God's Tree-Chapter 223: The Unbound Curriculum

The lecture hall remained unusually quiet.

Not with boredom—but with focus.

Instructor Arvail moved through layers of advanced teleportation theory with a practiced rhythm, layering diagrams and spell models in the air above her with flicks of her fingers. Each thread of the illusion glowed with clean, structured intent.

The students watched, most scribbling notes or whispering clarifications to their neighbors.

Except for Argolaith.

He listened in silence, eyes flicking between each rune pattern with growing interest—not because they were beyond him, but because he saw flaws in them. Or at least, alternatives.

Halfway through a projection on quantum spatial folding—a technique meant to reduce teleportation delay—he raised a hand lazily.

Instructor Arvail glanced over, curious.

"Yes?"

Argolaith's tone was calm. Inquisitive.

"Wouldn't reversing the polarity of the entry rune—just the outer ring—let the caster absorb local mana currents instead of conflicting with them?"

Several heads turned toward him.

Arvail blinked, then rewound the projection midair with a gesture.

"You're referring to the fourth-layer directional bias?"

Argolaith nodded. "It's inefficient. You're fighting against the ley drift."

The instructor narrowed her eyes slightly and tweaked the rune diagram.

The change he suggested snapped into place.

The spell circle stabilized—and for a moment, the projection pulsed more cleanly than it had all lecture.

A few students gasped.

Arvail stared at it, then back at Argolaith.

"You're not just new… You've studied this?"

Argolaith shook his head. "Not formally."

She paused.

"Your name."

"Argolaith."

Her fingers moved, summoning a glowing class roster in front of her.

She searched for his name.

Then frowned.

There was no schedule.

No year. No course requirement. Not even a placement level.

Only one note.

"Access granted to all departments. Bound to no mandatory curriculum."

She blinked again.

"You… you're unrestricted?"

Argolaith leaned back. "That's what Veylan said."

Arvail didn't speak for a moment.

Then slowly, she dismissed the roster with a wave and smiled faintly.

"So you can attend any class… even the hidden ones… if you find them."

Argolaith offered a small nod. "That was my understanding."

Her expression shifted—curiosity replacing formality.

"Then let's not limit ourselves."

The tone of the class shifted.

The diagrams became more complex, more theoretical.

Arvail expanded the lecture beyond standard teleportation.

She spoke of dimensional threading, the rumored art of traveling between parallel realities. She described manaless folding, a still-hypothetical technique using gravitational anomalies rather than mana to bend space. She even touched on origin-locking, a practice outlawed in most kingdoms because of its connection to soul tethers.

Most students sat wide-eyed, too lost to follow.

But Argolaith didn't blink.

He followed.

He contributed.

At one point, he adjusted a projected theory diagram with a single mana-thread of his own, quietly demonstrating how a spiral-folding array could hold shape longer if aligned with directional ley pulses.

Arvail raised an eyebrow, but said nothing—only smiled slightly and let the change stand.

And when one student asked if teleportation between realms was possible, she gave her usual academic answer:

"In theory? Yes. But it's far beyond our understanding."

Argolaith said nothing.

But he knew differently.

The class lasted well past its scheduled end.

No one left.

Even the students who didn't understand half of what was being discussed stayed—just to see what would happen next.

When Arvail finally dismissed them, she stepped over to Argolaith before he could leave.

"You said you're free to attend whatever class you want."

He nodded.

She handed him a small coin-like token. It shimmered faintly with a sigil he didn't recognize—three lines intersecting a mirrored spiral.

"This is a key. There's a sealed wing beneath the Dimensional Mechanics tower. Most students never find it."

She paused, then added:

"You've earned the right to try."

Argolaith turned the token in his fingers, then slipped it into his coat pocket.

"Thanks."

As he stepped out of the lecture hall, the remaining students watched him go—not with fear, or awe.

But with curiosity.

He wasn't a student who broke the rules.

He was the one who walked beyond them.

The wind above the academy was calm.

Thin trails of mana shimmered across the sky-bridges as Argolaith made his way toward the Merit Exchange Hall, one of the older structures woven into the main spine of the Grand Magic Academy. It was shaped like an angular prism, crafted from translucent obsidian and trimmed in starmetal. Pillars of white light pulsed from within, connecting floating sigils that tracked credits, students, and the value of every exchange.

Argolaith passed through the threshold without hesitation.

The inside was quiet, though a few students were in line, nervously clutching potion samples or enchanted tools. One instructor stood at the rear counter, speaking softly to a robed clerk who flicked through glowing forms midair.

When Argolaith approached the front desk, the attendant—an older man with silver tattoos running across his bald scalp—didn't ask questions.

He only bowed his head slightly and held out a single metal token the size of a silver piece.

"Student merit token, keyed to your name and essence. Synced to the valuation board. Automatically updates with all credit fluctuations."

Argolaith took it and rotated it between his fingers. The center gleamed faintly—currently marked with a swirling "8,000".

He nodded once.

"Thank you."

The attendant didn't reply. Just watched him go.

As Argolaith stepped back out into the academy grounds, the token tucked into his coat, his thoughts turned to the coin Instructor Arvail had given him.

The hidden classroom.

Beneath the Dimensional Mechanics Tower.

He considered returning to his quarters. Resting. Researching.

But something inside him pulled forward.

Curiosity, yes.

But also… familiarity.

Like his steps had already been etched before he took them.

The Dimensional Mechanics Tower loomed to the north—taller than most, shaped like a spiraling spiral that rotated inward rather than up. Silver veins of starlight flickered through its stones, and at certain angles, the whole structure seemed to blink, like it wasn't entirely anchored in reality.

Argolaith entered through a side access path, weaving through storage chambers and shadowed stairwells.

Eventually, he reached a narrow arch, half-sealed with a stone door covered in rusted glyphs.

He took out the token from Arvail, pressed it against the seal, and watched as the runes flared to life.

Click.

The door slid open.

A cold draft whispered out from the dark beyond.

Just as he stepped through—

Footsteps.

Echoing softly from around the curve of the hallway below.

Argolaith stilled.

He remained in the shadows.

A figure emerged, long-robed and slow-stepping, trailed by thin wisps of dimensional mist. Their stride was effortless—unhurried, yet heavy with presence.

Argolaith's eyes narrowed.

He recognized them.

One of the thirteen elders.

An ancient figure who sat on the Academy's Round Table.

Elder Mirith, bearer of the Voidbinding Crest.

Her robe shimmered like ink under moonlight, and her expression was unreadable as she moved down the spiraling corridor… and through a second hidden arch—one Argolaith had only just spotted.

No hesitation.

She knew where it was.

And when the door closed behind her, a rune flared briefly before vanishing.

Argolaith remained still, his mind piecing together possibilities.

The hidden classroom existed.

But it wasn't forgotten.

It was watched.

Possibly used.

Not just by students.

But by the very people who ruled the Academy.