Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Wulf waited outside Kalee's dorm room door, leaning against the doorframe, arms folded behind his back. He'd knocked once, but she wasn't there, and now, he was left waiting outside for her to get back from whatever she was doing so late in the evening.

His face flushed. This wasn't going to look good if anyone caught him. Hanging out in the girls' wing of the dorms, leaning against the wall, waiting outside someone's door.

He scowled. Kinda odd. Shouldn't have been thinking like that with his age and experience. He'd grown past such mild embarrassments, hadn't he?

But then again, he was dealing with the mind of a nineteen year old Academy student. It wasn't his old brain, and he just had the memories of his past life, not the exact same aged mind. Some things just didn't change.

Finally, after a few minutes of waiting, Kalee ran down the hallway in the opposite direction, panting. Her hair wasn't in a braid, and when she skittered to a halt in front of the door, it fluttered into her face. She blew it aside with an annoyed puff. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Had to lose my roommate. But I'm here now."

"How long do we have?" he asked.

"About three hours before she gets back. Should be more than enough."

He groaned, knowing how that sounded, but still asked, "You got everything?" It had been her job to gather the extra equipment they'd need to implant a dream socket into Wulf and mana sockets into Kalee.

"I've got it all inside," she said, then hauled a key out from her pocket and unlocked the door. It swung inward, revealing a room much the same as Wulf's. On one side, the walls were plastered with woodblock prints of a famous young wandering bard-band that had quite a few fans. The other side, similarly to Wulf's room, was nearly empty. That was probably Kalee's side.

Kalee lit a lantern and hung it from a hook at the center of the room, and Wulf kicked the door shut.

"What's the process like?" she asked. "I've never implanted a socket before. Not in my last life, not now. Being an Artificer and all."

"I'll go first," he said. "If you want, I can tell you what to do. It should go much more smoothly than it did last time."

In his last life, he'd ripped out a dead Pilot's dream socket and rammed it into his own neck in the middle of a battle. Anything could go better than that.

"You would trust me that much?" she whispered.

"I don't have much of a choice," Wulf said. "But, yes. I trust anyone who I've fought alongside. I know that you have control of yourself, too, because we've fought against each other much more than alongside each other, and you haven't ever hurt me, even though you could have. People show who they truly are in battle."

She nodded slowly.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"I…I suppose."

"This isn't going to work if you don't trust me," Wulf said.

"I'm sorry, but…in my last life, I faced plenty of betrayal." She shook her head. "I, I—"

"You don't have to say," Wulf replied. "I get it. At least, not wanting to talk about your past, that is."

"How can I not tell you? Not now. My own family, after I returned from the academy…well, it turned out they'd made a pact with a demon-spirit. In exchange for their firstborn daughter, they would be allowed to live on." She swallowed. "The sting has faded, but it's still there. For years, I was the demon-spirit's slave, and his beatings were really what made me lose my sight and hearing." She turned away, eyes glistening. "When I finally escaped, I trained as hard as I could. I learned to fight. I went back to my family, hoping to get revenge…only to find that they'd died years before, and I was chasing ghosts. That's one of the reasons I agreed to come back."

Wulf sighed. "To get revenge on them, properly?"

"Yeah." She crossed her arms. "Don't tell me revenge won't make me feel any better, because I know it won't. But I have to do it."

"I won't say anything if you don't want me to." At least, not yet. This world had changed, and he wouldn't let her hurt innocents if it could be avoided, but he doubted that was what she needed to hear right now.

"Sorry for unloading on you," she replied. "But…I suppose you're the only one who I can trust with that information."

He leaned against the wall. "I won't say anything yet, because I still don't know that much about you. But I promise I'll be your friend, and that doesn't always mean agreeing with everything you do."

"I…understand." She nodded. "Weird, but that sort of makes me trust you more."

"I'm glad. Now, shall we get started?" He reached into his haversack, and retrieved the three constructs Seith had made for him. All three were discs about the width of his palm, with a coil of short wires stretching out their backs, like jellyfish. "This is quiversteel, and your flesh will heal around it very quickly because of that. I can't explain why yet, but quiversteel powder is excellent in healing potions." He paused. "I've also brought two painkilling potions."

She pulled open a drawer, then hauled out a spare sheet and spread it across the ground. Then, she pulled out a bottle of pure, high-grade cleaning alcohol, a few scalpels and tongs, and tweezers. "That should be everything."

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"Alright," Wulf said. He retrieved one painkilling potion from his haversack, gulped it down in a single swig, then pulled off his shirt and tapped the back of his neck, where his shoulders swooped up into his neck. "This one, the dream socket, will fit on here. It will clamp onto this…this vertebra." He tapped a single bulging bone on the back of his neck. "If Seith followed the manual right, she'll have already provided runic instructions for the socket's wires to wind into my spine without causing lasting damage, and a touch of Artificer mana for it to function."

Wulf handed her the socket, then laid down flat on his stomach. "Don't rush, but these potions are only going to last for ten minutes, and I'd rather save one for you."

"I've probably experienced worse."

"You probably have. Doesn't mean you should have to."

She snorted, then picked up a scalpel. Wulf told her where to make the proper incisions, where to cut the skin, and where to attach the socket. For now, he only felt slight pressures when she cut in, but blood still trickled down the sides of his neck, pooling beneath him, and it didn't make the feeling of blade against bone any less uncomfortable. Not painful, but just weird.

After five minutes, she pressed the socket down, and with a click, it clamped onto the bone. The faint wisps of mana Seith had provided it activated. Wulf clenched his teeth and grunted, because there was very little a painkiller could do about wires snaking directly into your spinal column. It hurt, like fire arcing down his spine, and his eyes glistened.

And then it was done. Slowly, the discomfort faded. The socket had been fastened. Kalee tossed him a bandage, and he wrapped it around his neck. Not tight enough to choke him, but tight enough to catch the blood as it seeped out his body.

"You're alright?" she asked.

"Never better." Wulf groaned sarcastically, pushing himself up. "Are you ready?"

"Not sure if I want to be, after seeing that."

"Unless you just want to ram the tubes right into your lower spine and ribs tomorrow." Wulf shrugged, then pulled his shirt back on. He couldn't help but notice her blushing and looking away.

At least he wasn't the only one. He sighed.

"You make it sound so appealing," she said.

"That's the point. It's not. Attach the sockets once, and you'll only have to do it once. Unless you find better materials and a way to enhance them. In that case, you'll have to replace them. But the good news is, I'll hopefully be better at making painkilling potions by then."

"Excellent. Just excellent." She shuddered. Wulf handed her the second painkilling potion, and she slurped it down, then winced. "What did I say about making the potions taste so horrible?" She puckered her lips inward.

"You know, I'm starting not to notice it."

"Yeah, you'll be the only one."

"You could buy me some sugar?" Again, he shrugged.

"Maybe I will, if you're going to keep making me drink them." She rolled her eyes. "Right, let's get this over with. Where do my sockets go?"

"One on the lower spine, in the curve of your back, and one on your third rib. Bottom one is for your mana to leave your body, and the top one is for your spell Skills to transmit through." He held up both the sockets. They weren't made entirely of quiversteel, but they had lots in them.

Kalee pulled her shirt off, leaving just the standard girls' chest-wrap, then laid down on the tarp. "I swear, don't mess this up, or I'll beat you right here."

"Wow," Wulf muttered. "That was prickly."

"Sorry," she muttered. "Kinda…slipped out. Threats are a habit."

He knelt down beside her, picked up the scalpel, and set to work. As soon as he placed a hand on her back to steady himself, she flinched and squirmed, then said again, "Sorry."

"I need you to hold still, or we might cause permanent damage," he whispered. "Please."

"Sorry. Habit. I used to be much, much worse."

"I'd bet. But still, they're your legs, and you probably want to keep using them."

"Yeah."

When he attached the first socket to her spine, she winced, and exhaled through clenched teeth, but said nothing. The second one, which he attached to her ribcage, was slightly easier, and it had less wires. In all, it took about five minutes. She wrapped her own bandages, then quickly folded up the tarp.

"Alright," she said. "That went better than I thought."

"Like I said," Wulf replied. "Not the first time I've done this."

"Sure enough." She rolled her shirt down with a blush, then turned away. "Alright, I need to sleep, and you do too. I'll clean up here, and you better be ready for tomorrow. We're counting on you."

~ ~ ~

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough, but when it did, Wulf was ready. It was time to steal an Oronith.

When he woke up, the back of his neck blazed with pain. The painkiller had worn off long ago, but it seemed more angry this morning. He pushed it to the back of his mind, managing it as he was used to doing, then proceeded with his day.

First, he needed Ján and Umoch to make this work. They might not have been his crew, but he couldn't steal an Oronith without a distraction.

It was early in the morning on the Ninth, and perhaps it was just Wulf's mind playing tricks on him, but the air was tight. Everyone seemed quieter, and though their voices still turned to a roar of noise in the Academy hallways, it wasn't as much of a roar. He'd peeled off the bandage around his neck, revealing his socket. The collar of his shirt hid it, still, and with the help of the quiversteel, his flesh had already mostly sealed around the socket, holding it in place.

"Where are you going?" Ján asked. "Don't you usually go out for a run with your Ranger friend early in the morning?"

Wulf nodded. "Today's a little different, though. I can't explain it, but I need your help."

"I've got your back, but…what do you need?" Ján tilted his head, then leaned closer. "You need a wingman? You going to ask out that Pangian girl you've been hanging out with? I can give you some tips, you know."

Wulf rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Not today. I need a big distraction, and I need people to think I was over here."

"Distraction? What are you doing? Are you running away?"

"Sorta. But I'll be back soon. As long as I don't get expelled for this."

"Will I?"

"Not as long as I keep you in the dark about what's going on." They rounded a corner, then pushed out through a door and stepped onto a pathway across the fields, walking toward the central butte. Wulf had seen Umoch's posse almost every day during their early morning runs. They'd cross from the dorms over to the bathhouse, where they'd lounge until the morning bell sounded.

If Wulf timed this right…

He kept his eyes down, purposely not looking where he was going, until he crashed into another boy. Ján, taking the hint, also decided to walk straight into one of Umoch's goons, even though he'd been looking straight forward.

…he'd bump right into them.

Wulf grinned.

"Hey! Look where you're going!" exclaimed the boy Wulf had crashed into, a human with long black hair. "You're—"

"Wait!" came Umoch's voice. He pushed aside two of his underlings, then approached Wulf. "Dog. You looking for a fight?"

Perfect. Now, he could spring his trap.