Shattered Sanity

(House Argent Common Room)

"Alright, give me the report of Gary Ironveil next...."

Cedric said, as another senior immediately pulled Gary’s report forward.

"Gary Ironveil. Ember Rank. Excellent Soul Vessel Quality. Excellent Flame and Excellent Light affinities."

A few people instinctively looked towards one another.

"Double Excellent."

The senior emphasized.

"Not one Excellent affinity supported by something weaker. Two completely separate elemental affinities, both reaching the highest conventional classification recognized by the appraisal system."

He turned the report so everyone could see it.

"Then we include a confidential Physical Condition assessment of point-nine-five, which brings his complete evaluation to 4.95...

.... For those of you who don’t understand how good a score that is, let me just say, 4.95 places Gary Ironveil as the 12th best recruit this academy has ever seen in nearly three centuries."

Marcus folded his arms.

"Yeah, he’s definitely a generational talent.

But, objectively speaking, if we’re debating how much we need him versus someone like Marroway or Voss, in what criteria exactly does he outrank them?"

Cedric asked, as Marcus began to shake his head as he pointed towards the report.

"In my opinion, Gary Ironveil is a cut above the other two.

Not because he might prove to be a more exceptional fighter or anything, but simply because of his surname.

He’s a bloody Ironveil!

How can we not take that into account?"

Marcus muttered, as he pointed out something that was obvious to anyone with a shred of common sense.

"House Ironveil governs the West. There will be students from western noble families distributed throughout all four Houses, just as there will be students from the East, North and South."

His voice remained measured but firm.

"When negotiations begin over coursework, resources, alliances, captives or anything else, having the son of the ruling western Duke sitting on our side of the table possesses value that an appraisal score cannot represent."

Marcus said, as almost everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

"A western noble can refuse you or me if we approach them, but he will hesitate when saying no to Gary."

Another senior added, as–

"Absolutely."

Marcus replied.

"For most western nobles, refusing Gary Ironveil and refusing you or me are not politically identical decisions, even within Academy walls.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he’ll automatically control them, and we shouldn’t build our strategy around assuming he can.

But ignoring the reality of his stature is idiotic too...."

Marcus concluded, as Cedric finally nodded in agreement.

"I agree, his combat ability is already great, but where he outranks the others is with his surname."

He said, as nobody in the room disagreed with that analysis.

Gary’s profile remained at the centre.

Then Cedric looked towards the final report.

"At last, Riven Dawnriver."

He said, as the final report was placed on the table, with Marcus reading his stats.

"Riven Dawnriver. Ember Rank. Excellent Soul Vessel Quality....."

"Perfect Storm affinity."

Even spoken aloud, the classification sounded strange, since none of them had ever heard about a perfect affinity.

Marcus continued.

"His confidential Physical Condition assessment is point-nine-seven, the highest currently recorded within the entire incoming batch, placing his unofficial complete appraisal at 4.97.... Making him the joint seventh highest ranked individual to join the Imperial Academy in its entire history."

Marcus declared as audible gasps could be heard across the room.

Both Riven and Gary were monsters in a tier of their own, but Riven was ahead by a very slight margin.

"So physically, he beats Ironveil by point-zero-two."

"Correct."

"And officially they both remain four out of four."

"Correct."

"Then the real question is how much value we’re assigning to his storm affinity being ’Perfect’, because politically they’re both equally influential."

Cedric asked as Marcus immediately shook his head.

"We don’t assign anything beyond what the report tells us."

He rotated the document.

"The examiner’s report explicitly states that Perfect is an overflow classification. Excellent represents the highest conventional affinity grade, while Perfect appears only when elemental resonance exceeds the maximum Excellent threshold."

His finger moved towards the accompanying note.

"The Array reached its measurement ceiling."

Silence settled across the table.

"We therefore know one thing with certainty."

Marcus continued.

"Riven Dawnriver’s Storm affinity exceeds the range normally classified as Excellent."

Another senior leaned forward.

"But we don’t know by how much."

"No."

Marcus agreed immediately.

"And that distinction matters. Because we can’t pick him under the assumption that his elemental affinity is twice as powerful as an Excellent affinity, or fifty percent stronger, because we have absolutely no measurement supporting that."

He tapped the report again.

"But the opposite would be equally irrational. We cannot pretend Excellent and Perfect are equivalent simply because both produce four points after the scoring cap is applied."

That argument drew several nods.

Riven was a hard case to evaluate that way since what he could potentially be capable of was an unknown factor, making him a risky first pick.

"I think, there’s no point in thinking much about this.....

I’m pretty sure Aureate will either scoop Gary or Riven as their first pick.

So if they choose one, we go for the other, since they’re both clearly better than Marroway and Voss."

Cedric said firmly, as the entire room exhaled a breath they did not know they were holding.

"Agreed..... we will bid on Riven or Gary first, and later on, if Marroway or Voss are available till our second pick, we will take them too, but if not, we continue with our priority list."

Marcus replied, as almost immediately, the seniors returned to work, reorganizing reports and debating which candidates deserved priority throughout the later rounds.

The first pick, though undoubtedly the most important, constituted only 10% of the draft, while successfully filling the remaining ranks represented the other 90% of the job.

After losing the House Championship last year by a mere seventeen points, House Argent understood better than anyone that every recruit mattered, since even one overlooked candidate could eventually become the difference between victory and another humiliating defeat.