The teacher of Class 1-A, standing beside Mandalay, introduced him in a deep voice before adding, "According to the principal, he may be the strongest first-year student in the Hero Course in Japan."
"A genius?"
Mandalay looked with great interest at the blond boy meeting her gaze head-on. The electricity constantly crackling across his body made him look extremely cool.
"And he's quite handsome too. If I were younger, I might've been tempted," Pixie-Bob joked.
"Well then, let's begin." Mandalay grabbed the railing in front of her with both hands and shouted to the flustered Class A students below.
"This is private territory. You are free to use your Quirks. From now on, you have three hours to make your way through this 'Beast Forest' and reach the dormitory facilities on your own two feet."
"Beast Forest?!"
Midoriya, Iida, Tetsutetsu and the others turned their heads in shock toward the vast, dense, and dark forest ahead.
"No way, what's with this totally RPG-sounding name?" Sero was the first to speak his mind.
"Are there really monsters in there?" Tetsutetsu glanced around warily, trying to spot any strange movement.
"It suits Mandalay's style, doesn't it?" Momo said with a smile, patting her still-pristine uniform.
Whoosh—
"Hold it in! Hold it in! I actually held it in!"
"Hurry, find a tree trunk... Dammit, I'm gonna explode!"
A purple blur shot out from the crowd before anyone else could react, dashing straight into the forest.
"Look how much that kid's trying to hold it in. Heh heh heh," Kirishima laughed.
But at that moment, a terrified scream suddenly rang out, and before anyone could respond, Midoriya instinctively launched into Full Cowl mode, a green flash streaking toward the forest.
"Let's check it out too!" Class Rep Iida shouted, and everyone quickly followed. All of this unfolded beneath the gaze of the three Pro Heroes above.
"By the way, don't you Heroes have another student you consider the 'strongest'? How does he compare to Kaminari Denki?" Mandalay turned toward Pixie-Bob, who was adjusting her smart visor, then looked at Aizawa and asked.
"Mirio..." Aizawa lowered his head thoughtfully, hands in his pockets. He initially wanted to say that Kaminari, being a first-year, couldn't compare to someone like Mirio.
But strangely, those words stopped on his lips.
Because the more he thought about it, the harder it became to determine who was truly stronger.
Logically, Mirio was a third-year, while Kaminari was just a first-year. But Mirio had been a late bloomer—he hadn't stood out much in his first or second year.
Kaminari was the opposite. Now, his strength surpassed that of most Pro Heroes. Could he really still be called a first-year?
"I'm sorry, I can't answer that question right now," Aizawa finally said.
"Oh?" Mandalay raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Looks like this Kaminari Denki really is something else." She turned to Pixie-Bob and added, "You heard that? Don't go easy on him!"
"Got it!"
Pixie-Bob understood immediately and gave a thumbs-up, silently raising the difficulty of the test by two levels.
"But aren't you Heroes being a little chaotic with your schedule, Eraser Head?" Mandalay asked.
Aizawa gave her a sidelong glance, thinking to himself, You're the one who just increased the difficulty and now you're complaining?
Still, since she was a senior, he responded politely.
"Usually, we don't start distributing 'provisional qualifications' until the first half of second year, but this time, we're giving them a chance to earn them early at the dorm. So yes, things are a bit rushed.
"What I mean is, a limited Quirk usage permit for emergencies and a provisional license for Hero activity.
"With villains becoming more active lately, they need a way to defend themselves—and I mean all of them."
Meanwhile, Midoriya, who had just saved Mineta in time and punched a 'rock beast' to pieces, was shocked to find it was reforming itself!
"Whoa, what a monster!"
The others who arrived also saw the creature before Midoriya. Among them, Kirishima—being a gamer—was especially shocked.
"Cool, this must be Pixie-Bob's handiwork, right?" Kaminari said softly, walking over with a girl on each side.
"It's obviously made of earth, so theoretically, as long as the soil's still there, it can keep reforming," Momo said seriously.
"Infinite reforming?" Kyoka stared in surprise at the fully regenerated 'rock beast'.
"But what I'm more curious about is..."
Just as Kaminari was deep in thought, Iida, Bakugo, and Tetsutetsu had already jumped into action.
Since it was clearly not a real creature, Koji didn't try to use his Quirk. He stood back, watching nervously.
"Recipro Burst!"
"Die!!"
Boom! BOOM!
In the wake of their explosive attacks, the rock beast collapsed again—this time still steaming.
"Nice one!" Mina cheered, jumping with excitement.
"As expected of Bakugo!" Kirishima shouted in admiration.
"You morons, it's not over yet!" Bakugo scowled, clenching his fists and looking deeper into the forest.
"Huh?!" Uraraka, Midoriya, and the others followed his gaze—and were stunned to see several rock monsters, each three to four meters tall, marching out from between the trees.
And not just that—more winged creatures burst from the ground and took to the sky!
"Whoa, how many of them are there?" Tetsutetsu shouted, fists clenched.
"I can hear at least thirty sets of footsteps, and the number's going up!" Kyoka said, inserting her headphone jacks into the ground to listen.
"Counting the ones in the sky, there's about fifty!" Uraraka pointed at the treetops in alarm.
"No," Momo corrected. "These rock monsters regenerate, so we should multiply the number by two!"
As she spoke, she touched the golden rings on her hands, and in the next second, they transformed into two strange golden pistols.
Kaminari also noticed Kyoka lightly tap the black ring on her right wrist. The black metal flowed like water, wrapping around her body.
Moments later, a full Batgirl-style combat outfit appeared on her—causing Kaminari to smile faintly. The only one in their class who could carry their hero costume with them was his disciple.
"It looks like U.A. wants to see how much everyone has grown over summer break. In that case…"
As Kaminari thought this, the golden ring on his wrist began to glow, and soon, the familiar Cancer's Golden Cloth appeared on his body.
Crack!
In the next moment, golden electricity surged into the chaotic battlefield. This so-called "Beast Forest" had now become a true war zone!
"Well then, I'll leave the rest to them." Seeing the constant explosions and thick smoke rising from the forest, Aizawa turned and walked toward the bus. He planned to catch up on sleep.
"Right, we're curious to see what these kittens are capable of too!"
(To be continued.)
***
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Just check the author's thoughts or click on my profile for it, thanks, guys.
***
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