38. Just Another Adventurer

At Sailor’s Watch in the Island’s guild district, Rufus and Farrah reunite with Jason, who has been cooking in the inn’s kitchen. They debate Jason’s choice to heal people freely across the delta, with Jason defending helping the poor and sick despite the Healer church’s displeasure. Rufus confirms Jason’s application to the Adventure Society and warns he won’t be ready for the next field assessment, which Rufus will administer.

Jason explores the guild district, noting the Adventure and Magic Societies’ dominance. At the Adventure Society office, he meets Humphrey Geller and Humphrey’s baby dragon familiar, Stash. After bonding, Jason promises to learn the attractive priestess’s name for the flustered Humphrey after his assessment.

Jason is escorted to his evaluation by a dismissive Adventure Society official. Inside, he meets Gabrielle Pellin, an acolyte of the goddess Knowledge, and Russell from the Magic Society. Gabrielle’s aura reader cannot penetrate Jason’s protections, but she receives direction from her goddess to proceed.

Gabrielle identifies Jason’s essences as dark, blood, sin, and doom. Russell verifies they are permitted as an affliction-specialist combination, and the official clears Jason for field testing at the start of a future month. Jason declines to register his individual abilities with the Magic Society, citing other plans, and leaves to rejoin Humphrey.

Afterward, the evaluators remark on Jason’s unusual behavior. Meanwhile, Rufus’s earlier warning stands: Jason is cleared but not yet ready, and training will be needed before he attempts the field assessment.