Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

By the time Wulf returned to the academy, he could barely see the sky. Dust blotted out the stars. The moon was hovering directly overhead, still slightly cracked and slightly drawn-out. Whatever chunks were going to fall already had, and now, there was only the fallout to deal with.

As Wulf walked the Wraith back into its hangar bay, he hung his head. Hundreds of thousands of people had probably died tonight, if not millions.

"Wulf…" Kalee breathed. "What are we going to do? They didn't crush the moon like this last time, and nowhere near as early."

At the moment, Wulf only felt numb. "I have no idea. The world has food stores to last a year, maybe, but people are still going to starve as crops wither. The Ascendants can probably figure something out, but it's never going to last while the demons are still attacking."

When they slotted the Wraith back into its hangar and deactivated it, Wulf stepped out of the cockpit and onto the scaffolding. The workers—Iron-tier Artificers, or mortal woodworkers—all stared at him. He couldn't read their expressions. Whether it was awe, wonder, or just outright concern.

Word was going to spread about what he did at the gate, but these people had likely seen it with their own eyes.

Most probably didn't understand what had happened when he transmuted the beam. Enough did that word spread: that was the feat of an Alchemist.

There was no one else who could have done it, considering Wraith's hands had been on the beam. Not to mention…they'd likely heard the rumours.

They met with Irmond and Seith on the hangar floor, and they were deathly quiet as well. Other Pilots and crew members were gathering around, watching Wulf like he was an animal at a zoo. A few students with guild badges scoffed and turned away, but most just watched.

Wulf considered walking away. He'd go find Dr. Azanthius and see what the old headmaster had to say.

But he stopped. He couldn't just walk away.

Taking a deep breath, he said, "Yes! I am an Alchemist! I had to hide what I was to get into the Academy. I can control golems and Oroniths like a regular Pilot, but I can also do more. It's hard to explain, but—"

"Is it true?" a young woman began. "Are you a reincarnation of Panne? Or a descendant?"

He shook his head. "I don't know anything about that. I'm just…me. Trying my hardest to fight for my spot in the Academy, trying to help where I can. I have to do the difficult things, because no one else will. I—"

The crowd erupted in chatter. Hundreds of questions surged toward him, asking about how he accomplished anything, or what his Skills were, or if he could teach them anything.

Finally, he yelled, "I don't know the answers, alright? But I'm going to keep trying—that's all I can do."

The chatter didn't stop until a surge of cold wind washed over the crowd, and a powerful well of mana rose up behind them. Dr. Azanthius marched forward, holding his arms up. "Everyone, please disperse. Return to your dormitories and rest as best you can. Your exams will be rescheduled. I know you are uncertain. I will try to bring as much information as I can to you in the coming weeks."

The crowd began to disperse, and Azanthius turned to Wulf, Kalee, Irmond, and Seith. "You four. To my office, please."

~ ~ ~

Wulf hadn't told the headmaster about his injury yet, and at this point, it was too late. He just had to accept the pain as he sat in the chair in front of Azanthius' desk.

The headmaster stood up, and he leaned forward on the desk. Dr. Arnau stood behind him, sitting in a chair with her legs crossed.

"I cannot be angry," Dr. Azanthius said. "You saved our city twice tonight, and all four of you are to thank, truly. You may not receive much thanks at first, but that is none of your business. There will be jealousy, there will be concern at first. Most people have never met an Alchemist stronger than Bronze, and they will accuse you of all sorts of…cheating. You are an Alchemist, or are friends with one."

"You won't be forced to take action against me?" Wulf asked. He sighed. "I know the rules. Technically, no one can teach Alchemists here, you don't accept them, all that. If you have to kick me out, I think…I might be able to accomplish what I need on my own."

"And what are you trying to accomplish?" Azanthius asked.

"Stopping the demons," Wulf said without hesitation.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Then there is no reason to remove you from our halls," Azanthius said. Wulf slumped forward with relief, until his ribs screamed in pain. Dr. Arnau seemed to deflate as well, equally relieved. "But you will stay enrolled as a Pilot. We cannot teach you Alchemy, but it seems you've found a way around that already."

"You would?" Wulf asked.

"An Alchemist would be removed from our halls because he has no place on an Oronith crew—or so we thought. But you found your place, so far be it for me to stand in the way. The old rules of the Academy? I think we can scrap a few of them if it means keeping the world alive for a few more years. Besides, I can't let you fend on your own while Dr. Tallari tends to your Messenger."

"Thank you, sir."

"You are welcome, my boy," Azanthius said. "Be careful. And I'll have lots of paperwork for you to sort through. It will be in your dormitory in a few days."

"Yeah…" Wulf winced. "How much is a lot?"

"That is yet to be seen. Possibly thirty, forty pages."

"On the Field…" Wulf rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why?"

"Confirmation that your achievements are still your own, re-recognition of Academy integrity standards, confirmations that you did not use your Skills to cheat on prior years' exams, a bunch of waivers about accepting risk and accepting that your professors may not possess the answers you need. That sort of business. And of course, I cannot forget your crewmates. They will, of course, have some paperwork of their own. Albeit less than yours."

Seith and Irmond groaned. Kalee nodded.

"Now, you may go. It is late, and I'm not sure what more there is to discuss," Azanthius dipped his head.

"What he means to say is thank you," Dr. Arnau said. "You're the reason he's free to keep you in our halls, and you four are the reason our city is still standing. If you'd let Lord Umoch have his way, we'd be flattened by an asteroid or overrun by fiends."

Wulf cast her a thankful smile, then nodded to both her and Azanthius. "You're welcome. I'll keep trying."

"And now, I figure," Azanthius said, "I can afford to protect you a little in return. There will be those who try to start trouble with you—any future complaints or hassles, route through me. I'm sure you have enough problems on your own."

"You wouldn't happen to be able to reign in Terrence, would you?" Wulf asked.

Azanthius laughed. "You did that to yourself, didn't you? And before today. I can't help with whatever you arranged with him."

"Ah well…" Wulf muttered. "It was worth a shot."

~ ~ ~

After they cleaned themselves up, and after Wulf visited the healer, he returned to the common room with the others. For a few minutes, they stood, leaning on the backs of chairs or on walls, watching the brazier slowly burn away.

"Wulf," Irmond said. "You said this—the falling chunks of the moon—didn't happen last time. What if you just, like, made it worse?"

He hung his head. "I—I don't know."

"Don't blame him," Kalee said. "How could he have known?"

"But it was something he did, wasn't it?" Seith asked. "You guys are supposed to know. You're from the future. You were supposed to come back to protect us—but as far as I can see, things have just gotten worse."

He tightened his fists. Not in anger, but just frustration. No one else was in the common room, and with all the horns and bells blaring in the city, no one else outside the common room was going to hear—even if they were still awake.

"It's not his fault," Kalee insisted. "At least blame both of us and be consistent about it."

Wulf shook his head. "Guys—"

"The world is dying!" Irmond said, starting to raise his voice. "The fiends are going to win. You saw the power they had. You—you went after an Orichalcum! They have an Orichalcum demon-spirit." He rubbed his forehead. "Why couldn't the Field have sent back an Orichalcum of our own to help us? Someone who made it a little farther…"

"Because they were all dead by the time the world ended," Seith spat. "The Orichalcums of the future couldn't do anything to save the world, so what makes you think that we can do anything?"

"Guys," Wulf insisted, putting more force into his words. He walked around to the front of the room and stepped in front of the brazier, then faced all four of them. "I don't know everything. Yeah, I'm not the strongest. I've probably made some stupid decisions, some choices that just don't work. I know you're angry, upset, and scared. I—I'm scared too. I'm terrified. This world is going to die, and there's going to be nothing we can do about it."

"What chance is there?" Seith whispered.

Wulf shook his head. "What alternative? We roll over and die? Sure, you want out, say so. But I don't think you do. I picked you two—Seith and Irmond—because I know you have what it takes to become truly great."

"Do you?" Irmond asked. "Oh, everyone's special in their own way. That's what the academy says. You're special, you can make it, you can do it. But what if you can't? What if that's our fate?"

"Well it's a good thing I can change fate," Wulf said. "If I can turn glass into an arcane substance, if I can befriend my own damn messenger?" He exhaled slowly. "There's a lot about my past life I wish I could change. Forget, undo—or simply just regret. If I just gave up now because things looked bleak? All that, all those sacrifices, all my friends who'd died, all of it—their lives would be completely meaningless. The Field doesn't have enough energy to reset itself again."

Kalee nodded. "We're not done yet. I don't know how much time we have left. Maybe a year, year and a half. But we went from Copper to Iron in a year, we can get strong enough."

"You say you wanted Orichalcums," Wulf said, walking closer to the others. He looked eyes with Irmond, then with Seith. "But you know how they are. They're old, locked in their ways. They can't see past their own egos even when the world's at stake. You wouldn't want one of them." He shook his head. "I may not be the best person for the job, but I know I'm better than them."

Irmond and Seith swallowed. Irmond nodded slowly, and Seith shut her eyes.

"Tomorrow," Wulf said. "We'll get to work. We're going to scour the libraries, hunting for anything and everything we can find on the demons. We know more, we know where to look. We can start somewhere, and we'll find a way to beat them. I promise—and I've never broken a promise yet."