The next morning, Zack walked into the Vanguard Industries office. He felt the familiar weight of the building, the scent of stale coffee and corporate anxiety. But today, something was different. He wasn't just an E-Rank Healer anymore; he was an E-Rank Hunter with over 30 points in every stat. The office felt different because he was different.
He had his phone in his pocket, its audio recorder on. He had a plan. Brute force was for the dimension; in the real world, he had to be smarter.
He walked straight to the main conference room on the top floor. He could hear Mr. Barros's loud, booming voice through the thick wooden door.
"...it's a done deal. The kid will sign, or we'll just vote him out. He doesn't have the stomach for a fight."
Zack pushed the door open.
The chatter stopped. Barros, two other hostile board members, and a pair of men in expensive suits (the buyers) all looked up.
"Ah, Zack," Barros said, a greasy, condescending smile on his face. "Glad you could make it. We were just finalising the warehouse sale. Your signature is all we need." He slid a contract down the long, polished table.
Zack didn't move. He just stood by the door, his hands in his pockets. His kind, quiet demeanor was still there, but his eyes were steady. Cold.
"No," Zack said.
The smile on Barros's face twitched. "What... what did you say, kid?"
"I said no. The sale is canceled."
Barros's face began to turn a blotchy red. "Listen here, you little F-Rank brat—"
"E-Rank, actually," Zack said simply, holding up his wrist. The [E (Beginner)] rank glowed on his watch, clear as day.
The room went silent. The two buyers looked at each other, their confident expressions faltering. E-Rank was still low, but it meant he was a real Hunter, not just a civilian kid.
Barros was the first to recover. He burst out laughing. It was a loud, ugly sound.
"E-Rank? You? Let me guess... you're an E-Rank Healer? Oh, that's rich!" He turned to the others. "The kid is going to bore us to death with his [Minor Soothe]! What a joke!"
The other board members chuckled nervously.
"That's enough," Barros spat, his good mood gone. "You're signing that paper, kid. You're just a Healer. You're weak. You've always been weak."
He strode over to Zack, his large frame blocking the light. He intended to grab the boy by the collar, to intimidate him like he always did.
"You're going to sign, or I'll—"
Barros, a large, non-Awakened man, threw a clumsy, powerful punch aimed at Zack's face. He expected the kid to flinch, to cower, to fall.
He was wrong.
Zack didn't flinch. He didn't even lean back.
With an Agility of 32.6, the punch looked incredibly slow.
He lifted his hand and caught Barros's fist.
THWACK.
The sound was not the wet smack of a punch landing. It was the sharp, hard crack of a baseball bat hitting a concrete wall.
Barros's eyes went wide. The pain hadn't registered yet, only the shock. His full-force punch had been stopped. Casually. By the F-Rank... no, the E-Rank Healer.
Then, the pain hit.
Zack's 33.0 Strength was monstrous compared to a normal human's. He squeezed.
"A-A-A-A-A-AGHHHH!"
Barros bellowed, a high-pitched, terrified shriek. The sound of bones grinding made the other men in the room turn pale.
Zack hadn't moved. His expression was still calm, but his eyes were ruthless. He was the God-Eater.
"You," Zack said, his voice ice-cold and low, "are going to do three things."
He squeezed harder. Barros fell to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes.
"One. You will cancel this sale immediately.
Two. You will resign from the board. Effective now.
Three. You will walk out of this building, and you will never speak to me or my employees again."
He let go. Barros collapsed, clutching his shattered hand, whimpering.
"You... you broke my hand... you... you can't!" Barros whimpered.
"I'm an E-Rank Healer," Zack said, his voice returning to its normal, kind tone. He held up his other hand, which now glowed with a vibrant, emerald [Minor Soothe]. "And you look like you're in pain. I'm just trying to help."
The threat was unmistakable. He could heal it, and he could break it again. Healing and breaking again and again.
The two buyers were already grabbing their briefcases. "We... we withdraw our offer! This partnership is dissolved!" They scrambled out of the room.
The other two board members were frozen, their faces ashen. They had been riding Barros's coattails, stealing from the company. Now, their protector was a whimpering mess on the floor.
"Zack! What's going on!"
The door burst open, and Emily ran in, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She'd been on her way to congratulate him and heard the scream.
She skidded to a stop, taking in the scene: Barros on the floor, crying, and the other board members looking like they'd seen a ghost.
Zack immediately turned to her, his "Healer" mask snapping back into place. His eyes were wide and worried.
"Oh, hi Emily! Thank goodness you're here. It was awful."
He pointed to Barros. "Mr. Barros got... very angry. He tried to hit me, and I think he tripped and fell and... and broke his hand."
He looked at Barros, his face full of kind concern. "It looks really bad, Mr. Barros. As a Healer, I'd recommend you go to the hospital immediately."
Emily stared. Her jaw was slack.
She looked at Zack, the E-Rank Healer.
She looked at Barros, a 250-pound man, sobbing on the floor.
She looked at Zack's completely unharmed, calm posture.
"...He... tripped?" she said, her voice full of disbelief.
"Yes," Zack said, his face a perfect picture of innocence. "A terrible, terrible accident. Weren't you, Mr. Barros?"
Barros, clutching his broken hand, looked up at Zack's cold, smiling eyes. He felt a terror he had never known. This was not a kind kid. This was a monster.
"Y-yes..." he whimpered. "Tripped. I resign. I'm... I'm leaving."
He scrambled to his feet and ran out of the room, followed by the other two board members.
The room was silent.
Emily slowly turned to Zack. She was completely shocked, but also... impressed. A small, slow smile spread across her face.
"He 'tripped'."
"He 'tripped'," Zack confirmed.
"...Right." She nudged him with her shoulder. "So, 'E-Rank,' huh? You passed."
"I passed," Zack said, finally letting himself smile. "My [Minor Soothe] was surprisingly strong."
Emily just shook her head, laughing. "I don't know what you've been doing, Zack, but... keep doing it. Barros had that coming for months. Now... what about the rest of the board?"
"They'll fall in line," Zack said, his voice quiet but full of a new, hard confidence. "It's my company, Em. I'll take it back."
[Reader's Note: Zack's Stats - End of Chapter 5]
(No grind in this chapter)
Rank: E (Beginner) / (System Rank: E (Beginner))
Class: Healer / God-Eater (Mythical)
Strength: 33.0
Agility: 32.6
Stamina: 33.6
Spirit: 31.9
Defense: 32.7