Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Before they could work on Silent Wraith, they had to get in into the city.

The process of bringing a new Oronith into the city was far more intense than Wulf thought it would be.

They couldn't just drag it up through the port. There was a massive city in the way, and a city that hadn't exactly been designed with giant moving statues in mind. The hulk-ship carrying Silent Wraith arrived at a sheltered bay farther down the strait, where there was a channel of open, bare land.

Wulf was almost tempted to offer the Academy crews to pilot it up the shore, but he hadn't been preparing, and he didn't want to deplete too much mana when the Academy was already willing to move it for him. After all, they had the resources.

Instead, he watched from one of the Academy's outer wall watchtowers. In the distance a tiny crew of lower-tier Ascendants and non-Ascendant workers carried his Oronith inland. In theory, another crew could pilot it, but that would hurt most crews' chances of imprinting upon it, and the Academy wanted to leave the Wraith open.

They used a set of enormous cargo cranes to lift the Oronith up off its ship, then, over a half-hour, inched it onto a massive platform with hundreds of wooden wheels. A slow-moving troop of golems and horses dragged it over land, around the city, but between the under-construction anti-fiend wall and the old city walls.

Finally, when it reached the road to the academy, the massive channel built for Oroniths, they turned. To get through the old city walls, a drawbridge-like structure had been put in place. Working in teams, stone-aspect Pilots used Skills to haul the wall open. An enormous chunk of stone shifted up, grinding and shaking off a coat of dust. It shifted to the side just enough that the Oronith-carrying platform could slip through.

It descended down the carved channel into the ground and disappeared into the caves beneath the Academy, where it would wait in the hangar with the other Oroniths.

Wulf turned to the others and said, "We need to go find it, before they let another crew start working on it. Make sure they know it's our Oronith."

Kalee and Seith both nodded. The three of them sprinted through the hallways of the Academy until they reached the main, central staircase and descended down into the caverns below. They followed almost the exact same route that Dr. Arnau showed them on the first day, except instead of waiting at the top of the hangar cavern, they took a winding staircase down the side wall.

By the time they reached the main floor of the hangar, Silent Wraith was almost in place. The crews dragged it into a slot at the back of the cave complex, beside two other beasts. Both the other Oroniths had been claimed. Wulf recognized one from last year—the Fist of Bellar, with its huge, blocky form and blue crystal modifications that had to be the result of its pilot's meddling.

On the other side was a beast with four arms. Though it had no obvious modifications yet, it had clearly been designed as a statue in a more…far-west fashion, best Wulf could tell. It was designed as if it had a bare chest, and seemingly, used just its fists.

Its crew was a team of five. They wore matching uniforms—bright orange robes—and all looked like they were…well, Wulf couldn't say where they were from, but they had rims of fur around their faces, like monkeys, and had long tails. He supposed they were probably from the far-west as well.

As he passed, all five of them (he guessed there were two pilots) gave them a respectful bow, and Wulf nodded back in turn.

By the time Wulf stopped gaping around, the Academy staff had finished slotting Silent Wraith into its bay. They pushed it back into its slot, and it slid in, the platform it rested on fitting perfectly into the wall with a satisfying click-boom.

Wulf ran over to the base of it, trying to figure out who he was supposed to talk to in order to get involved, when a voice called out from behind, "Mr. Hrothen!"

Wulf and the others stopped, and they spun around. Dr. Azanthius, in his flowing white robes, and with his Ruby-Tier badge glimmering in the torchlight, stepped toward them.

"Oh no…" Wulf breathed.

"You aren't in trouble," Dr. Azanthius said. "I was simply overseeing our…acquisition of the Oronith. It's an old relic, and though there's some raw strength in it, it will take a great deal of time and effort to bring it up to modern standards. Its muscle filaments are well beyond their prime, the joints will need to be rebuilt from the ground up, along with a whole host of other systems that will need to be replaced or reinstalled. For one, its mana pool has a massive crack." Azanthius shook his head. "I do not know how you even got it running, my boy."

Wulf swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry, sir. I just…well, we needed to give it the right push."

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"That's sure enough," Azanthius said. "I'm sure the pressure of saving a city does wonders to the human spirit." He folded his hands behind his back primly.

"Sir," Kalee said, "does that mean that you'll be handling the repairs?"

"We'll be putting a team on it. If we want it ready in time for next year, we will need to begin immediately?"

"Next year?" Kalee exclaimed.

They couldn't go an entire year without activating their Oronith. For one thing, Wulf didn't know if he'd ever gone that long without piloting his Oronith in his past life—at least, once he'd found himself in command of one.

"I am aware that you four have a habit of rule breaking," Azanthius said. "However, I must warn you: if we find that you've stolen any other Oroniths—and that would be nearly impossible to hide—you will be subject to…harsh punishments in keeping with the severity of the crime."

Well, that was to be expected. Wulf nodded anyway. "We plan to use this one, sir."

"You assume that is your property?" Azanthius asked.

Wulf's stomach dropped, and he narrowed his eyes. "You can't—"

"Since the Silent Wraith is inside the halls of my Academy, it is up to my discretion who pilots it," Azanthius said. "In all truth, I would prefer it to be you four. You already have a connection with the beast, and you are the only ones with any experience piloting it. However, if you do not perform, we will gladly give it away to someone else."

"Would you let us work on it, then?" Seith asked. "I have some ideas in mind, and I want to help fix it up."

"I'll have you defer to Professor Blyke," Azanthius said. "He is our lead Oronith Artificer, and he is in charge of this operation. For the more delicate, spirit-healing matters, I've appointed Dr. Arnau to the case. The inner spirit of the Silent Wraith is in a coma, and though still functional, the dream-link is…lacking in power because of that."

Dr. Azanthius pointed to the side, where a man in a grease-stained apron stood, watching over the Oroniths. He gazed up at Silent Wraith, pointing around the room, giving orders and directing his underlings on what to do. He was a fair-skinned fox-man, with a bushy red tail and large, pointy red ears atop his blond hair.

"Speak to him," Azanthius said. "He will help you."

Wulf glanced at Kalee, and she said, "I'd have liked to be in charge of our own Oronith…"

"Did you hear him?" Kalee asked. "It might not even be ours."

"Then we need to make sure it is," Wulf replied. "That's what the tournament and final exams are for."

"Can we wait three more years before we're actually allowed to take permanent control of the Wraith?" Seith asked. "I assume you want to use it against demons, don't you?"

"One hundred percent," Wulf said. "We'll prove that it's ours. For now, that means helping Professor Blyke out. We figure out what kind of person he is. And maybe, if we can move the process along, we can get Silent Wraith up to modern standards even faster."

The three of them shared a nod, then set off, marching toward Blyke.

The fox-man turned toward them, holding a clipboard in his spare hand. A pair of goggles wrapped around his forehead, and at his hip was a pouch of artificing supplies. According to the badge on the strap of his apron, he was a High-Gold.

"So?" he asked. "Judging by what I heard from Mr. Azanthius, you lot are the kids who pulled it out of the mountain?"

Wulf nodded hesitantly.

"She's a real beauty," Blyke said. "We don't make them so…maneuverable, so elegant nowadays. It was an extraordinary find, and we'll do our best to make sure she has the best internals you can get in an Oronith."

"Thank you, sir," Wulf said.

"We were actually wondering, sir," Seith added, "if you would be willing to let us help with the repairs. See, I'm an Artificer, too, and—"

"Of course!" Blyke exclaimed. "Oh, you three are too cute! Of course you can help! It would be wonderful! In fact, it would be ideal. The best way to bond with your Oronith is by working on it with your bare hands, and so few crews get that chance anymore."

"What can we help with?" Kalee asked.

"We're working on freeing up its finger joints," Blyke replied. "There's a long history of crystal buildup in there, and I fear the mountain spirit's hands have gone…dead. Dr. Arnau's already up there, but we'll need some help cleaning off the crystal debris, anyway. I'll find you three some chissels and hammers, and we'll show you the ropes."

For the next hour, Wulf, Kalee, and Seith joined the team around the Wraith's hands. First, they set up some hasty scaffolding, tacking it onto the Wraith's wrist and thigh, so they had room to navigate around the enormous knuckles and joints. Under the instruction and close supervision of some Iron-Tier Artificers, they each chose a patch and began chiselling away the dust and crystal buildup.

They'd found Silent Wraith inside a massive mine, and whatever the people who'd buried the Oronith had been mining for, it had gotten trapped around Wraith's hands, locking up the finger joints and making it impossible to let go of the hilts of the obsidian short swords it held in a reverse grip. Or…sword. Singular. He'd broken one of the swords in Clegghold. The other was just a damaged hilt.

Short swords seemed like a bad choice, especially after all the effort Wulf had gone through to make his scissors, but the more he thought about it, the more he recognized the necessity. He'd gotten a combat manual from the Weavers' guild, which discussed the use of scissors in combat, but most forms involved some degree of separating both halves. These short swords could be used almost like the separated scissors.

After an hour, Wulf was drenched in sweat and a layer of amethyst crystal dust, but when he looked over at Seith, she had the biggest grin ever. It'd been worth it to cheer her up.

"We're calling it for the night," Professor Blyke told them. "Head back to your dorms for today, and get cleaned up. That was some good work, and there'll be plenty more of it. Will we see you tomorrow evening?"

Wulf nodded. "I'll be there. Not sure about the others."

Seith and Kalee both nodded as well.

"Then I look forward to seeing more of you!"