The Exam Begins

The U.A. High School auditorium was currently serving as the briefing venue for the Hero Course entrance exam.

"Attention, examinees! Welcome to my live show!"

One person stood out in the center of the venue-though he was the only one on the stage. He was Present Mic, whose hero name was Voice Hero!

Just like his name, he dressed in the popular United States rock style, and he was currently up on stage, getting himself pumped up all on his own.

"Now I'll give you a quick rundown of the practical test." Lost in his own world, he spoke as the amplifier around his neck occasionally played a few guitar chords. "Are you ready?"

No one answered.

Seemingly oblivious to the awkwardness, he shouted to himself, "Yeah!"

He continued, "As it says in the handout, all you listeners will take part in a ten-minute mock urban exercise. You may bring any items you like. After this briefing, proceed to your assigned testing areas!

"The testing grounds are filled with large numbers of three types of mock villains. You'll earn points for defeating them according to their difficulty. Use your abilities to take them down, and admission will be based on your point rankings!

"Of course, attacking others is strictly prohibited. That's no way for a hero to act!"

Jilan Jiyu looked at the information sheet he had been given. Although the proctor had said there were three types of mock villains, it showed four different outlines. He wasn't entirely sure, but surely the extra one was the hidden element of this exam?

Before long, a student raised his hand and asked about it. His hair was meticulously combed, and he wore square glasses. He looked like a meticulous person.

Pointing at the illustration, he called out to Mic, "There are four types of mock villains in the guide! We examinees came here seeking proper guidance as heroes. If this is a printing error, it would be a great disgrace to U.A. High School, Japan's top institution!"

As soon as he finished speaking, without waiting for Mic to answer, he pointed to a spot two or three rows behind him. "And while I'm at it, you there with the curly hair! You've been muttering nonstop for a while now. If you're here for a sightseeing trip, get out of U.A. High School this instant!"

"Isn't that the green-haired guy?" Jilan Jiyu saw that the bespectacled student was pointing right at Midoriya, who obligingly covered his mouth.

Sitting beside Midoriya was the spiky-haired guy named Bakugo. He had his head propped on his hand and was glaring at his exam admission ticket.

"That's right, an excellent question! This mock villain is worth zero points. In other words, it's an obstacle meant to get in your way during the exam."

Mic demonstrated on the big screen. "There's one of these machines rampaging around in every testing area. It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no point in doing so. I recommend you avoid it."

I see. Is it the kind of boss you can avoid?

The examinees began discussing it with the students sitting beside them.

"Isn't this just like a game? We have to try to get as many points as possible while keeping ourselves alive."

"Yeah, and we're all assigned to different testing areas, so it probably won't be easy to work together."

"Well, all we can do is give it our best. Let's both get into U.A. High School!" "Yeah!"

"...Finally, I'll leave you with our school motto."

"Napoleon once said, 'A true hero is a strong person who can overcome life's misfortunes.'"

"Go beyond-plus ultra!"

Jilan Jiyu looked at his exam admission ticket. His testing area was written beside a photo that was enough to dampen his spirits just by looking at it.

"Area D..."

U.A. High School really did have money to burn. A single testing area was the size of a small town, and there were many more just like it.

Although he had looked into it beforehand and knew that the school staff included support-type Pro Heroes like Cementoss, who could produce cement quickly, seeing it for himself made Jilan Jiyu realize he had never truly understood how powerful Quirks were.

That was right. Quirks weren't just for fighting. Many could also be used in infrastructure, allowing a small number of people to quickly complete an unimaginable amount of work.

Now, the examinees were gathered in front of the entrance to this enormous testing area, waiting for the moment the exam began.

Beside Jilan Jiyu, a person who seemed to have tape growing from his wrists kept trying to stretch and pull it out, apparently warming up. A very cute girl with insect-like antennae was talking to a girl with webbed hands and feet, who immediately brought a frog to mind. And there was... was that a pink rhinoceros?

The tall person he had seen at the movie theater, who had been too shy to speak, was now squatting in a corner, using his hands and feet to communicate with the birds... Could he communicate with animals?

They really are a strange bunch...

I think a lot of people have already realized the key to this exam, right? It's to score higher than everyone else!

"Hi, start!" came Teacher Mic's voice from the tower behind them. The examinees all looked up at him.

"What's wrong? There's no countdown in a real battle, you know!" he shouted in a voice that could only be called noise. "Get moving! The contest has already begun!"

There was nothing to think about. In any case, the only thing he needed to worry about now was how to score more points than the others!

"I thought so when I saw the outlines earlier, but the mock villains we have to face really are robots!"

Jilan Jiyu concentrated the Hamon energy generated by his breathing in his lower body. Using the force of his charge, he twisted and swept a roundhouse kick at the robot with tremendous power!

"Boom!"

The joints of the robot, which stood as tall as a person, were smashed apart in an instant. After a burst of explosive noise, the robot's body, shaped like a large trash can with arms and legs, could no longer support its weight. It crashed heavily to the ground, reduced to a pile of useless scrap metal.

To be honest, Hamon was highly useful for healing, but it wasn't actually very powerful in combat.

Hamon was essentially energy that mimicked the sun. Although it could be used in various ways to strengthen the body, it ultimately relied on a strong physique.

To put it this way, the Quirks of this world were like dangerous weapons: as long as someone knew how to control them, they could unleash tremendous power. Hamon was more like support magic. Although it could buff the body, if its base stats weren't strong, the power it could unleash was still very limited.

Fortunately, perhaps because U.A. High School had taken into account the differing strengths of the students' Quirks and wanted to give all sorts of unusual Quirks room to shine, the robots' bodies weren't very durable.

"They don't have any way to respond. They just rely on their systems' built-in way of thinking to perform simple, repetitive actions..." Jilan Jiyu knelt on one knee and wiped away the light sweat from his exertion. "Just as I thought, this isn't what the exam is really testing!"

It was like a math test: the easiest questions came first, allowing anyone who had studied to score points with ease. Their only purpose was to weed out those trying to slip through.

The questions ahead... are the difficult and important ones!