After Stacy was done with her testing, the process continued, with more and more students entering the appraisal chambers while their results were recorded and immediately transmitted towards the recruitment teams representing the four Houses.
Soon, it was Mary’s turn to enter.
Unlike Stacy, who had approached the appraisal array with her usual confidence, Mary appeared considerably more nervous as she walked towards the enormous circular platform with visibly quaking feet.
"Is your name Mary?"
The examiner asked, as Mary nodded in affirmation.
"Yes."
"All right. Place your hand against the appraisal crystal and channel your Aether naturally."
He instructed, as Mary stepped into the centre of the Array before slowly pressing her palm against the translucent crystal.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the lights within the chamber began to dim.
CRACKLE!
A thin layer of frost spread beneath Mary’s boots, although compared to what Stacy had produced earlier, the temperature dropped considerably less dramatically as pale crystals slowly crawled across the silver inscriptions surrounding her.
However, before the examiner could properly record the Frost response, something else happened.
The light surrounding Mary began disappearing.
It was subtle at first, with the shadows beneath her feet becoming slightly darker, until several inscriptions surrounding the Array suddenly turned completely black.
The examiner’s expression changed.
’Shadow?’
His eyes immediately moved towards the readings appearing beside the Array.
Dual affinities were uncommon enough to attract attention, although hardly unheard of within an institution that deliberately gathered some of the most talented children from across the entire Empire.
However, Shadow was considerably less common.
’Frost and Shadow...’
The examiner thought, as he watched the two elemental responses stabilize simultaneously.
’That’s an interesting combination.’
Several seconds later, the Array completed its assessment.
Student Name :- Mary
Ascension Rank :- Ember
Ascension Rank Score :- 4/4
Soul Vessel Quality :- Good
Soul Vessel Score :- 3/4
Aether Affinity :- Acceptable Frost, Acceptable Shadow
Aether Affinity Score :- 4/4
Overall Appraisal :- 3.67/4
Her overall score was identical to Stacy’s, however, the dynamics behind that score were very different.
Where Stacy possessed an exceptionally powerful affinity towards a single element, Mary possessed moderate compatibility with two separate elements, making her profile considerably more interesting than the number alone suggested.
’Two Acceptable affinities... one of them Shadow.’
The examiner silently evaluated.
A 3.67 overall score was impressive, although within the Imperial Academy, it was not enough to leave an experienced examiner speechless.
Yet he knew better than to judge candidates solely from the number displayed at the bottom.
Recruiters would see versatility.
Frost provided tremendous battlefield control, while Shadow possessed applications extending far beyond straightforward combat.
’She’ll definitely attract serious attention during the draft.’
The examiner concluded before quietly recording the result.
"Next."
He muttered coldly, as though Mary’s appraisal had been completely ordinary.
Mary hesitated.
"That’s it?"
She asked, worrying about how her appraisal had gone.
"That’s it. Proceed towards the Drafting Grounds."
The examiner replied, barely looking towards her as Mary reluctantly removed her hand from the crystal and walked towards the opposite exit.
Only after the door closed behind her did the examiner glance towards the assistant sitting beside him.
"Make sure to let our contacts in House Argent know about her..."
He instructed, as the assistant nodded in understanding.
—------------
Meanwhile, elsewhere within another appraisal chamber, it was finally Gary Ironveil’s turn to undergo his examination.
Unlike most students who approached the Array with some combination of nervousness, excitement or anticipation, Gary looked almost painfully bored as he entered the chamber with both hands buried within his pockets.
"You know..."
Gary muttered, looking towards the examiner.
"With how slowly you people conduct these tests, I might consider donating another appraisal array to the Academy."
The examiner blinked.
"You made me wait for nearly half an hour."
Gary complained, as he approached the platform without being instructed.
"This is genuinely the most bored I’ve felt in a very long time."
"Student, if you would just—"
The examiner began, however, Gary had already placed his palm against the crystal without being told what to do, as though he already knew exactly how to proceed.
FWOOSH!
Scarlet flames immediately erupted across one half of the platform, spreading through the silver inscriptions surrounding Gary as a wave of intense heat swept throughout the chamber.
Then came the light.
SHIIIIING!
Brilliant golden radiance suddenly burst from the opposite half of the Array, forcing one assistant to instinctively shield his eyes as the entire appraisal chamber became illuminated by an almost blinding glow.
Flame and Light continued spreading simultaneously through separate portions of the Array, with neither elemental response weakening as the appraisal crystal measured the strength of both affinities.
Yet throughout the entire phenomenon, Gary barely reacted.
He simply stood there with one hand against the crystal, looking every bit as bored as he had when entering.
The examiner looked towards the readings.
Then looked again.
Student Name :- Gary Ironveil
Ascension Rank :- Ember
Ascension Rank Score :- 4/4
Soul Vessel Quality :- Excellent
Soul Vessel Score :- 4/4
Aether Affinity :- Excellent Flame, Excellent Light
Aether Affinity Score :- 4/4
Overall Appraisal :- 4/4
The examiner’s eyes widened.
’Double Excellent?’
His gaze immediately returned towards Gary.
One Excellent affinity alone was enough to distinguish a student within an Imperial Academy intake.
Two affinities were rarer.
But two separate affinities both reaching Excellent?
’When was the last time a score like this was recorded...?’
The examiner searched through years of memories before suddenly remembering another boy who had stood upon an appraisal platform nearly five decades earlier.
Cassian Veylor.
Excellent Flame.
Excellent Earth.
A perfect overall appraisal.
The boy had subsequently graduated first within his entire generation, entered the Imperial Army immediately afterwards and eventually became one of the youngest Legion Commanders in modern Imperial history.
And now another child possessing a comparable elemental profile had entered the academy.
’House Ironveil has produced another monster.’
The examiner thought, as the weight of Gary’s surname made him respect the boy even more.
Even among the approximately four hundred students admitted into the Imperial Academy this year, the examiner seriously doubted whether anyone could rival Gary’s result.
"Your examination is complete, Young Master."
The examiner said respectfully.
"You may proceed towards the Drafting Grounds."
"Finally."
Gary muttered, removing his hand from the crystal as the flames and brilliant golden light surrounding him gradually disappeared.
"Try moving a little faster for the next person."
He added casually before walking through the exit, as the examiner stared after him, and then towards the slowly dimming ceiling lights.
’I guess this one is going to be the first draft pick....’
He thought, as one of his assistants began hurriedly chanting frost spells to bring the overall room temperature back to normal.
’Aureate is going to scoop him up for sure....’
He thought, as the next student entered the testing room.
—-------------
Across the testing facility, dozens more students continued undergoing the same process until eventually another name appeared upon one examiner’s registration sheet.
Riven Dawnriver.
The examiner instinctively straightened.
Moments later, the door opened.
Riven entered calmly, with the shortened Sky Cleaver clipped against his waist as he approached the Imperial Appraisal Array without displaying much visible nervousness.
"Young Lord."
The examiner greeted, his tone becoming noticeably more respectful after recognizing the Dawnriver name.
"If you would please step into the centre of the Array and place your palm against the appraisal crystal."
Riven nodded.
"Of course."
He muttered before stepping onto the platform before placing his palm against the crystal.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
CRACKLE!
A brilliant arc of lightning suddenly erupted across the Array.
The examiner recoiled.
BOOOOOOM!
A deafening thunderclap exploded throughout the chamber, powerful enough to rattle the windows within their frames as every silver inscription covering the floor illuminated simultaneously.
"What the—"
One assistant stumbled backwards.
The ground trembled.
Another bolt of lightning ripped across the platform before striking one of the reinforced conductors surrounding the Array, while countless smaller arcs began dancing across Riven’s body without appearing to harm him whatsoever.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
The translucent appraisal crystal turned brilliant white.
Then brighter.
And brighter, as the examiner stared towards it in disbelief.
’Holy Minerva!’
He thought, as although he had witnessed thousands of students undergo Imperial Appraisal throughout his years working within the Academy, he had never seen one quite like this.
Poor affinities barely produced a reaction.
Acceptable affinities generated recognizable elemental manifestations.
Good affinities could affect portions of the surrounding chamber.
Excellent affinities occasionally created phenomena powerful enough to surprise even experienced examiners.
But this...
BOOOOOOM!
Another thunderclap echoed throughout the testing facility.
The Array flickered.
For one terrifying moment, several inscriptions surrounding Riven flashed erratically as though the device itself were struggling to properly interpret whatever it was measuring.
Then the readings stabilized, as the examiner finally looked down at the score.
Student Name :- Riven Dawnriver
Ascension Rank :- Ember
Ascension Rank Score :- 4/4
Soul Vessel Quality :- Excellent
Soul Vessel Score :- 4/4
Aether Affinity :- Perfect Storm
Aether Affinity Score :- 4/4
Overall Appraisal :- 4/4
The examiner froze.
Perfect?
He wondered, as although he had heard the legend that there was a grade above excellent, he had never seen it with his own eyes until today.
For several seconds, he simply stared towards the word as though his eyes had somehow misread what was displayed before him.
Then something uncomfortable stirred within his memory.
’Isn’t that the same grade that was received by...’
His heartbeat quickened, as he had only heard about one other individual getting the perfect score ever before.
A student whose appraisal had become Academy legend.
A student whose name had once occupied the highest positions upon nearly every leaderboard within these walls.
Someone professors had openly predicted would eventually become one of the greatest Ascendants the Valdrak Empire had ever produced.
And technically...
They had been correct.
Just not in the way anyone had hoped.
The examiner immediately forced the memory away.
’No.’
His fingers tightened slightly around the edge of his desk.
’Better not to think about that criminal.’
There were names people within the Empire had learned not to speak casually, and the fact that the only other Perfect affinity he had ever heard belonged to someone who eventually became one of those names suddenly made the boy standing before him considerably more unsettling.
His gaze returned towards Riven.
The young Dawnriver merely stood upon the Array while lightning crawled harmlessly across his body, completely unaware of the memories his result had awakened.
The examiner looked towards the measurement again.
For several seconds, he genuinely wondered whether something had malfunctioned, until he noticed the affinity reading sitting against the absolute upper boundary the Array was capable of recording.
Then he realized something even more disturbing.
The machine had not determined that Riven’s affinity was merely one grade above Excellent.
It had reached its limit.
There was simply nowhere higher for the measurement to go.
’How strong is it actually?’
The examiner wondered.
Perfect was not even supposed to be a conventional classification.
It was essentially an overflow designation built into Imperial Appraisal Arrays for the extraordinarily unlikely possibility that an elemental resonance exceeded the threshold classified as Excellent.
Which meant the word itself told him almost nothing.
Riven could have barely crossed that threshold.
Or he could have exceeded it by an absurd margin.
The Array had no means of distinguishing between the two.
BOOM!
Another distant rumble of thunder rolled through the chamber.
The examiner slowly looked towards the boy standing upon the platform.
Riven appeared completely unharmed.
If anything, he seemed more confused by everyone else’s reaction than disturbed by the lightning still occasionally crackling around his fingertips.
A bead of sweat slowly formed against the examiner’s forehead.
"Your examination is complete, Young Lord. Please remove your hand before you damage the array...."
The examiner eventually said, his voice trembling in fear.
"You may proceed towards the Drafting Grounds."
Riven removed his palm from the crystal.
Almost immediately, the lightning disappeared.
"Thank you."
He replied calmly before turning towards the exit, as nobody inside the chamber spoke a word for a long while afterwards.
’Please don’t turn out like him...’
The examiner prayed, as the bead of sweat rolled off his forehead and towards the floor, while another thought popped in his head.
’I think there will be a riot between the four houses to get this one....’
He thought, as recalling how in the past years, houses bid crazy amounts of merit seals to trade talented Ascendants, he felt sure that Riven was going to start a war.