"Are you ready for your big day son?", My dad asked as I jumped in the back of the car
I had to wake extra early today because the university was a 2 hour drive from where we lived.
"It'll be the same as any other day.", I yawned.
"Liking the confidence.", Dad grinned at me.
My dad, Frank Croft, stood 6'3 and had brown hair and hazel eyes. His eyes were quite narrow, so when he smiled, it was basically slits for eyes. His natural resting face looked devious, like he's plotting something evil. How he stole my mom's heart remains a mystery.
His ability is to be able to emit waves of fear or killing intent in the area surrounding him. According to him, the killing intent was so potent, he managed to cause one of his friends to sh*t himself whilst training his ability in gym class back at school. Sucks to be him.
I could see how my ability came to be looking at my parents' abilities. I guess even the heavens wanted me to be born OP.
Travelling to the university test area was not tedious because I slept for most of the journey. I probably stayed up a bit too late reading horror manga, so I was super tired. But that horror manga was truly terrifying, with detailed panels of body dysmorphia horror giving me new ideas for my hallucinations.
The admissions test was a scheduled for an 8:45 start and I've arrived half an hour early. I messaged Brandon and Luke to see where they were and they had already arrived together. I told my dad that I would be fine on my own. He gave me a thumbs up and dropped me off whilst he went to look for a coffee shop to burn some time.
"Good morning, how are you all feeling?" I asked.
"Tired as sh*t man. I didn't get any sleep because I was nervous for the test.", Luke replied
Brandon grinned, "You're always worrying too much, just take everything in stride like I do."
"Easy for you to say. If you had the choice, you'd prefer to not think at all you gorilla." Luke retorted.
Watching them already do their rounds of banter made me chuckle. It's nice having these 2 around, because it's easy being myself around them. They're also the only friends I've told about my condition and hobby, so I do trust them a lot. Although our personalities differ quite a bit, I think our dreams of becoming heroes brought us together.
After waiting around for another 20 minutes bantering, the public waiting area started to get populated with more test takers.
"That guy over there has the nicest moustache in the history of moustaches." I stared at the tall boy with a thick and long ginger moustache.
"You think it has something to do with his ability?" asked Brandon
"Has to be, that thing is twice the width of his face. Can't be natural." replied Luke.
Looking around, we really got to see some peculiar characters. I saw a short boy levitating in the air whilst lazing about. I saw a girl... with bunny ears. I saw a boy... with a wolf's tail. I saw a boy with horns on his head. This could be a furry convention at this point.
Soon, a tall man walked onto the podium that was already set up with a microphone. He had jet black hair that was jelled backwards. His eyes were angled downwards, as if he was always scowling. Coupled with his black 3 piece suit, he looked serious and strict.
"Thank you to all of you, who have made it to today's admission test for the Hero University of Lagnad", He slowly announced. "We have a record breaking number of testees this year, showing that with each generation, we get more talented young men and women hoping to join the ranks of heroes."
"However, we still only accept a maximum of 40 students into the hero course."
He paused and let his message settle into the audience. I looked around, the students looked on with grim expressions.
"We want the best of the best. We prioritise quality over quantity. Only those which can be considered elite can become heroes, because we don't need useless heroes wasting the government's money."
"Let me introduce myself first. I am Arthur Evander. But you may know me by my hero name 'Reaper'"
That revelation led to many gasps in the audience. He's ranked 98th on the national hero rankings within this country. Knowing that to become a hero, you already have to be incredibly strong, cracking the top 100th ranks basically means you're a monster.
"There are 600 testees here today but there is limited space in the examination area, so we will divide you into groups of 100. The first group taking the practical test are as follows..."
He began to read out a list of names.
"Timeo Craft ..."
I fistbumped Luke and Brandon, "Guess I'm going first, see you guys later."