Chapter 42 - Inside The SMD Building
Keith gave Jason an intense look that would have been enough to make anyone nervous, but Jason only stared back at him for a few seconds before he finally gave the man a nod and introduced himself.
"I'm Jason. Nice to meet you. Could you point me in the direction of the SMD Appraisal Department? I want to sell the Magic Crystals I got from the gate."
Jason wasn't even put off by the fact that the Enforcer was already waiting there for him, and he wasn't interested in knowing what the man wanted. As far as Jason was concerned, he was only here to sell what he got from the Gate. Once he was done with that, he would leave for New York.
Keith gave Jason a serious look before he spoke.
"I heard from my superior that you had an incident yesterday where you used your powers outside a Gate. I understand that you are a new Superhuman, and that is enough reason for us to overlook this incident as a one-time thing. But I hope to get your assurance that something like this will never happen again."
Keith's eyes narrowed threateningly and Jason just glanced at him before turning away. Jason knew that there were laws against Superhumans using their abilities outside a Gate. That was the only thing keeping most buildings standing today. If all Superhumans were allowed to use their abilities however they wanted, the world could be destroyed in no time!
But Jason wasn't going to promise something so arbitrary! Jason only used his ability because his mother needed him. If there was ever a time when he needed to use his ability for the people he loved, then he would use it without caring about the consequences.
"I'll try not to use more force than I need to outside a Gate."
This was Jason's simple answer, and it only made Keith narrow his eyes further! Keith knew that Jason was giving him such an open answer on purpose! This meant that Jason would still be willing to use his abilities outside a Gate if the situation called for it.
However, Jason's answer was not enough reason for Keith to sanction him, and Keith could only swallow his irritation before he turned and began walking into the building while telling Jason to come along.
Jason followed behind Keith with his hands still in his pocket and he looked around with a calm detachment as he entered the building. The inside of the building looked far more impressive than the outside. The ground floor was a hurricane of motion, with hundreds of people moving about and trying to accomplish one task or another as quickly as possible!
There were many receptionists sitting at a long desk on one side of the room and answering inquiries from multiple Superhumans all at the same time, and there were Superhumans walking about the room and talking with each other in quiet voices about some things or another.
Jason found that he could hear most of what was being said by those around him and he realized that it was due to the changes in his body as a Superhuman. Jason had increased durability and strength as a Superhuman, but his senses had already increased, allowing him to see and hear much further than before.
"Do you think we should sell the staff from the hobgoblin?"
"No, we need it for our healer. We should use the Magic Crystal to trade for a stronger blade!"
"We need to sell it to raise money for this month's salaries! If we get another Gate contract this week, then we'll come back and buy it!"
"Hey, isn't that the new Superhuman, Jason?"
"Wow, it is. I heard he awakened as an A Rank! Should we go talk to him!? Maybe we can tell him to join our guild!"
"Stop, don't you remember the rules! You can't recruit inside the SMD building! And look who's walking in front of him!"
"Eesh! It's an Enforcer! I would've gone straight to jail!"
"It's not just any Enforcer, it's Keith, the Master of Sand! He's the strictest Enforcer in the country! If he catches you, forget about going to jail, you'll never be able to go into another Gate in your life!"
"Damn! Let's just go!"
Jason felt his attention being dragged around by his newfound senses and he had to struggle to drown out the sounds of all the people around him. They were all glancing in his direction and talking in hushed voices, but Jason could hear them as if they were standing right next to him. Thankfully, no one came up to him since they were all afraid of Keith.
Jason didn't know much about the Superhuman Enforcers and he didn't even know why they were so terrified of Keith, but he could understand that Keith was likely one of the best Enforcers if they were this scared of him. Keith was only an A Rank, but they made him sound like he was the Grim Reaper or something.
Jason looked around again with calm eyes. He never thought he would be in this building in his entire life. After Jason turned sixteen and still didn't awaken an ability, he accepted that he was going to live a regular life as a regular human and he never bothered thinking much about the Superhuman world. But that didn't mean that Jason wasn't curious about what it meant to be a Superhuman.
Gina was a Superhuman and she was his best friend for a long time, so it was always apparent to Jason that they lived very different lives. Jason knew that there was a lot more to the world than what he saw as a regular human, and now that he was a Superhuman, he could understand that he had been right. There were a lot of differences, but there were also a lot of similarities.
'It's just like everywhere else. A few people monopolize the majority of the Gates and rewards, and the fewer Superhumans at the bottom try their best to scrape for whatever they can get their hands on. I thought the world of Superhumans would be better than the world of regular humans, but I guess I was wrong. At the end of the day, both regular humans and Superhumans are still humans. At our very core, we are a greedy species.'
Jason wasn't going to fool himself into thinking that this world was any different from the world of humans! He knew that they would try to recruit him just because he seemed powerful and he refused to become the slave of anyone just because of money. Jason had the ability to make money on his own, and he would rather keep his freedom while doing it.
Keith led Jason up through the elevator to the thirtieth floor and they both came out at another large hall that had fewer people walking around it. This floor was where the SMD Appraisal and Acquisition division worked. All the Superhumans who had gone into Gates and retrieved Magic Crystals came here to have them appraised and then exchanged for money.
Keith began walking toward a receptionist who was talking to a younger woman, and Jason followed after him calmly. Keith waited behind the younger woman for the receptionist to finally see him, and once she did, the receptionist's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Keith's uniform like a deer in headlights!
She immediately turned to the woman before she quickly told her to please excuse her! The younger woman was shocked when she saw the receptionist immediately moving away to speak to Keith instead! She was angry that she was being ignored and she was about to turn around and reprimand whoever was standing there! Who in the world did they think they were!? Couldn't they just wait in line like everyone else!?
But once the younger woman turned and saw Keith's uniform, her eyes widened in shock and she took a step back quickly!
It was an Enforcer! What in the world was an Enforcer doing here!? The younger woman immediately gave Keith a quick greeting before she started to walk away to meet with someone else! She didn't even want to be near an Enforcer at all! In the world of Superhumans, Enforcers were notorious for being the most ruthless people! They had been shown capturing other Superhumans so many times on the news that just seeing their uniform was enough to put the fear of God into the body of any Superhuman!