________________________________________________

Leo

Leo’s first attempt at flight was to simply cast the levitate spell on himself, but for the first time he felt his mana rapidly draining. Leo figured that he was essentially using mana to directly lift himself, which was the equivalent to benching his own weight against gravity.

Leo started to think of a work around, as from what he felt using levitation he would run out of mana within about a minute. Thinking of a few solutions he came to the conclusion of experimenting with gravity. He recalled a few news articles about recent tests conducted to prove the existence of gravitational waves.

So instead of trying to direct his spell to work against gravity, Leo simply used it on gravity. He set up his first spell to bend the gravity to push him upwards and then ease himself back, with only the area around him being affected. He put only a small amount of push into the spell, intending to go up only an inch. His assumption that it was only a tiny amount of push was horribly wrong, as he shot up over three stories before falling back down, slowing like a pendulum.

That mishap prompted an appropriate, “Oh shit”, as he realized that he didn't have an accurate visual measurement for gravity. He could have flung himself into space if he tried to actually fly on his first attempt, and Leo thanked whatever god was watching him for not letting that happen. The spell also seemed to use almost nothing in terms of mana, which raised a red flag at the edge of his mind, but he decided to file that thought away for later.

From attempting what felt like an inch of push, he now had a measurement to work off of for his next attempt. This time when he initiated the spell, he laid the mana on top instead of pushing it right away. As he felt the spells cast go through, he ever so slightly applied force. When he started to lift a few inches off the ground he shifted the weight of said force around, and then he started moving around like he was being controlled by a joystick on ice.

Leo grimaced, as his ‘inner game dev’ instantly rejected the movement of the spell. “ Eh, it doesn't feel fluid enough and the motion feels wonky. Going to have to re-visualize it.” He thought aloud while releasing the spell to recast it differently.

His next cast fixed the gravity around him, so he could still feel like his body was rooted toward something. Then he layered the previous one on top, with one alteration, setting the directional controls to around his chest and shoulders. Leo started to shift his weight around, feeling his mana push and pull the gravity in response, causing him to move.

Leo smiled, satisfied with the new movement system as he floated half a foot off the ground. If he had to be honest It felt as if he was moving around like a superhero, and it wasn't entirely inaccurate now that he had magic powers.

Looking up at the sky, Leo took in a deep breath. “Up up and away…” He said hesitantly while pushing himself to go up.

As the initial fear passed from being about fifteen to twenty stories high, he was left with an adrenaline high and started to fully let loose. He moved around effortlessly through the air, speeding up and down and all around. Leo was experiencing one of his childhood fantasies, flying through the air like a genuine superhero.

Leo was only flying for a few minutes when he heard shouting from below, it was Elaria.

________________________________________________

Elaria

Elaria was both overjoyed and utterly terrified as Leo soared through the air. Being able to cast flight magic definitely meant that he was on par with an arch mage, but flying around like that was the farthest thing from trying to remain inconspicuous. So Elaria rushed out onto the field, and started shouting for him to ground himself.

When Leo flew down to them he simply said. “What's up? Well besides me.” He chuckled.

Elaria could not suppress her eye twitching at his words, and he seemed to notice. “Uhhh, what did I do….” He questioned hesitantly.

“Flight magic is what arch mages use.” Elaria stated bluntly.

“That's… Great then. Righ- Oh wait, no, no it's not….And what is she doing...” Leo asked her while pointing to her left.

Elaria turned to see Glia in a deep bow, and was holding it like her life depended on it. This prompted Elaria to let out an exasperated breath, because now she had to help deal with ‘that’.

“Leo, arch mages are border line royalty. Every kingdom has at least one serving and living with them in their royal courts. So that's why she's like this, and why you shouldn't start flying around town.” She explained exhaustedly.

Glia stood up straight and turned to address Elaria. “Wait, er um. Elaria? What the fuck is actually going on? Oh um sorry for the language, sir.”

Leo looked extremely uncomfortable as he turned back to speak to Elaria. “So my cover in regards to her is even more fucked than the healer, great….”

Elaria tried to think of a way out of this mess, but couldn't come up with a story that wouldn’t make the situation worse further down the line. Glia could also tell when she was bullshitting, so there wasn't much of a point in trying.

Unable to come up with another solution, Elaria turned to Leo. “Well, If you want you can tell her the truth. She's my best friend, so I can vouch for her, and the truth might be heavy enough for her to keep her mouth shut regardless.”

“Wait? What, tell me what?” Glia asked as her head darted between them, while her expression was that of abject confusion.

With a bit of a groan, Leo went on to explain the events of the last week. He explained that he came from another world and how easily he learned magic. Glia was frozen by the end of it, still trying to process everything Leo told her.

Glia spent about a minute organizing her thoughts before speaking. “So you're not royalty, and you have never had any connection to this world or it's people?” She inquired a little optimistically, and Leo nodded with a “yup”.

Glia let out a breath she seemed to be holding in, as her body visually relaxed immensely. “Oh thank the gods… So with that cleared up I wanted to ask, do you wanna fuck?”

Leo looked like he went through several expressions trying to properly process her words and come up with a response, much to Elaria's amusement who proceeded to burst out laughing.

“I'm sorry I think I'm missing a very important piece of information, how does that question even cross your mind?” Leo questioned the very blunt selarin, while he looked utterly baffled.

Glia smirked, her expression a little elated at the fact that he didn't say ‘no’. “Despite being an arch mage, you don't have any of the scary political power of nobles, aristocrats, or royals. In fact, it seems like it's in your best interest to avoid them altogether. So you're just another guy, one that I really want to fuck.” She explained with even more casual bluntness.

Leo still did not seem to know how to respond, looking to Elaria before asking. “ You seem oddly ok with her asking this, is having multiple partners really so normal?”

Elaria was confused for a moment, but remembered that Leo said humans have a one to one ratio. Recalling that races like the dwarves and elves committed to fewer partners, humans could commit to a single mate.

“Remember, ten to one. If we weren't so open about it then we would have died off a long time ago. Though we can sometimes be… Territorial... When it comes to holding our positions. But yeah, go for it. I'll even join in if you want.” Elaria explained, punctuating the end with a sultry tone.

Leo flushed at the offer, but looked like he finally found his confidence before responding. “Well Glia, I guess we’ll see you after your shift then?”

Glia looked a little disappointed before speaking. “Actually I'll get rotated into patrol duty in the market for the rest of the day, and I have the same schedule tomorrow. The day after though…”

Glia walked up to Leo, seductively swaying her hips as she did so. She leaned in to whisper into his ear, and his new found confidence vanished. Glia backed away when she was done, giving Leo a coy look.

Leo turned beet red. “I uh, yes, that.. Uh. we, I mean she. Us and you can.” He stammered incoherently.

Elaria arched a brow. “Just what did you tell him?” She asked curiously.

Glia turned to Elaria with a smirk. “Oh just a few uses for my tail, and yours…” She answered in a sultry tone, while Elaria broke eye contact with her and lightened a shade as she remembered some of the more ‘intimate’ memories with her experienced friend.

A low rumble from Leo’s stomach interrupted the conversation, and prompted him to ask. “Um Elaria, I feel a little starved, could we head back to the inn to eat?”

“Sure we can, we missed lunch though.” Elaria answered, but then turned to Glia giving her a cautious look.

Glia noticed her concerned expression. “ Don't worry about me saying anything, If I did, then I would be pulled into one big fucking mess of trouble. That and it messes up our upcoming engagement, and maybe a few more to come after...” She reassured her before they all exchanged farewells.

________________________________________________

Leo

Leo was deep in thought while he and Elaria made their way to the inn for a bite to eat. He really wanted to just fly through town, but then people would look at him like he was actually superman. He also didn't want to accidently cast something that would out him to anyone else, like he did with Glia and the healer, so he asked Elaria what other spells arch mages were known for using.

Elaria furrowed her brow as they both turned another street corner. “The ones that I can remember are teleport, controlling the weather, mind reading, and terra magic.”

Leo cocked his head, not entirely familiar with the last one. “ ‘Terra magic?’ ” He questioned curiously.

“Basically it's just earth magic, but you're able to literally move mountains.” Elaria explained with a shrug.

“Wow, that magic seems a bit excessive.” Leo stated to no one in particular.

The criticism of terra magic seemed to bring his thoughts back to the fact that he himself actually manipulated gravity, which halted all other thoughts as the red flag he put away previously came screaming back to the forefront of his mind.

‘Wait a minute, I can actually control gravity. The thing that can manipulate space and time, and I did it with almost no cost to my mana…WHAT THE FUCK!?’ Leo thought as the full implication of what he did slammed into him like a freight train.

Thoughts of what he could do with that kind of power raced through his mind. Creating black holes, faster than light space travel, time travel, and probably even wormholes. His knees seemed to almost buckle from the weight of what he could do now, and Elaria moved quickly to support him.

“Leo, what's wrong?” Elaria asked him, concern written across her face.

Leo’s eyes went wide before responding. “Oh you know, just coming to terms with being the most powerful thing on the planet…”

________________________________________________