The next day Evan gathered his Data Guild in the courtyard. Apprentices of different ages stood ready with fresh bark sheets. Crystal shapers carried glowing stones. Dwarven guests observed from the side. Lyriel waited near the front listening carefully.

Evan raised his voice. “Yesterday we learned something important. Magic across regions is linked. That means pulses travel across forests mountains plains. If we track all of them we can build a continental dashboard. A board that shows the mana heartbeat of the entire world.”

The elves gasped softly. Brumdir crossed his arms. “Ambitious. I like it.”

Evan began drawing on a large bark sheet. “We build a three tier system. First tier local pulse logs. Second tier regional logs. Third tier global correlation.”

Lyriel leaned in. “Explain global correlation.”

“Patterns reveal themselves only when data is layered,” Evan said. “A single pulse means nothing. But one pulse aligned with another across the continent reveals structure. We find the rhythm behind chaos.”

The apprentices whispered in excitement.

Brumdir added, “And we dwarves will track deep pulses underground.”

One elf apprentice raised her hand nervously. “But master analyst how do we combine logs from different regions The units are different. The crystals glow differently. The mana flavors vary.”

Evan smiled. “That is the challenge. We build a standard.”

He held up a crystal. “We calibrate every data crystal to the same baseline. Every pulse recorded uses the same reference. That way dwarf pulses forest pulses and beast pulses can be compared.”

Lyriel sighed in awe. “You are creating a common language for magic.”

“Yes,” Evan said. “Data is a language. It just needs rules.”

They worked all day. Crystal shapers crafted new arrays using Evan’s calibration methods. Apprentices wrote standardized logs. Rangers measured forest pulses. Dwarven envoys compared their underground readings with elven readings.

By evening Evan assembled the pieces into the first prototype continental board. A long platform of wood and crystal with twenty resonance stones arranged in specific lines. Each crystal represented a region. Each line represented a variable.

The board pulsed softly. Evan frowned. “The pattern is faint.”

Lyriel stepped beside him. “Why faint”

“We need more logs,” Evan said. “The world is vast and we only have small samples.”

Brumdir grumbled. “Then gather more.”

Evan nodded. “Everyone spread out. Gather pulse logs from new regions. Return by morning.”

The guild dispersed. Hours passed. Evan stayed in the courtyard observing the faint glow of the continental board. Something about the shifts bothered him. There was an underlying disruption he could not yet explain.

Lyriel approached carrying tea. “You have not moved in hours.”

“I am close,” Evan whispered. “There is a pattern behind the patterns. A deeper layer.”

Lyriel sat beside him. “What do you see”

Evan stared at the pulses. “A rhythm that does not belong to elves or dwarves or beasts. Something external. Something old.”

Lyriel grew quiet. “A force older than our kingdoms”

“Yes,” Evan said. “And it affects everything.”

Before she could reply the board pulsed violently. The pulses aligned into a sharp vertical spike one Evan had never seen before.

Lyriel gasped. “What is that”

Evan’s face went pale. “A continental anomaly. Something massive just shifted the entire mana field.”

Brumdir rushed over. “What happened Human what does the spike mean”

Evan swallowed. “It means something is coming. Something big.”

Lyriel whispered, “A disaster”

Evan shook his head. “No. Not disaster. Something awakening.”

The board pulsed again echoing across every region.

Evan stared at it with dread and awe.
The world was no longer just a network of pulses.
Something deeper was rising through the data.
Something that changed the rules entirely.