Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

By noon, Seith had finished patching the mana leaks, but it wouldn't matter. Wulf had spent a quarter of his mana, and for once, that wasn't going to limit how far they could go.

The Oronith was already growing sluggish, and the dream link was failing. He had to stop jogging, not only to preserve his own energy, but because Vanguard just wasn't moving fast enough to put a hop in his step.

It was still taking long strides across the rolling hills and fields south of the Academy, but he couldn't get the same hop in his step necessary to get them jogging again.

They traversed the empty rolling hills and ranches. Irmond reported back to the cockpit every once in a while, holding his standard-issued ranger's map of the Confederacy, which he used to navigate by.

"By the end of the day, if you hold a south-southeast course, these hills will flatten into the great plains. We travel a few weeks after that, and we'll hit the Calchum Range. Clegghold is nestled in the very middle of the range, around an enormous mountain lake. At least, that's what the map's telling me. I can't say for sure."

They would be crossing barely an eighth of the Confederacy's size, but it still felt like a longer distance than Wulf had ever travelled. And once they put the Academy behind them and passed Arotelk, there was almost nothing.

This was ranchland. A few villages, a few farmhouses, and a few herds of cattle crossing the land below. Wulf winced with every footfall—with every enormous crater he put in the earth, or every crumbling boulder he left behind.

With each step, some of Vanguard's form crumbled off and fell to the ground. As the mountain giant's holding form weakened, it couldn't hold as much deepstone armour.

When the sun began setting, the ground flattened. It was eerily flat, and the horizon melded with the sky. A pale coral gradient clung to the horizon, and the snow glistened and glittered in the fading light.

And Wulf had to drag his feet. The Oronith was half functional, now. His left arm wouldn't move, and Seith had reallocated power from the upper body and neck to the legs—he couldn't turn his head. The only way to know where he was going was to follow Irmond's directions and hope Irmond saw all the farmhouses.

Wulf regretted it, but now, they were going to be tearing up a potential farmers field. Sure, it was winter, and there were no crops yet, but he was still making a mess of it.

The Great Plains were much like Carolaign, in that they were filled to the brim with farms and farmers. He wouldn't step anywhere without causing problems, but the least he could do was avoid infrastructure. No crushing houses, no kicking castles, no bashing roads and trails.

The roads one might have been a little harder, now that he couldn't lift his feet off the ground and had to drag them, creating ten-foot deep trenches across the land.

At least they'd gotten away before the academy could justify sending more Oroniths after them. They were in the clear for now, though if Umoch told anyone that he'd damaged Vanguard…perhaps they'd send horseback riders out after it, expecting to catch up the downed beast and apprehend those who stole it.

"For the next month," Wulf told them, "we're criminals. Technically, we just stole Confederation property and destroyed it, and we'll want to keep away from academy eyes."

It wasn't exactly how he imagined his first trip to the great plains going, but then again, at least he was seeing them.

Fields stretching as far as the eye could see. Fences covered in hoarfrost, motte-and-bailey keeps stood in the distance, belching smoke out their chimneys. When the sun set entirely, Wulf spotted the faint outline of a local lord's castle far off in the distance, its windows glimmering with candlelight.

Once again, he found himself reminded of how isolated the Academy was. The rest of the world wasn't thinking about Oroniths and magic, but of farming, castles, and surviving the winter.

When the second moon rose, his legs became noticeably stiffer, and with each step, he had to push harder. When the third moon rose, it was like wading through mud. When the fifth and final moon rose, he couldn't move. The dream link told him it was like pushing up against a wall.

"And…we're done," he said. "Kalee? Could you detach my dream link?" Wulf asked. "I'm a little struck at the moment, with my golem linked to a dead Oronith."

"Give me one second." She peeled herself out of her control apparatus, then ran over behind him and unplugged his neck socket. "There you go."

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With his golem now free from the Oronith's link, he pulled it out of the apparatus, then opened the helmet. He'd drained his mana to nearly a quarter, but he could refill it over the rest of their journey—he'd brought the storage constructs along.

"Everyone have everything?" Wulf asked. "We're dead, and we need to get out of the Oronith before the Academy catches us. It'll be much easier on foot, and especially if we head for the nearest farmhouse."

The difference between Carolaign and the Great Plains was in how developed the Great Plains were. Where castles and villages dotted the horizon, where cattle and sheep pens filled the land that crops didn't, Carolaign would've been ten times as sparse.

Six great rivers divided up the plains into slices, and though Wulf couldn't see any of them now, he knew where to head—they'd find the nearest river, the Whitesurge, and follow it until it brought them to the Calchum mountains, where it originated.

But first, they needed to find a place to hide and sleep—preferably out of the elements.

They retrieved a long rope from inside the cockpit, then draped it down the back of the Oronith until it hit that ground. Wulf fastened it to the inside of the cockpit, and they climbed down. The rope strained under the weight of his golem, so he went last, just in case it snapped. It didn't.

Even the crop stubble was as high as his knees. He could scarcely imagine how tall the strands of titanwheat they would've belonged to would be in the summer, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"Everyone here?" he asked, just to check. He saw all four of them, with their bags and winter coats. "We're ready?"

They all nodded.

Wulf led the way to the nearest farmhouse, but paused before entering. It would be a little obvious when the Academy came looking, and already, the house's lights were turning on. The owners couldn't have missed a giant Oronith lumbering through their fields, before falling still.

"Run," Wulf said. "We'll have to get farther away."

Hoisting their bags, they sprinted across the fields. Outside the sluggish Oronith, it was a night and day difference. Wulf put a spring in his step again, and it was the difference between running on land and in water.

But eventually, Kalee began lagging behind. She had a heavy pack, not conducive to sprinting cross-country.

"Throw me your bag!" he called.

"What?" she replied between breaths.

"Toss me the bag!"

With a nod of thankful understanding, she pulled her bag off her shoulders and tossed it to Wulf. He caught it and pulled it over his own golem's shoulders. After all, he was much better suited to carrying cargo than her.

They kept running until they couldn't see Vanguard anymore, which was quite a while. The third moon hung directly overhead. Winds whipped across the plains, lifting up snow and blasting their faces, but with how fast and hard they were running, Wulf barely felt it.

But now that he couldn't see their Oronith, he slowed to a walk. "And there we go. We're off."

"Next farmhouse we find," Kalee said, "we're sleeping. And I'm not taking the first watch."

"Sleepy old woman," Irmond teased.

"I'm a morning person," Kalee replied.

"Mornings are much more productive," Wulf agreed. "Though…not that that's the only thing that matters."

"Some habits are hard to break," Seith said.

The next farmhouse they found was completely dark. No lights in the windows, nothing. A dog paced back and forth in front of the door, and another slept, but neither seemed to notice the four approaching the barn.

Slowly, so the door didn't creak, Wulf pushed it open, then marched inside and flopped down on the hay. It was dry inside, at least, and though wind still seeped through the gaps in the walls, it was warmer than outside. Besides, the mounds upon mounds of hay along the walls would make excellent insulation.

"I guess that means you forfeit the tournament," Irmond said. "Both of you."

Wulf sighed. "Yeah. I'm going to end up missing a few fights. But this, ultimately, is necessary. Besides, check your bracers. I'm sure we would've gotten a Mark or two from that."

After climbing out of his golem and deactivating it, he took his own advice and checked his bracer:

[Endurance] You have run a great distance, fleeing from those who would hinder your helpful deeds. The maximum benefits per tier granted by [Bastion] have increased by a quarter.

Sure enough, the others had similarly simple Marks, but it was a good start. Hopefully, by the end of this all, they'd have earned plenty of Marks, and maybe even a grand Mark.

"Alright," Seith said. "I'll keep first watch. And I'll wake Irmond when it's his turn. Good luck sleeping after the excitement of the day, but, you know…I expect Wulf will have no trouble with it."

~ ~ ~

Wulf took the last watch, and as soon as the sun rose, he activated his golem with a half finished potion and woke the others. They rose sleepily, and hungrily. Along the route, there would be plenty of inns and taverns. But that was in the future, not now. They'd just have to go hungry until they reached the first town.

"We need to get moving," Wulf said, climbing into his golem. "We don't know when or if the academy will hunt us down. And we don't want to get caught by a bunch of angry farmers."

They ran out of the barn and sealed it behind then, and the dogs immediately began barking.

Not an easy moment or a simple escape, ever?

"Run," Wulf said, hoisting up his and Kalee's bags.

They sprinted on their course until they reached the Whitesurge river, which, as it turned out, was only about a mile away.

"Now we have a landmark," he said. "Should be smooth sailing from here."

It felt like he was jinxing himself.