There was a shift in the atmosphere, a shift of silence.
Hundreds of thousands participated in the trials and the committee, responsible to find 2000 worthy wielders of the Aether Artifacts, picked candidates of talent never seen before. It was safe to say that prodigies in the top percentile were hardly missed, meaning the names called were those of some notability.
The fact of the matter was, though, that Valory was an unseen talent in the literal sense.
Rhodes figured it was high time the fact changed.
She strayed away from honing in on Valory's kinesthetic prowess, not after the show Carielle unknowingly put on. Consequently, her weapon-handling wouldn't draw the right eyes needed to produce the required votes in the face of the odds stacked against her.
Her perception would.
Runes bloomed across the dais and the Captain waved a hand, bringing forth screens of statistics.
"I'll brush past the stats, even though Valory scored an average of 100% across each segment of the Tripartite Trial." Rhodes tapped on her device to shrink the floating images, bringing up Valory's personal set of videos. "Miss Efron's specialty requires a keen eye to notice."
Blurred footage of Valory pausing among occupied participants alongside a teammate rolled, showing the exact moment she sensed the start of the mind loop. She pointed, chatted, and was transferred to the beginning once more. The next time she made it to the end, she pulled out the cog, free of the mind trip.
Ordinarily, a mage on Collins' level wouldn't dare leave so much as a feather out of place; however it was set there on purpose to answer a sole question.
Who could notice the cog and who could break out?
"Miss Efron is one of the few thousands able to pick up the cog Major Collins left in the mind trap," Rhodes said, "and one of the hundred able to shatter her mind's ensnares."
Rhodes displayed other cases of Valory's heightened senses in hopes it would speak for itself, including various cases of her alerting her team of incoming spells.
"I fail to recognize what you're getting at here, Captain," an Archon muttered, gaze wandering past the screens of Valory's time in the trials. "I admit, her awareness will suit her well in future endeavours as a mage. Unfortunately, it's not enough to commit an Aether Artifact into her hands."
"If you're focusing on the fact she seems deft at detecting falsehoods, it's redundant and predictable," one of the Special Intelligence agents mentioned. "It says right on her record that she's a pickpocket. Takes a trickster to know a trickster."
"Not to mention," Mister Tamaan drawled, a sly smile playing on his lips, "she has a paltry ASC of eleven aether strands."
No whispers rose at the claim, not even a shift in movement. Many settled for raising an eyebrow, checking their devices for the fact. 'Damn,' Rhodes thought. "I was getting to that."
"She's barely an unbound," someone muttered. "If I can I even call her that."
"A true shame. I was starting to like her."
"Guess that ends it."
"Previously. She was a pickpocket previously, and that's not the reason Miss Efron has a knack for seeing the things hidden," Rhodes said, slashing through the murmurs. "Miss Efron's a high silver."
The brute force of her statement was enough to shock the committee into a din of silence.
"A tactic based on desperation," a Zingese Archon interjected, a Chair with a distaste for all things worth less than gold. Dangerously quiet on trials that had no association with highborn, it seemed she could no longer keep silent.
"The testing for one's PAST is relatively subjective to the tester. Even if we gave Miss Rox the benefit of the doubt and believed she was a low silver, her ASC gives her little margin to catch the competition. Carielle Hayes, for example, would leave her in the dust."
"That's a bit of a stretch." Archon Jin's eyes narrowed at the Captain's disagreement. Rhodes found she hardly cared. "All PAST testers are trained to ensure that the result which arises, if not correct, comes within a reasonable range."
"Then how come—"
"Then how come it wasn't revealed before?" Rhodes interrupted and the Archon's expression darkened, her lips sharper than a blade.
Tension thickened to the viscosity of tar and the Assembly of the Military held their breath in distress at their brash soldier. That was an Archon she was speaking to.
"I bet that as soon as they saw she had eleven aether strands, they didn't bother with testing her PAST. It does not change the fact that we now know she is a silver, a high one at that," Rhodes said.
"If I may speak." Rhodes could practically hear the bones creaking as an Artificer took his time to stand, bone-white hair tied into a polite tail behind. "I concur with Archon Jin. She's likely not a high silver."
Lines marred Rhodes' brow.
"In fact, Miss Efron may very well be a low gold," he finished.
Gazes that were glued onto the event happening between Rhodes and Archon Jin streamed toward the old man, bold words earning undivided attention.
"Explain yourself, Winsford," Archon Jin commanded a second sooner than Rhodes would've.
"If we recall, Miss Efron was lured away by a pond." He tapped at a device in his hands and a notification appeared on Rhodes' tablet, asking for access permission. She allowed it and the floating windows switched to the third day of the trials, following Valory as she stumbled through a stone forest, led by mind magic.
"That pond wasn't your regular body of water," Winsford went on to say. "In actuality, it was a spirit. Partially water-based, partially mind-based—and no, I wouldn't suggest you turn it into a familiar."
His ending sentence nabbed the greed gleaming in the eyes of the audience. Spirits were items of desire, able to be bound as a mage as mobile partners, boosting one's strength.
Her own familiar nestled at its boundaries, its wispy form solidifying as it awoke. 'Rest Dynami,' she told it, asking "Partially illusion-based?"
"Yes. That was what drew Miss Efron and those two aether creatures to its grasp—its illusion. For her to be able to be held by it requires good senses."
"I thought that the lower one's senses are, the more privy they are to illusions and mind traps," Rhodes asked, holding an inkling she'd like where it was going.
Winsford's brown eyes sparkled at her question, linked by unsaid understanding. "That is undoubtedly true solely in higher ranks. Lower tiers of aether creatures cast a rough caricature of an illusion that it could hardly be called one. For one to perceive such a spell, they'd have to have a high level of sensitivity, flipping the usual rule on its head."
"And there you have it." The Captain gestured to the finely dressed audience of Committee's Say. "With her PAST being as high as it is, Miss Efron will have no trouble at all catching up."
"I believe Winsford's statements to be clouded, no doubt coming from an enchanter looking for someone to apprentice." Mr. Tamaan looked at the older man.
Winsford chuckled. "In all honesty, you're not wrong. All the Artificers here are rooting for her, no matter the order."
A hint of mirth flowed through the Assembly of Artificers. "Winsford you better not snatch her up before us metalsmiths!"
"She'd make a better alchemist!"
Winsford shrugged. "No promises."
"If we may, let's get back on topic," Archon Lenson requested through smiling lips.
"Yes, I suggest our assembly of adventurers speak up on the topic," Mr. Tamaan said. "Perhaps you have a different take on her third trial."
"We share the same views on Miss Efron's trial as Captain Rhodes." Magister Leon, better known as the Lion of Reynor Royals, spoke out. His mane of hair rivaled the flares of the sun, hazel eyes a window to the confidence in his magic. No one dared to revoke his statement. He gave a slight bob of the head to the Metal Incarnate, who nodded back.
Rhodes hid a grin.
"But you said—!" Mr. Tamaan tried to speak.
"Stop it." Archon Quiet rose to his feet. "Arguing like children is beneath us. Let our votes talk, not our mouths. All those in favour, raise your dominant hand."
Rhodes exhaled through her nose. 'This is it.'
It was far from the decisive decision made at Carielle's hearing, those in the aristocratic assemblies glancing at Archon Jin, a steady leader of one of the Major Clans.
So much for no bias.
All that mattered, though, was that it was the same result. A wave that started in the Artificer assembly, flowing through the adventurers and her fellow military officers.
"It is settled." The central Archon gestured at the scribe to transcript his next words. "Although questionable, Valory Efron has been chosen to receive an Aether Artifact."