Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

That evening, after cleaning off, Wulf couldn't just sit around. He was too excited from the activities of the day, and it was awkward with his advancement progress sitting at ninety-seven percent. He was close to an advancement, so he should finish it off.

As Irmond sat in his cot, pre-reading a textbook on archery Skills, Wulf sat at his desk. He might not have had ingredients to make more potions yet, but he could still increase his mana in other ways. Like transmuting a substance. He dropped a handful of grass in a steelglass dish that he'd forged specifically for transmutations, then divided it in half.

He drew the chaos and order out of one half of the grass with his scissors, then transferred it to the other half of the grass. One side became primal material, and the other transmuted into a whitish-pink powder.

He didn't have his early alchemy textbook with him, but he did have the elven alchemy book that Mrs. Wenarle let him steal. It had a few transmutation tables in it, and given that grass and other herbs were a somewhat common target for transmutations, it listed a couple standard tables for order and chaos infusions. Since Wulf had fed it sixteen units of chaos and five units of order, he'd likely just created firesalt. Sprinkle it in a fire, and it'll turn pink and blaze a little brighter.

Could be useful when he got himself some more phoenix powder, and he might find a use for it in a potion, but for now, he was more interested in his mana. The sheet of enchanted parchment on his bracer fluttered, and he glanced down at it.

[By transmuting a substance of significance, your mana has increased. Advancement progress: 100.2%]

[You have increased your Tier to High-Copper.]

[You may upgrade one Skill and one Mark.]

Wulf summoned up his main status again and looked over his Skills. He'd already upgraded [Arm of the Alchemist], but the others were still at their base level. He could try to upgrade an ability that he used often. That was why he'd chosen [Arm of the Alchemist] as his first skill upgrade.

But he had [Chaotic Alteration], which, with his scissors, had become somewhat obsolete now. He could use it in tandem with them, sure, and it did make them slightly more effective, but if he upgraded it, he'd probably end up using it more.

With a push of intent, he selected [Chaotic Alteration] for the upgrade. The Field wasn't kind enough to tell you what the upgrade did before you selected it, but it was rarely ever a negative upgrade, or something that went against your purpose and how you were building your abilities.

He closed his eyes and hoped as the ink letters on his sheet adjusted themselves. Finally, when he glanced down at it, it read:

[Skill Upgraded: Chaotic Alteration]

[Chaotic Alteration] At the expense of mana, you can draw Chaos out of naturally poisonous ingredients by using a xerion object. Doubles the units of Chaos gained, but the Chaos must be perfectly isolated, or the resonance within the xerion will cause it to burst.

Wulf allowed himself a subtle smile. In some ways, it was slightly worse. It required a xerion object, but he wasn't going anywhere without his scissors. Likewise, the necessity for chaos to be isolated was going to cause problems.

However, he'd already been planning on adjusting and upgrading his scissors. He needed to adjust the central pin. If it was made of xerion, it was too likely for the chaos and order to jump across and ruin his transmutations—and now, it could cause a dangerous explosion.

But that also gave him another idea: if he could create enough xerion on command, he could use the new ability offensively, too. The Field might not have intended him to, but that was beside the point. It'd be fun.

"Hey, Mantri," he muttered. "If you're listening and watching, I promise it'll be cool when I do manage to make xerion explode."

Just not with these scissors.

There were so many options, but he still had his Marks to think about. Advancing a stage had also afforded him an upgrade to his Marks, which would normally be a very small boost. For most people. But since Wulf already had a Grand Mark, he could enhance it and boost all the nested Marks too.

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To his understanding, upgrading his Marks never changed the text, but it did make them work better. Mentally, he selected his first Grand Mark, [Wild Spirit], allowing all the nested Marks to improve.

He didn't notice an immediate increase to his strength, but it wouldn't work like that unless he had a Mark that enhanced any of his physical attributes directly. None of those were nested under [Wild Spirit].

With his enhancements complete, he flopped down on his bed and blew out the candle on his table. "I'm gonna call it a night, Irmond."

"Busy first few days, weren't they?" Irmond asked.

Wulf cast the boy a smile. "I call that productive. Now, it's just about waiting for the right moment."

"We're not going to join the Lions right away?"

"I don't even know how to join," Wulf said. "That's our biggest task. For now, we'll watch, observe, and keep an eye on Prince Athllas. We let him get hurt, we're going to be in big trouble."

"You think they'll, like, trace it back to us?"

"I don't know what a vengeant advisor or noble is capable of, and I don't really want to find out. But as long as nothing goes wrong, we should be golden."

Irmond groaned. "I don't understand how you're still alive…"

~ ~ ~

The next Firstday, classes began. Wulf's schedule became infinitely busier, but in the mornings, he made sure to save time for a run, and of course, breakfast. Then came his first class. Since he was in his second year, the topics were much more specialized, and most of his classes had only Pilots and Mages.

That also meant that no one's schedule overlapped, and there was always someone to keep an eye on Prince Athllas during the day. During the night, they decided they'd take turns watching out over his room. There was a ventilation shaft in the hallway, which caught wind from outside and shuffled it into the building, and it also made the perfect post to watch the outside of Athelas' room.

After breakfast, Wulf navigated to the edge of the academy's main building and ducked into an enormous lecture theatre, where there were hundreds of other second year Pilots. This class was called Survey of Pilot Literature From 700 ADW to 2500 ADW—ADW meaning 'After Demon War.' Only somewhat accurate now, considering it'd only be the first demon war.

Maybe if the world pulled through, they'd end up with a new dating system.

Regardless, the professor, Dr. Nalathem, was a dull human, and a local resident of Centralis. The class was as it sounded: a survey of literature written by Pilots, and mandatory for all Pilots to take.

Next, he spent a few hours following Athllas between his classes, keeping at a distance, and paying attention to the Lions the prince encountered. In the mornings, Athllas always encountered a Lion boy made almost entirely of wood—a treefolk. The boy gave him a few pouches of reema, and they were probably trying to be subtle, but Wulf still noticed.

Between classes, Athllas dropped the pouches behind a garbage bin, likely so someone else could pick them up, then continued on his way.

After lunch, Wulf had his second and third classes back to back. Oronith Formations 1-3, and then Study of the Natural Spirits with Dr. Arnau.

Oronith formations was a simple class. They were taught the general combat formations that a squad of Oroniths would take when fighting. Already, Wulf remembered most of the practical concepts, like the Standard Civilian Separation Limit, or as they would later call it, the "Perimeter Mile." Essentially, how far away from a city and a civilian population you were supposed to stay. That also applied to demons. At least, they were supposed to try to keep demons a mile away from cities.

The Study of Natural Spirits filled out one of his open options, but it had the benefit of being close to Dr. Arnau. Perhaps he could pester her more about the Storm Sovereign core that he'd taken from storm spirit, and maybe he could come up with a way to use it. At the moment, he had no idea.

That brought him well into the afternoon, but he had combat training immediately afterward. They had sorted him into a more appropriate level, according to his abilities, which he gladly accepted. Already, the academy ranked him #176 out of a thousand—a thousand students in the yearly group.

That meant he shared a combat class with Kalee. It proceeded much like the Istalis Academy's combat class did, but their instructor, Dr. Hanja, was much more of a theory-focused instructor.

"We will meet every odd numbered day except Seventhday," Dr. Hanja insisted. He was a tall man with deep brown skin and long hair, and he wasn't exactly human. He had pointed ears and striking, glowing blue eyes, though as far as Wulf was aware, his people didn't consider themselves elves. They had another name for themselves, which Wulf didn't remember at the time.

Instead of a standard white faculty uniform, Dr. Hanja wore a thick black robe with a High-Gold badge pinned to the breast. It had no sleeves, giving his muscular arms an open range of motion.

"On Firstday and Thirdday," Dr. Hanja continued, "we will practice numerous sparring techniques with yourself and a partner. Every session, I expect you to find a different partner. On every Fifthday, we host a small sparring session where you will be evaluated on your use of the techniques you were taught over the semester. I do not care if you win, but rather, that you can demonstrate a knowledge of what you have learned."

He paced back and forth through an aisle of second years. Wulf glanced to the right, where Kalee stood. They had made it to the same class, as he'd hoped.

"That being said," Dr. Hanja intoned when he reached the end of the aisle, "I am aware that some of you have already began learning to use weapons, and I will do my best to accommodate your preferences. I will not make you use a spear if you've already chosen daggers, and if you have a more…unusual weapon, do not hesitate to speak to me directly during my office hours. We can discuss fighting styles for you."