a particular group of five were at a clearing briefly outside the city. This group was of course Marcus and the party of four elves, the Stalwart Defenders. Besides Trex being a little less smashed, no one else really looked any different. In other words, no one had made any special preparations besides Marcus bringing a staff to wear on his back. It was a simple thing though, a dime a dozen. Wooden, long, sturdy, but not the type of staff that would let someone they couldn’t already do. It was the equivalent of seeing a swordsman with a simple steel sword. A bit odd, considering Marcus’s professed level of ability.

The rogue was quick to comment as she and Marcus started walking forward into the clearing.

“So was all of your talk bullshit or do you just enjoy being seen as poor?”

“Ha, big words coming from someone who can’t even say they get seen.”

“‘Oh no, the rogue doesn’t get looks’ really? That was your best?”

“Oh no, but I mean, clearly, I didn’t feel like I needed to bring my best today.” Marcus replied with an easy smile.

The rogue’s face transformed into an outright freezing glare.

About 15 feet apart, they stand, waiting for the signal from Trex.

“Ready!”

“GO!”

Marcus’s eyes bulge slightly at just how fast the rogue is. He quickly shoots out a few mana bolts, one aiming at the face, two aiming for the natural lean she’ll do after she ducks and another for the leap she’ll do past that. Multi-casting and insta-casting of even basic level spells is impressive but it’s clear that the Rogue has some experience with mage types because instead of ducking, she leaps over the bolt. Being airborne isn’t especially advantageous as far as positions go but it’s a great way to avoid a mage’s first set up if they aren’t expecting it.

Marcus fires as many bolts as he can out at her while she’s in the air, turning it into a numbers game, but she surprises him again by twisting in mid air. It wasn’t the twist that surprised him, but her apparent lightness. She moved from a normal human to a leaf on the wind in less than a second. Skills are variable and strong but they all require effort and work. Using Lightness to dodge isn’t surprising. Using lightness to dodge a spread of mana bolts, in mid air, by twisting your body is impressive.

Karie landed without a mark on her and less than a foot between us. She swiped up with the dagger but I was already backpedaling, sending out some False Bolts to slow her down. If she was going to end up dodging it all anyway, I didn’t need to spend the extra bit of mana.

It was tempting to just have this be a normal battle. It would be a good challenge I feel but I needed to put on a good show for my future party members. So it was time to activate my real powers.

Time magic.

Time magic isn’t common. It’s not rare. It’s not even extremely rare or once in a generation. Simply put, I haven’t heard of others having the same abilities. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, just that anyone who’s ever had it has hidden it from others. Keeping that fact hidden is my highest priority.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t use it. In fact, I’d say I use it frequently.

Suddenly, everything became slower, including Marcus. The dew from a leaf fell at a slow speed, the knife coming for his body was moving as if they were practice swings and Marcus himself felt like he was a block of iron in comparison. Karie was fast after all. He dodged the swing and the next one, and the kick that followed that one up, and the leap that continued afterwards.

Marcus’s physical speed may have stayed roughly the same, only gaining a bit of speed at the moment, but his mind was the same speed it had always been.

At some point, he had even taken the staff from his back and was using it to evade and parry where just more dodging would not have been enough. From an outsider’s perspective, it would have looked like he was insanely talented at physical movements, with incredible footwork and insane reaction speed. There was clearly at least some evidence of that feeling coming from the woman trying to slash him to pieces, as her movements had gotten only more frantic and quicker and deadlier.

However, from Marcus’s perspective, he was not some movement God taking this fight incredibly seriously. No, from his perspective, he was watching a beautiful elf show off her body as she moved at a trainer’s pace. As if she was trying to show off the absolute most perfect form and her thin and lithe body was following with a grace that a human could never hope to follow. Even as she grew more frantic, her form was impeccable, perfect even in the slowed world.

And when she used Lightness to try and get in quick and used acrobatics to try and catch him off guard, it was a rare beauty he hadn’t had the chance to see before. Her clothing would lift up and what would be a flash of skin would instead become a slow rolling wave of sight for him and him alone.

Eventually, enough is enough and he can’t take it anymore. He unleashes his full capabilities.

Everything freeze’s. The wind, the stars, the dew dropping from the leaf it was on, Karie in a mid battle pose, everything. Everything except for Marcus. Because not only can he freeze or slow down time, he can unmoor himself from those effects entirely.

Now that he doesn’t need to fight, the first thing he does is sit down and rest for a moment.

Regardless of how slowly the fight was going from his perspective, he hadn’t actually sped his body up much. He was actually fighting after all. Meaning he was a little tired.

After a brief rest, Marcus got up and looked at Karie.

Beautiful.

She was mid swing, striking forward, going for a plunge this time, as a follow up to another swing. It was just one of a hundred swings that had happened and would happen, not special in any way, another moment of time except for the fact that that moment had become an eternity here and now.

He walked over and slid his hand down her arm and up into her shirt, feeling her small breasts. Perky, not as flat as he thought but definitely not big by any stretch of the imagination. Cute. He gave them a light squeeze for now and continued on. He would have plenty of fun with her soon. Ha, soon, he had all the time in the world to do anything when he wanted.

He walks leisurely up to the other three party members. The three people that have been watching him the entire time he fought. Their appearances are all distinct, their personalities and thoughts and worries written across their faces.

The Fighter, Trex, is outright excited. The cocky grin on her face could probably split a mountain, her hands are on either side of her hips and she is staring right at where he just was. It’s hard to tell whether she wants to fight him herself or to do something else the way she leans forward and her eyes gleam.

The Priestess, Mary, is gazing with attentiveness. No doubt she had gone from casually paying attention to extremely paying attention once things had gotten heated. From her perspective, she might be needed at a moment’s notice to make sure he didn’t actually die in this duel. A kind woman.

The Archer and leader, Elaine, was looking on with a calculating face. Her brows were scrunched up in concentration and she was clearly deep in thought. Her eyes were just as sharp as they were first. Her thoughts however, were practically written across her face. “How?” and “Is he actually a good fit for the party?”

“Hmm. So let’s see. The fighter wants to fuck or fight me, the priestess is worried about me and the Leader wants to know if she can actually use me. Seems about right haha.”