Chapter 3

-----Report. Many mountains vanished here, all of them seemed to have been hit by an unknown attack. What really bothered me was that it likely came from a single attack, which is terrifying.

The officer looked at the screen transmitting images of the damage.

As drones continued to gather more data, they found an area not far from the starting point of the attack. Boulders that had melted long ago had cooled and now had a new permanent structure.

"Stop there."

He ordered the staff to stop the drone at that location.

"Zoom in."

Footprints of a human were visible, walking directly towards the starting point of the attack. As it did so, it became less visible because of the white sand.

The drone traced the footprints until they stopped at the main point of the attack. Not far away from there, a crater as large as a car was visible, with a clear human footprint in it.

"Based on the footprints in that crater, a human with unknown power jumped from the center and created that crater through sheer power. Judging from that fact, that human was likely the one who made those mountains vanish..."

He was thankful that it wasn't a monster that had caused the horrifying scene on the screen.

A guy with glasses walked up.

"Hmm. A human with that strength. We have to find them and recruit them to our organization."

"I'll do that."

*********

"Sigh..."

This is really embarrassing.

I accidentally jumped from the mountainous area, and with my new power, which I still don't have mastery over, I jumped into the sky and landed in a town somewhere in West City-Z.

I was hiding on a rooftop, eyeing any store, clothing store, or house that might have clothes outside, and occasionally changing my location if I didn't find any.

"There it is."

Not far from me was a small two-story apartment building. One apartment had clothes hanging outside to dry.

I can now somewhat control the power inside my body, but what left me pondering was, why is it so powerful?

Could it be that Saitama hides a lot of his power? But then why? He said that he was a hero for fun and probably did a lot of heroic things and beat a lot of strong monsters. But how has he not been discovered yet?

Even if he didn't show much of his power, the power he showed while killing the water monster should have been enough for the Hero Association to know about him and recruit him.

No matter how I think about it, it just doesn't make sense.

I know that he leaves and doesn't take credit, but what about the witnesses? Like me... Don't they tell the Hero Association about him?

"Another possibility is..."

The Golden Ticket.

It not only copies someone's power, it upgrades it a lot. But this is unlikely, as there's a small possibility of that ticket doing that. The instructions said it only copies the power, no matter how powerful it is.

"For now, I have to cover myself with something."

I put strength in my foot and lightly jumped towards the balcony of that apartment, then started grabbing clothes for myself.

Looking back.

"I promise to pay for these someday."

I tried to lessen my guilt for stealing.

Wearing the clothes within a few seconds, I jumped off and blended into the clothes-wearing civilization.

While walking, I suddenly remembered something and stopped.

"My phone... It also melted away... Damn."

I wanted to take a ride, but it seems like I will have to run all the way to my apartment.

"Well, this is a perfect opportunity to feel the power inside my body."

A moment later, as I was asking a middle-aged lady for directions, I suddenly heard a woman screaming.

"Aaaah!"

I glanced and saw a rat the size of a human come out of the manhole cover on the sidewalk.

The lady I was asking had already escaped in fright as I continued to observe the rat.

Interestingly, it was also looking at me with those creepy black eyes.

"...."

I grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at the rat. It flew like a bullet and pierced its head.

It couldn't even react as it stood there, frozen for a few seconds, before falling to the ground like a mannequin.

As much as I would like to punch a monster in the head, the rat was too disgusting and too smelly.

Ignoring the looks I was getting from the people, I jumped onto the roof of a building.

"Let's see..."

I observed the scenery in front of my eyes. It was nothing new, but for some reason, I felt satisfied while looking at it. Is it because I became strong now? Likely...

"Now, that bastard monster won't escape this time."

I clenched my hand.

My satisfaction was replaced by anger.

Those scenes were still vivid in my memories.

"I shouldn't be satisfied while that monster is still alive."

Saying that, I jumped from the roof and flew into the sky like an arrow.

One hour later, I finally arrived in front of my apartment and entered.

Unsurprisingly, I wasn't tired after the long journey I took on foot.

I immediately headed towards my room and grabbed my extra old phone. I then browsed the Hero Association website to find the closest Hero Examination Center.

This has been one of my dreams, to become a hero.

But dreams were just dreams. I knew I had no power, so I didn't pursue it like Mumen Rider, who somehow became top of Class-C through courage and good deeds alone.

He was one of the heroes I admired despite having no power. But I couldn't bring myself to become a hero like him. My mentality before was solely focused on working to feed my family, not on fighting monsters, where I'd likely die, compared to just sitting in front of a computer to work.

Now, things were different.

I now possessed a power comparable to the top of the S-class, I just knew it. I had already watched many of the Class-S fights on TV, and I knew not many of them could withstand a single blow from my power.

"Haa... Did I just become proudful in one day?"

Indeed, this had been one hell of a day.