Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Wulf only had to wait a few minutes before Kalee turned up. She wore a black academy coat suited for late fall, and had let her hair out of its braids.

"Good morning!" she called as she approached. She yawned, then rubbed her eyes. "Ready?"

Wulf patted his coat and haversack. "Not sure what I'll need for a celebration, but I hope so."

"You'll do fine," she said.

"I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be doing."

"Me neither," she said. "But by the time we get there, the street vendors will have set up their shops. You haven't had breakfast yet, have you?"

"Nope."

"Wonderful. Me neither again."

Wulf stepped down to the Academy pathways, then walked alongside her along the way to the distant column of rising smoke of Arotelk. There were still a few smoking buildings leftover from the fight, and the demon's corpses hadn't stopped smouldering. Not to mention, the runes on the sphere the demons had descended in flared up every so often, and the sphere belched some more smoke back up into the sky.

But, on the bright side, it made Arotelk much easier to find. Even though he couldn't see any of the buildings, the column of smoke was thicker.

"Are Irmond and Seith going to meet us anywhere?" Wulf asked.

"I talked with Seith, and she planned to meet up with us at the Dragonsmane tavern around sunset. Presumably, with Irmond in tow. They were going together. In fact, it sounded like Irmond asked her." As she spoke, she gave Wulf a soft nudge.

"Sorry," he muttered, taking the hint. "It just hadn't really crossed my mind. I kinda thought they'd be having a big vigil, like last time, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be part of it. But then you mentioned it."

"Well, you're here now. That's all that matters."

"I suppose."

When they reached the edge of the campus closest to Arotelk, they passed by a group of young preachers in academy uniforms, and one older man in brown [Monk] robes. A Monk of the Field, member of the Church of the Field.

"The Field cares!" a student called, holding up a clipboard with a parchment list attached to it. "Serving hot meals to any attendees of the next Seventhday service!"

"The end is upon us!" another student called. "The Field forgives, and your soul will live on in the great universal cycle!"

"Do not fear! If it has happened, then it is the Fieldfather's will!"

Wulf kept his head down as he walked, trying not to meet their eyes. They were crowding along the edge of the pathway as it merged with a main cross-Confederation road, trying to scoop up others into their church.

He was indifferent to most of it. They could preach what they wanted without getting in others' way. He just wasn't big on the notion that he had no free will, and the fact that he was changing things had to be proof that he had an element of free will.

Not to mention, he wasn't alright with the idea that there was nothing they could do about the end of the world. He couldn't let that be the end. Even in his last life, he hadn't really accepted it even when it was right before his eyes.

To his knowledge, the Field wasn't sentient the way humans were. It was a logic system set up by a powerful wizard many thousands of years ago, feeding off the natural life energies of the planet to make a complex, confusing state of magic more manageable, thus allowing greater magical feats.

But that meant there was nothing cosmic about it. It was isolated to their world, and if their world ended, so would the Field.

"Wulf, are you alright?" Kalee whispered.

By now, he couldn't see or hear the preachers anymore. He blinked. "Sorry. Got lost in thought."

"That wasn't really an answer. You've been…kinda odd lately," she said. "Since the demon attack, that is."

Wulf snorted. "I don't really know how to take that. I kinda just thought everyone thought I was weird."

"Well, that too. But different, I should say. Different from the guy I bumped into in the Artificers' labs that one day."

"That's reassuring."

"Anything you need to talk about?"

He sighed. "Kalee, I'm sorry. I wish I knew, or that I could just tell you like that." He snapped his fingers. "But I just don't. Sometimes, I just don't know what's wrong with me. I have been feeling a little off, though, even if I wasn't really registering it."

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For one, he'd promised that he'd go out and do more stuff like this, but he was slipping back into old habits, trying to wait around back at the Academy and work on his alchemy. Single-mindedly focussing on his work.

Hell, he'd planned to use his entire Seventhday working on potions, even if he had nothing in mind that he needed to make.

Even if he was looking to get stronger, sitting around in a room wouldn't accomplish that. He couldn't go anywhere without a team.

"Could you…" he began, then paused for a few seconds. "Could you tell me what feels weird?"

"You've been quiet, for one thing," she said. "You've also been spending a lot more time working. Irmond said he hasn't seen you in the common room once."

Ah. They'd all talked about it with each other, then, and planned this all out. It was an intervention.

"I'm sorry if I made you nervous." He stopped, and was about to offer a placation, but that wouldn't do. In fact, she'd opened up to him about her past a lot more than he had. He hadn't told her anything, really.

"I…might have an idea," Wulf said. "Look, I know we were expecting the attack. But I didn't know I'd be so worried about losing what I have this time. I saw the demons, and it reminded me of my—our—past life. Last time, I lost everyone close to me. You know Ján and Brin, right? I watched them both die brutal deaths at the hands of the demons. I got close to them all last time. They were my friends, the best friends…my only friends. The closest thing I had to family. I don't want to lose that again."

"So you've stopped trying to get close to people?"

He shrugged. "Wasn't consciously. But if you burn yourself once, your body learns not to do the same thing. I guess the sting began to fade, and my hand started to drift closer to the fire, but all it took was a reminder of the burn for me to flinch away."

"I can give you space," Kalee said. "I know…"

"I know you know," Wulf said when she trailed off. "But that's not what I need, I don't think. I promised myself that in this life, that I'd live properly. That means I have to get close to people. I have to go experience joy, sorrow, wonder…I can't just sit around here and hope that maybe this time, I won't regret not living my life to the fullest."

"So…"

"So thank you for dragging me along," Wulf said, looking sideways and locking eyes with Kalee. "I needed a bit of a kick."

"You're welcome."

"Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep pushing my alchemy abilities. But there's time for both things."

Kalee nodded. "My thoughts exactly. What's the point of power if you can't use it for good, and what's the point of saving the world if you're not going to live in it?"

"Well, I'd sacrifice myself to save the world any day, if I knew my death would mean something."

"Yeah, but that's not what I meant. If you're planning on saving the world, you'd better go live a little before, and live a little after, too, Field willing."

Wulf nodded in agreement. He noticed her phrase, though. Field willing. "Are you much for the Church, then?"

She shook her head. "Just the phrases I grew up with. My ancestors converted from the traditional Threnian Way-ism to the Confederacy's Church of the Field long ago, and though they left the church a few generations back, the phrases have stuck."

As they walked to Arotelk, they made soft small talk, discussing how their families saw the Church (Wulf explained to her that his family had liked it as non-Ascendants, and went to nearly every Seventhday service), and speculating how things might have been different if they'd never awoken their Classes.

But the closer they drew to Arotelk, the more crowded the roads grew. Wagons rumbled along the road, and pilgrims from the rural villages travelled to see the corpses of three colossal fiends.

The first sign of the city wasn't the city itself anymore, but the massive sphere embedded in the earth. A massive crater surrounded the impact zone, and waves of dirt had rolled over the road—which had since been dug through, making the approach to Arotelk into a valley.

They approached the ruined side of the city first, where the three bodies of the colossal fiends lay. They didn't burn, and hopefully, it'd get colder soon, because as it was, they were going to start stinking.

At least for now, though, the light breeze had blown away the sulphuric and burning smells of the demons, leaving only the smell of decaying autumn leaves and sizzling food in the city. The sky was clear, and the sun beamed down on them, warming it to almost summer-like temperatures. Wulf unbuttoned his coat.

They passed through the damaged section of the city, where crews of workers, loader golems, and Ascendants worked to clear up the debris and make repairs. They sang working songs, smoked pipes, and the pounding of their hammers turned into a drumbeat.

Wulf almost veered off to help, but there was no one in need of immediate assistance, and—as Kalee soon reminded him—they'd done a lot to help, even if it didn't feel like it. Now, spending some money at a local vendor was one of the best things they could do for the people of Arotelk.

"Did you have somewhere in mind?" Wulf asked.

"I saw a place when we were last here, and it looked pretty good," Kalee answered, then took the lead.

They approached the center of Arotelk, away from the damage of the fighting. Wulf glanced back one more time, vowing that, on the way out, he was going to harvest some of the demon flesh. It had to be powerful, in some way or another, and if he could turn it into a potion, that was all the better.

"What do pangians eat, anyway?" Wulf asked. "I mean, I know I've seen you eating regular human food, but…do you have preferences?"

"Giant fire ants. They make especially nice steaks, and it has a bit of a…zip to it." She licked her lips. "Though…I'm not really sure how much I want to be thinking of home right now."

"Fair enough. I don't want to think about eating bugs, either."

"Don't knock it until you've tried it."

"Eh, I think I can guess."

"Suit yourself." She stopped, then turned in a circle and pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "Here."

A simple restaurant on the street corner was selling fried sweet bread, covered in cinnamon and sugar, and topped with whipped cream. But, with the way Wulf's stomach was growling, he could go for just about anything.

"That looks good to me."

"Wonderful!"