Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

The Wraith finally ran out of mana only a few steps outside Centralis City's outer wall. The sun was rising, and classes were about to start. He'd made better time that he'd hoped, probably because he was pushing himself harder than he should've—they wouldn't have run out of mana if he had been going slightly slower—but now they wouldn't miss their first lectures.

"Alright, go!" he called. "Irmond, fly. Don't be late for your classes for us!"

"On my way!" Irmond replied. He and speckles took flight off Wraith's shoulder, blasting through the air toward the Academy.

Technically, Thrustwings weren't allowed for recreational use over the city, on account of the turbulence they created, but that only mattered if Irmond got caught. But his aspect Skill was a flight speed enhancement, and it was unlikely that local authorities were going to catch up to him.

Wulf had to worry about himself, Kalee, and Seith. Already, city guards were approaching the Wraith, and though this mission was sanctioned, they would be returning much later than expected.

After disconnecting from Wraith's control harness, Wulf ran over to the front visor and looked down over the road. "When we get down," he said, still speaking through his communications construct, "make sure to run for the gates. Sorry you missed breakfast, but don't want to make our third year profs angry."

He ran back to the hatch, still inside his smaller golem, and hoisted the hatch open. Then he jumped.

It was a long distance, but he was an Iron now, and with how much he'd enhance his Marks, he should be able to take it.

Still, for good measure, he spread his arms, creating drag and slowing himself slightly, before landing in a crouch beside one of Wraith's massive feet. Kalee jumped down beside him, cloak fluttering, before slowing her plummet with spell Skill and dropping down beside him gracefully.

"You're getting better at that," he said.

"How are your joints?"

"I barely felt a thing," Wulf replied with a grin. There had been some impact, but he'd learned how to cushion a golem's fall in his last life.

Still, after that maneuver, he was really out of mana. He'd used [Arm of the Alchemist] to activate the golem, which still cost shreds, and he'd drawn them from his regular core, not his storage core.

"By the end of Iron, I won't be able to expand my storage core anymore," he told her. "I'm running out of time, but…I should be able to expand it still."

"You're still thinking of expanding it?" Seith exclaimed. "Wulf, you can hold enough mana to operate an Oronith for two days in a row! Even the best Pilots can only do one day at a time!" She groaned exasperatedly.

"Yeah, but that's only at a base operating level," Wulf said. "Not running or fighting."

Seith sighed but said nothing more.

"I think I could get you some more mana storage constructs," Kalee said. "Might need some more raw materials, though. And a little help from Seith's Skills. My hybrid class doesn't seem like it's well suited for making high-tier constructs yet. I'll need to figure something out…"

"I'll be there to help," Wulf said. "I might have a few ideas."

"Sure, sure, you two," Seith said, throwing her arms down, then pointing at the approaching city guards. "But you guys do see those guys, right? And what happened to the tight schedule? Or are you two just going to keep gazing into each others' eyes and pretending that talking about advancement is the same as talking dirty?"

Wulf cleared his throat, then peeled himself out of his small golem. He stowed it away in his storage pendant, moving quickly so the guards wouldn't get a good glimpse at what he did, then closed the pendant and hung it back around his neck.

"Let's go," he said, then ran toward the guards. They wore their matching crew suits, coloured jumpsuits that identified them as academy Ascendants on an Oronith crew.

The guards didn't seem sure what to do with three Ascendants running at them, and with most of them being non-Ascendants, they leapt aside, allowing the three to pass through. As they ran through, Wulf said, "Oh, hey! Captain Basil!"

The guard captain scrunched his eyebrows and shouted, "Mr. Hrothen! You're late!"

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"Sorry!" Kalee yelled back.

"We'll come back and clean up the mess at lunch!" Wulf added.

"When this idiot gets himself more mana!" Seith chimed in.

The guards gave each other confused glances, but they let Wulf and the others through. Captain Basil looked the closest to shouting something back, but he simply shook his head and turned away, then told the guards, "Keep the civilians away from it, then. And hope these four aren't late again."

Wulf sprinted along the road, leveraging his Marks to move faster. They passed beneath the new outer wall, running through the Oronith-height gate. Looking up at the top of the archway made him feel utterly insignificant, even if the wall was ornament-less and purely utilitarian.

Though they said the outer wall was now complete—on land, at least—there was still some work to do. Scaffolding hung over the front edge, and workers constructed guard houses and ballista emplacements, or chiseled out merlons and hung massive lanterns over the edge. Low-tier Artificers carved rune-lines along the wall, which led to tube-shaped mana lights. Floodlights to light the countryside at night, in case of a demon attack.

At least the wall was tall enough to be a hindrance to fiends. They were still going to need Oroniths to fend off the fiends, but it'd buy them time.

As they ran, Kalee said, "Do you think they built the wall this fast last time? The demon attacks that forced them to abandon the wall were a little later, no?"

"I think Athllas—King Athllas—is a little more motivated this time," Wulf remarked.

"You're taking credit for that?" Sieth exclaimed. She was lagging behind slightly, but her Marks were better-suited to climbing around on the outside of an Oronith, not running long distances. At least with all the endurance training they'd been doing, she didn't seem to be getting tired.

"Not solely," Wulf said. "I just think we might have had a hand in it."

They ran down the Oronith deployment road. It was a broad street large enough for all Oroniths to walk along as they left and returned to the Academy's hangar, with paving stones thick enough to handle the weight of a stone giant walking on them.

By the time they reached the walls of the Old City, where the Academy awaited, a different Oronith began marching the opposite direction. It was Ishi Laak, the four-armed Oronith from the hangar bay beside Wraith.

"They must not have any morning classes!" Wulf called. He waved up at them. The crew was a group of fourth years, and there were two Pilots in their five-member team. But they often kept to themselves. Wulf had tried talking to them over the summer, and hadn't really broken through.

Still, as they ran past, dodging Laak's feet, they waved up at the behemoth. The Pilots probably didn't see them—Oroniths always had right of way in a city. He knew himself that it was hard to see everything happening on the ground, and frankly, if you couldn't see or feel an Oronith walking toward you…

Instead of running down to the hangar, they skirted around the outside of the academy, dodging letter-bearers and wagons. On foot, with all their Marks, Wulf found that he was running nearly three times as fast as the non-Ascendant letter-bearers, and about the same pace as a horse.

They took carriage ramps up the side of the academy, until they reached the raised landing and the entrance. Dr. Arnau was giving a group of first years a tour around the campus, starting at the regular entrance, but Wulf and the others blew past her.

"Wulf!" she shouted. "You're a half hour late to your first class!"

"Sorry!" he yelled back.

After taking a few corners and getting out of the way, he tugged his schedule out of his haversack and unfolded it.

First class. ORON 391 - Cockpit Readouts for Pilots. Kalee had the opposite class, ORON 393 - Cockpit Readouts for Mages, and Seith had a class for complex runic combinations.

"See you guys at lunch," Wulf said. "And good luck."

The halls were deserted at this time. Students were either in lectures, or had already found a place to study. There were little nooks and alcoves all over, which hosted desks and chairs, and most were already full.

Wulf's class was taking place in the Faculty of Piloting tower. He crossed the Academy building until he reached the north tip, then took a stairway up and climbed up a wide circular tower. There were smaller classrooms embedded in its walls, but Wulf was aiming for the Stonescale Chamber, halfway up the tower—on the eleventh floor.

As soon as he found it, he took a few seconds to catch his breath, then pushed the door open slowly. Behind the wood, he could hear the professor droning on softly about how to read the different sheets within a cockpit, what they meant, and how you could use them in battle. The class was otherwise quiet.

The door's hinges creaked, exacerbated by Wulf's slow pushing, and he slipped through the small crack he'd created.

Only to find the entire class staring at him. There were about fifty of them, all in clean academy uniforms, sitting at tables. The professor, whose name he didn't know, had stopped lecturing. He stood in front of a large sheet of enchanted parchment at the front of the class, pointing at it with a baton.

Wulf looked down at his dirty, scuffed flight suit, then ran a hand through his disheveled hair and winced. "Uh, good morning…I'm just going to sneak in here, if you don't mind, and take a seat…"

He pulled out an unoccupied chair from behind a table. It scraped along the floor with a high-pitched squeal. He sat down.

"Hrothen, is it?" the professor asked.

"Sorry."

"Uniform infractions will be punished strictly next time you are caught, and extracurricular missions are no excuse to be late, no matter how much you might want the extra Crowns. Understood?"

"Understood, sir," Wulf said, then unzipped his jumpsuit, revealing his rumpled academy uniform below. "But sir, I did wear my uniform."

The professor rolled his eyes, and the class snickered a little.

"Now then, where were we?"