Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

For the next half hour, Wulf and Kalee gathered up the materials they needed and finished putting together the storage constructs. Kalee shut her eyes and consumed the light construct she'd prepared. It was exactly how Wulf had described it—a sheet of rusting metal with a massive light-conjuring rune in the center. She consumed it, and a runic circle erupted around her feet.

It was small and faint, but it was still visible, like embers had been carved into the ground.

For a few seconds, Wulf's heart sank. This wasn't going to work. He'd let Kalee down, and perhaps his suggestions weren't as good as he thought they were.

But then the circle expanded. A circle of orange light spread out beneath their feet, racing to the edges of the room before reaching out even farther. The more it spread, the dimmer it got, until Wulf couldn't see it anymore. There was just a tingle on the surface of his skin.

He wouldn't have felt the effect of the spell skill if he hadn't known what he was supposed to be feeling for. A soft tug pulled down on his arms, like there was a draft, but nothing more.

"It's working," Kalee whispered.

"Is it helping?" Wulf asked.

"I can make the tiny runes now," she replied. "I…wow. Yeah. My concentration just…expanded immensely. And my fine muscle control? Yeah, I can do this."

She used a tiny etching chisel on the device, carving hundreds of little runes into the different components in a matter of minutes. They twisted and turned the central sphere of the storage construct, and Wulf helped turn it whenever she needed to add more runes.

Finally, when they slotted the outer shell around the mechanical core and sealed it with a pin, Kalee said, "That's all I can do. We'll need some of Seith's mana now to finish it off."

"This keeps getting more and more complicated as we go," Wulf said, rubbing his forehead. "I thought this was just going to be an activity for a single afternoon."

Kalee cast him a soft smile. "Sure. Nothing's ever simple with crafting."

"Tell me about it." He shook his head. "But, thank you. You think you could use that same strategy to craft complex constructs for yourself, and enhance your own spell Skills a lot more?"

"It'll work," she replied. "But not tonight. We've pushed our luck more than enough, and we're going to get caught."

Wulf nodded. "Just let me know when you need more metal. Something fancy, that is. I'll make what I can."

"I'll take you up on it."

They cleaned up meticulously, then left the lab room as quietly as they could. Wulf checked the hallway outside to make sure no one was coming, then stepped out and brushed his uniform out. They shut the door behind them, and walked back like nothing had ever happened.

On the way out, they only had to dodge the janitor once more, before reaching the main hallways. They were still crowded, with late night stragglers running in from outside. It was still the first day of classes, Wulf reminded himself, and that meant most of the other students were out partying to celebrate the return to classes.

After all, if they got themselves drunk later in the semester, they might actually miss something important.

On the way up to their dorms, while in the winding stairwell, Wulf heard a distant voice whispering through the hallways of a different level. He stopped for a second, listening. It sounded like a raised voice, someone getting mad at someone else.

He wouldn't have even heard it if not for his Marks and improved hearing, and it was probably none of his business. He was about to carry on when he recognized the voice of Terrence, the Wingmaster.

Wulf whispered, "Wait…"

"What is it?" Kalee hissed.

"I dunno, but Terrence is chewing someone out."

He remembered what he'd told Irmond at the start of last year. They shouldn't worry about him, that Terrence was harmless.

Wulf shut his eyes and kept listening.

"...report you for Aspect-based bias," Terrence said in a low voice. "Or, would you like to take back what you said about the Toh family, my family? The claim that we are somehow part of a guild? I will not stand for it."

Wulf groaned. "Another one of these guys?" He'd partially expected Terrence to be different—at least, not horribly family-oriented and stuck up on honour and such.

"Or, you could admit to the Wingmaster that you bribed your TA with guild money," a different voice said. "The Academy would only fine you, in that case, and though you'd have to talk to the dean, and tell him about how the Wingmaster's investigations led here…"

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"With all the accolades and TA contribution awards going to me, of course," Terrence said.

"I didn't bribe anyone!" came the third voice, the one that had been raised earlier. "I just got good scores on my pre-lab exam! Here, I'll show you. I'll retake it, even. I'll—there has to be something I can do to prove it!"

"Nope," said the second voice—probably someone working for Terrence.

"Can't do that," Terrence said. "I need those accolades, or I'm not getting a position after my time here's done."

"Position?" Kalee whispered. "He couldn't mean working for a guild, could he?"

"Where else would he work?" Wulf whispered back. "He just won't admit it."

Kalee shook her head. "Wulf…"

"I can't just let them do this," he replied. He was fine with letting Terrence keep up his silly little rules in the dorm, but this was going too far. An outright abuse of power.

"I know," she whispered, shaking her head. "I know."

"You coming?"

"Yeah."

Wulf stepped out onto the dorm floor where he'd heard the voices coming from, then walked down the hall. He tried to keep his feet soft as he approached.

"What'll it be?" Terrence demanded in the distance. "You get suspended for Aspect-based bias, marring your permanent record? Or you help your Wingmaster out a little?"

"I don't have money to pay the fine! My family's just low-level guild workers, not yours. They barely made enough money to send me. You can't do this!"

Wulf and Kalee rounded a corner and approached Terrence. He stood across the dorm room main hallway, leaning on the wall, arms crossed. Over summer break, he'd advanced to Middle-Silver. A third year in an academy uniform stood on the other side of the hallway, broad-shouldered and bulky, and leaned over a boy in pajamas, who they'd all but pressed up against the wall.

It was extortion, plain and simple.

"The Toh family, hm?" Wulf asked, raising his voice. "That wouldn't happen to be a family on the Masters' Board of the Centralis Mining Guild?"

Terrence and his underling spun to face Wulf. The boy they were shaking down stayed in place, trembling. He looked like a first year, with messy brown hair and massive bags under his eyes.

"What do you know about our operations?" Terrence demanded, stepping forward. He held out a lantern with a single candle in it.

"Go," Wulf whispered to the first year. "I'll handle them."

The boy nodded furiously and scampered off down the hallway, before unlocking a dorm room and disappearing inside.

"Wulf…" Kalee whispered. "You can't hurt him. The Academy will protect them over you."

"Yeah, maybe," Wulf replied. "I mean, Azanthius kinda likes us now."

"The Mining Guild has no idea who you are, and they'd put pressure on the Academy," she said.

It was like dealing with Umoch all over again. Wulf clenched his fists, imagining himself punching Terrence and solving the problem very swiftly.

But he also couldn't do that. The good news was that he knew exactly what he could do.

"Ah, the Academy's Golden boy," Terrence muttered. "Sticking your spine out for a guildy, now? I thought they tried to screw you over. But no matter, I suppose you might've spoken with Aspect-based bias as well. Or, if you'd like me to not report you, we could make a deal—"

"Nah, I'm good." Wulf rolled his eyes. "Not your deal, at least."

"Maybe you should teach these two a lesson?" Terrence said to his underling. "Get him up against the wall for me."

The third year prowled forward. He was a pilot, and though he didn't have a golem, he had a gauntlet of rock around his hand. His badge identified him as High-Iron, same as Wulf.

"Oh, now, that's not a great plan," Wulf said. He barely paid attention to the third year as he approached. He ducked under a swipe, then, without using a potion, swept the legs out from beneath the boy.

"Yeah, I'm starting to agree with Wulf," Kalee said. "You're being pretty annoying." She activated a spell Skill beneath the boy, pinning him down. "And I'm getting flashbacks to Wulf beating up Umoch."

Wulf approached Terrence. "Only this time, no mercy. I know exactly what you're up to. You're just throwing your weight around here, because you want to feel powerful. But that's not what real power is. You're going to hold off on all your activities, or Kalee and I will report you to the faculty. Oh, you think we can't? Dr. Arnau is behind us now, and I think you'll find that any weaknesses her position may have had—what with her tenuous relationship with Lord Umoch—have now been smoothed over. I can play that game, now, too."

"What do you want?" Terrence said. Now, he was walking backward, trying to get away from Wulf.

"I want you to step down as Wingmaster."

"No. Not as long as I'm here." Terrence kept walking backward. "You might have power, but we're even. Let's call a truce?"

"So you can keep extorting first years? Not a chance. You want me out of your hair, then let's settle this."

"Huh? A fight…?"

"Wulf, I thought we couldn't fight him?" Kalee whispered.

"Not with you," Wulf said, gaining ground on the backpedalling Terrence. "You have people under your thumb, don't you? Get your best fighter in the third year. Someone in the High Bracket of the tournament. It's going to last two years, and we've been promoted there. We beat 'em in the high bracket, you're going to confess to your crimes. We lose, then…well, you continue as you were, and we lose nothing."

Wulf had a much better position now. He knew it, Terrence knew it. Wulf could afford to make this unfavourable to his enemy. He could easily crush Terrence right now, at least politically. But someone else would replace him, and there was no guarantee that person would be better.

"And in the time being, you're going to stop extorting students," Wulf said. "And pull down your silly regulations while you're at it."

"If I don't?"

"You want to call my bluff?" Wulf shook his head. "I'm doing this the nice way. Make a field pact, swear it. Otherwise, we'll destroy you."