"So this is it?" I asked, looking around like a tourist.

It looked like a somewhat neglected place, but not really abandoned. There were all kinds of clothes on display and a few dressing rooms. It wasn't big, just a small shop.

As I was thinking about this, an older man came out of the back room, walking slowly, perhaps attracted by the sound of the little bell at the entrance.

The old man's already wrinkled face wrinkled even more at the sight of Saitama.

"Oi, Saitama, didn't I repair your costume recently?"

"Ah, geezer, that's not for me," he pointed his finger at me, "he wants a costume."

"Tch, he wants a costume," the grumpy old man gave me a contemptuous look. "What are your powers, kid?"

"Huh, I can fly and I have super strength."

"Tch!" The old man clucked his tongue even louder. "Another fighter, you'd be begging me for repairs every other day, too, huh?"

"I hope not..." If my costume was damaged so quickly, wouldn't it be better to fight naked?

The old man's tongue clicked so often that I began to suspect it was a tic. However, even though the old man had clicked his tongue, he pulled out a tape measure and began to take my measurements with an annoyed face. Saitama watched the interaction from the side, not wanting to interrupt, but quickly became bored.

"Well, I'm off." Saitama turned away.

"Wait." I grabbed his shoulder, he looked over his and gave me a questioning look. "Lend me some money."

"No." He flatly refused.

"Please."

"No."

"You know, Saitama. "I began, looking at this urgent situation from a different angle, "You should lend me the money." I shrugged disinterestedly, as if I didn't really need it and I was the one losing here, "I could be your taxi to look for offers. " I finally showed my hand.

"I'm fast." He defended himself.

I nodded, "No doubt, but you have to dodge people and buildings, which is boring, imagine if it takes you... plus I have very good vision, we could find offers all over the continent in a few minutes..."

Saitama held out a wad of bills he had pulled out of somewhere.

I took them with a smile and gave them to the old man. "Here, this will pay for the costume, but... let me choose the colors."

The last thing I mentioned was when I saw some sketches the old man was drawing in a notebook. What was it? It looked like a bad copy of Saitama's costume with pink and purple colors.

"Kuh, you can't let an old man have fun."

(***)

The costume would be ready in a few days, for now I dedicated myself to monster hunting, and now I was hunting tiger levels, and they were not that strong, only one managed to hit me, and that was because I was covering a boy who was watching me fight.

It didn't hurt me or anything, but it ruined my clothes and threw me a few meters until I hit a building. At least the boy ran and got away.

"Kekekek, a human could never hope to defeat me."

It was some kind of giant octopus with a dolphin head or something weird.

I stepped out of the rubble and looked at him intensely. After all, this was the fifth pair of gym clothes I had worn that day. This was really pissing me off.

"You..."

"Keke-"

And suddenly, my vision turned red, as if a color filter had been put on my eyes, and the monster was split in two.

"Eh."

[Tiger level monster defeated! +0.3% Kryptonian blood]

[Mission: Kill Tiger rank monsters to increase your genetic purity. 20/100 (each monster killed gives 0.3%)]

[Kryptonian blood 26%]

I smiled. That must have been scary, because my eyes glowed bright red, after all, I had unlocked my heat vision.

This was good, just what I wanted, so I didn't have to get my hands dirty with too weak monsters that just exploded when I hit them.

The crowd that had been hiding came out and started cheering. Even though it felt good, I didn't want to be called a hero, so I immediately took off and disappeared into the clouds.

After all, when I joined the association, I wanted to be strong enough to go straight to S-class.

I didn't want to be given a stupid nickname like Strength Boy or Laser Eyes, I had dignity, damn it!

While I was in the sky, I stopped and looked at the sun. I felt stronger every day and it was always good to see it in the morning, it gave me energy.

I felt like Wally recharging every morning, but the effects made up for it.

(***)

[Tiger level monster defeated! +0.3% Kryptonian blood]

[Mission: Kill Tiger rank monsters to increase your genetic purity. 50/100 (each monster killed gives 0.3%)]

[Kryptonian blood 35%]

It was harder than I thought to find monsters. I wasn't in the guild, so I didn't know where to find strong monsters, and the weak ones could be easily defeated by other heroes. I had only killed 50 and was basically on patrol every day without a break for food or anything until the sun went down... sigh.

Anyway, at only 35%, the tiger levels were basically pebbles in my path, so that was a good sign.

And with my heat vision, I could basically kill anything below tiger so easily that I didn't even bother to take it seriously.

I hadn't tested the limits of my strength yet, but nothing had hurt me since my first day here.

I flexed my arms... hmmm, maybe if I tried I could lift a building or something to test my strength... while I thought about it. I remembered something, and quickly forgot that idea as I flew towards the old man's shop, my costume should be ready today!

With my speed now, I was basically at the store on the other side of town in a few seconds, which was pretty fast and probably scared some people because of the sonic boom, but hey, it was my super suit!

I descended to the ground and walked happily down the avenue, some people looking at me but not recognizing me, just going on with their lives.

Being registered as a hero here was certainly vital for anyone who wanted fame and glory, because you could be like Saitama and be the strongest, but you would never be recognized unless you were a hero of the Association.

Stop thinking about such things as you enter the tailor's shop. Again, the doorbell alerted the old man and he came out of the back room.

"You have my costume, old man?"

He gave me a sideways glance and just pulled something out from under the counter.

It was gray and black. Just as I had ordered.

"See how it can look good when you follow colorimetry,?" I teased him.

"Tch, there's nothing flashy about this costume."

I laughed at his unwarranted anger and quickly grabbed the costume and headed to a nearby dressing room.

The material was soft, but it certainly looked sturdy, the suit was gray with a gray chest piece and was something like a one-piece. The closest I could compare it to was the Viltrumites' suit in Invincible, only this one was two-colored and had a cape. Because yes, it had to have a cape.

No being sucked up by turbines or anything, capes are cool!

I walked out of the dressing room happy like a kid with new clothes at Christmas and said goodbye. "See ya, thanks for the costume."

"Yes, yes."

When I left the store, I felt like defeating a lot of monsters today.

(***)

I stretched as I walked to Saitama's apartment.

[Mission completed: Kill Tiger Rank monsters to increase your genetic purity. 100/100 (Each monster killed gives 0.3%)]

[Kryptonian blood 50%]

I took a test today. I lifted a building with ease. But I really don't know what the limit of my strength is right now, because that building was the biggest one there was.

I didn't want to fight with Saitama right now, but maybe if he let me grab his hand and test my grip strength?

I knocked on the door of his flat. The TV was on again. His footsteps sounded and it didn't take long until he opened the door for me.

"Ah, Dan, you remembered, today is offers Saturday in A-city."

"Huh, yeah, of course." I had completely forgotten.

"I'll get changed and we'll go then."

I shrugged. "Sure."

The TV was showing the news as usual. Tatsumaki defeating a monster with ease, Bang practicing in his dojo, and a few other heroes. Basically, the world revolved around them.

"I'm ready." Saitama reappeared with his hero costume and a bargain coupon in his hand.

I stopped him before he went any further. "Before that..." I looked at him seriously as I approached him, "You're strong, aren't you?"

"Yes?..." He was visibly confused.

I nodded and extended my hand for a handshake. "Then let me test my strength with you."

"Hey dude, we're running a little late..."

"If I hurry, we could reach more than one city in less than 15 minutes, that would be two days of offers in one.."

Saitama immediately took my hand with a serious look on his face. "Whenever you're ready."

I smiled in amusement before giving him a light squeeze. His red glove creaked only slightly against mine. I squeezed harder, causing the building to shake slightly for some reason. Saitama was still unchanged. I squeezed even harder, a shockwave echoing slightly from how quickly I had tightened my grip, the resulting air shaking our cloaks, but Saitama was still unchanged.

I used all my strength, my muscles tensed as I squeezed with everything I had, Saitama raised a curious eyebrow.

"You are strong." He acknowledged and at that moment, I relaxed my grip. It was like squeezing a metal bar.

"Says someone who hasn't even changed his expression." I put on my black glove and tentatively squeezed my hand several times, I think I went numb without meaning to.

"I'm serious, I really felt that." He looked curiously at his hand.

"Sure, sure." I sighed, "Let's get out of here, unless you want me to destroy your roof again."

"Don't you dare!"

(***)

Finding a Demon-level monster was surprisingly difficult. After all, I wasn't a member of the Association, and when the TV reported about a monster, it was usually already dealt with by some S-class heroes or some A-class heroes, and the few that weren't dealt with because they were on the other side of the continent.

This made me wonder, should I register as a hero now? I seriously thought about it, I wanted to wait to move up to S class in one go, but now I thought my strength was enough for S class, I hadn't even reached my 100%, but after some calculations of speed and my strength, there weren't many S class that could defeat me at the moment, maybe only Blast and Tatsumaki to be exact, oh and I'm not sure about Silver Fang, that old man was scary.

Hmm, what to do... I looked down at the city below as the wind whipped my cloak. I shrugged, well, there was no other way but this way. I immediately ran to the headquarters of the Hero Association.

It wasn't too hard to find the Association in City A, it was the biggest building, although it was a bit disconcerting to see this city so... untouched... Maybe I should go out into space and intercept the Boros ship before it lands?

But that was quite risky, I wasn't sure if I could defeat him as I was now, so I had to get stronger as fast as I could.

I landed softly at the entrance and people just turned to look at me and went on with their lives. That was pretty common in places where they were used to seeing heroes. It was pretty cool; while I liked a healthy amount of attention, I wasn't that vain.

I walked through the building full of activity and various people in colorful and some downright ridiculous costumes to the reception.

"Do you have an appointment? "The bespectacled secretary kept typing as she spoke to me.

"I don't? I'm here to take the entrance exam to become a hero.

"I see, please fill out this form. "She did all this without even looking at me... what a skill.

"Thank you."

I sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room as I read what was on the sheet...blah blah blah blah dead disclaimer, benefits, disclaimer, benefits, yada yada.

I read it all with superhuman speed and quickly signed it, seeing nothing untoward.

At the same time, I looked to my right and there he was... a man in dojo clothes and frog head filling out the same form as me.

"Hello."

"Huh, hello."

You know, ever since I saw the anime... I wanted what was under that frog head. I used my newly acquired X-ray vision and took a look... it was a normal head of a young bald man... why wear a mask like that if you're normal on the inside. Boring.

"Good luck with your application. "I said goodbye.

"Ah thanks, same to you." He nodded, and continued filling out his form.

Taking my sheets to the receptionist, I handed them to her and as was normal for her, without seeing she gave me directions by holding out a number with a pin. "Go up to the third level, there are tests going on right now."

Right now...was the association that efficient...or was I just lucky...well whatever.

"Thank you~"

And with that said, I hurried to the elevator.

(***)

Intending to break all the records just like saitama, I arrived at the test, luckily they were still in courses.

"Participant 205" A guy with clipboard called out to me just walked into the gray monochrome room with lots of equipment and space to train, "Your turn is in 15 minutes, you can warm up in the meantime."

"Sure." I wasn't really going to warm up, I just wanted to see my competition.

All the contestants had no shirt or top on, as if they were showing off their bodies to the world, and on top of that, they all had serious looks on their faces as if their life depended on it.

By the time I floated up and sat in the air there was a guy in glasses and a green sports suit doing relatively fast sideways jumps with sweat on his forehead... I think he recognized him from somewhere.

But whatever, many passed by, and only a few surpassed the human level of physical ability. I put on my guard for nothing.

"Participant 205."

I came out of my relaxed position and floated over to the testing site. I landed softly and with a simple nod let the interviewer know I was ready.

"Heh." I heard a soft scoff from the participant who had done best in the tests, apparently he was underestimating me for not being so bulky.

Boy, didn't you see me flying just now?

I immediately became serious.

"You'll do lateral jumps as fast as you can on the count of 3, 2, 1..."

The headquarters of the heroes' association trembled.

(****)

Busho, an employee of the Hero Association, was working on his computer. Although it was only an open secret among the high-ranking administrators of the Hero Association, heroes were becoming scarce. It wasn't a short-term problem, but according to projections, the monsters would slowly overwhelm the association if things continued as they were, forcing the association to be a little more lax about who could join and who couldn't. However, this brought another set of problems.

Busho, as an administrative staff member, had access to privileged information, and recently he had been busy modifying a file on an unregistered hero living in Z-City.

People who knew him called him the Protector of Z City. This was something that definitely surprised Busho, being called the protector of a city was not something so easy in the short time he had been active. But from what the cameras had captured, he definitely deserved the title. He was fast, super strong, and had laser eyes and that useful ice breath that was the reason he was updating his file.

He looked like the prototype hero they were looking for, no wonder Sitch had taken an interest in him, and now he was here, changing his strength estimates as he had every day since he had become active. He only seemed to get stronger... the headquarters trembled.

"An attack?!"

"W-what's going on?"

His colleagues panicked, but he, the more experienced one, was able to guess what was going on by simple deduction.

"Relax, they're testing for new heroes today, there might be a promising candidate."

As if to back up his words, Busho extended his finger and placed the training room's camera on a large screen for all to see.

On the screen, a blob moved at an incredible speed that even the high-tech camera could not see clearly until it stopped.

Busho froze.

A young man of about 23 years of age smiled at the camera, he had messy black hair and sharp features, combined with a black and gray hero suit and a black cape that moved slightly.

Why was he here?

No, that wasn't the right question, why was he here and he didn't know?!

He stopped looking at the screen and immediately plugged an extension into his headset and contacted his superior, Stich.

"The investigated hero is here, what should we do?"

"I'll be there. Just make sure he doesn't leave the compound."

Stich ended the call immediately, and Busho had no choice but to look at the screen again as the shaking returned to the Association.

"Quick..." Even though I knew that the call had been cut off, I couldn't help but say that I doubted the Association would last that long.

(****)

"Th-that's enough participant 205, that's enough."

"Huh? But I'm still missing the jumps."

"No!"

A collective shout stopped me from trying to jump.

Eh?

What was wrong with everyone?

Well, whatever, this had been liberating, now I was sure I'd passed the test, I'd aced it!

"We're all going to the written test now. "He said, staggering to the door, "Please, everyone go at once."

Now I sat there and waited for my results. From the way all the staff was looking at me, it was definite, and I couldn't help but feel happy, I was already an S class hero, talk about being overpowered!

"Participant 205...better known as Dan. "An old man greeted me as he approached where I was sitting, he extended his hand. "I'm Sitch, I'm the Minister of Justice of the Hero Association."

"I'm Dan, huh, a hero? "Why did he get such a cool nickname?

Sitch smiled slightly as he led me into an office. "Dan, can I call you that? You don't have a hero name yet."

"Sure, sure."

"So, Dan, when did you become a hero?"

"Huh," I should say. "Not too long, it was only recently that I started to get strong."

"I take it you don't know how you got those powers?"

"No." Actually, I do, but I didn't want to tell him.

"What do you think about the Association?"

"I think it's a good method for fighting monsters, although its scope is a bit limited."

"What do you mean?"

"There are too few heroes and too many monsters, but I can't blame them for that." I shrugged.

"That's a good insight." After Sitch got to the other side of the desk, he held a sheet of paper out to me. "You can take your time reading it, but I'll summarize a little," he folded his hands on the desk and gave me a serious look. "We are offering you a position as an S-Class Hero."

I nodded and started to read the contract. I was immediately surprised.

Hey hey, how many zeros is that? is that even possible? or is inflation so bad that this is actually too little?!

I put my surprise aside for the moment and continued to check. Hey, all these were just benefits, I even doubted if the restriction sheet or something like that came separately or something. The only thing they asked you to do was to kill a certain amount of monsters to keep your rank.

Perhaps seeing my doubts, Sitch spoke again.

"If the amount doesn't satisfy you, we can negotiate, but keep in mind that this is an exception, we generally don't give an S-class hero position to a newcomer."

"Uh no, that's fine."

I took the pen and signed as quickly as I could.

"So?"

"You can leave if you want, we at the association need to do some paperwork, but your registration and everything should be ready by tomorrow. Welcome, S-rank hero number 17, Dan."

" Great. See you then."

And with that, I fled as fast as I could before they told me I signed the wrong contract or something.

(***)

"Dan?"

I made my way into Saitama's room with a pile of shopping bag.

"Saitama dear friend!" I laughed happily as I greeted him and set things down on the table. "How's my favorite bald guy been?"

A vein stood out in his head. "Who are you calling bald?!"

Oups, maybe he was too happy.

"I brought triple A beef!" I immediately changed the subject. "I wanted to share with you, but if you don't want to..."

He snatched the bags from me before I knew it, "Actually, I know a recipe, let's cook."

I laughed lightly. as I watched Saitama go to the kitchen and start sorting out the things we were going to use today.

Although maybe in the anime he hadn't said it, Saitama was a decent cook, and I was a certified glutton, so we were destined to be best friends.

As I watched Saitama boil a vegetable, I walked over to ask him a question.

"Hey Saitama, would you be willing to fight with me in the future?"

"Hmm? What's that about?"

"I'm getting stronger, I think we might enjoy a fight when I'm stronger."

He gave me a sidelong glance before shrugging his shoulders. "That's fine by me."

"Nice, I'll kick your ass, remember that."

A hint of a smile appeared on his face. "I'd like to see you try."

I laughed and shrugged as I went to sit on her couch. I had nothing to do and the town had been quiet lately.

(***)

As I was relaxing in my bed after a nice dinner at Saitama's house, I heard footsteps. They were not in my house, but in front of the building. It was extremely quiet and controlled, like that of an assassin entering.

Frowning, I stood up and put on my hero suit in less than a second before stepping out of the balcony and descending to hover near the ground, looking at the person in the middle of the street with my hands in his pockets.

"Oh...you felt my presence?" Said an extremely handsome man with blue hair and a boy band member's outfit.

He was... masking something? I vaguely remembered him trying to test Genos or something, was he going to do the same to me?

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to see the new S-class hero, going straight to S-class is an atypical case." Even though he said that, he took his hand out of his pockets, which made me alert, I didn't know what powers he had or anything. "I'm Amai Mask, Rank 1, Class A."

"Do you want to fight? "It was a reflex, but my eyes glowed red as I prepared.

"Oh no, I was just curious, now that I've seen you, it looks like they didn't make a mistake, welcome to the team Dan." He shrugged, "But just know that if you turn out to be a useless hero, I'll take you down from that rank myself, even if it has to be by force."

"Just give it a try."

"Heh, see you around, Dan." With a half-hearted salute, he turned and took his leave.

I don't know why, but it gave me the creeps. I sighed and went back to my room, I wanted to sleep.

(***)

My promotion to S-Class was announced on the news, which was surprising, but apparently I had quite a few fans in Z-City.

Anyway, the days passed normally, the only change was that I was now recognized everywhere I went, Demon and Dragon rank monsters were very rare to see, but I had a golden opportunity in the form of the canon start.

My association locator beeped.

"Yes?"

"Force!"

"Who?"

"Force! That's your hero name, didn't you check it on the web?"

"Ah, no... "Force?...why did it have to be that one, I tried so hard and the members of the club chose that one, didn't they have any creativity?!

The urgent voice of the communicator brought me out of my thoughts, "Well, that's another matter, we need your support! A monster that suddenly appeared is wreaking havoc in city A, there is no one closer than you and you can get there very quickly, so please!... we estimate that it might be a dragon level monster threat!"

"I'll be there."

My hero suit was clean, and I mentally prepared myself.

My first dragon level. I was excited.