The next morning Evan arrived at the intelligence room before anyone else. The sunlight filtered through the dusty window in a clean warm line across the new tables. He inhaled slowly and felt something familiar. The feeling of a new operation beginning. Back in the corporate world this feeling meant a project kickoff or a major investigation. Here it meant the first step toward changing an entire economy.

The apprentices soon entered carrying fresh parchment and steaming cups of herbal tea that passed for morning drinks in this world. Evan pointed them to their stations.

Today we begin our first operation Evan said. We are going to scan the market. We want a full picture of who sells what who buys what and who controls what.

One apprentice hesitated. But sir the market is huge. How do we gather all that

One step at a time Evan said. You start with the visible. Prices. Crowds. Product shortages. Patterns. Once you record patterns you find the gaps. And gaps tell stories.

They nodded taking notes.

Evan led them out into the main street. Carts rolled past filled with spices metal tools enchanted trinkets polished wood goods and dried herbs. Merchants shouted deals. Adventurers bargained for weapon upgrades. A bard advertised a performance. All of it looked chaotic but Evan saw structure.

He pointed at a fruit seller. First observation. Price of river pears is high. Why

The apprentices stared at him.

Because demand is high one guessed.

Evan shook his head. Demand is constant. Supply is limited. Look at the bruising on the pears. They traveled far. If a product travels far it means local sources have declined. Something disrupted the orchard routes.

Another apprentice wrote It is the route not the fruit.

Evan smiled. They were learning.

He walked past a stall selling enchanted stones. The merchant spoke proudly. Best stones in the city powerful enough to light a home for a week.

Evan stepped close. The stones glowed faintly but unevenly. Production flaw. Low stability. Yet people lined up to buy them.

Observation two Evan said. A competitor can win even with poor quality if they control distribution. That merchant sells flawed goods but he has no competition in this district.

The apprentices looked shocked. They had never looked past surface impressions.

They moved to another row of stalls. Evan listened to conversations while pretending to browse. He noted which merchants lowered their voices when discussing supply issues and which ones bragged too loudly about secret deals. He looked at the carts entering the square and studied their cargo weight distribution. Aspen wood. Wet hides. Fine powders. Each load told a story of supply chains.

He returned to the intelligence room with the apprentices following like they had witnessed a miracle.

Now Evan said record everything. But not randomly. Use categories. Routes. Prices. Qualities. Behavior. Rumors. Every piece has a place.

He demonstrated by writing a sample entry.

Iron Crest Guild delivered ore shipment one day ahead of schedule. This indicates a new trade route or a risk taken to outperform competitors.

The apprentices copied the structure.

Soon they had dozens of entries across the table. Patterns started forming. Evan saw that Iron Crest Guild supplied many blacksmiths. He saw that Silver Quill Guild his current employers were losing ground in herbal goods. He saw that a small guild in the east district was underpricing everyone likely to gain fast market share.

He tapped the entries with a quill. This is intelligence. And this is only the beginning. Once we categorize enough data we can forecast. Once we forecast we can manipulate the market. But we need structure. Accuracy. Discipline.

Lenar entered carrying bread and dried fruit. He set them on the table and studied the data. What is all this

Your market Evan said. The real one. Not the one you imagine when you stand in your planning chamber.

Lenar swallowed. This is more than we have ever known. Can this really predict what other guilds will do

Evan nodded. And more. It can tell you what they want before they know it themselves.

Lenar stared at the spread parchment like it was forbidden magic.

Evan leaned back in his chair. And for the first time felt the tension in the air. This world was slow. Blind. Unguarded. And he was about to weaponize information in a society that had never seen organized intelligence.

This was only market scanning. A trivial skill where he came from. But here it was the start of a revolution.

He looked up at the apprentices. Tomorrow we start observing competitors. Not from their words. From their behavior.

The world outside continued moving unaware that a new force had emerged.
A force that would reshape every guild in existence.