Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

The next month and a half passed in a blur. Wulf worked with Kalee to improve his storage constructs, which was a breeze after acquiring all the necessary resources, and it not only doubled the physical capacity, but also the amount of arcane mass the construct could hold without collapsing.

Sure, it'd still fail if he put a really powerful object in, but that was a long way away still, and he had much more time to worry about that.

First, he sorted all his equipment back into the right storage constructs, including the custom-made golem that he definitely didn't have. He'd need an excuse for that at some point, but he didn't have one at this exact moment.

As he was putting the storm spirit's core back into the right storage core, he observed it with the Field:

Storm Core (Low-Ruby Quality)

A core of a storm spirit. Like a boat's crew feels that time passes agonizingly slowly in a storm, if you look into the core long enough, seconds seem to inch past.

Wulf had been staring at it for what he thought was a few seconds, but Irmond nudged him. "Hey, uh, Wulf. You've been staring at that for like, a minute."

Wulf blinked and shook his head, then placed the core on the shelf in his first storage core, right beneath his potion rack.

Sure, he could probably bash up the core into glass dust, and it'd make a powerful potion, but those were only for single use. He didn't want to use something as strong as this storm core for a potion that he'd just drink once and never use again.

No, he'd find a better use for it.

He didn't think of one over the rest of the journey. For the rest of the journey, he helped the others with their equipment. With careful application of a little bit of chaos and order, he transmuted Irmond's wooden bow into kerat-bark, a stable arcane intermediate that was as light as the bow, but flexible and durable as a ram's horns. The material was less of a wood, and closer to a fingernail, though more durable.

When Irmond used that bow, it resonated with his Skills better, and his arrows launched off the bow with greater power and intensity. It was hard to judge, but while Wulf didn't think they were going any faster, they sank deeper into their targets and flew farther—however that worked. Probably a manipulation of the Field.

Likewise, Irmond's tier increased to Middle-Coal when he fended off some hungry orc-vultures who found the ship, using the very same bow.

As for Seith, Wulf made her more artificing materials in the same manner as what he made for Kalee. They didn't encounter another storm to steal from, but there were a few rare water spirits who gathered around the ship's prow, and Wulf waited for them. If any of them decided they were hungry enough to leap up on the deck and go after the crew, he harvested them and used their essences to turn wood chunks into metal.

They weren't anywhere near as powerful as the lightning wraiths, but Seith was also a lower tier, and couldn't work with too powerful of ingredients yet. He made a few lumps of quiversteel for her, and working with them, she advanced to Middle-Coal, same as Irmond.

They may have both been High-Woods at the end of last semester, but over the summer, they'd both advanced a tier, and now, they'd advanced once more.

"I won't tell Irmond that you were slower than him," Wulf joked.

"He already knows," Seith muttered. "He knows a lot more than that, too."

"...Ah," Wulf muttered. "You're…dating?"

"You didn't know? Hell, you didn't notice?"

"I…didn't."

Seith rolled her eyes. "I was thinking you'd be first. You know, with you going fast in every other aspect of your life, I was kinda thinking you'd get with Kalee. I could've sworn you were about to do it."

Wulf shrugged. "That's not something I'm looking to rush into."

"I guess not. But you better promise me that you're not holding back because you're afraid of losing us and don't want to get attached. I'd be kinda offended, actually."

"Actually?"

"No, mostly a joke."

Then why say 'actually'? He didn't say that aloud. "Oh."

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"Like, we're not good enough to protect, that kinda thing?" Seith continued. "I'm sure you could win Kalee over with some protective antics. After all, you're our pilot."

"I'll think about it," Wulf said.

In the third week of Seventhmonth, they spotted land.

Initially, Wulf had thought they were going to be late. After all, last semester had began in Seventhmonth. But that was specifically for first years, to get acclimated to the academy's functions. Most students started in Eighthmonth, and the same went for the Centralis Academy.

The first sign of land was an island with an ancient, crumbling lighthouse atop it. The Sinta Velia turned to sail along the coast. The first sign of the mainland was an enormous wedge of rock sticking up from the otherwise flat coast. Trees and moss covered its crags and ledges like snow. The summer light shone down on it, turning it almost black against a backdrop of puffy clouds.

It turned out that was only one half of a broad strait. They sailed along the coast until steep hills rose on all sides, covered with a thick layer of cyprus trees and warm-weather pines. A channel, perhaps three miles wide, led into the world's largest inland sea. Four Oroniths stood watch on each side, all holding spears.

Wulf, standing at the bow, took the time to assess them all. They were High-Silvers.

Three of the eight had gashes and tears in their stone armour, and one's spear was still dripping with black blood. They'd seen combat recently. Sure enough, after a few minutes, the hulking, smouldering corpse of a demon laid on the shores, half-submerged, and creating a column of steam that he'd previously mistaken for city smoke.

They reached Centralis City after one more week of sailing. On the other side of the sea—which Wulf had learned was called the Byrante sea, from which the Byrante Kingdom gained its name—they arrived at another narrow strait. An isthmus cut the sea in half, with only a tiny strait at its center, and an enormous city covered both halves of the isthmus.

Byrante had become enormously wealthy on taxing sea travel, as they provided quick access to the Spice Seas, which allowed traders perfect access to the nations even farther west. With that wealth, they'd build long walls along the coast and land. At the moment, these walls were only about forty feet tall, and hardly enough to stop a fiend, but they were effective against foot soldiers and regular demons. Gray bricks made up the main body of the wall, and red shingle tiles topped the merlons.

Beyond the walls, guard towers aimed ballistae and catapults out to sea, and soldiers in hauberks of chainmail and red livery watched for suspicious ships.

Wulf watched from the very front of the ship. The Sinta Velia didn't have a bowsprit, so he wasn't getting in anyone's way.

They were only one among many ships. He counted at least thirty cargo-hauling vessels, and two other hulks, all laden with enormous beige stone bricks (each had to be twice his height). The cargo-haulers found berths at the shoreline wharfs, where cranes offloaded their cargo.

"Are they building the wall you were talking about?" Irmond asked, running up beside Wulf. Kalee and Seith stood on the other side, both watching as well.

Wulf squinted into the dust and city smoke, peering off into the distance. A haze hung over the city, kicked up by trotting horses and the general activity of the city, and it gathered around the inland towers, making it hard to see. But a silhouette stood behind the city, forty storeys tall, nearly the height of the tallest guild towers of downtown Centralis. At the moment, it was only a small segment of a wall. The same imported bricks lined its outer surface, and rubble filled the inner channels. Finally, wooden scaffolding covered it, allowing the workers to scamper around the exterior.

"It looks like it," Wulf said. "I don't think they've come up with a plan to build it in the sea yet, which turned out to be their biggest weakness. Demons overwhelmed them from the ocean side first."

A trio of Oroniths stood watch along the coast, and one more in the strait. The water came up to the beasts' thighs, and compared to them, most of the boats looked like toys.

The Sinta Velia approached a small pier close to the mouth of the strait, and the sailors tied the ship down, then pulled it close to the dock. The sides brushed up against a pair of straw-filled bags, and the prow gently tapped the cobblestone wharf ahead.

A small cluster of onlookers in dusty tunics gathered on the wharf, and soldiers held them back. Most of the soldiers were humans with olive skin and black hair, but Wulf picked out a few people with fennec fox ears, and southern dryads, with dark complexions, pointed ears, and crowns of dried twigs for hair.

"There used to be a parade for the students who found themselves promoted to our academy," Dr. Arnau said, jumping down from the quarterdeck. The students—including Wulf, Kalee, Irmond, and Seith—gathered around her. "But as the years went by, less and less people attended. Now…let's just say, these people aren't here to wish you luck."

The crew lowered a gangplank to the pier, and they stepped down onto the shore, where three closed carriages awaited. Instead of horses, four-legged golems pulled them. Instead of riding inside them, the Pilots sat on the coachman's chair. They were Low-Irons, probably from lowly families, or people who'd never finished top of the top, and never became Oronith crews. The Pilots snapped their reins and triggered Skills to keep the golems in check.

"Get aboard your wagon," Dr. Arnau instructed the students, keeping up the rear. She wore her regular academy faculty uniform, and carried her golem like a briefcase. "And keep to yourselves until we reach the Academy. Understood?"

The students let out a wave of affirmations, then boarded the carriages. Wulf and his crew boarded the carriage in the rear, a wooden carriage with varnished black walls and a roof rack for their luggage. The coachman offered to stow it, but they only had small bags.

Wulf was the last one aboard. As he stepped up into the carriage's passenger compartment, someone from the crowd shouted, "Academy thinks they can save us! The end is coming, and they're trying to train more Oronith crews?"

Someone else shouted, "We need more walls, and faster!"

"Down with the Academy!" a third voice shouted.

Wulf ducked inside the carriage just in time to avoid a rotten fruit—someone from the crown had flung it.

"Warm welcome…" Irmond muttered.

Wulf dropped down on one of the carriage's seats. "Let's hope we can turn that sentiment around. Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."