Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

The wagon rumbled down the mine entrance tunnel, travelling straight and without gaining or losing altitude. It was a completely flat approach, which was good for the horses. The wheels ground along the flat floor, and the clacking of pebbles rumbled through the hallway. Wulf nearly choked on the dust the horses' hooves were kicking up.

Shortly, the tunnel turned, curving slightly and delving down, before opening up into a broad cavern. It was a tall, vertical cavern, though still wide enough to fit a small village at its base. Overall, it was bottle-shaped, with torches and lanterns all along the walls—still blazing brightly in between the shift changes.

There was one good thing about the demons arriving: watching the sphere descend would distract everyone and give them a little more time alone in the cavern.

They'd need it.

Wulf pulled the wagon to a halt, then steered it to the side as the hallway changed directions abruptly. The wagon tilted and nearly flipped, and for a moment, its back wheel hung off the edge of the ledge—a walkway spiralled around the edge of the cavern, leading hundreds of feet up and down.

In the very center of the cavern was an ancient Oronith. Like the others, it was about thirty storeys tall, but it had a different form. Instead of plate and mail armour, its body had the appearance of a robed king. Instead of a pointed stone helmet, its head had been designed with a round helmet, a plume of black obsidian, and a large visor for the crew to see through.

In its hands, it carried two short swords of obsidian, with some sort of black wood for handles. Each had a single cutting edge.

It was almost like Wulf's scissors had been sliced in half and separated into their different components.

Deposits of purple crystal clamped onto the living statue's upper body, holding it in place, and more crystal dust littered the floor. The wall directly ahead of it was made almost entirely of the crystal substance, and though it was dark behind the wall, Wulf guessed it was mostly dirt and sediment. Easy enough to bash through.

Whatever had happened—and he wasn't sure if he'd ever find out soon—this Oronith hadn't been meant to stay in the mountain for so long, but it had been forgotten.

"You'd better be worth it," he muttered.

"It could just be a really old Oronith," Kalee pointed out. "Nothing special. And besides, it's the crew that matters."

"It's rated for a higher crew, so it's gotta be stronger. At least, by a little bit." But now wasn't the time for doubts. He pulled the horses to a halt.

"Alright, Irmond," he said. "I'm going to get you to activate the pacifier. Keep this 'Nith from exploding on us. Slowly drain it."

"Didn't that Illis guy say something about having the artificer do this part?" Irmond asked.

"He did, but I'm ignoring that." Wulf shook his head. "You can fuel a construct still, right? You know how?"

"I…I can. But why me?"

"Because we need Seith elsewhere." Wulf turned to her and plucked a communication construct out of the wagon's back and tossed it to her. She pulled it over her head.

"I'm helping warm up and repair the Oronith?" she asked.

"Precisely," Wulf said. "I'll plug in and start filling up the mana pools, and once I have control of the Oronith with [Arm of the Alchemist], I'll be able to shift things around and help you activate it."

She nodded.

"There's just one problem, then," Kalee said. "You need to treat this whole thing like one of your little golems. You need to turn it into a potion. Where are you going to get enough potion to actually do that?"

"I was worried about that too," Wulf said. "But look up. There's an extra neck of the cavern above us, and…I think there's a vat of emergency coolant water there." In case the Oronith overheated, some docks kept enormous cauldrons of water on standby in case they needed to douse the Oronith's cockpit and give the crew time to escape with their lives. It wouldn't save the Oronith, but it'd save a team of valuable Pilots and Mages.

"Do you have enough herbs to turn it into a potion?" Kalee asked.

Wulf reached into his shirt and pulled up his storage pendant. "I've got a few herbs that need trimming in here, and a couple cauldrons of demon blood and flesh, which should be enough to get us a rudimentary potion."

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He passed Kalee and Irmond a communication construct of their own, before pulling his own on over his head and activating it with a push of mana. Then, he activated his storage pendant, reached inside, and retrieved a tincture he'd prepared earlier in the week. He poured it over his golem's head.

Once he activated the golem, he opened it and slid inside, before sealing the panels over his chest. He stood up and hopped off the back of the wagon, then, with his scissors, cut the horses free.

They trotted off the way the wagon had entered. Hopefully, they'd find shelter in some place safe, considering everything that was about to happen.

Irmond was the only one who stayed in the wagon, sitting beside the deepstone pacifier with a hand on it. "Let's hope this thing has enough range to work. Otherwise…we're in trouble. You're in trouble. I'll be fine."

"Except for a bunch of raining stones and debris," Wulf reminded him. "It should have enough range. This thing looks strong enough to deactivate all the deepstone in the entire mountain. Now, let's go."

Slinging his scissors back over his shoulder, he set off down the walkway. He didn't exactly enjoy the idea of spiralling all the way up to the cockpit, but if there was no other choice…

But when he, Kalee, and Seith had circled halfway around the Wraith's bottom, they arrived at a structure of wooden trellises. It was a stairway, and it wound up the back of the Oronith. It passed between crystals and dodged the spikes on the back of the Oronith's body, but it was the fastest way up.

They ascended the stairway about halfway, but Seith stopped. "I'll wait here. You guys go activate the 'Nith from the top. I'll need to be here anyway, to activate the main conduction channel."

Wulf nodded, then continued on. He and Kalee rose up to the top, but it didn't stop when it reached the back of the cockpit (though there was an open hatch waiting for them). It continued on into the upper narrow neck of the chamber.

They continued until they reached an old, rusted cauldron. It was mounted on two swivelling arms and a set of chains to lock it in place. There had to be enough water within it to quench the thirst of an entire village—it was twice his height and twenty paces across.

With his stone-covered fist, he smashed the surface of the cauldron. A thin layer of ice had formed across the top, but it was only an inch thick.

He opened his pendant with a push of mana from his storage core—he had enough mana that consuming an entire potion just to open the pendant seemed like such a waste.

Kalee pulled the steelglass cauldrons out onto the platform, wrinkling her nose and wincing at the sight of the demon gore that he'd just been carrying around.

"It's a valuable ingredient," he muttered.

"You better not have been drinking this," she scolded.

"I haven't been using it straight in any potions. I've been transmuting it immediately," he replied. "Or, the Field has, using my Class's ability."

She sighed. Once both were out of the storage pendant, Wulf sealed it and put the pendant away. Together, they tipped the smaller cauldrons into the bigger cauldron. It wouldn't be a strong potion, considering he hadn't made a tincture or distilled anything, but it still would function.

"Step back," he said. "And don't worry about the cauldrons. We don't need those anymore."

"Sure enough…" Kalee muttered.

He reached out to the suspending chain on one side, and with his scissors, he chopped through the chain. The larger cauldron tipped, pouring a waterfall of grayish-black dilute demon innards onto the head and shoulders of the Silent Wraith.

The liquid filtered through its form, seeping into the cracks and the openings between the deepstone panels.

"That should be enough," Wulf said. He and Kalee sprinted down the stairs until they reached the cockpit. He pulled open the hatch on the back. Its ancient hinges squeaked. Had they been normal metal, they probably would've been rusted in place, but best he could tell, they were quiversteel, and it didn't corrode like other metals.

The inside of the cockpit was much like Emerald Vanguard, though the visor was slightly more narrow, and there were a few more sheets of enchanted parchment hanging from the ceiling. They all gave blank readouts.

Wulf knelt down. He opened up his golem's chest enough that he could retrieve two vials of poison from his coat pocket, then downed them in a single gulp. His body strained against them, and his Marks churned, trying to fight it. Eventually, they overcame the poisons. His heart kept beating, and his veins didn't clog with arcane poisons.

An aura sprang up around him. He pressed his hand against the floor. Half-finished demon-blood potion was dripping from the ceiling and seeping through the cracks in the floor, filling the golem with strength. This was the closest he'd get with the time they had, and hopefully, enough of the potion had seeped through the Oronith's major systems.

He pushed the aura outward, then infused the potion with it, finishing it. A weak Low-Coal poison potion sprang up around them, and he took control of it with [Arm of the Alchemist].

"Alright, Seith," Wulf grunted through the communications construct. "What do need to get this guy up and running?"

Wulf shut his eyes and extended his awareness. It wasn't exactly the same, but he could still feel where the potion was, where it touched, and what it was controlling. He singled out panels and moved them out and away—but with a significant expenditure of mana.

Seith instructed him exactly where and how to move the Oronith's panels, allowing her to access the internal mechanisms. Rune-lines, conducting mechanisms, and more.

"Half of this…I haven't seen before. It'd take me days to make sense of all these functions," Seith said after a few minutes.

"Can you get the main systems online? I can't spare too much mana for this phase. We still have a fight to win, and I still need to activate it."

"I can get the main systems up and running, I think," she replied. "I'll go as fast as I can, though I might need a hand…"

"I'll help her out," Kalee replied. "I can help a little, at least."

"Please," Wulf said. They were running out of time. The demons would be leaving their sphere and marching toward Clegghold as they spoke. If they spent too much longer getting the Silent Wraith running, it'd be too late for the city.