Wulf arrived at his lab prepared. He carried two potions in his haversack, and one in his canteen.

  It was Firstday, but as far as he knew, this was the first lab for Introduction to Golem Piloting. His section was late in the evening, which had given him plenty of time to study what he was going to try and how he was going to do it.

  The lab took place in a building overlooking the Oronith docks. As the sun began setting, Wulf entered through a pair of doors, moving against a stream of outgoing student traffic. He turned side to side, protecting his haversack and his coat pockets from getting crushed. Aside from the broken glass, it’d be a massive waste of a potion.

  He ascended a flight of stairs, then walked down a long hall, approaching the room he needed. It was an older building than the artificer’s labs, and instead of all glass walls, the labs only had small lattice windows to see through.

  The higher-level labs worked with different Oronith components. There were a few enormous, four-foot diameter Oronith cores, and other internal components like stone-strands, and in the very center of the building, hanging in the atrium, was an Oronith’s forearm. Alone, it was six storeys tall, and nearly as tall as the building.

  Wulf arrived at a lab room on the far side of the building. It was relatively nondescript, save for the brass label above the door. Wulf pushed the door open hesitantly, and stepped inside. He was just in time.

  There were three long tables down the center, and students gathered all around. For the lab, they were all Pilots. They had to be able to manipulate stone with a Skill. He only identified two other Middle-Woods—the rest were Low-Woods.

  Along the edges were supply cabinets, a few kegs of freshwater, and most importantly, golems. There were at least twenty seven-foot-tall golems along the room’s edges—one for each student to practice with.

  Wulf sat down near the back of the room, where a bank of outward-looking windows peered down over the Oronith docks. One of the enormous golems was departing from the dock. With a creak, its head shifted, and the visor of its helmet lit up with bright blue light, silhouetting the crew within.

  And then it began marching away on some undetermined mission. Probably a crew’s test-run around the academy. With each step, vibrations shook the ground and shivered up Wulf’s spine, but he forced himself to pull his attention inward and focus on the class.

  “...am Temin,” the teaching assistant at the front of the class was saying. He was a young man, probably in his late twenties, though it was hard to tell sometimes with Ascendants. They could start empowering themselves with mana to slow their aging, or, at some levels, stop it altogether.

  Temin had massive bags under his eyes, and though he was a human, he had a beard that could’ve belonged to a dwarf. It had a few braids in it, and Wulf couldn’t tell where it stopped and where his actual hair (which was short in comparison) began.

  “You can just call me Temin…” he droned on, repeating probably the same thing that he’d just been saying, as if he didn’t remember. His voice was awfully slow, and he spoke like he was about to fall asleep any second. “I’ll be leading your section for this semester. I’m in my seventh year, in Advanced Golem Strategy, so you can rest assured that I know what I’m doing…”

  He continued to drone on for a few more minutes. The teaching assistants, or the TAs, were usually upper year students who had to help out with lower year classes. While most students only had a four-year program at the academy, there were some who stayed much longer. Higher-level degrees, the like. It wasn’t practical, and they almost never became part of an Oronith crew, but oftentimes, went on to teach at the Academy.

  Temin explained the mechanics of their first lab: they were to use a small golem and exercise enough control to walk a lap around the room, then hold a quill and sign their name on a sheet of paper.

  Which, compared to the situation Wulf had woken up in, seemed rather mild.

  But, then again, that fight hadn’t been sanctioned at all. Harrel had been strong, and probably had guild backing. It would have given him practice and a foundation. And, though Wulf might not have had much power, he’d definitely had experience.

  “You will be working in groups of two,” Temin continued. “One to watch and call for help if needed, and one in the suit.”

  Immediately, the other students began pairing up. They talked and chatted happily, but so far, Wulf didn’t know any of them, and they all seemed to know each other.

  Well, they’d probably had plenty of time in recent days to learn each others’ names and meet up in-class.

  Which Wulf could’ve done, too, but in lecture theatres wasn’t the best way to meet people, he found.

  But now, he was left in the corner, no lab partner.

  Thankfully, the class had an even number, and farther down the table was a young human woman with curly blonde hair and large glasses. Wulf glanced at her and said, “No partner?”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “None…” she sighed.

  “Wanna work together?”

  She gulped. “Only if you go first.”

  “I can do that. Your name?”

  “Eatha,” she said. “You?”

  “Wulf.”

  When he said that, her eyes widened, and she gulped again. “You’re—”

  Wulf pressed his lips together. “Yeah…”

  “The guy who beat up Harrel?”

  “Yeah…”

  “I never thought I’d meet you!” Her look of shock turned to a smile. “I—”

  “Once you have your partner,” Temin announced, cutting her off, “find a golem each. Whoever is practicing first, please prepare yourself.” He walked over to Wulf and said, “You are Hrothen, yes? Please know that I don’t expect much from you. I am aware of where you came from, and I will try to reflect your grades to…accomodate for your lesser birth.”

  Wulf sighed. Perhaps Temin was trying to be nice, but he probably also hadn’t heard the rumours swirling about Wulf and what Wulf had done so far. “...Thanks,” Wulf said, mostly out of politeness.

  The golems were all the same, save for slightly unique decoration. A Pilot would eventually carve and create his own golem, but that would come further down the line. These ones simply had an internal layer of loose gravel ‘chainmail’ and outer overlapping plates of stone, meant to encase a Pilot entirely.

  The golems had once been naturally forming beasts, natural protective spirits, but when they had a core implanted in them, they became completely docile. Artificers and Pilots hollowed them out and turned them into equipment.

  Wulf approached a golem in the corner—out of most people’s attention. It was time to test out his theory. If he couldn’t make this work, it was going to be a pretty short lab.

  For a few seconds, he stood in front of his golem, until Eatha was looking away and everyone else had started focussing on their golems (and Temin was busy helping a pair in the corner).

  Wulf opened his canteen and dumped the water over the golem’s head.

  His theory was simple: Inorganic ingredients, such as certain arcane minerals and enhanced stone, could become a potion by dissolving in water. Though a golem couldn’t dissolve, it was made of arcane deepstone—a material found deep beneath the surface, modified and altered by the Field. And, better yet, deepstone dust coated almost every surface of the golem. The dust dissolved almost immediately.

  He could fuel its core with his first Skill, sure, but that was a short-term solution that used lots of potions. But this?

  He just needed to infuse it with mana once, then rely on the supply he’d built up throughout yesterday evening and the morning to power [Arm of the Alchemist]. Currently, his storage core was full.

  Which wasn’t saying much, given how small it was, but continuing to fill it and push more mana into it would help it expand.

  Also, you’re getting ahead of yourself. Not a problem for today.

  As the water trickled down the golem’s form, running between the gravel and seeping into the cracks, he pulled open his coat. He retrieved a Blightvein poison potion he’d brewed earlier this morning, and downed a small vial-sized aliquot.

  He didn’t need a huge aura. Just enough to infuse the golem…

  In his study of inorganic materials, it turned out that even if an ingredient such as salt didn’t completely dissolve in water or another solvent, it wouldn’t nullify the potion. The some ingredients could stay suspended, and would count as part of the potion, but wouldn’t transmute.

  Well, Wulf’s ability seemed to transmute potions. But transmuting the golem’s form into a puddle of mush wouldn’t be ideal.

  Once the water seeped through the golem’s form and reached all the way to the floor, barely getting it wet, Wulf inhaled. He was testing the absolute limits of what the Field considered to be a potion, but…

  He pressed his hand against the golem’s shoulder, then pushed his aura into it, feeding the water in the gaps. Arcane stone dust solution, with stone solids in between it.

  The liquid shuddered, and glowed a soft green that wouldn’t be noticeable to all but the most discerning eyes, or those who knew what to look for.

  The paper on his bracer read:

  Cess Potion (Low-Wood Quality)

  Inflicts a faint sickness-inducing poison on the user.

  [By crafting a potion, you have increased your mana. Advancement progress: 23%]

  Then Wulf triggered [Arm of the Alchemist]. He employed his mana, gripping the stone, and moving it. The Cess potion moved, and the deepstone solids of the golem were still a part of it—at least, in the Field’s assessment. They moved along with the potion, naturally, as a regular Pilot might manipulate a golem.

  And better yet, it was almost the same feeling as moving a golem. Almost. A little sluggish, a little less responsive, but that was also him needing more practice with the skill. Besides, the stone still spoke to him like he was a pilot.

  “Haven’t lost your touch,” he muttered, then opened up the golem’s pilot cavity and stepped inside. He slotted his legs into the golem’s legs, his arms into its arms, then sealed up its helmet and chest over him.

  “Woah,” said Eatha. “They said you were good, but…that was fast.”

  Wulf gripped the bars at the end of the golem’s arms, then, guiding his potion, applying the same pushes that his old skills would’ve required, he marched the golem forward.

  Already, he’d chewed through an eighth of his free available mana, but that was better than just relying on an aura.

  As other Pilots struggled to open up their golems, Wulf walked a lap of the lab. A few guild kids moved their golem and caught up to him halfway around, but when it came to fine control, they couldn’t match him.

  He might have been a brute with his mana, incapable of fine mana control, but inside a golem, his link was unmatched. He’d spent decades doing this.

  With only a quarter of his free mana left, he approached the sheet of paper, plucked up a quill, then signed his name on a piece of parchment that Temin had left.

  He met the TA’s gaze, and though Temin wouldn’t see, Wulf grinned.