Walls keep monsters out. Walls keep people in.
Starfall had both.
Kael opened the second one.
*The Map*
*Kael:* "This is the world."
He spread a map on the desk. Continents. Kingdoms. Ruins.
*Lyra:* "The Academy is here. A dot."
*Kael:* "The world is here. Everything else."
*Nina:* "What's out there?"
*Kael:* "More walls. More gates. More F-Ranks."
*The First Expedition*
*Kael:* "We go."
*Lyra:* "Where?"
*Kael:* "The Ruined City. Three days east. Bloodline Forgers live there."
*Merchant King:* "They'll kill you."
*Kael:* "Then I'll copy their fear."
*Inquisitor Lead:* "I'm coming."
*Elder Mara:* "Me too."
*Saint Orin:* "And me."
*The Journey*
They walked. Forty students. Five teachers. One goal.
*Student:* "It's hot."
*Kael:* _Target: Trait, Heat Resistance. Source: Desert Lizard. Edit: Human-Compatible._
_Success._
*Student:* "It's cold."
*Kael:* _Target: Trait, Heat Generation. Source: Fire Beetle. Edit: Human-Compatible._
_Success._
*Lyra:* "You're making us adaptable."
*Kael:* "Adaptation is survival."
*The Ruined City*
It was not ruins. It was a factory.
*Forger Lord:* "Welcome to the Bloodline Market's birthplace."
He was A-Rank. Forgery Bloodline. He made fake bloodlines and sold them to nobles.
*Forger Lord:* "You're the F-Rank who opened a school."
*Kael:* "And you're the man who sells lies."
*Forger Lord:* "Lies buy bread."
*Kael:* "Truth buys life."
*The Forge*
The city was full of vials. Dragon blood. Phoenix ash. Thunder essence. All fake.
*Forger Lord:* "Copy this."
He threw a vial.
*Kael:* _Target: Concept, Forgery. Source: Vial. Edit: Forgery Fails._
_Success._
The vial turned to water.
*Forger Lord:* "Impossible."
*Kael:* "Truth is possible."
*The Law of Truth*
*Kael:* "Law: All Bloodlines Must Be Real."
_Success._
Every vial in the city turned to water.
*Forger Lord:* "You ruined me."
*Kael:* "I freed you."
*Forger Lord:* "From what?"
*Kael:* "From lying."
He sat down. He cried.
*Forger Lord:* "Teach me."
*Kael:* "Breathe."
*The City Changes*
The forgers became teachers. The factory became a school.
*Lyra:* "You're copying schools."
*Kael:* "I'm copying hope."
*Nina:* "There are more cities."
*Kael:* "Then we go."
*The Saint's Warning*
*Saint Orin:* "The World Council will come."
*Kael:* "Let them."
*Saint Orin:* "They are S-Rank. All of them."
*Kael:* "S-Rank is just a measurement."
*Saint Orin:* "They have Laws. World Laws."
*Kael:* "Then I'll copy the world."
*The Book's Rule*
That night, in the new school, the Book opened.
_Rule Thirty-Five: The Right Way of Using Copy is to copy until every wall is a door._
*Lyra:* "We're beyond the walls."
*Kael:* "No. We're making the world door-sized."
*Nina:* "What's next?"
*Kael:* "The Council."
*The End of Chapter 10*
The expedition left the Ruined City. Fifty people. One school. One law.
*Kael:* "We copy."
The Book wrote a line.
_Rule Thirty-Six: The world is just a bigger Academy.