The very first powers of mine that I discovered I had discovered by accident. My supernaturally high perception, most manifestly in the form of my ultra-senses, and hints that I was supernaturally fast were powers I had begun to see manifest themselves as soon as I awoke in Luna. And as I read the paperwork before me I began to discover more things.
The first thing I discovered was that I could read in the language of the Verdad empire. It wasn't Spanish, which honestly kind of surprised me, but only a little. I also discovered that the nature of my... quickness had manifested evenly throughout me. I wasn't just fast when it came to walking.
I was a supernaturally fast reader. Which at first would have been underwhelming, but the stack of paperwork in front of me was several hundred pages long. I was able to read through the documents astonishingly quickly, which was extremely helpful.
The paperwork told a story and it wasn't a happy one. It revealed the mythology behind the land on which Sol was established, including that this was once thought of as a mythical location which was only theorized and not known to exist as an established fact.
It also told a story that included the fact that the history behind this place, from the point of view of the people of Verdad, wasn't dissimilar to the story of how the English went about selling charters to establish colonies in the colonial era of the history of the Americas. It wasn't a 1-to-1 match or anything, but that was the closest analog to my own history.
It was only when the papers finished describing the history of this place, including the stories of the first days of the colony, and of the disastrous journey here in the first place, that they moved on and went to describe the resources on hand, as well as other logistical information. The first thing they described was the population of Sol, from a Verdad-centered point of view.
The Verdadians who lived in Sol totally roughly 110,000 people, an impressive number really. There were also several thousand animals, most of whom were farm animals. I suspected that the Verdadians didn't actually call them what I called them, as when I was reading the paperwork before me I saw a subtle shift in the letters which almost certainly ensured that I was correct in my assessment.
The documents also revealed information about local efforts at farming, which weren't all that bad but needed direction, and the sorts of natural resources one could find in the area. There was a fair amount of gold and other metals that could be found in the area, but some of it was in mines which were themselves in the hands of the aggressive locals, who took them from us after they began to become more aggressive.
The existence of mines here were intriguing to me, but in all but one cases the mines had been built by my people and not the locals. That said the one case wherein the locals had built a mine was, according to the paperwork, deep in the territory of the locals. Not something I could investigate at the moment. At least not without significant risk. It simply wasn't worth it right now. That said... I could tell I needed to do something about the locals.
The locals in the area were a bigger threat than Juniper realized. Not for any particular reason I discovered by this paperwork that had been hidden from the others, but because they presented an active, intelligent, threat. They appeared to possess moderately powerful magic and had knowledge of the area that my people simply didn't possess.
During the time I spent reading I was also conversing with the men gathered around me. I questioned them extensively on the nature of our local rivals. I was a bit dismayed to discover that my men had a narrow-minded view of them and didn't take them seriously, despite their successes in their campaign against the Verdadians.
My summoner and his people once controlled a far larger swath of territory than they do now. They had arrived here and taken control of several dozen kilometers of territory, and had evidently overextended themselves. The locals, who from the start had been fairly aggressive, seemed to have villages not far from the furthest reaches of the Verdadian-territory and launched constant attacks on Verdadians.
For all of the annoyingly condescending takes that the Verdadians had towards the locals these attacks had been successful at killing or hospitalizing various soldiers and eventually forced us back to our current territory. The Verdadians weren't taking an active threat seriously, but this situation wasn't without it's upsides either.
As both the new leader of this territory and as a politician I could move my armies against the locals. In doing so I could acquire what the locals have, while also building up a positive sentiment towards myself and the colony in general. This was a good way for me to acquire the respect and support of the military, and with my superpowers... It wasn't like I was like other soldiers.
When I was done reading the paperwork I began to speak. I did so confidently and with purpose.
"Alright... So I now understand at least the basics of our situation. We need to do a lot of work on basic things like infrastructure, we need to overhaul farming, and we need to utilize our military more. I also think we need to move on and against the locals, for a number of reasons." I told the assembled men.
"First of all, it's important that I gain the support of the military quickly. It's clear that the military here is the primary reason why this colony hasn't fallen apart. Juniper, your experience in the military has given them cause to respect you, and by you using them skillfully you've managed to keep this colony together. Now we need them to do more than just defend Sol." I began.
"First of all we don't really have enough food as is. By defeating the locals we can acquire their very real knowledge of this area, their magic, and their resources. Also by defeating the locals, depending on the circumstances behind our victories I could more easily gather support from the military, which I need if we are to survive in the future." I continued.
"Lastly, the locals are a real threat. They are not an ultra-dangerous one, but they can kill or maim our men and every man of ours they kill or maim weakens us, especially since we've apparently stopped training young men who come of age. Which is weird." I remarked, a bit idly. Juniper stopped when he heard that last bit and looked a bit sheepish.
"Marcos... There is wisdom in your words." He admitted.
"Listen... What I'm saying is that there are things we need to do that are not easily done. Fixing our infrastructure isn't easy. Improving our farming isn't easy. Frankly defeating the locals and rendering them nonaggressive won't be easy either, but it is an active thing that we can work towards and see immediate results." I told the man and the men. This remark heartened them all, even Arturo, who began to smile at me.
"We've no choice but to begin the slower fixes we need to implement as soon as possible, however we can begin our campaign against the locals quickly. Maybe not today or tomorrow but probably within the week." I explained, speaking simply. I wanted time to study the military here with my own two eyes instead of relying on reports. I also wanted time to learn the basics of how this world had its warriors fight.
The next few minutes would pass swiftly as the men began to speak and offer their insights into the nature of the problems faced by the people of Sol. I listened to them and eventually I came up with a plan of my own for the immediate future.
"Men... I would like to see the citadel with my own two eyes. Would it be possible for us to journey there?" I asked them, having heard of the citadel hours ago when one of Juniper's guards went there to retrieve Arturo and the first of my servants. Those same servants had served my guests and I breakfast hours ago and had been quiet and efficient allies who had dutifully cleared and cleaned the table when we were done eating.
"Of course Marcos. We could go there... Now, actually." Juniper told me, before standing and beckoning his fellow Verdadians to do the same. I stood up as well and we left my home, swiftly going even beyond the gate. As we left the gate I was able to see a new sight.
Dozens, maybe hundreds of men were hard at work just outside of my home. I heard them before now but as I was focused on reading I didn't quite pay attention to them. They were dutifully building assorted buildings in an impressively efficient manner. That made sense as the area just beyond my home wasn't enormously populated. There were a handful of houses not far from where I loved, but now I could see the beginnings of many more buildings. As I studied the sight of them I heard Juniper sigh.
"Marcos... My apologies. If we had known where your home would have appeared we would have made it the center of our pueblo. However as you can see, we did not. That said our men are remarkably fast builders." Juniper told me, smiling as he finished his remarks. Arturo quickly chimed in as well.
"Master Marcos it seems that the summoning ritual Master Juniper performed was quite successful. Your home appeared near some of the finest farming land in the area. Indeed the main reason why we built our pueblo where we did was that we needed space that wasn't going to be farmed." The scribe remarked. Juniper laughed at the comment before thanking the scribe for his compliment.
"Having your home in this area is actually good for us as it will allow our farmers to feel safer in this area. For reasons I'm sure you can understand the farmers do not relish the idea of farming in a place where they are relatively unguarded." One of Juniper's guards said, speaking up for the first time. The others all muttered in agreement.
Juniper was the first to turn in the direction of the pueblo, and when he did I followed him. That allowed me to see the pueblo everyone kept referring too in the distance. It was an imposing sight, compared to what I had seen before.
Atop a cliff stood a town, complete with a large castle at the back of it. The town was surrounded by walls on all sides, and reminded me a bit of the basic look of the city of Solitude from the fifth Elder Scrolls game. I studied it for a few moments before Juniper began to walk towards it. He was followed by the men, and so I followed after them. I had no idea of just how soon I'd be able to begin learning about my powers.
We walked and talked. The men told me of their days in the heart of their empire, and aside from Arturo spoke of their military service. They spoke fondly of the empire they were from, and of the battles they had fought in the name of said empire.
We were only a few minutes away from the pueblo at the most, as it was just a few kilometers in the distance. Normally I would have suspected that we'd have reached it within a few minutes. That said we came across an unexpected distraction.
About halfway to the pueblo I spotted a few people in the distance. They stood still and they wore fierce masks made of metal. In their hands were weapons. I was no fool. I knew that they were enemies, but my allies kept walking towards them blissfully, as if they weren't there.
At first I suspected that this was so par for the course that my allies were just ready, but I quickly focused on my men and noticed just now disarmed they were, mentally. So I stopped my men by speaking.
"Men, halt. Do you not see the people we're approaching?" I asked, shocked. The men came to an abrupt stop. Then they looked off in the distance towards the enemies, and squinted. After a few seconds Juniper spoke up.
"Marcos... Do you see something, or someone in the distance?" He asked, concern in his voice. I hissed, and Marcos rose a hand into the air, a split second before a staff materialized into being in it. Arturo backed up behind me, but Juniper's guards swiftly drew their weapons as well.
The distant figures noticed the change in our actions and I distinctly heard one of them cuss, which was surprising to me because to date none of them as far as Verdadians knew were capable of understanding or speaking in the Verdadian language. They began to charge at us, silently. I warned my men that they were approaching and I felt a pang of annoyance that I didn't have a weapon of my own, since I knew very few of the powers I possessed.
I wracked my brain for what to do right now. Without a weapon, as far as I knew I wasn't the biggest threat. I admittedly had super strength, and some sort of super-speed (though how super wasn't something I was sure of), but without knowledge of how to use such abilities I wasn't sure of what I could or couldn't do.
My perception of time proceeded at a normal rate until the instant that that warriors charging at my men and I covered half of the distance that initially separated us. The moment that the warrior closest to my men was only a three dozen meters away was the instant that something in my mind clicked. Time visibly slowed for me, and for the first time in my life I felt... fast. Well and truly fast.
I turned my head and saw that the men closest to me were perfectly still, frozen as if they were statues. I chuckled and began to move. Even as I moved my enemies and allies alike stayed perfectly still, as if they had never been mobile in the first place. I was fast. Truly, awe-inspiringly fast. So fast that time itself seemed to slow around me. As I dashed forward I made an idle remark.
"So when I say I'm fast... I really mean it huh?" I asked myself, as my enemies remained frozen in place, unaware of the force of nature that was approaching them. I reached out and grabbed one of their masks, revealing a handsome and angry face underneath it.
I now found myself in the middle of the lot of them, and I immediately set to work causing mischief. The first thing I did was begin to go and grab ahold of their spears, which were the most common weapons they possessed, that and their masks. I grabbed the lot of them and threw them on the ground beside me.
It was only when I grabbed the last of them that time began to very slowly inch forward, which I learned when one of my enemies' eyes turned slightly in my direction, a real subtle motion that was difficult for me to notice. I grinned at the man and waved playfully at him.