Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

"You may find it difficult to compress your mana," Dr. Konstant said, "if you never complete any more tasks related to your Class. The Field requires you to compress your arcane material, and it responds naturally to the same tasks that would have caused you to increase your tier previously. Mages, Rangers, and Pilots need to find fights, still. Artificers need to continue a crafting focus."

Wulf scribbled notes down in his book even as they neared the end of the lecture. He never really referred back to his notes, but he found that the act of putting the words down on paper, of making his fingers write out the words, helped him remember the content better.

It was also making his handwriting much neater and faster, so that was a welcome bonus.

Or maybe it was just his advancement kicking in. Supposedly, Ascendants became better at retaining information the higher they climbed—and the more they enhanced their perception.

"So, I highly recommend that, as you seek future advancement, and no matter how slow the progress of core compression is," Dr. Konstant continued, "that you maintain your earlier habits. But that's all the time I have for now, and I think I've kept you a minute late, perhaps, so go along to your next classes before I receive some more sternly worded letters from other members of the faculty."

Wulf ran up to the professor after class and asked, "Sir, I've been wondering. You say you are prohibited from giving half this information to other students who aren't considered the 'top.' But what's stopping us from spreading the word?"

Dr. Konstant winked. "Absolutely nothing, my boy." Then he sighed, and his chest deflated. "But you haven't told anyone, have you?"

"I…well, no."

"As I figured. It doesn't usually come up in conversation, and lower Ascendants don't often ask, because most people won't say." He shook his head. "Besides, even if you told ten others what you learned, it would barely be a drop in the bucket. There are tens of thousands of Ascendants, and most of them never attend the Centralis Academy."

"I suppose."

"Most of them stay at Iron their whole lives, Hrothen. You barely see them, and your frame of reference is likely skewed, but there's a whole nother world out there with different rules from the world inside our halls. For them, getting to Gold is impossible."

Wulf nodded. "Thank you, professor."

"Any time."

As far as he could tell, and with what he'd checked with Dr. Arnau, Dr. Konstant hadn't been feeding them any wrong information yet. He'd stay vigilant, but there was no reason to be cold.

Wulf ran after Kalee, Seith, and Irmond and caught up to them in the hallway outside.

"How's your progress, Wulf?" Irmond asked. "Have you been making any headway? 'Cause I'm still stuck at two percent."

He held up his bracer, pushed a touch of intent into it, and pulled up his main status. It didn't give his advancement progress right away, but when he focused on the concept of progress, the Field yielded and pulled up a simple message:

[Advancement Progress: 9%]

Wulf repeated the same to the others, then said, "I've been trying to compress it, sure, but it's slow work. It's almost like kneading dough. It just wants to spring back to its normal size. Making potions and other alchemy related doesn't make the compression faster, but it does hold it in place better."

"Faster?" Seith stressed. "Wulf, you've made it to nine percent. You do realize that Dr. Arnau has been a Gold for decades?"

He exhaled. "Yeah…but we don't have much of a choice."

"Why can't she advance faster, anyway?" Irmond asked. "Hell, why don't most of the professors advance faster?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Most gifted Ascendants advance quickly," Kalee said. "The professors are gifted. They're much stronger than the average Ascendant, sure. But there comes a point where you stop."

"Everyone has a reason for advancing," Wulf replied. "Otherwise, they don't get far. What was it that old writer guy said in Pilot Literature?"

"I dunno, never took that class," Irmond said.

"Something like, 'A man with a reason to grow cannot be stopped by men with no reason to stay put?' I'm butchering it, I'm butchering it." He groaned. "Look, point is: if you have something you're striving for, you'll keep growing."

"But sometimes that reason dries up," Kalee said. "Sometimes, you realize you've gotten what you wanted, and you don't need to keep growing. Maybe they reach Gold, maybe Ruby. At some point, they stall out. And then progress is slow from there."

"I'd bet most of the Orichalcums reached that point insanely quickly," Seith said. "Considering that Lord Umoch and Dr. Arnau were in school together, but one made it to Orichalcum and the other only to Gold."

"Exactly," Wulf said. He winced. "But I'm not sure if nine percent is going to be fast enough. The demons are digging out their portal. Once it's exposed, the world is done for. Judging by their progress, I'd say we have about a year. Probably less. Give it to the end of the second semester, and they'll have the portal open. If we don't advance in time…"

Kalee nodded. "We'll keep working on it. Wulf, it's only been a few days."

~ ~ ~

In combat class, Dr. Long arranged a set of boulders throughout the gym, then announced, "Your task today is to break a boulder with your bare hands." He glared specifically at Wulf, Irmond, Seith, and Kalee. "And without any help from your crewmates."

Two rows of boulders, each nearly the height of a cow and much rounder, filled the gym. A mat was unrolled in front of each, and most of the students had already changed and picked a boulder.

Their combat class had about fifty students in it, still, but it was the highest ranked when it came to combat skill—or as the Academy saw it.

That might end up being a problem if the Orichalcums realized that Wulf was climbing the ranks, but they were already trying to assassinate him, so was there any point in hiding anymore?

"Consider it an assignment," Dr. Long said. "And due by the end of next week. You must break your boulder in time. But I don't expect any of you to take nearly that long. Most of you should have it split in half by the end of class."

Wulf and the others found a set of four boulders side-by-side, which they claimed, and they set to work.

Wulf couldn't remember all the Marks he had that increased his strength, and if he opened his status as un-nested all the little Marks beneath his Grand Marks, it'd probably break his bracer with how long the status sheet became.

But he used everything he could control. At the moment, [Bastion] wasn't available, but [Slither] would work just fine, so he drew on that.

With a poison spirit bonded, he couldn't use [Slither] for too long. With his resistance temporarily converted to other attributes, the poison spirit would start to infect him. It gave him three or four minutes of up-time before he had to deactivate the Skill.

More than enough to crack a boulder.

Then, of course, there was his passive strength. The Star Hearts and the advancements he'd earned from those were probably more than enough, but overkill was always fun.

He took a wide stance. As soon as Dr. Long signalled them to start, Wulf lunged forward, making a proper, tight fist, and drove it straight into the rock. Some of the other students recoiled, nursing their knuckles, but Wulf had become extremely proficient at punching things he wasn't supposed to in his past life, and he knew the exact angle to come in at to keep himself from getting hurt.

It didn't matter. His fist impacted the stone with a boom, and cracked spread from the impact point. A shockwave ran through the rock and spread through the entire room, and the ceiling rafters shuddered. After a few comically long seconds, Wulf's boulder split in half, one side falling one way, and the other side falling the other way.

Most of the others in the class turned toward him.

"Keep working," Dr. Long snapped. "One success does not mean you all stop for the day."

~ ~ ~

As soon as Wulf was done eating dinner, he ran to the hangar and their workbench. Already, there were nearly thirty students gathered at Wraith's feet. Seith had gotten there first, and she was instructing them on the process of creating almost-finished storage pendants.

When Wulf arrived, most of the other students gave him a nod. Someone whispered, "Thanks for the potion," and he gave the boy a nod.

Another girl whispered, "Thanks for the perception potion. I wouldn't have been able to memorize those rune sequences without it. You're a grade saver."

Wulf also gave her a nod. He didn't think he'd made this many potions. He'd fulfilled maybe ten requests, hadn't he?

"Lots of people have heard about you," Kalee said, as if reading his thoughts. "You do realize you've saved the academy a couple times, right?"

"Right…"

"So, pretty simple, right?" Seith announced. "Alright, let's get to work! We should have this finished by the end of the day!"