Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

For the next fifteen minutes, Wulf followed Seith and Kalee's requests. He altered the Silent Wraith's outer stone panels to allow access to the interior and the underlying constructs and components. They scampered around the outside of the Wraith, etching and fixing rune lines, rejoining mana conducting cords, and more that Wulf just didn't understand.

He was glad he wasn't an Artificer. As a crafting profession, he understood why it was much more prevalent than alchemy. But Alchemy just made more sense in his mind. Sure, there was lots to remember, but its underlying principles were simple.

And you could go far simply by working with the Field's will.

"Alright," Seith finally called through the communications construct. "I'm sending Kalee back up to you. That's as good as we're going to get it, and my preliminary tests show that it should at least run."

"I'll get it started," he replied.

Though Wulf had spent nearly a quarter of his mana preparing the Silent Wraith, it was within the range of acceptable losses. Now he had to spend another quarter to fuel its mana reserves. He ran to the front of the cockpit, where a lectern-shaped block of stone stood in front of the visor.

He placed his hand in the center, found a small socket, then, heaving a deep breath, poured mana out his hand. He fed energy deep into the Oronith's systems and awakened constructs that hadn't felt mana in ages. Power surged through its components, tracing lines and lighting up the runes blue.

His perception traced the mana downward until it hit the stomach area, where it swirled around in a pool-like pattern. There was an enormous well of storage in most Oroniths, which usually came filled with mana. It allowed basic systems to stay powered, and it gave the pilot something to push. You had to fill a pipe with water before you could make it pour out the other end, and the same went with the Oronith's mana conducting systems.

"How's it looking, Seith?" he asked.

"The storage pool is filling up," she replied. "I see no problems."

"Alright, watch out. I'm going to release [Arm of the Alchemist] and conserve mana. Otherwise, I'm going to drain myself dry before the fight even begins."

His storage core was now depleting at a noticeable rate, but he'd planned for this loss. It'd be about a quarter of his storage.

By the time the well of mana at the Oronith's gut filled up with his mana, he had just under half the mana in his storage core left. He knew it was full, because mana began leaking into the other components of the Oronith and circling around.

Panels shifted automatically, returning to their positions. It was as if the Oronith's underlying mountain giant took a gasping breath, then sighed. Its shoulders lowered, its fingers relaxed. It may not have been whole, but it was waking up.

He ran back to the golem holding apparatus. Thank the Field they hadn't changed in all this time, because he wasn't exactly looking forward to giving himself another implant.

Wulf slotted the connection needle into the back of his head, then pressed the socket tight to the holding apparatus. Immediately, a bolt of lightning shot through his body. His back arched.

Mana flowed in reverse, roaring through the Oronith and searing his veins. He screamed, and Seith and Kalee and Irmond probably said something back through the communication constructs, but he didn't hear.

He had to get that mana under control. It was ripping him apart.

He clenched his teeth and envisioned it, trying to cram it into his core and force it back into the Oronith. It needed to go the other way. Fuel the statue, not him.

But it was like floating underwater and trying to catch a bubble of air with your hand and contain it. The mana just didn't listen.

But mana was simply an extension of the Field. A method of visualizing power. The Field itself understood desire, striving, and trying to meet your ultimate goal.

In other words, the Field was backfiring and pushing right back into him.

It would tear apart his fabric of existence. He couldn't let that happen. There was so much to do still. His friends might be safe for now, and Kalee might look after them, but who would be there for them when the world kept crumbling? Neither of them could do this alone, and he didn't want to make her do this alone.

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And...what about all the sights to see? How could he just...die?

No regrets?

No.

"I do have regrets..." he whispered. "That's why I'm here. To fix the failures of my past. I need to be more than just a warrior..."

But right now...

"But right now, they need me to be a warrior. A Pilot. A demon slayer."

He clenched his teeth. This time, though, he knew exactly what he was fighting for. His mana stopped. The flow into his body reversed. His scream became a determined yell, and he pushed the mana back. It flowed smoothly from his core, then surged directly through the dream socket.

His consciousness raced down through the Silent Wraith, outlining its form in his mind and synchronizing his golem with the larger Oronith. He understood where its limbs ended, where its feet stood, where the flowing stone panels of its false robes now swayed in an invisible wind.

There were patches that were dark. His shoulder and neck were stiff, and he couldn't unclench his fingers any farther. He was stuck holding the two obsidian short swords. But the legs were bursting with power. Stone muscles twitched, joints sparked, and runes glowed magenta beneath the armour as the dream-link strained to keep him joined.

"Wulf, can you hear me?" Kalee called.

"Are you alright?" Irmond demanded.

"I'm fine!" Wulf called, drawing his attention back to the cockpit, but keeping the rest of the golem in his periphery. "Irmond, I've got it under control, and the deepstone is warmed up. I need you to shut off the pacifier and get back to the cockpit."

"Got it," Irmond replied.

"Kalee, I'll need you up here soon. Not sure how the mana sockets are going to line up." Wulf looked over at the control apparatus beside him.

"On my way," she replied.

"And Seith, get yourself to safety," Wulf replied. "I'm going to smash through that wall ahead of us."

The sheet of crystal on the far side of the chamber had better be breakable, and the mud and silt on the other side of it a thin layer. If he dropped the mountain on them, it'd end pathetically quickly.

But the original builders of the Silent Wraith wouldn't have trapped it in a mountain like this with no way out, would they?

"I'll be clinging on beneath your neck," Seith said. "If you keep your head down, it should protect me."

"Got it," Wulf acknowledged.

The sheets of enchanted parchment in the cockpit, like the other components of the Oronith, should have rotted with age. Now, the cockpit still did smell of old, dusty stone and mildew, and he was pretty sure something was growing above his head, in the mess of cords and tubes, but he couldn't say what.

The parchment status readout sheets only had mould stains in their corners, and they still functioned. Words scrawled across them, listing damaged functions and offline systems, not to mention warnings:

[Warning: Your tier is significantly lower than the recommended tier of pilots.]

[Warning: Mana circulation weak.]

[Warning: Defensive systems inactive.]

[Warning: Perception constructs unavailable.]

Wulf ignored those ones. He didn't need a fancy perception construct to figure out how to punch a colossal fiend. There was only that mattered:

[Silent Wraith (Low-Silver Tier Oronith) has activated. Systems diagnostic complete. Overall body integrity: 75%]

As soon as Kalee and Irmond entered the cockpit, they pulled the hatch shut behind them. Irmond stayed at the edge of the room, and Kalee approached the Mage's harness. She fit in, but barely, and her tail had to coil up over her shoulder to avoid breaking the rest of the harness.

When she plugged the sockets into her ribs and lower spine, her back arched too, and mana burned in her eyes. Like Wulf, she screamed. But he understood what was happening. They were trying to operate an old Oronith, which was much too strong for them, without any advanced preparation.

It was simply up to their will.

It felt like a lifetime. Wulf wished he could plug his ears so he didn't have to hear her scream, but the golem's helmet prevented that. He said nothing. If the experience was anything like what he went through, she wouldn't hear him anyway.

But finally, she pulled it under control. The light stopped blazing in her eyes, and orange pulses shot through the connecting cords and into the floor—and through the Wraith's left arm, right down to its fingers.

"You're alright?" Wulf asked.

"I'm…good…" Kalee huffed. "A little warning would've been nice."

"I thought you might have been expecting the same thing to happen," he replied. "Considering you heard my experience."

She sighed. "I suppose I should have."

"Alright," Wulf said, raising his arms as a test. Wraith's arms matched him, moving at the same speed. Though he had to exert significant effort to move them, they moved smoothly, with extreme speed and power. The crystal formation clinging to the Wraith's shoulder shattered, and the Oronith lurched forward.

He bent his head downward. Irmond yelped and slid across the cockpit floor, but he braced himself beside the visor.

Wulf's feet slotted into the treads below. He tucked his head down, clenched his teeth, then said, "Seith? You safe?"

"As safe as I can be!" she replied.

Wulf charged forward, breaking through the second crystal formation and ripping through the wooden platforms. He put a hop in his step, and it worked. His mana was still draining noticeably, but not as quickly as before. By his estimates, he had about a half hour.

It better be enough. He stomped across the bottom of the cavern, turned his shoulder forward, and braced for impact.

The crystal wall shattered, and a waterfall of dirt, sod, trees, and snow washed over them.