The change began quietly.
No alarms, announcements, incantations.
Only a soft pulse through the neural network so subtle at first that most wizards dismissed it as the aftereffect of implantation.
Then it happened.
Knowledge.
Structure.
Equations.
Language.
Terminology.
Framework.
It felt like a doorway inside their minds had unlocked, and behind it lay a library arranged in perfect order. Every concept had a place. Every idea had context.
One witch gasped and pressed her hands to her temples.
"I I understand… mathematics?"
A nearby wizard blinked in shock.
"I know how a circuit functions I don't even know what a circuit is!"
Another stared at his hands, confused:
"I can speak wait is that… German? French? No both and"
He froze.
"…Latin. Real Latin. Not magical formulaic Latin."
And then someone whispered in awe:
"W-we can… understand each other's knowledge."
Not telepathy.
Something more precise.
Synchronized cognition.
Zack entered the chamber as reactions rippled like shockwaves.
He did not hurry.
"Your neural enhancements have completed calibration," he announced. "You are experiencing data integration."
One wizard stepped forward, still trembling.
"You gave us your knowledge."
"No," Zack corrected gently. "I gave you the structure to use knowledge."
They stared confused.
So Zack continued.
THE LESSON
"Magic," he began, "functions on belief, instinct, emotion, and symbolic structure. It is powerful but inconsistent. Two wizards casting the same spell can achieve radically different outcomes."
Several heads lowered because they knew that truth well.
Zack projected a hologram in the air: two identical spells cast, two different trajectories.
"Science," he continued, "is the opposite. It demands:
a question, hypothesis
experimentation
observation
and replication."
The hologram shifted equations forming, tests repeating, results matching.
"A magical result can happen once and be celebrated," Zack said. "A scientific result must happen a thousand times before it is believed."
A murmur spread.
dark wizard scoffed:
"Magic is superior. It reshapes reality."
Zack looked at him calm, analytical.
"Then why did none of you reshape death?"
Silence.
Cold. Heavy. Honest.
"You prolonged it," Zack added softly.
"feared it. You worshipped it. But you did not understand it."
The wizard lowered his gaze.
THE TRANSMISSION
Zack raised a hand.
The implants responded.
Another pulse spread this time stronger, intentional.
Not painful.
Transformative.
The wizards inhaled sharply some staggering, some clutching walls.
Not because of agony.
Because suddenly
They understood patterns.
Not just facts.
Cause. Effect. Measurement. Logic. Error correction.
Their minds felt sharper. Faster. Cleaner.
Their emotions didn't vanish but instead became separate from decision.
One witch whispered:
"…thinking feels different."
Zack nodded.
"You are experiencing cognitive restructuring. Emotion and logic are no longer competing systems. They are parallel tools."
Another wizard frowned.
"So you're making us… less human."
Zack paused then responded with quiet certainty:
> "No. I am making you capable."
THE DEMONSTRATION
Zack projected two symbols:
A runic spell.
And a physics formula.
"Magic," he said, pointing at the rune, "works because someone once decided it would. Because belief gave structure to power."
He pointed to the formula.
"Science works because the universe has laws."
He merged the symbols forming a hybrid equation.
A ripple of power filled the room not chaotic magic, not mechanical energy.
Something new.
Controlled. Precise. Predictable.
Many wizards gasped.
One whispered:
"…that shouldn't exist."
Zack answered softly:
> "No. Until today, it could not."
THE PROMISE
He looked across the room at 216 wizards now standing straighter, thinking clearer, breathing sharper.
"You were born into a world where power was inherited, not earned."
"Were taught tradition instead of proof."
"Believed that knowledge was meant to be owned, not shared."
His voice lowered steady, resonant.
> "That era has ended."
Some looked afraid.
Zack continued:
"Through the network, your skills, memories, and discoveries will no longer belong to individuals."
"They will belong to everyone connected."
"No one will outgrow the others, will hold power alone."
He paused letting the idea sink in.
> "This is not domination.
This is unification."
THE FINAL LINE
One wizard swallowed.
"What do you call this?"
Zack considered the question.
Not as a label.
As a declaration.
Then he answered:
> "The beginning of a civilization that deserves the future."
And somewhere deep in their newly rewired minds
some feared him or respected him.
but all understood him.
For the first time.