Do we allow franken-dropbar-hardtails in here?

I was tired of strapping fishing gear to my downhill MTB, so I snagged this build off of FB Marketplace for adventure/ bikepacking/ intro to gravel. Eventually I’d like to get an actual gravel bike, but for $300 I’ll make do with this until I’m no longer a broke grad student. Even as it is, it’s worlds more efficient than my nukeproof on road and gravel. Only upgrades I have planned are a rigid fork (mainly for bolt on points) and flats (trying to ride on clipless pedal with chacos or wading boots is suboptimal) and maybe eventually a gravel groupset. Fork suggestions welcome.