Chapter 60: Wholesome dinner

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Wholesome dinner

For the next hour, the dinner ecame less like an introduction and more like an ordinary evening between people who had known one another for years.

They talked about cultivation schools. About Hunter licenses, and the absurd paperwork involved in getting one. About the ridiculous cost of proper training equipment, Jason making a pointed comment about his own spear budget that earned a groan from Novaria.

About Caleb’s reluctance to commit to the military, the topic circling back around to it naturally once the lighter conversation had run its course.

"Most cultivators your level don’t really get the option, from what I’ve heard," Caleb said eventually, half a question.

"He’s right," Judith said, settling back into her chair properly, the brisk, practical tone of someone used to explaining this exact subject.

"Most cultivators aren’t talented enough for independent Hunter work, at least not the kind that pays much. The realistic paths are the military or one of the Great Clans."

"The military’s the more common choice," Novaria added, wheeling herself a little closer to the table.

"Your rank follows your cultivation fairly predictably until Third Level.

After that, you’re climbing by default. Fifth and Sixth Level cultivators are rare even in the biggest forces."

"What about the Seventh Level?" Caleb asked.

"Only the clan heads," Jason said.

"Veryon, Agnello, Torin, and Mordania’s current sitting ruler are at that level."

Caleb frowned. "That’s really all of them?"

"At that level? More or less."

"That seems terrifying."

"It is."

Novaria continued, the cadence of someone who’d grown up surrounded by exactly this kind of political reality.

"Each of the Great Clans keeps a private force.

Individually, any one of them is comparable to a small country’s entire military.

If all three ever actually combined with the government, Mordania wouldn’t have a rival in the region."

"Why don’t they?"

"Because none of the clan heads will bow to the other two, or to Mordania’s ruler," she said simply.

"So instead you get a standing balance. Veryon, Agnello, Torin, and the government, all watching each other.

None of them willing to make the first move that upsets this fragile balance."

"Torin’s the most quiet of the three," Jason added. "They barely ever make headlines.

Doesn’t mean anyone doubts where they stand among the big three."

Judith picked up the thread from the other side. "The government side’s less glamorous, I’ll be honest. I served for over two decades in it.

The clans have better cultivation techniques, better training grounds, mana-gathering arrays that actually work the way they’re supposed to.

Their array masters are a different tier entirely, and some of them still hold ancient inheritances the government simply doesn’t have access to."

"So why would anyone choose the government?"

"Loyalty," Judith said, with a dry, knowing look. "Nobody questions a soldier who turned down a Great Clan to serve the Kingdom instead. You’re already proving something just by being there."

"And the clans only take the talented ones anyway," Novaria said. "Even their First Level recruits go through serious screening. It’s not an open door."

Caleb absorbed all of it quietly. "What would you choose?" he asked eventually, looking at Jason.

"Me?"

"Yeah."

Jason glanced toward Novaria before answering. "Right now?"

Caleb nodded.

"I’d choose the people I wanted to protect."

The answer seemed to catch Caleb off guard. "Even if it wasn’t the best career?"

"Careers can change." Jason smiled faintly. "People are much harder to replace."

Novaria’s expression softened at that, something quiet passing between them that Caleb either didn’t notice or politely pretended not to.

Caleb looked down at his bowl. "I think I’d like that."

"You don’t have to decide tonight."

"I know."

"Good."

---

The conversation continued a little longer, easy and unhurried.

Then Novaria was midway through explaining something about recruitment ages in the Agnello forces when her voice caught.

Jason’s head snapped toward her instantly.

Her hand had gone rigid around her spoon, body tensing in the familiar, terrible way he’d learned to recognize in half a heartbeat.

"Mom-" Caleb’s voice cracked with sudden panic, half-rising from his chair.

Jason was already moving, faster than Judith could manage despite her own years of training, the injector in his hand before his mind had fully caught up to his body.

"I’m here," he said, steady despite the spike of fear in his chest, driving it into the outer meat of her thigh in one clean motion. "I’ve got her."

Her breathing settled within seconds, the worst of the convulsion fading before it had the chance to fully take hold.

Judith reached Caleb’s side, a steadying hand on his shoulder. "She’s alright. It’s over. Breathe."

Jason carried Novaria up to bed, settling her gently, and sat with her a moment longer than strictly necessary before heading back down, the warmth of the evening thoroughly extinguished by the time he reached the stairs.

---

The table was quiet when he returned, Caleb pale and subdued, Judith watching him with careful, knowing eyes.

"She’s resting," Jason said.

"Thank you for moving so fast," Judith said. Then, quieter, she stood and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I mean that beyond tonight, too. I’m glad she ended up with someone who actually understands what it’s like, watching yourself become irrelevant to the world you used to matter in."

Jason didn’t have an answer for that, so he simply nodded.

Caleb offered a quiet, sincere goodbye, and Judith guided him out the door, the house falling into silence behind them.

Jason locked up and climbed the stairs, mentally bracing himself for another night of cultivation despite the exhaustion already sitting heavy in his limbs.

He stopped outside the bedroom door.

Novaria was crying.

Just a quiet, broken sound, nearly eight months now of carried weight finally cracking open all at once.

"I’m so tired Jason"

She said. It came out so softly that Jason barely managed to catch it.

He didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t try to say anything.

He climbed onto the bed beside her and pulled her into his arms, and she gripped him back with what strength her weak arms could manage, holding on like he was the only solid thing left in the room.

He stayed like that until her breathing finally evened out into sleep.

A faint chime registered somewhere at the edge of his awareness, a system notification waiting patiently to be read.

He let it wait.

For the first time in months, he didn’t cultivate that night.

He closed his eyes instead, and let sleep take him beside her.