38 Chapter 38: Public exams (II)

Shido stood at the top of the building once again, together with Present Mic, like he did during the recommendation exam. He saw that a lot of the examinees here were just here to fill up the numbers.

He saw examinees so skinny that wind could blow them away without trouble, examinees so obese that literal oil could be seen. Or maybe that was his quirk, but still, it was a disgusting sight to behold.

Being a pro hero does not only include battle strength and intelligence, but also appearance. As much as he didn't want to admit, Shido realised that being a pro hero was becoming more of a job rather than an ideal of the past. It was like any other occupations out there - do your job and earn your money.

Being a pro hero could be compared to being an idol, albeit a rather glorified idol. All pro heroes were good looking, and even if their body mutated due to their quirk, like Kamui Woods, they still looked presentable. People who were obese, ugly or had a physical disability often had a harder time reaching the same level compared to their peers. It was an undeniable fact.

He looked around for Izuku and saw him talking peacefully with the person who called him out earlier. 'Seems like his natural charisma had even charmed someone who looked down on him...' He smirked to himself and adjusted his seat to make himself more comfortable. He then turned towards Present Mic and waited for his signal to start the exam.

He wasn't going to do anything this time. He was just here to prevent any unexpected accidents from happening.

"AND...BEGIN!!!"

Shido saw no one move even after Present Mic signalled the start of the exam. However, he wasn't surprised. After all, they were all inexperienced children, and they needed a countdown to move.

"WHAT'S WRONG? THE TEST HAS STARTED! RUN! RUN! THE DIE IS CAST!!"

Present Mic's loud voice resounded to every corner of the exam area, and after the reminder, everyone started dashing towards their objectives.

Shido could faintly see Izuku's silhouette in front of everybody. It was expected. If he wasn't wrong, Izuku's physical capabilities should be unmatched in his generation. Of course, that was if he had the ability to wield all the power efficiently and properly, otherwise, even Eri could beat him. That was why martial arts were of paramount importance to Izuku. He had all the power, but not the control.

During the ten months of training, Izuku and All Might had consulted another person on how to use One for All properly.

Gran Torino was All Might's master, and was also the one who had trained All Might to where he is currently. Working together with the butler Sebastian, Torino and All Might, Izuku finally managed to come up with his own technique capable of utilising the quirk properly.

Shido saw Izuku being surrounded by small, green lightning, and if one were to look at him up close, they would realise that vein-like marks had begun to form on his body.

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"Full cowl: 5%"

Power began to course through his body. It was so exhilarating. He felt stronger, faster, sturdier.

Izuku was also slightly surprised at the sudden start, but he quickly recovered and when Present Mic's reminder came, he immediately rushed towards the first robot available. Before the others could even reach it, he had already destroyed the robot into pieces. It was only 5%, but it was more than enough to deal with simple robots.

'Good, already one point secured. I can do it.' Izuku encouraged himself as he ran about the city, destroying every robot he came across.

*****************

'You can do it, Midoriya shounen...'

All Might was watching the stream from the monitoring room with the other professors and clenched his fist in jubilation. Watching Midoriya zip around and destroy robots one after another really put him at ease.

"In this practical exam, the examinee has not been informed of the number of villains or their locations. Their times are far more limited than the one given to the recommended. Information gathering, mobility, discernment and pure combat ability. These basic abilities needed to keep the peace in the streets are tested here."

All Might listened quietly to Nezu's monologue.

"Still, with the already excellent batch of recommended students, this year seems very promising."

"Well, we won't know for sure yet. The true test has yet to come."

They all watched as one of them activated the zero points giant robot. The moment the city began to change, everybody could be seen straightening their back. The giant robot test was something that had considerable risks.

It couldn't be compared to Yoshinon that was tested during the recommended exam since it had its own intelligence to not go so far. The giant robot does not have any intelligence, and was programmed to only cause chaos. If, by any chance, a weaker student came across the giant robot, he or she would be in trouble if they had no way of escaping in time.

They wanted to ensure that no serious and lasting injuries would be incurred. Otherwise, UA reputation would be damaged.

BOOOM!

Every professor immediately turned their heads towards a specific monitor, displaying a very incredible scene. A green haired boy literally flew and punched the zero point robot into oblivion.

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A few minutes ago, Izuku had destroyed a robot with a punch, before using it as a stepping stone and launching himself through the air and destroying another one with his knee.

Despite having received some basic martial art training during the two months preceding the exam, he still didn't have a fighting style for himself. He wanted to copy his idol, All Might, but it was very hard to do so when he could only use a small percentage of that power.

[A/N: btw, All Might's fighting style is 'smash'. Every move he makes has the word 'smash' in it.]

He was in the middle of destroying more robots that had surrounded several faux victims, when suddenly, loud rumblings could be heard.

The ground began to shake. Slowly, the shadow of a giant robot covered the fake city.

'Huh? Isn't the robot a little too big?'

The robot began to advance and crush everything in its way.

BOOOOM!!

A simple punch from it shattered the concrete ground, creating a large cloud of dust. Izuku watched calmly and began to analyse the situation. He was far enough from the robot, so avoiding it wasn't a problem.

Still, for most others, it was a very large threat. He watched as most of the other examinees began to flee.

An overwhelming threat. People's true nature could be seen by how they act after they've seen this. For Izuku, one thought floated in his head.

'Could I destroy it?'

"LESS THAN TWO MINUTES LEFT!"

Hearing this, Izuku sighed and gave up on this thought before turning back. He already destroyed a very large number of robots. Though destroying more wouldn't hurt, it was still better to be cautious in case he overestimated his own abilities and failed.

He was about to walk away from the path of destruction when he heard a sudden cry.

"OW!!"

The cry made him stop in his tracks, and he slowly turned around and saw a scene that chilled him. There, under the rubble, was the cute girl. He blanked out a little. At that very moment, hundreds of thoughts went through his head. The distance between the two of them was too wide. The rubble would definitely slow him down if he tried to save her. The distance between the giant robot and her was too short.

He thought back to what Present Mix said.

"There's absolutely no merit in taking on that faux villain."

UA would never leave an examinee to die. She would face no risks except for being a little scared. So, logically, he should just turn back and let the pros do their job...

...

...

AS IF!!

The decision was instantaneous. 5% wouldn't be enough? He wouldn't be able to save her fast enough? Then...

He just had to go all out and destroy it!!

"Full Cowl on arms only: 100%."

He didn't need to empower his legs, 5% would be enough to propel him fast enough to reach the robot before it reached her. But he didn't think 5% wouldn't be enough to destroy the robot.

He used all of his power and tried to concentrate it on his arms. He leapt forward in huge strides and flew towards the robot.

It tried to stop him, but he easily went through the gap between it's fingers. Finally, when he reached the head, he further concentrated all his power in his fist only, and punched.

"SMASH!!!!"

BOOOM!

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"It hurts!"

Ochako Uraraka was trapped under the rubbles. She was really unlucky. Her quirk, Zero Gravity, gave her the power to nullify the effects of gravity on solid targets, causing them to become weightless and float.

The only problem was that she had to touch her target with her fingers for it to work. Right now, in her position, if she tried to move, she would definitely break her leg.

Still, having a broken leg was much better compared to being transformed into meat paste. She was sure that UA wouldn't let students die, but accidents happen. She didn't want to gamble with her life. She still had to help her family.

Just as she was about to act, she saw a scene which stunned her. The boy from this morning was running towards the robot.

'He wants to help me?'

She was thankful, a lump of emotions blocked her throat. In this situation, under such danger, she wanted to tell him to go back, that he didn't need to help her. But just as she wanted to tell him, her mouth hung wide open.

All the pain was momentarily forgotten, she watched as the boy jumped and reached the head of the robot. She didn't know exactly how tall it was, but it should be taller than an average ten-story building.

She didn't have the time to calm her heart when she saw the third scene.

BOOOM!!!

A punch.

All it took was one simple punch to completely destroy the robot.

She could even feel the shock wave from here. It was so big that even the rubbles trapping her foot were blown away.

She slowly got up and watched him slowly float in the air.

'He was really cool...'

She never saw a quirk so powerful, apart from the rank zero pro hero, where his quirk allows for the most efficient ways of saving, rescuing and apprehending. But even then, it couldn't compare to pure, raw power.

The power to blast away everything in one punch.

'When he lands, I need to thank him properly...huh?'

*****************

Izuku watched as the robot was blown away by his punch. Truthfully speaking, punching a robot into oblivion really felt good.

"Sigh..."

He looked at his right arm and two legs as gravity began to reclaim him. He overestimated his control over his quirk, and ended up using full cowl on three of his limbs instead of just his arm.

Despite his high-intensity training, his body still couldn't adapt to the full power of One for All. Until now, his maximum and controllable output was 10%, with 15% usable if he was ready to suffer a little.

He sighed. Well, even though it hurt like hell, with every muscle and bone in his limbs either breaking or damaged, he wasn't that worried.

Firstly, even though the giant robot gave him zero point, he had destroyed enough robots to be qualified.

Secondly, from what All Might and Miliena-sensei told him, Recovery girl was working in UA, so he didn't need to worry about his wound, and even without her, he knew that Eri would be able to heal him as well.

While he was coming closer and closer towards the earth, he began thinking of random things related to heroes. This action would usually let him calm down (or maybe distract himself) so that he wouldn't fear unnecessary things. It was usually how he motivated himself to go through the torture.

Falling from ten stories high wasn't a very pleasant experience. The strong wind against his face, the air resistance against his body, and the fear of getting splattered into meat paste.

Still, it wasn't the first time he was falling from such a height. Shido would usually drop him from such heights to 'overcome his fear' and to let him 'gain more confidence', according to Shido himself.

Izuku didn't really believe him, but still went through it as it was genuinely a good thing as it helped him remain calm in most situations.

'Hmm...it should be about now.'

He calculated the distance between him and the ground before gathering power in his intact left arm to blast the ground, reducing the impact of falling. Right now, everything was a question of timing. He just had to...

SLAP!

'Huh?'

A slap? What happened?

He was...floating?

He began to look around before his sight finally fell on a girl.

'The cute girl.'

She was floating on a piece of robot.

"Release."

The gravity returned to his body, and Izuku adjusted himself so that he landed on his feet, or what was left of it.

So her quirk allowed her to make things float?

He raised his head. He would have been able to save his own life, but not being forced to break another limb was always welcomed.

"Thank...you?"

He watched as the girl that helped him barfed her breakfast. Was it weird that he still found her cute?

And those rainbows though. Did she eat rainbows for breakfast? There's a first time for everything...

Well, at least she looked safe and mostly uninjured.

"TIME'S UP!"

A loud sound resonated throughout the fake city. The practical test finally ended.

Izuku forced himself to turn and fall on his back. He looked at the wide blue sky with satisfaction. All his hard work. All his sufferings. All his pains. All he did was for this very moment.

Now...

*****************

"NOW EVERYTHING BEGINS! MIDORIYA-SHONEN!"

Izuku scratched his head with a bashful expression. He was now back at the beach with All Might.

He looked at his hands and feet with wonder. Recovery Girl was really amazing. She healed all his wounds in a flash.

It felt different from Eri's healing. Eri's healing made him feel like his limbs had rewinded in time, meaning that all the pain he felt while getting injured would be felt during the healing process. What's more, the pain he felt while the bones restructured themselves and the muscles reformed themselves was horrendous. On the other hand, Recovery Girl's healing was almost instantaneous. His wounds and injuries were healed without any pain. It felt refreshing.

Finally, a healer which heals without pain. Meliena-sensei's heal and Eri's heal were painful. What queer quirks...

Still, being kissed by an old woman felt really weird. Of course, it still beat feeling the high level of pain he was subjected to during those few months of training.

He also thought about the cute girl and the rude guy. No, Uraraka Ochako and Tenya Iida.

They exchanged numbers after all that happened. Weirdly, Iida praised him for having discovered the hidden points of the test. He didn't really understand what he was talking about, but this guy was weird so it didn't matter.

He could help but let out a goofy smile. 'I have the number of a girl in my contact list...' His mother didn't count.

Finally, he inhaled a deep breath before discarding all useless thoughts. He clenched his fists. He didn't need to know his results. He wasn't arrogant, but he was sure that he was accepted.

Still, All Might was right. Entering UA was merely the starting point. It was nothing to be arrogant about. A child much younger than him was already a pro hero.

But now, his journey begins. Now, everything begins...

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A/N: 2.7k words. Enjoy!

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