Shattered Sanity

(Meanwhile, within the common room of House Argent)

Chaos unfolded inside House Argent’s common room as every Second Year senior scrambled to make sense of the data arriving in real time, trying to establish a priority list regarding which candidates they should bid for early and which ones they could afford to leave until later.

Although the Imperial Academy was officially a three-year program, the third and final year was essentially an apprenticeship completed under an existing ruling noble, where students gained practical experience regarding the everyday responsibilities that came with governing an actual territory.

Because of this, the Academy’s actual curriculum lasted only two years, meaning there were only two student batches living within its walls at any given time.

The First Years who entered through the House Draft.

And the Second Years who had already experienced an entire year of competition and were now responsible for strengthening their Houses with the next generation.

For those Second Years, the upcoming year represented their final opportunity to win.

They had already made their mistakes during their debut year, learned which resources mattered, discovered which alliances could be trusted and experienced firsthand exactly how vicious the competition between the four Houses could become.

Now they had one final year to put those lessons into practice.

House Argent understood that reality better than most.

After finishing second behind House Aureate during the previous academic year, every senior currently gathered within the common room remained painfully familiar with what defeat felt like.

They had carried Aureate’s food, poured Aureate’s drinks, cleaned Aureate’s tables and watched their rivals celebrate throughout the Feast of Laurels while they spent the evening dressed as servants.

Nobody inside House Argent intended to experience that humiliation again.

Which was why their common room currently resembled a military command centre more than somewhere students ordinarily gathered to select their junior roommates.

Reports covered several enormous tables, names were continuously added and removed from three boards positioned against the walls, while fresh appraisal results kept arriving from contacts House Argent had cultivated among the Academy’s examination staff.

Some seniors studied elemental affinities and Soul Vessel quality, others examined the confidential Physical Condition assessments, while several more continuously reorganized their draft priorities whenever another noteworthy candidate appeared.

There was no shouting for the sake of shouting.

Every disagreement mattered.

Every argument could influence who joined House Argent for the coming year, and after experiencing firsthand how much difference a single talented recruit could make across academics, competitions and Black Week, nobody inside the room treated the responsibility lightly.

At the centre of everything sat Argent’s current House Lord, Cedric Valemont, surrounded by the seniors responsible for making the final selections alongside him.

"Seven."

One senior announced as another appraisal report was placed upon the table.

"We’ve received seven confirmed four-star appraisals now, alongside twenty-seven at 3.67, fifty at 3.5 and many more around 3."

Cedric immediately looked towards the seven four star reports positioned before him, as of all the candidates they could pick, these were the top priority.

"Out of these seven, once we add physical assessment scores, who are the clear favorites?"

He asked, as—

"Four remain clearly ahead."

The senior replied.

"The other three are still exceptional candidates, and I’d strongly recommend keeping all of them near the top of our later priority lists. But their physical assessments created enough separation that I don’t believe any of them justify our opening selection."

Nobody objected.

Their attention shifted towards the remaining four profiles.

Bastian Marroway.

4.82/5.

Elena Voss.

4.85/5.

Gary Ironveil.

4.95/5.

Riven Dawnriver.

4.97/5.

Cedric slowly ran his eyes across the four reports.

Four students.

Four perfect official appraisal scores.

And unless something extraordinary arrived from one of the remaining examination chambers, one of them would almost certainly become House Argent’s first recruit.

"Start with Marroway."

Cedric instructed, as a dark-haired senior named Marcus immediately pulled Bastian’s profile closer.

"Bastian Marroway. Ember Rank, Excellent Soul Vessel Quality and three separate elemental affinities. Good Earth, Good Flame and Acceptable Light."

Several expressions around the table sharpened.

"His official affinity score naturally caps at four, but the distribution is what interests me."

Marcus continued.

"Earth and Flame are both Good, which already gives him two strong combat-compatible elements, while Acceptable Light gives him a third option and the potential to learn healing spells that could give him more versatility.....

Also, his confidential Physical Condition assessment brings his complete evaluation to 4.82 which is bloody impressive considering the best overall score during our batch was 4.67."

A female senior sitting opposite him immediately jumped into the conversation.

"I think you’re underselling the significance of having three usable affinities while maintaining an Excellent Soul Vessel."

She tapped Bastian’s profile.

"We spent half of last year complaining that too many of our strongest Ascendants were overly specialized. During structured competitions that was manageable, because we knew what events were coming and could assign people accordingly.

However, during Black Week, that became a liability because opposing Houses knew exactly which members they needed to avoid and which ones they could counter."

Her finger moved across the three affinities.

"Earth, Flame and Light gives Marroway options. We don’t know which Discipline he’ll eventually favour, and I’m not suggesting we speculate, but purely from what the Academy has measured, his elemental versatility is exceptional."

"I agree."

Marcus replied immediately.

"But that’s also precisely why I’m reluctant to place him first. His versatility is extraordinary, but neither of his strongest affinities reaches Excellent.

With senior Luigi having left the house, we no longer have a house enforcer, and for the first pick, I want someone domineering in this house that can overwhelm all through raw power alone."

He said as the girl shook her head in disagreement.

"You’re underestimating the importance of having someone like Marroway."

She countered.

"Bastian gives us three elemental affinities within one candidate while still bringing an Excellent Soul Vessel and an exceptional physical assessment. He is worth as much as three 3.5 candidates easily ...."

Cedric listened without interrupting.

Neither argument was frivolous.

Bastian Marroway was exactly the sort of candidate who could become the centrepiece of a House Draft during a weaker year.

Unfortunately, this was not a weaker year.

"Alright, we will circle back to him later, for now let’s move on to Voss."

Cedric eventually instructed, as Bastian’s report was quickly replaced by Elena’s.

"Elena Voss. Ember Rank. Excellent Soul Vessel Quality. Excellent Shadow affinity."

The atmosphere changed slightly at the final word.

Shadow remained one of the rarest affinities appearing within any Imperial Academy intake, and an Excellent classification made the result considerably more noteworthy.

"Her complete evaluation is 4.85."

Gwen the Argent House Secretary continued.

"Which places her above Marroway primarily because of her Physical Condition assessment, but personally, I would rank her above him even if their physical scores were identical."

Marcus immediately glanced towards her.

"Because of Shadow?"

"Because of Excellent Shadow."

She corrected.

"We’re going into three Black Weeks. We know exactly how much reconnaissance, infiltration, counter-reconnaissance and information control mattered last year, and we were terrible at almost all of it."

Several expressions around the table darkened.

That particular weakness required no explanation.

Argent had learned it painfully.

"We lost resources because we couldn’t identify raids early enough. We had supply movements tracked without realizing it. Twice, Aureate knew where our important members were before operations even began."

She tapped Elena’s affinity result.

"I am not claiming an affinity automatically translates into competence. We have no measurements proving what Voss can actually accomplish with Shadow yet, and I refuse to invent capabilities she hasn’t demonstrated."

Her finger remained firmly against the report.

"But the Academy has confirmed that her natural resonance with one of the rarest elements in the Empire is Excellent. That alone gives us developmental possibilities we simply don’t possess right now."

"Then I would argue she’s potentially more valuable to Argent specifically than her 4.85 suggests."

Another senior added.

"We shouldn’t evaluate these candidates as though every House has identical weaknesses. Aureate might look at Voss and see someone they don’t need, since their piece of shit leader is an expert shadow user.

But the others will drool over her."

The senior said, as Marcus nodded slowly in agreement.

"That’s fair."

He said, as Cedric remained silent for several moments more.

Bastian Marroway possessed remarkable versatility, while Elena Voss possessed an extremely rare Excellent affinity corresponding directly with one of Argent’s greatest weaknesses.

Either could justify an opening selection.

And they were still only halfway through the discussion.