Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

When Wulf arrived at the Black Order's hall, it went about the same as last time, except the line outside was slightly longer, and they parted for him quicker.

He ran to the end of the hall, where Valens was already waiting for him. Wulf was hoping to see a book in the man's hand, or something along those lines, but his grip was empty. Still, he stood up when he saw Wulf and marched over.

"What is it? Wulf asked.

"We know where Panne's writings are. His Tome, his most important work, has been found."

"Do you…have it?"

"There is a small problem," Valens said. Wulf half expected him to look down or flinch away in slight embarrassment, but he didn't. "The book is located in the Litterlands."

Wulf grimaced. "Don't tell me…"

"A dragon guards it."

"How strong? Strong enough to overwhelm your Order?"

"Very much so. It is Oltáneach the Eclipse."

"The king of the dragons." Wulf stared at Valens blankly. "He had the book all this time? Was he…using it?"

"It's part of his hoard. He gathers treasures he deems immensely valuable, and as time passes, and as he gets older, he deems books to be more and more valuable."

"Well…I don't think I have much of a choice," Wulf said. "I need to get that book, and if I can't negotiate with Oltáneach, if I can't offer him a trade he deems valuable enough, then he's not going to let us have it. What's he, now? Middle-Ruby?"

"High." Valens crossed his arms. "Why do you need that book?"

Wulf grimaced. "My alchemy has stalled. I know what I need to make, and sure, I could develop an explosive device using xerion and mixing chaos and order, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to channel enough in time. There has to be some kind of hint, some kind of guide, some kind of suggestion. I'll go get it myself." He paused for a few seconds, then added, "Thank you for finding it, though."

Valens nodded. "I will prepare you a map."

~ ~ ~

They couldn't afford to wait any longer. As it was, travelling to the Litterlands and back was probably going to cause them to miss a few classes after reading week, and they were going to lose out on plenty of precious study time.

'Precious.' Wulf smiled at the thought. They'd accomplished almost everything they could at the academy. He was seventy percent of the way to High-Gold, and Irmond, Seith, and Kalee had all reached Middle-Gold a short while ago. He was pretty sure that Kalee was close to seventy percent progress as well, last time they'd spoken about it.

He stood in Wraith's cockpit, pulling on his flight suit and slotting himself into his golem, and he attached his communications construct to his head, before finally saying, "We won't get much time, so let's make this quick. I have a map from Valens, which I'll pin here. He made it with enchanted parchment, so Wraith should be able to read it and translate it into an active display."

[It will be done,] Wraith said. [I will display an interactive map as we travel, which will keep you on track and allow you to move faster.]

"We'll head north," Wulf continued, "and I've gathered a low-level quick mission for us up there. Then we'll find Oltáneach and get that book from him."

"Understood," Seith said, grunting as she disconnected a braided sting of tubes from Wraith's chest. Dr. Blyke had attached it earlier, saying that once Oroniths reached the Gold tier themselves, they needed a touch of mana-water themselves, just to keep their central systems active and prevent them from cannibalizing themselves.

"I'm ready to head out when you are," Irmond added.

"Kalee, you good?" Wulf asked.

"Yeah…" She attached herself to the Mage's control apparatus and connected her dream sockets. "I've never seen the Litterlands before, though. Always wanted to. Apparently, there's a very distant relation between pangians and dragons."

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"Scales?"

"Something like that."

Once Wulf attached himself to the Pilot's control apparatus and connected his dream socket, they were ready. He stepped forward, marching Wraith out of the hangar bay and toward the open hangar gate.

~ ~ ~

Wulf ran. As a Gold, he could afford to, but since he wasn't using his potions for anything else, and had plenty of spares, he could constantly regenerate his mana using the Star Hearts. He'd drink a potion, create an aura, use it to fill the Hearts, then empty their mana and draw it directly into his core. As a Gold, it made no difference whether that mana was going toward advancement or not, and with the power of his integrated spirit, the mana was already poison-aspect by the time it reached his core.

It meant he could sprint, and as long as his physical body didn't get tired, he wasn't going to run out of mana.

Unburdened, he probably could have sprinted for an entire day straight. But having to push against a golem, having to control an entire Oronith, still drained him. By the time evening rolled around on the first day, and they began crossing the Yct-Dow Mountains, he had to slow down slightly.

On the second day, they took a pass straight through the mountains. It was the largest pass available, and more like a valley than anything. Wulf followed the river, careful not to crush any of the settlements, and kept a quick pace.

It took them two days to cross the mountains, and when they emerged, the weather was noticeably cooler—more than the dust blotting out the sky already made it feel. Snow and ash created a sickly gray ground cover, and corpses of fiends smouldered in the distance.

Even though the main growing season was over, farmers planted frostbuds in their fields—a hardy plant that had a growing season opposite of most, and produced an edible grain. It wasn't a valuable crop before, but it could survive the harsh winter conditions and the reduced light levels. If they could beat the demons, they were probably going to be eating a lot more frostgrains in the coming decades.

"How are you actually going to negotiate with the dragons?" Irmond asked. "Back home, the Redleafs had a few scuffles with dragons. But we mostly just fought them, because we really have nothing they wanted that they couldn't just take from us. And those were lesser dragons, not a High-Ruby."

"I'm counting on its strength to help us negotiate," Wulf said. "On it being intelligent enough to negotiate."

"What if it just erases us from existence?" Seith asked.

"That's why we've got Wraith," Wulf reasoned. "Have you got the voice-amplification constructs working?"

"They're hooked up to your communications construct. I just need to finish the last rune-line, and you'll be good to go."

"Thanks."

"Dragons are monsters, aren't they?" Kalee asked.

"That's what I learned," Wulf replied.

"How does a monster get that powerful without its power leaving it and becoming a spirit?" she asked. "How does any monster get that strong? I thought almost all monsters lost their spirits when they reached Silver, and more rarely at Gold. Hence why the dungeon doesn't go any higher than High-Gold."

"It's a really determined monster," Wulf replied. He shrugged, and Wraith mimicked his movement. "There must be some exceptions to the rule. A dragon with enough grounding, enough will to maintain its corporeal body, could grow as strong as Oltáneach. If what I know is correct, dragons are prideful, and they attempt to mimic the human expressions of greed and jealousy."

"Mimic?" Seith asked. "You're sure they don't just feel it right away?"

"They don't feel," Kalee said.

"She's right," Wulf agreed. "Dragons are like other monsters, in that they crave to feel something. Their expression of that? It's to look at a common emotion humans feel it and mimic it. Hence why they always hoard treasures."

"Huh," Irmond said. "But didn't you say that you sensed feelings from Wraith in a similar way?"

"It's difficult to say," Wulf replied. "I've never known about a spirit that lived thousands of years before, but Wraith certainly has. But at its core, it is still a mountain giant and a stone spirit." He tilted his head, then said, "Wraith, do you know if you feel anything?"

[I do not know what you mean, little Pilot,] Wraith replied. [But I do not ponder. I have had many Pilots and Mages over my life, and they have all shared pieces of themselves with me.]

"If I say scared, do you know what I mean?"

[Yes. I know what Pilots feel when they are scared. I do not like it, because they do not like it.]

"How many Pilots have you had?" Kalee asked, with an almost jealous boyfriend tone.

[Before I was sealed in the mountains, I had three-hundred years of service,] Wraith replied. [Most of my Pilots were Silvers, and most died in battle outside my cockpit. One died because she overstrained her mana and shattered her body. I can still recall what she felt in that moment, and I can transmit it to you if you need.]

"No, no, that's alright," Wulf blurted out. He'd already felt one death. He didn't need to feel it again.

[Apologies if I made the little Pilot nervous.]

"You're fine, Wraith," Wulf replied. "But hey, if we can talk to a dragon like we can to Wraith, then we should at least be able to start negotiating with their king."

"You don't sound too confident about this plan…" Irmond muttered.

"I'm just not sure what we have to offer."