Ayren's smile widened fractionally. "Precisely. One connection, properly leveraged, creates ripples throughout the entire structure." He turned back to the slate, adding more lines, more connections. "Now, what of Kale and his hidden illiteracy? How might that serve us?"
For the next hour, Ayren transformed Soren's raw information into a complex tapestry of potential manipulations. Each recruit's weakness became a pressure point, each relationship a potential fulcrum. The chalk lines multiplied until the slate resembled a spider's web, with House Velrane at its center, unseen but controlling every strand.
Soren watched, absorbing the lessons with growing unease yet undeniable fascination. This was knowledge weaponized, information transformed into power with surgical precision. Nothing wasted. Nothing overlooked. Every fact bent toward advantage.
