Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

They travelled through the night, until they arrived at a village called Near-Clegg. Not a creative name, but it made an excellent signpost for travellers.

And, most importantly, there was a bathhouse.

Of course, they'd cleaned off in the river, but there was still some lingering muck, and Wulf just felt dirty.

After cleaning off and eating breakfast, they set off once more. There was little time to waste in the village, and no one seemed terribly interested in talking, especially considering how close their next confrontation—and what they were about to do—was.

Once they were off, Wulf found a trail that had been kept clean of snow, and was mostly paved. It was wide enough for two wagons across, and they passed a few other travellers. But it wasn't busy enough that he couldn't spend a little time reviewing his newly acquired book.

The Centralis Weavers Guild was a guild of respectable size, located on the distant continent of Centralis—where the larger, more populous cities and centers were. According to the book, their guards were all Ascendants, trained to Wield scissors—they symbol of their guild. Since the guards were most likely to be Pilots of small golems, the combat styles would work for him.

At the start, it described the basics of wielding scissors, and sure enough, the weapons he owned were a type that the manual acknowledged—"heavy scissors", it called them, being slightly larger and broader than some of the "duelling scissors" they gave to other guards.

He flipped to a later page, where it began the basic forms and footwork of heavy scissors. He couldn't practice yet, but he could review it.

At midday, though, when they stopped to eat, he began practicing. Though he worked without his golem, he just practiced footwork while the others watched. Moving in square patterns, then in arcs, simulating circling opponents. A lot of it, he'd picked up on naturally in his last life, but there were minor changes, like turning slightly as you opened the scissors, giving yourself a better angle to cut an opponent with them.

"You missed a step," Kalee said. She was currently holding the book, and drilling him on the steps—or making sure he was doing it right, at least.

"Whoops," Wulf muttered. "Fixing that." He added a step to the current arc he'd been practicing.

As he practiced, a warm breeze swept across the land. In a matter of minutes, it turned to a howling wind, but it was still warm. As he practiced, Wulf pulled off his coat.

It'd take lots of practice and review, and he didn't expect to master anything in a week, though he could keep working. He'd learned good ways to develop habits and skills in his past life, if nothing else, and he could apply those strategies to his younger self.

For one thing, he knew there was no substitute for continuous practice and immersion, so as the wagon continued rolling along, he dove back into the book and read as much as he could.

"Wulf?" Kalee asked late into the afternoon. The sun wasn't dipping as low so soon, so it was probably later in the day than they all assumed.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking up from his book.

"Do you think we can change anything? Do you think we can actually alter fate?"

"Why do you ask?" He closed the book and looked back. Even though it was late in the day, the warmth was persisting. A chinook cloud hovered in the sky. But this type of abrupt weather change was normal for the Confederacy, and it very well could have been the end of winter.

"It's not because I got caught up in my books, was it?" Wulf asked. "Didn't…didn't really mean to do that. But I promise, once I get my feet under me with my combat training, I won't forget the other parts of my life either."

I'm determined not to let my life end…alone. Not this time.

Kalee sighed. "Well…yeah. I was thinking that. But, other things, too. I know what I said about Arotelk, but…thinking about Ján…what if everything is destined to end up the same one way or another?"

Wulf shrugged. "The Field doesn't control destiny, far as I'm aware. It controls magic, and magic is a tool to alter your destiny. But it's just a tool, and a tool doesn't control your destiny." He winced. "The world can be a cruel place, and there are cruel, evil people. I wasn't strong enough to save Ján, but we can become strong enough to save the rest of the world. I don't know if anyone has beaten the demons, or how hard we'll have to work to do it, but I'm willing to."

"You're sending mixed messages," Irmond said.

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"Well, consider this: just because I work hard lots of time doesn't mean my life has to be devoted to working hard. It can be about other things, too. Like…alright, are you guys going home for summer?"

"I didn't plan on it…" Kalee said.

"Neither did I," Irmond said.

Seith shrugged. "I doubt any of my siblings will be home, and dorms stay open, so…yeah."

"Alright, so then when classes are over," Wulf said, "we can use that spare time that we'd have spent in lectures, or doing homework, and…hang out. Relax. What if we did this again, but took a trip to the sea or something? Maybe I'll have enough silver."

"I think you're glazing over the part where we're probably going to get expelled for this," Irmond said. "Most likely."

Wulf sighed. "I…suppose. But regardless, we'll have lots of time when we're not working hard on our ascendance. Working hard doesn't mean working constantly."

"And besides," Kalee said. "Learned this the hard way, but constantly working isn't going to get you the best results. If you don't take breaks, you'll wear yourself thinner and thinner, and whatever you're doing will suffer for it. You might not take in as much mana, might not get the Marks you want, or just lose the will to keep going."

"That…that too," Wulf muttered. He almost wondered if, last life, he'd have had the capacity to be stronger than he was, but he forced himself to keep working too hard and too long on the same tasks and burnt himself out.

But either way, he knew what he had to do, and he wasn't burnt out yet. He could rest in the summer, but not now.

In the evening, when the mountains were much closer, they stopped beside the corpse of a fiend. It had made it pretty far, because Wulf couldn't see any sign of an enormous sphere that it would've descended in. Definitely not in the one that had hit Arotelk.

The fiend's body had been stripped pretty clean, and now, teams of Artificers worked on taking apart its towering rib cage, looking for valuable resources. But most average people kept away from it, which made it a perfect spot for camping.

Once they'd set up their tent, Wulf continued practicing with his scissors.

"Need a sparring partner?" Kalee asked. She was already taking off her coat, though—probably anticipating the answer.

Of course, Wulf said, "Yeah, I'd appreciate it. But…"

"Yeah, I know. Most of my Marks have been going toward mana and perception and force-affinities, now," Kalee said. "As opposed to raw strength. But you shouldn't be that much stronger."

Wulf tilted his head. They'd see, but he had no intentions of hurting any of his teammates.

"I figure I'm about the same," Irmond said. "It's no shame, Kalee, to have different strengths. Not always, like, strength."

She sighed. "Sure. But I'm used to having decent physical strength as an Artificer. Enough to go toe-to-toe with a Pilot."

"Knowledge and skill can also help," Wulf provided. "Considering that I'm an alchemist, a crafter, I shouldn't be very physically strong, except considering my feats, I've probably pushed myself in more of that direction. Still, I'll get outclassed by most high-tier Pilots in strength soon, anyway. Without a potion."

"Got any strength potions to spare, then?" Kalee asked.

"I've got three more Yeti's Authority potions," he said. "And that was the last of my yeti-hunting ingredients. So if you take them now, you won't have them available when we reach Clegghold." He shook his head. "And all my other potions have poisonous side-effects, like nausea or just straight-up heart-stopping poisons."

"Heart-stopping poisons?" Seith asked.

"Poisons that…go after the heart. At Middle-Copper, it's strong enough to kill a mortal non-Ascendant instantly." He grimaced. "I can drink it with no problems, given my poison resistance, but I'd rather you guys not have to test out my potions. Not until you gain resistances of your own."

"Then I've got just my staff," Kalee said. She hoisted it up. "Practicing your defensive footwork?"

"Was hoping to," Wulf said.

"Then protect yourself." She leapt forward, then struck with the staff.

Wulf was used to just blocking. In his past life, he hadn't been very nimble, so there was no point in trying to dodge. But even with the heavy scissors, the footwork still prioritized dodging.

He'd have to relearn and destroy a few habits, but he forced himself to follow the manual's instructions. It resulted in a few sloppy steps, and a few moments where he walked right into Kalee's waiting staff, but overall, he dodged a lot of her swipes.

A lot. There were plenty that he had to block or deflect, and she attacked quickly. There were some that got through, and with old habits, he clenched up his gut and turned, lessening the blow.

And, in the rare moments where he timed the footwork perfectly, he deflected and parried her attacks. Then, he hit with the blunt side of his blade.

A single strike was enough to knock her across the camp and onto her back.

Wulf gulped. "Are you—"

"I'm fine!" She jumped up to her feet. "Didn't…expect that."

"Kalee," Wulf said, "you're still very skilled. I didn't know you were so good with a staff."

Seith and Irmond snickered a little bit.

"Doing what with a staff, I wonder?" Irmond joked. "You two need the tent to yourselves?"

"Alright, yeah, walked into that one." Wulf rubbed his forehead. "Point remains, she's a skilled fighter."

"A staff was my weapon of choice in my last life," Kalee said. "Which, I suppose I'm lucky, because Mages don't get much choice."

Wulf nodded. "Are you alright? Ready to keep working?"

"I'm very, very ready to hit you back," she said.

"I've taken plenty of your hits, thank you very much."

"Well, you'll get at least one more before the night's over."