Farrah emerged from her own room, rubbing her eyes.

“Oh, welcome back, Rufus. No breakfast?”

“Why would I have bought breakfast? I told you to relax the training, not give it up entirely. Jason needs to develop good habits now.”

“Forget that guy,” Gary said.

Farrah nodded her agreement.

“He went to see the goddess of knowledge few days ago,” she said. “Since then he’s been like a monster. All we wanted was a few relaxing days before you got back, but he won’t stop. The closest he comes to taking a break is having a drink with Jory down at the clinic, and I’m pretty sure that’s only because it lets him train his resistance ability.”

“Turns out booze is poison,” Gary said. “I’m not going to stop drinking it, but it makes you think.”

“Did you at least show him around the city?” Rufus asked.

“Oh, we showed him,” Farrah said.

“Now he does an evening run each night around the Island,” Gary complained.

The door opened up and Jason pushed in a trolley containing two rows of covered food trays.

“Rufus, you’re back,” Jason said happily. “You can join us for breakfast.”

“From what these two were saying, I thought you’d be training.”

“Yeah, I ate a spirit coin this morning, ran into the clinic and did some weight training. Then I ran back and got to work on breakfast. These two have been slacking off while you were away.”

As he talked, Jason transferred food from the tray to the dining table. Gary and Farrah sat down, Gary rubbing his hands together.

“I’m starting to get a handle on the local food,” Jason said. “I’ve been checking out the markets when I’m taking a break. But we can crank up the training intensity now that you’re back, yeah?”

Gary’s hands stopped moving.

“What do you mean by crank up the intensity?” he asked.

“We can stop slacking off. I’ve been slacking off a bit, cooking, making my way through Jory’s liquor cabinet.”

“Rest is an important part of training, too,” Rufus said.

“Exactly,” Gary mumbled around a mouthful of sausage.

Gary and Farrah were already tucking in as Jason poured out glasses of juice from a large pitcher.

“Have something to eat,” Jason told Rufus, pushing a laden plate his way. “Tell us how your field assessment thing went.”

Rufus picked up his cutlery.

“It does smell good.”

“So, I know this guy Humphrey,” Jason said to Rufus. “He was part of your group, right?”

“Humphrey Geller?” Rufus asked. “You know him?”

“We went in for induction on the same day,” Jason said. “Nice guy. How’d he do?”

“He failed. His skills are solid and he has a good grasp of his abilities. The ones he’s awakened, at least. His problem is one of mindset.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asked.

“Humphrey’s confluence essence is dragon,” Rufus said.