Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Wulf's schedule was much tighter this year. After the cockpit readouts class, he had a cross-campus run to get to the dream link labs, and the nearby lecture theatres. It was technically part of the Mages' wing, because they studied dream links much closer, and all Mages had two of them.

By now, almost all the Pilot and Mage students in their third years had implanted a dream socket, and now, they needed to learn how to upgrade it and use the link to its greatest potential.

In Wulf's last life, he'd spent too much time finicking with a hastily embedded dream socket that he hadn't actually gotten around to upgrading his, and his strategy had been sheer force.

So, while he knew how to use a dream socket, and had decades more experience than the rest of his classmates, he could still stand to learn a little more. He needed to improve his precision with the sockets.

The lecture took place in a hall on the academy's first floor. It was a big theater meant for first years, so their current class of mixed Mages and Pilots only took up about half the seats. Torches and candles lined the walls, but there were no windows—only chalkboard and an equally sized sheet of enchanted parchment, which displayed a labelled sketch of a dream socket.

Wulf found Kalee sitting halfway to the front of the class, notepad ready, and he sat down beside her.

"First class went alright?" he whispered.

"Aside from getting chewed up by Dr. Tellychek? Yeah…"

"What a way to start a Firstday…" Wulf muttered. "Want to work on some crafting after our classes are done today?"

"Is this a date?"

"Do you want it to be?" Wulf asked. When she said nothing more, only inclined her head and grinned, Wulf took that as a 'yes.' "Yeah, alright, I'm asking you on a date. To the artificers labs, to build you a proper storage pendant."

"Gifting me jewelry?" she teased.

"Well…more like you'll be building it for yourself, I hope. While I go and steal some materials to transmute. And then we can start making mana storage constructs with some of it? Whatever we don't use, which should be a lot, you can keep for your own constructs?"

"It's a deal," she said.

Before Wulf could continue their conversation, the professor marched out in front of class. She wore a standard white gambeson, but had goggles on her forehead and a staff strapped to her back. Her red hair was impressively curly and formed a plume behind her head, which was only kept in check by her goggles.

"Good morning, all! Oh, I see some familiar faces, though not too many…" She pulled her staff off her back, then tapped the chalkboard. It was a gilded Mage's staff, and though Wulf was too far away to find a description of it through the Field, he was certain it was magical. She continued, "If you don't know me, no worries. I am Dr. Tris, and I will be your professor for the next few months. Yes, that would be of House Tris, though I promise, I won't plaster our crest all over the classroom."

At that, she began to cackle, though Wulf didn't understand why. He glanced at Kalee, and she shrugged.

Finally, she turned back to face them and said, "You all know the basics of dream sockets, which is wonderful. Now, the difficult part of this class comes from your lab component, which involves a set of dream socket exercises—in pairs. I see that most of you already have sorted yourself into pairs of Pilots and Mages, which is excellent. I'm sure most of you knew to coordinate with your potential crewmates so you could end up in the same class. That will be very important. But if not, worry not! There's still time to drop the course before the drop deadline, and try again next semester.

"Our dream-links are important not just for connecting the Pilot and the Mage. Oftentimes, a Mage's abilities require certain movements or timings, and simple verbal communication won't be enough. You will need to know each other, and for that, you will need a dream-link between each other. It takes a close connection, and lots of time and practice, which is why, after every single lecture, there will be a lab component…"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

She droned on for a few more minutes, before finally tapping the enchanted parchment with her staff. It changed, projecting images of dream sockets and dream-link circuits through the Oronith.

Wulf had known about Pilots' ability to link their minds with their Mage counterpart, but he'd never accomplished that last life. It was generally considered an important progression step for Silvers and above, but he'd never gotten that far. He'd gotten to Silver, sure, but there'd never been anyone right to share a mind with.

Dr. Tris addressed that as well, though—about their rank. "Since you're all different ranks," she said, "we are providing the instruction with a presumption that you will eventually make it to Silver. However, the lab activities have been designed without a tier restriction in-mind."

After class, they crossed the hallway, where the dream-link labs awaited. They only had an hour, and since it was the first class, there had been no time to prepare. Still, Dr. Tris assured them that the activity wouldn't be too strenuous for the first day.

They labs were a small, low-ceilinged classroom with workbenches arranged in a grid around them, and numerous control harnesses which mimicked an Oronith's cockpit setup—enough for every student.

Their task was simple: they had to find a partner (done) and both link up to the apparatus at the same time.

The TAs and professors didn't give away the secret yet, and Wulf was pretty sure it was supposed to be a learning exercise to demonstrate something to them, but he and Kalee shared a grin.

"Wanna surprise them?" Wulf whispered. "They're expecting us to struggle trying to physically connect our sockets at the same time."

Kalee nodded. "The real strategy is to hold back the dream mana, right? Then mentally release it at the same time?"

"That's my understanding."

Wulf didn't have a golem right now, but that wouldn't matter. He still climbed into the control apparatus beside Kalee, then socketed in without waiting for her. The other students gave him a skeptical glance, and a couple boys who proudly displayed a Mason's Guild badge both snickered.

The TAs kept quiet, but they seemed to know something as well.

The hard part was actually executing the plan. Wulf knew the principle now. Dream sockets took mana, and they converted a slight bit of it into a dream-aspect. They formed their link by making a chain of dream-mana, which interacted both with a user's mind and the small controlling golem, giving the Pilot a sense of where the Oronith was, and what it was feeling. It made the connection closer and more stable.

But how to hold it back?

He could control the mana in his own body. He could determine where it went, and what parts of him it fuelled. He could move it in and out of his core, or activate Marks with it. It responded to his will.

When he connected his dream socket, the mana wanted to rush out into the socket. That was what it had been designed to do, and mana always liked to travel from high to low concentrations.

But it also primarily responded to willpower. He held his own mana back, even as Kalee attached herself to the other half of the mock-control apparatus. Wulf felt a slight lurch when she connected her socket, but it was nothing overbearing, not until they glanced at each other and nodded.

"Three, two, one…" Wulf counted down. As a Pilot, it was his job to initiate the countdown.

And it was Kalee's job to complete it. "Now," she said.

Without hesitation, Wulf released his willpower, holding back his mana from the dream socket, and it surged out into the control apparatus. It wasn't as much of a tug as fuelling an Oronith, but at the same time, he also didn't have to consciously apply willpower. It speared out into the apparatus, travelling through comparatively small rune-lines and channels, before reaching a mana-light.

The light flickered to life, shining bright white, before shifting magenta—indicating that they were successful.

A few students grumbled and turned away. The Guild kids said nothing, and the TAs looked mildly surprised.

Wulf felt a faint whiff of pride, but that had been the easy part. The hard part was linking to Kalee's mind. He searched the channels, trying to extend a second dream link, but both of their sockets began trembling.

He pulled back, levelling off the mana and stopping for now. If he pushed any harder, his mana was going to break the socket.

He could think rationally about it, and convince his mana to take an alternate, more precise route. That'd take finesse…and, well too much wishy-washy dream link stuff. He grimaced at the thought.

Or he could simply strengthen his dream socket in his own time, modifying it more. The paalchite upgrade was nice, but he could do better. He was a crafter, and this was exactly what the class was meant for.

They both disconnected from the sockets. Wulf hadn't expected to be as tired as he was, but the effort had his chest heaving, and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He hadn't even noticed while he was trying to link with Kalee.

She looked exhausted too, if not moreso, because she had two sockets to work with. "Good work," Wulf whispered to her.

She offered a bright smile in return, and they shared a high-five.

"Now…" Wulf said. "We've gotta figure out how to survive our combat training class without exhausting ourselves completely."