Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

After they finished eating, Wulf paid. It was only about an eighth of his winnings, which was a good thing—he needed the rest to get glassblowing equipment.

First, Irmond led them to a bookstore, where Wulf found a guidebook written by an old glassblowing guild's head. It cost two gold nuggets, but it'd be worth it. With the book in-hand, he skimmed, looking for equipment he'd need.

A crucible, for melting his glass. Cutting-tongs, for severing molten glass, and with a blunt tip to hold it—which could also serve a dual purpose for holding potions and would allow him to heat them hotter while still holding them. Bellows, moulds, wooden paddles…the list went on, but he identified the most important tools to start with.

He'd work with a material known as steelglass, which heated much like metal, and could be shaped in a similar way once melted. He was already seeing a way he could shape some new vials for himself without having to learn too many obscure techniques.

Near the edge of the city closest to the academy, they found an equipment outfitter for the local blacksmiths, and Wulf purchased his first set of tools—a simple hammer, a set of cutting-tongs, a small pail-sized crucible, and a portable furnace. The furnace's flat stone top would be hard enough to forge steelglass on.

That took him down to a quarter of his winnings. He used the rest to purchase steelglass ingots from the back of the store. They were colourless and translucent, and though they looked almost like iron ingots made of frosted glass, they were much shinier.

"We don't sell many of these too often, son," the store clerk said. "Keep 'em in stock in case, but almost nobody wants them. So this's all we got."

"I'll take it," Wulf said.

In truth, buying a small pull-wagon for himself to carry it in was worth more than the steelglass itself, which he filled the wagon with.

When they returned to the academy, he split ways with his friends, then dragged his wagon up to a shaded corner behind the Artificers' labs. He was going to need another storage pendant.

Keeping his head high, and taking off his pin, he walked in again like he belonged. It was late at night, and they'd be locking up soon. Only a few students lingered, but none of them paid him any attention. Only a non-Ascendant janitor even looked up at him.

He climbed up to the top level, identified the same lab where he'd finished his original storage pendant, then hoisted up the wastebin and dumped it out on the table.

After a few minutes of sifting, he found a candidate for his pendant. It was another knotted pendant, but this time, a little too loose. Whoever had made it was almost there, and had the wisdom to fold the Field in on itself to try to break into a little pocket realm, but this time, hadn't folded the runes over enough.

The Academy wouldn't have seen the efforts. It wasn't up to their rigid standards. They tended to prefer circular pendants whose runes circled the outside, brute-forcing the Field to fold over itself.

This time, Wulf bent the knot over a little more, then folded the brass tips in. Most of the hard work had been done for him, and silently, he thanked the unknown artificing student for helping him out (he'd never have gotten the runes on his own), before activating the pendant with a small push of his own stored mana.

Now, it only took a sliver out of his storage core to activate the storage pendants. Not worth wasting a potion on.

The pendant opened to a realm much like his old one. A floor of cloudy vapour, walls made of starry void. He deactivated it, attached it to a chain and hung it around his neck, then cleaned up his mess. Again, the janitor passed, but only spared a single glance. The old man shook his head and continued on his way.

Wulf couldn't linger any longer, though. He pushed the bin to the edge of the room, then walked quickly but calmly out of the lab building. As soon as he was outside, he stored his new equipment inside the pendant.

When he returned to the dorms, he found Ján already asleep. But he wasn't tired yet, and he wanted to try making his first potion vial.

So, activating the pendant, he left it on the table, and stepped inside. At the cart's bottom, he'd packed in a little firewood, and now, he started a fire with it in the center of the pendant. The furnace contained it.

As soon as it began blazing, shooting up a column of smoke high into the void (never to return) he packed the crucible into the center and dropped a steelglass ingot in. Unlike regular glass, an impact such as that wouldn't break it. It let off a soft clang, somewhere between a cymbal crash and a windchime clink.

After a few minutes of poking it with his cutting-tongs, he hauled the ingot out and set it atop the hard stone surface of his furnace, then assessed it with the Field. It hadn't registered as arcane yet, which would be difficult to do.

If his understanding of the alchemical elements was accurate, glass was one of the most orderly substances. Chaotic substances liked to react and become magical, orderly ones didn't. Glass, no matter how special, rarely registered as an arcane object because of how orderly it was. After all, it was ultra-refined earth.

But that didn't mean that the Field wouldn't recognize his efforts when he put a potion in it. The more work he put into the container, the higher chances the Field would consider the potion within more powerful. Even to the Field, appearances mattered.

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He hammered the ingot out into a sheet. The thinner he made it, the more transparent it got—though, right now, it was red-hot. His Mark, [Shatterfist], was taking effect. It was hard to anticipate how "seeing how glass wanted to be reshaped" would function until he finally saw it in action.

The glass changed in places. It bubbled, and it steamed. It glowed differently, guiding him, begging him to make something beautiful and lasting with it.

Crafting potions was nice, but they were gone in a gulp. This vial wouldn't be.

Once he flattened it out, he reheated it in his fire, then folded it up into a bowl shape. It needed more heat, so he obliged, eventually, forming it into a cup, then a gourd. With his cutting-tongs, he pulled on the neck, extending it. It was going to be simple, but that didn't mean simple couldn't be beautiful.

He also had a design to follow. According to his potions textbook, the best way to get the Field to recognize that a potion was supposed to work upon skin contact—for example, poisoning someone by splashing them with the potion—he needed to make the potion in a flask that was meant to splash with.

That meant his new flask needed a wide opening with flared edges and a clear spout. He followed a design and method from his glassblowing book.

When he finally had the shape he wanted, he heated it up once more, then hammered out the bulges and sealed the cracks. Once he was finally satisfied, he set it atop the furnace to cool and quenched his fire.

Before sleeping, and while he drew mana from Kalee's constructs, he stepped inside his first pendant, his potion-making pendant. It was starting to get heavy, now, with all the arcane mass inside. It meant the plants were ready to trim.

He brewed a few more potions with the plants, just to have on-hand, and to continue raising his advancement progress. A few strength potions with side-effects, and a speed potion.

When the moons began creeping over the horizon, he was finally tired enough to sleep. Satisfied with his work, and with a full belly, he passed out nearly instantly.

~ ~ ~

The next morning, before his run with Irmond, Wulf opened his glass workshop pendant. His new flask had cooled.

He picked it up off the furnace. It hummed with purpose, like a potion that had almost been completed, but it still didn't register as arcane. But that didn't matter—it was basically an ingredient. It had potential, and he needed to release it.

He gathered up a tincture he'd prepared a few days ago, then slotted his new flask into his brewing rack. Filling the new flask with the tincture, he lit the burn-box, then slowly condensed his new mixture down into a slurry. By the time he finished, it registered as Middle-Copper. Good for an early effort.

He consumed another Middle-Copper tier potion, which inflicted a weak nausea on him. Still, being an entire tier lower, his Mark only let him resist so much. He retched, but held last night's dinner down.

He directed his aura into his new potion, and flooded it with power. The potion obliged, and it ran to completion, changing to a subtle greyish-blue. Definitely not something a normal person would want to drink.

Hardwell Potion (Low-Copper Quality) (Splatter)

Blinds and weakens an enemy for thirty seconds. Must be splashed. One cannot willingly drink this potion.

[By crafting a potion, you have increased your mana. Advancement progress: 101%]

[You have increased your Tier to Low-Coal.]

[Please select a new Skill.]

Wulf inhaled slowly, hoping that he'd done enough work on transmutation research to show the Field that he was interested in working with the next realm of alchemy. With a wince, he assessed his new Skill options:

[Chaotic Alteration] At the expense of mana, you can draw out chaos from naturally poisonous ingredients and apply them to a target ingredient.

[Gardener's Wrath] When in your Garden, you passively recover mana, and your strength and speed increase. Mana recovered can only enter a storage core, and does not count toward advancement.

[Arcane Cabinet] You can store alchemical equipment in your core. Begins at one piece and increases with your tier.

Alternate: You may choose to upgrade one of your previous Skills.

Without hesitation, he picked [Chaotic Alteration]. While the other Skills could be useful (and it was nice to know that duplicate Skills, like [Arcane Cabinet], could show up), if he ever wanted to make weapons, or more powerful ingredients, he'd need to get a transmutation skill.

Once he picked it, he exhaled, leaned back, and willed the enchanted parchment to show him his main status sheet:

Name: Wulf

Class: Fate Alchemist (Unique)

Rank: Low-Coal

Skills:

[By Your Will] All potions made by your hand have a random side effect regardless of the ingredients, but the side effect's strength will be one tier higher than your rank would normally produce. Likelihood of producing a harmful potion scales with the quality of the ingredients.

[Arm of the Alchemist] You can spend your personal mana to manipulate any potion made by your hand. Control of the potion can take any form you see fit, though you cannot transmute its form or change its state. Your ability to smoothly control the potion depends on the quality of the potion. Cohesion of the potion depends on your tier.

[Bastion] Your strength and durability increase for every person within a mile under the effect of your potions.

[Chaotic Alteration] At the expense of mana, you can draw out chaos from naturally poisonous ingredients and apply them to a target ingredient.

Marks:

[Unquenchable Drive] You have demonstrated great stubbornness in a past life. Your resistance to poisons has greatly increased.

[Alchemist's Presence] You have consumed many potions in a past life, and they have left an impression on your soul. Consuming a potion temporarily creates an aura that fuels all magical objects. Aura strength scales with potion tier.

[Spatial Awareness and Repurposing] You have repurposed a magic device at least one tier higher than yours. Your awareness of alchemical herbs has increased.

[Hoard of Strength] Awarded for using a potion to multiply your strength fivefold and winning a fight. Every physical attribute enhancing potion you use will permanently linger after its effect is complete, at a greatly diminished value. This effect can stack up to ten times for each sub-tier you have advanced through.

[Shatterfist] You struck an enemy at the same Tier as you with your fist hard enough to break their bone like glass. Your ability to see how glass wants to be shaped has improved.

An excellent start, but he'd done enough this morning. He rose up to his feet, then descended down to meet Irmond.

Today, there'd be no classes: it was time for Central Branch to give a demonstration of their Oroniths' capabilities.

And maybe, just maybe, he could convince Dr. Langold to prepare for the demon attack.