Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Mr. Illis tucked his pipe away, then faced Wulf. He was a short man, almost as short as a dwarf, despite being human. His long gray-brown hair tumbled down his back, unrestrained by anything, but he had no beard.

And when he looked at Wulf, his eyes shone with intensity and dedication—which he'd apply to any task. In the future, that happened to be helping Wulf outfit Fiendhammer and make hasty repairs to it. But he wouldn't know any of that.

At the moment, there was just a young boy in a dirty academy coat asking for help. Wulf hated to do this, but he knew the man wouldn't be able to resist. He'd feel compelled to help, and to protect the city, Wulf could exploit that.

"Sorry, sir, but it's…it's really important." Wulf added a fake pant to his voice, as if he'd ran all the way here. "I heard you'd developed a functional deepstone pacification construct. And…to save the city, we need it."

Mr. Illis blinked. He held up his pipe, half in shock, then tapped it. "You're an academy boy, aren't you?"

"I'm Wulf Hrothen, sir."

"Ah, I read about you in the papers. The boy who saved Arotelk. Though I'll admit, I haven't seen good old Emerald Vanguard march into the city."

Wulf shook his head. "It got damaged, and we had to leave it behind…" He sighed. "You see, we're technically on a mission from Dr. Langold. He has intelligence…from a source he wouldn't tell me, that there's going to be a demon attack here. And today. Specifically, in the evening—in about four hours."

Mr. Illis reached up and rubbed his forehead. "Ah…Langold. He and I go way back, you know. We studied together in our youth, when we were boys like you."

Yes, Wulf though. I did know. You told everyone who'd listen.

"I got myself a guild job, and he ended up in the Academy…" Illis mused. "Seems he's doing more important work than I."

Wulf inclined his head. "Sir, if you don't mind, I don't have much time. I don't plan on destroying it, but I did bring something to trade with you—for your troubles. I know you could get in a lot of trouble for this."

"Trade?"

Wulf pulled open his haversack and retrieved a pair of potions. "Again, for your troubles. A focus-enhancing potion, made from demonbone. I can't make any promises about the flavour, but I imagine it would be helpful to an artificer. For…tiny runes, and stuff. And the second one, the magenta one, is a strength enhancing potion. I dunno if you'd need it, but I can see some uses."

"As can I, my boy…" Mr. Illis stroked his chin. "Alright, boy, you've piqued my interest. And if Dr. Langold has sent you on this mission…well, he sent you on the last one, yes?"

"Yes," Wulf lied. It might come back to haunt him, if Langold and Illis ever met again, but it was the only way to make this work.

"Very well. I cannot resist those potions, either…I will meet you out front, and I will bring our pacifier to you. What…do you plan to do with it, my boy?"

Wulf looked down awkwardly. "I'm…uh, I'm going to take control of the Silent Wraith."

~ ~ ~

In a half hour, Mr. Illis appeared at the warehouse's main entrance. Through the small windows beside the cargo gate, Wulf spied Mr. Illis arguing with a few guards, but they backed away after a few seconds—clearly deferring to the orders of a high-ranking member.

Wulf helped Illis open the cargo gate once the man unlocked it, revealing a small cart with a table-sized stone device atop it. It was carved in a seed-like shape, with a window inset in its center. Coils of metal ran behind the glass, and circles of runes surrounded the front window.

"This is a pacifier," Mr. Illis said. "And not the kind you stick in a baby's mouth. Get your artificer to fuel it, then gradually take away their mana, and you'll ease the deepstone back into a functioning, non-destructive state."

Wulf nodded. "Got it. Thank you sir."

"Thank you for the potions. And send my regards to Dr. Langold, would you?"

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"Will do, sir," Wulf said.

Together, the five of them heaved the pacifier onto the back of the wagon, then set it down beside the golem. With all the added weight, the bed of the wagon was beginning to bend, but it didn't break.

"Good luck, kids," Mr. Illis said. "And I suppose I should start putting my equipment away, if what you say is true. Don't need anything else valuable getting destroyed in the demon attack."

"Anything else?" Kalee shook her head. "We're bringing this back, sir. Hopefully in one piece."

"Mhm," said Illis, unconvinced. "Save the city, and I'll tell the guild it went missing in the attack. Or, if there is no attack, I'll get an early retirement. Either way, the guild has made me a fortune already!" He patted his belly and laughed, then shooed them away. "Now go!"

~ ~ ~

"That went surprisingly smoothly," said Seith as the wagon rumbled through the city, aiming for the eastern gate and aiming for the mountain. The horses trotted along, faithfully lugging the wagon, but they had to be getting tired from all the extra weight. Wulf planned to set them free once they arrived.

"Surprisingly," Kalee echoed.

"Yeah, but I knew him. Or, will know him," Wulf said. "And I still lost two perfectly good vials in the process."

"Not the potions?" Irmond asked.

"Eh, I can always make more." He snapped the reins and steered around a slow cargo hauler. "Now, focus up. When we get there, we're probably going to have to contend with some miners. It's a dwarven guild, so they can be a little brash. Hopefully, by the time we get there, they'll be changing shifts. We'll just have to deal with guards."

"We'll need a distraction," Kalee said.

"I think I can help," Irmond interjected. "A distraction? You think there will be hanging things on ropes? You know, important, fall-y things that will distract people when they hit the ground?"

"I imagine there'll be a crane or something," Wulf provided.

"Ah, crane. Better way of describing it."

"...Yeah. But can you hit a rope at a distance? That's a pretty small target."

"I haven't missed before. Or...yet, in the time since I've met you. Besides, I've got a new Skill. An aim enhancing Skill."

"Should've mentioned that sooner..." Wulf muttered. "But alright. It's a plan."

The entrance to the Slumbering Peak Mine was an hour's trot out of the city. The main eastern road branched, and one path led to the mine entrance. Needless to say, Wulf guided the wagon up to the entrance.

It was a wood-lined opening in the stone wall. The road placed them at a steep incline, where the mine entrance—a two storey tall gap in the stone—led into the mountain. Torches lit a long hallway, which had two dwarven Ascendants guarding it. Cranes clung to the outside wall, reeling cargo up and down to higher openings.

And, more importantly, a deluge of mortal, non-Ascendant workers poured out the hole.

"Alright, Irmond you're up," Wulf said.

They still hid in the shelter of the woods alongside the path, and for a moment, no one would notice them. But that moment was fleeting. The dwarves—contract workers brought in to help improve the efficiency of the mines—would be getting closer. Eventually, one would notice and alert the mine.

"Sun's getting low," Kalee warned. "Any minute now…"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Irmond insisted. He pulled his bow off his shoulder, slid an arrow onto the string, and lifted it.

"Aim for that crane," Wulf said, climbing into the back of the wagon and pointing up at the side of the cliff, where, on the very far side of the gate, a crane was lowering a heap of ore to the empty ground. "Can you shoot straight through the string and drop the cargo, no other damage done?"

"You got it." Irmond pulled the arrow back.

As he lined up the shot, Wulf climbed back into the driver's seat. They were going to drive the wagon right into the mine, and he could activate his golem later—when the time was closer.

Mentally, he took stock of his situation: his storage core was full. He had four vials of Yeti's Authority potion in his coat pockets—one for each of them—and four vials of poison for himself to use. In his haversack, he only carried his single splatter flask, filled with a vein-clogging poison.

That was for emergencies.

And of course, on his back, he carried his scissors. He was ready to go.

Irmond released the arrow. It shot across the pathway, arced up, and sliced right through the crane's rope. The ore crashed down to the earth, the cargo platform smashed apart in an explosion of splinters and dust, and most importantly, it made a rumbling boom.

Both guards leapt forward from their positions and turned to face the disturbance, and the dwarven mine workers all jumped to the side of the path, looking at the fallen debris.

Wulf clicked his tongue and snapped the reins twice, urging the horses to take off at a gallop. They picked up speed, and he turned the wagon toward the mine entrance. All the workers, in their dusty overalls, pickaxes and shovels resting on their shoulders, stared at the pile of ore.

But Wulf would only have a few seconds before they started looking elsewhere…

The moment he drove the wagon through the mine entrance, the workers began gasping and looking around. A few looked up, and there were a couple more gasps. Wulf narrowed his eyes. They couldn't have been looking at him.

He pulled back on the reins, tugging the wagon to a halt.

A deep, penetrating sonic boom split the sky, and, even from Wulf's narrow vantage point of the mine entrance, he could see a streak of light blazing across the sky. Smoke trailed it, and he could practically smell the brimstone, even if it was probably a trick of the mind.

The demons had arrived.

The descending sphere smashed through a mountain on the opposite edge of the city, before crashing a few miles out in a plume of dirt and smoke and fire.

"What are you waiting for?" Kalee exclaimed.

Wulf snapped the reins. "We don't have much time at all. Let's make this count!"