Ronan's was unlike any other youth the house masters had ever seen.
Generally if an individual had a high level or a rare elemental affinity or had a high natural talent , any one of these criteria was enough for a housemaster to use merit points to draft this talent.
However Ronan not only had one , not only had two , but surpassed all competition on all 3 stats ,a class in himself above the rest of the crowd from the very day he stepped foot in the academy.
He was a talent that every single house wanted , hence it was no wonder when the usually dignified housemaster's started to behave like they had lost all their marbles.
" 20 MERIT POINTS ". Said the Dharma ( Yellow ) Housemaster
Audible gasps were heard from the crowd at such a ridiculously high number , as before Ronan , the highest merit points used on a single individual were 7 for John by Karma ( green ) house.
" 40 Merit points " , Said Gyan ( Blue ) Housemaster
He looked towards the Yellow Housemaster as if to declare that he absolutely wanted this kid and that if the yellow house wanted to fight with blue for him , he would not back down .
Naturally the yellow Housemaster paid no heed to the warning glances from blue house master as he used the complete budget he had left placing a bid at ' 57 merit points! '
Murmurs and excited discussions erupted all over the crowd as everybody witnessing this scene had a mini adrenaline rush themselves. For every single kid sitting on a house table wanted Ronan to join their house and sit with them on their table , eventually helping them win everything in the future as teammate.
However only one house was going to walk away with Ronan onboard , and sadly for the bottom two houses of Yellow and Blue , they were outclassed when Red started their bidding.
Bhakti ( Red ) housemaster said "90 Merit point".
As the blue and yellow Housemaster gave the red Housemaster a aghast look as if to say ' Seriously? You will choose to big stack bully us in this situation?'
However the red-house master paid them no heed as he was firm in his resolve in making sure that Ronan would join the red table and be dressed in red robes .
The red was the most decorated houses in the history of the academy with highest overall wins and the best overall track record. With the Red house master's only and biggest regret ever being the fact that he underestimated the importance of having Percy Draco in his house.
Last year , Karma( green) house took the trophy from under Bhakti house's nose , only because of Percy Draco. Someone that the Red house had let slip through their hands even though they had the largest stack of merit points amongst everyone being the reigning champions.
Hence , the moment Ronan displayed his heaven defying talent , the Red house master knew that this shining star was going to become a pillar of their house , as even a 100 years in the future when some kid would join the academy they would wish to be a part of Red house , the same as Ronan Draco was.
Little did the Red Housemaster know that this was exactly how things would turn out to be in the future , as Ronan was going to come through on all of the Red houses hopes and even more.
At this point the Green Housemaster looked towards the Red Housemaster as he understood that he had made the biggest blunder by choosing to buy John for 7 merit points as now having only 121 points to the 122 of Bhakti house , he had lost the final say in drafting Ronan to the green house.
It would be monumental if both Percy and Ronan were in the same house , as everyone else might as well stop trying . However that dream scenario would not happen now that Green house lost out to the overall points that Red house had. Something that the green Housemaster would regret forever more.
At this point he knew that the smartest thing to do was to stretch the Red house to their uppermost limit , not sparing them a single point to spend on acquiring any other talent , as the Karma housemaster said " 121 Merit points! ".
The crowd melted down at such a declaration as the phenomenon that was happening before their very eyes was something monumental and unprecedented.
However that was not all , as the declaration was instantly followed by Bhakti house masters final and conclusive declaration of " 122 Merit points ".
It was the entirety of the houses budget. Every single point they had , a year's worth of the team effort. Spent to get the once in a millennium talent Ronan Draco.
While the common public did not understand that last exchange of the bidding , as the red Housemaster had actually won Ronan at 90 , the rest was only a premium that he needed to pay as the green house pushed them out of the race .
However the reds were still the winner of the draft for this year , as even with the other house masters acquiring many more talents , none of them were even a speck of dust compared to Ronan , as they could only look enviously towards the youth dressed in red robes at the Red house table.
As a swarm of kids tried to strike up a conversation with the second prince.