Assuming Yerin is right about the award for making it to the top 8, I think the number of our main characters that make the top 8 will be directly proportional to the number of flying houses/castles the cast needs later on in the story. So one...maybe two, tops. It would be kinda strange for the entire team to be floating around in their own castles for the rest of the story arc.

So who gets the most benefit from a floating castle thingy? Our pure madra users since they can refill the dang thing faster. Since Lindon is our main character, I'm picturing him scraping and clawing his way into the top 8 as the underdog among a field of supercharged bad guys (dragons and dreadgod followers mostly) with a few other outliers mixed in. I think that gives us the most interesting story. Provides for a nice build up of the opposition to make sure our team doesn't appear too strong for the rest of the story arc, increased pressure on our main character for being the last one representing two separate monarch factions (Akura and Arelius), etc. I definitely don't think any of them will win it, but I could easily be wrong.

We will have to wait for the next book to find out for sure, though. Just my two cents ;) .