The Legendary Junkmaster

Jason took a while to explain where his current knowledge level was and answer Captain Joiner's questions. By the time he was finished explaining himself, a chorus of sighs had echoed from the crowd as many heads being shaken filled his vision. 'What's going on?'

"Jason, I'm afraid we don't really have a place for you here." Captain Joiner finally said after thinking for several moments. "Quite frankly, you're already more qualified than most Captains. Myself included. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but would you mind splitting your time between different projects and see if you can help them out?"

Jason was honestly shocked by her answer. 'Does this mean I'm actually rated above everyone here? Just how advanced is my version of Super Intelligence?' Jason felt a little bummed by this revelation. He had hoped that he could actually gain some insight into his Powers by being here. But now it looked like he would be the one teaching these guys.

"Sure, it's no problem. But, what about my apprenticeship?" Jason thought it was best to agree for now, but he really wanted to see if he could gain anything from this situation.

"Jason, you already have more than enough knowledge to no longer be considered an apprentice here. There's no point in it." Captain Joiner heavily sighed before a thought struck her. "Actually… There might be someone who you could actually learn from. But, I'm not sure if they would accept you as a student."

Jason noticed that the rest of the crowd had unpleasant looks on their faces as Captain Joiner said this. Their reaction did not fill Jason with confidence at all! 

"Just help out for now. I'll need to speak with the higher-ups and see if they'll pass your details on. If they won't, well, all that it means is that you get to go back to your hometown with the Lord's official recognition of your skills." Captain Joiner wore a solemn expression through her speech before she turned on her heels and headed off.

As soon as she was gone, the various researchers suddenly flooded him with requests to help them out first! Jason felt a little overwhelmed but eventually chose someone from among the crowd. A lot of groans ensued from his choice, but there was nothing to be done about it. After all, Captain Joiner had not ordered him to help them in any specific order.

The woman he chose from the crowd eagerly dragged him over to her workspace, only for him to shake his head at what he saw. This only got her excited because by now, she assumed that it meant he understood what she was attempting without her having to explain it!

'It's just a poor knockoff of my Basic Healing Salve….' Jason sighed before explaining what she was doing wrong and giving her a description of the flowers that he had used. The woman was a bit bummed to discover that she was basically reinventing the wheel since Jason had beaten her to it, but she still thanked him anyway.

Jason only spent ten minutes with her before he moved on to the next space. When he looked at the excited researcher, he almost felt bad about what he had to say.

"It won't work." Jason then moved on to the next space as the last researcher started yelling loudly.

Scenes like this played out over the course of the next few hours. Most researchers were highly grateful to him and excited about the insight that he shared with them. Others were raging when he told them that their projects just were not feasible right now, as far as he could see. While a mere handful was left with no advice at all, simply because Jason did not understand their projects.

When Captain Joiner returned, she found everyone working fanatically. She frowned slightly before spotting Jason sitting on a seat off to the side with nobody bothering him. She walked up to him with a complicated expression on her face.

"Did they honestly not ask for your help?" Captain Joiner sounded like she was a hair away from giving the other researchers a piece of her mind for not making use of Jason.

"No, they did…." Jason replied casually while sipping on a hot beverage that one of the researchers gave him.

It took Captain Joiner a moment to realise what he meant. She looked around at the different workspaces and silently wondered how he had managed to cover so much so quickly. 

"Oh, right." Captain Joiner began as a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. "The brass wants to see you. They think they might have something that you can help them out with. If you manage to succeed, then they'll petition for a proper mentor for you."

"Hm? Can't the mentor you're talking about solve the problem?" Jason found it rather strange that they have someone who was apparently qualified to teach him but had not been used to fix a problem they were struggling with.

"Truth be told, I don't think it's actually a problem. If my hunch is right, it's staged to see how capable you are." Captain Joiner hung her head before whispering. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this."

"It's no problem," Jason replied coolly after thinking about it. After all, it made sense to confirm the extent of his knowledge for themselves and not just take the Captain's word for it. "Should we get going?"

A chorus of complaints came from the researchers once they realised their Captain was taking Jason away from them! He was a precious resource in their eyes, so it would be a shame to hand him over to anyone else! Jason briefly said his goodbyes and thanked them all for the warm welcome. Causing many of the researchers to offer to help him out if he ever needed it in the future.

Jason chuckled as he followed Captain Joiner out of the hall. 'I wonder what kind of test they've set up for me?' Jason wondered with a glint in his eye.