"700 kilograms? I'm afraid no one will be able to break this record, it's too terrifying. Who exactly is this guy?"
In the sixth exam hall of the Hero Association, gasps of astonishment rang out continuously.
By this time, King had reached his limit.
Boom!
The barbell dropped onto the floor, and King felt a wave of weakness surge through his body.
"Phew..."
'It seems this is my limit, and that's only because I relied on the recovery ability of Undying Body. If I want to become the strongest on Earth, I still have a long way to go.'
Just now, during the weightlifting, his physical body couldn't hold up at 700 kilograms, and his muscles began to tear.
However, thanks to the terrifying recovery of Undying Body, he managed to tough it out.
"Dark Mask? This guy is truly extraordinary."
Inside the conference room at the Hero Association headquarters, Jess nodded slightly as he watched the situation in the exam hall on the screen.
The number of people wanting to join the Hero Association had been increasing day by day over the years. However, the quality was worrying. The vast majority of people came to take the exam out of admiration for heroes, but in reality, very few were able to pass.
At that moment, on the other side of the sixth exam hall, the weightlifting record set by King was broken. A 1,000-kilogram barbell was easily lifted with one hand by Saitama, leaving everyone around him dumbfounded.
The most pitiful ones were the contestants assigned to the same group as Saitama. Their confidence was severely shaken, and most chose to withdraw.
'I wonder what rank I'll be able to get.' King thought silently to himself.
He remembered that in the original story, although Saitama was first in the physical fitness test, he was ranked at the very end of C-Class because his written test was a total disaster.
In the subsequent exam events, King deservedly became the group leader. The burly man, Gobta, who was in his group, couldn't surpass him even after giving it his all, and eventually just gave up.
In the final physical test results, King ended up in second place, while Saitama was naturally far ahead of everyone else.
Out of the tens of thousands who took the exam, only a handful passed, which goes to show how difficult it is to become a hero.
—
"Supervisor Jess, these are the results of this hero exam."
Half a day later, following the conclusion of the written test, the list of successful candidates for the hero exam appeared before Jess.
"Kotaro, Saitama, Gobta..."
Looking at the few names on the list, Jess fell into silence.
Maria furrowed her brows, her tone somewhat hesitant. "Supervisor Jess, is the standard for this exam too high? So many people participated, but less than ten were able to pass."
Jess said, "We need heroes who can fight against monsters. If we don't raise the threshold, we would only be sending them to their deaths in vain. That would be irresponsible to the general public."
—
Inside the changing room of the Hero Association, King and Saitama sat on chairs, chatting.
Saitama was extremely excited. "Haha, Kotaro, you passed too? Not bad. What rank did you end up getting?"
Saitama smiled and patted King on the shoulder, curious about his final exam results.
"I should be..."
King slowly pulled out his report, and a character resembling an'S' appeared, leaving Saitama astonished.
"Could it be that you got S-Class? I couldn't tell you were this amazing."
"Exam score 85, C-Class, rank 50."
"Hahaha, you're only C-Class!"
Seeing that King was only C-Class, Saitama laughed at him without reservation.
King was not at all surprised by this, the Hero Association relied heavily on combat records when determining ranks. For example, King, by a twist of fate, usurped the credit that belonged to Saitama, which is how he got the title of the Strongest Man on Earth.
"Guess what rank I am. I think even if it's not S-Class, it's at least in the top few of A-Class. After all, I've eliminated so many powerful monsters."
Seeing King's exam results, Saitama immediately started showing off. After all, he had a lot of confidence in himself.
"Why don't you check your results first? Don't get too happy yet."
King watched Saitama's exuberant expression and reminded him, feeling a bit reluctant to burst his bubble.
"That's true."
Saitama expectantly pulled the exam results out of the bag. The first thing that caught his eye was the top half of the letter that resembled an 'S'.
"Haha, as expected, I'm S-Class. You'll have to work harder in the future."
Saitama was extremely happy, but then he pulled the paper out completely and froze on the spot.
"Exam results 71 points... C... C-Class, rank 342..."
"Hahaha, Saitama, you'll have to work harder in the future."
Although he had known this would be the result, King still teased Saitama a bit, but the latter exploded instantly.
"How could this happen?! I clearly eliminated so many monsters!"
"Do you want me to go and clarify things with the Association?" King asked.
"Absolutely not, it's too embarrassing. Being C-Class is one thing, but to be ranked over three hundred..."
Ding!
At this moment, the lounge's broadcast sounded, drawing the attention of both of them.
"Kotaro-san, Saitama-san. There will be an orientation meeting for members who passed the exam starting at four o'clock, please gather at Hall 3."
King said, "Let's go over. Regardless, now that we've passed the exam, we just have to slowly raise our hero rank from here."
—
Inside Hall 3, Saitama and King sat in their seats, bored, while a hero stood on the podium, looking down at them arrogantly.
"First of all, congratulations on passing the hero exam, even though you all just barely scraped by on the passing line."
"However, I still hope you will work hard in the future and not waste this good luck."
"Also, from today on, you must pay attention to your image at all times, because your photos will be registered on the Hero Association's official website from now on."
Saitama was bored, blowing bubble gum and thinking about what to eat for dinner, while King was thinking about how to quickly accumulate Talent Points.
"Are you two listening?"
The hero on the podium looked displeased. This year's newcomers seemed a bit difficult to communicate with.
"You had better aim to become an upright hero like me, otherwise you will die a miserable death."
Seeing that the two were still unconcerned, Sneck continued to threaten them.
"Once you become an A-Class hero, you'll be able to have some say in the Association. I can have people I dislike penalized or demoted at any time, so you'd better remember that."
'A-Class, rank 38, Sneck. So annoying and noisy.'
King was speechless and wondered how this guy even managed to make it to A-Class.
...
They finally made it through to the end of the orientation meeting, and without even saying goodbye, they left under Sneck's stern gaze.
Just after they left, in the Hero Association service room, Sneck complained endlessly to Jess, "Did those two really pass? Their attitude is terrible, could they have gotten in through the back door? And they don't even know who I am."
Jinzuren shook his head. "No, Kotaro has the strength to slay several Wolf-level monsters, and I suspect that isn't even his limit. As for Saitama, his physical test broke the Association's previous records."
"Presumably, it won't be long before they have a performance that makes us sit up and take notice. Sneck, your ranking might very well be overtaken by them soon."
"Overtaken by guys like that?"
Sneck recalled the nonchalant appearance of the two at the orientation meeting, and a surge of anger welled up in his heart.