Chapter 263: The Structure of Everything

Elina took her place near the front, her stylus ready.

Instructor Halver Wynne stood at the platform, this time with a small sphere hovering beside him. It pulsed gently.

"Welcome," Halver began, his tone more contemplative than before. "Yesterday, we spoke of the universe. Its vastness. Its origins. Its mysteries. Today, we speak of structure. Not just stars and galaxies—but the bones of reality. The skeleton of existence."

He made a subtle motion, and the sphere beside him split apart. Layers unfolded, revealing a glowing lattice of light. A model of their planet, Elina realized—but it was transparent, crisscrossed with lines.

"We begin with your world," Halver said. "Beneath your feet lies not a flat plane as once believed, but a spheroid—an oblate one, bulging slightly at the equator due to rotational force."

Gasps. Whispers. Some students blinked as if he'd just told them the moon was made of fire.