Hero Certification Examination, Special Site Number 6.
The closest testing center to the outskirts of City Z was located inside something resembling a massive domed stadium.
Only those registered in the Hero Association’s official Hero Registry counted as genuine professional heroes.
There were three primary ways to enter the system.
First—
Public examinations.
Anyone could apply.
Applicants underwent physical testing and an assessment of their sense of justice.
Those meeting the minimum standard were added to the Hero Registry.
Second—
Internal recommendation.
Usually, only guarantees from A-Class or higher heroes carried enough weight for direct recruitment.
Third—
Scouting.
Some people performed hero activities independently without registration.
If the Hero Association noticed them, staff might initiate contact and recruit them directly.
Regardless of recruitment method, every professional hero ultimately needed to be entered into the Hero Registry.
It was fundamentally an identity and ranking system.
Professional heroes earned compensation according to activity and achievements.
They also appeared on strength rankings, popularity rankings, and similar lists.
Their exposure was comparable to celebrities.
Calling them public figures was completely reasonable.
That structure was closely related to how the Hero Association operated.
The association was ultimately a private enterprise.
The government didn’t provide routine public funding—
Unless the Hero Association surrendered its independence and entered direct state administration.
That was obviously unlikely for all the historical and social reasons Lu Yao had already analyzed.
The Hero Association had originally been founded when billionaire Agoni’s grandson was attacked by a monster and saved by a passerby.
Out of gratitude—and inspired by the concept of heroes—Agoni personally funded its establishment.
Its continued operation relied heavily on public donations and commissions.
In other words—
The Hero Association required recognition and support from civilians.
That naturally encouraged the celebrity-like hero system.
Anyway—
The only professional hero Lu Yao personally knew was B-Class Rank 1, Blizzard of Hell, along with her mostly useless entourage.
Since Lu Yao operated primarily in the nearly deserted outskirts of City Z, nobody had recommended or scouted him.
Not that obtaining connections would’ve been difficult.
Lu Yao produced precious materials.
Numerous laboratories and corporations maintained business relationships with him.
Many of those major companies were sponsors of the Hero Association.
In other words—
Lu Yao was effectively the father of the Hero Association’s fathers.
If he hadn’t run into Saitama, he might have used his own connections instead.
Money really could solve nearly anything.
The economic base determined the superstructure.
Even heroes had to bow for five bushels of rice.
Same principle.
But Lu Yao didn’t care about the Hero Association’s resources.
Whether intelligence or funding, he could obtain better alternatives himself.
Yumemi had merely told him to stop living like a shut-in and go outside once in a while.
After entering the venue, the applicants first registered.
It resembled submitting a résumé.
Anyone who hadn’t prepared materials beforehand could use the provided forms and facilities.
The assessment consisted of two sections.
First—
A written examination.
The so-called justice test.
Looking at the questions gave Lu Yao a headache.
Since the job title was “hero,” he was presumably expected to answer according to a heroic moral framework.
Lu Yao had no desire to imitate some chuuni apostle of justice.
So he simply answered from the perspective of legal reasoning.
Professor Luo Xiang mode activated.
Of course, law itself considered human circumstances.
Law existed with people as both its subject and ultimate purpose.
Actual cases always required contextual judgment.
One could roughly summarize it as—
Protected legal interests determined criminalization.
Ethical circumstances determined exculpation.
Something like that.
In other words—
His answers still contained plenty of justice.
At least his moral orientation wasn’t crooked.
After the written exam came the physical test.
Lu Yao entered the changing room and found Saitama.
“Mr. Saitama, you’re testing in this room too.”
Saitama looked over.
“Oh, it’s you.”
“How was the written test?”
“Average.”
Lu Yao shrugged.
“I just answered casually.”
“R-Right!”
“Why do you look nervous?”
“To be honest… those weird written questions were hard.”
Saitama frowned.
“I had no idea what answers they wanted.”
“The important part is strength, isn’t it?”
Lu Yao reassured him.
“As long as you’re strong enough and don’t openly express antisocial or anti-human ideology, they’ll probably let imperfect written answers slide.”
Saitama immediately became motivated.
“You’re right! Then I should really put some effort into the physical test!”
If you genuinely put effort into it…
Will this stadium still exist afterward?
He decided to restrain Saitama’s excess enthusiasm.
“I think you should actually avoid trying too hard.”
“Take it easy.”
“If you destroy the testing venue, they might make you pay compensation.”
The word pay immediately crushed Saitama’s enthusiasm.
“Yeah… good point.”
The two entered the testing area while chatting.
Events included side-to-side jumps, a 1.5-kilometer run, weightlifting, and similar exercises.
The gap between the lower and upper extremes of human physical ability in this world was enormous.
Some people were so weak that a light breeze could make them sick.
Others—
Like Saitama— could kill nearly anything with one punch.
Most applicants confident enough to take the Hero Association examination were muscular, intimidating people.
Compared to them—
Saitama and Lu Yao looked relatively normal.
Both had well-defined bodies.
Lu Yao possessed visible abdominal muscles.
But beside those massive bodybuilders, they looked slim.
Several muscular applicants smirked when the pair entered.
That attitude lasted until Saitama began testing.
The bald man, essentially a human Gundam, left them staring in disbelief.
Many looked as though they were reconsidering their entire lives.
Are professional heroes all monsters?
Maybe I should go back home and farm.
Neither Saitama nor Lu Yao cared about the thoughts of random extras.
Lu Yao used the still-experimental second stage of the Gene Lock.
At this stage, he possessed precise control over more than ninety-seven percent of his body.
Muscle tissue.
Blood circulation.
And many other processes.
Naturally, the body’s automatic systems were already extremely efficient.
Direct conscious control could disrupt internal balance and damage him.
For today’s test, Lu Yao only manipulated muscles involved in movement.
At worst, it might cause something comparable to muscle strain.
Even that allowed him to demonstrate strength, speed, agility, and flexibility beyond ordinary humans.
Martial-arts concepts such as obvious force and hidden force could be reproduced the moment he understood their mechanisms.
As the second Gene Lock stage developed, perhaps even legendary realms such as “shattering the void” or “seeing divinity without destruction” could eventually be approximated.
Of course—
Without genuine martial practice, Lu Yao lacked more psychological concepts such as fist intent.
But combining his first-stage combat instincts with Hyper-Intuition—
His close-combat capability was already comparable to so-called martial masters.
HonkaiStarRail Gacha Character,I’m Here to Break the Players’ Hearts [ 100 Chapter ]